The Unbearable Lightness of Being Sweetie Belle

Chapters

1. First Day
2. The Swing of Things
3. Time After Time (Part 1)
4. Time After Time (Part 2)
5. Time After Time (Part 3)
6. The Future Soon
7. Limelight (Part 1)
8. Limelight (Part 2)
9. Mare in the Mirror
10. Brand New Day
11. Strange Love
12. Sweet Dreams
13. Snowblind
14. A Murder of One (Scootaloo)
15. Don't Feed the Plants (Scootaloo)
16. We'll Have Tomorrow (Scootaloo)

1. First Day

“Rarity, wake up!” I said, bouncing excitedly outside the bestest big sister in the whole wide world’s room. “I don’t want to be late for my first day of school.” There was a pause before the door opened, glowing with her soft-blue magic aura.

“Sweetie Belle,” she said, not bothering to get out of bed, “it’s 5:30 in the morning and…” She paused, her blue eyes drifting to the pile of luggage behind me. “Why did you pack so much for your first day of school? This seems excessive even for me.”

“It is not,” I said. “I want my dorm room to feel just like my home away from home, which I guess it will be.”

My sister drove her head into the pillow and groaned. “For the hundredth time, Sweetie, the dorms are for ponies who had to travel to attend the academy. Since you live in Ponyville, you won’t be moving into the dormitories. Is that clear?”

I stared at her for several seconds, taking in her words and occasionally looking at the wall of luggage behind me. “So… what you’re saying is, I shouldn’t have packed all this stuff?”

She gave another angry grunt that she would absolutely never use in public because “it wasn’t proper” before slamming the door shut, which she would also never do in public because “it wasn’t proper.” Rarity does a lot of things around me that she doesn’t do in public. I must be the luckiest little sister ever to have a big sis that’s so open and honest with me. I looked outside, and the sky was just beginning to get a little gray. Maybe it was just a bit too early.

***

Three Months Earlier…

“Gurs, did ew ear the ate noose?” I asked, running towards my two bestest friends in the world, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, while holding a sheet of paper in my mouth.

“Uh, what’d you say, Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked, turning from her spot in the park to look at me.

“I aid, did ew ear the ate noose?” I repeated, trying really hard not to start bouncing up and down.

“Okay,” Scootaloo said, sighing and smacking her forehoof against her face. “Spit out the paper, then tell us the news.

Right, that probably would make it easier for them to understand me. I spat the paper out and grabbed it with my magic before it could hit the ground. “I said, did you hear the great news?”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “Rainbow Dash is totally about to do a stunt show in the park. It’s kind of why we’re all here.” She gestured a hoof at all the ponies sitting in the park, most of them staring up at the sky.

“No, not that,” I said, pointing a hoof at the flyer. “They’re going to open a school in Ponyville.”

“Uhh… Sweetie,” Scootaloo said, scrunching up her forehead, “Ponyville already has a school. The three of us go there.”

I might have growled in frustration at that. Luckily Rarity wasn’t around to tell me that a lady does not growl. “No! It’s a different school, it’s– Luna’s starting her own school, it’s going to be in Ponyville, and it’s going to be about ART and SCIENCE.” I pointed at the poster. “See, it says anypony in Ponyville can attend. This is our chance to finally get our cutie marks! I’m going to get mine in acting for sure.”

“That’s great, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said. “But I don’t want mah cutie mark in actin’, and I’m guessing neither does Scootaloo.” The orange pegasus nodded in agreement.

“I know,” I said. “But you can go for other things, like… “I bet they have potion-making classes, and Scootaloo, you could probably get into some mechanics program.”

“Gee, I don’t know,” Apple Bloom said. “This new school looks kind o’ fancy, and I don’t see any mention of potion making on here. Looks like it’s just another thing for them unicorn types.” She winced. “Uh, no offense intended of course.”

“No, see it says here that everypony’s welcome.” I pointed at the top of the flyer, which still had bits of my drool and teeth marks on it. “I bet they just call it something different, like…” I looked over the page for familiar words. “Chemistry. ‘Cause it’s like that one book that kept saying chemicals instead of ingredients.”

“What’s the big deal if we go to the school anyways?” Scootaloo asked. “It’s not like me studying or not studying…” She looked through the areas of study the flyer mentioned about. “...Mechanical Engineering is going to change how awesome I am at my scooter.”

“But...” My voice cracked and my eyes started to water. Don’t cry now, I thought. “If we don’t go to the same school, then we won’t spend as much time together.” I really didn’t want start crying in front of my friends; if Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon saw it, they would make fun of me for being a cry baby. Again. “And if we stop spending time with each other, then you two will bond without me and then…” I cried. Not just cried, I felt like I was absolutely gushing tears. “You two won’t be friends with me anymore.”

My friends took shelter under one of the emergency umbrellas they always had on them… somewhere. “Sweetie Belle, that’s just silly,” Apple Bloom said. “We’ll always be your friends. Babs lives all the way out in Manehattan, but she’s still a Crusader, ain’t she?”

I kept crying, not responding to her prompt. “Look, if it means that much to ya, me and Scootaloo can go and join this school as well. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon will stay at the old school, right Scootaloo?”

She nodded. “Sure, if they let me play with engines, it can’t be any more boring than regular school.”

“Really?” I asked, smiling happily and wrapping my forehooves around my two best friends. “I promise, the three of us are going to have so much fun, it’s going to be like a great big adventure, and we’ll all get our cutie marks at the same time and we’ll stay as the best of friends forever and nothing will ever come between us.”

“Do you think she planned this?” Scootaloo asked, looking at Apple Bloom as I continued to give them the tightest and bestest hug in the whole wide world.

“I think it’s best if we just go with this,” Apple Bloom said.

***

The stupid sun was finally up, and I tried to rush Rarity as she spent several hours applying all of her makeup. I don’t really see what the big deal is since she looks great without it, but she says how it’s about standards and that a lady must always look her best. I don't get it, and I definitely don't think I'll ever spend an hour just putting on makeup and brushing my mane, especially since there are so many other fun things I could be doing instead of staring at the mirror. "Come on," I said, trotting impatiently in place. "We're going to miss the whole day.

“Sweetie Belle, I really don’t understand your sense of urgency, we still have several hours until school starts, I assure you you won’t be late to your first class,” she said, putting curlers in her mane.

“First?” I asked. “Won’t it just be like Cheerilee’s school, where there’s just one class?”

Rarity laughed. “The Academy was made to accommodate a very large number of ponies at all age ranges. You remember how many buildings they put up, don’t you?”

I nodded. Of course they had a lot of buildings, they had to keep the ponies from different towns with their friends.

“You see,” she continued while I danced nervously in place, “instead of staying in one room for all your subjects, you go to a different room for each subject, you’ll actually have five different...” She said some other stuff, but it was boring and not fun to hear, so I just stared at the clock and imagined all the fun with my friends I was missing out on. Right now, they were probably meeting our teacher and getting to know each other, and if I didn’t get there soon–

“Hurry up,” I said, “I don’t want to miss the first day of school with my friends. If you keep putting on makeup, we are going to be late.”

“But Sweetie,” she said, shaking her head as I ran down the stairs, “that’s what I’m trying to tell you. You can’t–”

I didn’t hear her as I ran out the boutique’s doors. Why did she have to spend so long styling her mane? I just ran a brush through it a few times, and I looked fine. Rarity said I was lucky to have such a naturally beautiful mane that could support me “neglecting” it, but when she didn’t style it, her mane was just as nice as it normally was.

I ran the entire way to the new school, with Rarity angrily chasing after me the entire time, hair curlers still in her mane, saying we still had an hour before we had to leave and that I should really go back to the boutique so she could finish styling her mane. Also, I really shouldn’t have been punished for running towards the school, if anything, I should be congratulated for wanting to learn so badly.

“Sweetie Belle, do you see anypony else in this courtyard?” Rarity asked as we both reached the school, giving me the glare that only came when I had pushed her to her wits’ end.

“Yep,” I said, as cheerily as I could, “I see you.” She might be the bestest sister in the world, but sometimes it was really fun to push her a bit, even if her exploding was kind of less fun.

She groaned again. “That’s not what I meant and-” Rarity paused, a tiny smile forming on her lips. “You know what Sweetie Belle, as you reminded me so many times over the summer, you’re a big pony now. If you want to wait out here for another hour by yourself, you are more than free to do so.” With that, she removed the curlers from her hair and stomped off as dramatically as possible.

“I will,” I said as she walked off. “And, I won’t get bored.”

I was scooting along the ground in five minutes. By ten minutes, I had started singing to myself.

***

Several Songs Later…

“Well, we got trouble
Right here in River City.
With a capital ‘T’
And that rhymes with ‘P’
And that stands for …

“Wow, this song really sounds like Flim and Flam’s cider song. but…” I sat down to think for a minute. “They’re conponies, so why would they model the song they use when trying to scam townsponies after a musical number where a conmare tries to scam townsponies? It kind of seems obvious, doesn’t it?”

“Hey, Sweetie Belle, how long you been waitin’?” Apple Bloom asked as she, Scootaloo, and several other ponies entered the Junior Academy’s courtyard, the smaller of the school’s two academies.

“Not long,” I said, getting up to meet my friends. “I’m just so excited, I had to get here early. I don’t want to miss a single second of the new school experience.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that as long as you’re here before school starts, ya won’t. Now where exactly do we go?” Apple Bloom asked, gesturing at a the big multi-story building that surrounded us. “It’s a mite bigger than our old school.”

Scootaloo shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m guessing we should go through the big doors everypony else is going through.”

We followed the other students to a big table with several adult ponies at the other end handing out sheets of paper to the students. “Name?” A yellow mare with a flowing red mane asked after I reached the front of the line.

“Sweetie Belle!”

She looked through the stacks of paper before finally pulling one out. “Here is your class schedule, now please head to the main auditorium for orientation.” The mare paused and looked at the sheet in her hooves. “Oh, and I see you will be in my 4th period math class. I can’t wait to see you there.”

“Huh?” I tilted my head in confusion. “But I thought I would just have one class like at my old school. I didn’t know we’d have a bunch of different teachers.” Did Rarity say something about that earlier? No, if she had, I would’ve heard it.

“Really?” she asked. “That should have gone out with the rest of the orientation information.”

“Uhmm… The only thing I got was the little paper that told me when the first day of school was and it asked me to check what I wanted my focus to be,” I said, frowning. Had there been something else? Maybe there was a packet, but if there was, I would’ve remembered it. I definitely would’ve remembered somepony telling me I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with my friends as possible before they left me. I shook my head. This was the first day of school, and I was going to be as I could while I still had my friends with me.

“I see,” the mare sighed. “The basic orientation information should have been sent out several weeks ago. Of course, with how chaotic just getting the school set up on Luna and Headmistress Slavedriver’s timetable has been, I’m not too surprised that a few orientation mailers were lost.”

“But I thought Octavia was the school’s headmistress. I remember hearing about it during one of her and Rarity’s weekly dinners, which I definitely wasn’t eave-”

“You know Miss Octavia?” the teacher said, giving me a nervous little laugh. “That Headmistress Slavedriver remark was just a little joke of ours, there’s really no need to repeat it back to her.”

“Okay,” I said. “So how do the classes work again?”

She sighed. “That sheet of paper tells you when and where your classes are. You will probably have it memorized before the first week is over, but until then it will help you navigate your way around the school.”

“You mean,” I said, turning around desperately trying to find my friends, “I won’t have my classes with my friends?”

“Well, I suppose it is possible,” she said, tilting her head in thought while I noticed her cutie mark consisted of a squiggly line and two straight lines coming down from it. “But considering the school’s current size, assuming you and your friends are in roughly the same age group, and assuming that there’s more than one of them as indicated by your usage of the plural ‘friends’ as opposed to the singular ‘friend’ it is very likely that you will have at least one class with them.”

“But,” I sniffled, “I thought we would have all our classes together. They’re my only friends.”

She frowned. “That… You will be able to spend time with your friends during the lunch hour and after school, so consider this an opportunity to make new friends. Now you really need to get to the auditorium. If you need any more help acclimating to the school, I will speak with you after our class or once school lets out.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Miss…”

“Pi,” she said, smiling at me. “A pleasure to meet you, Sweetie Belle.”

“You too,” I said before walking off towards the auditorium. So, my friends and I weren’t going to have the same classes. If I had known that I– For a second, I was tempted to bang my head against a nearby locker. Ooh, were we going to have lockers? I looked at my sheet of paper and found a locker number and combination, and hummed happilyuntil I remembered just why I had wanted to bang my head against a locker in the first place. Right. If I had known we would have different classes, then I probably wouldn’t have made such a big deal about them joining the Academy in the first place.

Now we weren’t going to spend any time together and they were going to make new friends who liked the same stuff they liked and then they would forget all about Sweetie Belle, just like how Apple Bloom stopped talking to Twist after she got her cutie mark. What would happen to me once they found better friends?

I shuffled into the auditorium and tried to find a seat near Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, but they were already taken. It was already starting, I thought, trying to contain my sniffles. Soon they’ll both be like “Sweetie Who? We never heard of her.” They were already so much closer to getting their cutie marks than me. Scootaloo was amazing on her scooter, and Apple Bloom had mixed up a bunch of potions, but my last attempt at acting/directing/writing had met with... mixed reception. It would take me forever to get my cutie mark compared to them and it wasn’t fair. We were supposed to get our cutie marks at the same time, and instead… Ugh, it wasn’t fair at all.

At some point while I was thinking, the rest of the school had gotten into the auditorium and the doors closed with a heavy click, while two ponies I was familiar with took the main stage. One was a gray mare with a black mane who had a pink… I think it’s a treble clef for a cutie mark, that matched her eyes, bow tie, and the stripe in her mane that wasn’t there the first time I met her. The other pony was a midnight-blue alicorn with a mane of night sky that seemed like it was always being blown by the wind. I wanted to wave at them, but since nopony else was, I decided it was maybe a bad idea.

“Good morning everypony,” the gray mare said as she took the central podium. “I am Octavia Melody, and I will be the acting headmistress this semester because apparently our original headmistress thought it a better idea to flee to Mareami than do the job she was hired for.” Her voice was super harsh as she said the last few words, and I found myself wanting to hide as she looked around the room. “However, I can promise that the many setbacks this school has suffered in the last few months as we desperately scrambled to open on time will not impact the quality of education that you receive in the slightest, even if half the faculty fled or lost their minds after a few weeks in town.”

Luna glared at her, causing Octavia to shuffle the notes on the podium uncomfortably. “What I meant to say was that, despite all the hardship and adversity we suffered while trying to open this school on time, we still managed to persevere and create what will no doubt become one of the premier academies in Equestria. While I hope to get to know all of you by the time you leave here, I also hope that you give none of your teachers cause to send you to my office. Now, I would like to turn the podium over to our beloved princess and school founder, Princess Luna.”

The ponies in the room applauded as my favorite Princess headed towards the podium. “Thank you, my little ponies. It is truly a pleasure to stand before you today. When Headmistress Octavia and I first conceived of this school, we imagined a place where anypony, regardless of age, race, income, or stature could seek a higher education.” She smiled and glanced at Octavia. “At times, it was a trial, and there were moments where I doubted our chances of success, but the opening of the Senior Academy several months ago bolstered my hopes, and now seeing you all sitting and smiling in front of me today, I am proud to say that we have persevered and that the promise of the Academy has been fulfilled.”

There was a brief pause as she waited for the second round of applause to fade. “I have never been one for overly long and elaborate speeches. To my mind, a few honest lines are greater than several hours of blustering and posturing, and so, I would like to conclude by wishing you all a wonderful school year filled with learning and enrichment.”

Students applauded as Octavia took to the podium again. “Now, with those remarks, I would like to remind all students to report to their first class as soon as the assembly is over. Now, I am sure your teachers are all very eager to meet you, so please head to class with all due haste. Thank you all again for choosing to attend our academy. I’m sure most of you will go on to do great things in Equestria, and I hope you remember us when you do.”

After she finished speaking, most students started heading towards the door out of the auditorium, while I made a beeline for Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. “Hey girls,” I said, smiling, “what is your first class? I have…” I looked at my schedule. “Acting with Oscar Marelon. Huh, the first name sounds like a boy’s name, but the last name kind of sounds like a girl’s. I wonder which one it is.”

“Yeah, that is an odd one,” Apple Bloom said. “I have chemistry with Professor Moldeaux first and… Ooh! I have life sciences with him for my last class of the day.”

“Me too!” Scootaloo and I said in unison after looking through our schedules.

“This is great,” I said, wrapping my friends up in another giant hug. “I hoped we would have at least one class together. Miss Pi said it was likely that we would, and it’s true.”

“Huh,” Scootaloo said as we started walking out of the auditorium, “I wonder if it’s the same Miss Pie I have fourth period math with.”

“It is!” I said, beaming, “At least, I think it is. I mean, if not then there are two Miss Pies who teach math for fourth period, and oh my gosh, we’ll have math class together.”

“Yeah, super fun,” Scootaloo said. “Anyways, I’ve gotta break off here if I want to get to my metallurgy class with Iron Smith. Don’t know what it is, but it sounds super cool. See you girls at lunch.” She zipped off to the nearest stairwell, leaving Apple Bloom and me behind.

“Actually, Ah’ve gotta be headed out too. See you later Sweetie.”

“Have fun,” I said as she walked off to the other side of the school, leaving me to look at my schedule and find my class.

***

The acting class was mostly full by the time I got to it, and I had to stop myself from groaning when I saw Diamond Tiara was in the class. The pink earth pony had tormented us non-stop over the last few years, moving from making fun of our lack of cutie marks to mocking Scootaloo because she couldn’t fly. Of course, the second I walked into the room, she walked over towards me like a shark… but on land. Ooh! Are land sharks a real thing? I don’t think so, but maybe I should land-shark-proof my room just in case. Could land sharks get to the second floor of a house? “Hey, Sweetie Belle,” she said, pulling me out of my head. “I didn’t know they let blank flanks in here. I thought you had to have a talent to get here.”

“Nope!” I said, trying to keep my smile up under the combined pressure of Diamond Tiara and the fear of land sharks. “Everypony in Ponyville can come here for free. Otherwise, I don’t think either of us would be here.”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked, a mix of emotions running across her face. “My daddy could easily pay the enrollment fee. Your sister could too if she didn’t practically give all of her outfits away.”

“I wasn’t talking about price,” I said, my smile switching to a scowl at her attack on my sister. “I was talking about the fact that nopony knows exactly what your cutie mark is about. Most of our class just thought your special talent was wearing that stupid tiara on your head.”

“You take that back!” she snapped. “Yes, I got my cutie mark the same day I got my tiara, but it was for realizing that I only deserved the very best things in life. Something you wouldn’t know about.”

“So you have a cutie mark just for having nice things?” I laughed. “Wow, at least Rarity got her cutie mark for actually making stuff as opposed to just being spoiled by her dad.”

“That’s-!” Diamond Tiara’s face went super red as the bell rang and our teacher walked into the room, while we moved to sit as far away from each other as possible.

“Good morning, everypony,” a yellow stallion with a white mane and a golden statue for a cutie mark said as he walked into the room. “I am Oscar Marelon, professional actor, critic, and now teacher. It is my job to break all of you down through a sieve and build those of you I find worthy back up to the heights of greatness. Most of you will fail this class, so if you have any doubts about your acting ability, you should leave now and save yourself the pain.” Nopony in the class moved, although a few did look at the door.

Diamond Tiara’s hoof shot up. “Ooh, teacher, so would you say if somepony in this class didn’t have their cutie mark they should leave now?”

“I think that only one or two of you should be in this class. The rest of you will be weeded out so that you don’t hold the talented back. I very much look forward to that process.” He turned to regard Diamond Tiara. “Now, since you seem so interested in other ponies’ cutie marks, why don’t you start our conversation today by telling us your name, where you are from, and what your cutie mark has to do with acting.” He either smiled or sneered, I’m not sure which, as he finished speaking.

Diamond Tiara swallowed nervously. “Well, I’m Diamond Tiara, I’m from Ponyville, and my cutie mark is a tiara because it symbolizes-”

“Your name?” Mr. Marelon said, interrupting her. “Or perhaps it symbolizes that ridiculously gaudy thing you wear on your head. What it almost certainly does not symbolize, as you are from Ponyville and allowed to attend this school because of residency as opposed to merit, is a single iota of acting talent. Now then, who is next?”

Nopony in the room raised their hands. “Very well then,” he said, “let’s go in alphabetical order. Miss Bright Light?”

A powder-blue filly looked up from her desk. “Y-yes? My name is Bright Light, I am from Manehattan, and I earned my c-cutie mark when I filled in for a pony during a production of Filly on the Roof.” She gestured to her cutie mark, which looked like a bright light shining down on a stage.

“I assume this was a community theater production?” he said, pronouncing “community theater” as if it made him physically ill.

“N-no sir, my parents a-are are stage technicians for Bridleway productions. I spent most of my life back-backstage.”

His eyes twinkled for a second. “You. You might actually have potential, so why in Equestria are you acting like a terrified child? Do I scare you?”

She nodded. “Y-yes sir.”

“A healthy reaction to earning the attention of one of Equestria’s preeminent critics. Worry not though, I am positive that by the end of the semester, you will have earned the praise and adulation of the rest of the class. Those that remain, that is.” As he spoke, he surveyed the rest of the class, and when he looked at me, I really wanted to bolt out the door.

He went down the rest of the list, occasionally making positive remarks, but usually just insulting the ponies he spoke to. “Sweetie Belle?” he said at last, turning his attention towards me. “Ah, you must be the pony your schoolmate Diamond Tiara was speaking of. Tell me, Sweetie, are you as talentless as your lack of cutie mark would suggest?”

“Nope!” I said, “Last year, I wrote, starred, and directed in my own play.”

“Any Jane Doe can write or direct or even make a pathetic attempt at acting. The question is how it was received.” He narrowed his eyes. “Judging by your lack of cutie mark, I think I can surmise the answer.” The few students who weren’t crying laughed nervously at that. “Now, I’m not normally one for seating charts, but since you and Miss Tiara are both from Ponyville and, it seems, equally unskilled, you may sit both sit in the far back corner. I don’t wish what little talent we have to be held back by talentless lackwits who didn’t even have to go through this school’s already loose application process.” He gestured at two empty desks in a dark unlit corner of the room, and the two of us headed towards it with some reluctance.

He sneered and narrowed his eyes. “Is there anypony else in this room from Ponyville?” Nopony dared raise their hooves. “Good, then let’s continue. Our hour will be ending very soon and I want to get through everypony’s introductions before it concludes.”

I spent the rest of the class working not to cry and embarrass myself in front of both Diamond Tiara and Oscar Marelon. The class finished its introductions just before the bell rang. “Now, your first assignment, due at the end of the week, is to come up with your own original character and write a monologue spoken by them. You will be judged on not just dialog, but body language, showing versus telling, and your created character’s depth. I look forward to seeing what you come up with,” he said as the bell rang and I headed towards my next class. At least I had met the mare teaching it before, and I knew from experience that she wasn’t anywhere near as nasty as Mr. Marelon.

***

“Hey there,” the next teacher said after we had all entered her class. Several instruments hung from the wall, and a DJ booth thingy was next to her desk. I’d seen her with Octavia a few times and the two were pretty much inseparable after Octavia moved to town. Her electric-blue mane fell over her magenta goggles, and her cutie mark consisted of one of those black musical notes that kind of look like headphones on a white coat. “So, I’m Vinyl Scratch, and Tavi keeps saying I need to be formal and proper with you, but I figure there’s no harm in letting you call me Vinyl, and… oh.” Her horn went blue for a second and her goggles floated down around her neck.

“Right, so I am the music teacher, and you are all here because I guess whoever was creating the schedules thought you should be. So, show of hooves, who here likes modern music?” Almost all of the class raised their hooves. “Cool, got a lot of future headbangers and rockstars in here.” She grinned. “Maybe even a couple of DJs too. Now, who here likes classical stuff?” A green earth-pony filly with piano keys on her flank raised her hoof. “And we have a little Tavi here too. Awesome.” She frowned for a second. “Hey, Sweetie Belle, you didn’t raise up a hoof. What’s your poison, classical or modern?”

“Uhmm, well, I mostly listen to showtunes, but I don’t know if they’re classic or modern. Because they were written pretty recently, but I don’t think anypony thinks of them as modern music.”

Vinyl laughed. “I should have guessed. I remember Rarity told us she was super surprised that you didn’t pick…” She trailed off and shook her head. “Anyways, back on topic, does everypony here have a preferred instrument to play? We are going to be doing some practice when we aren’t discussing musical theory, and it would be cool if I knew what you were best at.” She went down the line, making notes next to her class list.

“Okay, Sweetie Belle,” she said, finally getting to me, “what instrument do you think you will be playing?”

“Uhmm, well I don’t really play an instrument, I mostly just want to be an actress.”

“Uh-huh,” she said rolling her eyes. Why did everypony do that when I said I wanted to be an actress? “Well would you be up for doing some vocal work then, since that would help if you ever do a musical?”

“Sure,” I said, happy to have a teacher who didn’t make me want to burst into tears. “That sounds terrific.”

“Great,” she said, making another note on her paper, before asking the next pony on her class list for his musical preference.

“Anyways,” she said after she had finished talking with everypony in class, “we are a bit ahead of schedule and since you don’t know each other yet, why don’t you all go and introduce yourselves to your classmates and find out something interesting about each of them.” As soon as she finished speaking, the class broke up into small clusters of ponies, talking excitedly with each other, while I found myself struggling to break into any of them. The only other pony who wasn’t in a group was the filly with the piano key cutie mark. Once I got closer to her, I was able to get a good look at her violet mane, and decided that I really liked it; Rarity would probably describe it as simple but ornate, creating a sense of elegant simplicity. I just found myself liking the way she did her bangs and styled her mane to drape over one shoulder. Did I mention I really liked it?

“So,” I said after I walked up to her. “I’m Sweetie Belle, what’s your name?”

“I’m Melodious So-sonata.”

“Huh,” I said. “I can’t hear you. You’ll have to speak up.”

“I said, I’m Melodious Sonata.”

“Sorry, I still can’t hear you. Unless you’re saying you want a frittata, and if that’s the case, I think we have lunch next.”

She took another step backward and cowered on the ground, covering her eyes with her forehooves. “[/size=0.25em]I said, I’m Melodious Sonata.”

“Oh come on, you know you’re being quieter each time, right?” I turned to face the teacher. “Miss Scratch, what is her name?”

Vinyl looked through her class list, “It’s Melodious Sonata.”

"Ooh!" I said, smiling at her. "I really like your name."

“R-really?” she asked, finally speaking where I could hear her.

I nodded.

She looked down at the ground for a few seconds before looking at me and getting up on her hooves. “I really like your name too.”

“Thanks! Hey, why aren’t you introducing yourself to the other ponies? I tried to, but I can’t get into any of the groups they broke into.”

“Oh, well, I really wouldn’t know what to do, I haven’t spent much time around ponies my age. I’m not sure that they would like me.”

“Really?” I asked. “Because I’ve only just met you, and I like you just fine.” I stopped and tilted my head in thought. “You know what, I just had the best idea. What if we became friends? That way you could spend more time around ponies your age.”

Melody blushed and turned her head at that. “You really want to be my friend? I’m sure you already have plenty of friends.”

“I do, actually,” I said, smiling. “Well, two other friends, but you can never have enough friends, and you seem nice, and I like you, so why not be friends? It’s not that complicated.”

She smiled. “If you’re sure, then okay. What, uhmm, what exactly do friends do around here?” The bell rang as she spoke, signalling that our class was over.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind having some lunch at the cafeteria,” I said, picking up the saddlebags I had placed under my desk. “Come on, I can introduce you to my other friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. I’m sure you’ll love them.”

***

“Hey girls,” I said as I walked towards their table in the cafeteria, where they were in a very animated discussion with some ponies I had never seen before. One was a brown pegasus colt with a gear for his cutie mark, and the other a white unicorn with a science flask thingy on her flank. “How has your day been? Mine was great, I made a new friend in music class.” I decided not to tell them about acting class because I’d really preferred to just not think about it.

“Great,” the two said, waving at me. Scootaloo laughed. “This is Socket,” she said, gesturing towards the earth pony sitting next to her. “He’s in my metallurgy class– and you’ll never guess who else is in there.”

“Hmm,” I said, rubbing my muzzle and trying to ignore the biting sting in the back of my head that whispered Socket was the beginning of the end for my friendship with Scootaloo. “Is it Celestia? No, that’s dumb, what about Luna?”

“No, Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes, “it’s neither of them. It’s Silver Spoon, and she isn’t that terrible when she’s not around Diamond Tiara. She didn’t bother me or anything.”

“Yeah, I have acting class with Diamond Tiara, and she is just as bad there as she normally is.”

“Hey,” Apple Bloom said, her ears perking up at the mention of my acting class. “How is that class, anyways? You any closer to earning your acting cutie mark yet?” She smiled at me and I turned away to look at the ground.

“It’s fine,” I said. “We mostly just did normal first day of school stuff. You know, nothing big.”

“Hey, you alright Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your mood go bad so fast.”

“No, I’m fine, it’s fine. Hey, have you girls met Melodious Sonata yet?” I said, pointing a hoof at her. “She’s in my music class and doesn’t have any friends yet. I thought that maybe we could bring her into the group.”

“Well,” Apple Bloom said, “she has her cutie mark already, so I don’t think we can make her a full Cutie Mark Crusader, but I suppose we could make her an honorary member so she can use the clubhouse and stuff.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Melodious said. “I just moved in to the junior academy dormitories and- are you sure it’s okay with you three?”

“Sure,” Apple Bloom said. “It must be hard for ya to come all the way to Ponyville. I bet it’s super lonely.”

“It’s okay,” Melodious said. “I’m used to spending time alone, and it isn’t actually that bad, but… it would be nice to have a few friends.”

“Then it’s settled,” I said before Apple Bloom could respond. “You can be an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader and have full access to our clubhouse whenever you are feeling lonely. There’s usually at least one pony there most days, especially since we toned down all our crusading.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said. “Hope to see you around, and… Ooh! Maybe we should make Socket and Life Bloom honorary Crusaders too. Speaking of,” she added, gesturing at the unicorn sitting next to her, “Sweetie Belle, I’d like you to meet Life Bloom. She’s in my chemistry class and super smart.” And that was it, they each had their new friend who totally got them in a way I couldn’t and… Why did they have to ruin what we had by bringing new ponies into the mix? Wasn’t I good enough for them?

I bit my tongue. If I told them how I felt, they’d just think I was being silly or over-dramatic, and then Apple Bloom would probably mention I made a new friend too, even though that’s a totally different thing. Yes, Melody might be a great new friend, but I don’t have any reason to stop hanging out with them and– A frozen claw gripped my heart. Why would they need me now that they have better friends?

“Not at all,” Life Bloom said, pulling me out of my head and forcing me to focus on one of the ponies who was going to take my friends away. “I just have an interest in biology and have read several volumes on the subject. I wish I had Apple Bloom’s skill at raw potion making though.” She was wearing a pair of glasses and her cinnamon mane was trimmed short. Rarity would probably describe it as a practical mane cut while working to keep the disdain out of her voice.

“Okay,” Scootaloo said, “you two both have ‘Bloom’ as part of your name, and calling you ‘Life’ just sounds kind of weird, so what should we call you?”

“I would go with Life Bloom,” she said firmly. “It’s my name and I’m rather fond of it. Perhaps you could go with ‘LB’ if you make a habit of calling Apple Bloom ‘AB,’ but I don’t think you do.”

“We can do that,” Scootaloo said. “And we definitely don’t go around calling Apple Bloom ‘AB.’ It just sounds super weird.”

“Agreed,” Apple Bloom and Life Bloom said in unison, before giving each other a look of surprise.

“Wow,” Scootaloo said, “You’re already talking together, how crazy is that?”

“Completely crazy,” I said, struggling to beat down my fears. If I was friendly enough, if I was fun enough, if I was good enough, they might not leave me. I smiled at my new friends and tried to drown my gloomy thoughts in warm fuzzies. Happy. Had to stay happy

“Oh, right,” Scootaloo said, turning to face her new friend. “This is Socket Wrench. He offered to help me fix up my scooter so I can go even faster.”

“Actually,” he said. “There are a variety of minor enhancements we can make that will lead to a 50% increase in speed and 20% increase in responsiveness based on what I’ve seen. For instance, we can replace the main shaft with a durable lightweight-” I kind of tuned him out as he started talking about mechanical stuff, but he and Scootaloo were soon talking all about what they could do with her scooter while the four of us just kind of stared at them.

They don’t need you anymore.

In response to the very unwelcome thought, I just made myself smile bigger. “So,” I said turning to my new friend, “Melodious Sonata is kind of a long name. Is it okay if we call you Melody for short?”

She nodded. “That sounds nice. Thank you all for being so nice to me.”

“It’s not like you made it hard for us,” I said. “You’ve been nothing but nice since I met you. A bit quiet and shy, but nice.”

Melody blushed. “Your friends seem nice too.” She shot a glance at Scootaloo and Socket who were talking excitedly over some blueprints. “Is she always this… enthusiastic?”

“Actually, we’re all pretty enthusiastic, although we’re getting a lot better, we barely ruined any parades this year,” I said, smiling at her and ignoring whatever plans Scootaloo and Socket were making that apparently didn’t involve me.

“That sounds a lot more chaotic than what I’m used to, you probably won’t want a wet blanket like me around.”

I laughed at that. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll fit right in. I mean, Scootaloo and I are pretty different, but we’re best friends. Besides, we’re pretty calm most of the time.” Okay, so that last part was a lie, but it was a happy lie, and Melody needed a friend right now.

Our conversation halted as Scootaloo and Socket started breaking up her scooter on the cafeteria table. “Alright, do you have the parts?” Scootaloo asked, looking at Socket.

“What? No. Those are in the shop room. Did you think we would do it now?” he asked, scrunching up his forehead.

“Duh, did you not? If I can make my scooter more awesome, I want to do it right away. Do you think we can get into the shop room?” she asked as she shovelled her scooter parts into her bag.

“Yes, but the parts are probably locked up, and lunch is over in fifteen minutes.”

Scootaloo jumped away from the table and started sprinting out of the cafeteria. “Then we better hurry, last pony there is a rotten egg!” I frowned as she left the cafeteria. Her running off to do something impulsive wasn’t that unusual, but we usually ran with her. Of course, it made sense since Apple Bloom and I didn’t have any mechanical experience while Socket did, but I still didn’t like it.

Socket sighed before following after Scootaloo. “Is she- Is this normal for her?” he asked. Apple Bloom and I nodded.

“Pretty much,” I said. “Sometimes–” I stopped talking as Socket flew out of the room

“You were saying something about how your group is usually calm?” Melody asked, a small smile on her lips.

“Uhmm, yeah, well we can be calm, right Apple Bloom?” I asked, hoping for some support from the most level-headed pony in the CMC.

“I’m tellin’ you, there’s no way you can safely make the intelligence potion more potent by doublin’ the active reagent. If you just put more of it in the potion, you’ll be lucky to get a headache. What you have to do to increase the potion’s kick is condense it down,” Apple Bloom said, somehow having gotten into an argument about alchemy during the few seconds I was facing away from her.

“Are you sure?” Life Bloom asked, flipping through one of the books in her saddlebags. “All the texts I have read indicated that doubling the amount of Bran’s Fruit juice in the potion would be sufficient.”

“Well it ain’t. In fact, we can put that to the test as soon as school is over. We’ll both mix up our potions and see who gets to be the smartest.”

“Are you implying we would test it on ourselves? That hardly seems impartial.”

Apple Bloom tapped her chin. “I suppose we could use some test subjects. Hey Sweetie, do you want to try out a potion after school today?”

“I don’t know,” I said, my smile vanishing for a second. “What does it do?”

“It should make you a lot smarter temporarily. Don’t worry, you can use my potion, since it’ll actually work. Melody, do you wanna test Life Bloom’s potion?”

“That sounds really dangerous,” Melody said, looking at me worriedly. “You just said her potion wouldn’t work and I’d be lucky to get a headache.”

“Oh, nonsense,” Apple Bloom said. “The worst case scenario is a bad headache, and I suppose it is possible that Life Bloom’s potion could work. I mean, assuming that she... Nevermind, the point is that nothin’ bad’ll happen. Probably.”

“I… I suppose it couldn’t be too terrible and if it helps out a friend… Just promise the potion won’t have any really bad lasting effects.”

“I promise that I will do everything in my power to ensure your potion-testing experience is optimal,” Life Bloom said, finishing off her lunch. “I have crafted a variety of potions in my time, and most of them met with positive results. I highly doubt altering one so simple would end poorly.”

“Right, okay,” I said. “Just so long as nopony gets hurt. We’re all friends here and friends don’t let friends drink something that might be dangerous, right?”

Apple Bloom and Life Bloom nodded. “Of course,” Apple Bloom said. “I wouldn’t risk the health and safety of a fellow Cutie Mark Crusader. Especially not yours. Oh, no offense Melody.”

“It’s fine,” she said, taking a small bite out of her sandwich, “The two of you have known each other longer.” Soon, we’d moved on to other topics, and we spent the rest of lunch talking about our upcoming classes, and the fact that, apparently, Apple Bloom and I had our next class together.

***

“I don’t get why we have to take a class on the Equestrian language. Everypony here can talk good,”Apple Bloom said as the bell rang for our next class.

“That would be ‘everypony here can talk well,’ Miss Bloom,” Octavia said as she walked into our class. “Now, I assume you all remember our little talk this morning, and some of you might be wondering just why the school’s acting headmistress is teaching one of your classes on the Equestrian language. The answer is the same reason I am the school’s acting headmistress.” She sighed and shook her head as she set several books down on her bed. “It seems some ponies are less resilient when it comes to enduring the pit of madness that is Ponyville than I, something I had previously not thought possible.”

She smiled and regarded the class. “Now then, I will be serving as your Equestrian language teacher for the semester. Hopefully, by the time winter semester starts our school will be fully staffed, and I won’t have to-” She stopped talking and looked at us for several seconds before shaking her head again.

“Right, modern Equestrian. Now, I’m sure most of your teachers have been busy focusing on introductions. For some classes, I suppose such activities are useful; however, I don’t see them providing much benefit for us. Instead, you will each recite a challenging paragraph for me out in the hall, while the rest of you will be tasked with properly capitalizing and punctuating sentences. I will evaluate them later tonight so I can accurately judge your mastery of the language.” She passed papers out to the head of each row in the class. “Please take one sheet and pass it back. Now, Apple Bloom, I believe you are the first pony on the class list. Would you care to join me outside?”

Apple Bloom gulped and nodded as she followed Octavia outside. “Relax, Miss Apple Bloom, I promise this whole ordeal will be painless and over with before you know it.” With that, the door closed and the rest of the class looked at the papers that had been passed out. I started work on the first sentence on the paper: the old pony eats his hay and then he goes to bed after that he tries to sleep but the old pony finds he is unable.

Okay, I thought, looking down the paper, this is easy. Sentences start with capital letters, end with periods, and occasionally use commas for reasons, so the sentence should be: The old pony eats his hay and then he goes to bed. After that he tries to sleep but, the old pony finds he is unable. Perfect, it has everything, capitals. periods, even a comma, and they should all be in the right places. What’s next?

I went through the rest of the sentences pretty quickly after that, and the class kind of flew by until I heard Octavia call my name. “Alright,” she said as I walked outside the classroom, passing me a sheet of paper, “I want you to read the paragraph as quickly and accurately as you can.”

“Okay,” I said, looking at the paper, “Celestia sells seashells by the seashore, while the rain in Mane falls mainly on manes in the plains.” The paragraph went on like that for a while, and while I spoke, I noticed Octavia making the occasional note in front of her.

“Very good, Miss Belle,” she said as I finished my recital. “Overall, your pronunciation was excellent; however, there were several times where you spoke too quickly and caused your words to slur together ever so slightly. I would recommend practicing several of the tongue twisters in the paragraph to increase your ability to speak rapidly without losing your ability to be understood. You have the potential to be a wonderful... orator with just a touch of practice.”

“Thanks!” I said. “I want to be an actress, and I suppose that’s kind of close to orating, right?”

I could see her try not to roll her eyes as she nodded. “Indeed it is Miss Belle. Now, I must test the rest of the students, please take the sheet I gave you back to class and finish your other assignment.” Octavia followed me back into class and called for the next student while I sat next to Apple Bloom.

“How’d ya do?” She asked after Octavia had left the room with her next student.

“Alright,” I said. “She said my pronunciation was great, but that I talk too quickly at times. You?”

“Uhh, not so great. Apparently she ain’t real big on speakin’- what did she call it? Co-llo-qui-ally? Somethin’ like that. Anyways, she gave me a few papers to practice working on until I can talk without an accent or usin’ any contractions. I don’t see what the big deal is, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to know how to talk properly in case I ever have to go to Canterlot or meet a princess or something.”

“But we meet with Twilight every week,” I whispered, trying to make sure nopony over heard me.

“Yeah, but ya know, we knew her before she was a princess. I guess she’s just plain old Twilight to me, even if she does have a big castle now.”

“Okay, if you want I will listen to your speech exercises. According to Rarity, I have an ear for accents.”

She nodded at me. “That’ll be- I mean, that will be great, Sweetie Belle. Maybe we can do it after our potion-making contest.”

“It sounds like a plan,” I said as Octavia reentered the room and called out for another student.

The two of us focused on our class work after that, and pretty soon Octavia was in back in the classroom discussing our assignments for the day. “Now, I’ve given most of you assignments to better improve your pronunciation and diction. I will also be tasking you with keeping a journal during the semester. The contents of this journal are up to you, but I do ask that you update it as frequently as possible. I will look through it at the end of each week to see how your writing is improving.” As she spoke, she passed out journals to everypony in class.

“Now then,” she said as the bell rang and the class started heading towards the door, “I hope you all continue to have a wonderful first day of classes and I will see you tomorrow.”

“What class do you have next?” I asked Apple Bloom as we entered the hallway.

“I have… let’s see,” she said, looking at her schedule, “it looks like I have introduction alchemy with Zecora next. You have math, right?”

I nodded. “Yep! I’ll see you in- what’s the class we all have together?”

“Life sciences,” she said as the swirling mass of students pushed us apart. “I’ll see you then.”

As I walked to my next class, I ran into Scootaloo. “Hey,” I said, “how was your scooter work? You and Socket ran off in a hurry.”

“It was great,” she said. “My scooter is so much more awesome now. Thanks to Socket, it can probably go twice as fast.”

“Ooh, it sounds like you like him,” I said, my mind filling with images of the two of them going out on dates, getting married, and – I just barely stopped myself from making an audible squeak – kissing. They would be the cutest couple ever, I bet.

“Well, he is pretty cool.” Scootaloo said. “I mean, anyone who can make me go faster is totally awesome in my book.”

“Did you two kiss yet? It would be so romantic, the two of you in the shop class, working on your scooter; the last scooter thingy slips into place, and in a wave of excite-”

She cut me off. “Sweetie, you’ve been reading too many of your sister’s books again. He’s cool, he’s a friend, but that’s it. I don’t even- He’s just a friend.”

“But, the two of you would be so cu-”

“Just. A. Friend.” She stopped walking to class to stare me down. “You got it?”

I nodded at her slowly. “Fiiiiine, but the two of you would just be so cute together.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Do you remember what happened the last time you tried to set two ponies up on a date?”

“First of all,” I said, “we all worked together on that-”

“But you came up with the idea first.”

“Alright, fine. WE almost wound up destroying the entire town the last time I thought playing matchmaker would be a good idea.”

“So you won’t try to set me and Socket up on a date?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head, “but if you two start dating anyways, I’m totally going to remind you about this.”

She sighed and shook her head as we entered the math class. “Of course you will. And we won’t start dating. Dating is gross.”

“You say that now,” I said, smiling, “but soon it will be all ‘Scootaloo and Socket sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-’”

“Oh look, we are at our class, you can stop talking now,” she said, sprinting into the classroom. I just smiled and followed after her, thinking of how cute their foals would be. They would totally get together and it would be adorable. I just had to give them a little nudge.

I walked into the class and the teacher was the same mare who gave me my schedule, her strawberry-red mane and tan coat was way too nice a combination for me to forget easily. Also, I guess her cutie mark was kind of distinctive too. “Hi, Miss Pi,” I said, giving her a friendly wave of the hoof. “It’s nice to see you again.”

She nodded at me. “Thank you,” she checked her class list, “Sweetie Belle. I apologize for forgetting your name. I’ve met so many students today, I fear some of their names have escaped me.”

“It’s fine,” I said as I took my seat. “I’ve met a lot of ponies today too, and I bet you’ve met way more since you had to meet classes full of ponies.”

Miss Pi laughed as the bell rang. “Thank you for being so understanding.” She stopped and addressed the rest of the class. “Now then, everypony, I am Miss Pi, and I will be your math teacher for the semester.”

As she spoke, a colt in the back of the class raised his hand. “If this is about why my first name is listed as ‘Strawberry’ on the syllabus, I can assure you there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for it. My parents believed that my fate would be that of a baker when I was born, and my name reflects that. However, instead of baking pies, I found I had a much greater interest in calculating the number pi and my cutie mark reflects that.

“Now that the issue of my name is cleared up, do you all have any other questions?” There was a pause as the classroom was silent. “Wonderful, then we can begin our work for the day. I would like each of you to give me your name and your intended profession, and in return I will give you a math problem that applies to your job.” The class groaned and she started going down the list of students until she reached Scootaloo.

“Scootaloo, am I pronouncing it right?” Miss Pi asked, smiling at my friend.

“Yes, Miss Pie.”

Our teacher’s left eye twitched. “Excuse me, but I go through the trouble of working to pronounce your name correctly, I would ask you return the favor.”

“But I did, I called you Miss Pie. That’s right isn’t it? That’s what everypony else in class has been calling you.”

“No,” she said, her ear twitching in time with her eye. “They’ve been calling me Miss Pi. You called me Miss Pie. Do you hear the difference?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “They both sound exactly the same.”

“There’s a difference,” she yelled before running a hoof through her mane and taking a few deep calming breaths. “You said it with an ‘e.’”

“But they sound exactly the same. How can you tell?” Scootaloo asked, scrunching up her forehead.

“I just can. Now, please Scootaloo, tell me a bit about yourself.”

“Uhmm, okay. So, I really like riding my scooter, and I’m good at it. I can catch at least ten seconds of airtime with it,” she said.

“Alright,” she said, nodding her head, “let’s say you are working to travel from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire, an eight-hundred mile journey. You want to go there on your scooter and can travel an average of fifteen miles an hour. You can travel fifteen miles an hour for ten hours a day. Each night you must stop and rest at an inn. A room at an inn costs five-hundred bits. How many bits would you have to bring with you to make the journey?”

“Zero,” she said, “because I totally made that trip in one day.”

The teacher’s mouth fell open. “That… You would have to be travelling eighty miles an hour to make that journey.”

Scootaloo shrugged. “Not really, the roads aren’t that direct. Going in a straight line shaves a lot of time off.”

“Okay. Well, to solve this problem please use the values given. I will expect your answer tomorrow.” She turned to look at me. “Now then, Sweetie Belle. What are you attending this school for?”

“Ooh! I want to be an actress and star on Bridleway,” I said, happy to talk about my dreams.

“Wonderful, you perform seven shows a week. Each show has three thousand ponies in attendance and pay an average of eight hundred bits per pony. Eight million bits per week are spent to maintain the theater. You take two percent of the remainder as your pay. How many bits do you make a week?” she asked as I wrote down the word problem so I could work on it later. “Do you have all the information?”

I nodded at her.

“Good,” Miss Pi said, looking at her paper. “Now then, who’s next on my list?”

The teacher turned to talk to the next student as I started working on her word problem. I mostly managed to turn all of the words into numbers by the time the bell rang and I headed towards my next class with Scootaloo walking next to me. “Any luck on your math problem?” I asked.

“Haven’t even started it yet,” she said, shrugging. “Although, I am curious about how fast I was going to get from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire in less than one day. We did go in a pretty straight line but… We must have been going super fast. I think I’m going to go look at a couple of maps after school.”

“Hey girls,” Apple Bloom said as she walked up next to us. “How was your math class?”

“Good,” I said. “We all got different homework questions. I have to figure out how much money I’d make if I was a Bridleway actress.”

“And I have to figure out how many bits I’d need to bring with me if I was scootering to the Crystal Empire and way worse at scootering. Also, I want to figure out just how fast I was going during our trip to the Crystal Empire.”

“Sounds… fun?” Apple Bloom said as we entered our next class. “I got my biology textbook, and we did the basic getting to know each other stuff. I thought it was bad doing it once, now we are gonna be doing it five times a semester til we graduate. I’m all for meeting ponies, but do we really have to do this four times in one day? It’s gettin’ a bit tedious.” She paused for a second. “I mean, it does get to be rather tedious.” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Stupid homework. I can’t believe Octavia is forcing me to learn proper Equestrian. I can speak it just fine, thank you very much.”

We took our seats as our next teacher adjusted a few papers on his desk. He definitely looked like a stallion, but his glasses, hat, and coat made it hard to tell. All I could figure out that he was a mossy shade of green. “Greetings, students,” he (definitely a he now that he spoke) said. “I am Mister Moldeaux. I would request that you call me by that title for the duration of this class. You all are here to learn about the natural sciences, and I am something of an expert in that category.” He chuckled to himself.

“Excuse me,” an unknown filly asked, “but if you’re teaching us about science and stuff, then what’s your cutie mark?”

There was a long pause as he seemed to stare at the wall opposite him. “That is a good question. One we- I can… When I was younger, we went through a series of tribulations that left us physically broken and burnt. While we were able to pull oursel- myself back together, my cutie mark is nothing more than a mass of unrecognizable tissue. It is unfortunate. However, before the accident, my cutie mark was an image of mold in a petri dish. Does that satisfactorily answer your question?”

She nodded at him. “Good,” he said. “Now we can get back to the proper work of the class, I have met some of you earlier in the day, while others are new to our eyes, so I believe it is appropriate that we go around and introduce ourselves in these situations. When I call upon you, I would like you to tell me a bit about yourself. Now then…” He looked down at the list and smiled. “It is good to see you again Apple Bloom.”

My friend made a super-quiet sigh before returning Moldeaux’s smile.

***

“This is so dumb,” Apple Bloom said at the clubhouse, several hours later, flipping through one of the books Octavia gave her while waiting for her potion to finish condensing. “Why do I have to do all these speech exercises? I ain’t gonna be some big fancy speaker like Sweetie Belle.”

“Perhaps you will gain some benefit from them,” Life Bloom said while mixing her own potion. “If you ever have to present a scientific paper, it would benefit you greatly if you could temporarily lose your accent. Not that I mind it, but others might judge you.”

As they had gone about mixing their potions, Melody moved to cower in the corner. “Hey girls, shouldn’t we initiate the new CMC members before we do all the potion testing stuff?” I asked, gesturing at Life Bloom and Socket.

“Huh? Oh yeah,” Scootaloo said, looking up from her math assignment. “Apple Bloom, can you leave your potion stuff alone for a few minutes without bad stuff happening?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “It’s just condensing right now, so it should be fine. Worst case scenario is it gets even stronger. You good LB?”

Life Bloom sighed as she mixed another ingredient into her potion. “I suppose I am. I have a few minutes until the potion finishes percolating.”

“I’m good,” Socket said. “I have some plans on how we can make the clubhouse totally awesome though, and I can’t wait to get to work on them, so can we move things along?”

“If it means more time before I have to test the potion, I am fine with it. In fact, a longer ceremony would be better,” Melody said, taking a careful step outside of the corner she had been sitting/hiding in since we arrived.

“Don’t worry,” Apple Bloom said, as the three of us moved to our proper positions. “Ever since we revised our pledge, it takes practically no time at all. Sweetie, you want the honors this time?” She pointed at the big podium and I nodded my head before bouncing over to it.

“Okay,” I said, pulling the scroll I was supposed to read from out of the podium and unfurling it. “Do you three swear to aid your sisters in their quest for your cutie marks, as you too shall be… Guess that last part’s not really relevant to you three. Right, do you swear to uphold the bonds of sorority and equality that the Cutie Mark Crusaders stand for? Do you believe that Rainbow Dash is- Scootaloo, how did this get in here?” The pegasus just grinned at me before looking away. “If you promise to fulfill this pledge and remember the bond that unites you with your sisters… and brother until your dying days, then say ‘I do.’”

“I do,” three ponies said in unison with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

“Then I now pronounce you Cutie Mark Crusaders. Please don your cloaks which… we need to make.”

“So that’s it?” Life Bloom asked. “We’re friends now?”

“‘Course we are,” Apple Bloom said, going back to her potion making. “We were friends before, but now we’re crusaders, and that’s better than friendship.”

