Something More

Lunchtime at Ponyville Elementary School was a hectic time. There were colts playing hoofball, and fillies playing hopscotch on crudely drawn chalk courts. As Sweetie Belle walked over to her regular spot beneath a tree with the other Crusaders, she briefly considered joining both groups, knowing that it would be better than facing the torture of explaining her appearance to her friends. Well, I can’t hide forever. If I avoid them now, I’ll just end up answering their questions later. Hesitantly, she sat down down in her normal spot next to Scootaloo, and busied herself with taking her lunch out of her saddlebags.

After leaving the boutique that morning she had felt beautiful, the makeup on her face on her face had made her eyes pop, and even though she was late to school, she had been walking along happily. But now, the makeup felt like an uncomfortable mask, and her shiny, straight hair felt as if it was weighing her down. I guess I really failed to impress Scoots, she thought. She looked just as weirded out as everyone else. In hindsight, she realized that it might have been good to wait for Rarity’s help before leaving the house. Her older sister certainly had more experience with beautification than she did.

“So, Sweetie, what’s up with your new look?” Scootaloo asked her.

“Umm… well… I just wanted to try something different.” She blushed. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life.

“Did your big sister help you?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Oh no, I did this myself.”

“Hmm, well that sure explains a lot.” Apple Bloom looked back at the clock hanging over the schoolhouse door. “Well shoot, Ah’ve gotta go. Ah told Miss Cheerilee Ah’d come in during lunch so she could help me with mah algebra.”

“Oh. If you want me to, I can help you, too,” Sweetie Belle offered. After all, she was one of the best in the class when it came to math. Her test scores were only rivaled by Twist and Silver Spoon.

“That sounds great, Sweetie. Ah could really use all the help Ah can get.”

“Hey what about me?” Scootaloo asked. “I could totally help you get your math grades up!”

“Heh, no offense, Scoots,” Apple Bloom laughed, “but Sweetie’s grades are just a mite higher.”

“Whatever.” Scootaloo tried to look upset, but she couldn’t help bursting into laughter, and soon all three Crusaders had been infected with a case of the giggles.

“Alright, Ah’ve really got to go now, or else Ah’m gonna be late.” Apple Bloom reluctantly got up and walked back over to the schoolhouse. She disappeared inside, closing the door behind her.

Sweetie watched her go, a feeling of dread rising from the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend time alone with Scootaloo, in fact, there wasn’t much she wanted more than to hang out with the object of her affections. She just felt scared. She had already messed up once by trying her hoof at fashion, and was afraid of making another mistake that would only hurt her cause. Alright, you can do this. Start with a little bit of casual conversation.

“So Scoots, how was flying with Dash yesterday?” Phew. That’s a good one. She looked over at Scootaloo and saw that her question had made the other filly uncomfortable. That’s odd. Usually she loves the chance to talk about her time with Rainbow.

“Oh, it was great, we’re finally working on getting me off the ground. Yesterday we worked on gliding.” Scootaloo cringed. “I didn’t do so well though.”

“I’m sure you’ll start doing better. Nopony’s ever perfect on their first try.”

“Thanks Sweetie. I’m just kind of tired of not flying, y’know? Everypony else in our class was flying months ago, and I still can’t even glide.”

“It’s okay. Remember what Rainbow Dash said last year? It doesn’t matter whether you can fly, you’re still the awesomest filly around. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll get it, you just need to put some more time in is all.” Sweetie Belle wasn’t sure if she really believed that. Scootaloo’s wings were very underdeveloped for a pony of her age, and they didn’t show any signs of development. It looked like flying was just never going to be possible for Scoots. Sweetie had to side with Rainbow on this one though, whether or not Scootaloo would ever fly couldn’t change the way she felt, and besides, Scootaloo had certainly inherited the pegasi’s adventurous nature regardless of her flying ability.

“Thanks. I am pretty awesome, aren’t I?” Scootaloo looked much happier after Sweetie’s words of encouragement. “Hey, you know how you offered to help AB with math? Well, I was thinking that maybe you could do the same for me? My math grades might be better than Apple Bloom’s, but they could definitely improve.”

“Of course I could help you!” Sweetie inwardly rejoiced. “What time works for you? I’m free today, Rarity has a big order to fill. You’ll just have to let me stop back by the Boutique to fix… well…” She gestured towards her face and hair.