“Oh, okay,” Melody said before going back to her corner. “If you need anything then, just let me know. I’m happy to help.”

“That’s the crusadin’ spirit- I mean, that is the crusading spirit,” she said, stifling a groan. “Ooh, it looks like both batches of my potion condensed properly while I was away, now to just mix them and…” She carefully poured the contents of one flask into the other. “I think I’m done. How are you doing Life Bloom?”

“I need just a few more minutes until I am ready.”

“Hey Apple Bloom,” I said, “I’ve been stuck on this math problem forever. Can I please try the potion now?”

“Uh, not yet,” she said, using a pair of tongs to lower the flask onto our windowsill. “It still needs to cool off a bit unless ya want to burn your throat.”

“Fine,” I said, going back to pecking at my math problem. “It’s just really hard.”

“Do you want my help?” Scootaloo asked. “My problem was pretty easy. Now, I’m just trying to figure out how far and how fast I went to get to the Crystal Empire, because I’m pretty sure I didn’t go eight hundred miles in one day. I’m not that good yet.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I can wait until the potion cools. “Actually, I’m pretty excited. I always wanted to know what it feels like to be a smart pony.

“Oh Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said, waving a hoof dismissively at me, “you’re plenty smart.”

“I’m not,” I said. “You’re probably going to end up being some super scientist, Scootaloo knows a bunch of mechanical stuff, but what am I good at? I’m not even that great an actress yet.”

“You… uhmm, have a nice voice,” Melody said. “I could listen to you talk all day.”

“Thanks,” I said. “But anypony can talk. You two do things I can’t do while the best you can say about me is that I have a nice voice.”

“Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said, taking a step towards me, “you’re the heart of the group. Ain’t nopony I know that’s sweeter or kinder ‘an you except maybe Miss Fluttershy, and you’re always here to cheer us up when we need you. None of us can do that nearly as well as you, so don’t go gettin’ down on yourself ‘cause ya don’t know as much as we do. Shoot, you’re way better at writin’ than we are, right Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo nodded.

“You really mean that?” I asked, my ears perking up slightly.

“Of course,” Scootaloo said. “Cutie Mark Crusaders don’t lie to each other, it’s against the rules.”

“Yay!” I squealed, sprinting forward to wrap the two other founding CMC members in a hug. “You girls are the best and…” I looked at the other three ponies in the room. “You three get in here too, Cutie Mark Crusader group hug!”

Scootaloo groaned as the other three joined the group hug. “I should have known this would end in mushy stuff.”

“Ooh! Speaking of mushy stuff,” I said, “have you told Socket about your-”

“Still not going to happen Sweetie Belle.”

“Fiiine,” I sighed. “Can we keep the hug going a few seconds longer?”

“As long as you keep your crazy theories to yourself, sure,” Scootaloo said as four other ponies nodded.

“Thanks girls, you’re the best,” I said as the outer members of the group hug began to drift away, “And you too Socket, I bet your plans for the new clubhouse will be great.”

“They will,” he said, going back to the drafting board he had set up in our clubhouse. “Now how comfortable are you all with a mana engine at the base of the clubhouse?”

“Aren’t those kind of dangerous to build?” Scootaloo asked. “They last for a while, but getting the raw magic to power them is-”

“Incredibly easy when you have a princess living in Ponyville?” Socket said.

“I suppose if we got Twilight to help the project it wouldn’t be too bad,” Apple Bloom said, checking the temperature of her potion. “But what do we need it for, anyways? Our clubhouse doesn’t really use any power.”

“Not yet it doesn’t,” he said, laughing, “but give me a few weeks and we will have a lot more power needs. Ooh, we should probably get some enchanting stones too, for the portal matrix.”

Apple Bloom and I looked at each other as she carried the potion over towards me. “Ya think we should stop this? I mean, I’m all for a bigger and better clubhouse to grow in, but portal matrixes seem a little advanced.”

“It’ll be fine,” I said as I took the potion from Apple Bloom’s hooves. “If we’re asking Twilight for help, she can probably check over the designs and make sure they’re okay. Now, is this ready to drink?

“I suppose,” Apple Bloom said, responding to my first comment. “And yeah, it is. Life Bloom, is your potion ready?”

“It’s cooling now,” she said. “You can go ahead and start tests on Sweetie Belle though, simultaneous dosage is not a requirement for accurate testing.”

“Uh, alright,” Apple Bloom said, “I guess you can-”

Before she could finish, I had downed the potion. It tasted a lot like medicine, which makes sense since it’s kind of medicine. “Couldn’t you have made it taste better?” I asked, trying to get the taste out of my mouth.

“Not without upsetting the chemical balance in the potion and having some possibly nasty side effects. How do you feel?”

“Besides the taste in my mouth, I feel-” I was going to say fine, but there was a blinding white flash of light, and when it finally subsided, I found myself sitting in the middle of my room at my parent’s house with a throbbing headache, and judging by the fact that the sun was down, at least a few hours had passed. “I don’t feel any smarter,” I said, before noting that there were now several journals sitting on my desk.

I went over to investigate them, and found that each one had the name of one of my friends on it with a drawing that seemed related to them beneath the name. Apple Bloom’s had an apple slice shaped like one of those flask thingies she used on top of a pink heart, Scootaloo’s had one of her scooter wheels with a yellow lightning bolt shooting out from behind it on top of the same pink heart, and my journal just had the pink heart on it. The new Cutie Mark Crusaders also had journals with their names written on them, and each one of their journals was emblazoned with their cutie mark on it.

All the journals had a time lock on them as well, counting down to some point in the future that was still several months away. “Okay,” I said, looking at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo’s journals, “it seems logical that these journals are supposed to represent their future cutie marks, so… why is mine still blank? Is my cutie mark just going to be a heart? How does that relate to acting or…?” I yawned. There was something... Something important I'd meant to do today, I had to do today, but it could probably wait until tomorrow. It would have to. Drinking mysterious potions can really knock a filly out.

Author's Note

A brand new story and a brand new chapter! ~~It's light, it's soft, it's rated "E for Everyone," and obviously it's not that super dark fic I alluded to in yesterday's blog post. This is the alternative, for people who don't like reading about terrible things happening to characters they know and love. I personally don't get it, but you know, to each their own~~.

These words are lies written by an idiot author who didn't quite visualize where Sweetie's arc would take them. This story is not lighter and softer than RPO. It might be darker. I don't know, but it's definitely not for everyone anymore.

~~Also, feel free to leave unfounded speculation for me to read. I would certainly never steal the cooler ideas and put them into my story~~. :scootangel: This story's arc is finished. You can still speculate about what's going to happen if you really want to, though.

I feel like there's other stuff I wanted to say like how fun this chapter was to write and how challenging it was to be in somepony else's head. Hopefully you find that Sweetie thinks differently than Tavi, and hopefully any future stories written from Tavi's perspective don't channel Sweetie too much (Like the story slated to come out mid-week). Oh, this is so exciting!

2. The Swing of Things

I woke up the next morning, and the journals were right where I had left them. I guess that means it wasn’t a dream, I thought, yawning – Although, this could be a dream too. What if everything has been a dream so far? What if I’m about to wake up and become somepony completely different? It didn’t seem completely impossible; I’d had dreams I thought were completely real before, only to wake up later and find out they weren’t. “Princess Luna!” I called out, testing my theory. I waited several minutes, and the only response was my father knocking on the door to see if everything was alright.

“So,” I said as I examined the mysterious journals a second time, “this isn’t a dream… Unless the real world doesn’t have Princess Luna in it. What if I’m not even a pony in the real world?!” I laid back down on my bed to try and think things over. Maybe I can talk with my friends about whether or not I'm a dream at school. Oh right, school. In an hour. I shot out of my bed, showered as fast as possible, and quickly ran a brush through my mane. Rarity would have been… What was that word she liked to use? Mor-ti-fied? That sounds like it.

I sprinted downstairs and stopped as I saw the empty kitchen.

No.

Oh, no no no! Last night was supposed to be spend-time-with-my-parents-before-they-left-on-their-big-trip night. We were going to have pizza and board games and shakes, and I'd just... The stupid potion made me miss it... Or at least, not remember it. I stared at their empty spots at the kitchen table. They just left and didn't even bother to wake me up... or maybe they did, and I just slept through it. It didn't matter, I was alone again, or at least... I couldn't think about this now, I needed to get to class. Giving one last look at the empty kitchen, I sprinted towards the Academy, each step burying my worries deeper as I instead thought of all the fun things that could happen at school today. That was definitely better than thinking about my parents.

***

“Ah, Miss Belle,” Mister Marelon said as I got to class barely a second ahead of the bell, “it’s so… nice of you to join us today. For a brief moment, I had entertained the hope that you saw how absolutely futile your endeavor was and transferred to a class more suitable to your lack of talents. Instead, I get the distinct pleasure of your company today.” He pointed a hoof back towards my desk in the back of the class, next to Diamond Tiara’s.

“Psst,” she whispered as I sat down. “Looks like I’m not the only one who–”

Mr. Marelon whipped his head around to look at her. “Miss Tiara, you surprise me. I didn’t know you were qualified to teach the class. Please, come to the front of the class and wow us with your acting acumen.” Mr. Marelon stepped away from the podium, giving her space. Diamond Tiara stayed at her desk, looking absolutely terrified. “I’m sorry Miss Tiara, did that last sentence sound like a request? Because if so, I must apologize again. That was an order Miss Tiara, and in my class, I expect you to follow orders. Now come on up here and impress us.” My new tormentor sneered as my old tormenter slowly trudged up to the front of class and stared at us, stammering for words.

There was a long pause where she tried to speak, her face paled, her legs shook, and soon some of the students who hadn’t upset Mr. Marelon started to laugh. By the time he sent Diamond Tiara back to her desk, the only ponies not laughing were Bright Lights and myself. As much as I really didn’t like Diamond Tiara, I didn’t want to see her humiliated… Okay, I did want to see her humiliated, but this wasn’t anywhere as satisfying as I’d imagined. She started to cry as she walked back to class and I suddenly felt really awful for fantasizing about this exact moment. If I knew it would be this bad, I wouldn't have.... Nopony deserved to be made fun of, even if they were kind of jerks.

***

“Excuse me,” Melody said as I sat next to her in Vinyl’s class, “I don’t want to pry, and if you don’t want to say anything, that’s completely fine, but… uhmm, what happened after you drank your potion?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I was kind of hoping one of you could tell me that. I really don't remember much from last night.”

“Oh,” she said, looking down at her desk. “Well, you did all your homework in less than a minute and ran off saying something about ‘optimal resolutions that strengthen and foster the feeling of harmony in Equestria.’ It was really scary, and I was worried something bad happened to you, but then when we told your parents what happened, they said you were busy in your room doing homework and that you didn't want to be disturbed. But that can't be right, because you already did it, so... do you know what you were actually doing last night?”

“I think I do,” I said as the bell rang, “but can we talk about it during lunch? I don’t really feel like talking in class today.”

***

“So that’s about it,” Apple Bloom said as we sat down for lunch, “you ran off with your eyes all white and glowy and then we didn’t see you again until now. We were hoping you could tell us just what happened.”

I shook my head. “Sorry, I really don’t know. I woke up in my room and found a bunch of locked journals in my room, and I'm pretty sure I wrote them, but... I don't think the potion was supposed to cause memory loss."

“Well,” Apple Bloom said taking a bite out of her apple, “supposin' I made the potion too strong or one of the ingredients was impure, it might have had an additional effect.”

“Which was?” four of us asked, while Life Bloom just looked at us over her glasses.

“It could have maybe… given you the ability to look into the future. It shouldn’t have though, that’s really high-level potion making, and most ponies who drink those kinds of potions can’t make any sense of it anyways, ‘cause the future’s always supposed to be in…” She waved her hoof in a circle, struggling to find the word.

“Flux.” Life Bloom supplied. “Foresight potions fell out of favor because they showed ponies an infinite number of futures that a normal equine mind couldn’t comprehend. Most ponies who drank such potions were driven irreparably insane. If your story is true, the fact that you are standing before us, mind still intact, is highly unusual and makes Apple Bloom’s potion worth studying in-depth.” She started writing in her notepad and talking aloud. “Possible variations in potion and test subject: Variable one, subject is substantially younger than…”

“So anyways,” Apple Bloom said while Life Bloom spoke aloud, “what was up with those journals? Did you get a good look through ‘em? Do they tell us what our cutie marks are?”

“Well…” They kind of did, the marks on each journal probably represented their cutie marks, but my friends were so close to getting their cutie marks already. Apple Bloom could make all sorts of potions, and I’d never seen anypony as talented on a scooter as Scootaloo. If I told them, and they got their cutie marks, then why would they want to hang out with a blank flank like me when they already had friends who shared their interests? “No. They’re time-locked, so even if they do talk about your cutie marks, we won’t be able to read them until they unlock. Maybe we can check them out when my parents get back.” I winced at the thought of my parents, I... There were other things to think about.

“Alright,” Apple Bloom said. “I’d still like to see ‘em, though. Maybe Scootaloo or Socket could find a way to break the lock.” She pointed a hoof at our friends who were poring over the plans for the new clubhouse.

“What was that?” Scootaloo and Socket asked, looking up from their plans together. It was so cute; they were already talking in unison. They would be dating by the end of the semester, or my name wasn’t Sweetie Belle. And my name was definitely Sweetie Belle.

“We were wondering if either of you could break a time lock,” Apple Bloom said before looking at the blueprints. “How are your plans coming along?”

“Good,” Socket said. “We’re just debating how many weapon systems we need. I say it needs to be at least four, but Scootaloo thinks we should just go for one non-lethal defense system.”

“I’m thinkin’ I agree with Scoots on this one,” Apple Bloom said.

“Yeah, non-lethal would be better,” I added. “I didn’t even know there were weapon systems.”

“They’re only on Equestria’s more advanced airships, but I have an uncle who could totally get us a mana cannon.”

“What would we even need that for?” Scootaloo asked. “Those things were designed to obliterate a minotaur.”

“Minotaur invasion,” Socket said, shrugging, “or zombies. Either way, better to be prepared.”

I squeaked at his mention of zombies. “He has a point, what if they attack and we’re not ready for them?”

“Yeah, let’s just go with the net cannon and…” Scootaloo glanced at another section of the blueprints. “Socket, why did you give the clubhouse legs?”

“So we could have a mobile clubhouse, obviously. Of course, most of the systems wouldn’t work while it was moving, but–”

“Now why do we need a clubhouse that can walk?” Apple Bloom asked, interrupting him.

“Why don’t we need a mobile clubhouse? It would be so cool!” Socket said, his eyes lighting up.

Scootaloo nodded her head. “Gotta agree with him, a mobile clubhouse would be pretty cool. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon wouldn’t be able to make fun of us anymore, unless they wanted to get stomped on.”

“Ooh! Speaking of that, guess what happened in our acting class today?” I said, trying to keep the conversation from going back to the journals.

My friends mumbled different versions of “no idea” and “you tell us”. Why didn’t they want to play a guessing game? Guessing games are so much fun.

“Mister Marelon made Diamond Tiara cry.”

“Really?” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo asked, while new friends just looked at each other in confusion.

“Wow, that is so cool,” Scootaloo said, her wings flapping excitedly. “Was it as awesome as I always imagined it? Were there full sobs? Or was she more of a quiet crier?”

“Uhh… quiet crying,” I said, looking down at the table glumly, “but it really wasn’t that cool. I kind of felt bad for her.”

“What?” Apple Bloom asked, her ears perking up in shock. “Aren't you the same pony who told us all that you ‘really didn't like her’? And now you’re sayin’ you feel bad for her?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I mean, I always thought it would be nice to see her have a taste of her own medicine, but then I just thought of how terrible I felt when I was bullied, and I don’t want anypony to feel that way. Even if they're just bullies themselves.” I shook my head, recalling Mister Marelon’s earlier scolding. “All I want is to make other ponies happy with my acting. Why do other ponies have to be big dumb bullies?”

Melody frowned and shook her head. “I don’t know, I like to think that if you’re nice enough, even the worst ponies are nice deep down. You all are the first friends I ever had though, so maybe... I maybe shouldn't be giving advice, but it feels right.”

“An admirable ideal,” Life Bloom said, “but it does not seem like you have enough data to form a valid hypothesis.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say to her,” Apple Bloom said, giving Life Bloom a look while the rest of us just looked confused. “So what if she don’t spend much time ‘round ponies? She’s been nothin’ but kind to us, and she seems like a dang nice pony.”

“I was not trying to offend her, merely trying to point out that her hypothesis might not have ample support.”

“Do you understand what they’re talking about?” I asked, whispering to Melody.

She shook her head. “Do you?”

I shook my head, as the two Blooms continued to argue about what did and did not constitute a ‘hy-poth-es-is’. “I think what you said was nice though. Miss Fluttershy is always saying ponies just need a little kindness. I bet you two would get along great.”

“Th-thank you,” she said. “Do you think it would be possible for me to meet her some time?”

“Sure,” I said, looking at the way Scootaloo and Apple Bloom talked with their new friends and trying not to frown. "We can do it next weekend."

***

“Dioramas,” Professor Moldeaux said, pacing around the classroom. His hooves didn’t make the usual clacking, and instead, made a weird squish noise, probably because of whatever accident destroyed his cutie mark. “In the time I spent reading texts on teaching, I decided that dioramas were an ideal way of testing pony knowledge. That, and tests. Tests are also an ideal way of testing knowledge. As such, you will have a diorama due every two weeks, with a test given every week. Your knowledge of life sciences will be tested, and you will emerge from this crucible stronger than when you entered.”

Several students groaned at that. It was kind of harsh, I guess, but he didn’t seem deliberately mean about it, unlike one of my teachers. “To that end, you will all be forming groups for your dioramas. Groups of three would be preferable, but I will accept up to five students in a group.” Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and I looked at each other excitedly. “Please spend five minutes forming your groups. When you have formed it, please see me.” He sat behind his desk while the rest of the class. The three of us were at his desk a second later.

“We’d like to be a group,” Apple Bloom said to Mister Moldeaux.

“Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle,” he said to himself as he wrote our names down on to a sheet of paper. “I was warned about you three… the Cutie Mark Crusaders, roving scions of chaos that leave buildings burnt in your wake and start fully sane mares down the path of madness.” He paused and stared at us. “However, I wish to see if such claims are true firsthoof, therefore I will allow you three to work together. It should be an enlightening experience, and if you prove too problematic, I can always reassign you to work with other ponies.”

The three of us cheered, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER DIORAMA MAKERS! YAY!”

The other ponies in the room covered their ears as we yelled. “Yes, quite,” Mister Moldeaux said. “Now then, other students will be coming up with their groups soon, please go back to your seats.”

“So, what do we do now?” I asked Apple Bloom asked as we took our seats.

“Wait until we get back to the clubhouse and start planning out our dioramas?” I asked. “Then we can see how the other girls are doing too. Also, we might want to wait until we know what we’re actually supposed to make a diorama of.”

“Now then,” Professor Moldeaux said a few minutes later, getting up from his desk, “it’s time for us to start today’s lecture. Who here is familiar with the food web?”

***

“So,” Apple Bloom said as we took our seats in the clubhouse, “let’s start planning our first diorama. I think we should do a food web about the Everfree Forest, go from the trees to the timberwolves.”

“Come on,” Scootaloo said, going through her saddlebag, “It’s not due for like… two weeks, so I figure that gives us a week and a half to do whatever until we need to start work on anything.”

“I for one don’t want to get on Mister Moldeaux’s bad side, ‘specially since I have two classes with–” Apple Bloom was cut off by a whirring sound coming from under the clubhouse. “Scootaloo, please tell me Socket isn’t gonna start renovatin’ the clubhouse with us in it. That seems–”

There was a big crash that interrupted her again as all three of us covered her ears. “Can we ask him to turn it down some?” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

“I don’t think you can turn down power tools,” Scootaloo said as the entire clubhouse shook from the noise. “But I guess we could at least go talk to him.”

The three of us went out to the base of the clubhouse where Socket had a giant assortment of sharp scary-looking tools. He also had a giant pair of protective earmuffs on, making him unable to hear our calls until Scootaloo finally tapped him on the shoulder, and I think touch lingered just a moment longer than necessary. They were going to make such a cute couple once they finally started dating, I just had to help them see it. Ooh! Maybe I could write letters and say they were from both of them.

“Oh hey,” he said, taking his earmuffs off. “You girls really shouldn’t be walking around without some protective ear wear. These tools can be kind of loud.”

We all stared at him.

“Right, so did you all want to talk to me about something? Kind of busy getting to work,” he said as he finished turning off the last of his tools. “This clubhouse is gonna be totally awesome when I’m done with it.”

“Okay,” Apple Bloom said, “but what are we supposed to do while you go around tearing up our clubhouse?”

“Hmm…” He tapped his chin. “You could come with me and ask Twilight for help with the mana engine. The sooner we get it up, the sooner we can start doing the really cool stuff with the clubhouse. I’m thinking we can set up a transportation system that can carry us between our rooms and the clubhouse, but I’ll need an enchanter for that stuff.” He paused and looked at the three of us. “Where’s Life Bloom?”

“In her dorm,” Apple Bloom said. “She’s also working to run some of her lab ideas by Mr. Moldeaux so he can let her use the lab for her later research. That way we won’t have to worry about using impure reagents like we did yesterday.”

“And blue quiet girl?”

“Melody is in the band room, practicing,” I said.

“Okay,” he said, shaking his head. “Well I hate to kick you all out, but maybe you could go to one of your rooms and talk? Unless you want to help me set up.” He looked at Scootaloo as he said the last part.

“Nah, I don’t–”

“She’d love to,” I said, interrupting her. “She was just talking about how much she’d like to work with you?”

“She was?” Apple Bloom asked, while Scootaloo just glared at me.

“Yep,” I said nodding happily at Socket. “We don’t really have much business to work on today and Scootaloo’s right, we can wait a couple of days before we start work on the diorama.”

“Actually, we can totally start work on it today if– I mean, it would be cool to see how all this engineering stuff works, but…” Scootaloo looked nervously between me and Socket, while I continued to smile at her. “Alright, I’ll help you out, but it’s only because I want to make sure this will be appropriately awesome.”

“Cool,” he said as he fished another pair of earmuffs from his workbox. “Put this on and I’ll power up the main drill.”

“Drill?” Scootaloo yelled as we walked away. “What do we need a drill for?”

The rest of the conversation was drowned out as the whirring and clanking of his drills returned. Thankfully, we left the area behind soon enough and could hear again. “So,” Apple Bloom said, “what was that all about?”

“Oh,” I said, “Scootaloo has a crush on Socket, but she won’t admit it, so I’m trying to get them to spend more time with each other. I’m pretty sure they’ll be dating by the end of the school year.”

“Don’t you think that could end pretty bad? I mean, didn’t we learn not to play matchmaker durin’ Hearts and Hooves day? And when you tried to set your sister up with somepony. And my sister. And Miss Twilight. And the rest of the town.”

“No, we learned not to force anything during Hearts and Hooves day, and the rest of those times... I didn't use any love potions for those” I said as we headed over to my sister’s shop. “I’m just putting Scootaloo and Socket in situations where they are alone together and letting nature take its course. Besides, won’t they make just the cutest couple?”

“I suppose,” Apple Bloom said as we walked into Ponyville proper. “I mean, they are kind of nice together. Still, you won’t be trying to force them together, will you?”

“... No,” I said after a pause. “Of course not, I just think they would be cute together, and it would be nice if they spent some time together. That’s all.”

“Promise me you won’t do anything drastic like lock them in a room or anything. I don’t want to sit through another one of Twilight’s lectures on why we shouldn’t ship real ponies. I didn’t even understand what she was talking about, ponies ain’t ships.” I remembered that lecture, she said I had shipping sickness and something about how just because two ponies were of different genders didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends without dating.

“Fine,” I said, nodding. “No locking ponies into rooms or doing anything else that’s crazy. I’ll just try to get them to spend time together naturally. Even if they would make a totally awesome couple.”

“Alright,” Apple Bloom said as I opened the door to the boutique. “Hey, Sweetie Belle, can I ask you a question?”

“Okay,” I nodded. “What is it?”

“Well…” Apple Bloom said, “you always go on about who would make a cute couple, but you’ve never shown any interest in a colt or anything.”

“That’s because… I don’t know, I haven’t met the right colt yet. Besides, I’ve got such great friends, why would I even want to date?”

“Uh-huh,” Apple Bloom said. “So you want everypony else to date, but not you?”

“Pretty much,” I said, “It’s not my fault that I see special someponies for everypony but me.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, looking around the boutique. “Is your sister here?”

I nodded my head. “I think so. Why do you ask?”

She shrugged as we walked to my room in the boutique. “Just, she usually greets us when we walk in. Anyways, the thing I was wonderin’ about is why you always play matchmaker between mares and stallions. What if you’re tryin’ to set a mare up with a stallion when she likes mares?”

There was a pause as I took in the information. “That’s an option?” I asked as I thought of all the mares I knew who lived together. “Mares and mares can be a couple?”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Seriously, how did you not know that was a thing? Your sister is invited to Octavia and Vinyl’s wedding. You were telling me the other day about how they asked you to be a flowerfilly at their wedding.”

“I just thought they were going to get married at the same time. I didn’t know that…” I squealed in delight. “Apple Bloom, they make such a cute couple. Imagine how many other cute couples I can set up. Like you and L–”

“Nope,” she said, cutting me off. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”

“But you’d be so cute together, the country mare with plenty of skill but lacking in knowledge and the sophisticated scientist who never learned to love.”

Apple Bloom groaned and turned towards the door. “First of all, you really need to stop reading Rarity’s romance novels. Second of all, how could you not know about fillyfooling if you read your sister’s romance novels? I know for a fact that she has an interest in that stuff.”

“How do you know that?” I asked, tilting my head at her.

“Because she and AJ…” She trailed off as my ears perked up. “Ya know what, I just remembered I need to be at home to do my chores soon, so I should probably head out now. We’ll talk later.” Apple Bloom ran out of my room faster than I’d ever seen her run in my life.

“Apple Bloom, wait,” I said, calling after her. “You forgot to tell me what Applejack and Rarity do.”

I guess she didn’t hear me, because she didn’t even look over her shoulder as she ran out of the boutique, leaving me to go to my room and open the toy box I kept all my pony figures in. I picked out two of the pegasi, the Daring Do I used for Scootaloo and a Rainbow Dash figure that was serving as a stand-in for Socket. Next time I went to the toy store, I would have to get a Socket, a Life Bloom, and a Melody stand-in, although... Melody was so quiet, I really couldn't see her dating anypony. At least not for a while.

“Oh, Socket,” I said in my best Scootaloo voice, while holding up my Scootaloo figure. “It’s been so nice spending time with you helping you improve the clubhouse these past few days. I feel like I’ve really gotten to know you.”

“I know,” the improvised Socket said as I levitated him with my magic. “Spending time with you these past few days has been… fun, and Scootaloo, can I say something?”The Scootadoll nodded, staring at the Socket doll expectantly, a look of longing in her cold plastic eyes. “Scootaloo, I love you.”

“I love you too, Socket. Come, kiss me.”

I brought them together so they could kiss properly. “Muah, muah, muah! Muah! I love you Socket. I love you too, Scootaloo.” While I was playing with my dolls, I must not have heard the door open, because when I looked up, Rarity was staring at me, her blue eyes wide.

“Sweetie Belle,” she said after a pause, “do you remember that talk we had about playing matchmaker?”

“That… I shouldn’t do it?”

She nodded. “And what were you doing just now?”

“It’s just… Scootaloo has this new friend and they would make such a cute couple, but nopony else thinks so but me, and I really want them to start dating. Also, what was Apple Bloom about to tell me you and Applejack did?”

Rarity blinked, her eyes somehow going even wider. “And… uh-hum, just where did you hear about that Sweetie?”

“Well, Apple Bloom was telling me about how two mares can date, and she said she knew about it because you and Apple–”

She laughed nervously, her eyes darting away from me. “Yes, that’s quite enough Sweetie Belle, thank you. Just please promise me you won’t try to play matchmaker with anypony else. You wouldn’t like it if ponies started interfering with your love life, would you?”

“No,” I said, looking down at the ground and levitating my dolls behind me. “But they’d make such a good couple.”

“Sweetie, have you considered that you might not know who would make a good couple? You tried to set me up with Time Turner.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

Rarity rolled her eyes and gave a big sigh. “He’s a very nice stallion, but he’s always so busy. Running from place to place, jotting off to go Celestia knows where, he spends more time with that mailmare than is proper, and to top it all off, he’s rather messy.”

“Too splashy,” I muttered to myself. “Got it.”

“Sweetie, you aren’t going to set me up with anypony else, are you?”

“No, but what was Apple Bloom going to tell me about you and Applejack?” I asked, looking up at her.

“That we are good friends who were– Wait, how did you not know that two mares or stallions could be in a romantic relationship? You were asked to be the flowerfilly for Octavia and Vinyl’s wedding.”

“I thought they were having a double wedding,” I said, putting my toys back in their box before moving to sit on the bed. “When they said they were getting married, I just thought they… Hey, do you think Lyra and Bon-Bon are dating?”

Rarity pressed her head and forehoof together. “Yes, Sweetie Belle, they absolutely are dating. Considering the fact that I– How did you not know that two mares could date?”

“Well… None of your books mentioned it,” I said, frowning.

Her teeth ground together. “Yes! They did! The books which I explicitly told you not to read very clearly had two mares dating. Which ones did you read?”

“I read a lot of them, but the last one I read through was The Apple Farmer’s Daughter,” I said, pulling the book I “borrowed” out from under my pillow and finding a letter addressed to myself on top of the book. I quickly shoved the letter back under the pillow, hoping Rarity didn’t notice it.

My sister’s eye twitched. “The… One of the key points in that story was the forbidden love between Esmerelda and Hilda.”

“Oh…” I said, letting out a sigh. “I just thought they were friends.”

“Gaah!” Rarity yelled, letting out a choked cry. “How could you? It was… the romance… I’m going to my inspiration room, and I do not want to hear about this topic again. How could she… That…” she muttered to herself as she walked out of my room.

After she left the room, I pulled the mystery letter out from under my pillow and opened it.

Sweetie Belle,

Apple Bloom’s theory of accidentally creating a foresight potion was accurate. However, she also accomplished her intended goal of creating an intelligence potion, a highly effective intelligence potion I might add, that gave me the intellect required to gaze into the infinite futures and see those deemed most likely. For instance, it was deemed probable that you would decide not to tell your friends about the journals for fear of pushing them towards getting their cutie mark and facilitating their abandonment of you.

I wish I could tell you everything I saw, but to achieve the most desirable outcome, I deemed it for the best that I keep some secrets from you. Even if all has gone accordingly, the optimal future is not yet guaranteed and there is still a chance that you and the rest of the crusaders will drift apart. To ensure optimal outcomes, you must remind Socket to calibrate the mana engine before he launches it. If you do that, everything else has a 95% probability of falling into place. If not... Things will go better for you if you remind him.

Sincerely, Smartie Belle

P.S. Scootaloo and Socket will totally make a wonderful couple, and did you see what I did to differentiate myself from you? Because the potion gave me a substantial boost to my intelligence and… I’m sure you got it.

P.P.S. Please destroy this letter as soon as you finish reading it.

I followed my own directions and ripped the note up as soon as I finished reading it, before trying to cast a fire spell on it and failing to get so much as a single spark. Why am I so bad at magic? I’m not good at acting yet and I can’t even do basic unicorn stuff. Scootaloo couldn’t do basic pegasus stuff, but at least she was good at something, and… Ugh! How come I’m not good at acting yet? We were supposed to get our cutie marks at the same time, and now they’re so talented that I don’t even know why they don’t have their cutie marks yet, while I’m still working to develop my talent.

After several minutes of staring at the remains of the letter, I decided it would just be easier if I hid its remains under my mattress. Nopony had looked under there in forever. I even found some of Rarity’s old books that had gotten lost under there.

“Ooh, 50 Shades of Hay,” I said to myself as I pulled one of the books out for investigation. “I don’t remember reading this one; I must have put it under my bed and forgotten about it.” I flipped through the book, to see if anything in it would jog my memory, and found a note from Rarity written on the cover page.

Sweetie Belle,

I know you read my books from time to time, even though they are far outside of your age range. Outside of an insane desire to pair every single pony in your life, I don’t think they have negatively impacted your development. However, I’m begging you not to read this one. It contains subject matter a young filly just should not know about.

Sincerely, your sister Rarity

“Well, that just makes me want to read it more,” I said, eagerly turning to the first page of the book before remembering I had to start work on the monologue for acting class. At least I’ll have time to read it over the weekend, I thought as I carefully removed the false bottom to my toy chest and hid it there with several more of Rarity’s books, before trying to write out a monologue for class. Maybe if this was good enough, Mr. Marelon would stop making fun of me.

***

“Why are we doing this again?” I asked as I headed to Twilight’s new castle with Socket and Scootaloo. “We just got out of school and Miss Pi gave us a ton of homework, and I don’t get anything about solving for x. It’s a letter, what is it even doing in a math problem?”

“Sweetie, you did pay attention to our lecture today, right?” Scootaloo said, a concerned look in her eye.

“Yes, I paid attention. It was a bunch of stuff about variables that I didn’t understand.”

“Alright,” Scootaloo said, “remind me to help you with your homework when we’re done here.”

“Great,” I said, smiling at her, “but I’m still not sure why we are doing this. Can’t Socket just go ask her?”

“No,” Socket said, shaking his head and giving an annoyed grunt. “For the hundredth time, I don’t think the Princess would help me if I just walked up to her and asked her if she could help me with my mana engine. She’d probably say something about how colts my age shouldn’t be messing with the cool stuff. But if you introduce us, she might say yes.”

“Alright,” I said after a pause, “but what do you need me for? You already have Scootaloo.”

“Yeah,” he said, “I thought that too, but then she said if you heard the two of us went to the castle alone, she’d never hear the end of it. I’m… not sure what she was talking about, but she was pretty insistent.” My mind drifted back to the dolls I’d played with the day before, and just how cute the two of them would be together.

“Stop it,” Scootaloo said, jabbing a hoof in my flank. “You have that look in your eyes, and I want you to stop it.”

“What look?” Socket asked.

“It’s…” She shook her head. “Nevermind. Let’s just get to Twilight’s.”

“Yeah, the sooner we get her help, the sooner we can start assembling the engine and…” He stopped as the tree castle came into view and shielded his eyes from its glare. “Wow, that thing is bright. It must be like a second sun at night.”

“It gets darker then,” I said as we resumed our walk to the castle. “Twilight says that its light matches with the light of whichever celestial body is out. It really looks pretty at dusk though”

“So,” Scootaloo said, “what’s your plan, ‘cause I don’t think she will want to help us create something so dangerous.”

“Mana engines aren’t dangerous,” Socket said. “As long as there aren’t any impurities in the focusing crystals and everything is calibrated right, they are perfectly safe.”

“Ooh! Be sure to calibrate the mana engine,” I said, remembering last night’s note. There, I’d just ensured the "optimal future," for whatever that means.

“Uhmm… thanks, Sweetie Belle,” Socket said as I knocked on the castle door. “I just mentioned calibrating the engine, so I don’t think you needed to remind me there. Maybe remind me sometime before I start charging it.”

“Alright, I–” I paused as the massive castle doors slowly swung open.

“Who is it?” Twilight asked, her voice coming out of a nearby pipe.

“It’s me, Twilight,” I said, yelling into the pipe. “We just had a question for you.”

“Alright,” she said after a moment’s pause. “Do you think you could come up here and ask it? I’m having a bit of… Wait.”

Before I could ask where she was, I felt the crackle of charged magical energy and Twilight suddenly burst into being in front of us. “Sorry about that, I swear this castle is bigger than it looks; it's been months, but I'm still getting lost in it.” She smiled at us. “Now, what did you want to ask me?” Twilight looked at the three of us. “And who is your friend?”

“Twilight, this is Socket Wrench. Socket, this is Twil– I mean, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” I said, barely managing to correct myself.

She smiled at us. “‘Twilight’ is fine, I'm still not used to the titles. Anyways, what brings you three to see me today?”

“I want to build a mana engine,” Socket said, his wings flapping excitedly, “but I can’t do it without magic, and I don’t think Sweetie Belle or Life Bloom have the raw magical energy to power it up, so I was hoping you could power it up and oversee the construction.”

“And why do you need a mana engine?”

“For all the cool stuff I planned for the clubhouse, check out this stuff,” he said, pulling the blueprints out of his saddlebags and pointing to bits of it. “This is where we’ll use the mana engine to power the portal matrix, and I want to attach legs to the clubhouse here so we can make it mobile, but then what’s really cool is the–”

“Excuse me,” Twilight said, “but isn’t this all just a bit excessive for a clubhouse?”

Socket just stared at her. “Excessive? It’s going to be so cool.”

“It’s also incredibly dangerous. If just one thing isn’t calibrated properly or if it's overcharged, the whole engine could explode or worse. Do you understand how dangerous something is when explosions aren’t the worst thing that could happen?”

“Ooh!” Scootaloo said, a gleam in her eyes. “What is the worst thing that could happen? Is it cool?”

“Not important,” Socket said. “What is important is that I thought it would be nice to have a pony with your–”

“Attention to detail,” I filled in.

“Right, that, to help oversee construction. Building this would really improve my engineering skill, and it would mean a lot to me, but…” He sighed dramatically, and I wished I had his acting ability. “If you won’t help, I won’t go against your orders.”

“Well,” Twilight said, biting her lower lip. “I've been wanting to study a mana engine for a while, and something tells me you'll try to build this even if I don't agree to help you, so... Yes, I'll oversee it's construction and provide the magic needed to get it working.”

He nodded and tried to cover his smile. “Thank you, your highness.”

“Please,” Twilight said, blushing, “just call me Twilight. Like I said, I really don’t like using my title unless I’m at a formal function, and even then, I’d prefer not to.”

“Alright,” Socket said after a pause, pulling his blueprints out of his saddlebag. “Twilight, do you think you could look over my blueprints now, just to make sure everything is in order?”

“Sure,” she said, taking the blueprints from him, “I’d be happy to… Socket, why does this call for a weapon system?”

***

“Alright kids,” Vinyl said after we all took our seats. “So, Wednesdays are going to be free days. You can all practice your instruments and stuff. Tavi… Headmistress Octavia, I mean, doesn’t think giving foals unstructured free time is a good idea, but I figure most of you have an interest in music, so letting you play and practice for one day a week wouldn’t be that terrible.” She looked at Melody and gestured to a piano that hadn’t been there the day before. “Don’t ask me how I got this up here, but I had to do a lot of favors for the Headmistress.”

“Oh… I’m sorry,” Melody said, mumbling at the ground. “You– you shouldn’t have gone through all that trouble on my account. I’m… I can just practice after class.”

Vinyl laughed. “I’m sure you’ll do that anyways, but yes, I absolutely did need to, because you are my student and ‘fostering students’ musical development’,” she said the last words in a perfect imitation of Octavia, “is kind of what I am here for.”

“I just don’t want to be a bother,” Melody said, struggling to meet Vinyl’s eyes as she slowly headed off towards the piano. She turned back to look at me. “Would you… would you like to join me Sweetie Belle? If you want, I can play a song while you sing it. I understand if you want to practice by yourself.”

“Singing with you sounds like a great idea,” I said, smiling brightly at her in the hopes of calming her worries some. “Do you know ‘Find the Music in You’?” I asked.

She nodded. “I do, but I thought it was usually sung a capella.”

“It is,” I said, nodding my head with her, “but you can play the notes on the piano, can’t you?”

“I can,” she said after staring at the piano for a while. “I'm just afraid I'll mess something up.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, “It’s not like we’re doing a performance or anything, we’re just practicing and having a bit of fun. Nothing to worry about.”

“Alright,” she said, hitting the first few notes of the song on her piano as I moved my head in time with the music, waiting for my cue.

“Everypony’s sayin’ you should learn to express your voice,
But if talk doesn’t seem like it’s the answer,
Luckily you have a choice
When you find you’ve got the music,
Got the music in you.
Find you’ve got the music,
Got the music in you.

Trot outside and see the sunshine,
Something’s in the air today.
Sky is clear and you’re feelin’ so fine,
Everything’s gonna be a-okay.

If you listen carefully,
On every corner there’s a rhythm playing.
Then it happens suddenly,
The music takes you over and you’ll
Find you’ve got the music,
Got the music in you.
Find you’ve got the…”

I trailed off as I realized the music had stopped and several ponies in the class, including Melody, were staring at me, and I suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious. “Why did you stop playing?” I asked.

“I’m sorry,” she said, avoiding my eyes. “Your singing was just so nice, I wanted to listen to it for a while, and I guess I stopped playing. I’m sorry if I upset you.”

“No, it’s just…” I looked around at the ponies who were staring at me only a moment earlier. They were all going back to their instruments, and pretending nothing had happened. “I’m not that good of a singer, though, so I don’t understand what the big deal is,” I said. “You’re probably a better singer than me.”

Melody laughed. I’d never heard her laugh before, and it sounded kind of like chimes blowing in the wind. “That’s funny, Sweetie Belle. I’m too…” She trailed off and looked at me. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

I nodded at her.

“Sweetie Belle,” she said, looking at me. “Your singing was wonderful! Why do you think ponies were stopping to look at you?”

“To laugh at me,” I said, recalling the way the entire class had laughed at Diamond Tiara on Tuesday, and feeling a tiny tinge of fear in my stomach when I thought of the monologue I would have to perform tomorrow. I had something written, but it probably wouldn’t be good enough. Nothing I did ever seemed to be good enough.

My friend frowned. “That’s… why would you think that? You have such a lovely voice, hasn’t anypony ever told you that?”

“All the time,” I said groaning, “It’s always ‘Sweetie, you have such a lovely voice,’ or ‘Why don’t you want to become a singer?’ but it doesn’t give me a skill, it just means I sound nice. It doesn’t make me good at anything like Apple Bloom or Scootaloo are, it just means ponies think I sound nice. What kind of talent is that? At least as an actress I’d get to be actually good at something!”

As soon as I raised my voice, whatever confidence she had melted away and she looked back down at her piano. “You’re right,” she said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pushed you. I just thought you had a nice singing voice and wanted you to be proud of it. I hope you aren’t mad.”

“Of course I’m not mad,” I said, sitting next to her. “I just… Ponies have been telling me I should sing more for my entire life, and I like singing and it’s fun, but it doesn’t feel like… Anypony can sing.”

“It’s alright,” she said, still intently at the ivory keys. “I just… I like your singing voice, I shouldn’t have said anything else.”

“You’re fine,” I said, giving her the biggest smile I could, “and your piano playing is amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a pony play the piano better than you.”

“Really?” she asked, looking up at me and smiling, her cheeks taking on a reddish hue. “I know I’m okay with the piano, but I didn’t think I was that good.”

“No, you’re better than good,” I said, my voice squeaking (no matter how much I try, it still does that. Another reason why I would make a terrible singer), “you’re great. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“Thank you,” she said before looking up at me. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself either. You have a wonderful voice, Sweetie Belle.”

I sat for a while, thinking on her words before nodding at her. “Alright, Melody. Do you want to get a bit more practice in today?”

She nodded at me. “Where we left off?” she asked as she started playing the piano.

I nodded my head in time with the music, waiting for my cue to come again.

“And you’ll find you’ve got the music,
Got the music in you…”

***

I let out a growl as I looked over the monologue I had spent the last three days working on. I had to perform tomorrow, and I still didn’t feel it was good enough. “Okay, think,” I said to myself as I slashed through lines, “Mister Marelon was a big-time critic back before he started teaching, so I need to go highbrow for this… something sophisticated…” I stared at the paper, trying to think of an answer before recalling the main character from my last play, Lady Sophisticate. “That’ll be perfect,” I said, as I went about the work of revising my speech.

***

“... So forsooth, I sayeth to thee all, that mine name shall encompass and be known by the entirety of Equus, as the name Lady Sophisticate ringeth from every lip in the land, and alleth will loveth me and despaireth.”

Mister Marelon just stared at me while a few other students tried not to snicker. “Thank you, Miss Belle, for confirming just why I am so vehemently against students from Ponyville being automatically accepted into this school.” He looked at the rest of the class. “That, students, was terrible. Entertainingly terrible, yes, but still terrible. I hope that none of you who actually earned your place here do something that utterly awful. We are all worse for having witnessed that, and I hope you spend the rest of your time in this class feeling the shame and regret of your actions. Go back to your corner and think about just how awful that was. And while we are subjecting ourselves to the worst this class has to offer,” he added with a harsh laugh, “Diamond Tiara, show us what dreck you wrote.”

I tried to not cry, I really did. Crying in front of the entire class would have been embarrassing. But I worked hard on my monologue, and stayed up super late last night trying to get everything just right. I thought I had something kind of good, and instead he just… I… and everypony was laughing… and… and… “Waaahaaagh!” I sobbed loudly, tears gushing, and making a complete foal of myself in front of the class.

“Aww… Did I hurt your feelings?” Marelon asked, his voice dripping with condescension. “An actress must develop a properly thick skin. Your predilection towards letting such critiques affect you is just further confirmation that you don’t have the skill to be an actress. Now, Diamond Tiara, please come up here and show us your… skills.” He shooed me back to my seat while Diamond Tiara took my place, her usual haughtiness completely absent as she slunk towards the front of the class, her eyes locked firmly on the floor.

I didn’t really listen to her monologues as I rested my head on my desk and worked to stop crying. My ears only perked back up when Mr. Marelon started talking. “Tell me Diamond Tiara, are you and Sweetie Belle friends?”

She shook her head.

“How odd,” he continued, “because I was certain the only way you could produce such a dreadful performance was out of some sense of familiarity or friendship with Sweetie Belle. 'Obviously,' I thought, 'nopony could be so unskilled intentionally. Perhaps she is giving us such a dreadful and forgettable performance to try and lessen her friend’s humiliation.' It was the only theory I could think of that made an iota of sense. Instead, it turns out you are as unskilled as her, but without the slight benefit of being entertainingly bad. You, it seems, are both bad and boring, and that, dear, is unforgivable. The both of you fail the assignment and get no credit. I ask that if either of you feel like wasting class time again, just stay home. Please go back to your seat.”

To her credit, Diamond Tiara didn’t break into full-on sobbing like I did, although her eyes still watered up as she walked back to her seat. The both of us sat there in silence for the rest of the class, and I found myself unable to do anything but stare at my desk and try not to cry.

“Wait up,” Diamond Tiara said as we walked out of the classroom after the bell rang. I turned around to look at her, curious about what she had to say. “Is… is that...” She stopped and swallowed, looking away. “Is that what it felt like when I made fun of you all?” she finally said, almost whispering. “These last few days have been terrible, and I feel like I’d do anything to make it stop. And… if it was like that for you then… I’m sorry.”

“It was,” I said. “You pretty much made school unbearable for us.” She winced and looked away again. “But… I mean, if you want to be nice, I can put in a good word for you with my friends.”

“Really?” she asked, the faintest gleam of hope in her eyes.

I nodded at her and smiled. “I don’t think it would be a great idea if I asked you to join us for lunch until I explained things to my friends, but… I wouldn’t mind having you sit with us. The more the merrier right?”

“Are you sure?” she asked as we moved out into the hallway. “I don’t think…” She sniffled. “How could you forgive me so easily? I was terrible to you.”

“You were,” I said, nodding my head as we walked through the crowded hallway, “and for a while, I thought seeing you humiliated would make me happy, but then when it actually did happen, I just felt bad. Seeing ponies sad doesn’t make me happy, seeing ponies happy makes me happy. Even if they were big bullies.”

“Th-thank you,” she said. “I promise, I won’t make fun of you or your friends for being blank flanks anymore.”

“And you won’t make fun of Scootaloo for not being able to fly, right? She… it took her a while to get over that.”

Tiara frowned at that. “I did do that, didn’t I? I’m sorry about that too.”

“It’s… you probably shouldn’t apologize to me for that, and… look, the others might not be as forgiving as I am, but as long as you are trying to be nice, I’ll back you up until they come around, okay?. I’ll... see you Monday, I guess,” I said as our trails split and I headed to music class, trying to figure out just how I was going to tell my friends that our former arch-enemy now wanted to be friends with us. Hopefully, they'd understand.

***

“Absolutely not,” Scootaloo said, slamming her hoof on the table. “She’s been nothing but horrible to us, and now you want us to be all buddy-buddy with her? Not gonna happen.”

“I gotta agree with Scootaloo on this one,” Apple Bloom said, nodding her head in agreement. “Maybe she is trying to be better, and if she wants a truce, that’s fine by me, but I am not gonna have her sit across the table from me and try an’ make nice with her. That’s askin’ fer too much.”

The three newest additions to our group just looked at their food while we had our argument, not willing to weigh in. “I know,” I said, “she has been completely awful to us, but can’t we all just… If she wants to be friendly and be nice to us, can’t we just let her? She’s not that terrible once you get to know her.”

“She made fun of me for not being able to fly yet,” Scootaloo said. “That’s… How can you forgive her for that?” Why did they have to make this so difficult? I was just trying to stop the fighting between us and maybe make a new friend. Who could possibly be against that? Nopony, I thought, looking at my friends, or maybe ponies who had gotten just a bit bitter after years of constant bullying. Not that I could blame them too much, up until a few days ago, I thought the same thing.

“One lunch,” I pleaded, “that’s all I’m asking for. One lunch with her and if she’s not completely terrible then maybe think about another lunch with her. Either way, I’m going to do my best to be her friend.”

“What’s the big deal with you and making friends?” Scootaloo asked. “It’s not like everypony in town has to be your friend.”

“I’d like it if they were,” I said, smiling. “Being with you girls–”

“Hey,” Socket said, briefly looking up from the paper he had been scribbling on.

“And Socket,” I added, “it’s just about the best thing ever, so having more friends and making more ponies happy must be even better.” I smiled at them, unable to contain my enthusiasm at the idea of making an entire town of ponies happy and having them as my friends.

“Ugh, fine,” Apple Bloom groaned, “if it’s that important to you, we’ll give her one lunch. That’s all I’m promisin’.”

“That’s all I’m asking for,” I said, imagining how wonderful it would be to have another friend and not be bullied anymore. Could life get any better? Well, there was one way it could get better as I thought of my acting class. Maybe Marelon was right. Maybe I wasn’t good at anything. Maybe the only thing I was half-way good at was something everypony else could do just as well. I sighed at the thought. “Girls… do you think I’m a good actress?”

“Sure, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said, nodding her head and looking at her sandwich.

“Yep, absolutely,” Scootaloo agreed, looking at something behind her shoulder.

“Almost certainly not.” Life Bloom said, staring at me while my two other friends let out cries of shock.

“What? How could you say that?” Apple Bloom asked, glaring at her friend.

“Yeah, that’s… crazy. Sweetie Belle is a great actress,” Scootaloo said, giving a nervous chuckle as her eyes darted between me and Life Bloom.

“Your refusal to look Sweetie Belle’s eyes and the uncertainty in your voice is an indicator that a pony is lying,” she said, looking coolly at the three of us. “If saying Sweetie Belle is a good actor is a lie, then the inverse must be true. Did I interpret the data incorrectly?”

My two friends wilted under her gaze. “No,” they both said, unable to look me in the eyes as I felt tears welling up in them for the second time that day. I couldn’t figure out which worse: that they thought I was a bad actress, or that they had lied to me. Before they could say anything else, I ran from the cafeteria, and didn’t stop until I reached my sister’s boutique.

***

“Sweetie Belle,” my sister said, knocking on my door, “you’ve been locked in there for several hours and you won’t tell me what’s wrong. Your friends are here and they want to apologize.”

I continued to do what I had done for the past several hours and stare at the ceiling while crying. “Go away!” I shouted at the door. “I just want to be alone right now.”

“You’ve been alone for hours,” Rarity said. “Can’t you at least tell me what the problem is?”

There was whispering as my friends explained the problem to her. “Oh dear,” my sister muttered after they had finished talking.

“Look, Sweetie, I’m sorry we upset ya, we didn’t want to, but then Life Bloom had to go and…” Apple Bloom struggled to find the right words.

“Be honest,” I said, filling in for her. “Crusaders don’t lie to each other, you said, that was one of the rules, but then it turns out Life Bloom is the only one of who was willing to tell me the truth, so I guess she’s the only friend I have.”

“Don’t say that,” Apple Bloom said after a lengthy pause. I could hear the hurt in her voice, and I felt like yelling at myself for hurting her feelings. “We… Yeah, we lied and we shouldn’t ‘ave done that, but we only did it because we didn’t want to hurt your feelings. You’re just so sensitive, we couldn’t bear it if we upset you.”

“So, what,” I said, finally getting out of bed and moving towards the door so I wouldn’t have to yell as much, “you’d prefer to lie to me so Mr. Marelon could make fun of me some more?”

“What?!” the three voices behind the door said in unison.

“Sweetie,” Rarity said as tenderly as she could, “has somepony been making fun of you?”

I nodded before remembering they couldn’t see me with the door closed. “I don’t know if I would say he was making fun of me, but he has been mean, he made both Diamond Tiara and me cry today.”

“Who’s been mean to you?” Rarity asked. “Is that why you’ve been so distant whenever I ask about your acting classes?”

“Y– Yes,” I said, feeling a fresh wave of crying coming on. “I just really want to be a good actress, but no matter what I do he still makes fun of me, and I thought I was good, but now it turns out I’m bad at everything.”

“Sweetie, could you please open the door?” Rarity asked after a pause. “I would very much like to continue this conversation face to face.”

I finally moved to unlock the door, allowing my friends and big sister access. “Alright,” I said, slumping against the wall as they walked into the room, “I’m ready to hear whatever you have to say.”

“And just what do you think we’re going to say?” Rarity asked. “That we’re worried about you? That we want to understand why you’ve been so distant the last few days, or why whenever somepony mentions your acting class you suddenly try to avoid the subject?”

“I just told you why I don’t want to talk about my acting class, I’m apparently terrible at it, and our teacher won’t stop reminding me of it.”

Rarity’s left ear twitched. “I see… I must have words about his behavior with Octavia, but that can wait until later. Right now, we need to talk about you.” She paused to smile reassuringly at me. “So, you’re upset that your acting is a touch underwhelming. I understand that that could be–”

“The words he used were ‘entertainingly terrible’,” I corrected.

“I see,” Rarity said, fur bristling. “That still doesn’t explain why the fact that you aren’t particularly talented at acting is so upsetting to you. At least this didn’t end with you burning the boutique down.”

“But I thought this was going to be it,” I said, looking between her and my friends. “Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are so good at their stuff that I’m kind of surprised that they don’t have a cutie mark already, and meanwhile, I’m terrible at everything.”

“You ain’t terrible at everything,” Apple Bloom said. “You’re just not great at actin’ that’s all.”

“Or… you know, bowling, scuba diving, mountain climbing, karate, costume design–” Scootaloo was cut off as Apple Bloom shoved her hoof in Scootaloo’s mouth.

“But this one was supposed to be different! I like being on stage, and it was something that made other ponies happy. Now what am I good at?” I said, slumping down to the ground.

“Sweetie Belle, I’m going to do something that is… rather frowned upon, but have you even considered the idea that your special talent might lay in the realm of music?” my sister said.

“What? Like playing an instrument? Because we already tried that.”

Rarity shuddered. “No… no, never that. But you have a wonderful voice, maybe you could–”

“Please don’t say something about singing, I had this conversation yesterday, and I’ll tell you the same thing I told Melody: Everypony can sing. There’s nothing special about being able to sing.”

“Sweetie,” Rarity said after a moment of thought, “Rainbow Dash is a skilled and exceptional flyer, isn’t she?”

Scootaloo and I nodded simultaneously.

“But,” she continued, “by your logic that shouldn’t count as every– most pegasi can fly.”

“And the ones that are still waiting for their wings to hit their growth spurt find other ways to be awesome,” Scootaloo added, trying not to be bothered by Rarity’s comment.

“Yeah, but she’s really good at fly…” I paused as realization set in. “But I’m not that good at singing. I’m okay, I guess, but not amazing.”

Rarity laughed. “Sweetie, you are a wonderful singer, and I know for a fact that you love it. Or do you not sing to yourself whenever you think nopony is listening?”

“Oh… you… uhmm heard that?” I asked looking at her while all three of them nodded.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said, “pretty much the second you think nopony is around, you start singing. There’ve been times when we walked out of the clubhouse and before we hit the bottom of the ramp, you were singing some song or another.”

“I guess you have a point,” I said, getting back up on my hooves. “But it still doesn’t feel like singing is my special talent. It’s just something I like to do.”

“And designing dresses is something that I like to do,” Rarity said. “Throwing parties is something Pinkie likes to do, helping animals is something Fluttershy likes to do, and farming apples is something Applejack likes to do. Rainbow Dash I suppose is a bit odd as her desire for speed and victory doesn’t go with her profession, but winning is something she enjoys immensely, and it is how she earned her cutie mark. Need I go on?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head, “but it still doesn’t feel right, you know?”

Rarity moved to stroke my mane while the rest of my friends sat close. “It’s alright, Sweetie, I spent months designing dresses before I finally earned my cutie mark. According to Twilight, earning a cutie mark requires a moment of both actualization and realization, when a pony displays their proficiency in their talent and also realizes that this is what they want to do for the rest of their lives.”

The three of us nodded as we listened to her talk. “But what about Applejack?” Apple Bloom asked. “She earned her mark just by returning to the farm.”

“True,” Rarity said, “and while I’m no expert on the science behind cutie marks, I think it was more about the realization for her. The display of proficiency was less important for her because she did so every day.”

“So why didn’t I get my cutie mark when I scootered from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire at at least 70 miles an hour?” Scootaloo asked.

Rarity’s ear twitched. “That is… remarkably fast, and I wish I knew the answer. It was certainly an impressive display of skill, but perhaps you didn’t have the realization to coincide with it. Although Twilight hates to admit it, cutie marks aren’t an exact science, and I would argue that they aren’t even a science, but that is neither here nor there. What is known is that you will never earn your cutie mark if you keep thinking your special talent isn’t a talent.” She smiled at me. “You simply must have a little more faith in yourself, you’re a wonderful little filly with an amazing voice and you should take pride in that fact.”

“Thanks,” I said before looking at my friends, “and I’m sorry for getting upset with you… I just had a really bad morning.”

“It’s fine,” Apple Bloom said, shrugging. “Ain’t the first time one of us has gotten upset with the other, and I’m sure we’ll probably butt heads a few more times before we get our cutie marks. ‘Sides, it was kind of our fault for lyin’ to you, so I figure this is kind of a wash.”

“Indeed,” Rarity said, getting up on her hooves with a look on her eyes that meant it would be a good idea for somepony to hide. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must have words with Octavia about the acting teacher she hired.” She turned and smiled at me. “Mr. Marelon, was it?”

I nodded.

“Wonderful,” she said. “You girls look after each other, I will be back soon.” She smiled at us one last time before walking off.

“So,” I said, looking at my friends, “what do you want to do now?”

“Well, Socket and Twilight are working to get the mana engine completed so they can begin charging tomorrow. Want to come with us and watch?” Scootaloo asked.

I nodded my head and smiled, happy to have something to distract me from the doubt in the back of my head. “Sure, it sounds like fun.”

***

It was way past midnight when I got back to the boutique, and the second I stumbled into my bedroom, I yawned and collapsed on my bed. The next thing I knew, it was really bright out and somepony was knocking on my door.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, “are you alright? It’s almost noon, I don’t think I’ve ever known you to sleep this late.”

“Sorry,” I said, rolling out of my bed and bouncing towards the door. “Last night was just so fun, we all played games and Socket and Twilight worked on the mana engine, and… Ooh! I bet they are charging it up right now.”

Rarity laughed and shook her head as I threw the door to my room open. “I really don’t know how you convinced Twilight to help you build a mana engine, but I do feel better knowing she is there to oversee everything. Knowing her, everything will be checked, double-checked, and triple-checked to the point of tedium.”

“That reminds me, I need to remind Socket to double check his calibrations.” I said as I headed downstairs.

She smiled at me, “I’m sure Twilight already did that, but I am glad you at least are being cautious. Sometimes with you girls, I feel like safety is at the very bottom of your priority list.”

“I’ll see you later,” I said as I put on my saddlebags and grabbed an apple for breakfast. “Thanks for cheering me up yesterday, I… You gave me a lot to think about.”

“You’re very welcome,” she said as I ran out the door and headed to the clubhouse.

***

“This is going to be so awesome!” Scootaloo said as I finally got to the clubhouse. The mana engine sat under it, glowing with the magical energy Twilight fed it. To her side, Life Bloom channeled her own magical energies towards the engine. “Socket says once we get this thing turned on, we can power a small city for a thousand years!”

“Well,” Twilight said, grunting as she fed the machine more and more magic, “some of those numbers might have been a bit optimistic, but it certainly should provide you girls with enough power to upgrade your clubhouse.”

“Hey, Twilight,” I said, walking up next to her, “can I help you power up the engine? I know I’m not the best at magic stuff, but I can help out a little right?”

She smiled at me as magical energy continued to pour from her horn. “That would be fine, Sweetie Belle, just focus on the engine and move your magic towards it. You don’t even need to cast a spell.”

I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to focus on the magical energy that surrounded me. The natural magic of the world is normally soft and understated; Rarity would say it’s a more subdued tone. The area around the mana engine was pretty much the exact opposite of that. It was all bright and sharp, and not even a little bit comforting to look at. Still, it wasn’t scary or anything, and I fed it a few tiny threads of my magic

The machine demanded more, though. As soon as the connection was set-up, it took more and more of my magic, and soon it was ripping all of the magic out of me. A hoof poked my shoulder and my connection to the engine broke as I suddenly found myself back in the real world to see Twilight smiling down at me. “Go easy, Sweetie Belle. Even I need to take breaks now and then, and you just recently learned how to use your magic.”

“Thanks,” I said, cutting off my flow of magic to the machine and noticing that I was covered in sweat. “It really wants its magic, doesn’t it?”

Twilight nodded. “That means the storage crystals were set up properly. They naturally absorb mana, but in order for them to power the engine, a large surplus charge has to be built up first. You should get some rest, I think there are juice boxes in the clubhouse.”

“Alright,” I said, beaming as I walked towards the clubhouse. “I’ll be back once I’ve rested up a bit. You shouldn’t overwork yourself either.”

“Thank you for reminding me,” she said before turning her attention back to the mana engine.

***

I yawned as Twilight channeled the last bit of necessary magic into the engine, the three of us completely exhausted after an entire day spent powering it up. Now, crickets were chirping as several floodlights illuminated the engine and my friends slept in a corner of the clubhouse. It must have been past midnight, I thought as Twilight nodded at Socket.

“It’s ready?” he asked, wings flapping excitedly as he hovered in the air.

Twilight nodded again, and Socket flew up to the clubhouse to wake up my friends, leaving Twilight, Life Bloom, and myself to sit and stare at the engine. “It’s quite impressive isn’t it?” Life Bloom said, surveying the engine. “We spent an entire day fueling it up, and now if properly taken care of, it will outlive us by several dozen generations.” She glanced at Twilight. “At least, most of us.”

“It’s funny you should say that,” Twilight said, “because I’m actually not sure how long I will live. There are only two known instances of ponies ascending, and those all occurred within the past twenty years. Celestia and Luna are immortal, but so far Cadance has aged like a normal pony would.” She frowned and looked at the ground. “I don't want to outlive my friends.”

She shook her head and smiled at us. “Sorry girls, I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, and I really shouldn’t have bothered you with my thoughts–”

“Alright,” Socket said as he flew down to ground level, while the rest of my friends used the ramp. “Are you ready to start this baby up? I can’t wait to hear her come to life.”

The rest of us nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and Socket went about pulling a bunch of levers on the engine with a manic energy. Soon, lights on the engine flashed, and a soft humming filled the air.

“It works,” he said, flashing the six of us a giant smile. “This is gonna be so cool, you girls are going to love it.”

I looked at the engine again. It was certainly big, in fact, it was almost the size of our clubhouse, and the humming sound it was making made my head kind of hurt, but I'd probably get used to it. The only really weird thing about it was the white crack that began to form at the center of the engine.

“Hey, Socket, did you remember to calibrate the engine?” I asked, the crack reminding my note to myself.

“N-no,” he said as the crack started expanding rapidly, branching out in multiple directions. Socket ran to the control console and began flipping switches, muttering words we weren’t supposed to know under his breath, while Twilight sent her magic to the engine to do something.

Whatever they were doing didn’t work, because in a few seconds, a network of white cracks coated the engine. For a second, I thought that was the worst that could happen, but then the tendrils of white nothing began to branch away from the engine and form cracks in the very air itself. They branched into three clusters, one of them heading towards me as the other two moved towards Twilight and Life Bloom.

I did the only thing I could think of, and ran as fast as my hooves could carry me through the apple orchard. I ran faster than I ever had in my life, trying to outrun whatever was chasing me; but whenever I looked back at it, the tendrils were closer than before. A second later, I felt something that didn’t feel like anything wrap around my legs. The feeling of nothingness expanded from there, and soon the entire world around me dissolved into an empty nothing.

***

I was somewhere warm and comfy, and cocooned in blankets that felt exactly like my blankets at Rarity’s house, which would mean… I opened my eyes and found I was back in my room at Carousel Boutique, everything just as I left it. I let out a sigh of relief. Yesterday was just a dream.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, “are you alright? It’s almost noon, I don’t think I’ve ever known you to sleep this late.”

I didn’t respond, as panic grabbed my stomach and pulled me down into the bed. Maybe it was Sunday... maybe she'd just forgotten that I'd slept in until noon yesterday as well. Maybe everything was still totally fine.

“Don’t forget your friends will be powering up the mana engine today, I’m sure you will want to be there when they turn it on.” My horn tingled and I felt something pulling strands of my magic away from me.

Or maybe not.

Author's Note

09/26/14: Re-drafted to improve quality and shore up weaker bits. Trying to get this story polished up so EQD might like it. Hopefully now character dialogue sounds a bit more organic and natural. Interested in your thoughts and stuff on the issue. Also tried to foreshadow future developments a bit more, hope you enjoy the new improved version of the story.

3. Time After Time (Part 1)

Sweetie Belle, are you alright? It’s almost noon, I don’t think I’ve ever known you to sleep this late. Her words repeated in my head. So, okay, that’s how she woke me up yesterday, right? And yesterday also ended with me getting eaten by some glowy lights trying to eat me, but maybe all of yesterday was a dream or… what’s that word Twilight likes? A pre-mo-nit-ion? Yeah, maybe it was one of those. If it was, maybe I could stop the mana engine from exploding, and save my friends from whatever happened after the dream ended.

“I’m okay,” I said, rolling out of the bed. “Just, I had a late night last night helping Twilight with the–” Somepony knocked on the door downstairs. That was different. That didn’t happen yesterday… or today, I guess. I went back to the idea that what I thought was yesterday was actually just a dream. That made sense, right?.

“One minute!” Rarity said in her sing-song voice as she headed downstairs while I followed behind her, still trying to figure out if this was just a dream or if I had some really weird déjà vu. Rarity opened the door, and Twilight was standing on the other side of the door.

“Good morning, Twilight, I thought you were helping the Crusaders with their little project this morning,” my sister said. This definitely didn’t happen yesterday.

Twilight turned to look at me, ignoring my sister. “Sweetie Belle, do you remember yesterday? Charging the mana engine? The explosion?”

I nodded at her while Rarity made a strangled squawking noise. “What’s this about the mana engine exploding? You assured me it would be safe.”

“It is safe,” she said. “Well it’s not going to explode… I mean, it is, but I can stop it.” She laughed. “Assuming my theory is correct, we have plenty of time.”

“You promise my sister and her friends won’t get hurt?” Rarity asked, her eyes getting narrow.

“I think it’s actually impossible for them to come to harm right now,” Twilight said, giving Rarity her best smile. “I promise, I will do everything I can to fix this, but to do that, I need to talk with Sweetie Belle.”

“Very well,” Rarity said while I walked over to Twilight. “Can you at least tell me what’s happening?”

“I’m not sure right now,” Twilight said, tapping her chin. “But I promise I will tell you next pass or tomorrow, whichever happens first.” She gestured for me to follow her outside. “Sweetie, what do you remember about the mana engine explosion?”

“Well, I remember there being a big flashing white light and a bunch of… cracks heading towards me, and when they caught me, I was back in my bedroom and Rarity was telling me to get out of bed. Then she was acting like–”

“Like it was still yesterday,” Twilight said. “Which it is. Or at least, to everypony else it still is. The three of us who charged the mana engine still seem to remember the original loop.”

“So… Life Bloom remembers yesterday as well?” I asked, following Twilight and noticing a familiar creamy-white unicorn with cinnamon mane walking towards us, her saddlebags filled with stuff.

“Indeed I do,” she said, trotting towards us. “Twilight and I found ourselves standing back at the mana engine this morning at the exact time we started charging it. Even though we immediately cut off all power to it, it seems the engine still continues to charge itself. If you focus, you can feel the engine pulling away at your mana reserves.”

“Uhmm… how do I do that?” I asked, following Twilight as we headed towards our castle.

“It’s like I taught you,” Twilight said. “Close your eyes and try to feel the magic in your heart. From there, you can trace it up along the major magical leyline to your horn.”

I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to find the magic in me. It wasn’t much, so it was always tough to pin down, but I could definitely feel the spark of magic in my chest, and there was a tiny thread of it travelling up to my horn and flowing out to somewhere else. “It’s like somepony humming in the background,” I said. “I don’t think I would’ve ever noticed it until you said something.”

“The magic drain isn’t an easy thing to notice,” Twilight said as she pushed one of the massive doors to her castle open. “It took me several seconds to notice it in myself, and it's a lot worse for me than it is for you.”

“Although in the princess’s defense, it took us both some time to process our shift in locations. If not for her guidance, I most likely wouldn’t have thought of the time loop theory for several more iterations.”

“And the only reason I thought of it was because I did a bit of reading on chronology after I accidentally created a stable time loop of my own. The mechanics behind it are absolutely fascinating; for instance, did you know that…” She said a lot of stuff after that, but I didn’t really understand any of it. I remember there was a lot of talking about “first causation” and “the multiversal theory of time travel,” but I really had no idea what any of it meant beyond the fact that I was apparently living yesterday all over again.

“... So that’s why I’m 95% certain that whatever shard dimension we are currently inhabiting terminates every time the mana engine overloads,” Twilight said. “Either the mana engine explodes with enough force to rip a hole in the universe and obliterate Equestria and send us back several hours, or the spell rolls Equestria back to an earlier version leaving only the three of us aware of the previous version.”

“I’m sorry, but this thing sounds… It sounds really dangerous. Why would you help us build something that could… obliterate Equestria?” I asked, trying to remember what she had said. Obliterate Equestria definitely sounded bad.

“Yes, well, you see… I might have overcharged the engine by several orders of magnitude.”

“What?” I said in confusion while Life Bloom said the same word in outrage.

“That’s…” Life Bloom sputtered. “Why would you overcharge it? I… just… why?”

“I didn’t mean to overcharge it! I had been doing some reading on industrial mana engines like the one they use in Fillydelphia, and read that they used five gigathaums to charge it. That number was still fixed in my head yesterday when I charged your engine, so I gave the machine five gigathaums of energy when a machine of this size would just call for a few kilothaums of magical energy.”

“But if you overcharged it, why would my letter tell me to remind Socket to properly calibrate the machine? That’s… not calibrating it can’t be worse than overcharging it, right?” I said as we entered a room in Twilight’s castle filled with various whirring and beeping machines.

“Wait, I’m sorry,” Twilight said, spinning around and facing us while she used her magic to press buttons on her machines, “what was that about a note?”

“Oh, so a few days ago, Life Bloom and Apple Bloom were making an intelligence potion, and Apple Bloom accidentally made a potion that allowed me to see and kind of predict the future. I wrote a note to myself telling me what to do and one of the things on that list was to remind Socket to calibrate the engine.”

“And you were wondering why you would remind yourself to do that as opposed to reminding me not to overcharge it,” Twilight said, nodding her head before turning back to a big machine in one corner of the room which was right next to a glass cylinder big enough for a pony to stand comfortably in. Apparently, all this stuff was kind of normal to her. “Alright, girls, we’ll need to take turns standing in the M-Scanner. Life Bloom, can you operate it when I’m inside? The cylinder blocks out all outside magical interference so I can’t start the machine myself. Sweetie Belle, would you like to go first?” Twilight opened a part of the cylinder and I nodded my head before trotting into the machine. It gave a small whirr before clicking closed.

“Hmm,” Twilight said as the machine started humming and the ground I was standing on lit up. “The second you were cut off from the outside world’s ambient magic field, the magic in the test chamber started spiking. We’ll need to finish our scans quickly or risk the machine overloading and breaking. Sweetie, I will need you to stay calm and not move.”

I nodded my head at her as the air started to glow and smell kind of burnt. The glow got brighter, until I couldn’t even see outside of the chamber. I really wanted to try and hide in a corner somewhere, but Twilight told me not to move, and I really didn’t want to spend any more time in this stupid cylinder. Something clicked and the glowing light vanished, leaving me alone in a much quieter test chamber. “That was very good, Sweetie,” Twilight said as the door swished back open. “Life Bloom, did you see how I operated the machine?”

Life Bloom nodded at Twilight. “I assume all the presets will be established before you walk into the chamber and all I will have to do is press the ‘activate scan’ button?”

“Correct,” Twilight said, pressing a few more buttons. I kind of didn’t get why she was so focused on fixing things. We had literally all the time in the world to solve it, and it felt like we should at least take a few days off to have fun. For instance, I could see if I could drink all of the milkshakes in Sugarcube Corner in one day and not have to worry about anything bad happening tomorrow. “Do you think you can scan me now?”

“It should be simple enough,” Life Bloom said before saying some other stuff I really didn’t understand. Twilight stepped into the chamber and shut the door, and the second she did so, her chamber started to crackle.

“Start the scan!” Twilight shouted as the crackling got louder. “The engine is still drawing mana from me, but it can’t leave the chamber. We need to finish the scan before there’s a critical harmonic–” The whole chamber shattered and the world around me turned into a blinding white light.

***

“Well, that didn’t work,” Twilight said after we had all gotten back to her castle in the next loop. “But at least we learned that by staying in a magically sealed environment, it is possible for us to induce the resetting event ahead of schedule.” She tried to give us a reassuring smile. “We also learned that I can’t have an MScan done without resetting the loop.”

“So what’re we going to do?” I asked, taking a seat on a cushion. “Because if we’re going to be reliving the same day for a while, there are some things I’d like to get done.”

Twilight frowned and blinked at that. “What do you mean, Sweetie Belle? We’re going to break the loop and get to tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well, eventually sure,” I said, trying to voice my thoughts from the end of last loop. “But we have all the time in the world, right?”

They both nodded and I kept talking. “So we obviously have enough time to fix the time loop, right?” I asked, trying to recall how this worked in that one book of Rarity’s where the handsome callous noblestallion had to relive the worst day of his life until he finally won the love of poor commonmare. He had the chance to do whatever we wanted, so why were we rushing to fix everything? We could at least have some fun first. “It just seems like we should have a little fun before we try to fix all this up, we can do whatever we want today and not have to worry about consequences. How cool is that?”

“Well,” Twilight said, tapping her chin. “I have been wanting to do a complete read through of the Canterlot Archives for a while and this would give me a good chance to.”

“And this does provide me a unique opportunity to run tests on how much of life is determined by chance. If I can find a pony who flips a coin today, observing the results across multiple loops would be most illuminating.”

“Great!” I said, feeling my ears perk up. “And I can spend the day doing everything I ever wanted to with my friends, or days, I guess. This is going to be so much fun!”

“Just remember, eventually we will have to get to work on actually fixing the problem. Perhaps I can ask Celestia for advice while I'm reading in the archives,” Twilight said, fidgeting with her wings while I trotted off happily towards the castle entrance. “If I need you for anything, I suppose I know where to find you. The engine explodes shortly before 1:00 AM, so I will be at the clubhouse after midnight if you want to talk to me.”

I nodded my head at that as I walked out of the castle room. This was going to be the best day ever.

***

“Hey, girls,” I said, trotting back to the clubhouse. Socket was still working on the engine downstairs, while Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Melody were talking about all the things the mana engine could do. (Well, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were; Melody was sitting in a corner.)

“Hey, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said, turning her head back to face me. “Have ya seen Twilight and Life Bloom? They just kind of ran off the second they started charging the engine this morning, and now Socket is freakin’ out because the thing is charging itself.”

“It’s a long story,” I said, hoping I didn’t have to explain the time loop to them. “I think Twilight remembered some royal duty she had to do and cast a spell to automatically charge the engine. Anyways, how are you all doing?”

“... Fine,” Apple Bloom said slowly. “Are you alright though? You were pretty upset yesterday and now you’re all super happy and stuff.”

I smiled at her as I sat down. “Well, I just figured that I could do pretty much anything today so there wasn’t any point in spending the day all sad. What do you girls say we go to Sugarcube Corner?”

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo said, “we kind of spent all our allowances already, and I don’t think your sisters will give us the extra bits.”

“Good point,” I said, nodding my head, “I’ll have to take care of that next loop.”

“Next loop?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Nothing to worry about,” I said, shaking my head while my three friends glanced at each other . “What do you want to do for the rest of the day?”

***

Five loops later, I walked into the clubhouse with Carousel Boutique’s profits for the month in my saddlebags. It had taken a bit to figure out how to get them, but I had a lot of my time on my hooves right now, and I wanted this to be an awesome night filled with milkshakes and cupcakes, and then when the mana engine blew up, I’d get to do something better next loop. “Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner, I know we have the mana engine to deal with today, but my sister gave me a lot of bits so we can all have milkshakes.”

“But what if something goes wrong with the mana engine? I should be here to check on it. I’m not sure how Twilight’s auto-charging spell is working, and I’d like it if I were here if something went wrong.”

“It’ll be fine,” I said, waving for him to come into the clubhouse. “I promise nothing will go wrong today.” Tonight though, the mana engine would explode and possibly destroy Equestria. Whenever I tried to get an answer out of Twilight she was pretty vague about just what was going on beyond the fact we were reliving the same day over and over. I don’t think she actually knew the answer yet, although she will probably figure it out before today was over.

“And how do you know that?” Scootaloo asked as Socket landed next to her. They would make such an absolutely cute couple. “You don’t really have a degree in magical engineering. None of us do, but at least Socket and Twilight know what they’re doing.”

“Exactly, and Twilight felt it was safe enough to leave on a day trip to Canterlot. If it wasn’t safe, do you really think she would’ve left us all alone?”

My friends (except Life Bloom, who was off doing… some tests or something) shook their heads. “See!” I said, “It’s fine. Now, let’s go to Sugarcube Corner, it will be my treat.” Okay, so stealing from Rarity was definitely bad, but it’s not like it counted today because tomorrow everything would go back to normal, so I wasn’t even stealing really, just… borrowing.

My friends all nodded their heads. “Ooh, let’s get Life Bloom on the way,” I said, remembering she liked going to observe ponies in the town market. “She could use a break.”

“From what?” Apple Bloom asked as we headed out of the clubhouse. “She has the day off too, doesn’t she?”

“Oh… yeah, of course she does,” I said, feeling like an idiot for forgetting that they had no idea about the loop. “Still, we should see if she wants to join us.”

Apple Bloom nodded at me. “Good idea, she hasn’t been to Sugarcube Corner yet. Is there any reason why your sister gave you some extra bits to go to Sugarcube?”

“Well, she is the Element of Generosity,” I said, trying to fake a laugh. “Maybe she just wanted us to have a nice day out.”

***

My friends all talked about all the stuff we could do with the mana engine during the walk to the bakery, and I tried to play along. They were so excited about it, I couldn't tell them it was going to explode in twelve hours. Besides, I really just wanted to have some fun time at Sugarcube Corner. The time loop stuff could wait until tomorrow… or I guess it couldn’t.

“Hey girls, welcome to Sugarcube Corner,” Pinkie Pie said as we walked into the bakery. “What can I get you all today?”

My friends all ordered various sweets before I made my order. “I’d like Pinkie Pie’s Special Shake,” I said, as my friends’ heads whipped back to look at me while Pinkie Pie took a deep breath.

“Really?” she asked, shaking with excitement. I nodded and she jumped up so high her hair touched the ceiling. “One PPSS! With extra whipped cream!”

“Uhhh… I didn’t order extra whipped cream,” I said while Pinkie bounced back into the kitchen. She just laughed.

“Don’t be silly, Sweetie Belle, the PPSS always comes with extra whipped cream. It’s like… one of the things that makes a PPSS a PPSS.”

“Then why would you have to say it needed extra whipped cream?” I mumbled as Pinkie started jackhammering something in the kitchen. The six of us trotted to a nearby booth.

“I still don’t see why you had to pull me away from my research,” Life Bloom said as we took a seat. “I fail to see the value of spending time in this bakery when I could be studying basic chaos theory. It strikes me all as very irrelevant.”

“Uhh… what are you doing that involves chaos theory?” Apple Bloom asked. “Is that a special project for something or–”

“Sweetie Belle!” my sister yelled as she slammed the door to the bakery open. “I’ve been looking all over for you, it’s positively dreadful dear, my boutique has been–” She stopped and looked at my bulging saddlebags. “Sweetie Belle, what do you have in there?”

I groaned. Next loop, I definitely shouldn’t leave the safe open.

***

“Heya girls, what can I get you today?” Pinkie asked as we walked into Sugarcube Corner the next day. Life Bloom and I traded glances at her change of greetings.

“I think I will be observing here for the next few loops,” Life Bloom mumbled to herself. We made our orders again and took the same seats we did last loop. This time, Rarity didn’t come barging in when the Blooms were discussing chaos theory.

“So, Sweetie,” Scootaloo said, “last week, you only had a small shake because you were trying to ‘keep a trim figure’ or whatever. Now you’re ordering the biggest, least-healthy, coolest thing on the menu. What changed?”

I shrugged at my friends and gave them a big smile. “I guess I just decided I should have one day where I don’t have to worry about other ponies or consequences, and to me that means having the biggest sweetest milkshake in Equestria.” It wasn’t a lie, it just left out the teeny fact that I could relive today as much as I wanted.

“Alright, girls,” Pinkie said, carrying a tray of five milkshakes out from the kitchen. Socket gave an angry little shout at being lumped in as a girl. “I have everypony’s milkshakes but Sweetie Belle’s. That one is going to take just a smidge longer.”

My friends all grabbed their drinks while Pinkie bounced back into the kitchen, the serving platter gripped by her tail. “You sure you want the PPSS?” Apple Bloom asked. “I heard nopony’s ever managed to completely drink it before except Pinkie, though Rarity got close that time somepony returned one of her dresses because it was too last season.”

“Hey!” I squeaked, defending my sister. “That pony had terrible taste. They thought the aubergine accents in the dress were actually eggplant. Who would think a color is a plant?”

“Uhh… au-ber-gine?” Apple Bloom asked before taking a sip of her shake. “What’s that?”

“It’s like the same color as an eggplant,” I said, pausing while my friends looked at me. “Oh! I bet they weren’t talking about an actual eggplant. That makes way more sense.”

“Ya think?” Scootaloo said, taking a second to pull her head away from the shake before going back to sucking down her chocolate chip shake as quickly as possible.

“It…” I stopped talking as Pinkie popped back out of the kitchen with a giant bucket full of sweets on her back. I counted at least five eclairs sticking out of the mountain of whipped cream at the top of the shake. “Okay, so I might’ve gotten in a bit over my head here.”

My other friends nodded, staring at the thing as Pinkie brought it over to our table. “Here… you… go…” she said, panting as the bucket weighed her down. “Pinkie Pie’s Special Shake, hope you enjoy it. Finish it in one sitting, and it’s free. Enjoy!” I pulled a small pile of bits out of my saddlebags and pushed them over to Pinkie who grabbed them with her mane after she put the bucket of ice cream in front of me. “Thanks Sweetie! I’ll be sure to tell your sister about how you do.”

“Well, she is pretty busy working on a commission today, so maybe you should wait until tomorrow.”

Pinkie smiled and winked at me as I nibbled at one of the eclairs in my shake. “Tomorrow, eh? Got it! Tralalalala.” She bounced off back to behind her counter.

“Do you think she knows?” Life Bloom asked after Pinkie disappeared from sight.

“Knows what?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow at the other Bloom. To her right, Melody was taking tiny sips from her mint milkshake.

I shook my head. “Nothing, it’s just… you know, this is Life Bloom’s first time meeting Pinkie Pie.”

“And mine!” Socket said, looking up from blueprints now stained with ice cream melt. “She didn’t seem that bad, the mane thing was a little weird… a lot weird, but it wasn’t weird bad. Not like that one biology teacher we have who keeps referring to himself as ‘we.’”

“Should we tell him?” Apple Bloom asked, looking between me and Scootaloo. “Cause the mane thing is just the tip of the Pie-berg.”

“I am beginning to realize that,” Life Bloom said while I finished the first of five eclairs. She spoke a little more while I shoved my straw into the massive shake and started eating my body weight in ice cream.

***

I groaned as my friends carried me out of Sugarcube Corner. Several other customers looked on in awe. I’d won, I’d eaten my shake and was now wearing the bucket it came in as a helmet. “Too… much… ice cream,” I said as we stepped outside. “I’ll never eat anything sweet again.”

Scootaloo laughed and patted me on the back, making me feel even more like I was about to vomit. “Sorry Sweetie, but AB and I’ve heard that promise before and it usually lasts until we get enough bits to go to Sugarcube Corner again.”

“But, I mean, she never did eat the PPSS before, neither, so maybe this is different,” Apple Bloom as she carried me back to clubhouse. “Also, Sweetie, would it’ve killed you to not shovel every last bit o’ ice cream into your mouth? ‘Cause now I gotta carry you around until you feel better.”

“Is she going to be all right?” Melody asked, speaking for the first time in almost an hour. “I think we should go to the doctor’s office. Sweetie Belle looks really sick.”

“I’ll… I’ll be fine,” I said from my place on Apple Bloom’s back, trying not to throw up. “I promise if I’m not feeling better in the morning, we’ll go to the doctor’s, alright?”

“You know... Sweetie, if you’re really not feeling that well… we could… we could go to your sister’s house and let you rest there,” Apple Bloom said, grunting as she carried me.

“No!” I squeaked. “We can’t go back there… Rarity is really busy today, we should just go back to the clubhouse… we need to check on the mana engine. You can just drop me off on the clubhouse.”

Apple Bloom grunted. “If you’re sure… But you’re going to have to walk there yourself. I can’t carry ya much further.” She jerked to the side, causing me to topple off her and fall onto the ground. “Sorry, Sweetie, but you’re a lot heavier than usual.”

“Can’t… move…” I groaned, trying to get to my hooves. “The ice cream… the ice cream…”

“Come on,” Life Bloom said, sighing and using magic to adjust her glasses. “If we all work together, we can probably get her back to the clubhouse. Melody, can you help support Sweetie? Assuming you, Apple Bloom, and me work together, we should be able to carry her for an extended distance with minimal issue.”

Melody’s green cheeks got tinged with red and I saw her look at the ground. “I’d be… I’d be happy to help carry her. What do you need me to do?”

“Lift one of her forelegs over your shoulder. Apple Bloom, do the same with her other foreleg. I will use my magic to lessen the load each of you have to carry,” Life Bloom said, her horn glowing as I felt myself get lifted up into the air. Floating in the air didn’t make my stomach feel much better.

Apple Bloom and Melody moved to help support me. “Hey, how come you only asked the earth ponies to help? I can help too,” Scootaloo said.

“Because earth ponies are naturally stronger than pegasi,” Life Bloom said as we started walking back to the clubhouse. “Even accounting for the fact that, as a pianist, Melody is weaker than the average earth pony, she is still built for hard labor while your hollow bones are prone to breaking. To be blunt, the amount of weight Melody can bear is greater than the weight you can bear.”

“Well… I could use my wagon and scooter to carry her,” Scootaloo said, clearly upset that Life Bloom had called her week. “Even if she weighs as much as two ponies, I could get her to the clubhouse in no time.”

Life Bloom nodded while I tried to move my back legs so my friends didn’t have to drag me. “No doubt you could, but since you don’t currently have your scooter and wagon with you, I didn’t account for it in my plans. How quickly do you think you could get it for us?”

Scootaloo reached into a nearby bush and pulled her scooter and wagon out of it. “I’ve got scooters stashed all over Ponyville in case of scooter-related emergencies.” She laughed and strapped on a helmet as my friends tossed me onto the wagon. “I got the idea from Pinkie Pie, and you know, it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”

“Of course,” Life Bloom said as the scooter started moving. “In that case, I suppose we will just follow you back to the clubhouse.”

“Bet you can’t beat me back there,” Scootaloo said, her wings buzzing as we zipped off towards the edge of town. I put my hooves over my head and really tried not to focus on how much we were zipping and zooming around. I really should’ve just let Apple Bloom and Melody carry me back to the clubhouse, I probably wouldn’t have felt anywhere near as sick if I’d gone with them. I definitely didn’t hang my head outside the wagon and vomit during the trip back to the clubhouse, and even if I had, it was kind of understandable, right?

“I can’t believe you did that,” Scootaloo said, stopping next to the clubhouse. “Now I’m going to have to clean the side of my wagon.” She wrapped her forelegs around me and tried to pull me out of the wagon. It ended with both of us falling on the ground and me pinning her.

“Sorry,” I said, groaning as I rolled off her. My bucket-crown had fallen on the grass, and I tried to roll my way back to it. “I didn’t mean to, my stomach is just really upset.”

“No, not that, although… yeah, that was pretty gross. Why’d you eat the entire PPSS? Even Pinkie has a hard time eating it all, and Pinkie doesn’t have a hard time eating anything,” she said, getting back up on her hooves. “I know you like sweets, but you could have stopped before you looked like you were going to give birth to an ice cream baby. An ice cream baby which is now on the side of my scooter.”

“Sorry again,” I said, making an attempt to get back on my hooves before collapsing onto the grass. “And I ordered the PPSS because I wanted to do as much fun stuff as possible today.” I felt myself sniffle and tears ran down my cheek. “I wanted to try and get as many good memories as possible before you and Apple Bloom got your cutie mark and left me.”

Scootaloo laughed at that and sat next to me. “Okay, yes, we’re gonna get our cutie marks before you, I mean, I’m awesome on my scooter and Apple Bloom apparently created some impossible potion Monday, while you’re still trying to figure out just what it is you’re good at.” I started sobbing and Scootaloo pulled her umbrella out from under her wagon. “But… But! Just because we get our cutie marks before you doesn’t mean we’re going to abandon you. We’ll still be Crusaders, and Crusaders don’t leave each other behind.”

“You won’t mean to,” I said, still sobbing, “but once you get your cutie mark, you’ll be so busy with your special talent, you won’t have time for stupid blank-flank Sweetie Belle. You already have your replacement friend, and soon everything’s going to change and you’re going to be practicing tricks on your scooter all the time and Apple Bloom we’ll be making potions and…”

“Uhh… Sweetie, we’re already doing that now, in case you didn’t notice. I’m on my scooter almost all the time when I’m not with you, and AB usually is trying to make some potion or another when we’re working in the clubhouse. We aren’t going to leave you behind, and yes, we made other friends, but so did you.” I nodded at her and tried not to yawn.

She could say that now, and she probably believed it, but cutie marks change things. My parents told me how Rarity completely dedicated herself to high fashion after getting her cutie mark, and everypony in town was completely focused on their special talent. That was going to happen to my friends sooner or later, and the Crusaders would go their separate ways. All the books said the teenage years were supposed to be the years a pony dedicated herself to her talent, and that meant not having friends that distracted you from your talent.

It was going to happen, even if my friends told me it wouldn’t to make me feel better, and that meant I had to make the most of the time I still had with them. Luckily, I had a lot of time on my hooves. As I felt myself fall into a sugar coma and tried to think of what we could do in future loops, Scootaloo said one last thing. “The important thing is that we’ll always be friends.”

Author's Note

What's this? An update? For the first time in over two months? And I bet you thought this fic was dead. Tune in tomorrow for Part 2.

4. Time After Time (Part 2)

“Can I ask you something?” Life Bloom said as I carried a snorkel, unicycle, and various other instruments of fun to the clubhouse.

“Sure, but can you help me carry my fun bag?” I asked as her horn lit up to take off some of the weight on my back. “I have a lot to do with my friends today, and I don’t want to miss a second of it.”

“That’s actually part of my question,” she said as we walked through the apple grove. “During the last few… I don’t know if you could really say months have gone by in this loop, but for the sake of convenience, let’s say you can. During the last few months, you’ve had an almost monomaniacal obsession with planning and executing fun activities with the rest of the Crusaders. I’m wondering why.”

I sighed and told her the same thing I told Scootaloo a few months ago. “An understandable concern,” Life Bloom said, nodding her head as we walked. “I left behind my friends in Fillydelphia for a better chance at learning about biology. While I still love my old friends and plan to visit them when I’m home, my cutie mark changed things. Now I’m a thousand miles away from home, making new friends, and currently reliving the same day over and over again. You and Scootaloo will almost certainly remain friends, but even if you get your cutie mark first, your relationship with your friends will change.”

“That’s what I was worried about,” I said, taking a moment to lower my fun bag and lean against a nearby apple tree. The bag was almost as big as me, and carrying it to the clubhouse was pretty tiring. “Once we get our cutie marks, everything is going to change and I won’t see my friends as much and–”

“You aren’t listening,” Life Bloom said irritably. “Yes, things will change, but that change isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Even though I’ve only been here for a week... or several months depending on how you judge things, I already find myself caring for you and the rest of the Crusaders. I didn’t lose a set of friends, I gained another. Now consider your Crusaders, for several years, you had drifted along in equilibrium, with change coming slowly if at all, then you persuaded your friends to join the Academy, and in the span of a week that equilibrium changed.”

Life Bloom pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “I apologize, I fear I’m not being properly concise, and my attempt to remedy the situation involves the use of metaphor, so I apologize doubly. The thing I find endlessly fascinating about life, and one of the reasons I am so invested in its study, is because of its ability to change and adapt. While we ponies have curtailed that trait with our domestication of the world, in places like the Everfree where life is still wild and untamed, those organisms that fail to modify themselves or develop new strategies are consumed, and in that way they find the change they dreaded. Is this even a little clear or am I just talking to myself?”

“I think so,” I said nodding while stretching out my sore muscles. “You’re saying I should make the most of the time I have now before something eats me.”

She thunked her head against a nearby tree. “That is… not completely inaccurate, although it misses the main point of my argument.” Life Bloom was acting like I was dumb for not understanding her, but she just admitted my friends would change and our relationship would change. She had even admitted the same thing had happened to her, so why was she trying to phrase this like a good thing?

“Is it so bad that I want to actually spend some time with my friends before they leave?” I asked, ears perking up. “I just want to create a bunch of fun memories with them while I have the chance.”

“That is fine,” Life Bloom said, nodding her head. “But perhaps it would be better to create memories when your friends can actually remember them. Or will you enjoy reminding them of events that they believe never happened.”

I frowned at her. “That… I hadn’t thought of that before. I just… I want to do stuff with them before things change too much.”

“And you can do that. After we leave the loop, I’ll even help you plan fun outings with your friends. Not that I’m particularly good at such things, but I believe a gesture of goodwill is generally–”

She was cut off as I wrapped my forelegs around her. “You’re right! I’ve been thinking about me this whole time, what I should be thinking about is other ponies and how I can make them happy. A good friend wouldn’t just have fun that nopony else can remember, they’d work on planning as much fun stuff as possible that everypony can enjoy.” I bounced in a circle around Life Bloom. “Ooh! Maybe I can try learning how to sing or plan out everypony’s perfect day… I know! I can make sure our last loop is absolutely perfect!”

I ran off towards the clubhouse, leaving Life Bloom behind with my fun bag. “Don’t you want to take this bag with you?” she shouted.

“No time,” I said, looking back at her and smiling. “I’ve got the perfect day to plan!”

***

“Hey, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, if you could do anything today, what would you do?” I asked as I ran into the clubhouse.

“I don’t know,” Apple Bloom said, tapping her chin. “I’m pretty happy with today, I've got y'all with me, and I was just looking forward to spending the day with you girls.”

“Hey!” Socket yelled from under the clubhouse.

“And Socket,” she added.

“Okay, so Apple Bloom just wants us to spend some time together, that’s pretty easy,” I said, talking to myself. “Scootaloo, what about you?”

“Something cool and daring and death-defying,” she said, smiling. “What if we scaled the Canterhorn?”

“That’s… we could do that,” I said, “but I was kind of hoping it would be something we could do today. Maybe we could just set up an obstacle course for you to scooter through.”

“Yeah! With a burning loop to jump through! And lions!”

“We can… definitely do something like that,” I said, smiling at her as I tried to think of what cool stuff she’d like that was actually possible, maybe I could convince Socket to help with the designing. Still, I could definitely make an obstacle course for her, and if I set a hula-hoop on fire…

“I’d just like to sing a song with you. Well, you sing, and me play the piano, but if you weren’t asking me that question then–” Melody said before I interrupted her.

“Of course we can do that,” I said, feeling bad that I’d forgotten she was in the room. It’s not that I didn’t like her, I like her a lot, it’s just that she’s so quiet that I sometimes kind of forget she’s there until she finally decides to speak up. I gave her my super-happy smile. “Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were telling me the other day that I should really try singing some more, so this is a good opportunity, right? Besides, if I was going to sing with anypony, I’d sing with you.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyes lighting up at that. “That… it means a lot to me.”

“It’s no big deal,” I said, sitting down in the clubhouse. “You’re a great musician, of course I’d want to sing with you.”

“Oh,” she said, her smile suddenly disappearing as she looked back at the floor, “that’s… thank you for the compliment.”

Alright, I thought, Apple Bloom wants a day with her friends, Scootaloo wants to do something cool, Socket probably just wants to get his mana engine working, and Melody wants to play with me. I don’t know what Life Bloom wants, but she already knows what my plan is kind of since we’re looping together. That just leaves…

***

“Rarity!” I said, bursting into my big sister's inspiration room as several rolls of cloth she was working with flew up into the air. My sister turned and glared at me.

“Yes, Sweetie Belle? What could be so urgent that you needed to disturb me while working?” Oops. I was so excited about giving her a perfect day, I kind of forgot her "don't bug me while I'm working" rule, although it wasn’t like this loop would count anyways.

“I was just wondering what your perfect day would be,” I said, sitting next to the door. My sister’s annoyance disappeared as soon as she had a chance to talk about what she liked.

“Hmm, my perfect day,” she said, tapping her chin, “I suppose it would start with breakfast in bed, perhaps some Prench toast with a dash of cinnamon, a fruit medley, and a glass of orange juice. Normally, I would prefer coffee, but in my ideal day, I’d be able to sleep in, and so, no coffee would be required. After breakfast, I would leisurely read through the paper, perhaps enjoying the company of one of my friends – probably not Pinkie, though, as my main hope would be to enjoy the sounds of silence, and Pinkie is antithetical to the idea of silence. Applejack would do nicely, hearing about her work on the farm is strangely captivating.”

I tried not to groan, she’d been talking forever and we still hadn’t reached noon of her perfect day. This was going to take way more work than the rest of my friends combined. “After that relaxing morning, I would naturally go to the spa.” Of course the spa was involved. This was my sister, it would be weirder if it wasn’t. “I’d order the ultra-deluxe package and spend the next several hours in the lap of luxury and comfort. After that, I’d love to take in one of the orchestra’s concerts, possibly with a special somepony.”

“But the orchestra isn’t playing today,” I said, frowning. “That doesn’t help me at all.”

“What do you mean, Sweetie Belle?” she asked, tilting her head. “You asked me to describe my ideal day, and I did. I didn’t know that this ‘perfect day’ had to be today. After all, it is almost sundown.”

“That’s the whole point,” I said, “I want to make today perfect for you, but I can’t just make the orchestra play tonight no matter what I do… I guess another performance would be okay but…” My ears perked up. “I think I have an idea, I’ll talk to you later Rarity.” There was a weird cry as I ran out of the room, like my big sister tried to say several things at once, followed by the sound of her head banging against her desk. She did that a lot when I was around for some reason. It didn’t matter though because I had a plan on how to get the bestest day ever for everypony, and the first things I had to do were learn how to actually cook and figure out just how long it would be until we could actually get out of the time loop.

***

“I haven’t found anything, Sweetie Belle,” Twilight said, frowning at me as the mana engine started to hum. We only had a few more minutes until it exploded and I was kind of hoping she’d figured out some way to break the loop. “Like I said, I’ve been taking some time off to read through the archives and it’s just been so exciting. The things I’ve learned about magical theory are just…”

She stopped and frowned at me. “If you want, I can start focusing more heavily on how to end the loops, but I must say I’m looking forward to reading through the next section of the archives, it focuses on how pre-tribal Equestrian history, very fun stuff.”

“I’m sure it is,” I said, “and I don’t want to find a way out just this instant, but I really want to give my friends and Rarity a nice day on the last loop, but to do that I need to know when the last loop is.”

“And how long do you think it will take to prepare everything?” Twilight asked, concern in her voice as the engines humming got louder. My other friends were checking out something in the clubhouse while we whispered beneath it. Even if they overheard us, it wouldn’t matter too much in about five minutes.

“Well, I have to learn how to cook, and if I’m going to be performing with Melody, I should probably practice singing and–”

“You’re going to learn how to cook?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded at her.

“In that case, I think I have plenty of time to finish my reading. Life Bloom, how are you holding up?”

“Most of the tests I wished to conduct are now concluded; however, assisting Sweetie Belle is proving to be an interesting endeavor. Besides, interactions with Pinkie Pie are opening up future avenues of research,” Life Bloom said, pushing a stray hair behind her ear.

“I would… caution against that,” Twilight said. “I spent some time trying to ‘study’ Pinkie Pie when I first moved here and…” She shuddered. “It’s not something I would recommend, At this point it’s just easier and safer not to question her strange unexplained powers.”

“But I thought you were in favor of scientific inquiry,” Life Bloom said, frowning as the first cracks in the mana engine appeared. Was it just me or was it happening like… a teensy bit earlier than it used to? Maybe I should tell Twilight about that during some future loop, I thought as the engine exploded in another burst of white light, sending me back to the second Rarity knocked on my door. If I was going to get her perfect day right, I’d have to figure out how to wake up before her. Luckily, I had plenty of time to do so.

***

“Hey girls, how can I help you?” Pinkie asked as I walked into Sugarcube Corner.

“I’d like to learn how to cook,” I said, Life Bloom moving to stand behind me. “Nothing fancy, just… I’d like to be able to cook something kind of good.”

“Can do!” Pinkie said, giving me her usual smile. “Today’s kind of busy, so let’s start your training tomorrow.”

“Uhmm… actually, it’s kind of important that I get started today,” I said, my eyes darting down to the counter. “I’d be happy to come by after the shop has closed if you want.”

Pinkie “hmmmed” for a few seconds. “So, you want to learn how to cook and it’s important you start today… You’re stuck in a time loop aren’t you?”

“What?!” Life Bloom and I both yelled.

“Or a time whorl, whatever you call it. You know, the thing where you relive the same day over and over and over and over and over again.”

“I know what a time loop is,” Life Bloom said, grumbling. “I was mostly confused by how you could so quickly deduce that we were stuck in one.”

Pinkie laughed and patted Life Bloom on the head. “It’s simple, silly filly. Right before the shop opened this morning I got a rumbly-tummy blinky-eye poofy-mane Pinkie Sense combo, and that means that–”

“Don’t ask,” I said before Life Bloom could ask her question about the Pinkie Sense. “It’s… none of us really understand it.”

“Right,” Pinkie said, nodding her head as customers began to pile up behind us. “Anyways, that means that someone in Ponyville did a time spell, but I just figured Twilight was behind it again, so I wasn’t that bothered. But then, you came in here wanting to learn how to cook and said it was urgent, so I thought ‘Why would it be so urgent that she has to start today?’ and I remembered the time spell and thought ‘I bet they’re stuck in a groundhog loop and this is where they do the big self-improvement thing to become a better pony before the finale, and that’s why Sweetie wants to learn how to cook’. Am I right or am I right? Or am I right? Or am I right?”

“No… you’re… definitely right,” I said, slowly nodding my head. “So can you help me learn how to cook?”

“Sure!” Pinkie said. “I’d be happy too, and since you’re stuck in a loop, that means I can take time off from work to teach you how to cook.” She scratched her mane. “If this loop keeps resetting, then that should mean I can take the rest of the day off without anything bad happening, so step into my kitchen and let’s see what you’ve got. Ooh! I bet you’re going to be a great cook.” She stopped bouncing towards the kitchen for a second and turned to look at me. “Oh! And tomorrow when you come and visit, the password is ‘orange banana.’ It will let me know you are stuck in a time loop.”

“She actually planned for this?” Life Bloom said, shaking her head as we walked into the kitchen. “It… how?” I tried not to think too much about it and instead tried to think about how I was going to become the best cook ever.

***

The building was on fire and I wasn’t sure how it was my fault. I get that my cooking is kind of bad, but I wasn’t even using the oven. I was just mixing the cupcake batter and the bowl caught on fire. Now all of Sugarcube Corner was burning. It was… How was this even possible? “Okay,” Pinkie said, “next loop, tell me to bring a fire extinguisher.” She pinched my cheek. “Don’t worry Sweetie, with enough time you’ll be a great chef, and lucky for you, you have plenty of time.” Pinkie pulled a fire extinguisher out of her mane and bounced back into the blaze. “Tralalalala!”