“Yeah, today works for me. You can just stop by the foster house after you clean yourself up.”

“OK. I should be over at around 5 o’clock.”

A bell chimed and the two frowned as they realized the lunch period was over.

“Come back in, my little ponies! Lunch is over, it’s time to learn.” Cheerilee stood next to the door, gesturing for all the students to come back to the schoolhouse.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sighed, and walked side by side back up towards the school.

Scootaloo never brushed her mane. In fact, it was a point of pride for her that her mane was as unkempt as possible, but there she was sitting in front of the mirror in her bathroom with a brush in her hoof, slowly running it through her mane.

Why am I even doing this? I thought I was trying to get over Sweetie, yet here I am, waiting for her to show up. I’m brushing my mane for pony’s sake! She’s never going to feel the same way about me, so why did I even invite her?

In truth, Scootaloo’s math grades really weren’t that bad. Definitely not bad enough to warrant hiring Sweetie Belle to tutor her, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself from suggesting it. The prospect of time alone with the white unicorn had been so tantalizing, and Sweetie had been being so nice about her flying situation, that she just made up the first thing that came to mind so that they could spend the afternoon together.

With a start, she realized that it was five til five, and Sweetie would be there any minute. She ran out of the bathroom and hastily attempted to clean up the mess in her room. All of her possessions were in piles on the floor, so she hastily began to stuff them into her closet. Sweetie’s room never looks like this, she thought. She keeps all of her stuff super organized all the time.

Once she was satisfied with the condition of her room, she pulled out her homework and laid it out on her desk in preparation for Sweetie’s arrival. A knock came at her door.

“Come in!” Scootaloo said excitedly.

“Oh, hey, Scootaloo. Your mom said I could find you up here.” Sweetie walked into the room, took off her saddlebags, and pulled out her homework.

“She’s not my mom,” Scootaloo said. She knew that Sweetie hadn’t meant anything by it, but she was rather offended when people called any of her foster-mothers her mom. Yes, they cared about her and the other children, but there were so many to deal with, and she was moved around so often, that she often felt like she never formed a deep maternal bond with any of them.

“Oh. Sorry.” Sweetie pulled up a second chair next to desk and grabbed a pencil out of her bag.

“It’s fine,” Scootaloo shrugged. “She’s nice and all, but I don’t feel like I know her well enough to really call her that.”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “I understand. So, what is it that you wanted to work on today?”

“Well, I guess we can work on adding fractions. I’ve been having some trouble with that,” Scootaloo said. That’ll give her something to talk about for a while.

“I’d love to!” Sweetie was instantly excited at the prospect, and let out a cute little voice crack to show it. It’s really cute how much she loves math, Scoots thought, blushing slightly. Well, I guess it is her favorite subject.

“-did you catch that?” Sweetie was gesturing towards her paper where she had written out a few lines. “Aren’t you gonna take notes?”

Aw, shoot! I already know this stuff pretty well, I don’t have to take notes. “Um, yeah. Of course!”

“Excellent!”

The two spent the next hour carefully reviewing the lessons Miss Cheerilee had taught them, and then doing the homework together. Even though she probably would have been able to do it on her own, Scootaloo couldn’t deny that Sweetie had been helpful.

“Well, that’s just about it,” Sweetie got up and began to put her materials back into her saddlebag. “I guess I’ll head home now.”

“I’ll walk you home!” Scootaloo said. That was a good way for her to spend more time with Sweetie.

“Alright, as long as it’s not too much trouble.”

“Of course it isn’t! Let’s go, I want to be back here in time for dinner.” Scootaloo walked out the door and down her stairs followed closely by Sweetie Belle. The sky was a brilliant orange as the two fillies walked out the door and into a gorgeous sunset.

“Wow! It’s beautiful out here.” Sweetie’s eyes were glued to the heavens as she looked around in wonderment.

“The sky looks awesome!”

The two fillies fell into a comfortable silence as they walked slowly through the streets of Ponyville, neither really wanting to say goodbye. Finally, the inevitable happened, and the two arrived at the door to Carousel Boutique.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye.” Sweetie approached the door.

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Scootaloo turned away and started walking back towards her house, but before she got too far, she was interrupted.

“Oh, and Scootaloo? Next time you want to hang out with me, you don’t need to make something up about tutoring, okay?” She disappeared into the shop, and the door shut behind her.