Life Bloom looked at me. “Remind me next loop to question you about just how you could make dough spontaneously combust. Right now, there are far too many other impossible things for me to process.”

I nodded. Tomorrow would have to be better. It’s not like I could get any worse at cooking.

***

A deep voice speaking in the voice of a thousand tongues came from the rift that had suddenly opened from above my mixing bowl. The whole house shook as several tentacles and an eye came out of the portal. “This is… patently impossible,” Life Bloom said as the portal continued to grow. “How can anypony be so bad at cooking that they–”

“Uhmm… girls, maybe we should continue this conversation later. Or somewhere without a giant portal monster in it,” Pinkie said, looking at the thing coming out of the portal. “Maybe next loop, you should tell me to select all of the ingredients out beforehoof.”

“For eight-thousand years, we slumbered. Now, all of Equestria shall tremble,” a hundred voices sang in unison.

***

“Well,” Life Bloom said, looking at the blob crawling around on the kitchen cabinet, “I suppose spontaneous biogenesis is… better than opening a portal to the underworld. It still violates several known physical laws, though.”

“Feed me,” the cookie monster squeaked, oozing towards us.

“Oh my gosh,” Pinkie said, wrapping her forehooves around the squishy thing. “It’s so cute and blobby and…” She took a bite out of it, causing it to call for help. “Tasty! Mhmmm! This is the best living dough blob I’ve ever tasted.” Pinkie opened her mouth and the bit of dough crawled back to the rest of the blob struggling in her hooves. “You should totally make this for your sister, she’ll love it.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said, taking a step back from Pinkie.

Life Bloom turned to me while Pinkie “played” with the cookie monster. “I believe it would be for the best if we took some time off from the cooking experiment.”

I nodded at her while the cookie dough blob wrapped itself around Pinkie. “That might be good.”

***

I sat in my room, trying to think of what I could do when I wasn’t practicing cooking. I’d been practicing it for almost a month, and I still wasn’t that much better at it. Maybe taking a few days off for fun would be good. What were some things I could… Ooh! I could try and set Scootaloo and Socket up, that might be fun. If they didn’t make a good couple, it would all just reset tomorrow, so really it was better for everypony. I nodded to myself as I put on my saddlebags and headed off to the treehouse.

The cooking isn’t even the hardest part about Rarity’s breakfast in bed, I thought, trying to plan out the perfect day as I walked to the clubhouse. If I want to get it fixed for her before she wakes up, I have to wake up earlier, and even though Life Bloom says the loop starts at 8:18, I can never wake up before 11:30, even if I try to. I suppose I can ask Life Bloom or Twilight to wake me up when the loop starts, but they’ll still have to get into my house without waking up Rarity. Maybe Twilight can teleport into my room, but Twilight says most unicorns would wake up if there's a lot of magic cast around them. Would her teleporting cause Rarity to wake up?

I sighed. Why did this have to be so hard? I had all the time in the universe, but I still couldn’t figure out how to make today perfect for my sister without doing something perfect. Everything else seemed easy in comparison.

“Sweetie, we have a problem,” Twilight said when I reached the clubhouse. “The rest of your friends are off getting something for me in town… I have some bad news.”

“What is it?” I asked, looking between her and the mana engine. “Ooh! Does it have something to do with the engine blowing up earlier than it used to?”

Twilight blinked and looked between me and Life Bloom. “You… knew? How did you know? I just started investigating my hunch a week ago! If you knew the loops were getting shorter, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well… I didn’t know know, I just thought a few weeks ago that maybe I had a bit less time than I remembered,” I said as she stared at me. “I thought I was imagining things again, so I didn’t say anything.”

“I’m… I’m assuming this revelation will change our plans on how to proceed,” Life Bloom said, nervously fidgeting with her black glasses. I think it was the first time I’d actually seen her nervous about something, although some of those times I thought she was confused by something could’ve been nerves. Maybe she was confused and nervous when I opened that portal to another dimension.

“Yes… I mean, no,” Twilight said, pacing around the mana engine. “It obviously changes my plans, but the two of you can do what you want while I try to fix the time loop. I just wanted to let you know… Oh, Rarity is going to kill me if she finds out about this. Of course, if she finds out about this, then that means I got us out of the time loop, which means she will have no reason to kill me because I saved her sister and stopped time from collapsing in on itself.” She took a deep breath. “If I could use the elements, I could try pointing them at the engine and see if that worked, but…”

She kept talking to herself as she paced in circles. “So,” Life Bloom said, turning from Twilight to me, “what do you plan on doing now that our time loop is no longer infinite? I would assume this alters your plans in some way.”

“Not really,” I said, “I mean, if Twilight needs my help with something, I’m going to help, but until then, I have to do something.”

“And what is that something? Are you going back to baking?” Life Bloom asked, trotting up to the clubhouse. “Because if so, I might need to take a few days off to contemplate something saner, such as the drawings of M.P. Escher.”

“M.P. who?” I asked, following her up the clubhouse ramp. Twilight was still pacing below us. “And nope! I’m taking a few days off from baking to try to get Socket and Scootaloo to go out.”

Life Bloom froze immediately. “Why would you do that? Even if you succeeded, their relationship would end by the next loop.”

“Not if I set it up so they get together on the final loop. Rarity has her perfect day, Melody performs with me, Apple Bloom spends time with us, and Scootaloo and Socket–”

“Ooh! What about me?” Socket asked bounding up the stairs with the rest of my friends following behind him.

“Yeah, Sweetie, what were you about to say about Socket and me?” Scootaloo said, following behind him and glaring at me.

I smiled at her. The absolute best thing about time loops was that I could be completely honest with my friends and not have to worry about Scootaloo throwing stuff at me. “I was saying what a cute couple you are going to be.” I ducked as a stuffed animal flew through where my head was a second earlier. Scootaloo and Socket were both blushing and they looked absolutely adorable.

“I told you to drop that,” Scootaloo said, getting upset. “Why do you think that everypony needs to be in a relationship to be happy? I mean, yes, I like Socket, he’s totally cool, and if I wanted to date a colt, I’d date him, but I don’t want to date a colt right now.”

“What about Apple Bloom?” I asked, smiling at Scootaloo while she looked absolutely horrified. “I mean, if you prefer fillies, you and Apple Bloom would be kind of cute. Not as cute as you and Socket, but still pretty cute.”

Everypony in the room stared at me, and for a moment, the only thing we could hear was Twilight talking to herself in the background. Scootaloo gritted her teeth. “That’s not what I meant. I don’t want to date either Apple Bloom or Socket or anypony else you want to set me up with. Do you understand?”

“Why not?” I asked, frowning at her. “There has to be somepony out there you like, we’re practically teenagers now, and teenagers date and have crushes.”

“Then what about you?” Scootaloo asked, still glaring at me. “You want to set us up with everypony else, but you never seem even a little interested in anypony. How would you like it if I tried to set you up with Melody?”

“That would be silly because she’s just a friend, right Melody?” I said, looking to her She made a small nod to agree with me.

“Of course, Sweetie Belle,” Melody said softly, looking down at the ground. “Whatever you want.”

“See!” I said. “So setting us up would just be dumb, there’s no chemistry there. But you and Socket, you two have chemistry.”

“Actually,” Socket said, “I’m not particularly interested in Scootaloo either. No, if I had to date, it would definitely be Life Bloom.”

“What?” I squeaked. “But you two hardly spend any time together. You’d make a terrible couple.”

Socket flicked his wings in irritation. “You don’t know that, yeah we don’t spend much time together, but she has this cool smart-girl-in-glasses vibe, and with her skill in biology and mine in engineering we could create some really cool stuff.”

“That’s what I mean,” I said, getting upset with Socket for his clearly wrong taste in women (not that Life Bloom was bad, she was just bad for him). “You and Scootaloo both like cool stuff, you’d make a great couple.”

“Certainly a better couple than me and Socket,” Life Bloom said. “Besides, my interest don’t run in his direction, I’d much prefer dating Apple Bloom as I believe our similar interests lead to the greatest likelihood of a happy relationship, and I find her rustic demeanor charming.”

“Thank you,” I said. “You and Apple Bloom make a good couple. The smart city mare and the earnest hard-working farm girl, you two would be so adorable.”

“Well, maybe," Apple Bloom said, "but I’m way more interested in Socket than I am Life Bloom. No offense, LB, it’s just… Socket is funny and you’re always so serious all the time. And, he’s super hard-working.”

I groaned. “Do you realize how terrible this is? We have a love triangle and nopony likes the pony who likes them. Even if I get one of you to like the pony who likes you, that still leaves somepony out. Scootaloo, Melody, do you have a crush on anypony in this room?”

After a minute, they both said no. I think maybe Melody might’ve been lying, but I’d still have to figure out who she had a crush on, and that would take time away from planning Rarity’s perfect day, and now I actually had to worry about time.

Life Bloom gave a sigh. “I’d like to be alone for the remainder of the day. I will speak with you about this tomorrow, Sweetie Belle.” She turned and headed out towards the door.

A moment later Apple Bloom ran out after her friend, “Life Bloom, wait, I like ya just fine, I just… we only met a week ago, and just because I don’t like like you, doesn’t mean I don’t like you. You’re one o’ my best friends, I just don’ feel romantically for ya.”

“Uhmm… I should probably go check on the engine,” Socket said, frowning as he shuffled out of the clubhouse. “Good talk, though.”

“I… I think I should go,” Melody said, getting up on her hooves to follow him. “Uhmm… I might not see you girls for the next few days, I just want to spend a bit of time by myself.”

“Good job, Sweetie,” Scootaloo said, her wings buzzing, “now all our friends are upset with each other because you just can’t leave well enough alone. I get that you like imagining ponies as couples and stuff, but you… stop playing matchmaker. If you want to set anypony up on a date, set yourself up.”

“And who would I do that with?” I asked. “Nopony has a crush on me.”

Scootaloo laughed and turned towards the door. “Wow, if you think that, you’re worse at matchmaking than I thought, and I think you are really bad at matchmaking.” She left the clubhouse, leaving me alone to try and figure out how I could fix this during the next few loops. Apologizing to Life Bloom would probably be a really good start though.

***

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” I said, sitting next to Life Bloom. “I didn’t want anything bad to happen.”

She sighed. “I’m aware of your intentions, what I’m not sure of is why you insist on pairing your friends with each other.”

“Because I want them to be happy,” I said. It really wasn’t that hard to understand, ponies in love were happy, and I wanted my friends to be as happy as possible. That meant making them fall in love. “All I want is for my friends to be happy and love each other.”

“And so you try to make sure we’re all in a relationship,” Life Bloom said, nodding her head. “I can see the reasoning behind your actions, even if it’s erroneous.”

I tilted my head. “Er-ro-ne-ous?”

Life Bloom shook her head. “Wrong. What happiness did you create yesterday? Everypony left that clubhouse with hurt feelings and they entered with none. Your desire to pair your friends might have been detrimental to your friendship with them if we weren’t stuck in a time loop. Instead, only the two of us are aware of the convoluted love triangle that runs in the group of our friends. A love triangle that I apparently am a point in.” She frowned and when she talked again there was a bit of actual sadness in her voice. “I suppose it’s my own fault for growing infatuated with Apple Bloom after only a few months.”

“A few months?” I asked. “But you only really knew each other for a week.”

“I am aware, during some of the earlier loops, I tried to spend time with Apple Bloom, and I suppose it was there I first became aware of my infatuation.” Life Bloom was… I really liked her, but I didn’t understand her half the time, and my friends thought I was a dictionary. “Seeing her forget everything we discussed the day prior over and over was… unpleasant, so I decided to spend time with a pony who would actually remember me.” She turned and gave me a smile. “I’m glad I did, you’ve proven more interesting than I originally imagined.” Life Bloom laughed for the first time in… I think it was ever, actually. I didn’t even think she could laugh. “Even if your cooking makes me doubt my sanity.”

“Ooh! Want to do a bit more cooking practice today. Maybe if we’re lucky, I won’t destroy the town.”

***

“Congratulations,” Life Bloom said, looking at the burnt tray of muffins after I dragged her from the clubhouse to Sugarcube Corner to look at what I’d done, “you’ve managed to make food that isn’t impossibly bad. Just normally bad.”

“Thanks!” I said, taking a bite of the blackened muffin. It tasted like ash. “It… I think it might take a while before I can make food that is really good.”

“You’ll get there, Sweetie,” Pinkie said. “We all were pretty rough cooks our first few times. How many loops have you been practicing?”

“Two entire months,” Life Bloom said, sniffing one of the muffins before throwing it in the trash. “One of which was spent with me questioning my sanity due to a combination of your and her reality-bending antics. Seeing her fix muffins that look like something a pony could conceivably cook is something of a triumph. I’m actually glad Sweetie pulled me away from the clubhouse to show this.” She took another sniff of my muffins. “These were supposed to be muffins, correct?”

I nodded. “Yep! It’s so cool, I wanted to make muffins and I made muffins and the town isn’t on fire. Do you think I can get good at cooking before we get out of here.”

“Well, based on Twilight’s estimates of decay, we still have plenty of time in the loop. She is trying to run scans that would normally take three weeks to complete, but the constant interruptions means she is having to find a way to condense a three-week scan into one day, meaning I’d estimate we have at least a few more months looping. So… possibly.”

Twilight had already told me all that stuff, but I didn’t want to embarrass Life Bloom, so I just nodded at her and smiled. “That’s really good to know, thanks for telling me, so… since we’re going to be here a bit longer, what do you want to do?”

She shrugged and took a seat next to the cooking table where my muffins sat. “I plan on spending time with you when I’m not running experiments. Truthfully, at this point, the novelty of infinitely repeating the same day is wearing off, especially since we now have an expiration date.”

“You know what you should do?” I asked, feeling my voice squeak. “You should get to learn more about Apple Bloom. You still like her right?”

Life Bloom nodded and I heard Pinkie make a loud squeaking noise. “So you should totally go after her, or at the very least try to learn more about her so you can figure out if you really like her or just… like the idea of liking her,” I said. That sounded right, I remember Rarity telling me about how she was so in love with the idea of marrying a prince that she didn’t notice who Prince Blueblood actually was.

‘That sounds… like a good idea. Perhaps I could inquire more about her likes and dislikes and try to divine just what she sees in Socket,” she said, nodding her head and absent-mindedly taking a nibble of my muffin. A second later she was gagging into a nearby garbage bin. “Why?!” she asked. “Why did I think… I wasn’t thinking. It’s the only reasonable explanation.” There was another gag. “No, I was thinking, just not about my immediate surroundings. Instead, I was thinking about theoretical dates with Apple Bloom.”

“Ooh! Any good ideas?” I asked, the thought of them dating making me jump in the air. “Tell me! I can help you plan your first date.”

“Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?” she asked. “Right now Apple Bloom doesn’t harbor any romantic feelings towards me, and more importantly, we don’t know if she’s a fillyfooler or not.”

“Is that the word for mares who like other mares?” I asked, sitting back down. “Because I thought it was just like… a preference. You know, like how I prefer milkshakes, but I also like cupcakes.”

“Heretic! Pinkie screamed, suddenly popping up in front of me. “And to think, I taught you the secret of making muffins. Well, I know somepony who won’t be getting a cupcake for her birthday.”

“But I still like cupcakes, I just prefer milkshakes,” I said, taking a step away from my cooking teacher. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Oh, I know what you meant,” Pinkie said, pacing around me in a circle. “That’s why you’ll be getting a complimentary birthday milkshake instead of a cupcake. Or… at least you will if you tell me this after you get out of the loop. Otherwise, cupcakes it is.”

I smiled at her. “Thanks, Pinkie, I thought you were mad at me.”

She laughed hysterically and was soon giggling in a ball on the floor. “Me? Mad?” she said between laughs. “Never! Well, unless you were a big Nasty McNasterson or broke a Pinkie Promise. But because you prefer milkshakes to cupcakes? That would just be silly.”

“Of course,” Life Bloom said, sighing and tapping the side of her glasses. “To answer your earlier statement, yes Apple Bloom’s ‘tastes’ in this particular issue matter. To compound things, my readings on juvenile psychology and romance indicate that any false step in my relationship with Apple Bloom could leave lasting psychological scars for both parties. I don’t want that to happen.” I stared at her in confusion, hoping she would explain some more. “When I… first noticed my romantic feelings, I did some reading on the subject matter to properly understand myself.”

“I was actually more confused about just what you meant about… anything. What does all that have to do with figuring out what Apple Bloom wants in a pony?” Life Bloom was…. she was a really good friend, but if I spent too long talking to her, I started feeling like I had a really bad ice cream headache.

“Everything! I have to first ascertain if she could even consider the possibility of dating a filly, and then figure out what I can do to make myself seem like a more viable mate in her estimation.” Her pupils got a bit smaller and a hair popped out of place. Apparently she and Twilight both freaked out in the same way.

“Can I give you a teensy bit of advice,” I said, hoping to calm her down. She nodded at me. “Well, when we had the big fight at the clubhouse a few dozen loops ago, she said you were serious all the time, and she liked that Socket was… well, he isn’t funny exactly, but he’s way more…” I tried to think of the right word. “Accessible. When I’m talking with you, a part of me keeps feeling like I’m talking with a doctor, and nopony wants to date a doctor.”

“The doctors I have known are generally happily married. Certainly, it seems implausible that nopony would want to date a doctor; by most societal metrics, they are very successful.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said, barely understanding what she had said, “but most doctors can stop acting like doctors when they aren’t working. They’re casual and friendly like everypony else. You don’t do that, though, you’re always acting like the world is some sort of experiment and you have to take notes. So maybe you should try being just a teensy bit more casual. Don’t change yourself, just let her see you with your mane down.”

She slowly nodded. “An interesting hypothes– idea. Still, I’m not sure how to go about acting informally. My parents spent quite a bit of time teaching me proper scientific protocol.”

“Do you want me to teach you how to act casually?” I asked. “I think we still have enough time.”

“That would be… Thank you, Sweetie Belle.”

“It’s no problem,” I said. “I think we still have plenty of time left, and if I can learn how to cook, then you can definitely learn how to be more relaxed. The first thing is–” I stopped talking as I realized Pinkie was still staring at us.

“Ooh! This is going to be so fun,” she said, “I’m totally rooting for you, Life Bloom. Can I help? Please?”

“Uhmm… sure,” I said, glancing down at the floor and feeling really confused. Pinkie knew pretty much everything there was to know about making friends, but she could also be… a little out there.

“First thing is, you do need to relax, at least a little. You shouldn’t start acting like me, because I’m not you so you shouldn’t be like me, you need to be you… It’s like Tavi. She came to Ponyville as Octavia, and now practically nopony calls her that. She’s still her, but she knows how to unwind and be at least a little teeny bit fun when she’s out with other ponies. Like last week, we had this big party, and she actually showed up and had a kind of good time. When she first moved here, she would’ve never done that,” Pinkie said, talking at a pretty slow pace for her (still really fast). “Am I making any sense?”

Life Bloom nodded. “I think so… Be me, but relaxed. My problem is, how I can actually do that. Thinking in non-clinical terms is difficult for me.”

Pinkie tapped her chin. “Maybe we shouldn’t focus on that, first… You want to get Apple Bloom to like you, so maybe you should figure out what she likes and try doing that with her. Tavi didn’t get to be all casual by just deciding to be casual, she got there by getting to know other ponies and spending time with them.” She winked at Life Bloom. “Do it enough, and the casual kind of rubs off on you.” Huh, Pinkie was pretty much saying everything I planned on saying.

“That actually makes a degree of sense,” Life Bloom eventually said. “And spending more time with Apple Bloom in the loop will allow me to assess our compatability.”

“Just don’t think of this as an experiment,” Pinkie and I both said. Was she reading my mind? I gave her a worried glance, but she just had her usual happy smile on her face.

Pinkie patted Life Bloom. “You’ll do great, and if you need any help, just ask Sweetie Belle. Even though it might not seem like it, we think a lot alike.”

“I do!?” I asked, totally shocked. Pinkie was the craziest pony in town, and I… okay, I could be a little odd at times, but I wasn’t that crazy, was I?

“Sure,” she said, giggling. “You’re spending the time loop trying to make your friends happy, and that’s the same thing I’d do. You could do pretty much anything and what was your first thought? To have as much fun with your friends as possible. That’s totally Grade-A Pinkie Pie behavior. The only way it could be even Pinkier is if you threw a party, but parties totally aren’t you, Sweetie Belle. We both want to make ponies happy, we just have different ways of doing it.”

“And what’s my way?” I asked. It was kind of… Pinkie made a good point, I just never thought I was like her. If I was like anypony, it would have to be my big sister. We both liked art stuff and… we had other stuff in common too.

“Perrr-forrrr-ming,” she said, laughing. “Singing and acting on stage is absolutely one of the best ways to make lots of ponies happy. Just don’t do sad songs or plays, I don’t like those.”

“I didn’t plan on it,” I said, “I never watch sad plays, I like happy musicals.”

“Me too!” Pinkie said, giving another snort of laughter. “See, Life Bloom, if you have a question, just ask Sweetie Belle and she will pretty much tell you the same thing I would tell you. Ooh! I wonder if you could ever use the Element of Laughter.” She paused and tapped her chin. “No, you’d need five friends who each have a connection to one of the elements, and what are the odds of that?” There was another round of laughing from her, while Life Bloom and I glanced at each other.

“Well,” Life Bloom said, nodding her head, “thank you for the advice, and if I require any more, I will talk with Sweetie Belle. Our talks are always interesting.”

“Happy to help,” she said, bouncing up and down. “I’m sure I’ll see you all again for the big final loop… Ooh, it’s so exciting I can hardly wait.”

“But… you won’t remember this loop when the final loop happens,” I said, frowning as I headed out of the bakery.

“Oh, right,” she said, stopping her bouncing. “Well, I’m sure I’ll love it anyways, I mean, it’s the final loop, just the thought of it’s so exciting I don’t know what to do with myself. Eee! I can’t wait.”

“Neither can I,” Life Bloom muttered as we left the bakery.

“So,” I said as we trotted towards the clubhouse, “do you really think I’m like her? I mean, I don’t think I’m that out there.”

“Out of our group of six friends, you are certainly the most eccentric and the most concerned with their happiness. Your first thought when you realized we were stuck in a time loop was to have as much fun with your friends as possible, and you then moved on to trying to give them the best day ever. From my understanding of Pinkie Pie, that fits with what she would do.”

I laughed. “Hey, we do have six friends, do you think there’s any chance the rest of them have an element?”

She shook her head. “Not likely, considering neither of us are particularly magically talented. Perhaps if I was some magical prodigy like Twilight Sparkle, the comparison would work, but I’ve never been particularly adept at the arcane arts.”

“You’re right, we would need another unicorn, because you’re definitely more an Honesty than a Magic,” I said as we walked to the exit of town.

“Really?” Life Bloom asked, tilting her head. “What makes you think that?”

“You said you didn’t think I was a good actress,” I said. “That seems pretty honest to me, and… thanks for telling me that, by the way. It wasn’t fun to hear, but I definitely think it helped me. Maybe my singing lessons in the loop will go better than my attempts at acting…” I thought of the first play I wrote. “I don’t think it can go worse.”

Life Bloom gave me a teeny-tiny smile. That was progress, right? “I’m glad to hear that, and yes, honesty should be a virtue for any aspiring scientist. If we don’t accurately report our findings, the whole scientific process will break down.”

“Well, that’s something you have in common with Apple Bloom. Her big sister’s the Element of Honesty, and she loves her big sister.”

Life Bloom used her magic to adjust her glasses. “Really? That connection is certainly interesting, and the romantic in me says that this connection has the feeling of destiny to it.”

I stopped and wrinkled my forehead, trying to make sure I’d heard her write. “Wait, did you say there’s a romantic in you?”

She turned back to face me and gave me a nod. “Indeed, I generally try to avoid letting her out as such thinking is antithetical to scientific impartiality, but… yes, I do find myself working to counter my belief that things were meant to be.”

“That’s great!” I said, suddenly beaming. “You should let that side of you out more often. I get that it’s bad when you’re doing sciencey stuff, but is it that bad to let it out when you’re with friends?”

“Perhaps not,” she said, her teeny-tiny smile returning. “It would be nice to speak figuratively once in a while and discuss a few matters of the heart.”

“Ooh! I bet Apple Bloom will really like that,” I said as we left Ponyville’s outskirts.

She laughed. “I hope you’re right, Sweetie Belle.”

Author's Note

Two chapters in two days. To answer your questions, Chapter 3 was written in bulk and is now being split up so you don't have a 26,000 word monster chapter to deal with (although I don't plan on breaking up Chapter 4 which is 16,000 words). Anyways, hope you enjoy and comments are always fun to read through.

5. Time After Time (Part 3)

The next morning, I woke up at the usual time and practiced cooking Prench toast and making a fruit bowl. The Prench toast was pretty much charcoal, but I could actually eat my fruit bowl, and the juice wasn’t even a little burnt. Pretty soon, I might actually be able to cook Rarity’s perfect breakfast.

“Hey girls,” I said as I walked into the clubhouse. “How are you all?”

“Bored!” Scootaloo said, sitting under the Rainbow Dash poster. “Socket is busy doing tests with Twilight to figure out why the mana engine is being funny, Life Bloom offered to help Apple Bloom with her chores this morning, and Melody is pretty quiet when you’re not around.”

“I’m not,” the green earth pony said from her usual corner of the clubhouse. “I just… I didn’t think you wanted to talk to me.” I made a note to get the piano we used to practice for the talent show in here after we got out of the time loop. Having something to practice on might make our clubhouse feel more like home so she wouldn’t seem like she was hiding whenever she was out here. I wanted this clubhouse to feel like home for all my friends, especially Melody; she needed a place she could relax.

“That’s totally not true,” Scootaloo said, flicking her wings. “I just don’t know what to talk to you about. You’re so shy, none of us really know what you like besides music and Sweetie Belle.”

I scratched my head. “That’s a confusing sentence, I think you meant ‘none of us besides Sweetie Belle really know what you like besides music,’” I said, trying to figure out how to phrase the sentence so it didn’t sound like Melody liked me. Obviously, she did because we were friends, but Scootaloo made it sound like her liking of me was somehow special.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes while Melody just blushed. “Exactly. Good thing we have our dictionary around to tell me what I meant.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, giving her one of my smiles and thinking about Pinkie’s words yesterday. I definitely was the smiley-est of the group. I wanted to tell Scootaloo to try and get along with Melody more, but it wouldn’t matter today. I just worried about Melody, she needed more friends who could help her get out more. She was like an earth-pony version of Miss Fluttershy. Maybe I could have them meet once I got out of the loop… Ugh, there were so many things I wanted to do once I got out of here, but Twilight said it would at least be a few months before she even understood how the stupid mana engine had us trapped here. Why did she help a bunch of fillies build something so dangerous?

“Hey Twilight,” I said, poking my head out of the window, “why did you help us build something so dangerous?”

There was a flash of light and a scream below as Twilight lost her focus on whatever spell she was working on and flew backwards. “Because… Sweetie Belle,” she said, getting back up on her hooves. “Once you girls set your mind on something, there’s usually no stopping you, and I thought this was the best way to make sure things worked out. Obviously, that didn’t work out, but can you honestly tell me you girls wouldn’t have attempted to–”

“Hey!” Socket shouted from wherever the spell had knocked him back to.

“Girls and Socket,” Twilight corrected. “But you really think you wouldn’t have tried to build the dangerous mana engine if I hadn’t helped?”

“N-no?” I said, trying to sort the double negative out in my head. “I mean, yes, we probably would’ve tried to build the mana engine anyways.”

“Exactly,” Twilight said. “I thought helping you had the lowest chance of catastrophe. At the very least, now I can try to figure out how to fix this…” She grumbled to herself. “Although, it would be easier if I could work without getting distracted. These spells are very time sensitive and now the entire day is ruined.”

“I don’t think the mana engine charging itself is a ‘catastrophe,’” Socket said., buzzing around the engine and checking several dials. “Definitely odd, but it’s not like the engine blew up or anything.”

“Not yet,” I muttered before turning back to Scootaloo and Melody. “Anyways, I know it doesn’t matter that much, but I’d like it if you two could try to get along, or at least tell me why you don’t get along… Actually, the last one would be way better, because that can help me Sunday.”

“I… I don’t have any problem with Scootaloo,” Melody said, glancing at me before looking back at the floor. “She is a very nice pony.”

“Yeah, I don’t really dislike Melody either, I just think it’s weird that you’ve known each other for a week, and since Monday she’s practically been fawning over you,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes.

“She is not fawning over me, we’re just friends, right Melody?” I said, defending my friend.

Melody nodded at me. “Of course, we’re friends… just friends. I’m just… I haven’t had any friends before, so I’m not sure how to show my friendship. But… you’re all my friends.”

“Then why do you seem so obsessed with Sweetie Belle? You focus on her like she’s the most important pony in the world. If you’ve got a crush on Sweetie, just say it.”

I laughed at that. “That’s crazy, Scootaloo; Melody just said we were only friends, why would you think she had a crush on me?” Besides, she was nice and cute and already had her cutie mark, why would she have a crush on me? If anything, I should have a crush on her, and… I don’t think I did. Either way, it didn’t matter because she definitely didn’t have a crush on me.

“That’s… right,” Melody said, frowning. “I just… maybe I focus on Sweetie Belle because she was the first pony who was ever my friend just because she wanted to. She… she just walked up to me and said we were friends. I didn’t have to do anything to earn it.”

Scootaloo gave me a grin while I thought about Pinkie’s words again. “That’s definitely Sweetie. I remember when we first met; when my family moved down here from Cloudsdale, I was terrified the other ponies here would make fun of me for… it doesn’t matter for what, but then I met Sweetie, and before I could say a word, she’d decided we were going to be best friends. I guess a month later, we met Apple Bloom, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were born.”

“You two make it sound like I did something special,” I said, feeling myself frown as I thought of how I met Scootaloo. “You both just looked kind of sad and scared, and I thought maybe I could cheer you up. Besides, I like making friends.” It was… I liked making ponies happy, that was one of the reasons I had wanted to be an actress, because I could make a lot of ponies happy at once, and I could probably do the same thing with singing, even though I still don’t think my singing is that special.

“Right,” Scootaloo said, nodding her head at me, “that’s what we both like about you; you’re so into making other ponies happy, it’s kind of crazy.” She looked at Melody. “I get it though. Sweetie was my first friend too; if I was a little mean to you, then sorry. I guess I’m just a bit protective of Sweetie, and thought it was weird how you were suddenly so obsessed with her.”

My chest got all warm fuzzy, and I rushed over to throw my forelegs around Scootaloo. “You mean you were worried about me? You’re the best, Scootaloo.”

She groaned. “Ugh, gross, can you stop being all sappy?” she asked, trying to squirm out of my grasp. “I just meant… you know, I don’t want to see you get hurt by a pony pretending to care about you.”

“I wasn’t pretending,” Melody said from her corner.

I tightened my grip and perked my head up to look at her. “You really won’t leave me just because you got your cutie mark, will you?”

“Uhh… of course not,” Scootaloo said, wrinkling her forehead as she looked at me. “What would make you think that? I mean, I don’t think I talked with you about anything like that.”

Oh right, she didn’t remember that night I ate all the ice cream because it didn’t happen to her. This dumb time loop was really getting on my nerves. “Nothing,” I said, “I was… just worried you might since you’ll probably get your cutie mark before me.”

Scootaloo laughed and shook her head, as I finally let her go. “You know that’s crazy, right? I mean, I… you’re my best friend and everything, but that is the dumbest thing I think I ever heard.”

“Yeah… you’re right,” I said, giving her a smile. “Anyways, what do you girls want to do for the rest of the day?”

“Ooh! A race!”

“I’d like to spend time just talking in the clubhouse.”

I sighed. At least I could get them to agree they were both my friends, that was a start. I tried to think of what I’d have to work on next, I could practice cooking on my own, so that meant I’d have to find somepony who could help me practice singing for Melody. Who did I know like that?

***

“While I do have extensive knowledge and mastery of the cello and musical history, I’m afraid my knowledge of singing is… lacking,” Octavia said, sitting across from me. “It is my fiancée who has the proper musical education.”

“So… she can teach me then?” I asked, frowning.

“Of course,” Octavia said, “she is currently in Canterlot for a show, but when she returns tomorrow, I will direct her towards you.”

“Tomorrow doesn’t work,” I said, groaning and thunking my head against the table, causing my horn to get stuck again, “I need somepony to teach me today.”

“And what is the cause for this urgency?” Octavia asked, fiddling with her bowtie. “If I recall correctly, your ambition was to be an actress, not a songstress.”

Ugh, she and Life Bloom could start a thesaurus club. “Yeah, it was,” I said, nodding my head as I felt myself frown, “but a friend wants me to sing with her tomorrow, and I wanted to learn as much as I could before then. Couldn’t you teach me a little bit? I really don’t want to let her down.”

“Very well,” Octavia said, taking a sip of her tea. “Although I would honestly suggest you speak with your sister for more guidance.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, causing Octavia to rub her forehoof against her head.

“Because she’s a member of the Ponytones, a singing quartet that is apparently quite popular in this town. I’m sure she could teach you much more about singing than I can.”

“Huh, why didn’t I think of that?” I asked, tapping my chin and tilting my head. I knew she was in the group, but it’s like I didn’t think about it until it became an issue. Most of the time, she was just my sister, the fashion designer.

“I don’t know,” Octavia said, her eyes drifting to the pile of papers back on her desk. “If you still want me to assist you in this singing project, I will be happy to, but if not, I really should get back to my papers. Between running the academy and teaching students, I find myself with very little free time these days.”

I got up on my hooves and headed towards the door. “Well, thanks anyways,” I said, looking back at her. “Sorry for bothering you.”

“It’s no worry,” Octavia said, smiling at me, “and I look forward to seeing you in my office Monday morning.”

“What?” I asked, stopping in my tracks.

“Your sister came to me yesterday about a problem you were having with your acting instructor and so I agreed to see you all Monday morning to sort the problem out. I would’ve assumed she told you.”

Oh right, Mr. Marelon, I’d almost forgotten about him in the time loop. You know, maybe spending a few more weeks or months or years here wasn’t that bad. “It’s true, he’s been bullying you, hasn’t he?”

“What gave it away?” I asked, feeling my eyes suddenly get kind of watery. I hadn’t even seen him in a month, and now just thinking about him made me kind of want to cry.

“The fact that you’re eyes watered up the second I mentioned his name was a rather strong indicator of the validity of your sister’s story. Beyond that, I personally debated the merit of hiring Equestria’s harshest critic to teach children before deciding that his criticism might inspire you to be better. If I was wrong, I will quickly correct that mistake,” she said, her calm expression quickly flickering to something else before going back to calm.

“Well… thanks again then, and I guess I’ll see you Monday,” I said as I started walking back to the door and trying to focus on the good news Octavia had given me: I’d get to spend time with my sister for the for the next few loops.

***

“That’s very good, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said as the record finished playing. “When you have somepony to sing along with, your pitch is perfect, but let’s try having you sing a song without anypony helping you, Octavia, are you ready to provide instrumental accompaniment?”

Octavia nodded and I wanted to make a joke about how she still wound up helping me, but since we had our talk a couple of loops ago, nopony would get the joke, and then I’d have to explain myself, and Rarity would get into another fight with Twilight. Last loop, I’d learned Rarity got really upset by the news I was stuck in a time loop, and that kind of put a stop to our music practice. Then that night… I shook my head and tried not to think of my big sister crying. It was really weird seeing her actually crying and not just dramatically crying. (Anypony who says there isn’t a difference has obviously never lived with my sister.)

Anyways, Octavia drew her bow across her cello, and I instantly recognized the piece Rarity was having her play. “Oh come on, why do I have to sing that song? We already embarrassed ourselves in front of the entire town singing it.”

“Because,” Rarity said, looking at me calmly. “Despite all of its many failings, I think there is a decent song in there. Just… please try to sing the song as you originally imagined it and not the way Scootaloo wrote it. I took the liberty of removing the first stanza as I felt it to be the worst part of the song.”

I nodded and practiced my breathing just like Rarity had taught me. I could do this… At least, it couldn’t be any worse than last time. My cue came up and I started to sing.

When you’re a younger pony
And your flank is very bare…

***

We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders,
on a quest to find out who we are,
and we will never stop the journey,
not until we have our cutie mark.

I hit the last note, and Octavia stopped her playing. Then she did something I never imagined her doing: she applauded. I mean, it wasn’t crazy hoof stomping, but it was actual applause, which was way more than we’d gotten the first time we played that song.

“You… actually liked it?” I asked. “Last time we sang it, everypony laughed at us.”

“Yes, well your key for it was all wrong and the production values were absolutely abysmal,” Rarity said. “But in the right key and with the right vocalist, even the worst song can be made praiseworthy. Besides, making this song listenable was easy, all I had to do was find your little touches and bring them out to shine. You did the rest, Sweetie Belle.”

“Really?” I asked, smiling at her and Octavia. “So I’m a good singer?”

The bestest big sister in the world returned my smile. “Sweetie, with the right practice, you can be an absolutely outstanding singer. Now, shall we start our vocal exercises? I want you to start by standing firm and taking a deep breath…”

***

Learning to sing was like… the exact opposite of learning how to cook. Not only did I enjoy it, but I was also apparently pretty good at it. I still don’t get what the big deal is about knowing how to sing, but it was nice to be told I was really good at something. Maybe my song with Melody wouldn’t be that bad. If I could act in front of a bunch of other ponies, singing in front of them couldn’t be that much worse. The weeks I spent singing with Rarity practically flew by.

“Well, Sweetie Belle,” she said one afternoon after I’d finished showing off everything I knew about singing with her. “I don’t think there’s anything else I can teach you. You know and have mastered all of the vocal exercises I do, and… I think your singing ability might be better than mine.”

“Really?” I asked, feeling like I was about to float up to the ceiling of the boutique, “I’m a better singer than you?”

She smiled at me. “I think so, but then, I’m afraid I might be a bit biased. I always knew you had more raw talent than me, but I never imagined you had so much training. Who taught you and if you were being trained to sing, then why were you still pursuing acting?”

“I had the bestest teacher in the world, and as for the second thing, I can’t really say.” I gave my sister a hug. “So you don’t have anything else to teach me about singing?”

Rarity tilted her head, “Do you know to drink hot tea before a show?”

“No,” I said, frowning at her. “Why do I need to do that?”

“You don’t need to do it,” she said, walking into the kitchen while I followed her. “I just find it helpful before a show as it relaxes the vocal cords and allows for greater range. Blue Rhapsody told me that when I first joined the Ponytones, and since I do love my tea, I made it a habit.”

“Can you teach me?” I asked, looked at her.

“To brew tea? It’s really rather simple, I don’t think it would be that…” I stared at her. “Yes, of course, I can do that.” She pulled a kettle out from her cabinet and filled it with water.

“So,” I said while she filled the kettle. “What do you do about stage fright? I’m kind of worried about my show tomorrow.”

She laughed as she put the kettle on the stove. “The greatest fear of stage fright is imagining the ponies in the audience judging you, so I simply imagine them in such a state that any potential judgments they render are utterly meaningless. At least, I did when I first started singing.”

“Ooh! What did you imagine?” I asked. “Did you think of everypony in the audience naked?”

Rarity turned around and looked at me. “Sweetie Belle, your audience tomorrow will almost certainly be naked. We’re naked right now.” She shook her head. “Honestly, dear, I don’t know where you get some of these notions of yours. But you were on the right track, I like imagining the ponies in the audience wearing last year’s fashions. The thought of such dreadfully out of touch ponies judging me, made my fears evaporate.”

“But I don’t even know what last year’s fashions are,” I said, giving a groan and bonking my head against the oven. The oven that was being used to make water boil.

“AAAAaaaaaahhhhhhHHHhhhh!” I screamed, running to hold my head under the sink faucet and turning on the water to be as cold as possible. Rarity ran to the freezer and pulled out one of the ice bags she kept for when I accidentally hurt myself. A second later, the ice pack was pressed against my burnt forehead.

“It’s alright, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, stroking my mane, “I know it hurts now, but the pain will subside in a few minutes. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

I shook my head while the ice pack numbed the pain. “It’s fine, I… thank you for getting the ice pack for me.”

“Of course, Sweetie,” Rarity said. “You know I always have several ice packs in the freezer for just such emergencies, although you simply must be more aware of your surroundings. How many times do you have to burn yourself on the oven to remember it’s hot?”

“Sorry,” I said, grabbing the ice pack with my magic and pulling my head out from under the faucet. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“There’s no need to apologize,” Rarity said, shaking her head and walking back to the tea kettle. “I just worry about you sometimes. Most of the time, actually, you seem intent on putting yourself in harm’s way far too much for my taste.”

“Says the pony who is one of Equestria’s six defenders,” I said, walking behind her and keeping several feet between me and the stove.

“And just what are you implying, Sweetie Belle?” Rarity said as the kettle started to whistle.

“It’s just… I worry about you too,” I said. “Mom and Dad are always travelling or busy or something, and if something happened to you while you were having an adventure…” I felt myself sniffle while my eyes watered up. “You’ve always been there for me, and when you go off on adventures, I worry you won’t come back… and… and…” I sat down and started to sob.

Rarity just hugged me as tight as she could until I stopped crying. “Sweetie Belle,” she said, her blue eyes looking directly into mine, “I want to tell you that such fears are completely ridiculous, but I can’t promise I will always return safely. I’m not invincible, and I suppose you realize that.”

“Then don’t go!” I squeaked, tightening my grip on her. “I need you with me.”

She smiled and shook her head. “As does Equestria, and if I fail in my role as a Bearer of Harmony, whatever evil has arisen will almost certainly find you. Whenever things are bleakest on my… adventures, I always think of you, I think of what will happen to you when I fail, and I find the strength I need.” Rarity kissed my cheek. “Sweetie Belle, I will do everything in my power to protect you, but these last few years, seeing you mature and knowing that one day you won’t need me to be there to defend you… nothing in Equestria makes me happier.”

“Not even marrying a prince?” I asked, feeling my usual cheer return. Rarity always knew what to say to make me feel better. That was one of the reasons I had to get everything right for her perfect day: to show her how much she meant to me.

Rarity just laughed. “There are two princes in Equestria, Sweetie Belle. One is happily married and the brother of one of my best friends, and the other is an absolutely colossal… jerk. Marrying into royalty just doesn’t seem to be in my future unless one of the Princesses suddenly decides to declare a deep and abiding love for me.”

“A princess?” I asked, feeling my ears perk up as an idea hatched in my head. I could definitely make Rarity’s perfect day even perfect-er.

***

“Hey, Twilight,” I said, the next loop. “What do you think of my sister?”

She grunted as the light from her horn flickered. “Can this please wait a bit, Sweetie Belle? I’m doing some very intensive spellwork and the slightest distraction could–” She was interrupted as the magic in her horn discharged in a beautiful bloom of magical energy, reaching out towards the sun.

“Well, great,” Twilight grumbled as my friends (except Life Bloom and Apple Bloom) looked on in awe, “this entire loop is ruined. On the upside, I am very close to figuring out just how to get us out of here. I’ve already determined that this loop is self-terminating, so all I need to do is disable the mana engine and prevent the magical discharge from occurring at the end of each loop. If I can just do that once, then we should be able to get out of here.”

“That’s great!” I said, smiling as my friend’s looks of awe turned into confusion. “But anyways, what do you think of my big sister?”

Twilight tilted her head. “I’m not sure what you’re asking, she’s one of my best friends, but you already knew that so…” Her eyes went wide. “Oh no, please don’t tell me you’re thinking that–”

“You two would make such a great couple,” I said, bouncing up into the air. “You know I’m right.”

“Why would you think we were… What prompted this pairing in your mind?” Twilight asked, gesturing for me to follow her out into the orchard where my friends couldn’t overhear.

“Well, you’re both such great friends, you’re both… you were both unicorns, you both like Canterlot, and I think you two just have a lot in common.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as we walked into the orchard. “There’s something you’re not telling me,” she said.

“Well, you know how she always wanted to marry into royalty, right?” I asked, giving her a tiny grin.

“Of course,” Twilight said, “she was absolutely devastated when Prince Blueblood turned out to be… well, Prince Blueblood, but I don’t see what that has to do with…” Her eyes went wide. “Oh… oh no. I am not going to date Rarity just because it would–”

“Fulfill one of her lifelong dreams and make her super happy?” I said.

“Exactly,” Twilight said before shaking her head. “I mean… no. I’m not going to date Rarity just because she wants to marry royalty.”

“Of course,” I said, nodding my head. “You’d go out with her because you both really like each other, and… one date wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world would it?”

Twilight sighed and sat down. “No… it wouldn’t, I just… I don’t know if I feel that way about her. I don’t know if she feels that way about me. I haven’t done anywhere near enough information to make an informed decision about this and–”

“One date!” I said. “That’s all I’m asking for, take her out next loop, and if you both have fun, then take her out on the perfect loop, alright? Pleaaaaasssse.”

“Fine,” Twilight said, sighing. “If it will make you happy, I can at least ask her out, it’s not like I can lose anything.”

***

“Well?” I asked as Twilight walked out of the boutique.

“She’s not interested,” Twilight said. “If I had to guess why, it’s probably because she’s not interested in dating one of her friends or it could be because she’s not interested in other mares. I don’t know why so many ponies just assume that these days. Yes, magical insemination has made mare on mare pairing more feasible, but there are still some ponies who prefer to do things the traditional way.”

“Huh?” I said, looking up at her. Twilight just shook her head.

“Forget I said anything, my point is that your sister isn’t romantically interested in me and I’m not particularly interested in her, so… Why did I agree to do this for you in the first place?”

“Because you feel bad about getting two innocent fillies stuck in a time loop for… how long has it been now?”

“Almost seven months,” Twilight said, glaring at me, “and I don’t know if I’d consider you innocent. Innocent fillies don’t scheme to get everypony they know in a relationship.”

“I just wanted you all to be happy,” I said, frowning. “And I wanted Rarity to get her chance to be royalty, but then she…” I gave an angry squeak before running off to confront my sister.

“Rarity!” I said as I opened the door to the boutique. “I went through all the trouble to get Twilight to ask you out and then you just turned her down? I thought you wanted to be a princess.”

My sister turned around to face me and I could see a bunch of emotions fighting on her face. “You made Twilight ask me out? Wha- Because you thought it would make me happy? Yes, I wanted to be a princess, but I have since outgrown such desires and learned to take pleasure in… simpler comforts. Did you ever stop to think I was in a happy relationship?”

“Uhmm… are you?” I asked, trying to think of who in town Rarity might be dating. I couldn’t think of anypony in town she would go well with. Even she and Twilight didn’t have that much chemistry, I just thought dating royalty would make her happy.

“No, I’m not dating anypony at the moment,” Rarity said, turning back to her work, “but I’m quite happy with where I’m at.”

“So… not dating anypony, but is there a pony you have a crush on?” I asked, trying to think of how I could make Rarity’s perfect day better.

“That’s none of your business,” she said as she went back to her stitching. “Now, I’d appreciate it if you let me work.”

“Fine,” I said, grumbling as I headed to the exit. Maybe my friends could help me figure out who she liked so I could set them up and they’d have the absolute best day ever. I had to get our last loop absolutely perfect.

***

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo said, leaning back into the beanbag chair in the clubhouse, “wasn’t she into that Tenderhoof guy a few months ago?”

“Trenderhoof,” I said, “but she didn’t really talk about him much after her fight with Applejack. Actually, she hasn’t talked about any stallions after she and Applejack patched things up.”

Scootaloo laughed and snorted, her wings twitching. “Maybe Applejack and Rarity got together. Can you imagine it? The stuffy snooty mare, no offense, and hardworking Applejack? It’s like… you couldn’t get a more opposite couple if you tried.”

“Actually,” I said, sitting down and tapping my chin, “that’s not completely crazy. I remember a few… yesterday, Apple Bloom mentioned something about Rarity spending a lot of time at the farm. Maybe they are dating! Ooh! Do you know what this means?”

“That Equestria has gone absolutely crazy?” Scootaloo asked, rolling her eyes.

“No! It means if they get married, Apple Bloom and I will be sisters and then I won’t have to worry about her leaving me once she gets her cutie mark because we’ll be family. Oh, this is the best news ever,” I said, bouncing around Scootaloo. “We need to set them up on a date for our final loop.”

“Final loop?” Scootaloo asked as I trotted off to the Apple’s farmhouse.

***

“Hey Applejack,” I said as I finally found the farmpony in her barn. It took way too long for me to find her and the loop was almost over. If it wasn’t for the fact it was apple bucking season, she’d probably already be in bed by now. I yawned. If it wasn’t for the fact that time was about to reset, I’d probably be in bed now.

“Oh… uhh, hey sugarcube, what are ya doin’ out here? I thought ya’d be at the clubhouse with the rest of your friends, it’s awful late to be wandering the orchards.”

“Do you like my sister?” I asked, being a bit more direct than I’d normally like. It would’ve been nice to engage in some small talk, but the loop was about to end and I didn’t want to have this conversation again. I still hadn’t figured out how I was going to pay for Rarity’s spa day, since robbing her on the last loop was probably a really bad idea. Besides, I already felt a little bad for stealing from her in previous loops, and those didn’t even count.

“Uhmm… well o’ course I do, she’s one o’ my best friends,” Applejack said, rubbing the back of her head.

“I meant do you like her romantically,” I said. The stupid mana engine could blow up at any second, and Applejack was avoiding the question. On the other hoof, if I could get her to give me a straight answer, I could probably trust anything the Bearer of Honesty said.

“Ah… Rarity’ll kill me if she finds out Ah told ya. She already doesn’t like it that Apple Bloom knows, and Ah get her reasonin’ if our friends find out we’ been meetin’ for the past few months, things probably won’t go that smooth, but Ah also hate the idea of hidin’ this from my friends,” she said, giving a sigh. “And if Granny Smith finds out about this, Ah don’ know what she’ll do.”

“Ooh! You are dating,” I said, beaming and bouncing around Applejack. “I’m so happy for you, I bet you’ll make the best couple and just have the cutest babies. Oh, I’m so excited.”

“Now’n sugarcube, I need you not to tell anypony we’re seein’ each other. Ah want to make the announcement myself.”

“That’s fine,” I said as I felt the familiar crackle of magical energy in the air that signaled the breaking of the engine. It wasn’t even midnight now, it was definitely exploding earlier and earlier. So, Applejack and my sister were… kind of dating. That took care of one thing, now I just had to figure out how I was going to pay for this perfect day.

***

“So, you’re sure the coin will land the same way it did yesterday?” I asked as we approached Berry’s Bar. For some reason, the soda joint attracted all of Ponyville’s gamblers. Probably because of what they had in the basement..

Life Bloom nodded. “Most events of chance end the same way as long as they were initiated in roughly similar circumstances. As long as you flip the same coin at the same place at the same time, with a margin of two seconds, each day, it should have the same result. If you can find someone to bet on the races with you, that would be even better as the results are always exactly the same.”

“Got it,” I said as we continued our walking. “How are things with Apple Bloom?”

She sighed as we walked into the bar. “Unfortunately, learning more about her does nothing to dissuade my infatuation. She’s a hard-working alchemical prodigy who has been nothing but kind to me. I also discovered that she once harbored a crush on… well, the who is not important, what is relevant is that she is amenable to dating another mare.”

“Cool!” I said as I took my seat at the bar. “And how has being casual and friendly going?”

“Alright,” Life Bloom said before ordering a seltzer water. How could she drink that stuff? “It’s… difficult, but I am working to speak more colloquially. Perhaps… I can tell she still thinks I’m too serious.”

“Just give it time,” I said, ordering a root-beer float. “I mean, outside-of-loop time, not inside-loop time.”

“I knew what you meant,” Life Bloom said. “Now, should we start the betting?”

I nodded and turned to look at the other ponies in the bar, pulling a bit out of my saddlebags. “I’ve got two bits saying that this coin is going to land heads up when I flip it,” I said, looking at the clock: 1:17:49, I had to remember the time of each flip if Life Bloom was right, and since she researched all this time stuff, I kind of guessed she was. Maybe if I won enough, I could get somepony to bet on the races for me.

***

Several dozen loops later, I’d figured out that most ponies would stop taking my bets after I won twenty coin tosses in a row. It didn’t even matter if I let them flip it, they still didn’t want to take my bet. I stared at my pile of several hundred bits. It was definitely good, but I needed more if I wanted to buy Rarity the spa’s super special deluxe package. I turned to the bartender. “Is there any chance I can make a bet on the race?”

“I don’t know,” the bartender, a gruff light-gray stallion with three four-leaf clovers for a cutie mark said, “we don’t really make it a habit of lettin’ fillies bet.”

“Just one bet,” I said, giving him my best begging look. “I promise that’s all I want.”

“Fine,” he said, “one bet, but as far as I’m concerned you’re an eighteen-year old mare, got it?”

I nodded and pulled a sheet of paper out of my saddlebags and floated it to him. “Great, I’d like to bet that all these ponies will win the next few races. I’ll need my winnings by three.” I had all the big things taken care of at least a bit, now I just needed to practice it until I had my timing down to the second.

***

A bolt of magical energy stung me in the back of the neck and my eyes snapped open. I’d worked out a deal with Twilight where she’d zap me with a mild magical shock the second the loop started, giving me enough time to do everything I needed to do. I smiled as I combed my hair, last night, Twilight had assured us she’d figured out how to get us out of this loop. Today was the end of the loop and I’d planned out everything so it’d be perfect, Life Bloom had even agreed to help me out with Socket and Scootaloo since today was going to be super busy. I checked the clock in my room, 8:18. I’d found out on the last few practice runs that Rarity didn’t get up until 9:33, leaving me plenty of time to fix breakfast.

Over the last six months, I’d gotten… okay at cooking. I mean, they weren’t as good as Pinkie’s cupcakes, but they were edible and my cooking didn’t wake up any ancient evils that destroyed the town, so that was a huge improvement. I started heating up the frying pan before going to chop up the fruits for Rarity’s fruit salad. We had pineapple, apples, melons, grapes, and blueberries. I didn’t chop up those two last things.

I nodded at the finished fruit salad and put it on the tray before turning back to the stuff I needed to make the Prench toast batter. This and the stove-using part would be the hardest, but I could do it. I’d spent the last month doing practice runs for today, I knew what to bet when, and I knew how to make Prench toast. Today was the day where I put it all together and sang with Melody. Life Bloom was going to work with Socket to design a course for Scootalooo, and I was planning on spending the time Rarity was in the spa with Applejack with my friends playing Apple Bloom’s favorite card game. I hadn’t practiced that bit because I didn’t want to give myself an accidental advantage.

The toast finished frying, and I slid it onto the plate before pouring a glass of orange juice. I glanced at the clock, it was 9:23. Perfect. I grabbed the tray with my magic and headed to my sister’s room. “Wake up!” I said as I opened the door.

My sister gave a snort and her eyes flicked open. “Sweetie Belle, what are you…” Her eyes moved towards the tray I was carrying. “Is that for me? Did you make that for me?”

I nodded. “Yep! This is your perfect breakfast in bed, right? I’ve been working for months to get all this right.”

“It… it is,” Rarity said, her eyes moving between the tray and me. “But… how? Yesterday, your cooking was positively hazardous to everypony except Spike, and now this… this looks positively edible. Not just that, it looks appealing.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling at her. “I guess I’m just having a good day.” I watched as she took a bite of the french toast and her eyes went wide.

“Sweetie Belle, this is… well, not excellent, but certainly very good. You… thank you for the wonderful surprise.”

“It’s not done yet,” I said, heading to the door. “After you’re done eating, this morning’s edition of The Equestria Daily is on the table and a full kettle of water is on the stove so you can sip tea while reading news. Just be sure to be at the spa by 12:30.”

“Wait, what?” she asked as I headed out of her room, grabbed my saddlebags and few bits, and trotted out the boutique. I needed to be at the Berry Bar in time to bet on the 10:00 AM and the 11:00 AM race. Practice had taught me how to convince the bartender to accept my bets (it involved promising him a 20% cut of my winnings).

***

Two hours later, I walked out of Berry’s Bar with my saddlebags almost bursting with bits. Eight-thousand bits would go to the spa’s super deluxe package, a few thousand would go to buying materials for Scootaloo’s awesome stunt course, and a few hundred bits were for future ice cream runs. What? I wanted to keep a little something for the future, and I’d probably use the money to buy ice cream for my friends. I mean, it wouldn’t be fair if I had ice cream and they didn’t.

“Heya!” I said, walking into the spa. The pink pony behind the counter waved at me.

“Ah, good morning, vhat can we do for you today?” she asked, her Germane accent easily recognizable.

I poured a pile of ten-bits on the counter. “This should cover two ponies for the ultra-deluxe spa package right?”

She nodded and I smiled at her. “Great! I’d like to make a reservation for two at 12:30 under the name of Rarity?”

“Rarity is coming?” the pony who was either Aloe or Lotus said. “Zat is good, we have not seen her in some time.”

I glanced at the clock. It was 11:30, I needed to get to the Apple Farmhouse in thirty minutes while Applejack was coming in for lunch. I gave the spa pony a nod and sprinted out into Ponyville.

***

I was panting for breath when I finally reached Applejack’s house, and Applejack was just about to head inside. “Well hey, sugarcube, what brings you all the way out here in such a hurry? Somethin’ ain’t wrong with the clubhouse is it?”

I shook my head, still gasping for air. “Rarity… you… spa… 12:30,” I managed to say between breaths. Based on her expression, Applejack figured out what I was getting at.

“Well, while Ah’d love to spend some time with yer sister, Ah got lots o’ work to do on the farm today,” she said. Right on cue, Big Macintosh came over the hill.

“Hey Big Macintosh,” I said, managing to get more than one word out between breaths. “Your sister… wants to spend time with… her special somepony this afternoon. Can you cover for her?”

He spent a few seconds looking between me and Applejack, chewing slowly on his wheat stalk. “Eeyup.”

“Really?” Applejack said, frowning. “You don’t have to cover for me, it ain’t no trouble. If… they wanted to spend time with me, they could’ve done and made these plans earlier and not when I’m busy workin’.”

“She didn’t make it, I did because I wanted to do something nice for her. I really wanted to give her a perfect day, and I thought you’d want to help with that,” I said. If she didn’t agree to this, the whole plan was ruined, but most days she could be convinced, especially if Big Mac was here to help..

Applejack stood motionless for a few seconds, and I could see her thinking everything over. “Alright, Sweetie Belle, Ah’ll be there, but only if it ain’t no trouble with Big Mac.”

“Eenope,” he said. “Go on and ‘ave fun, lil’ sis.”

“Thanks,” she said, nodding her head at her brother. “Ah guess Ah better get goin’. If ya need anythin’, I’ll be at the spa.”

Big Macintosh laughed after she walked out of sight. “She must really like this pony if she’s willing to go to the spa for her.”

“Hopefully,” I said, walking back to the clubhouse. It was almost 12:30, and I wanted to spend at least three hours with Apple Bloom. Her wish was so simple, I absolutely had to do it.

***

“Hey girls,” I said, walking into the clubhouse and seeing who was there. Scootaloo, Socket, and Life Bloom were still out, but they were usually back before 1:00. “Melody, I was wondering if you’d like to do a song with me after Scootaloo does her stunts tonight.”

“Could you get a piano there?” she asked, frowning and looking down at the floor. “I don’t really have that good a singing voice.”

“Of course,” I said. “We’ve already got all the planning stuff taken care of, I just wanted to know if you’d be interested.”

“Yes, absolutely,” she said. “I told you the other day that I’d love to perform with you, and I’ve never really been bothered performing in front of crowds. When I’m playing my piano it’s like they aren’t really there.”

“Great,” I said, pulling a few papers out of my saddlebags. “Here’s the song I want to do tonight, does that work for you?”

She spent a few minutes looking through it, her blush growing as she did. “You really want to sing this with me?”

I nodded at her. “Of course I do, I’d love to sing it with any of my friends.”

“Really?” she asked, frowning. “Well, I’m just happy you chose me to sing it with you.”

I pulled a bag of bits out of my saddlebags and tossed them to her. “Here you go,” I said as Scootaloo grabbed the bits with her teeth. “That should cover all the costs you need.”

She gave me a look of confusion and I scrambled to explain why I had so many bits laying around. “Uhmm… I’ve been saving part of my allowance for a really long time, and I thought it would be nice to do something for you girls. I guess helping you with your show tonight kind of counts.”

“Cool!” Socket said, grabbing the bag. “If you don’t mind, I can definitely turn all this into something awesome.” I nodded my head at him.

“I just have one teeny-tiny request,” I said as I pulled a card deck out of my now almost empty saddlebags. “Can we all play Go-Fish with each other for a few hours?”

Scootaloo and Socket nodded while Life Bloom just took her seat next to Apple Bloom. “Great!” I said as I started dealing. “I promise, this is going to be super fun.”

***

I looked nervously at the absolutely crazy obstacle course Life Bloom, Scootaloo, and Socket had spent the day building. It had loops, a burning ring of fire, a spike pit, and a swinging blade trap. How could they make all this in one day? Why did they even need a spike pit? There were way too many questions that I didn’t really want to know the answer to, so I turned my attention back to the piano we’d transported all the way from the school to the park. It was easy enough when Scootaloo was helping pull it, but now that it was just Life Bloom and me carrying it, I felt like my horn was about to explode.

“Do we really need to drag this thing almost a mile just for your crazy perfect day idea?” she asked, grunting. I nodded at her.

“Of course we do, it wouldn’t be Melody’s perfect day if she didn’t get to sing with me, and I want all my friends to have a perfect day.”

“What about me?” Life Bloom asked as we hoisted the piano up on the stage, both of our horn’s flickering from magic strain.

I frowned, when I was trying to figure out what everypony’s perfect day was, I could’ve sworn she said that seeing tomorrow would be enough. Had she wanted more and just hadn’t said it. “I’m sorry, Life Bloom, I thought you just wanted to see tomorrow. If you’d have told me, I would’ve been happy to plan something.”

“It’s fine,” she said as we got the piano up on the stage. “You encouraged me to spend time with Apple Bloom and gave me advice when I needed it.” She gave a laugh. “Besides, without you, this day would’ve been much duller.”

“Was that a joke?” I asked as I looked over the stage. It looked like we had everything in order.

“I’ve been working on it,” she said, giving me a smile. “I doubt I’ll be headlining at a comedy club in the near future, but I’ve read several books on the anatomy of jokes and what makes something funny or not. I dare say I’ve gotten well-versed on the nature of comedy today.”

“That’s great,” I said, giving her a smile of my own. “I didn’t know they made books about being funny, but if they’re helping you, then that’s great.”

“Thank you,” she said, her eyes going to the park where ponies were going to watch our show. “Do you think anypony will show up?”

“Well, Apple Bloom is telling everypony in town about the show now, and there isn’t really anything else going on tonight, so I bet we’ll at least have a few ponies show up. Hopefully, Rarity and Applejack will show up, but I know Applejack was worried about farm stuff,” I said, taking a seat next to the piano so I could get a bit of rest before the show started. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and Scootaloo was going to start at 7:00. Right now, she was practicing some of her stunts behind the stage. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be one of those shows that started a few minutes late. “Thanks for helping me with Scootaloo today.”

“It’s perfectly fine,” Life Bloom said, sitting next to me. “Between her and Socket, they needed somepony to make sure they didn’t do something too dangerous.”

“Uhmm… there are swinging blades and a ring of fire,” I said, looking over the obstacle course.

“I’m aware of that,” she said, sighing. “I had to give them something though. At least I convinced them to dull the edges of the blade so if something goes wrong with that, Scootaloo will just have a broken rib. That’s… something, I suppose.”

“It was fun though, right,” I said, thinking of the months we spent in the loop.

“What was?” Life Bloom asked, tilting her head as she looked at me.

“All the stuff we did in the loop, I’m actually a little nervous that tomorrow will be… well, tomorrow.”

“You liked the certainty living the same day over and over provided. All variables were accounted for and you didn’t have to worry about consequences. Today’s different though, what happens now is something we have to deal with tomorrow. I know I’m going to struggle with getting used to that.”

“Yeah,” I said as ponies started taking their seats in the park. Some had brought blankets and picnic baskets, while others just took a seat on the grass. Rarity and Applejack took a seat near the front and a few minutes later, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash joined them. Right, I guess the downside of having a secret relationship was that your friends had no problems ruining your “dates.”

I shook my head. “I think it’s almost time, should we go let Scootaloo know?”

Life Bloom nodded as we got to our hooves. “That would probably be for the best. Then you and Melody should get ready. I don’t know how long Scootaloo’s show is going to last, but I can’t imagine it would take more than an hour.”

“It doesn’t look like this course would take more than a few minutes. Is there anything else she’s going to do?” I asked as we walked backstage.

“Indeed, the obstacle course is just the grand finale. She plans on doing several other stunts and maneuvers beforehoof. Of course, she’s been very secretive about what those stunts might be, as she believes I will tell somepony,” she said as we went behind the curtain and I looked for my friends. Scootaloo was driving her scooter off a ramp to see how high she could go, Melody was studying the sheet music I’d given her, and Socket was… He was working the fireworks. Well, at least he couldn’t do worse with them than I did. That gazebo took forever to fix.

“Hey Scootaloo,” I said as she landed from her jump, “It’s 6:47, do you want to get ready?”

“Yep, thanks for reminding me,” she said while I walked over to Melody. Butterflies tickled my stomach, but I tried not to think of them. This was my first time singing in front of ponies, and the thought of messing things up for Melody… Like I said, I really didn’t want to think about it.

“Can you do the song?” I asked Melody as I sat next to her behind the stage. “If you’re not sure, we totally don’t have to do anything tonight.”

“No, I can do this,” she said, smiling at me and scooting just a teeny bit closer. I guess she was kind of cold, so she was trying to get close to another warm body. “Like I said, when I’m playing my piano, I don’t really notice the crowds.”

“Just wanted to make sure,” I said, nodding my head at her. “Do you mind if I practice a bit before we go on stage?”

She shook her head. “Not at all, I love hearing your singing.” I gave her a smile and started practicing.

***

Scootaloo finished her show by jumping through the burning hoop and over the entirety of the crowd before landing safely on stage, and the entire audience went crazy. Ponies were cheering and applauding, and Rainbow Dash flew up on stage to talk about just how cool several of Scootaloo’s tricks were. Scootaloo looked like she was about to explode from excitement as she and Rainbow Dash walked off stage.

Melody and I went out onto the stage. “Uhmm… hi,” I said while Melody took her seat at the piano. “So, I’m Sweetie Belle, but most of you probably already knew that, and this is my friend Melody… I mean, Melodious Sonata. I’d… We’d like to sing a song before you all leave, and it goes to all the good friends out there.

Melody gave me a weird look at that part before she started her playing. I tapped my hoof, feeling the beats while waiting for my cue. Whatever part of me that was worried about singing in front of ponies vanished while I focused on singing the words.

Ooh, you make me live,
whatever this world can give to me,
it’s you, you’re all I see...

I looked out at the audience, and almost everypony was smiling. It was… did they actually like my singing? I know ponies said my singing was good, and I’d been on stage a few times, but I never saw an audience look this happy.

You’re the best friend
that I ever had.
I’ve been with you such a long time,
you’re my sunshine,
and I want you to know
that my feelings are true,
I really love you.
You’re my best friend.

That last line was always a little weird to me, but I guess they were talking about friendly love, like good friends have for each other. I mean, the song was called “You’re My Best Friend”, not “You’re the Love of My Life” or something like that. I glanced at Melody who was staring dead ahead at her piano and acting like the outside world didn’t exist. I guess she wasn’t joking when she said she ignored the outside world when she played, but for some reason she was still blushing a little. She blushed a lot.

You’re the first one,
when things turn out bad.
You know I’ll never be lonely.
You’re my only one...

Why did this song about best friends have to act like you could only have one? I had five best friends, and each one of them were my favorites. Was it that crazy for a pony to have multiple best friends? It was like dating, there were a bunch of rules saying you could only date one pony, but what if somepony liked a bunch of other ponies? I mean, it would make the weird love triangle in our group a lot easier, but apparently that wasn’t an option. Maybe I could ask Rarity about that tomorrow. The thought of tomorrow almost made me miss my next line.

The song ended, and ponies actually applauded. Not just polite hoof stomping, but… they were really smiling. My singing made them happy. It was… that was all I wanted to do with acting, but one little song did something none of my acting ever did. It made other ponies feel good. I felt a warm tingly wave wash over me as I bowed in front of the audience. I could do this. I wanted to sing for them again and again and make everypony happy. I could do that. I thought of all the happiness I could create if I dedicated my life to singing.

I was so happy, it took me a minute to realize Melody was poking me on the shoulder. The rest of the audience had stopped stomping their hooves and were just staring at me. “Uhmm… I’m sorry to bother you, but maybe you should look at your flank. If you want, that is.” I turned my head back to look at myself, and found a pink heart with two purple eighth notes on it, one higher than the other.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

The ponies who were smiling a second ago pressed their hooves against their ears, but I didn’t care as I ran off to hug all of my friends. “I can’t believe I finally got my cutie mark!” I squealed as my friends all ran in for a group hug.

“That’s great, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said as we wrapped our forelegs around each other. The only pony who wasn’t in the group hug now was Socket who was busy launching the fireworks, causing the sky above us to turn into a sea of different colors. Even Scootaloo joined the group hug, and she hated this kind of stuff. “I always knew you were a great singer. Sorry for not telling you sooner, I just… I figured there was a good reason you didn’t want a singing cutie mark.”

“It’s fine,” I said as I tightened my grip on my friends, “I’m just happy you were with me when I got it. I don’t care if that song says you can only have one best friend, you girls are all my best friends in the whole world.”

“Uhh… you know that song is totally about a relationship, right?” Scootaloo said from next to me. She and Melody were both pressed up right against me in the hug.

“Wha–” I started to say before another pony joined the hug.

“Oh, I’m so happy for you Sweetie Belle,” my big sister said as she wrapped her forehooves around me as well. “I always knew you were a marvelous singer, but now I know that you are also a remarkably considerate pony, and I have absolutely no idea how you managed to plan such a wonderful day for me. So, was there any pony in particular you were singing to tonight?”

“I was singing it to show how much I cared for my friends,” I said, frowning as the hug started to break up.

Rarity laughed. “Oh? Your friends must be very dear to you, because that’s one of Equestria’s more popular love songs. I never really preferred rock songs, but your interpretation of it was simply divine. You are a marvelous singer, Sweetie Belle, and I’m glad you realized that.”

“Yeah,” I said frowning, “I just wish I realized that was a love song earlier. I really just wanted to let all my friends know how much they meant to me, and instead I sang them a romance song.”

“So what?” Scootaloo asked. “Life Bloom told me it was your idea to have this big show tonight so I could show off my stunts… Actually, I’m kind of surprised I didn’t get my cutie mark tonight, but I guess it’s cool because I wouldn’t want to steal your moment. My point is that apparently you tried to do something nice for all of your friends and Rarity today, and some of the lengths you went to were absolutely crazy. You don’t need to sing us a song for us to know how much you like us.”

“Thanks,” I said as the last volley of fireworks went off. Maybe I shouldn’t have given Socket so much money for fireworks. “I guess we should go back to the clubhouse and see how Twilight’s doing with the mana engine,” I said, trotting off back towards the clubhouse. Taking down the stage could wait until tomorrow. Ooh! This was an absolutely perfect last loop.

***

“Hey girls,” Twilight said as we walked back to the clubhouse. Rarity had left us behind to talk with Applejack a little bit more. She said she wanted to speak with her friends, but I’m pretty sure there was just one friend she was thinking about. “I have everything ready. I’m going to induce a magical cascade through use of mana harmonics that should end the loop.” Luckily, Socket was staying behind to make sure all the fireworks were properly disposed of, otherwise he’d probably be upset about us messing with his mana engine.

Life Bloom and I nodded while the rest of my friends just looked confused. Twilight’s horn hummed with magical energy and the engine matched her. Magic bounced between Twilight and the engine until finally, the thing cracked and a blinding wave of white light washed over us all. Something told me her plan didn’t work.

***

“Sweetie Belle, are you alright? It’s almost noon, I don’t think I’ve ever known you to sleep this late,” Rarity said, waking me up and causing my heart to feel like the stupid mana engine had been dropped on it. It wasn’t fair, yesterday had been perfect. I’d gotten everything right, made everyone happy, and I’d finally figured out what my special talent was, and it was all just… gone. The sadness in my stomach suddenly turned solid and I leapt out of my bed towards my junk closet to search for my baseball bat. I might’ve been absolutely terrible at hitting a baseball, but I could definitely beat up the giant mana engine that ruined my perfect day! I’d spent months trying to get everything right, and now it was all gone. I grabbed the baseball bat with my teeth and sprinted out of my room.

“Sweetie Belle, what are you– When did you get your…” I couldn’t hear the rest of her question as I flew down the stairs and rocketed out of the boutique. The mana engine was going to pay for ruining everything. It might not actually do anything, but it might make me feel a bit better, so that was something. Besides, it’s not like anything I did today would ever matter, so why not beat up the dumb hunk of metal?

“Whoa, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said as I ran past the clubhouse, “how did you get your–”

“‘A’er!” I yelled, my teeth digging into the wood of the bat. As soon as I got close to the engine, I swung my neck and whacked one of the engine’s big dumb tubey things. Then I whacked it again and again while Twilight just looked on in horror. Giving whatever the fancy shiny thing on top of the engine was one final whack, I nodded at my hoofwork and spat out the bat.

“Sweetie, what did you do?” Twilight asked, staring at the engine as it started to cackle and Socket just screamed in horror.

“The dumb thing ruined my perfect day. I’d finally gotten everything exactly right, and then it just went and looped us back. I thought you said you’d figured out how to stop the loop,” I said, glaring at her.

“I thought I did too, I suppose I just miscalculated,” she said as the crackling and cackling of the engine grew louder. “You do realize that you can just recreate the perfect day later though, r–” She stopped and stared at my flank. I was about to ask her what was so interesting when a beam of white energy came out of the antennae-ey thing on the top of the machine and raced off into space.

“Huh…” Twilight said, tilting her head and lighting up her horn. “You must have damaged the magical inhibitor in the engine, which is causing…” Her ears perked up. “Of course, in the event of inhibitor damage, the mana engine’s failsafe triggers and it vents all of its magical energy.”

“Does that mean that the loop is…” I trailed off, staring at the beam of white light that seemed to go on forever. She was right, I could have recreated the perfect day, but instead I’d just broken us out of the time loop. My friends would never know how much I cared about them.

“Without any magic to fuel it, the engine will become inert and the loop will close. It’s over.” She laughed. “And to think all we had to do to get out of the loop was damage the magical inhibitor ring. I had dismissed the idea earlier because I thought the solution was too simple…” She turned and noticed that I was shaking while behind us, the engine went silent. “Are you alright?”

“I could’ve redone my perfect day… I had another chance to get everything right, but instead I just… I got upset and broke the engine and now I can’t. It’s all gone.” I felt my eyes get wet and was completely sobbing a second later.

“Uhmm… not everything is gone,” Twilight said while Apple Bloom tapped on my shoulder.

“What… what do you mean?” I asked, still sniffling. I turned to look at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo who were staring at me with a mix of awe and confusion on their faces.

“Hey… Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said slowly, her eyes staring at my flank as I turned to see what she was staring at. “How did you get your cutie mark?”

Author's Note

Big mega-chapter is completely uploaded. Hopefully you understand and forgive the long upload time as it took a while to write and edit this monstrosity. There are probably some things I wanted to comment on, but the most important thing is that the chapter is up, and you can read all about Sweetie's time in a timeloop while taking a drink every time I reference another story that does time loops. (The total amount of drinks would probably be around 4-6. If you want to get truly drunk while reading this chapter, I suggest taking a drink each time Sweetie Belle is oblivious.)

6. The Future Soon

I stared at my cutie mark in horror and relief. I lost everything but that, I thought, trying to figure out if keeping my cutie mark was a good thing or not. Yes, I finally had my cutie mark, and that was great; but on the other hoof, nopony else remembered it. How was I going to explain this to them?

“We were stuck in a time loop,” Life Bloom said. “By my count, we were there for almost a year, although I was unable to accurately keep a tally of our number of repetitions due to the nature of the loop. During the last loop, Sweetie Belle earned her cutie mark, and apparently it carried over.” Well, I guess the direct route worked okay.

“Really?” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom asked while Socket continued to stare at the remains of the mana engine in horror. Twilight and I nodded while I tried to keep myself from crying. I had finally gotten everything right, all my friends had a good day, and I showed everyone how much I cared for them. Everypony was happy, so why did I have to lose it?

“Essentially, yes,” Twilight said, turning from the mana engine to look at my friends. “I accidentally grossly overestimated the amount of mana the engine would need to get started and supercharged it. Adding to that the fact that it wasn’t properly calibrated, we’re kind of lucky the whole town didn’t blow up.” My eyes watered up as she spoke, and a second later I was completely sobbing.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Melody moved over to comfort me, with Scootaloo and Melody patting me on the back. “What’s the matter, Sweetie Belle? I thought you’d be happy you got your cutie mark,” Apple Bloom said in her country drawl.

“Yeah, this is… You pretty much got what you wanted,” Scootaloo said as she ran a hoof down her back, “I figured you’d tell us all about it, I mean, what’s there to be sad about?”

“Ah, I believe I can answer that,” Life Bloom said when I didn’t respond. “Sweetie Belle spent almost seven months trying to plan the perfect day for you and her sister. Her cutie mark was the culminating event of that perfect day, and I believe her earning it was secondary to the joy she felt at making so many ponies happy. While she has her cutie mark, the event tied to it has been wiped from almost everypony’s memories.”

“So?” Scootaloo said, tilting her head at that as she stepped back from me and pulled out her umbrella to shield herself from my continual sobbing. “She got her cutie mark, does what she did to get it matter that much?”

“It matters to her,” Melody said, continuing to stroke my mane reassuringly, not bothered by my sobbing. Her touch even helped me calm down a little bit. Not enough to stop crying, but a little bit. “How could you even say that?”

“I have to agree with Melody,” Life Bloom said. “I earned my cutie mark after successfully identifying all the ingredients in an unknown potion. It took me several weeks of research, but thanks to rigorous study and application of the scientific method, I was able to identify all the components in it. My cutie mark symbolizes the epiphany that came with that moment, the realization that this is what I was meant to do, and my notes on the potion are of incredible value to me.”

“That still don’t explain why other ponies forgetting how she got her cutie mark is makin’ her cry like this,” Apple Bloom said, looking between me and Life Bloom. “She usually stops the big sobbing after a few seconds.”

Life Bloom sighed and shook her head. “One thing I learned about Sweetie Belle after spending almost a year with her is that making ponies happy is incredibly important to her. She spent a long time working to make everypony she knew happy, and yesterday, she finally succeeded. In her mind, she lost the incident that earned her her cutie mark, making it an empty symbol.”

“So… if time got reset, then how come she kept her cutie mark?” Apple Bloom asked while I kept crying. By now, the ground around me was getting muddy and Rarity would probably be super upset with me for getting my coat dirty.

“A cutie mark is a personal thing,” Twilight said. “Most scholars on the topic have decided that the epiphany is what prompts the appearance of the cutie mark, and since Sweetie Belle still remembers her epiphany, she still has her cutie mark, even if the event that caused her to earn it never happened.” She looked at me. “Maybe we should see about getting her into the clubhouse where she can rest or recover or… something. Sitting out here sobbing can’t be good.”

Melody nodded and helped pull me to my hooves. “Come on, Sweetie Belle, let’s go upstairs…” She glanced from me to Socket who was still staring at the mana engine and completely unmoving. “Maybe we should have somepony keep an eye on him as well.”

Twilight nodded at that. “Great idea. Scootaloo, can you stay here with Socket and try to get him to talk or do something? I am going to talk to Rarity and Applejack and let them know what happened. Here’s hoping they don’t get too upset with me.”

She looked between me and Socket for a long moment. “Yeah, I can do that,” Scootaloo said, giving me one last look before walking over to Socket and poking him on the shoulder. Sniffling, I followed Melody and Apple Bloom up to the clubhouse, where I collapsed on the beanbag chair and curled up into a ball.

“Excuse me,” Life Bloom said, looking between Melody and Apple Bloom, “would it be possible for me to have a word with Sweetie Belle in private?”

Melody nodded hesitantly and headed towards the door, but Apple Bloom stayed where she was. “I don’t know, yesterday, you made Sweetie Belle cry, and I don’t think she needs your brutal honesty right now.”

Life Bloom glared at her crush. “Apple Bloom, I spent the last year spending time with Sweetie Belle. What seems like it was only yesterday to you is a year away for us. I dare say that right now, I’m more familiar with her than you are. More importantly, I’m the only pony who can intelligently talk with her about the last loop’s events. Besides, she’s already crying.” She turned to look at me. “Sweetie Belle, is it alright if I talk with you alone?”

I sniffled and nodded my head. “There you have it,” Life Bloom continued. “I have no problem with you waiting outside so Sweetie Belle can call on you if she feels threatened, but right now, I think it’s best if we have a bit of privacy.”

“Alright,” Apple Bloom said, turning around and following after Melody. “Sweetie Belle, if you need anything, just call and I’ll be here in a second.”

“So will I,” Melody yelled from the base of the ramp. I think it was the first time I ever heard her yell.

“Now then,” Life Bloom said, sitting next to me. “You’re upset and I understand that. I even think you have a perfectly valid reason to be upset. However, I also think there are a few other things you need to consider.”

“Like what?” I asked, lifting my head up from the bean bag chair and looking at her, eyes still watering.

“Your epiphany,” she said. “While I can’t claim to read minds, knowing you, I would assume it has something to do with realizing that you could use your singing to make ponies happy.”

I nodded at her. “Like I suspected. Now, I agree with you that it’s terrible that only the two of us remember the frankly insane amounts of effort you spent to make your friends and other ponies happy, but I know for a fact that something besides your cutie mark survived yesterday.”

“And what’s that?” I asked, feeling my forehead wrinkle as I tried to figure out what she was getting at.

“You, Sweetie Belle,” she said, looking into my eyes. “You’re still the same mare who cared enough to spend months planning how to make everypony happy, and even if yesterday is gone, you are still here and I have no doubt you will continue to do what you can to make your friends happy. Nothing about that has changed. You have an entire lifetime to make ponies happy, and yesterday… last loop proved that you can do so. Don’t let one bad day make you lose your focus. You’re better than that.”

My lips slowly turned up, and I felt myself smile for the first time today. “You’re right… I got my cutie mark because my singing makes ponies happy. If I let myself get all sad and down now, then I forgot why I got my cutie mark as well. Thanks, Life Bloom.”

Before she could respond, I wrapped my forelegs around her in the best hug I could manage. “Thank you so much! I got so upset by what I’d lost I totally forgot what I gained. I discovered my calling last loop, and nothing can take that away.”

She smiled as I ended the hug. “I’m glad I could cheer you up. You see,” Life Bloom said, turning around to look at Apple Bloom and Melody who were standing at the club’s entrance, “there was nothing for you to worry about. I managed to become quite adept at advising Sweetie Belle during the loop, even if she didn’t always understand my advice.”

“I did too,” I said as I sat up. “It’s not like I’m dumb.”

“No,” Life Bloom said, shaking her head. “In the right circumstances, you’re quite astute, I just don’t think your brain works on the same wavelength as everypony else.”

“Don’t say that,” Melody said, running over to my defense. “Sweetie Belle is perfect just the way she is.”

“I’m not going to disagree with that,” Life Bloom said. “I suppose what I should have said was that her manner of thinking and mine are antithetical. I strive to be rational, while she prefers to think emotionally. There is nothing wrong with either approach, but it does lead to something getting lost when we communicate.”

My ears perked up as I figured out what she was trying to say. “Ooh! So that’s why you’re so good at calming me down and I’m good at giving you advice about what to do with you and–”

She swiveled her head around and glared at me. “Might I remind you that we are no longer in a time loop, so Apple Bloom and Melody will actually remember this conversation tomorrow.”

“Oh… right,” I said, happy she caught me when she did. “Sorry about that.”

“No harm was done,” Life Bloom said, shrugging as Apple Bloom and Melody took seats in the clubhouse, Melody choosing to sit right next to my bean bag chair.

“Hey,” Scootaloo said, entering the clubhouse with Socket following behind her. “So, Sweetie, you feeling better?”

I nodded at her. “Way better! Ooh! Who wants to hear about what we did in the time loops?” My friends all nodded and I started telling them all about what I did in the time loop. (Well… mostly, I kind of left out the bits about the love triangle because I thought it would just cause way more trouble.)

***

“Wow!” Scootaloo said, her eyes wide. “Can you tell me about the obstacle course again and how Rainbow Dash tackled me on stage and talked about how cool I am? That was so awesome, how did I not get my cutie mark doing all that?”

“I don’t know,” Life Bloom said, groaning, “but I would appreciate it if you didn’t have Sweetie repeat the story for the tenth time.”

“Fine,” Scootaloo said, sighing and sitting against the wall. “But it was such a cool part about the story, way better than the Sweetie learning to sing bit.”

“I don’t know,” Socket said, “while your stunts were definitely cool, I’ve got a lot of questions about how her cooking could wake up some ancient evil.”

“As do I,” Life Bloom said. “I eventually decided that no answer would be worth the tremendous cost to my sanity it would certainly incur.” That was probably smart, even I wasn’t sure how my cooking could’ve been that bad.

“Was… performing with me okay?” Melody asked, speaking up from her little corner in the clubhouse. I remembered the promise I made to get a piano in the clubhouse once I was out of the loop.

“Of course it was,” I said, smiling at her. “Thanks to you, I got my cutie mark.” I stood up and wiggled my flank to show it off to her. “That totally wouldn’t have happened without you.” I bounced over to her and wrapped her in a hug. “You were absolutely great in the last loop, Melody, why would you ever think you weren’t?”

“I just… I didn’t want to let you down,” she said, frowning. “I’m glad I could help you get your cutie mark though, even if it was in another timeline.”

“Time loop,” Life Bloom corrected, turning from her spot next to Apple Bloom to look at me and Melody. “We were stuck in a time loop, although I suppose based on the nature of the loops, it is conceivable that Sweetie Belle got her cutie mark in an alternate timeline.” She magically adjusted her glasses. “I suppose that if I wanted to get a more comprehensive answer, I’d have to study my chronology a bit more, and that is not something I particularly feel like doing.”

“Why’s that?” I asked as I pulled away from Melody. “After all the stuff we’ve been through, wouldn’t it be kind of cool to figure out why it happened?”

“It happened because the engine was improperly calibrated, and Twilight overcharged it by six orders of magnitude. The exact quantum mechanics are not something I feel inclined to investigate at this juncture, as I feel my time can be better spent furthering my knowledge of the life sciences.”

“Uhmm… okay,” I said, understanding maybe every other word of hers. “Do you think I could do some reading on it? I think it would be kind of neat to understand just what happened.”

Life Bloom raised an eyebrow. “If you’re sure, I can find a book on advanced theoretical temporal mechanics once the weekend is over.”

“That would be great!” I squeaked, bouncing up into the air as I said it. Okay, so it sounded a little complicated, but I didn’t need to understand all of it, just the basics, and I could probably do that. How hard could… that thing Life Bloom was talking about be?

***

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said as I walked into the shop that evening, “Twilight came and told me everything that happened. How are you?”

“Alright,” I said, shrugging as I took a seat at the kitchen table. “Still a little upset that nopony but Life Bloom and me remembers the last loop. I got everything right, and nopony else will ever know about it.”

She smiled as she followed me into the kitchen. “Would you like to tell me about it? It might not be as thrilling as actually experiencing it, but I’d like to know what I missed out on, especially if it ends in me hearing about how you got your cutie mark.”

I opened my mouth and paused. There was too much, I couldn’t just tell her about the last loop, not when there was so much other stuff that I wanted her to know about.

***

“Well,” Rarity said, frowning as I finished my story for the second time that day, “that is certainly more than I expected. You… I’m not sure if I should punish you for stealing from the boutique in an alternate timeline.”

“Come on,” I said, hoping she wasn’t seriously thinking about punishing me for something I didn’t technically do, “I only did it because I knew it wouldn’t matter. I wouldn’t actually steal from you. Besides, you were super mad when you found out about it in that timeline.”

She rolled her eyes. “I wonder why. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I lost an entire month’s worth of revenue. Considering how thin my margins are, I’d imagine that I would be absolutely livid when I found out what you’d done.”

“You were,” I said, nodding my head in agreement. “Like… I don’t think I’ve ever see you that upset. So… is the fact that I stole from you the only thing that stood out in my story?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Not at all, Sweetie Belle, there is actually a rather extensive list of things we need to talk about, most of them are… well, not bad, but I certainly believe you need my guidance on a few issues. However before we get into all that, I want you to know that I’m incredibly proud of you for earning your cutie mark. For me, it was just yesterday that I was telling you you should consider singing, and now you’ve… well, you’ve outdone yourself, Sweetie Belle, and even if nopony remembers it, I’m proud to have a little sister who cares enough to spend several months planning the perfect day for her loved ones.”

“Really?” I asked, feeling a happy tingle run up my back. “You’re proud of me?”

Rarity nodded at me and smiled. “Of course I am. I’m sure our parents will be as well when I write to tell them about your cutie mark. Now, on to Applejack and me. I trust I will have your… discretion in this matter?”

“Uhmm… of course,” I said, “although I don’t really know why you’re keeping it a secret, I think the two of you make a cute couple. It’s like that one story of yours I read, you know, the one where the sophisticated classy mare falls in love with the rough farmpony who possessed…” I tried to think of how the book described him. “‘A hidden nobility.’ Also, how come that book didn’t have a cover or anything?”

“That’s… I don’t really think that’s too important right now. I was just worried you would tell the whole town before we were ready to announce it. I’m still not sure how our friends will react, and she doesn’t want to announce it as her family is rather conservative when it comes to such things.”

“Really?” I asked, my ears perking up in curiosity. “Why wouldn’t they want her to date you?”

Rarity sighed and got to her hooves. “I have a feeling we will be talking for quite some time. Do you mind if I put some tea on?”

“Nope!” I said, shaking my head. “Although I think I’ll stay away from the oven. I still remember what happened the last time we made tea together.”

“Ah yes,” Rarity said, clucking her tongue as she poured water into the kettle. “That did sound particularly unpleasant, although… I wish I was there for the talk we had after.”

“Uhmm, you were,” I said from my spot at the table. “That’s how we could have a conversation. It would be pretty hard otherwise.”

“Fine, little miss pedant,” Rarity said as she put the tea on the stovetop. “I wish I could remember the conversation we had. It is one of those memories I would absolutely treasure.”

“Why?” I asked, frowning at that. We were both crying during that talk, and it just… “Why would you want to remember something so sad?”

“Hmm, that does sound like something Pinkie Pie would say,” she said, turning from the stove and trotting back to sit next to me. “But to answer your question, not all sad things are an evil. Some are, certainly, and I have more than a few memories I’d like to forget entirely, but there are others that I wouldn’t part with for all the gold in Equestria. Our conversation sounds like it would be one of those.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you can like something that’s so sad. It’s… don’t you prefer happy memories?” I asked, feeling like my sister was speaking in a foreign language.

“Because, Sweetie, this wasn’t a sadness born out of malice, it was born out of love, and I’m sure that had the loop endured, our bond would have been strengthened. Just because something is sad doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be experienced. Indeed, the sad can grant the good a beauty that is almost sublime.”

I shook my head in confusion. “I still don’t understand what you’re talking about, that sounds… wouldn’t a bunch of good memories be better?”

“Perhaps, but tell me, if all of your memories were good ones, what weight would they have? What would make them special or meaningful?”

“That’s…” I paused, trying to think of a good way to answer her question. “Well, you’d have to have some memories that were better than others, right?”

“Not in this exercise,” Rarity said, quickly glancing at the teakettle. “For our purposes, all memories and experiences will be equally good.”

“But then, if you didn’t have anything else to compare it to…” I frowned as I saw her point. “You’re saying that good needs the bad, kind of.”

“Indeed, although I don’t believe I did a good job of describing just why I found such a sad moment so poignant, and perhaps it’s not something I can accurately explain.” She smiled at me as the kettle whistled. “Perhaps I just have a weakness for the sentimental and maudlin, although now I’m curious, if you had the chance to forget about our sad little conversation, would you?”

I thought for a minute before shaking my head. “I guess not,” I said, “because even though it was about sad stuff, it was also kind of good hearing about how important I was to you and I felt kind of better after telling you all that stuff. How can something be sad and happy at the same time?”

She laughed as she poured the water in the kettle and pulled tea bags out from under the counter. “The word you’re searching for, Sweetie Belle, is ‘bittersweet,’ and I’m glad to hear that you’d keep that memory.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head as she put the tea bags in our cups. “Although maybe I would forget about burning my head on the stove.”

“Even if that memory kept you from burning your head in the future?” she asked, reminding me of how I had stayed away from the stove this time because of what happened last time. Why did she have to be so good at making her points? Couldn’t I win just one of our… they weren’t arguments, but whatever they were, I wanted to win one. “Now then, I’m assuming you want at least three lumps of sugar in your tea?”

I nodded my head at her. “As sweet as possible, I can’t stand how you have your tea so bitter.”

“And I prefer to savor all the tastes in a cup of tea as opposed to just making it taste like sugar.” She levitated the cups and saucers over to me. “Now, I hope you don’t mind staying up too late tonight because I feel we have quite a bit to discuss this evening.”

***

The sun had gone down hours ago, and we hadn’t gotten through even half of the stuff Rarity had wanted to talk about. “Now then, Sweetie Belle, you’re… well, by almost all standards, you’re a teenager now. You’re thirteen, fourteen if we’re counting the time spent in the loop, you’ve started your growth spurt, and you have your cutie mark. That means there are some things you should be aware of.”

“Mom and Dad told me the difference between mares and stallions three years ago,” I said, looking at her from across the table filled with several empty tea cups. “They said you showed them why it was important to have this talk earlier as opposed to later.”

Rarity looked down at her current cup of tea. “That’s… good to know. However, the technical details about such things are not what I wished to discuss. I actually wanted to talk with you about Melody.”

“Why?” I asked, tilting my head at her in confusion. “What does she have to do with me becoming a teenager?”

My sister just sighed. “From what you described, the mare is clearly infatuated with you, and you are completely oblivious to that.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “That’s… that’s completely crazy. We met a week… well, for her a week ago, and she isn’t even… why would she be interested in me? I don’t even… Wait, I do have a cutie mark now, but I don’t get why she’d like me when there are so many other ponies that are better around.”

“And what makes them better?” Rarity asked, frowning and giving me a look of concern.

“I don’t know,” I said, “they’re probably smarter or prettier or something. I just like making ponies happy.”

“That’s… Sweetie Belle, I never want to hear you say something like that again. You are certainly good enough for a pony to take romantic interest in you, and more importantly, you are an exceptional filly. There aren’t many ponies who would do what you did in the time loop. That sort of selflessness is hard to come by.”

So I had done some nice things for my friends, that was only because I wanted to make them happy. I don’t think that made me selfless. “I just made ponies happy,” I said, “and my singing is really good at doing that, but that’s it, my singing makes ponies happy. That’s what I’m really good at. I’m not like Apple Bloom, who knows how to make pretty much any potion. That’s… I could totally get it if Melody was interested in her or Scootaloo.”

“Sweetie Belle, I will smack if you insist on being so obtuse and down on yourself. Not hard, mind you, just enough to let you know that this line of thinking is clearly and poisonously wrong. You are just as good as anypony else, and the only way somepony can be better than you is if you let them. Now, I want you to think about this story as if you weren’t a player in it. A socially-isolated mare moves to a new town where she knows absolutely nopony. She has never had a real friend before, and now she’s likely experiencing feelings she never felt before. I’m sure you’ve noticed such feelings as well.”

I had taken a bigger interest in setting my friends up with special someponies lately, that was true, and I really liked imagining what they’d do on their dates. Hopefully a lot of kissing. I nodded at her and Rarity started talking again. “So imagine you’re that filly; it’s your first day at a strange new school, you’ve never felt so utterly isolated before, and all of a sudden somepony walks up to you and offers you something you never had before: friendship. Can you see how she might develop a crush on somepony in that situation?”

“I guess,” I said, taking another sip of tea. “I mean, if I was reading that story, it’d totally make sense that the two of them got together, and… you’re saying she has a crush on me because I was nice to her?”

“There are stranger reasons to have a crush on somepony. I once had to fend off the overtures of a stallion who was attracted to me solely because I smelled nice. At least this crush of hers is more than physical,” Rarity said, smiling at me from her end of the table. “Now, I’m not saying you have to go out with Melody, I wouldn’t presume to tell you how to live your life, but what I will not see you do is string this poor filly along. The way you raised and crushed her hopes in the loop is absolutely deplorable, and the only reason I can excuse it is because you were obviously oblivious to her infatuation.”

“So… what should I do?” I asked, yawning and looking at the clock. It was almost time for the engine to reset… or it would be if the engine was going to reset.

“Be aware of her feelings, try not to lead her on too terribly, and most importantly, try to ascertain just how you feel about her before doing anything permanent. I would hate for you to do something and regret it the next day.” She smiled at me. “Now, while there are some other things I’d like to talk with you about, I don’t want to keep you up. Get some sleep and we will talk tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” I said, getting up on my hooves and heading to my bedroom in the boutique. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of tomorrow.

***

“Sweetie Belle, are you alright? It’s almost noon, I don’t think I’ve ever known you to sleep this late.” I screamed. This shouldn’t have happened, I was free, Twilight had told me I was free…

The door opened and I felt my sister wrap her forelegs around me. “Oh, I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle, I thought it would be funny to tease you. If I had known your reaction would be so drastic… Obviously my attempt at humor was in bad taste.”

“It’s… it’s okay,” I said, after I stopped screaming. “You just… I really liked spending time with you yesterday, and I didn’t want you to forget it.”

Rarity hugged me tighter. “It’s alright, Sweetie Belle, I’m sorry for upsetting you. Are you feeling better now?”

I gave her my biggest smile ever. “Of course I’m feeling better, today is tomorrow, I’ve been… It’s been a year since that’s happened, and let me tell you, tomorrow always being a day away gets old after a few months.”

She laughed and sat next to me on my bed. “I can only imagine. I apologize again for scaring you this morning.” Her horn lit up and pulled back my window curtain to show off the rising sun. “In reality it’s only a little bit past 8:00. Did you sleep well?”

“Great,” I said, nodding my head. “This is so cool, I haven’t…” I looked at the clock: 8:07. “There hasn’t been an 8:07 in a year.” I hugged her again. “Thank you for waking me up before 8:18.”

“You’re welcome,” Rarity said, returning my hug. “8:18 was the time the loop started, was it not?”

I nodded at her. “Yep, and since the engine blew up before around 1:00 in the morning, so I just… this is new. It’s all new and I have no idea what’s going to happen, and you can remember what we talked about yesterday, and it’s all just so great.”

“That’s wonderful to hear, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said as our hug ended and she pushed herself off of my bed. “Do you care to tell me what the plan for today is?”

“Well, I thought we were going to talk about more stuff that happened during the loop. I thought you had a lot more you wanted to talk about,” I said as I hopped off of the bed after her.

“Oh, I do,” she said as we headed out of my room. “Most of it focuses on why gambling is bad, but I feel that can wait. Of more import to me is the conference with Mr. Marelon on Monday. I believe I mentioned it to you in the loop?”

“You did,” I said, trying to think of when that conversation took place. “I think it was… No! Miss Octavia mentioned it to me, she said she looked forward to seeing me Monday and then I asked her what Monday was, so she told me about how you’d talked with her Friday, and I asked about what, so–”

Rarity raised a hoof to cut me off. “Yes, thank you, Sweetie Belle, I am aware of that particular conversation. I just wanted to make sure you were ready to speak with Mr. Marelon; Octavia and I’ll be there and we’ll do most of the talking, but only you know all of what happened in that class.”

I frowned at that and tried to think of what happened the last time I’d actually seen him. “What about Diamond Tiara? He made fun of her a lot too, and she can make sure what I say is right. It’s kind of been a year since I last saw him so I don’t exactly remember all of the details.”

“That’s…” Rarity paused as we reached the bottom of the stairs. “You and Diamond Tiara are agreeing on something? I thought you despised the filly.”

“She’s not… He made her cry in class. Well, he made us both cry in class, and I thought I’d really like to see her be humiliated, but instead it just made me feel bad. I think we even bonded Friday. Oh, I should have seen how she was doing in the time loop, instead I just completely forgot about her.”

“I’m sorry,” Rarity said as we entered the kitchen. “What do you want for breakfast?”

An idea popped into my head and I smiled at my sister. “Let me fix breakfast for you, I might not be able to plan out your perfect day, but I can still fix you a nice breakfast.” Before she could say anything, I was pulling the stuff I needed to cook Prench toast out of the fridge.

“Are you sure?” she said as I put all of the ingredients in front of me on the kitchen counter. “There’s really no need for you to–”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I learned how to cook in the loop, remember?”

“No, actually,” she said while I started mixing the ingredients to make the batter. “I heard the story you told me, but I hope you’ll forgive my skepticism. The last time you told me you knew how to cook, a giant blue box appeared in the kitchen and that mailmare from town burst out of the doors and stole the muffins you were baking. Just thinking about that incident makes my head hurt.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that was kind of weird. I still think those muffins looked pretty good though. They weren’t charcoal like most of the food I cook and nothing terrible happened while I was baking them. Anyways, don’t worry, this will go absolutely fine.”

***

Thirty minutes later, everything was fine and we were both enjoying a fruit bowl and Prench toast, and nothing was burnt or on fire. “Admit it,” I said, “this is pretty good.”

“Alright,” Rarity said, spearing one of the apples slices with her fork (she insisted on using two forks, one for the toast and one for the salad bowl to prevent “cross contamination,” even though she could’ve just used her magic to eat the fruit. Sometimes my sister is really weird about stuff). “You actually learned how to cook during the time loop, and I’m incredibly proud of you for doing so. Of course, now that I know this, I’ll be putting you to work in the kitchen much more often.”

“Great,” I said, before taking a big bite out of my french toast. “Ooh! I can’t wait to get out your cookbooks and see all the things I can cook for you. What do you want first?”

“We can discuss that later,” Rarity said, using her napkin to make sure there wasn’t any food on her lips. “For now, I’d like to go back to the topic of you, Diamond Tiara, and Mr. Marelon.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, “so he liked making fun of both of us a lot because he thought we hadn’t earned our place in his class. I guess we kind of bonded over that? Also, I kind of think being bullied made her realize how awful she had been to us.”

“Perhaps,” Rarity said, tapping a hoof on the table in thought. “Either way, it will be immensely helpful if we have somepony to validate your stories. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d appreciate it if you stopped by her house and informed her of the situation.”

“Okay,” I said as I finished up my breakfast. “So, I need to talk to Melody and Diamond Tiara today, I can do that.”

“What do you need to talk with Melody about?” Rarity asked, frowning as she finished nibbling on her fruit bowl.

“Well, if you’re right about her liking me–”

“I am.”

“Then I need to find out if I like her the same way. I mean, she’s cute, I really like her mane, and she’s really nice, but I’m still not sure if I like her romantically. How do you know when you like a pony?”

Rarity laughed at that. “I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle, but I’m not the best pony to ask that to. When I was your age, I dated anypony that didn’t look like a ruffian, and since then, my infatuations focused mostly on ponies who had no idea I existed.”

“But you’re happy with Applejack, right?” I asked. “How did you realize you liked her?”

“I suppose it was when I realized that I was jealous,” she said, nodding her head in thought. “I got so upset with the idea of her and Trenderhoof together, and once we had talked things out, I realized that the idea of her being in a relationship was far more upsetting to me than the idea of Trenderhoof dating her.”

“Isn’t that basically the same thing?” I asked, frowning at her. “I mean, her being in a relationship and Trenderhoof dating her, it sounds like they are both the same thing.”

She sighed and took a sip of her morning cup of tea. “In action, perhaps, but when faced with the prospect of losing Applejack, I… well, I realized how much I cared for her.”

“Okay,” I said, frowning at her, “but I care for all my friends and want them to be happy, so that doesn’t really help me out much. Unless… are you saying I should date all my friends?”

Rarity spat out her tea and spent the next few seconds coughing. “No, Sweetie, you shouldn’t date all your friends. Just trust your heart.”

“Alright,” I said, getting up on my hooves and moving to the boutique. “Thanks for all the help Rarity, you’re the best sister ever.” As I left, I heard her whisper something but couldn’t quite make it out. Something told me it wasn’t something I was supposed to hear.

***

The door to Filthy Rich’s mansion opened, and its owner, a brown stallion with black mane and several bags of money for a cutie mark, looked down at me. “Yes? Are you here for something?”

I smiled up at him. “Yep, is Diamond Tiara here?”

“She is,” he said, staying right where he was and not letting me in. “However, I’m not in the habit of letting strangers into my house.”

Okay, so that’s why he was kind of being… not mean, but not friendly, he didn’t know who I was. I could fix that. “I’m Sweetie Belle,” I said, still beaming at him. He continued to stare at me. “You know, I go to school with Diamond Tiara… I’m Rarity’s sister.”

His eyes lit up at those last three words. “Really? Well please, Sweetie Belle, come inside.” He stepped aside and let me walk into the house before pointing a hoof at what looked like the living room. “Please, make yourself comfortable, I’ll go get Diamond Tiara.”

“Okay,” I said as I took a seat on one of the seating pillows while he walked upstairs. That was really weird, he didn’t seem to care who I was until I mentioned I was Rarity’s sister, and then he was all friendly and smiley. I would’ve thought that would happen when I said I knew Diamond Tiara.

A minute later, I heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs and Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich were standing in the entrance to the living room. She frowned at me. “What are you doing here, blan–” She stopped as she saw my cutie mark. “When did that happen?”

“Uhmm… yesterday,” I said, smiling at her. “And I thought you said you were going to stop making fun of me and my friends for being blank flanks.”

Tiara grimaced as she walked over to sit next to me. “You’re right, I did. So, what did you get your cutie mark for?”

“Ooh! It’s a long story, but basically, I got it for realizing I could use my singing to make ponies happy. I always thought my singing was kind of a useless skill, but then after I sang for a bunch of ponies in town and I saw how much they liked it… Well, I got my cutie mark,” I said, standing up to better show off the pink heart with two eighth notes on it.

“Nice,” she said, “so what are you going to do with the rest of your friends?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, tilting my head at her in confusion.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Your friends still are looking for their cutie marks, right?”

I nodded at her and she continued talking. “But now you have your cutie mark,” she glanced back at where her dad was, to find he had vanished. “I’m not saying you should stop being friends with them, but I am saying that you should probably start more time practicing your singing and less time going on their silly crusades.”

“Actually, we don’t do all that much crusading anymore. It’s kind of funny I got my cutie mark before them, because they kind of know what their talent is, they just haven’t gotten their cutie mark for some reason,” I said, defending my friends as I sat down again.

“Cutie marks are weird,” she said, blowing air out of her mouth. “It’s… I didn’t do anything to get mine, you know? My dad got me this tiara on one of his big business trips, and when he gave it to me, I realized I deserved the very best. It’s great, but I don’t know what my talent is. At least you can actually do stuff.”

It was so weird seeing her act like a normal pony instead of just making fun of me. After all these years of making fun of us, she was just as worried that she wasn’t good at anything as we were. Maybe that’s why she needed to make fun of us in the first place. “You can do stuff too,” I said. “So… you’re talent is deserving the best of everything, but that also means you can identify the best of everything, right?”

She nodded at me. “Right, so maybe you could write reviews? You know, you can talk about why something is good or bad, and that could be really useful, because I know a lot of ponies could use help with that when they go shopping.”

Tiara tapped her chin. “That’s… It’s at least worth thinking about. So, was there any reason you came over or… did you just come over because you wanted to?”

“Well, I did want to talk to you about Mr. Marelon, but we can also just hang out if you want to,” I said, suddenly feeling bad that the only reason I thought of coming over was to ask for her help. She needed a friend just as much as anypony else. Maybe more because she had so few.

Her whole body went tense at the mention of his name. “Why do you want to talk about him? It’s… we don’t have to see him today, so as far as I’m concerned he doesn’t exist.”

“Because my sister and Miss Octavia and me are going to be talking with him about how he’s been mean to us, and I thought you might want to… I don’t know, my sister thinks that if the both of us talk about him, it will make Miss Octavia more likely to believe us.”

“You mean we can make him hurt?” Tiara asked, a familiar gleam entering her eyes.

“I don’t know… I don’t want to hurt him, I just don’t want him to hurt us anymore. If he could just be nice, I wouldn’t have a problem with him, but he’s not,” I said, frowning at that.

Tiara shook her head. “You know, Sweetie Belle, I don’t understand you. I’m nothing but terrible to you for years, but the second I apologize you forgive me and invite me to have lunch with you, and even after Mr. Marelon has made both of us cry, you still don’t want to make him suffer. How do you… Don’t you get mad at ponies?”

“Sure,” I said, shrugging at her. “I got mad at you tons of times when you were being mean to us, and I’ve had a few fights with my sister, but I’ve only lashed out at ponies a few times, and I realized hurting other ponies doesn’t make me feel good, it just makes them feel equally bad.”

“Like I said, I don’t understand you, but… I kind of like it. At least, I think I do.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, frowning at tilting my head in confusion. It was pretty simple, making ponies smile and be happy was way better than making them frown and be sad. Even I could understand that.

“It’s nothing,” Tiara said. “Anyways, yes, I’ll help you and your sister deal with Mr. Marelon, but I want you to answer a question for me.”

I laughed at that. “Uhh… we’re friends, I’d answer your question anyways. If I wouldn’t do that, I’d be a bad friend. So, what’s your question?”

She looked at me and gulped, the silence stretched out to almost a minute before she finally spoke. “You know what, it’s not important. I can ask you about it later. Silver Spoon and I had a fight Friday night.”

“That’s terrible,” I said. “You two are such good friends, what happened? Was she upset that you wanted to hang out with us? Because Scootaloo said she wasn’t that bad when she wasn’t around…” I stopped myself before I finished that sentence.

“When she’s not around me. I know,” Tiara said, sighing as her shoulders slumped. “Do you know why I’m friends with Silver Spoon?” I opened my mouth to say something, but she started talking before I could make a sound. “Because her dad works for my dad. That’s how I get everything: my dad. My room, my stuff, my friends, my tiara, even my cutie mark, all of it’s because of him. I’ve earned nothing, Sweetie Belle, and I thought… Friday I asked Silver Spoon if she actually wanted to be my friend or if she was just doing it because her dad was forcing her to. I gave her an out and she took it.”

There was only one thing I could do in response to that: I hugged her as tight as I could. “Hey, I’m your friend, and do you know why?”

“Because you want to be friends with everypony?” she asked, tensing up from my unexpected hug but not making any moves to push me away.

“Well, yeah,” I said, not letting her go, “but I only offered to be your friend because you apologized and showed me you could be a decent pony. You totally earned my friendship, and your dad didn’t even know who I was until this morning, so there’s no way he had a hoof in that.”

She pulled her head back and smiled at me. The pony who tormented me for four years looked so sweet and kind it was hard for me to think of them as the same pony. There was the Diamond Tiara that was mean and nasty, and then there was the Diamond Tiara who just needed somepony to make her smile and– She leaned in and kissed me.

Her lips faintly tasted like berry and the heat from her lips caused a weird tingle to run up my spine. It was– I jumped away from her as quickly as possible and wound up tumbling on my back. “What are you doing?” I squeaked as I stared at her in complete shock and confusion. Nopony had ever kissed me before and… Melody already had a crush on me, and now Diamond was kissing me, and why was she kissing me?

Tiara looked like I’d just slapped her. “What do you mean ‘what am I doing?’ I thought you wanted me to kiss you, you hugged me and looked into my eyes. What was I supposed to think?”

“I hug everypony,” I said, still laying on the floor in shock and not sure what I was supposed to be doing. She’d kissed me, and… I think I kind of liked it. Did that mean I liked her? What about Melody? She liked me too, and if I liked Diamond then… What was I supposed to do. “You looked like you needed a hug so I hugged you. It’s what I do.”

“Nopony’s ever hugged me before,” she yelled, her cheeks burning red. “Then you were being nice to me and you hugged me, and what was I supposed to think?”

“That I wanted to cheer you up and thought a hug would make you happy,” I said, still struggling to think of what I was going to do. I mean, I didn’t dislike Diamond Tiara, I just didn’t think about dating her, mainly because up until a few days or a year ago, depending on who was talking, she had hated me and I had really disliked her. Now she was kissing me, and that’s about as far away from hating as you can get.

“It did,” Tiara said, “that’s why I kissed you. If I didn’t want you hugging me, I would have pushed you away.”

Okay, so two ponies had a crush on me, and I really liked both of them as friends, this was… Why? Now there was no way I could make both of them happy. “Uhmm… I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said getting up on my hooves. “I’m not saying no, I just need to think. Okay?”

She barely nodded her head while I backed out of the living room, careful not to take my eyes off her. The second I reached the door, I sprinted away, heading to the clubhouse as fast as I could. Had I mentioned this was really bad?

***

“This is bad,” I panted as I ran up to the clubhouse. “I was talking to–” I stopped as I saw Melody was the only pony in the clubhouse..

“What is it, Sweetie Belle?” she asked, stepping towards me, concern in her eyes.

“Uhmm… where is everypony else at? Shouldn’t more ponies be here?” I asked, taking a step back towards the door. It’s… Maybe Rarity was wrong and Melody didn’t actually have a crush on me and this was all some big misunderstanding. I really hoped that was the case as she moved closer to me.

“Socket and Scootaloo are trying to convince Twilight to help them power the mana engine and I saw Apple Bloom and Life Bloom heading to Life Bloom’s room with their saddlebags full of ingredients,” she said, giving me a worried smile. “You look really upset though, is there anything I can do to help you? Who were you talking to that got you upset?”

It’s okay, I thought, trying to calm myself, just tell her the truth, and tomorrow when everything resets– Oh right. There weren’t going to be anymore resets, so anything I messed up on today would stay messed up. For a second, I wished I could go back into the time loop just so I wouldn’t have to worry about hurting my friends again.

I struggled for air. Why was it suddenly so hard for me to breathe properly? Melody seemed to tower over me, and I realized that I’d curled up into a ball on the floor at some point during the last few seconds. “It’s alright,” Melody said, cradling me. “Whatever’s hurting you isn’t here, right now you’re safe with me.” She started to sing a lullaby and I found my stress slowly draining away. Having her calm me down was nice, and pretty soon I felt so relaxed, I wasn’t even worried about… Oh right, she and Diamond Tiara both had a crush on me. I bolted away from her grip.

“What’s wrong?” Melody asked. “Did I do something to upset you? If so, I’m sorry, you just looked like you needed someone to comfort you and that’s how my mom always calms me down.”

“It… it’s fine,” I said, giving her my biggest smile. Just because she was touching me didn’t mean she had a crush on me, I hugged ponies all the time and that usually worked out alright. It didn’t today, but usually it did. “I’m just…” I looked in her eyes and all my thoughts on why she didn’t have a crush on me totally vanished. “I need to go,” I said, trying to keep my smile up.

Before she could say anything else, I had trotted out of the clubhouse in search of a pony who didn’t have a crush on me. As I headed back to the boutique to try to talk to my sister I ran into Scootaloo. “Hey,” I said, giving a sigh of relief. I could always count on a talk with Scootaloo to help calm me down, and she didn’t have a crush on anypony else in our group. “How was Socket?”

“Alright,” she said, giving a shrug as she turned to walk with me. “He’s pretty upset Twilight won’t help him rebuild the mana engine, and it would be pretty cool, but… I’d rather not have you get stuck in a time loop again, especially if you’re going to be super mushy when you get out like you were yesterday. Besides, it wouldn’t have been cool if something happened to you in the loop and I couldn’t help you. So, what’s up now that you have your cutie mark? Know what type of music you’re going to sing now?”

“Happy music,” I said, nodding my head. “And don’t worry, you were totally there to help me out in the time loop. You told me that things wouldn’t change between us when you got your cutie mark… We were both pretty sure you would get your cutie mark before me.”

“And it sounds like I should’ve. That show I put on in the loop sounded completely awesome. How come I didn’t get my cutie mark?”

“I don’t know,” I said, deciding to head to the park. Today was way too nice to spend it all inside. Besides, I didn’t really want to risk Rarity overhearing what we were talking about, making an open public place… Better somehow? “Maybe you didn’t have an epiphany.”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked. “I already know I’m awesome at my scooter and going fast.”

“But… I think it’s more than that,” I said, heading to take a seat under a nearby tree. “When I was on stage I realized I could use my singing to make ponies happy, and I think that’s why I got my cutie mark. Something inside my head clicked, and now I can’t wait to practice my singing so I can do shows and cheer lots of ponies up.”

“So what do I need to realize?” Scootaloo said, groaning as she took a seat in the shade of the tree with me. “I found my talent, I know what I’m good at, so why don’t I have a cutie mark?” There was a pause in the conversation while she thought. “Guess I just need to practice and get better. If I keep going, I’ve got to figure it out.”

I nodded at that, I’d already made two of my friends sad today, I didn’t need to add a third. “Yep, I’m sure if you were stuck reliving the same day over and over for a year, you’d get your cutie mark too.”

She gave me a small smile, which for her was a lot. “Thanks, Sweetie Belle. Can’t get down on myself; I’m going to be the best stunt pony ever. So, what’s bugging you?”

“How did you know?” I asked as I rested my back against the tree trunk. “It wasn’t that obvious I was upset, was it?”

“Nope, but I’ve known you longer than pretty much everypony else except Rarity and your parents, I guess. We were best friends before there was a CMC. If I couldn’t tell something was wrong, I’d be a pretty bad friend. So spill, what’s eating you?”

“Promise you won’t tell anypony else?” I asked, reminding myself that stuff that happened today would carry over until tomorrow. Every since Diamond Tiara had kissed me, I’d kept thinking it was okay because it would all go back to normal tomorrow, even though I also knew it wouldn’t. I guess after a year, it’d just kind of become a habit.

Scootaloo nodded at me. “Of course. I’m not about to betray one of my friends. That’s… what would Rainbow Dash think?” she asked bringing up her idol, and again Pinkie’s words echoed in my head. Scootaloo would definitely be Loyalty if we were getting elements. Since that was Rainbow Dash’s element, I don’t think she’d even accept another element.

“Okay, so I know you know Melody has a crush on me,” I said, feeling a nervous flutter in my stomach. Why did things have to be so complicated? I wasn’t even looking for a relationship, and… it wouldn’t be bad if I was dating one of my friends, I really liked them all, I just didn’t want my other friends to feel left out. “You told me about it in the loop. I kind of didn’t believe you then, but now I’m pretty much completely positive she like likes me.”

“Well, she wasn’t being that subtle about it. Kind of weird how she got so into you the instant you met. I totally get why somepony might have a crush on you, but–”

“We already had that conversation in the loop,” I said, frowning. Something told me I’d be telling a lot of people about what they did and didn’t do in the loop over the next few weeks. “You and Melody actually bonded in that loop. You both had me as your first friend ever.”

“I guess I can understand that, then,” she said, shrugging. “Anyways, what are you going to do about it?”

“I figured I’d do it, you know, I like all my friends a lot, and if dating her would make her happy… It wouldn’t hurt me, and I’d probably really like it. She’s super sweet and kind and stuff.”

“So then… what’s the problem?” Scootaloo asked. “It kind of sounds you have a plan, although I kind of think dating somepony just to make them happy is a really bad idea.”

“Of course,” I said. “I don’t want to date somepony I don’t like, but…”

Scootaloo suddenly laughed. “You like everypony and want to make them happy.”

I nodded my head at her. Finally, somepony who understood. “It wouldn’t be so bad, but I also don’t want my friends to feel like I’m choosing a favorite, so if I date a friend–”

“And of course, you’ll date a friend because you like making ponies into friends,” she said, rolling her eyes.

I nodded at her. “Pretty much.”

“Right, so what’s the problem? I don’t really think anypony else in our group likes you that romantically. If you want to date somepony just because it would make them happy, then go ahead,” she said, her voice sounding like Rarity’s did whenever she was trying to control her excitement about my surprise remodelings of her inspiration room.

“Well, remember how I’m being nicer to Diamond Tiara?” I said, bracing myself for Scootaloo’s reaction.

“Yeah,” she said, flicking her wings in irritation. “I remember how you totally stronghoofed us into having lunch with her tomorrow. She tortured us and all she has to do is apologize and you’re treating her like your best friend.”

“I like making friends,” I said, frowning at her hostility. “It’s even better when you can turn an enemy into a friend, because then you have one less enemy and one more friend.”

Scootaloo shook her head and sighed at me. “Whatever, if you want to start being friends with her, go ahead, but I’m not going to start being all buddy-buddy with her. That’s your business.”

“But you’ll still let her have lunch with us tomorrow, right?” I said, giving her one of my happier smiles. (Not free ice-cream happy, but still pretty happy. Maybe… wait, do unexpected-hug smiles count as happier than free ice cream smiles or not? Because they are both so good. Anyways, it was three-quarters of whatever smile is happier)

“I’ll let her sit with us and I’ll say ‘hey’ to her, I’m not doing any more than that.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling and tackling her in an unexpected hug. Unexpected-hug smiles were definitely better than free ice-cream smiles and free ice-cream smiles were great. Scootaloo just groaned and pushed me off her, leaving both of us on our backs staring up at the branches of the tree. “Anyways, I was talking with her this morning, and she started getting sad, so I gave her a hug to cheer her up.”

“Wait, Diamond Tiara got sad?” Scootaloo asked. “I didn’t think she could feel things except maybe anger and hate. She’s like a less-friendly shark.”

I jabbed her with my foreleg. “Hey! I know she hasn’t been nice to us, but she’s still a pony and she feels stuff. Once you get to know her, she’s actually not that bad. I actually felt sorry for her today.”

Scootaloo rolled over on the fresh grass to look at me and raised her eyebrow. “Really?” she asked, not feeling the need to say anything else.

“Yeah… that’s actually my problem. She started looking super sad, so I gave her a hug to cheer her up, and then she thought that meant I like liked her, so she kissed me. Now both Melody and her have crushes on me, and I don’t know what to do. I really like both of them, and if I choose one, the other will get hurt, and if I don’t any of them they will both have hurt feelings. See, this is why I don’t have crushes on ponies, it means I have to choose favorites, and I don’t want to choose favorites.”

I gave a groan and rolled away from her. “Everything’s changing and I’m going to hurt ponies and they’re going to leave me and I really don’t want that to happen.” I started sobbing again, although this one was really more of a wail than a sob, it was definitely louder and shriekier.

Scootaloo got to her hooves and trotted over to look down at me. “Look, Sweetie, I get that you like making ponies happy, and that’s totally cool, but you have to do stuff for you too. So you’re in a situation where you can’t make everypony happy, what would make you happier?”

“Making everypony happy,” I said after I’d finished wailing. “That’s what would make me happiest, but I can’t have that.”

“Alright,” Scootaloo said, flicking her tail at me. “So who would make you happier? Melody or Diamond Tiara. If the answer is neither, then you should definitely just stay on your own. Stop caring so much about pleasing everypony, it’s just not going to happen.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, looking at her in confusion.

“There are going to be ponies who don’t like you or your singing or whatever, and no matter how hard you try you can’t change that,” she said, causing the ground from under me to suddenly disappear and leaving me falling through the air. Two days ago I had everything figured out, I realized I could use my singing to cheer ponies up and all of my friends were happy (except Diamond Tiara, I’d kind of completely forgotten her during the loop). Now it was all wrong, my friends weren’t happy, I couldn’t figure out how to make them happy, and Scootaloo was telling me that no matter what, I couldn’t make everypony happy. I moved back to sobbing.

Scootaloo took a deep breath and ground her teeth. “Look, I don’t get this… at all, so maybe I’m not the best pony to ask for help. Is there anypony else who can help you?” Pinkie’s words echoed in my brain again and I nodded at her.

“There is,” I said, “but… uhmm… thank you for listening to me complain, I’m sorry for bothering you.”

“It’s fine,” she said, smiling at me as I got up on my hooves. “I wish I could help you out more, but I kind of just don’t get your problem. Still, it’s pretty obvious it bugs you, and I want to help you out somehow.”

“Thanks,” I said, hugging her again. “I think I know just who I can talk to.”

***

“Hey, Sweetie Belle,” Pinkie said as I walked into Sugarcube Corner, “how’s life? Ooh! How is being out of the time loop? Did you have fun? Did ya? Did I teach you how to cook in the loop? That sounds like something I’d do.”

I stared at her. Somehow, no matter how much I prepared myself for her craziness, she still managed to surprise me. “Yep,” I said, deciding that trying to figure out how she knew all that would would be way worse than not knowing. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about a conversation we had in the loop. Do you think you can take a break?”

She looked around the empty bakery and then back to me. “Yeah, I think I can do that. You’ll have to tell me about our conversation though, it’s not like I can just magically know what you did in the time loop.”

“... Right,” I said after a very long pause. “You… uhmm, you told me we both had a lot in common, you know, we both want to make a lot of ponies happy.”

Pinkie just nodded at that. “That sounds about right, so what did you want to talk to me about? Ooh! Did you want to work together and make everypony in town happy? I throw the party, you do the singing.”

“That actually sounds nice, but it’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. I have a problem with my friends and I don’t think I can make everypony happy,” I said, trying not to get distracted by the idea of singing at one of Pinkie’s parties.

“Oh, those are just the worst. You want to make your friends happy, but then they want different things, and so there you are trying to figure out what to do before remembering that parties solve all your problems,” she said, talking faster and faster with every word. “So that’s what I’d suggest, throw a party and everything will be fine.”

“I don’t think that will work,” I said, frowning. Maybe talking to her was a bad idea. “See, I have two friends who like like me, and I really like them, but I can’t date both of them, so that means that one pony is still going to get her feelings hurt, and I don’t want to hurt the feelings of somepony I like.”

“That is a problem,” she said. “Why don’t you– Wait, I promised Rarity and Applejack I wouldn’t tell you all about that.” She danced nervously behind her register. “Ooh, what do I do? I can’t break my Pinkie Promise, but… Oh! I know!” She pulled a book out of her mane with her forehoof.

“What’s that?” I asked as she flipped through the book super quickly.

“Nothing,” she said. “Just looking for a bit of advice.” She closed the book and put it back into her mane. She gave me her big everything’s-going-to-be-all-right smile. “Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle, it will all work out. I bet tomorrow this will all turn into some hilarious misunderstanding and everything will be friendship and rainbows.”

“I… I don’t think crushes are a misunderstanding,” I said, frowning at her. “Rarity seemed pretty sure that Melody had a crush on me, and Diamond Tiara kissed me. I could maybe understand Rarity being wrong, but Diamond Tiara kissed me. That’s really hard to misunderstand.”

“Just sleep on it,” Pinkie said, still smiling as somepony else walked into the shop. “If it’s not all fixed up tomorrow, come back and talk to me. Hello and welcome to Sugarcube Corner,” she said, looking at the newcomer. “What can I get for you today?” I spent a few seconds looking at her in confusion before sighing. It wouldn’t hurt if I gave it some time, I guess. Besides, I was meeting with Mr. Marelon tomorrow, so I wanted to have at least a bit of fun today.

***

The next morning came way too soon. After I left Sugarcube Corner, I headed over to the school to find Apple Bloom and Life Bloom and talk to them. Watching them do science stuff was kind of fun, definitely better than worrying about what to do with Melody and Diamond Tiara or my talk with Mr. Marelon. Nope, most things would be better than that. Unfortunately, time kept moving forward, and the next morning was actually the next morning. It still took a little getting used to, and I kept wishing I could go back to Saturday as I got ready for school. Compared to seeing Mr. Marelon again, reliving the same day forever looked pretty nice. Anything else looked pretty nice.

I let out a wheezy hacking cough as I walked downstairs where Rarity was waiting for me. “I’m sick,” I said, “I can’t go to school today.”

“That’s terrible,” Rarity said, “and to think you seemed so healthy yesterday. After our appointment with Mr. Marelon and Octavia I promise we will go to the emergency room to make sure you’re okay. Of course, I’d imagine there would be a fair amount of blood work involved, you can’t be too careful with such things, but if you’re feeling bad enough to miss school–”

“No, I’m really sick,” I said, cutting her off, “I can’t go to the appointment today, I don’t want to make you, Octavia, and Diamond Tiara sick.”

My sister smiled at me. “You’re too kind, Sweetie Belle, but if one of your teachers is making you upset enough to try playing sick, then I’m afraid we simply must confront him. Now come on, we must not dawdle, a lady is never late for a pressing engagement, and I can think of few engagements as pressing as speaking with the ruffian who hurt my sister.”

I groaned as I put on my saddlebags and followed her out of the shop. Why did she have to be so perceptive? It’s not like I played sick everyday, or really ever, I actually liked school and didn’t want to miss it unless I absolutely had to. Usually. I could make an exception for Mr. Marelon.

***

“Please, come in,” Octavia said from her desk as we entered her office. It was still a few minutes before school started, but Diamond Tiara and Mr. Marelon were already there. He didn’t even bother to look at me as I walked in and took a seat on the same cushion as my sister. For some reason, Diamond Tiara’s cheeks were a little bit puffy, like she’d been crying. Would Mr. Marelon be awful enough to make her cry in front of Ms. Octavia? If he was, then why would we still be here?

“Now then,” Octavia continued after we had sat down. “Friday Ms. Rarity came to me with allegations that Mr. Marelon had been inflicting undue emotional duress upon her sister. The well-being of our students is of the highest priority at this school, and so I’ve deemed it prudent that we get to the bottom of things as quickly as possible.”

She pulled a sheet of paper out from her folder and took a look at it. “Sweetie Belle, I have the statement your sister made right here. Can you confirm that Mr. Marelon referred to our students from Ponyville as ‘talentless and unfit to be here?’”

I looked at Mr. Marelon who still seemed pretty calm before nodding at Octavia. “It’s been a while, so I don’t know if he used those exact words, but he definitely didn’t think Diamond Tiara and I should be in his class.”

“A valid complaint, I should think,” Mr. Marelon said, causing everypony in the room to look at him. “This academy was sold to me as a place where the best of the best could congregate and hone their skills. A place where artists could teach other artists. Instead, I find I have to deal with ponies who either have no cutie mark.” He glanced at me, and for a second he actually looked surprised to find out that I did have a cutie mark, but his face went back to neutral pretty quickly. “Or have cutie marks that don’t in any way relate to acting. The great should not be encumbered by the mediocre.”

Octavia’s eye twitched. “And so your solution to this problem was to create a hostile classroom for two fillies who had the audacity to want to learn about acting? While I could understand your hostility if… No, I can’t understand your hostility, actually. You teach an introductory acting course, it’s natural that some of the ponies there won’t be familiar with the basics of acting, and your job was to teach them, to try to make it so they walked out of your class knowing a little bit more about acting than when they entered. Instead, you punished fillies whose only crime was wanting to learn.”

“Then they could read a book on acting, I’m not going to waste my time dealing with ponies who lack the skill and passion to be great,” he said, anger flashing in his eyes.

“But that’s your job,” Octavia said, matching his glare with her own. She wasn’t even looking at me and I wanted to run out of the room screaming. “I understand a desire to bring out the best in all your students – I expect nothing less than my students’ best efforts as well – but that’s not what you want, is it?” There was a moment’s pause as a cold smile grew on Octavia’s face. “You want to make ponies feel inadequate? Then allow me to try. You started your career as an actor who met with mediocre reviews at best. After a few years of middling performances and failed productions, you transitioned from acting to criticism, and quickly carved out a reputation as Equestria’s harshest critic.”

She continued staring down Mr. Marelon and he actually started to sweat. “One has to wonder if all this bile you spew is nothing more than an attempt to mask your own glaring inadequacy. Does it help? Does making children cry ever make the nagging knowledge that you’ll never be anything more than an adequate actor go away? Do your scathing indictments of ponies with far more talent than you help you in some way? Can you ever escape the fact that you just weren’t good enough to follow your passion and had to settle for criticism instead?”

He tried to open his mouth, but Octavia cut him off before he could say anything. “When I hired you, you assured me you would use your skill as a critic to bring out the best in your students, and instead you delighted in making students who didn’t meet your high standards suffer. How does that help them? How does making them fear coming to class bring out their best?” She sighed. “Obviously, hiring you was a mistake. Thankfully, it is one that can easily be remedied. You’re fired, Mr. Marelon. While I have to pay you until the end of the term, I don’t want to see you in my academy again. Is that understood?”

“I can assure you, I will be letting everypony know about this academy’s failure,” he said, getting to his hooves and trying to puff himself up. Octavia just smiled at him.

“Please do try it, I’d love to have Princess Luna let Equestria know that you’re nothing more than a pathetic sadist who delights in the suffering of others. What do you think of her publishing that in every paper in Equestria with her seal under it? I wonder how Equestria’s harshest critic would fare when his target of derision can actually fight back.” The blood drained from his face and he shuffled towards the door.

“I look forward to your letter condemning the school, Mr. Marelon, I hope to read it in my morning paper very soon. After all, it’s not like you have any other pressing concerns to distract you from the creation of your opus.”

He closed the door and Octavia’s smile vanished and she looked at me and Diamond Tiara. “I am sorry you had to witness that unpleasantness, but quite frankly, I wanted him out of this school as quickly as possible.” She sighed and slumped her shoulders. “Unfortunately, now I have the unenviable task of finding a long-term replacement and informing Princess Luna that I had to fire another teacher. Still, the well-being of the students is our highest priority, and I won’t abide ponies like him educating Equestria’s next generation of artists.”

“It… it’s fine,” I finally squeaked while reminding myself not to upset her in our Equestrian language class… or ever.

“Then if everything is settled, I will see you all later. Rarity, I trust I will see you for dinner Wednesday.”

My sister nodded as Tiara and I got up on our hooves and headed for our class. For a long time, nopony said anything until I finally got the courage to speak. “Look, I’m really sorry about yesterday. I… You put yourself out there, and I shouldn’t have just run off.”

“That…” she paused and ground her teeth. “No. You shouldn’t have, but I understand why you did.” She paused. “So, what are you going to do?”

I sighed. “I still don’t know. I tried to think about it, but it still seems so complicated.”

Tiara stopped and took a few deep breaths. “Whatever, if you don’t want to date me for some reason, I’m not going to be upset, so I guess just do what makes you happy. I’m not going to stop talking to you just because you said no to me.”

“Really?” I asked, my ears perking up. “You aren’t going to yell at me or be mad or whatever? I thought if I turned you down you’d get upset and go back to not being friends with me.”

“Oh, a part of me would love to, but I don’t want to be like Mr. Marelon anymore. I can be better than him, I can use my talent to help ponies be better and buy better and not just make them feel miserable. I still deserve the best, and things are better when you earn them, like my friendship with you.”

“Thanks,” I said, resisting the urge to hug her. Having a friend and not hugging her was going to be super hard.

Tiara frowned and lifted her diamond tiara off her head. “I want you to hold onto this for me. It’s not a gift, and I want it back someday, but I only when you think I’ve earned it. Deal?”

“Are you sure?” I asked as I grabbed the tiara with my magic. “I mean, this is a kind of big deal for you, I can’t remember the last time I saw you without it.”

“Well, I’m not sure,” she said, snapping. “That tiara is the most valuable thing I have, but I didn’t earn it. I was selfish and entitled and petty, and I’ve got a lot to make up for before I’m worthy to wear it. Once I do though, I want it back, you got that?”

I nodded at her as I put the tiara in my saddlebags. “You know, you’re making it really hard for me to not hug you right now. You’re just being so nice that I want to throw my forehooves around you and tell you how nice that is.”

She sighed as we started walking back to our class. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t hug me unless you’re going to follow it up by saying how much you like me.”

“But I do really like you,” I said. “I didn’t like you a week ago, but you’re trying so hard to be better, how can I be mad about what you used to be? Now let’s go see how they’re going to do our acting class without Mr. Marelon.”

***

Miss Octavia met with our class shortly after the bell rang to explain what had happened to the rest of the students before heading off and leaving the class on their own. The second the door closed it was complete chaos as most ponies gossiped about why Mr. Marelon was fired while I just sat in my little corner of the class and rested my head on my desk.

“Excuse me,” a powder-blue unicorn with a soft-pink mane draped over her shoulder said, as she tapped at my desk. “You… you know why Mr. Marelon was fired, don’t you? Everypony else is making guesses, but you and the pink girl are just sitting at your desks.”

“I have a name,” Diamond Tiara said, scowling at the other girl. “And how come you didn’t ask me? I was closer to you, and yeah, he got fired because he was being a massive jerk to us.”

“That makes sense,” the other girl said, while I tried to remember her name. It had something to do with lights, right? Night Light maybe? Neon Lights? Neon Lights kind of worked. “Listen, I know you probably don’t like me because he preferred me, I just wanted you to know I don’t think it was right how he made fun of you. Your acting might’ve been… not the best, but that didn’t mean he could make fun of you like that. I’m sure if you had some practice and constructive feedback, you’d be a good actress.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling at her, “but I actually got my cutie mark Saturday for singing, so I guess I wasn’t cut out to be an actress after all. I’m way better at singing than I was acting.”

“Oh, well, if that’s what you want, that’s fine. If you still want to try acting, we always need more singers for musicals. You just have to remember your lines, say them like you mean them, know your choreography, and be able to sing songs… It’s not as hard as I just made it sound.”

“Maybe I’ll look into it then, but I still don’t really know how to act,” I said.

She tilted her head for a moment. “Actually, I don’t think that’s right. Your performance Friday was… it wasn’t great, but the main problem was your dialog and directing. You were actually able to remember your lines and if the dialog was less stilted, you might’ve been able to make them sound convincing.”

I shook my head. “So are you saying I’m not a bad actress?”

There was a long pause while she thought of her response. “I’m saying you’re very passionate, and with the right training, you could sing in a musical. If you don’t want to be an actress anymore though, that’s okay too, I just thought… I don’t know, there was a little bit of good in your performance Friday, and I wanted to let you know.”

“It’s fine,” I said as I took my seat again. “Honestly, Friday was so long ago I can hardly remember it. The weekend was just so busy.”

“I know,” she said, sitting between me and Tiara. “I’ve been so busy with my homework and acting practice, it feels like it’s been forever since we actually had the class. How much homework did you have this weekend?”

Oh right, homework. I’d completely forgotten about it during the time loop. Luckily I’d missed my last three classes Friday, so I guess that was a positive. “Not that much,” I said. “This class and my music class didn’t assign anything, and I was sick for my last three classes, so I don’t know what I missed.”

“That’s good, I guess I was just unlucky then,” she said. I looked past her to see Diamond Tiara was glaring at the back of Neon Lights’(?) head.

“Hey, I kind of forgot your name since last Monday, do you mind telling me it again?” I said. Something told me we were about to become friends, and that would go better if I actually knew what her name was.

She smiled at me. “Of course, it’s Bright Lights. You’re Sweetie Belle, right?” I nodded at her as she turned to look at Diamond Tiara who stopped glaring at Bright Lights the second she turned to look back at her. “And you’re… Crystal Tiara right?”

“Diamond, actually,” she said, working to keep the irritation out of her voice. “Anyways, it was really nice to meet you, but we should probably be getting ready for our next class.”

“Really?” Bright Lights asked, glancing at the wall clock. “We still have twenty minutes left until the bell, and I don’t think we’ll be doing anything actually useful. I guess I’ll just spend tonight reading through my Chekhov.”

“Oh, wasn’t that the engineer pony in those Mare Trek movies?” I asked, perking up at a pop culture reference I recognized.

“Not that Chekhov,” she said, sighing. “This one was a major playwright in Stalliongrad about two centuries ago and wrote extensively about how stories work. The term Chekhov’s Horseshoe comes from him.”

“That sounds fun, what’s that?” I asked, smiling at her while Diamond Tiara went back to scowling now that Bright Lights’ attention wasn’t focused on her. I don’t know why Tiara didn’t like Bright Lights, she was actually pretty nice.

Bright Lights took a deep breath and entered Twilight’s “Lecture Mode” position. All that was missing was the soapbox. “At its core, Chekhov’s Horseshoe focuses on the conservation of detail. As originally written, it states that ‘If a horseshoe is mentioned hanging over a door in the first act, it must fall and hit somepony in the second or third act.’ Of course, that doesn’t mean that every horseshoe mentioned in a story has to fall, but if a story spends a lot of time detailing something then it must serve some purpose in the story.”

“Oh, I get it,” I said. If we couldn’t find a replacement teacher, maybe we could just have Bright Lights teach the class. She seemed to know as much as Mr. Marelon did, and she was way nicer. “So it’s like when a story talks about how a bridge is rickety and then it collapses in the next chapter.”

“Yes, but that’s just the basics, every story adheres to that principle, can you imagine how you would feel if a book spent a paragraph describing every last detail of a pony and then never bringing her up again?”

“That would be kind of weird,” I said, nodding my head slowly. “So… how long have you been studying acting?”

“Since I got my cutie mark,” she said looking back at the other ponies in the class. Luckily she didn’t look to her right and see Diamond Tiara still glaring at her. “Before that, I spent a lot of time around actors and actresses. My parents were both stage technicians on Bridleway, so I pretty much grew up backstage, and that’s where I learned the basics of acting.”

“Ooh! What was it like growing up around actors, do you have any fun stories?” I said.

She smiled and nodded her head while Diamond Tiara just sighed. “Actually, I do have a few, if you’re interested.”

***

I spent the rest of the class listening to Bright Lights stories about growing up backstage. She was a really good storyteller, I guess that kind of goes with being an actress though. For her part, Diamond Tiara managed not to snap at her, so that was definitely kind of progress. I wanted to invite Bright Lights to our lunch table, but adding two new ponies to the lunch group on the same day would probably be bad, especially when one of them was Diamond Tiara.

A shiver of worry went up my spine as I walked into Vinyl’s class and saw Melody sitting next to my seat. “Hey,” I said, sitting next to her. “Sorry for running off yesterday, I had a lot on my mind, and I shouldn’t have freaked out on you.”

“It… It’s okay,” she said, swallowing nervously. “You know, I should be apologizing to you for making you feel so uncomfortable. I… didn’t realize you thought I had a crush on you.”

“Wait, you mean you didn’t?” I asked, my voice squeaking in confusion. “I knew everypony else was crazy when they were thinking you like liked me. We’re just good friends, right?”

Melody sighed and nodded. “Of course we are, Sweetie Belle. It would be silly for me to have a crush on you after only a week. You were just the first friend I ever had, and I wanted to show how grateful I was. Maybe I overdid it.”

“It’s fine,” I said, smiling and patting her on the back. “You don’t have to do anything special. I like you because you’re a really sweet pony; you don’t need to give me any special treatment to keep me liking you.”

“Alright,” she said, nodding her head as the bell rang and Vinyl walked into the classroom. “I’ll try to be better about that.” She gave me a tiny smile. “I’m sorry again for upsetting you by letting you think I had a crush on you.”

“Okay, everypony, so I guess let’s open our books to where we left off on Friday and–” She stopped and looked at me. “Oh, congratulations on the cutie mark, Sweetie Belle, what did you get it for?”

My ears perked up as everypony turned around to look at me. “I actually got it for singing for ponies. I guess you were right when you said I should focus on music.”

Vinyl laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, still, glad you got your cutie mark. You want to show off and sing a song for the class? I promise it won’t throw off my lesson plans too much.”

How could I say no to the chance to sing for everypony in class? I nodded my head and practically bounced to the front of the class, thinking of what song I could sing. It had to be something nice and cheery and catchy. After all, I didn’t earn my cutie mark for depressing ponies.

***

Everypony was smiling and stomping their hooves when I finished my song, and I felt the same warm tingle I felt the Saturday I earned my cutie mark. There was something about making ponies happy with my songs that just made me super happy, and I was beaming as I moved back to my seat. Vinyl started talking again, and I think she might have even said something to me, but I really wasn’t paying attention as my mind kept drifting back to the feeling I got when I saw all those ponies smiling at me.

The bell ringing pulled me out of my head and I realized I had absolutely no idea what we talked about in class today. It’s not like it mattered that much though, I was a singer and I’d already learned most of this stuff from my sister. At least the music class was related to my talent, unlike the rest of my classes. Why did I even have to go to them when I could be practicing my singing instead and trying to recreate that feeling I got when I sang for everypony in Ponyville?

“Hey,” Diamond Tiara said as Melody and I headed to the cafeteria. “So, are you sure you want me to sit with your friends? I mean, the rest of your friends.” She glanced from me to Melody. “Oh, she’s with you.”

“She also has a name,” I said, frowning at Tiara. “Melody, this is Diamond Tiara; Tiara, this is Melody.”

“Uhmm… we actually met yesterday,” Melody said frowning. “It… we didn’t say much, we just ran into each other.” My gut got all queasy as I found myself wondering just what the two of them talked about.

“Oh, what did you two talk about?” I asked, trying to keep my smile up.

“Nothing, really,” Diamond Tiara said, shooting a glare at Melody. “After you left, I followed you to the clubhouse and I ran into Melody there. We talked for a few minutes, but that was about it. Apparently, I got there just a minute after you ran off.”

“So… you didn’t talk about anything important?” I asked, looking between them. “No secrets about me or anything?”

“Of course not,” Melody said, frowning and taking a small step closer to me. “We wouldn’t be very good friends if we talked about you behind your back, would we?”

“Alright,” I said hesitantly. Something here was definitely wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what. Maybe I was just imagining it. “Well, I guess let’s get to lunch.”

“Sounds good to me,” Diamond Tiara said, sticking her snout up in the air. “Let’s go meet your friends so they can tell me what a terrible pony I am.”

“They won’t do that,” I said, frowning as I followed after her, Melody behind me. “They promised me they wouldn’t.”

“Well, Sweetie Belle, not everypony is as forgiving as you are. Believe me, I know.”

“Don’t worry,” I said as we entered the cafeteria, “I’m sure lunch will be fine.”

***

Lunch wasn’t fine. It was the opposite of fine. As soon as Diamond Tiara sat down, the entire table went quiet. Scootaloo just glared at Tiara, occasionally looking away from her to glare at Melody for some reason. What did Melody do to upset her? Every few minutes, Socket said something just to break the silence, but nopony responded. “Say something,” I whispered to Diamond Tiara.

“So,” she said, looking from me to Apple Bloom. “What are you all going to do now that Sweetie Belle has her cutie mark?”

“What do you mean by that?” Scootaloo snapped. “Are you trying to say she’s going to leave us now just because she has her cutie mark? Because Crusaders are friends for life.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, looking up from her lunch and nodding at that before turning to look at Scootaloo. “Wait, I didn’t catch anything in her question about Sweetie Belle leavin’ us. It sounded just like a normal question to me.”

“It’s the implications,” Scootaloo said. “She’s trying to trick Sweetie Belle into thinking that she’s being good so she can turn her against us.”

“I’m not trying to trick Sweetie Belle into anything,” Tiara said, raising her voice and glaring back at Scootaloo. “Besides, if I wanted to turn her against you, I’d just tell her about–”

“Fine,” Scootaloo said, slamming a hoof on the table and cutting Tiara off. “Maybe you’re not trying to mess with us, you still haven’t given me any reason to trust you. You haven’t even apologized to us yet. Do you know how many times you made us feel like trash? How many times I had to comfort Sweetie Belle after you made her cry? You tortured us for years, and now you think that we’ll forgive you just because? Sorry, but I don’t forgive ponies who hurt my friends easily.”

Tiara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You’re right,” she said, all the anger in her voice disappearing. “I was terrible to you all and if you don’t want to forgive me, I get it. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, and I’d like it if you at least gave me a chance to earn your forgiveness.”

“That sounds pretty reasonable,” Apple Bloom said, frowning. “You’re not gonna be made a Crusader or nothin’, but I reckon we can at least give you a chance, but only if you answer a couple of questions.”

“Fine,” Tiara said. She was definitely trying to be better, but it was still pretty easy to upset her. “What do you want to ask?”

“What happened to your tiara?” Apple Bloom asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without it since you got it.”

“Sweetie Belle’s holding it for me,” she said. “I didn’t really earn it, and I figure that until I can, she can take care of it. Is that all you had to ask me?”

“It’s true,” I said, nodding my head at my friends. “It’s in my saddlebags right now.”

“Huh,” Apple Bloom said, resting her head in her hooves. “Well, I guess that answers my question. You wanna ask anything, Scootaloo?”

“She already knows what I think,” Scootaloo said. “But as long as she doesn’t hurt Sweetie Belle or anypony else, I guess I can tolerate her for now.” She glared at Diamond Tiara. “But the second you mess up.”

“I’ll have you to deal with,” Tiara said, rolling her eyes. “Excuse me if I’m not exactly scared of a pegasus who can’t–”

I jabbed a forehoof into her flank to shut her up. Her fur was surprisingly soft and warm, and I found myself wanting to– Not important. What was important was making sure she didn’t upset Scootaloo and cause a fight just when things were going well. “Sorry,” she said, still glaring at Scootaloo. “It’s an old habit. I guess I’m just not used to rolling over and accepting it when ponies threaten me.”

“Scootaloo, I know you’re upset with Diamond Tiara, but ponies deserve a second chance,” Melody said, causing everypony at the table to turn and look at her in surprise. “Now, I don’t know what she did to make you dislike her so much, but from what I see, she’s trying to be better, so maybe instead of trying to upset her, you could try being kind to her.”

For a long time, nopony said anything. I don’t think I’d ever seen her talk like that before. She actually managed to say a few sentences without being prompted to or apologizing. That must’ve been a record for her. “Yeah… I guess,” Scootaloo said before turning to look at Diamond Tiara. “I’m giving you a chance. Don’t make me regret it.”

So we weren’t all singing songs together yet, but thanks to Melody, there wasn’t any actual fighting. It was a start, and in a few weeks, we’d all be best friends. Hopefully. Maybe.

7. Limelight (Part 1)

“Hey, Sweetie, we’re gonna go bowling after class today, you wanna come?” Apple Bloom asked as I nibbled at my lunch.

“I’d really like to, but I have to do some more practice this afternoon,” I said, biting at my lower lip. “You know, I just… It’s only a few more days until Pinkie’s party, and then we can totally hang out after that.” It had been a few weeks since I’d gotten my cutie mark, and I was compelled (that was a really fun word to learn in Miss Octavia’s class) to practice singing as much as possible. Rarity spent years practicing dressmaking, and if I wanted to be as good a singer as she was a dressmaker, I needed to practice. Besides, whenever I tried to do anything with the rest of the girls, Melody just completely shut down and acted like I wasn’t even there.

Did I accidentally upset her? I had tried talking to her about it, but she just said everything was fine. I still really liked her, but spending time with her and the rest of the girls just made me feel bad. On the other hoof, practicing my singing made me feel great because it was going to make other ponies happy, and there was absolutely no weirdness with it, just me doing what I was best at.

“Alright,” Applebloom said, trying to hide her frown. “Well, if you get done practicin’ early, we’ll be happy to have you join us..”

“Thanks,” I said, feeling my stomach get all twisted up. I was telling them the truth, so why did I feel so bad? “We’ll do something Saturday, I promise...”

“Fine,” Scootaloo said, “but you’d better be absolutely awesome at this party with all the time you’ve been spending practicing.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, beaming at her. “I will be. I mean, I don’t know I will be, but I just… I really want this to go well, it’s my first really big show since the time loop, and I want to show the town that I earned my cutie mark.” I took a breath to calm my stomach and turned to look at Melody, who’d barely said anything during the last few weeks. Even if she was upset with me, she was still my friend, and I was going to try and make things up to her. “Melody, are you sure you don’t want to play piano with me at the show? I know you’d be great at it.”

“It’s fine,” she said, staring down at her food. “I have a lot of homework, and I don’t want to drag you down.”

“You won’t be dragging me down,” I said, frowning at her. Why was she being so difficult? A few weeks ago, she would have done pretty much anything I asked, and now she was just… didn’t want to do anything with me. She’d spent more time with Socket than she had with me the last few weeks, and… I mean, if spending time with him was more fun for her than spending time with me, then that was fine, I just wish I knew what I’d done wrong. “Come on, we’re still friends, right?”

Melody finally looked up from her lunch tray and gave me a tiny smile. “Of course we are, Sweetie Belle, I just… we don’t have to do everything together.”

“But I’d like it if we did something together. You know I still really like you, even if I didn’t want to…” I couldn’t quite finish that sentence. “I mean, I’m not even saying I didn’t want to, and besides, you were the one who said we were just friends.”

“Could we not discuss this in front of our friends?” Melody asked, frowning and looking back at the table. “I know you really mean well, but my feelings for you aren’t something I want to discuss in public.”

“So you do have feelings for me,” I said, causing her to groan.

There was a long pause as she looked between me, Diamond Tiara (sitting right next to me, she’d been sitting pretty close to me since she joined our group, and I kind of didn’t mind), and Scootaloo (sitting across from me). “No. We’re just friends. Good friends, like you said. Now could we please talk about something else?”

“Yeah, how about… Socket, how are you doing?” Scootaloo asked, looking at her friend.

“Fine, you know, been working on a secret project lately. Just a… thank you for a friend.”

“Ooh! Is it anypony at the table?” I asked, hoping that he had finally realized Scootaloo was perfect for him. She had been such a good friend to me, I really wanted her to find somepony that made her happy.

“Possibly,” he said, pushing his empty tray away and pulling out one of his engineering books. “Now, I really need to get to work, I still have to get the magic crystals right and–”

“It’s not going to end up with us being stuck in a time loop again, is it?” Life Bloom asked. “Because I would prefer it if it didn’t.”

“Me too,” I said, taking a bite out of my hay burger. “Although… I would like another shot at making the perfect day for everypony. Hey, Socket, do you think you can time loop me again?”

“Well, considering that the exact circumstances that led to you getting stuck in a time loop the first time were one in a million, and that I still don’t know exactly how it happened, I’m going to say no, especially since the whole town could explode if I don’t get everything right.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I said, frowning. “I just hate that I don’t have enough time to spend with you girls. Your still my best friends, but at the same time, I have to practice for Pinkie’s show.”

“It’s fine, Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo said. “The show is this Friday, and then you can spend the weekend with us, right?”

“Of course!” I squeaked. “Once the show’s over, I promise I’ll make it up to you with the best weekend ever.” Even if Melody was still upset with me for some reason, and I really didn’t want her to be upset with me. Why did she have to be difficult? If she did actually like like me, she would just tell me, right? I shook my head. I could figure that out after Friday; right now, I needed all of my focus on the show. “Thank you girls for being so understanding.”

“We’re friends, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said, smiling at me. “We get that sometimes you just got other stuff you have to deal with. You don’t have to spend all your time with us for us to still be friends.”

I smiled at her. She was right, I wasn’t being a bad friend, I just had some other stuff to take care of. Even Twilight spent time away from her friends, and she was the Princess of Friendship.

***

Somepony applauded as I finished my song. I strained to see who it was and found a soft pink mare near the back stomping her hooves on the ground. My heartbeat sped up when I saw her, and my head got all light and funny feeling. Over the last few weeks, I’d been thinking about our kiss a lot. “Oh hey, Diamond Tiara,” I said as I hopped off the stage. “Why aren’t you out bowling with our friends?”

“Because,” she said, rolling her eyes as she trotted towards me. “I know this might be a surprise to you, but they’re still not my friends. I’m your friend, and they’re your friends, but the only thing we have in common is you. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo still won’t forgive me, Life Bloom and Socket are okay enough, I guess, and Melody is… You’ve seen how odd she’s been lately.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head slowly. “Do you have any idea what that’s about?”

Tiara shook her head. “No, and I don’t really want to. If she wants to be weird, that’s fine with me.”

“Hey,” I squeaked, “she’s still my friend.”

“Is she though?” Tiara asked as we headed out of the auditorium. “She’s been completely ignoring you the last few weeks. Maybe she decided she doesn’t like you. Maybe it’s something else though, just… if I were you, I’d think she was pulling away.”

I frowned at that. “Maybe, but… I still like her as a friend. Did I do something wrong?”

“Of course you didn’t,” Tiara said, shaking her head. “If you’ve done anything wrong, it’s being too nice to ponies.” She turned and smiled at me. “Listen, Sweetie, have you thought anymore about… us?”

No, I hadn’t thought about us dating anymore lately, although… “I like thinking about the kiss,” I said, nodding my head. “And the way your fur felt when I touched it and stuff, but that’s it.”

“That actually sounds like a lot,” Tiara said as we left the school. “You know, it’s okay to admit you like me.”

“I already told you I like you,” I said, frowning. “That’s why we’re friends.”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Tiara said, playfully tapping me on the back of the head. “Why is it so hard for you to admit you have a crush on me too? All those feelings you described totally sound like a crush.” She paused for a minute. “If you’re worried your friends will get upset with you, I’m fine with keeping things a secret for a while.” She sighed. “I’ll even try to be friendly with them… or friendlier, at least.”

“Really?” I asked, my ears perking up as I smiled at her. “You actually mean that?”

She nodded. “I do, but you have to admit you have a crush on me.”

“Alright,” I said, suddenly feeling a tickle in my stomach as the next few words caught in my throat. It was true, I really did like her, our kiss was fun, and… Well, I knew she liked me, so what was I nervous about? “I have a crush on you.”

“And why is that?” she asked, smiling at me.

“Because…” This wasn’t part of our deal, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell a little more truth, especially since it would make her happy and I really wanted to make her happy. “You’re cute, and I felt really good when you kissed me.”

Before I could say anything else, Tiara’s lips were pressed against mine, and I couldn’t help but think about how nice they tasted. I wrapped my forelegs around her to feel the warmth and softness of her fur. This time, I didn’t push her away. “That was… nice,” I said when the kiss finally ended.

“Just nice?” Tiara asked, giving me a look that told me I had better say our kiss was more than just nice.

“It was… really nice,” I said slowly. “And... I’d like to do it again.” Kissing was really nice, and I kind of wanted to kiss all my friends, but none of Rarity’s books mentioned that. I could settle for just kissing Diamond Tiara.

“Good enough,” Diamond Tiara said. “As long as you want to do it again, I’m fine.”

“So…” I said, looking around to make sure nopony had seen our kiss. If they had, they weren’t around anymore. “Are we dating now? Because nopony asked the other pony out, but we’re already kissing, and that usually happens at the end of the first date, so…”

“I think we’re dating,” Tiara said slowly. “We both like… We both like like each other, right?”

I nodded. “I think so, I mean, I really liked kissing you, and it felt nice, so I think that means we like like each other. Ooh! Do you think I can kiss the rest of my friends to see if I like like them too?”

“Sweetie Belle,” Diamond Tiara said, turning to glare at me as we started walking back to… somewhere, “we both have a crush on each other. You can’t kiss ponies if you don’t have a crush on them.”

“But I didn’t know I had a crush on you until you kissed me,” I said, frowning. “What if I have a crush on all my friends and I just don’t know it yet?”

“Do you want to date me?” Tiara asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because you can’t kiss other ponies when you’re dating somepony. That’s against the rules.”

“I know,” I said, frowning, “but wouldn’t it be cool if I could date all my friends? Then we could all just be happy and kiss each other and no one would be jealous... That’d just be so great.”

“Are you serious?” Tiara asked. “You just discovered you liked kissing me and now you want to try kissing all your friends? Can’t you just be happy kissing me?”

“Of course I can,” I said as we got close to her house. “But I want to make all my friends happy, and if kissing makes me happy, then it should make them happy, so kissing all my friends would just make everypony even happier.”

She sighed and shook her head. “You aren’t actually going to kiss all your friends, are you? Kissing somepony you have a crush on is great, but if you kiss your friends and they don’t have a crush on you, then… you don’t want to upset them, do you?”

“...No,” I said, slowly shaking my head. I wouldn’t like being kissed by somepony I didn’t like like, so… “No kissing ponies besides you, okay?”

Tiara just smiled and kissed me as we reached her door. Have I mentioned that kissing is really fun? “So,” she said when our kiss ended, “do you want to come inside and hang out? Your friends are probably still bowling, and… I thought it would be nice if we spent some time together.”

I paused and looked between her house door and the path leading to the bowling alley. My friends had invited me to join them when I was done, but… it would be okay if I didn’t join them just this once, right? “That would be… Fun. Really fun. Do you think you can give me a tour? I’ve just never gotten a really good look at your house, and I’m kind of curious.”

“Sure,” she said, opening the door handle and gesturing for me to step inside. “I might as well, since something tells me you’re going to be spending a lot more time here.” She smiled and kissed my cheek and my whole body suddenly got pleasantly warm. Yeah, something told me I’d probably be spending a lot more time here.

***

An hour later, Tiara and I were kissing in her room. Her room was just like her: soft, pink, and filled with expensive things (although I guess Tiara wasn’t filled with expensive things, she just liked them). “Oh my gosh, if I had known how fun kissing was, I totally would’ve started dating sooner, it’s almost the greatest thing ever, and your lips have this nice berry taste, and when I’m that close to you, I can actually smell the shampoo you use. It smells really nice, by the way.”

Tiara smiled and nodded. “Thanks,” she said. “My dad imports a special shampoo from Prance. It’s used by the nobility, so they make sure to use only the finest ingredients. I’d hoped other ponies thought it smelled nice, but some ponies in this town–”

“Be nice!” I said, interrupting her. She really was doing a lot better, but she could occasionally… not be. If I said something though, she always apologized.

“Sorry,” she said, frowning. “I really wasn’t trying to be mean though, it’s just… some ponies here do have a problem appreciating the finer things. Do you really think Apple Bloom would in any way be interested in properly beautifying herself?”

“No,” I said shaking my head. Tiara had a point, Apple Bloom would never go for anything that frilly or scented. Still, I liked that Tiara did.

“You know,” Tiara said, flashing me a smile. “If you’re interested, I could give you some of my perfume and shampoo. You’d look really pretty if you put a bit more effort into your appearance.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding my head at her. “Do you think… Wait, you don’t think I’m pretty now?”

Tiara laughed and rolled her eyes. “Of course I think you’re pretty, Sweetie Belle, I wouldn’t be dating you if you weren’t. I just think… you’re naturally pretty, but imagine how much prettier you could be if you did a little work on your appearance.” She trotted over to sit next to me, and almost without thinking, I leaned against her to feel her warm soft coat against mine. If using her shampoo made my coat as soft as hers, I definitely had to try it.

“Alright,” I said as I rested my head on her neck and took a sniff of her shampoo. “What other stuff do you use? Because whatever it is, it makes you look really pretty. Also, do you have to do anything to get your lips to taste so nice?”

Tiara gave a “hmm” causing her neck to vibrate and tickle me. “I don’t do anything besides put lip gloss on it, and…” She laughed. “I use it so much, I forgot it had a little berry taste to it. Would you like me to give you some of that as well?”

“Yes, please,” I said, nodding my head even though she couldn’t see it. “Do my lips taste okay to you? Because the lip taste is one of my favorite things about kissing, and... Actually, everything about kissing is my favorite thing about kissing. I just feel so happy after we do it.”

“So do I,” she said, pushing her barrel against mine while I pushed back. “And yes, your lips taste fine, Sweetie, although you could still use some gloss to make them shine a bit more. See how they make mine all… well, glossy?” She turned around so I could get a closer look at her lips, although she really didn’t need to. I’d spent enough time staring at them to remember what they looked like. Still, it was nice to look at them again, and they definitely looked glossy.

I nodded at her. “I just thought you had really shiny lips.”

“Really?” she asked as she moved back to leaning against me. “Your sister is the town fashionista. How do you not know about lip gloss? Actually, why don’t you use any beauty products? I thought Rarity would freak out if you tried to leave the house without putting on at least some beauty products.”

“Oh! There’s actually a kind of funny story about that. Do you remember my sixth birthday party?” I asked, trying to remember if she was invited to that.

“I remember your sister giving out party favors, but I don’t actually remember seeing you there,” Diamond Tiara said. “I always wondered why you didn’t show up to your own birthday party.”

“I wanted to look fabulous like my sister for my party,” I said, torn between smiling and cringing at the memory, “so I got into her makeup and tried to make myself look like her, but I wound up looking like a cross between a raccoon and a clown. I’m sure Rarity still has a picture of it. Anyways, after that, Rarity told me a filly had no place wearing that much makeup, so I just didn’t think about it again.”

Tiara sighed and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Kisses on the cheek weren’t as fun as kisses on the lip, but they were still nice. “You know, there’s a difference between wearing makeup and wearing too much makeup. Do you want me to put a little makeup on you to show you how to properly do it?”

“That sounds really fun,” I said, getting up on my hooves and heading over to her vanity, which had tons of makeup and beauty products on it. “What do you need me to do?”

“Just sit down,” Diamond Tiara said as she grabbed one of the bottles from her desk. “Hmm, I think this gloss would go really well with your coloring. What do you think about it?” She held the tiny bottle up so I could look at its color.

“I don’t know,” I said, frowning. “It looks like my lips normally do. Maybe a teensy bit brighter, but that’s it.”

“Of course it does,” Tiara said, rolling her eyes. “It’s supposed to complement your natural colors, not cover them up. Otherwise you get that clown look you were complaining about. Now pucker your lips like you’re about to kiss me.”

I nodded and puckered before leaning in to kiss her. The same warm fuzzy feeling I got from our earlier kisses flooded my body and I gave a happy sigh as the kiss ended. Tiara just giggled. “You weren’t actually supposed to kiss me,” she said as she unscrewed the top of the lipgloss. “I’m not complaining, but this will be better for both of us if you don’t distract me while I’m giving you your makeover, and actually for this part, it would be better if you just left your mouth open.” I opened my mouth for her, and she pulled the top off to reveal a little brush thingy attached to it.

Carefully holding the top of the bottle in her hooves, Tiara rested the top of the brush on my lips and I had to struggle not to giggle as she used it to trace my lips. “Alright,” she said as she screwed the top on. “Now, blow me a kiss, okay?” I did and got a taste of my own lip gloss. Ooh, this one tasted kind of vanilla-ey. Not a lot, but there was definitely a little vanilla taste to it.

“I like it,” I said, nodding my head at her. “It tastes good.”

“That’s not the main reason you wear lip gloss,” she said. “You use it to give your lips a nice lustre. See,” she said pointing a hoof at the mirror. My lips definitely looked a little glossy now, but they didn’t stand out or look like somepony else’s lips. It was like me, but a little prettier. “Now, next we’re going to put on a little bit of eyeliner and eyeshadow. Again, we don’t want it to stand out, we just want to make your lashes look fuller and accent your eyes.”

“Alright,” I said as she put the bottle to the side and grabbed what looked like a tube of chapstick. This one also had a little brush on it, but whatever it had on it was powdery. She softly brushed my eyelashes a couple of times before putting the eyeliner next to the lip gloss.

“Now close your eyes,” she said as she rummaged through one of the drawers of her vanity. “I know I have the perfect eyeshadow in here for you somewhere.” She really had a lot of makeup stuff, maybe even as much as Rarity, which was… impressive. I saw her pull out a case of something as I closed my eyes. A few seconds later, I felt a brush tickle at my eyelids and let out a tiny giggle as she applied the eyeshadow. “Stop it,” she said, “if you move too much, I might mess up.”

“Sorry,” I whispered, doing my best not to move my head as she brushed my second eyelid.

“There,” she said as I heard her putting something down on the vanity. “You can open your eyes now.”

“Okay,” I said, following her directions. Tiara had moved out of the way, giving me a good look at myself in the mirror. I looked… not just pretty, I looked beautiful. I never imagined I could look this good. There was a faint touch of green on my eyelids, and my eyelashes had never looked fuller. It all worked to draw attention to my eyes and really bring out their green. “Thank you,” I squealed as I turned around to wrap my forelegs around my… Oh my gosh, I had a marefriend now. I pressed my lips against hers, spending a second enjoying the warmth as the berry and vanilla mixed to make the greatest taste ever. I didn’t think it was possible, but my makeover made kissing even better.

Tiara smiled and gave me another kiss. “I’m glad you like it. Let me go see if we have some more of that shampoo I was telling you about, and… oh, I should probably get you some of my perfume as well. Remember not to spray yourself directly with that, spray the air around you and then walk through it, that way the smell isn’t too strong.”

“Got it,” I said, smiling as she walked out of the room, leaving me alone. I let out a happy sigh while I waited for her to come back. Today was pretty much the best – not counting the day I got my cutie mark, which technically never happened – day ever. I made Diamond Tiara happy, I discovered that I really liked doing kissing stuff with a special somepony, and Tiara had given me a makeover. I couldn’t wait to tell my friends about– Right, we’d agreed to keep things secret for now. That was… Well, we’d tell them eventually, and then I could tell them all about how great it was.

***

After Tiara got back with a bottle of her shampoo, we spent another hour kissing and talking before I finally headed back to Rarity’s. As I walked back home, my saddlebags filled with books and beauty products, I couldn’t help but sing to myself.

“Well, you certainly seem to be in a good mood today,” Rarity said as I walked past her work room. She was working on one of her dresses, and didn’t bother to turn around and look at me. “Did you have fun with your friends?”

“Actually, I was spending time with Diamond Tiara,” I said, walking into her room. Just because I couldn’t tell my friends we were dating didn’t mean I couldn’t tell my sister about it, and I had to tell somepony, I felt like I was about to explode with happiness. “We’re kind of dating now.”

Rarity spun around to look at me, her eyes wide with surprise. “Whahuhahuh?!” she said, sputtering. “Sweetie, are you wearing makeup?”

“Yep,” I said, smiling at her. “Diamond Tiara let me use some of hers, and she taught me how to use it too.”

My sister’s face spasmed as she went through every expression she could think of in less than a second. Finally, she took a deep breath and smiled at me. “While I’m happy she helped you, I would have been more than glad to teach you the basics of applying makeup. I was actually rather looking forward to that particular lesson.”

“Really?” I asked. “I thought you said a filly had no business wearing makeup. I figured you’d be upset with me.”

“Now, Sweetie Belle, I told you that when you were six, and had applied an entire year’s worth of makeup in one sitting. Frankly, dear, nopony should wear that much makeup,” Rarity said, shaking her head. “I would’ve been happy to teach you, but I just assumed you were no longer interested in such things.”

“So… you aren’t upset then,” I said, looking at her. I kind of expected her to freak out more.

“Not about that, no. The issue of you ‘dating’ Diamond Tiara, is another thing entirely,” she said. Oh right, she probably would want to talk about that. Actually, I wanted to talk with her about it too, I just… thought the makeup thing would be a bigger deal than the dating thing.

Rarity took another breath to calm herself before continuing. “Now, I’m not upset with you, exactly, just very concerned. Navigating the affairs of the heart is something nopony can truly master, but I feel it is my duty as your big sister to advise you in whatever way I can. First, are you sure you’re doing this because you really want to and not just because you feel pressured into it?”

“Of course,” I said, trotting into the room as Rarity magicked the door closed behind me. “I really like her, and I’ve been thinking about her a lot since she kissed me.”

Rarity’s eye twitched. “And when was that, Sweetie?”

Oh right, I totally didn’t tell her about that.when it happened… Wow, the time loop happened almost a month ago. “Do you remember when I went to go talk to her about Mr. Marelon?”

She nodded.

“Then.”

“Ahh, I see,” Rarity said, taking a seat at the tea table in her inspiration room (the only rooms in the house that didn’t have a tea table were my bedroom and the bathroom). “Well, I wish you would’ve told me about this sooner, but I suppose a filly– a mare, excuse me, can’t be blamed for wishing to keep some things private. Certainly, I haven’t told you everything about myself.”

“Really?” I asked, my ears perking up. “What haven’t you told me… Ooh! Is it juicy?”

“That’s… a story for another day. Right now, we need to talk about you and Miss Tiara. Now, Sweetie, I know you wish to make your friends happy, but it’s very important that you don’t start dating ponies because you believe it will please them.”

“I know,” I said, sitting across from her. “You already told me that stuff. We both really like each other, though.”

“Alright,” Rarity said, “but let’s suppose another one of your friends wished to date you. What would you do?”

“That’s…” I groaned and rested my head on the table. “Really tough. I mean, I really like most of my friends, and if another one of them asked me out… I’d want to say yes, but I can’t because I’m dating Tiara, and if I did say yes that would really hurt her feelings.”

Rarity made a “tsk’ noise. “Sweetie, I can’t help but notice you aren’t talking about what you’d like to do, and in a relationship, that’s a rather important factor. Certainly, you should be willing to compromise with your special somepony, but it’s also important that you at least make your wants clear.”

I sighed. “I can’t have what I want. If another one of my friends liked me, then I’d really want to date them and Tiara, but Tiara doesn’t want that. Luckily none of my friends like me like me.”

“Oh? So that Melody girl doesn’t have romantic feelings for you? I was positive she did.”

“Nope,” I said, shaking my head. “I was just her first friend, and she had a hard time figuring out how to show it. Lately, she’s actually been pretty distant. Like, she spends more time talking with Apple Bloom and Socket than me.”

“I see,” Rarity said, slowly nodding. “Well, the real question is, are you willing to exclusively date Diamond Tiara?”

Well, she was pretty, she’d been a lot nicer lately, and I really liked kissing her, but most importantly, I just liked spending time with her. That was the big thing, wasn’t it? That I liked being with her and wanted us to do things together. “Yes,” I said, lifting my head up and looking at my sister. “I really like her.”

“That’s all I needed to hear, then,” Rarity said, smiling down at me. “I suppose I should be grateful that you’re… actually, I don’t mean to pry too much, but is your interest exclusively in other mares?”

“Maybe,” I said, frowning at her question. “I mean, the only pony in our group of friends I don’t want to date is Socket, but that could just be because he got me stuck in a time loop for a year.”

Rarity gave one of her demure laughs. “That’s something of a relief, I suppose. At least now I don’t have to worry about you getting pregnant at fourteen too much.”

“Wait, that can happen?” I squeaked. “I thought you had to be trying to make a foal for that. It’s… So are there ponies who got pregnant without wanting too? That must be the worst thing ever, I mean, what if I got pregnant… oh my gosh, can I get pregnant from dating Diamond Tiara?”

“You told me our parents spoke with you about these things. You assured me that there was no need to get into the specifics,” Rarity said, narrowing her eyes at me. “You didn’t lie to me, did you?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head, “they told me that when a mare and a stallion love each other very much, they go to bed together and make a foal.”

“So then how did you think it was possible for Tiara to make you pregnant?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. “There’s not something I need to know about her is there?”

“What?” I asked, wrinkling up my forehead in confusion. “No… I mean, there are probably some things you should know about her since we’re dating now, and I really want you to meet her, but… I just thought that since I didn’t know two mares could date when they told me about that, so I thought maybe two mares could make a foal too.”

“Oh dear,” Rarity said, frowning. “I suppose we have a lot to cover then.” She floated my notebook and pencil out of my saddlebags. “You might want to take some notes for this.”

***

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, my eyes going wide in terror. “So a mare gets pregnant when the stallion does… in her… ewww. Oh my gosh, why would anypony want to do that?”

“For the same reason you enjoy kissing, Sweetie: it feels good. Remarkably so, in fact. When I discovered stallions at that age, well I was quite taken with spending time with them and wasn’t aware of the possible risks, and I don’t want to see you repeat that mistake. Now, if you do find yourself fancying a stallion, be sure to…

***

“Now then,” Rarity said as I put my pencil down on the notebook, “those are the basics of mare-stallion intercourse, but I don’t believe that is of particular interest to you. If you wish, I can go into more details about mare-mare relations, but I also understand if you want to take some time to process things.”

“Y-yeah,” I said, staring down at my notebook and struggling to put words together. “Time is… time is good. I think I’ll just stick with kissing for now.”

“Very well,” Rarity said, “I just hope that before you do anything, you talk to me first. Sex can be one of the most enjoyable acts in the world, but it’s very important you know the risks before you do anything.”

“I just… You made me take five pages of notes, I think I know the risks,” I said, closing my notebook.

“Then I suppose I’ve done my job,” Rarity said, nodding at me. “If you have any more questions, please come to me. I’d much rather us have a few awkward conversations now than see you do something regrettable because a lack of information that I could’ve easily provided.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I got to my hooves and placed my notebook back in my saddlebags. “I think I’m just going to play in my room for the rest of the day, or…” Oh right, I had Equestrian and math homework. I might want to do that before tomorrow; Miss Octavia was already pretty upset with me for missing my last couple of journals, and if I didn’t improve my grades in my last three classes, Rarity might kill me or at the very least ground me. Either way, it wouldn’t be fun.

I sat down at the desk in my room and pulled out my math book, opening it to the page with our homework problems on it. “Okay,” I said to myself, “I just have to solve for x a few times, how hard could that be?”

An hour later, and no x’s were any closer to being solved. Whenever I tried to think about the problem, my brain kept going back to my afternoon Diamond Tiara and the way I felt when her lips were pressed against mine. It was definitely way better than thinking about math stuff, but I don’t think Miss Pi would be that interested in reading a paper on how fun kissing is. On the other hoof, Miss Octavia might. I mean, I was supposed to write about my week, and kissing was something I did this week. I put my math book away and pulled out my Equestrian journal. At least I could do this pretty well.

***

I stared at myself in the mirror the next morning. I looked super pretty. Not just pretty, but… I almost looked as beautiful as Rarity. To add to yesterday’s makeover, Tiara’s shampoo brightened my coat and mane, and I’d even added an extra little curl to my mane and tail. A tiny shiver ran up my back when I thought of what Tiara would think when she saw me. I don’t know how it worked, but spending time on my appearance even managed to make me feel better. I really had to thank Tiara again. Possibly with more kisses. Definitely with more kisses.

Staring at myself, I found myself thinking of how much I’d grown in the past few months. Now, I was almost the size of Rarity, and I actually looked like a mare. Not just that, I was wearing makeup, had a very special somepony, and I finally had my cutie mark. Rarity was right, I wasn’t a filly anymore… But were my friends?

They’d only grown a little bit, still didn’t have a cutie mark, and the only other pony in the group who maybe wore makeup was Melody, and she didn’t like me anymore for some reason. Still, they were my friends, and I wasn’t going to abandon them just because I was a bit more mature than them. We’d still do lots of fun stuff together, I just had to do more adult stuff too.

Giving my reflection one last smile, I trotted out of the bathroom to pick up my saddlebags and head to the Academy. Putting on makeup was definitely worth waking up an hour earlier. Making myself look pretty just made me feel better, even if it meant some of the colts in my classes might be looking at me and thinking about… things I didn’t want to think about. On the other hoof, Tiara would definitely be looking at me, and that made it worth it.

***

“Whoa, Sweetie, what happened to you?” Scootaloo asked as I sat down at our table. “Did Rarity make you put on makeup today?”

I glanced at Tiara, sitting next to me, if I told them she had given me the makeover last night, they’d know I spent time with her instead of spending time with them, and then they might figure out we were dating, which would be really not good. “Uhmm… yep,” I said, giving my friends a tiny smile. “She said since I was going to be singing on stage, I should work on my appearance more. That makes sense, right?”

“I guess,” Scootaloo said, shrugging. “Still, don’t overdo it or I might have a hard time telling you and Diamond Tiara apart.”

“That’s dumb,” Tiara said, scoffing. “Just because Sweetie is actually concerned with her appearance doesn’t mean she’s going to start looking like me. If you haven’t noticed, lots of ponies wear makeup, it’s not limited to just me.”

“Hey!” I squeaked, turning to look at her. “You said you’d try to be nicer to my friends.” That was one of the reasons I started dating her. Well, it wasn’t a big reason, but she promised if we started dating she’d try to be friendlier.

Tiara sighed and pinched her nose. “I am trying, Sweetie Belle, but you heard what Scootaloo said. She made it seem like a bad thing that anypony would want to be even a little bit like me.”

“I did not,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. “But I like Sweetie Belle how she is, she doesn’t need to start acting like somepony else.”

“Wearing makeup doesn’t mean she’s ‘being somepony else,’ it just means she wants to wear makeup. Yeah, she didn’t do it yesterday, but… maybe she wanted to change things after her sister taught her how to apply it. Ponies change, Scootaloo. I’m trying to be nicer, and maybe Sweetie Belle wants to pay more attention to her appearance,” Tiara said, frowning. At least she wasn’t glaring at Scootaloo anymore, that was definitely something.

Scootaloo snorted at that. “Gee, thanks for telling me something I already know, Tiara. I know ponies change. We’ve all changed, I just… don’t want Sweetie to change too much.”

“But what about what I want?” I squeaked, finally entering into the conversation. “I finally got my cutie mark, I need to spend a lot of my free time practicing so I can get better at singing, and… I feel like I need to change other things in my life too. Besides, I like how I feel when I wear makeup.”

“Alright,” Scootaloo said, looking down at her meal. To her left, Life Bloom gave me a look I couldn’t quite figure out the meaning of. “Whatever, if you want to go off and start being super-girly, that’s your deal, I guess.”

“I’m a girl, what’s so bad about me being girly?” I asked, frowning. I’d always been the most sensitive pony in our group of friends, so how was me wearing makeup suddenly so much worse than what I’d been? I was still the same Sweetie Belle.

“Girly’s boring,” Scootaloo said like it was the most obvious answer ever. “I can deal with a little bit girly, I get it, we’re all girls here–”

“Except Socket,” I said before the brown pegasus could say something. Back in the time loop, I started making a game of trying to make that correction before he could, and I’d gotten pretty good at it by the time it ended.

“Thanks, Sweetie,” he said, briefly nodding at me before going back to whatever he was working on.

I returned the nod and smiled at him. He’d been pretty nice since the mana engine exploded, and I should probably try to spend more time with him, but what would we even do? He was into engineering and robots, and I… wasn’t.

“Right,” Scootaloo said slowly. “Except Socket, we’re all girls here, so I get being a little girly, but if you start going full diva like your sister, I don’t think I can stand it. You’d constantly be complaining about how uncouth something is whenever we tried to do anything cool.”

Something inside me snapped. Why was my best friend getting so upset with me for putting on a little makeup? “Like going ziplining? Or camping? Or scuba diving? Or all the other things you want to do?”

“Hey,” she said, a look of shock on her face. “You… I didn’t force you to do any of that, you wanted to do that stuff.”

“Yeah, I did,” I said, clenching my jaw. “Because I wanted to make my friends happy, but when I wanted you to help me with my play, I had to beg you for a month before you agreed to do it. We’re friends, but it feels like it’s always about what you want. All I wanted to do was put on a bit of makeup, but you’re acting like it’s some big...” I let out a growl before thunking my head on the table. Why did she have to be so difficult?

“You’re right,” Scootaloo said, sighing. “If you want to go and wear makeup, start looking at dresses, and be just like your sister, then go ahead, I just thought you were cooler than that.”

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom said, staring at my “friend” in shock. “How could you say that, Sweetie’s your–”

“Take that back!” I shouted, causing the entire cafeteria to go quiet. Nopony made fun of my sister, not even my best friend… or former best friend, maybe. “Rarity’s the best sister ever, and if I want to be like her, there’s nothing wrong with that. She helps everypony in need, and she can still be friends with Rainbow Dash without getting all judgmental. If you can’t accept me for who I am, then maybe we should just… I…” Instead of saying what I wanted, I gave a little dramatic huff and stormed out of the cafeteria. I couldn’t look back to see how they reacted, if I did, I’d break and feel terrible for being so mean to Scootaloo, and I’d forgive her again, and right now, I didn’t feel like forgiving anypony, even if they were supposed to be my best friend.

***

“Hey,” Apple Bloom said, sitting next to my desk in our Equestrian language class. I’d been sitting in the empty class for the last ten minutes; sitting here trying not to cry was definitely better than staying with Scootaloo. At least here, she couldn’t keep making fun of me. “Look, I’m real sorry about Scootaloo, I don’t know what’s gotten into her lately.”

“I do,” I said, frowning. “She doesn’t like it that I’m spending time with Diamond Tiara. She’s made it pretty clear the last few weeks that the only reason she’s even tolerating her is because I’m forcing her to.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, pulling out her notebook as more students walked into the classroom. “I kind of get where she’s coming from–” I turned to glare at her. Why couldn’t my friends just get along with each other? Was it really that hard? “But,” she continued, “I also can see that Tiara really is tryin’ to be better, and she actually ain’t that bad unless ya provoke her, which Scootaloo seems dead set on doing.”

“Can’t we all just get along?” I asked, resting my head on the desk. “I know I shouldn’t have lost my temper with her, but she’s just been so difficult lately.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, “I totally get it, and I think you’re right, if you wanna wear makeup, that’s none of my business. ‘Sides, if Applejack and Rarity can… be friends, then we can definitely get along. You girls are my best friends, and that ain’t gonna change just cause ya want to put on a bit of makeup. Now, if Scootaloo wants ta keep bein’ bullheaded, that might… well, I’m sure she’ll come around, she just needs some time to think things over.”

“Thanks,” I said, lifting my head off the desk. Class would start soon, and Miss Octavia really didn’t like it when ponies slouched in their desk, she said proper posture was as important as proper grammar.

“So…” Apple Bloom said slowly, “you and Tiara…”

“What about us?” I asked, trying not to raise my voice and freak out. We hadn’t done anything obvious at lunch, had we? We definitely didn’t kiss, and I don’t even think we touched at all. The two of us were completely normal during lunch.

“You’re datin’. At least, I’m pretty sure you are,” she said, nodding her head. “When Scootaloo first started complaining about you gettin’ a makeover, Tiara got upset because she thought Scootaloo was implyin’ it would be bad if you were like her. I thought that was odd ‘cause you said Rarity gave you the makeover, so it would be weird for Tiara to get that out of what Scootaloo was saying, unless she was actually the one who gave you your makeover. I figured there weren’t many reasons you two would lie about it, ‘cept if you were datin’. Then you might try to hide it to keep us from gettin’ upset.”

“Yeah,” I said. Apple Bloom had already figured pretty much everything out, and I really didn’t want to lie to her. I might’ve already lost one friend today, I didn’t want to lose another. “We… I didn’t want you all to get upset with me, but I really like her, and since nopony else in the group has a crush on me, I thought it would be okay.”

Apple Bloom flattened her ears. “I’m sorry, but if you really like her, then why would it matter if you another friend has a crush on you?”

“Oh,” I said, “I really like all of my friends, and I don’t know… if I found two of you wanted to date me, I’d want to date you both, but Tiara thinks the best thing about dating is the exclusivity, and she really likes me a lot… and I’m okay with dating only Tiara, but I’d still hate to disappoint one of my friends, you know?”

“Kind of,” Apple Bloom said. “So you two really like each other?”

I nodded at her. “We do, and kissing is just so fun, you should really try it… just… not with me.”

Apple Bloom laughed and smiled at me. “Sweetie, you’re a great friend, but I just don’t feel that for ya, you know? However, unlike Scootaloo, I’m okay with you and Tiara datin’ if that’s what you want.”

“You won’t tell Scootaloo though, right?” I asked. It was great that at least one of my friends was okay with us dating, but something told me Scootaloo would be less than happy with the news, and if she forced me to choose… I still wanted to make up with Scootaloo.

“Nope,” Apple Bloom said. “I don’t think it’s any of my business, and besides, if she got upset with you wearin’ makeup, then I really don’t know how she’d take you datin’ Tiara well.”

I was about to say something else, but the bell rang and Miss Octavia walked into the class. She always got there right at the last second, but I guess I could kind of understand that since she had to go between running the school and teaching class. “We’ll talk more later,” Apple Bloom said as Miss Octavia walked up to her desk in front of the class.

“Alright, students,” Octavia said, grabbing a piece of chalk with her hooves. “Today we’re going to be talking about tenses. Would you all please bring out the worksheets I assigned you last night?” I froze, suddenly remembering the worksheets. Last night, I’d been so excited about finishing my journal that I completely forgot she gave us other homework.

“Sweetie Belle,” she said as she got to me. “Do you have your homework?”

“Sorry,” I said, frowning at her. “I kind of forgot about it. I did my journaling though.”

Miss Octavia sighed and shook her head. “That’s the third time in two weeks you’ve forgotten your homework, and while I applaud the fact that you are attempting your journaling, I feel I should remind you that you completely neglected it two of the four Fridays I collected it. Can you stay after class?” she whispered, trying not to draw attention to us.

I nodded at her. It wasn’t fair, I knew what my special talent was, so why did I have to spend so much time doing other stuff? It’s not like I could get a second cutie mark. Still, at least Miss Octavia didn’t make fun of me in front of the whole class when I messed up. “Good,” she said, moving to the pony behind me who had his papers out and ready for her. “I promise to write you a note so you aren’t penalized for being tardy to your next class.”

***

The classroom emptied out while I sat at my desk. “This class is empty next period, so we don’t have to worry about students overhearing our conversation,” Octavia said as the last student left the classroom.

“I’m really sorry about forgetting my homework, I didn’t mean to,” I said, frowning. “It’s just–”

“Sweetie Belle, I’m more than capable of understanding what’s going on. Last weekend, after you forgot your journal again, I checked your grades in your other classes, and they paint a rather telling picture, In your acting class, you have an ‘A’ – not that surprising, as almost everypony in that class has an ‘A’. Miss Heartstrings has proven to be a rather liberal grader in that class, possibly because she knows as much about acting as you do,” Octavia said. I nodded at that. Miss Heartstrings was definitely way nicer than Mr. Marelon, but she let Bright Lights do most of the actual teaching.

“Yeah, why did you have her teach the class anyways? Couldn’t you find a better replacement?” I asked, hoping I could change the subject.

“Not on such short notice,” Octavia said, pulling a folder out of her saddlebags. “I’m in talks with Miss Cheerilee about merging our schools together at the end of the semester, but...” She shook her head. “I apologize, we should be discussing your class performance, not the logistics of the Academy.”

Octavia flipped through what I was guessing was my folder. “You have top marks in your music class, and Vin– Miss Scratch has nothing bad to say about your performance. However, you are struggling to hold onto a ‘C’ in my class, have a ‘D’ in mathematics, and and are managing a ‘B’ in life sciences, probably because you are working with your friends to buffer your grade. It seems the only class you are particularly concerning yourself with is your music class.”

“And?” I asked. “My special talent is singing, none of this other stuff really matters, does it? It’s not like I’m supposed to be good at math or science or stuff. In fact, I’m pretty bad at everything that isn’t singing, so… why not just focus on the one thing I’m good at?”

“That’s…” Octavia sighed and shook her head. “Many ponies feel the same way when they first find their special talent. I was one of them. However, there is more to life than just your special talent. You will still need to communicate with other ponies, you will still need to pay bills and manage your accounts, and I believe everypony should have a basic knowledge the workings of the world around them. It is this academy’s goal to make sure you leave as not just a master of your craft, but a well-rounded knowledgeable citizen of Equestria. Most importantly, whenever you do decide to do some work for this class, it’s better than average, so I don’t want to hear you describe yourself as ‘bad at everything’ again, is than understood?”

I nodded at her. “Fine…” I said, “You aren’t going to tell my sister are you?”

She shook her head and smiled. “If you turn this negative behavior around, I will have no reason to inform her. However, if you continue to give me or any of your teachers less than your absolute best, I will have no choice in the matter. Is this understood?”

“Yes, Miss Octavia,” I said, putting on my saddlebags and getting to my hooves. “I’ll do better.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” she said, getting up on her own hooves. “However, I will still have to inform your other teachers to keep an eye on you and make sure you’re working to improve.”

“Okay,” I said as I grabbed the doorknob with my magic. “But… uhmm, I’m really not that good at math stuff. Like… I barely understand any of it.”

“I’d recommend speaking with Miss Pi about that,” Miss Octavia said as I opened the door for her. “I’m certain she can recommend a tutor. Have a good day, Sweetie Belle, and I promise I won’t bring up our little conversation when I have dinner with your sister tonight.”

“Thanks,” I said, following her out into the hallway as she handed me a slip of paper excusing my tardiness. There were still a few students in the halls, and if I hurried, I could make it to my math class on time. My math class with Scootaloo. Where I didn’t do the homework. “Hey, Miss Octavia,” I said stopping and coughing. “I’m really not feeling well, do you think I can go to the nurse’s office?”

“Are you really?” Octavia asked, turning around to look at me with narrowed eyes. “Rarity told me about your rather unconvincing attempt to convince her you were ill, and I feel I should remind you that you’re not a particularly talented actress. Care to tell me why you actually don’t want to go to your class?”

“Fine,” I said as I followed her towards my class, “I had a fight with Scootaloo, and I really don’t want to see her right now.”

“Then don’t sit next to her,” Octavia said. “A fight with a friend is no reason to neglect your education. Besides, I’m sure the two of you will have forgiven each other by the end of the day.”

“I hope so,” I said, thinking back to our fight in the cafeteria. “But I don’t think we’ve ever been this upset with each other. She… I don’t know, she got really upset at me for putting on makeup.”

“Well, I wish I could advise you more, Sweetie Belle,” Octavia said as I stopped in front of my next classroom. “Unfortunately, when I was your age, I was an antisocial misanthrope who spent all her time in her apartment practicing the cello, and so my experience on teenage relations is rather limited. Still, since coming to this town, I’ve found that there are few problems open and honest communication can’t fix.”

That wasn’t going to happen. First of all, I wasn’t going to tell Scootaloo about me and Diamond Tiara, and second, we’d been communicating pretty openly in the cafeteria, and that didn’t go well. I gave Octavia a nod and trotted into the class, making sure to sit as far from Scootaloo as I could. It wouldn’t help me for too long since I’d see her next class as well, but it gave me a little bit more time until we started fighting again. I reached into my saddlebag and pulled out my textbook, hoping Miss Pi wouldn’t get too mad at me for not doing my homework.

***

“Sweetie Belle, I need you to stay behind for a few minutes,” Miss Pi said as the bell rang. Oh come on, I had to stay behind twice in one day? That was almost completely unfair.

“Look, I already talked with Miss Octavia about it, and I promised her I’d try to do my best in all my classes,” I said as I walked over to her desk, “and I really meant it, too, I just… I’m going to need some help with math. I don’t get it at all, like… why am I supposed to be trying to figure out what number a letter is?”

Miss Pi’s eye twitched. “Are… are you serious, Sweetie Belle? We’ve been discussing algebra for a month, if you didn’t understand one of the basic… I suppose that explains why your work has been so abysmal. Actually, this raises several questions about how you’ve been able to complete any of our assignments.”

“Oh,” I said, nodding my head, “I kind of have a friend help me.”

“Scootaloo?” Miss Pi asked, letting out a sigh. “That does explain why your homework assignments are so… hit and miss. Perhaps you should ask her to actually explain the concepts to you as opposed to just doing the problems for you.”

“I tried at first, but I was still so bad at it that she just got upset and did them for me. She really did try to actually teach me, though. I’m just too dumb to understand it,” I said, frowning. I really did try to understand the stuff at first, but no matter what I did, I still couldn’t figure out why I was doing what I was doing. Why was I supposed to isolate x? It seemed mean to leave it all alone, but they kept wanting me to do it, so I just moved all the numbers to the other side of the equation, but then that was apparently wrong too because I didn’t isolate x properly.

“If you really wish to improve yourself, I would be more than happy to recommend a few tutors,” Miss Pi said, making a few notes on a sheet of paper before passing it to me. “You should be aware though that the longer you go without intervention, the closer your probability of passing my class gets to zero. Actually, considering current trends, I could possibly make it into an equation, or at the very least an asymptomatic graph.”

I stared at her in confusion and she shook her head. “I apologize, Sweetie Belle, I shouldn’t reduce your probability of passing my class into a math problem. The important thing is that you contact one of those names on that list and get the assistance you need. If you do that, then all data gathered so far becomes irrelevant.”

“Uhmm… alright,” I said, still trying to figure out just what she was talking about. “So… get a tutor then?”

She nodded at me and smiled. “That is my main point, yes,” she said as I walked out to the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sweetie Belle.” At least staying with her after class meant I could get to my next class without having to talk to–

“Hey,” Scootaloo said, calling from behind me. She’d waited outside the class just to get a chance to talk to me. “Look, why are you so upset with me? I just didn’t want to see you get all lame and not you.”

My jaw clenched. “How would I not be upset?” I asked. “You made fun of me for wanting to be myself. Then you made fun of my sister for not wanting to go wallow in dirt like you do.”

“I don’t want to wallow in dirt, I just don’t mind getting dirty,” Scootaloo said, flicking her wings. “And I didn’t make fun of you, I just didn’t like what you were doing.”

“You mean being myself,” I said, glaring at her. Why was me wanting to wear makeup such a big thing?

“This isn’t you,” Scootaloo said. “The real Sweetie Belle would never leave her friends behind to practice singing. It’s just… Diamond Tiara’s been influencing you, how can you not see that?”

“Diamond Tiara’s at least supported me the last few weeks, which is more than I can say for you,” I said, a fire suddenly burning in my stomach. “In fact, right now, I’d say she’s being a better friend than you are.”

Scootaloo’s face went pale, and I felt like I was about to vomit on the floor. She was my best friend, and I’d made her feel probably as bad as I could make her feel. Still, if she couldn’t even support me, maybe I shouldn’t have her as a–

I ran off sobbing, unable to complete the thought.

***

I ran through the streets of Ponyville, crying and trying to think of where I could go. Scootaloo would probably find me at most of my usual crying places, and I really didn’t want to see her right now, so that meant I had to find other really good places to cry at. Really, there was only one place I could go and not have to worry about Scootaloo finding me, but I didn’t want to show up at her door sobbing when she wasn’t home.

Instead, I waited outside the gates of her mansion while our last class finished, and tried not to cry too much. Why couldn’t Scootaloo just forgive Diamond Tiara, or at least stop hating her? Even Apple Bloom was kind of okay with her, and Diamond Tiara picked on her before she picked on the rest of us. This whole thing was just so… Why did Scootaloo have to be so dumb about this?

“Sweetie Belle?” Diamond Tiara asked as she trotted up to the gate. “What are you… Are you crying?” She stopped and looked between me and the gate before moving to the gate. “Come on, we can talk inside.”

I sniffled and nodded. “Scootaloo and I… she’s still really mad at me, and I got upset with her, and then I thought…” I gave another massive sob. “I’m a bad friend.”

“No you’re not,” Tiara said as she opened the gate and stepped aside so I could walk in. “It’s not your fault for getting mad at her. She shouldn’t have gotten upset with you for putting on makeup. It’s like, what’s wrong with wanting to take care of yourself?”

“Nothing,” I said, trotting to through her front yard, “but… she’s my friend, and I… I thought maybe it would be better if maybe she wasn’t my friend.”

“And?” Tiara asked while I grabbed the doorknob with my magic. “Maybe it is. If she’s going to freak out like this every time you go and change something, maybe she shouldn’t be your friend. Friends are supposed to make you happy and support you, right? I think a very pretty unicorn has spent the last few weeks teaching me that.”

Before I could do anything, she pressed her lips against mine, and the familiar tingle of giddy happiness flooded my body while I tried to suck a bit of the berry gloss off her lips. I let out a happy sigh as her berry mixed with vanilla and created a taste way sweeter than any of Pinkie’s shakes. I gave a giggle as our kiss ended and my problems with Scootaloo seemed a lot less urgent. If she didn’t want to be my friend anymore… I wouldn’t like it. Actually, just thinking about not being friends with her anymore made me want to cry again, but…

Diamond Tiara hugged me as we stood on her doorstep and patted me on the back. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I just don’t like seeing you hurt. If you want to stay friends with a pony who hates you, then do what you want.”

“Scootaloo doesn’t hate me,” I said pulling away from her warm inviting hug… Why was I doing that? Hugging was way more fun than arguing. “She’s just… I don’t know, she’s upset with me about something.”

Tiara rolled her eyes. “She’s upset with you because you’re not doing what she wants. Trust me, I know how it works. She yells at you and gets super upset, and then makes you feel bad so you do what she wants.”

“Really?” I asked, taking a step closer to her. I wanted to tell her that she was wrong and that Scootaloo would never do that to me. That Scootaloo had supported me for years – but for some reason, I couldn’t.

“I know about manipulating ponies. If you don’t believe me, just ask Silver Spoon – or don’t, actually; I’d prefer it if you didn’t know about all that.”

“What’d you do?” I asked, tilting my head at her as we stepped into her house. She never really talked about stuff from before we made up. Not that she needed to, I knew plenty, but I’d always figured she was at least nice to Silver Spoon.

“You have to understand, she was my best friend, but I also… I kind of hated her,” Tiara said. I almost tripped on the stairs when she said that; how could you hate your friend? Friends are one of the best things ever. “Like I told you earlier, she was only my ‘friend’ because her dad worked for my dad, and her dad forced her to play with me. I kind of just thought of her as another one of the things Daddy’d gotten for me, and treated her like that. I made her crave my approval so she’d do anything I’d say, told her that if she upset me, my dad would find out about it, and let her figure out the rest.”

“What’s the rest?” I asked as we reached the top of the stairs, frowning. Tiara spun around and smiled before kissing me again.

“Sweetie Belle, you’re the sweetest mare I know, and I love how innocent you are, but you can also be incredibly, incredibly dumb sometimes. Think for a minute, Silver Spoon was only friends with me because her dad forced her to be, right?” I nodded. “Alright, so if my dad found out she’d upset me, what do you think he’d do to her dad?”

“Probably not something nice,” I said, frowning. “So… she did what you wanted because she thought you’d get her dad in trouble if she didn’t?”

“At first,” Tiara said, shrugging, “after a while, she just started doing it ‘cause that’s how our relationship worked, like how your relationship with Scootaloo works with you doing what she says while she occasionally throws you a bone now and then.”

“It does not!” I squeaked as we walked into Tiara’s room.

“Really?” Tiara asked, closing the door after me and raising an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just tell her that at lunch? Something about you doing everything she wants while you had to beg and plead for her to show up in your dumb little play?”

“Y- yeah…” I said slowly, sitting on the ground next to her bed. “But that doesn’t mean she was manipulating me, does it?”

“Maybe not,” Tiara said, sitting next to me and pressing her barrel against mine. “But does it matter? You’re an amazing pony, and if she doesn’t like you for being you… You deserve a better friend than that.”

“You don’t want me to be friends with Scootaloo anymore?” I asked, frowning. Even the feeling of her soft coat against mine couldn’t cheer me up, and that was one of the nicest feelings out there (like a touch feeling, not a feeling feeling).

“No,” Tiara said, shaking her head and kissing my cheek. I giggled at the feeling of her lips against my coat. She could always figure out a way to cheer me up. “What I’m saying is that a pony as sweet as you deserves to be happy, and if something doesn’t make you happy, then maybe you should think about getting rid of it. You didn’t want to deal with me when I made your life miserable, did you?”

I shook my head at that. “Right,” she said, continuing. “You wanted to spend time with ponies you liked, who made you happy. Back then, that was Scootaloo, but if that changed… don’t you deserve to be happy?”

There was a long pause as I figured out the implications to either of my possible answers. If I said no… I couldn’t say no, because I thought everypony deserved to be happy, and I was a part of everypony, but if I said yes…

I might lose a friend.

Slowly, I nodded my head, feeling like I’d suddenly turned to stone. I did deserve to be happy though, and right now, Scootaloo seemed intent on making me the opposite of happy. Hopefully, she’d stop being so stubborn, but until then…

Tiara gave me a small sad smile. “I know that wasn’t easy for you. I know you’ll probably still care about her even as she keeps on hurting you. However, I promise I’ll make you so happy that it will stop hurting, that you won’t be sad anymore.”

Her forelegs wrapped around me and her lips pressed tight against mine, the heat of it forming a wave strong enough to crash down on me and wash away my worries about Scootaloo.

***

I giggled and looked into Diamond Tiara’s eyes. The last few hours of kissing had been super fun, and whatever sadness I was feeling earlier was… Well, if I didn’t think about it, I felt better. Instead, I thought about kissing Diamond Tiara again.

“You know,” she said, “you’ve done so much for me, I’d really like to make it up to you. To show you how much I care.” She smiled and kissed me for maybe the two-hundredth time that hour. “Kissing is fun and all, but you deserve more. Luckily, my daddy is super rich and will do anything I say. Name what you want, and you’ll have it.” She gave me a smile. “I might as well use my wealth to make somepony who deserves it happy.”

“Really?” I asked, thinking of all the ice cream I could get. That would be… well, it would be fun, but I should probably ask for something useful first. “Well, I kind of need a tutor for my math class, I usually have… Uhmm…” Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. “If I don’t get my grades up in that class, Rarity is going to be super mad at me, and then I’ll probably get grounded until my grades go up.”

“Can I ask you something?” Tiara asked. “How come you spend so much time with your sister? Don’t your parents live in town?”

“Kind of,” I said, “but they retired a few years ago, and always wanted to do some travelling, and Rarity offered to watch me so they could do all their travelling. It’s not that bad, I mean, my sister is pretty much the best ever. She saved Equestria like… five times. How cool is that?”

“Still, don’t you miss your parents? If I didn’t have my dad, I don’t know what I’d have.”

I smiled and kissed her. If it cheered her up as much as it cheered me up, then… well, neither of us would have to worry about being sad again. “You’d have me.” I giggled at that. “And I’m sure I could convince Rarity to help you out, I mean, she’s the Element of Generosity.”

She returned my smile. “I’m glad to hear that, but lucky for you, I do have my dad, and that means I can get you all the things you deserve. So… you want a tutor?”

“Yeah, but I’m sure Rarity can get me a tutor if I ask for it. We aren’t exactly poor, we just don’t own a chain of megastores. Actually, Rarity’s recently had a boutique open up in Manehattan.”

“I know,” Tiara said, flopping down onto her bed with a sigh. “Daddy won’t stop talking about her store. Apparently, she stopped him from buying some spa out in the middle of nowhere, and she refuses to partner with him.”

“Why would she do that?” I asked, leaning back against her bed and resting my head on her stomach. “She’s always talking about how she wants to get more recognition, so wouldn’t getting her clothes in one of the biggest stores in Equestria be a good thing?”

“You’d think so,” Tiara said. “He actually offered to make her clothes the centerpiece of his new high-end clothing stores, but she told him no. We were both pretty upset, he was going to name it after me and it would cater to only the richest ponies in Equestria.”

“Huh,” I said, enjoying the soft squish of her stomach as my head rested on it. “Maybe I can ask her about it. You know, if you’d like.”

I felt Tiara shake her head. “I really wouldn’t. You’re… you’re like this beautiful free thing, and I don’t want to just use you like my dad does. You’re too good for that.”

My cheeks burned at her compliment. “Thanks,” I said, “but I want to help you too, seeing you happy is just as important to me as seeing me happy is to you. If maybe talking with my sister will make you happy, then I’ll totally do it.”

Tiara idly stroked my mane with one hoof. “Like I said, it wouldn’t make me happy.” She sat up to kiss my forehead. “But thank you for offering, you’re way too nice for me.”

“Am not,” I said, shaking my head. “You just offered to use all your money to make me happy, that’s super nice.”

“Yeah, and all you want is a tutor. You know, you could let me spoil you a little bit. Wouldn’t that make you happy?” Tiara asked. “You could have anything you want, just name it.”

“But all I want is for my friends to be happy. And I mean, you make me really happy anyways, so I can’t really think of anything I want.”

There was a long pause in the conversation as I stared at the ceiling and thought about how great the last two days had been. Great except for… that thing I wasn’t going to think about. Tiara was right, I deserved to be with ponies that made me happy, and right now… I wasn’t thinking about that. I just needed to remember that I deserved to be happy, just like anypony else. “What about a trip to Manehattan?” Tiara finally asked. “We could see all the shows on Bridleway, do the touristy thing, and stay in one of the best hotels in Equestria. That sounds at least a little fun, right?”

I gave a squeal of happiness. “Are you kidding? That sounds amazing! Oh my gosh, that’s way too much, I’d feel bad if I accepted that.”

“It’s not too much,” Tiara said. “I just want to be as nice to you as you’ve been to me. You’re the first pony besides Daddy who really cared about me, and I want to be the best special somepony I can be. That means giving you the things you deserve.” She squirmed on the bed so her stomach made a better pillow for me. “You deserve all the nice things in Equestria. Let me get them for you.”

I closed my eyes and pictures of all the things I’d ever wanted filled my head. A nice dress, diamonds, fancy jewelry like my sister had, nice gifts for all my friends, maybe she could even help me get my shows, and if it made her happy, it would be mean of me to say no. “Do you think we can get gifts for my friends too?” I asked.

“Sure, Sweetie Belle,” Diamond Tiara said. “If you want it, you’ll get it. You deserve it.”

“Thanks,” I said, looking up at the ceiling as she continued to brush my mane, and I told myself that I’d never been happier.

Author's Note

Part one of the longest chapter. Part two is even longer and will be posted tomorrow. Hope this explains the... rather long delay between chapter updates. As always, be sure to leave feedback and tell me your thoughts.

8. Limelight (Part 2)

The sun had almost set when I finally got back home, and I hummed as I walked through the door and heard conversation coming from Rarity’s kitchen. Oh right, it was Wednesday, which meant she was having her weekly dinner with Miss Octavia. “Sweetie Belle,” Rarity called as I closed the door. “Do you wish to join us for dinner? I prepared a simply delightful alfalfa and bean sprout salad, and Miss Octavia brought lemon bars for dessert.”

“I brought them, but all credit for their creation goes to Bon-Bon. There are benefits to living next door to a confectioner,” Octavia said while I trotted to the kitchen. She nodded at me as I walked in. “Good evening, Sweetie, have you finished your conjugation homework yet?”

“No,” I said, taking a seat at Rarity’s dining table. “I… uhmm… I just got back from Diamond Tiara’s house.” I looked at my sister. “I promise I’ll do it and my journaling as soon as I finish eating.”

“Oh,” Rarity said, turning to look at me as she took a dainty bite of her salad. “Your friends came by looking for you earlier today, and I told them I had no idea where you were. They seemed quite concerned, and I was starting to worry about you too. If you’re going to make a habit of spending time with Diamond Tiara, please tell me first or have her come over here.”

“Alright,” I said, frowning as Rarity poured a bowl of disgusting salad for me. I know it’s supposed to be good for me, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. “Scootaloo and I had a big fight today, and I guess I was trying to hide from her.”

Rarity tilted her head. “Oh really? Is everything alright? The two of you have been practically inseparable since you met.”

“It’s…” I might as well tell her the truth, even if I didn’t want to think about it. “She’s being really dumb and got upset with me for wearing makeup. She said she didn’t want to see me becoming lame and girly.”

My sister rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with being in touch with one’s feminine side. Even Rainbow Dash enjoys her spa days now and then... perhaps I should encourage her to have a word with Scootaloo. Still, Scootaloo never struck me as the sort to get upset over such small details, do you think something else might be upsetting her?”

“Maybe,” I said, frowning as I took a bite of my salad. It tasted like condensed sadness. “I’ve been pretty busy practicing for my show–”

“And spending time with Miss Tiara,” Rarity added.

“So maybe I haven’t spent exactly as much time as I used to with her, but I still talk to her every day. It’s not like I’m abandoning her,” I said. “And once I finish my show Friday, I’m going to spend the entire weekend with all my friends, so I don’t get what could be bugging her.”

“Except for the time you’ll spend working on your homework, of course,” Miss Octavia said, smiling. “Not that I’m in the habit of assigning homework over the weekends; I believe my students should have at least a couple of days off every week.”

“Thanks for that,” I said, trying not to gag as I choked down another bite of salad, healthy disgusting salad.

Rarity “hmmed” and tilted her head. “Well, Sweetie Belle, I don’t quite know what to say. I certainly empathize with your predicament, and I know that deep down Scootaloo is a sweet filly, but that doesn’t mean she can make fun of you for expressing your feminine side. However, I also can’t condone you hiding from your problems. Promise me you’ll try to work things out with your friend? You two get along so well most of the time, I’d hate to see you throw that away over something so silly.”

I nodded at her. “Alright,” I said slowly. “I’ll try, but if she keeps being so dumb about this, I’m not going to just let her keep making fun of me.”

“Of course,” Rarity said. “Now finish your dinner and start your homework, I’ll check in on you when Miss Octavia leaves.”

***

Several hours later, the door to my room opened and Rarity trotted in. “Well, Sweetie Belle, do you care to tell me why you thought Scootaloo being mean to you was enough reason to skip class?” Rarity said as she sat next to the desk I was working on. I’d finished my Equestrian class an hour ago, and had been staring at my math problems since then. “You never skipped class when you and Diamond Tiara were still enemies.”

“Yeah, but that’s because Diamond Tiara wasn’t supposed to be my best friend,” I said, trying not to think about today too much. If I could just keep thinking about my math homework, I might not start crying again… Ugh, not thinking about Scootaloo being dumb was so much easier when Diamond Tiara was with me. “Scootaloo was my best friend, but she just… all I wanted to do was look pretty. Is that so bad?”

Rarity smiled and shook her head. “Of course it isn’t, Sweetie. If it were, I’d be in far more trouble than you. Perhaps you two are just growing up in different directions, I know I’ve lost more than a few friends as circumstances forced us apart. It’s an unfortunate fact of life.”

I laughed at that and Rarity gave me a look of confusion. “And just what is so funny about that, dear?”

“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s just, before the time loop, I was convinced Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were going to leave me because they’d get their cutie marks before me, and then I got my cutie mark first, but Scootaloo’s still leaving anyways… It’s… Why does life have to be so ironic?”

“Well, I don’t think that would technically count as irony,” Rarity said, tilting her head. “More an unfortunate coincidence. Now, if she started leaving you because you got your cutie mark first, that would be ironic, and…” She stopped and gave a nervous laugh. “I’m sorry, perhaps there’s a better time for our discussion of what does and does not count as irony. I should also point out that you shouldn’t jump to conclusions about Scootaloo leaving you. If the two of you truly care about each other, you should be able to reconcile. You do care about your friend, don’t you?”

“Of course,” I said, nodding my head at her. “You know I hate fighting with anypony, and Scootaloo was my best friend, but I’m not going to apologize to her when I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“And I’m not suggesting you should,” Rarity said, patting me on the head. “Just be willing to hear her out when she does apologize to you. I’m sure eventually she’ll see reason. Now then, how was your date with Diamond Tiara?”

“It wasn’t a date,” I groaned, “we just hung out at her house for a while after she cheered me up. She’s… she offered to help me find a tutor for my math class.”

Rarity’s eye twitched slightly. “I see. Now, when you say she offered to help you find a tutor, did that ‘help’ include enlisting the aid of her father?”

I nodded. “It does, she also told me about the fight you and him had. Why would you get upset with him for wanting to help you sell your clothes?”

“It’s a complicated story,” Rarity said, frowning. “One I don’t particularly feel like going into right now. The important thing is that if you need a tutor, I’ll be happy to find one for you. There’s no need to go and incur a debt with Filthy.”

“What, so you’re not going to let Tiara help me out because you don’t like her dad?” I asked, feeling a teeny-tiny touch of irritation.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Rarity said, giving a small sigh. “Diamond Tiara can help you all she wants, what I won’t tolerate though is her father helping you. He has a nasty habit of turning favors into debts, and I’d prefer my independence.”

“So this is just about you then? Tiara wants to help me out but you won’t let her because you have a fight with her dad?” I asked. Why was everypony but Tiara against me being happy? I guess Apple Bloom hadn’t done anything bad yet, but still…

Rarity closed her eyes and took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. “You know what, perhaps the four of us should sit down some time and have a discussion about appropriate boundaries in your relationship. That way, everypony is on the same page. Can you agree to that?”

“Alright,” I said, mumbling and looking down at my math book. “Hey, Rarity, since we don’t have a tutor yet, do you think you can help me with my homework tonight? You know, if this is actually solvable. Half these problems are just letters.”

My sister laughed and smiled at me. “Sweetie Belle, if I can balance this boutique’s budget every month, I think I can handle a few simple algebra problems.”

“Thanks,” I said, my lips twisting up into a smile and instantly forgetting about our earlier argument. “You’re the best big sister ever!”

“I try, Sweetie Belle, now let’s take a look at these problems, shall we?” She gave me one of her lady-like laughs and patted me on the head as I showed her my math book.

***

I let out a yawn as I trudged across the school’s courtyard. Staying up late to work on math plus waking up early to put on makeup equaled a very tired Sweetie Belle going to class and… Oh no, I’d spent so long doing math stuff I was even starting to think like a math problem. I nervously trotted in place and tried to think of Sweetie Belle things.

Friendship, hugs, kisses, music… Uhmm… My show Friday, ooh what songs am I going to sing for it? I really need to figure that out before tomorrow. Let’s see, I have to fill three hours, and most of the songs I know are about three minutes long, but I also know a few five- to ten-minute songs, so… Gah! I’m mathing again! Why can’t I just–

“Hey, Sweetie Belle,” somepony said, tapping me on the back. I let out a scream and swirled around to see a familiar brown pegasus dart up into the air. “Uhmm… is this a bad time? Because if you’re going to be busy screaming and acting weird, then I can just talk to you later.”

“It’s fine, Socket,” I said, my heart still pounding like crazy. “I just… you startled me.”

“You startled me too,” he said, letting himself fall back down to the ground. “Who just turns around and screams in another pony’s ear?”

“A pony who’s scared.” I sniped back. “You can’t just sneak up on ponies and scare them like that.”

“I wasn’t trying to scare you,” he said, opening his saddlebags and pulling out a white and pink microphone. “I was trying to give you a gift, you know, for your show Friday.”

My horn lit up as I grabbed the microphone with my magic, bringing it closer so I could look at it. Its main body was white, and the big bulby part was the same pink as my mane. “It’s so elegant,” I said, smiling at him. “This is really sweet of you.” Actually, it was too sweet. This must’ve taken a bunch of time to make, so why did he spend it to make me something instead of somepony he actually…

“What? No!” he said, his voice cracking. “I don’t… I mean, I like you as a friend, sure, but I wouldn’t date you in a million years. You’re… I’d like to date somepony a bit smarter, you know?”

“Gee, thanks,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You really know how to make a mare feel appreciated.”

He violently shook his head. “Not saying you’re dumb, I just… of all the ponies in our group, you and Diamond Tiara are probably the ones I am least attracted to, you’re just way too girly.” I glared at him and he stammered a bit more. “Not saying girly is bad, I totally don’t think Scootaloo should’ve gotten upset at you like that yesterday, I just don’t… A mare covered in grease and dirt and sweat is way nicer to me than a mare wearing makeup and perfume, but there’s nothing wrong with wearing makeup and perfume, just… I like the other thing more.”

“Fine,” I said, going back to look at the microphone. “So if you don’t like me, why did you go through all that trouble to make this for me?”

“Oh, uh… right,” he said, glancing at the ground. “I guess I just… I wanted to apologize for getting you stuck in a time loop. I’m… You might not know this, but I’m not really good with words.” No kidding. “So I guess I just thought, instead of accidentally offending you, I’d make you something nice.”

“It’s really great,” I said, flipping it around with my magic. There was a switch, but I couldn’t find any place with the cord to go. “So… how does it work?”

“Oh!” he said, smiling and moving to stand next to me. “See that switch?” I nodded at him. “Well, there’s a mana crystal in it that works as an amplifier, when you turn it on, it absorbs some of your magic and uses that to cast a simple amplification spell tuned to your voice, Life Bloom helped me with that part. Basically, if you turn it on, it will naturally amplify your voice, and the more magic you give it, the louder your voice will be. Nifty, right?”

“That’s so cool,” I said, putting the microphone in my saddlebags before throwing my forehooves around him. “Thank you so much, this is pretty much the best gift ever.”

He squirmed out from my hug and took off into the air, making sure to stay out of hug range. “Cool, so… we’re okay then?”

“Of course,” I said, still beaming. “We were actually pretty okay before, but now we’re better than okay.” I mean, I wasn’t angry with him about getting me stuck in a time loop (and that was as much Twilight’s fault as his), I just… he wanted to be an engineer, and I wanted to be a singer. I didn’t think there was that much for us to bond over, so I didn’t know how to hang out with him.

“Thanks,” he said, still keeping to the sky. “Can I ask you for a favor though?”

“Sure, what’s up?” I asked before having a giggling fit. “Besides you, I guess.”

He rolled his eyes. “Real funny and a completely original joke, anyways, what’s up is that I’m trying to make a gift for Life Bloom, and I’m not sure what she’d like. She already has a bunch of science-y stuff, and… I figured you’d be the best pony to ask.”

“Alright,” I said, nodding my head and heading to the school. “I need a bit of time to think, but I’m happy to help you out. Maybe we can meet at Sugarcube Corner and talk about it after school.”

“Sounds good,” he said as I walked into the school, happy to have something else to think about that wasn’t Scootaloo-related. Hopefully, she’d just apologize, and we could go back to being best friends.

***

“Hey!” Scootaloo said, walking towards our table at the cafeteria with Apple Bloom following behind her. Scootaloo usually got here before I did, but I guess something held her up today. Under the table, Diamond Tiara stroked my foreleg reassuringly. “Where were you yesterday? We searched everywhere, but couldn’t find you.”

“I was hiding,” I said, clenching my jaw tight. That didn’t sound like an apology at all.

“Okay,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes as she sat down across from me. “So anyways, I was trying to find you yesterday so I could apologize.” That sounded better.

“For what?” I asked, trying to use the same voice Rarity used when she was trying not to show how upset she was. I’d heard that voice a lot but never had a chance to use it before.

“For upsetting you, I guess,” Scootaloo said, shrugging. “Look, I liked you the way you were before the time loop happened, and since then… you’ve just been different. You got your cutie mark, you’ve been spending more and more time with Diamond Tiara, and then you started wearing makeup. It’s like you turned into a completely different Sweetie Belle than the one I knew.”

“I’m still me,” I said, my irritation and anger fading away. “Yes, some things might be different, but I still want to be your friend… At least, I do if you can stand the fact that some things about me are different.”

There was a long pause as she looked at me. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “I want to say yes, but when I look at you, I don’t see a pony I know, not like I knew the old Sweetie Belle, at least. So yeah, I’d like it if you were more like you used to be, but I guess that’s just not going to happen.”

My jaw actually dropped, not to the ground or anything, because I don’t think that’s possible, but it definitely dropped.while I tried to figure out how she could say something so completely dumb. She was supposed to be smarter than me, but at least I could… Well, I worried that my friends would leave me because they changed, but Scootaloo was pulling away from me because she thought I changed (and I really hadn’t changed that much).

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom said while I stared dumbly at my former best friend. “How can you even say that? Sure, Sweetie might be a bit different than she used to be, but she’s still our friend and been nothin’ but nice to everypony around her. She’s even bein’ nice to you after you were nothing but rotten to her yesterday.”

“I know,” Scootaloo said. “New Sweetie seems super nice, but she isn’t my Sweetie, she’s not the Sweetie who’s always up for adventure, and…” She shook her head. “I thought you were perfect the way you were, so I don’t get why you’re doing things differently now.”

“They aren’t that different,” I said, frowning and trying not to get upset with my friend. “Okay, I’ve focused more on my singing lately, I’m wearing makeup, and I made a few new friends, but so did you,” I said, looking at Socket.

“Yeah, okay,” Scootaloo said, “and I was fine when Melody joined the group, but I can’t believe you’d ever forgive Diamond Tiara. She tormented us for years, and you’re just acting like none of that happened. I can’t accept that.”

“Why do you hate her so much?” I squeaked. “She made fun of all of us, but Apple Bloom at least gave her a chance, and she hasn’t been that bad, has she?” I asked, looking at Apple Bloom for confirmation.

“She hasn’t,” Apple Bloom said, turning her head to look from Diamond Tiara to Scootaloo. “Sure, she ain’t always perfect, but she’s tryin’ to be better, and I figure if my sister can get to bein’ friendly with Discord... Well, I figure Sweetie’s got it right with forgivin’ her.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Scootaloo snarled. “She never made fun of you for not being able to fly. Never… I’ll be able to fly one day. I’ll be able to visit my parents in Cloudsdale one day, I just… Just because I can’t fly yet doesn’t mean I won’t ever be able to fly.” Apple Bloom and I looked at each other. Scootaloo’s wings weren’t something we talked about, but we knew they weren’t shaped right. We knew she would never be able to get more than a few seconds of lift.

For a long time, nopony talked as Scootaloo just glared at Diamond Tiara and everypony else glanced awkwardly at anything that wasn’t Scootaloo. “I said I’m sorry,” Diamond Tiara said. “I offered to make it up to you, and I meant it, but that’s all I can do until you give me a chance.”

“Why would I ever do that?” Scootaloo said, pounding a hoof on the table. “Why would I ever give you another chance to make fun of me? To make me feel like I’ll never be able to fly?”

“But you won’t be able to,” Life Bloom said, causing everypony at the table to turn to look at her. Ugh… of course she had to do the super-honest thing, and now things were probably going to go… bad. Actually, if they just went bad, I’d probably be lucky. Maybe I could still fix this.

“Uhmm… Life Bloom,” I said, looking at my friend. “I know being completely honest is your thing, but maybe now isn’t the time to–”

“No,” she said, cutting me off and turning to stare down Scootaloo. “Scootaloo, a basic examination of your wing structure makes it plainly obvious that you will never be able to fly. They can’t currently generate any sufficient amount of upward thrust, and to hover for even a few seconds, you’d have to work ten times as hard as a normal pegasus does while flying.”

“Then I’ll just work twenty times as hard,” Scootaloo said, matching Life Bloom’s stare with her death glare. “I just haven’t hit my growth spurt yet, once my wings grow out a bit, I’ll totally be able to fly, I just… I’ll be able to fly one day.”

“You won’t,” Life Bloom said calmly, completely unaffected by Scootaloo’s glare. “Your wings will certainly get larger, but their basic design will never change. The same flaw that makes you unable to fly now will keep you from flying when you’re an adult.”

“You’re… you’re wrong,” Scootaloo said, doubt entering her eyes. “Rainbow Dash said I’d be able to fly some day… tell her, girls,” she said, looking at Apple Bloom and me, pleading with us to help her. I wanted to tell her she was right, that if she kept working at it she’d be able to fly one day. I really wanted to cheer her up so she wouldn’t be sad anymore, even if she had spent most of yesterday being a jerk to me. I wanted–

“No,” I whispered, looking down at my uneaten sandwich. “She didn’t say that, Scootaloo, you know she didn’t. She said you might be able to fly eventually, but she lied. She lied because she didn’t want to take your hope away, I guess we all did.”

“A– Apple Bloom,” she said, turning to her last lifeline, her last tiny bit of hope.

Apple Bloom’s eyes watered – everypony was either crying or about to, now – and she slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry,” was all she had to say. All she really needed to say. I saw the second the last tiny bit of hope left Scootaloo’s eyes and she choked back a sob.

“I see,” Scootaloo said, getting up to her hooves and heading away. She gave me a small smile that didn’t have a bit of actual happiness in it. “Crusaders don’t lie to each other, right, Sweetie Belle? I guess the new you isn’t as bad as I thought.” Scootaloo gave a glance back at us before sprinting out of the cafeteria. A moment later, Apple Bloom and I ran off after her.

***

Scootaloo was gone. Her locker was empty of everything but her Crusader cape. My friend was gone. “What do we do now?” Apple Bloom asked while I stared at the place in the locker where her scooter should go.

“We catch her,” I said, turning to head after her. Even if she’d been a big jerk the last few days, Scootaloo was my friend, and right now, she needed my help. “Come on, if we hurry, we can–”

“Sweetie Belle, we ain’t gonna catch up to Scootaloo, and we can’t go skippin’ class to look for her, especially since you skipped class yesterday,” Apple Bloom said, frowning.

“But we have to try,” I squeaked, trying not to cry. I could cry later; right now, Scootaloo needed us. “She always comes after me.”

Apple Bloom patted me on the back. “But you want to be found. This… let’s give a Scootaloo some time alone, then as soon as school’s out, we’ll search the entire town for her.” The rest of our friends stood a bit away, giving us some space.

“And if we can’t find her?” I asked, sniffling.

“Then we keep looking, we ain’t gonna leave her alone tonight.”

“Alright,” I said, looking at Diamond Tiara. The second our eyes met, she gave me a smile that promised comfort later and reminded me of our earlier conversation.

“Don’t worry,” Apple Bloom said. moving to pull Scootaloo’s cape out of her locker and put it in her saddlebags. “We’ll talk to her tonight, and everything will work out.” She glared at Life Bloom. “Though we wouldn’t be having this problem if somepony could’ve just kept her mouth shut.”

“Scootaloo needed to know the truth,” Life Bloom said, going back to her cold scientist voice. “Allowing her to live a delusion is far more destructive in the long term.”

“You took away her hope,” Melody said, marching out in front of Life Bloom and glaring at her. “I know telling the truth is important to you, and complete honesty is probably necessary whenever you’re doing an experiment, but ponies aren’t experiments. You can’t just take away somepony’s hopes without giving them something to cling on to.” She sighed and her posture softened. “I should’ve said something earlier, and that’s my fault, but you all… we have to make this right with her, remind her of all the things she’s good at.”

The rest of us nodded at that. “As soon as class is done, we’re all going to find her,” I said as confidently as I could. My friend needed me. “No matter what she might think right now, she’s still a Crusader, and Crusaders support each other.” The rest of my friends nodded at that with various levels of excitement. “Apple Bloom, you and Life Bloom go to her house; Socket, you take Tiara and track down Rainbow Dash, and I’ll take Melody and search the clubhouse. If one group finds her, send a pony to go get the rest of us, while the other pony stays with Scootaloo. If that doesn’t work, then… we can deal with that later, alright?”

There was a chorus of agreement as the end of lunch bell rang. We were going to find Scootaloo.

***

That evening, the six of us met up at the clubhouse to report our failure. After our first search didn’t work, we asked everypony in town if they’d seen her today, and not a single pony had. “Come on,” Apple Bloom said, “she has to be somewhere in Ponyville.”

“Does she, though?” Life Bloom asked. “Either she fled the town, or somepony is lying for her. In either case, she’s clearly doesn’t want to be found. Apple Bloom, you said as much earlier today.”

“Well, I don’t think you get a say since you started all this,” Apple Bloom said, glaring at her friend. “If you hadn’t said anything earlier, none of this would’ve happened.”

Life Bloom sighed and took a seat at one of the tables in the clubhouse. “Perhaps my delivery could’ve been better, but Scootaloo was living in denial. Something had to be done; her feelings on the issue were negatively impacting her relations with Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara, and I thought telling her the truth might remedy that situation.” She looked between me and Diamond Tiara and opened her mouth to say something, but shut it the second she saw Melody.

“What?” I asked, looking at her. “You were going to say something, right?”

“It’s…” Life Bloom tilted her head and frowned. “Not particularly important considering our current problem. My personal curiosity can wait until a more opportune moment.”

“Wait, did you just decide to not be completely honest?” Apple Bloom asked. “Couldn’t ya have done that earlier?” This wasn’t helping us find Scootaloo at all.

“I already explained my rationale for that decision,” Life Bloom said, meeting Apple Bloom’s glare with her usual calm detachment. Didn’t she say she was going to start working on being less sciencey all the time back in the time loop? I’m pretty sure she did, but on other hoof, her getting upset right now would probably just make things a lot worse.

“Ugh!” Apple Bloom yelled. “How can you just sit there and be so calm? The rest of us are worried sick and you’re just sitting there like this is another one of yer experiments. Would it kill you to show just a little emotion for once?” Or… maybe not.

“Can we please calm down and stop fighting,” I said as loud as I could without yelling. “I know we’re all upset, but let’s just… we’re supposed to be friends, and friends make each other happy, they don’t yell at each other.”

Melody, Socket, and Tiara nodded at that. “She’s right,” Melody said. “Right now, Scootaloo needs our help, and this fighting isn’t helping anypony. Life Bloom, can you apologize to Apple Bloom for perhaps being a bit blunt with Scootaloo?”

“Of course,” Life Bloom said, looking from Melody back to Apple Bloom. “While I still believe that telling Scootaloo the truth was the right course of action, there was almost certainly a better way to go about it, and I apologize for any unnecessary pain I caused.”

“Alright,” Melody said, patting Life Bloom on the back. How can Melody be so quiet most of the time, but then just completely take charge whenever our group gets to fighting? “Apple Bloom, forgive your friend.”

“Fine,” Apple Bloom said, her glare softening. “I know ya were just tryin’ to help, even if you went about it in a dumb way. I guess I shouldn’t ‘ave lost my temper.”

“Perfectly understandable,” Life Bloom said, extending her forehoof to Apple Bloom. “Perhaps I need somepony to keep me in check at times. So far, my attempts at being more sociable have met with… mixed results.”

“I can help,” I said, perking up at the idea, while Apple Bloom shook Life Bloom’s hoof. “You know I’m good at being friendly with ponies.”

“Very well,” Life Bloom said, nodding at me. “Certainly, if I had to have somepony teach me how to properly interface with others, you would be an ideal candidate. I know we discussed this back in the loop, but so far, follow-up has been lacking.”

“Sorry,” I said, frowning and looking at the floor. “I guess I just got so caught up with getting my cutie mark that I forgot I said I’d help you. Also, you really shouldn’t say ‘properly interface with others,’ it sounds like something a robot would say. Maybe try saying ‘get along with other ponies’ instead.”

Life Bloom gave me a small smile. “Thank you, and your neglect is completely understandable. Earning your cutie mark disrupts everything in your life, and putting it back together takes time.”

“Alright,” Apple Bloom said, drawing our attention back to her. “Can we please get back to findin’ Scootaloo?”

Socket broke into the conversation for the first time. “Actually, I kind of agree with Life Bloom. She obviously doesn’t want us to find her, and bugging her now will probably just make her more upset. I know if I was her, I’d want some time alone.”

“Besides,” Diamond Tiara said, moving towards Life Bloom, “if we find her now, she’ll probably just yell at us more. Let’s let her sleep it off. Going after her now seems like a dumb idea for everypony.”

“But she’s our friend,” Apple Bloom said, looking to me for support. “We… Crusaders don’t leave each other behind.”

“They also don’t lie to each other,” Tiara said, causing Apple Bloom and me to wince. She didn’t need to say anything else.

“How can you even consider leaving her behind?” Melody said, moving towards Apple Bloom’s corner of the room. “Scootaloo is… I know I’m new to the group, but she’s still my friend, and more importantly, we can’t just leave her in pain when she needs comfort the most.”

The room was slowly dividing itself. On one side was Apple Bloom and Melody, and on the other side was Life Bloom, Socket, and Diamond Tiara, while I stood between the two sides. “Because she’s made it clear she doesn’t want anything to do with us right now. She left her cape behind for a reason, and I don’t think we should waste our time going after a pony who doesn’t want our help.” Life Bloom glanced from Apple Bloom to me. “What do you think, Sweetie Belle?”

“I think…” I frowned. Scootaloo was my friend; I wanted to cheer her up when she needed me to be there for her, and up until a few days ago, she’d always been there when I needed her. But then she started acting like I’d stabbed her in the back just because I’d started wearing makeup, and... if she couldn’t accept me, then why should I spend my night looking for her when she didn’t even want to see me? I trotted to stand next to Diamond Tiara and tried to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach when I saw the look Apple Bloom and Melody’s faces.

“What?” Apple Bloom said, looking like I’d just punched her in the face. “You and Scootaloo were always the closest, how can you turn yer back on her now?”

“Life Bloom’s right,” I said, trying not to cry. If Scootaloo didn’t want us to find her, there was no point in wasting our time looking. “We’d probably just make things worse if we talked to her now. Besides, if we couldn’t find her earlier, I don’t think we can find her now.”

“That’s…” Apple Bloom looked from me to Melody. “I’m still going to try and find her, even if the rest of you won’t help. Melody?”

Melody nodded at Apple Bloom. “I know I haven’t had friends for that long, and maybe I don’t understand everything about it, but I know enough to not leave somepony in pain behind. I’ll look for her as long as you need me.”

“Thanks,” Apple Bloom said as she trotted to the clubhouse exit, the rest of us moving aside so she could get past. “Glad at least somepony else cares about Scootaloo.” She glared at the four of us as she passed while Melody just looked at me and frowned.

“I care about her,” I yelled after the two as they walked off, “but that doesn’t mean I’m about to go bother somepony who doesn’t want us around.” If they heard me, they didn’t respond.

***

The four of us hung around the clubhouse for a little while longer before eventually splitting up, with Life Bloom and Socket heading to the dorms while Tiara walked me back to the boutique. “You did the right thing today, Sweetie,” she said, kissing me on the cheek. “I know it wasn’t easy for you to do, but sometimes friends just need to be left alone.” Tiara bumped playfully against me in an attempt to cheer me up. “You’re still a great friend.”

“Thanks,” I said, trying to smile at her. I don’t think it worked. “I just… I want all my friends to be happy, so why do they have to keep getting upset? If Scootaloo could’ve just been nice to you, none of this would have happened. Instead, everypony feels miserable, and it’s so dumb.”

“Well, not everypony can be as good as you,” she said as we walked through Ponyville’s mostly empty streets. Above us, the stars were coming out one by one, as the color faded from the sky. “But if you and Scootaloo stop being friends, it won’t be because you did something wrong. You’ve been way nicer to her than I’d be.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” I mumbled, looking down at my hooves as I walked.

“Remember what we talked about last night,” she said, putting a forehoof in front of me to stop me from walking. She turned to face me. “Remember what you said, you deserve to be happy. You still believe that, right?”

I nodded slowly. That was all I wanted, to be happy and make other ponies happy, but… maybe there were some ponies who didn’t want to be happy? Should I really spend time on them when all they did was take joy from the world and replace it with sadness? Not that Scootaloo was necessarily one of those ponies, but–

Tiara’s lips pressed against mine, and a wave of warm fuzziness got rid of all those annoyingly bad thoughts. She was right, I did deserve to be happy, and I had her with me to give me all the happiness I’d ever need. If Scootaloo just wanted to be miserable, I shouldn’t hurt myself trying to cheer her up. I let out a soft sigh as our kiss ended.

“You always manage to make me feel better,” I said, nuzzling her neck. “I don’t know what I would’ve done the last few days without you.”

“It’s nothing special,” she said, stroking the back of my neck with her forehoof. “I’m just trying to be as good a special somepony as you deserve. Now let’s get you back home, I know you have to get ready for your show tomorrow.”

I jolted up at that. “Oh shoot! I still don’t have a song list for tomorrow, Pinkie’s going to kill me if I don’t take this seriously.”

“I’m pretty sure she won’t,” Diamond Tiara said as we started walking to the boutique again. “I don’t think Pinkie could hurt anypony. Still, you should probably figure out what songs you want to sing for your first big show; I want you to do as well as possible. Oh! Speaking of doing well, Daddy found a tutor for you, although he really wants to get to know you better. Does Saturday work?”

“Actually, Rarity wants all of us to get together sometime, so we can talk about boundaries and stuff. She thinks your dad is going to use doing nice stuff for me to get her to do what he wants,” I said as we reached the front door of the boutique. “I’m sure he won’t, but she still wants us to all have a talk, is that okay?”

“Sure,” Tiara said, shrugging as I opened the door. “I know Daddy has a bit of a bad reputation, but he’s really just a big softie. You’ll see once you get to know him better.” She smiled and kissed my cheek, causing them to suddenly get really warm. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright,” I said as I walked into the boutique. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and… thanks for cheering me up. Not looking for Scootaloo was the right choice, right?”

She nodded at me and smiled. “Of course it is. You’ll see her tomorrow, and you two can talk after she’s had some time to calm down. There’s no point in dealing with her when she’s angry.”

I nodded at her and repeated her words as I headed up the stairs. Scootaloo and I could talk at lunch, and everything would be just fine, and we’d go back to being just friends.

***

There was no sign of Scootaloo at lunch the next day. “I take it,” Life Bloom said as she sat at the table, “that your search last night yielded no fruits.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Obviously, it didn’t, but maybe you could show a little concern that our friend is still missing! Unless you don’t actually care because you’re a robot.”

“No way she’s a robot,” Socket said, shaking his head as he took a bite of his sandwich. “Her movement’s too smooth, she looks too realistic, and if she was a robot, we’d probably hear the whirring of her internal servos and… You don’t actually think she’s a robot, do you?”

“Considerin’ that I didn’t think robots existed outside of them Mare Trek serials, I’m gonna go with no… Wait, are there actual real life robots?”

He nodded excitedly. “The technology isn’t all there yet, but we do have basic machines that can follow orders, nothing even close to the stuff in the movies or Life Bloom though.”

“Excuse me,” Melody said, clearing her throat and getting us all to look at her. “As interesting as it is to learn about robots, shouldn’t we be focusing on Scootaloo?”

“You’re right,” Apple Bloom said. “We don’t have time to worry about who is and isn’t a robot, we need to find Scootaloo.”

“You spent all night looking for Scootaloo,” Life Bloom said, adjusting her glasses with her magic. “So far, blindly searching for her has met with no positive results, so I don’t see why I’m being portrayed as the villain for suggesting other possible avenues.”

“First, because this is your fault,” Apple Bloom said, glaring, “and second, because your ‘other possible avenue’ is just sittin’ around waitin’ for her to show up. We should be doing something.”

“I’ll agree with that sentiment,” Life Bloom said. “However, there’s no point doing something we have every reason to believe won’t work. Even Sweetie Belle could understand that. Are you going to argue that she doesn’t care for Scootaloo?”

“Well… no,” Apple Bloom said slowly, looking between me and Life Bloom. “I know she cares a whole lot for all of us, I just… I can’t do nothin’, you know?”

“You aren’t. Now that time has passed, we have enough information to possibly figure out where Scootaloo went last night,” Life Bloom said. “First of all, nopony questioned us this morning, did they?”

“No…” Apple Bloom said, shaking her head, “But what does that have to do with Scootaloo?”

“Scootaloo’s aunt, Sea Shine, would be concerned if her niece never showed up, correct?” Life Bloom asked, taking a nibble of her salad. Unlike Rarity, she just used her magic to eat it and didn’t mess around with silverware.

“Right,” Apple Bloom said, wrinkling her forehead as she followed Life Bloom’s train of logic. I had no idea what she was trying to get at, but it seemed important.

“So, assuming your ward went missing, you would naturally begin to worry, correct? Especially when two of her friends came by looking for her earlier that evening. However, this morning, nopony in town seemed to be looking for her, so it seems logical that…”

“She was at her house the whole time,” Apple Bloom finished, thudding her hoof against her forehead. “How did we not figure it out when we went by her house?”

“There was no reason for us to suspect the truth then,” Life Bloom said. “The only possible indicator we had was how calm Sea Shine appeared, and that was readily explained by the fact that such… drama is distressingly common in this town.”

“So she’s hiding from us all in her room?” I asked, frowning. “That doesn’t really sound like something she’d do. It’s definitely something I’d do, but… not her. She’d face her problem head-on.”

“And how does one face the revelation that your friends and idol collaborated in deceiving you, and that you have absolutely no hope of ever flying?” Life Bloom asked, turning to look at me, her glasses framing her stare.

“I wouldn’t say never,” Socket said, interrupting me before I could respond. “With a few years, I could probably design a pair of mechanical wings that could make anypony fly… It might take a few more years to make them safe, though.”

“Wonderful news,” Life Bloom said, sparing Socket a glance. “I’m sure Scootaloo will take great comfort in the knowledge that the same pony who accidentally created a stable time loop thinks he can make her fly. Sweetie Belle, my question still stands.” That was another great fight we were having, ever since we left the time loop, Life Bloom had been snapping at Socket more often. I don’t think he actually noticed it, though.

“I’d run away and hide in my room,” I said, nodding my head. “But that just doesn’t seem like something Scootaloo’d do.”

“Yes, well, I suppose we all have our breaking points, and yesterday Scootaloo found hers,” Life Bloom said, frowning. “At least we can be reasonably certain she’s safe, though, and that should provide some comfort.”

“I just wish she’d talk to us,” I said, trying not to start crying in front of my friends. “It’s… I know we hurt her feelings, but I wish she’d let us apologize. We didn’t tell her the whole truth because we thought it might make her feel better.”

“You lied to make her happy?” Life Bloom asked, tilting her head. “Well… I think I’m going to refrain from commenting on that further, anything I might say would be… unproductive.”

“Sure would,” Apple Bloom said, taking a bite of her apple – she always had at least one apple for lunch, other food too, but there was always one apple – and rolling her eyes. “Yeah, maybe we messed up, but we did it because she’s our friend, and we wanted her to be happy.”

Life Bloom sighed and rubbed her forehead. “That’s perfectly fine, I suppose, but you have to… I admit, my knowledge of how to deal with friends is limited, but in the laboratory setting, there is no situation where it’s advantageous to–”

“Please stop going on about–”

“Girls!” I yelled, interrupting them. “Can you please stop fighting? We know where Scootaloo is, we know she’s safe, and we know she’s still in town. You already apologized, so can we please try to get through this lunch and be kind of happy? Come on…” I tried to think of something happy we could talk about instead. “What about Pinkie’s party tonight? What do you all want to do first?”

“I’m actually not sure about what I should do there,” Life Bloom said, turning to look at me and frowning. “Obviously, I intend to listen to the singer hired for the occasion, but I don’t know what else I should do. As the last few days have made painfully obvious, my ability to socialize with others is still somewhat lacking.”

“Ooh! Maybe you can spend some time with…” I wanted to say Apple Bloom, but my gut told me they still needed some time away from each other. I couldn’t pair her with Melody because she needed somepony to make sure she didn’t stay in a corner for the entire party, and I didn’t want to encourage Socket’s crush on Life Bloom, so that just left... “Diamond Tiara! I’m sure you two will get along great.”

Diamond Tiara turned to look at me and silently mouthed “really?” I nodded at her.

“Of course,” I said, smiling and nodding. “You both have…” I struggled to think of what they had in common besides the fact they were both mares. “You’re both great ponies, you should definitely get to know each other better.” I looked at Tiara and gave her my best “this is really important to me” look.

She turned to look at Life Bloom and smiled. “I’d love to. I’m sure we’ll have plenty to talk about.”

Life Bloom returned Tiara’s smile. “Indeed, I’m sure we’ll have plenty to discuss.”

“So,” Melody said, cautiously dipping her hoof into the conversation, “what exactly is there to do at one of Pinkie’s parties?”

Apple Bloom perked up at that. “Oh, it’s great,” she said, “her really big parties have pretty much everything you could want. There’s food, drinks, games, singing....” She continued to talk about all the stuff that might be at Pinkie’s party, and I let out a sigh of relief. At least everypony was happy for the moment. Scootaloo could wait until later.

***

“So,” Diamond Tiara said, giggling and leaning against me as we walked through the school’s courtyard. Everything was still green, but the sky had the tinge of grey that said it would be fall soon. “What do you want to do before the party?”

“Actually, I really need to talk with Pinkie about my show,” I said, frowning as I felt her fur coat against mine. “I’d really like to do stuff with you, but...”

“That’s fine,” she said, nuzzling my neck. “Is there any chance I can come with you? I promise I won’t bug you.”

“Well, I don’t see why not,” I said as we turned to the park where Pinkie’s party was being thrown. “After all, the park’s open to everypony, so I don’t see what the big problem would be, just… remember, nopony is supposed to know we’re dating, I don’t want my friends to get upset.”

“I haven’t been that obvious during lunch, have I? Sure, I might think about kissing you during lunch, but I don’t think I actually do it, do I?” she said, ending her question with a kiss on my neck.

“No,” I said, slowly shaking my head. “Hey, is that why you’re always so quiet during lunch? Because you’re thinking about doing kissing stuff?”

“One of the reasons,” she said, pulling away from me as a group of older students walked towards us. “That, and I really don’t have anything to say. If they don’t want to talk with me, I’m completely fine not talking to them.”

“But I want you to get along with them,” I said, frowning. “You even said you’d try to be better about being friendly with them.”

“And I am,” she said, swerving her head to look around for other groups of ponies as the group passed us. A second later, she was leaning against me. “I really am, but at the same time, I don’t really get what to say to Apple Bloom or Scootaloo. ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ just doesn’t seem to work well when you’re talking with somepony you spent four years torturing.”

“It works with me,” I said as we turned off from the main road leading to the school and headed to Ponyville Park

Tiara giggled and pressed harder against me, making me wobble on my feet. “Well, you’re special, Sweetie Belle. Not everypony can be as wonderful as you.”

“Hey, my friends are great,” I squeaked, pushing back against her. “Everypony I know is great. Besides, there’s no reason you can’t be friendly with Socket or Life Bloom or Melody.”

“Okay, there’s no way I’m ever going to be that friendly with Melody, Socket is too dirty, and Life Bloom is… Well, I think Apple Bloom was pretty right when she called her a robot,” Tiara said in the same tone of voice she used when she was making fun of us.

“Tiara,” I growled, taking a step away from her and almost causing her to fall on her side. “You promised you’d try harder to be friends with them when we started dating. You like dating me, right?”

She nodded at me.

“Then be friends with them. I want my friends to be your friends, and if you had somepony you wanted me to be friends with, I’d totally try to be friendly with them,” I said, stepping close to her so she could go back to leaning against me. I’d made my point, and I really liked it when she leaned against me, so there really wasn’t any point to me staying away from her any longer.

“Fine,” she said as she went back to leaning against me. “Why did I have to date the one pony in Equestria who is obsessed with everypony being friends?”

“First of all, I’m pretty sure it’s the fact that I try to be sweet to everypony that made you like me in the first place, and second of all, I’m not the only pony in Equestria who wants everypony to be friends,” I said, really wishing I could kiss her in front of everypony. It would be so nice if I could tell all of my friends we were dating, but… Okay, Apple Bloom was okay with it, I didn’t think Life Bloom or Socket would care that much, and Melody apparently didn’t have romantic feelings for me, but Scootaloo… she was having a hard time even accepting the fact I was friends with Diamond Tiara. Still, if she couldn’t accept the fact that I was dating somepony… why should I care?

“Hey, Tiara,” I said as we entered the park and trotted towards a pink blur darting around a gazebo, leaving balloons and streamers wherever it went. “Why don’t we just tell my friends we’re dating? I’m sure they’ll all be okay with it.”

“Maybe,” she said slowly, her body suddenly getting tense. “But I know how important your friends are to you, and I just… I don’t want to cost you any friends. Let’s give them a few more weeks to get used to me being in the group and then we’ll tell them.”

I frowned, thinking about how upset Scootaloo got when she found out we were lying to her. “Hey,” Tiara said, possibly reading my mind (if we were dating, could she read my mind? It seems like most couples know what the other is thinking, so how long do we have to be dating for me to hear her thoughts?), “we aren’t lying to them, we’re going to tell them the truth eventually, I just want to give them some more time…”

She paused for a second. “It’s like with a surprise party. You aren’t lying if you don’t tell somepony about the surprise party you’re–”

“Ohmygosh! Didsomebodysayparty?” Pinkie said, suddenly standing right in front of us, a giant smile on her face. “Who’s planning a surprise party? Ooh! Are you planning a surprise party to tell all your friends that you’re dating, because if so, I can totally help with that.”

“How did you know?” Tiara asked. I kind of wasn’t surprised that Pinkie had already figured out we were dating. I kind of wasn’t surprised by anything Pinkie did.

“It’s so obvious,” she said, still smiling down at us. “I mean, you’re leaning against Sweetie in just the cutest way, how could I not guess you’re dating?”

“That doesn’t explain how…” Tiara sighed.

“It’s Pinkie Pie,” I said, kissing Tiara’s cheek. “Do you really want to understand how she knows anything? She probably had whatever twitch she gets when ponies are in a secret relationship.”

Pinkie nodded. “It’s true. You wouldn’t believe how many secret relationships I know about, I mean, just the other day, Fluttershy and…” She shook her head. “Not important. What is important is that I can totally plan you a ‘Surprise! We’re dating’ party if you want. Ooh! What do you think of Diamond Belle as your couple name?”

“Ooh! What about Sweetiara?” I asked, ears perking up at the idea of couple names. I had couple names for all of my friends, there was Socketloo, Light Melody (Okay, so Bright Lights wasn’t our friend yet, but she’d come around), Socketbloom, Diamond Wrench, and BloomBloom. I even tried to make couple names for my teachers, TaviScratch was already a thing, but Mold Pi could totally be a thing, even if it sounded really disgusting.

“I like it!” Pinkie said. “That rolls off the tongue way better than Diamond Belle.”

“But I really like Diamond Belle, too,” I said, trying to think of which one was better. “Sure Sweetiara sounds nice, but…” I smiled. “Diamond Belle has a nice ring to it.”

Pinkie and I both laughed and giggled at that while Tiara just rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t you two be talking about tonight’s party instead of making jokes about our couple names?” she asked.

“But it’s so fun,” I said as I finished laughing. “Come on, which one do you like more?”

“I really don’t care,” she said, shrugging. “Whichever one makes you happier.”

“Come on,” Pinkie said, sing-songing as she twisted her head upside down to look at Diamond Tiara. No, I don’t know how her head is so stretchy, and I really don’t want to know. “You know you prefer Diamond Belle, search your feelings, you know it to be true.”

“I actually think couple names are kind of stupid,” Diamond Tiara said. “Actually, I didn’t even know they were a thing until just now.”

We both gasped and Pinkie untwisted her head to look at me, her eyebrow raised. “And you’re dating her?”

“She’s really nice,” I squeaked. “Even if she doesn’t like couple names, there are a lot of other really nice things about her… like kissing stuff.” Tiara smiled and kissed my cheek at that, causing a wave of warm fuzzy to wash over me.

Pinkie nodded sagely. “Very true, grasshopper. Kissing stuff is super fun, I can’t deny that… Still, who doesn’t like couple names?”

“Don’t you have a party you’re supposed to be planning?” Tiara asked, looking between us. “If I’d known you two’d just be discussing couple names, I think I’d have gone home or… Okay, I still would’ve gone with Sweetie, but still, don’t you have more important stuff to do?”

“There’s nothing more important than couple names,” Pinkie said, hmphing. “That’s the main reason to be a couple, otherwise why would you ever decide to date just one pony?”

I frowned and tried to think. Was she trying to say it was possible to date more than one–

“Oh my gosh, Sweetie, I completely forgot to ask if you had everything ready for tonight. I was just so excited about you and Tiara dating, I completely forgot about it,” Pinkie said, kicking whatever I was thinking about out of my head.

I pulled a few sheets of paper out of my bag with my magic and passed them over to Pinkie. “Yep! They’re right here, do you want to look them over or…”

She shuffled through the papers and nodded. “This looks great, Sweetie Belle, there’s enough music here to fill the time, the songs are light, and Tavi should be able to play these no problem.”

“Wait,” I said, suddenly frowning. “Miss Octavia is playing with me?”

Pinkie nodded. “Of course, silly, you need somepony to provide a little music, and I totally think her cello would go well with your voice. Or did you think I’d leave you up there all by your lonesome without anypony to help?” There was a pause as she saw my growing frown. “Ooh! It’s not that I don’t think you’ll do great up there all on your lonesome, I just think… even the best singers have musical backing.”

I smiled at her. “It’s fine, I just… I guess I just didn’t think there would be anypony up on stage with me, if I did, I totally would’ve talked with Miss Octavia sooner so we could get things set up and work together.”

“Well, Octavia didn’t even know she’d be singing until this morning when I realized ‘oh my gosh, we totally don’t have any instrumentals to help Sweetie Belle, and it would be so terrible if she had to do it all on her lonesome, so who do I know that can play with her? I know my cousin Tavi will be happy to help, especially since it gives her a chance to help her friend and...’” Pinkie continued to go through all the thoughts she had that led up to this moment, and even reenacted some of them.

“So anyways, long story short, Octavia agreed to play with you,” Pinkie said several minutes later.

“I don’t think you can say ‘long story short’ when you already gave us the long version,” Tiara said, rolling her eyes. “The whole point of saying ‘long story short’ is so you don’t have to inflict the long story on somepony else.” I glared at her. “Not that you were ‘inflicting’ your story on us, I loved hearing about everything you did this morning.”

Pinkie giggled and snorted. “That’s silly, if I did that, then how could I tell you all about my super-awesome day?”

“Right…” Tiara said slowly, sighing and nodding her head. “Well then, where should Sweetie start practicing?”

“On the stage, silly,” Pinkie said, pointing a hoof at an empty section of the park. She laughed. “Whoopsie! Forgot to set the stage up, one second.” Pinkie turned into a pink blur and dashed around the spot where she thought the stage should be, causing a cloud of dust to surround the area. A few seconds later, the dust settled and Pinkie stood on the newly-made stage, a hard hat on her head. “Here you go,” she said, dashing back in front of us. “Oh! I forgot to set up the speaker system, one more–”

“It’s fine,” I said, interrupting her before she could go back to doing impossible things. “I have my own microphone.” I pulled out Socket’s gift to me and showed it to her.

“Ooh! Fancy,” she said, looking it over. “You still need speakers though.”

“Actually, I don’t,” I said, flipping the switch to on. “See?” I spoke into the microphone, and my voice filled the park.

“Nice,” she said, nodding her head and leaning in close to the microphone. “Although if that’s our speaker system… I’ll need Tavi to stand next to you during the show so you don’t drown out her cello. Is that okay with you?”

I nodded my head at her. “It sounds fine,” I said, still talking into the microphone and causing several ponies on the other side of the park to look at me. Oops. Probably should’ve turned that off first. “Oh, Tiara, will you be okay just watching me practice? I don’t want you to be bored.”

“It’s fine,” she said, shrugging as I trotted towards my stage. “I like watching you sing, and if I get bored, I’m sure Pinkie can think of something I can do.”

“Yupperooni,” Pinkie said as she went back to dashing around the park, leaving tables and party decorations behind her. “If you could help me set up some of my party games, that would be super duper.” Tiara nodded and headed off to the pile of stuff Pinkie used for her party games while I took the stage and started practicing.

***

I peeked out from behind the curtain. Tons of ponies were milling around the park, talking, drinking, and playing Pinkie’s games. Near the front of the stage, a few ponies sat down, waiting for me to start playing, my friends making up the core of the group, with Tiara sitting right in the center of the front row. I sighed; everypony was here but Scootaloo. I know she’s mad at me, but I really thought she would at least show up for my big show.

A hoof tapped me on the back. “Nervous?” Miss Octavia asked as I turned to look at her. “I remember I was an absolute wreck during my first few shows, and I don’t think I slept the night before my audition for the Canterlot Orchestra.”

“A little bit,” I said, slowly nodding my head at her as I felt a twinge of terror in my stomach. “Not a lot, but I’m still kind of terrified that they won’t like me. I mean, they liked me in the time loop, but I had all the time I needed to practice then.”

Octavia blinked at me in confusion before moving to smile reassuringly. “Well, try not to worry too much. You’re a wonderfully gifted singer, and I’m sure everypony out in the audience tonight will love you. Besides, if they don’t, they’ll just go to the free buffet or spend time at the game corner. I doubt they’ll be too terribly upset about free entertainment.”

“Thanks,” I said, turning back to the stage curtain. “I guess we should probably get up on stage.”

“Indeed,” Octavia said, pulling back the curtain so I could step through. “Punctuality is a virtue in all things, Sweetie Belle,” she said as I walked onto the stage. Our small audience stomped their hooves as I pulled my microphone off the mike stand Pinkie had set up for me. Next to me, Octavia readied her cello, while I looked at the crowd of ponies and tried not to get sick. If I messed this up, I’d be the laughing stock of the whole town… I shook my head. Singing was my special talent, I wasn’t going to mess this up.

“Good evening, everypony,” I said, smiling at the crowd as my nausea slowly disappeared. “I hope you’re enjoying the party so far, and I… uhmm… I have a few songs I’d like to sing for you tonight, I hope you like them.” Okay, so public speaking wasn’t my special talent, and I might want to work on that later, and... I took a deep breath, tried to stop my heart from pounding so hard, and started to sing.

“I’m your only friend.
I’m not your only friend,
but I’m a little glowing friend…”

***

“Listen, Ana, hear my words,
they’re the ones you would think I would say,
if there was a me for you.”

The crowd applauded as I finished my last song, and Octavia and I took a bow. Over the course of the evening, more and more ponies had moved from the buffet and other party stuff to join the group of ponies that were either sitting and listening to me perform or dancing with the music. At some point during my show, Diamond Tiara had dragged Life Bloom off to the dance floor, while Socket and Melody bobbed for apples in the games corner.

Octavia smiled at me. “Go out and have some fun with your friends, I’m more than capable of performing on my own for the remainder of the party.” She glanced at the clock tower. “I doubt it should be going for too much longer.”

“Thanks, Octavia,” I said as I trotted off stage and headed to where Tiara was trying to teach Life Bloom the basics of dancing, while Life Bloom’s legs flailed out and tripped anypony who made the mistake of dancing near her, creating a giant empty circle around her. Tiara turned and smiled at me as I trotted over to her.

“You’re done?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “You just started singing…” She looked at the clock. “Three hours ago… It seems listening to you sing just makes the time fly by.”

I smiled at her and managed not to kiss her in front of everypony, even though I really wanted to. “Really? It felt like forever to me.”

“Most likely your emotional states impacted your perception of time,” Life Bloom said, looking between us as she gave up her attempts at dancing.

“Thanks,” I said, glancing at her. “Anyways, did you two have fun?”

“The evening has been enjoyable so far,” Life Bloom said, nodding her head at me. “I initially had my reservations as I had limited familiarity with Diamond Tiara, but those reservations proved not to be supported by reality.”

Tiara looked at Life Bloom and tilted her head. “Thanks, I think. Anyways, spending time with you wasn’t that bad either, just… I don’t think I’ll be dancing with you anytime soon. I like my hooves unbruised, thank you very much.”

Life Bloom smiled at that. “Fear not, Diamond Tiara, I highly doubt I’ll be dancing with anypony for the foreseeable future. My dancing is as hazardous to the ponies around me as Sweetie Belle’s cooking once was.”

“Hey!” I squeaked. I really needed to stop doing that, if it happened on stage, I don’t think I’d be able to stop blushing for the rest of the show. “My cooking isn’t that bad anymore.”

“Indeed it isn’t,” Life Bloom said, nodding at me. “However, it took several months of training for you to get there, and I believe I will need the same amount of time to become an adequate dancer, assuming I have a decent teacher.” She glanced between me and Tiara.

“... Fine,” Tiara eventually said. “You’re not so bad, and I guess spending more time with you would be cool. Besides, Sweetie Belle would probably be–”

She was cut off as I tackled her in a giant hug. “Thank you so much,” I said as we both hit the ground. “I knew you and Life Bloom would get along and be best friends, and now you’ll be teaching her how to dance and soon you’ll be completely inseparable, and everypony will be saying ‘Diamond Tiara and Life Bloom sure are wonderful friends’ and–”

“Breathe, Sweetie Belle,” Diamond Tiara said, cutting me off. “And yeah, Life Bloom and I get along, and that’s cool, but could you try not to get so excited?”

“Are you serious?” I asked, hopping back to my hooves in one bounce. “You know that won’t happen, right?”

“I know,” Tiara said getting up to her hooves, “I guess I was just–” She froze, her eyes going wide. “Sweetie Belle, I need you to not freak out right now.”

“Why?” I asked, trying to turn around to see what she saw, but Tiara grabbed my head and kept my eyes locked on hers. “What is it? Something bad.”

“Not bad,” she said, keeping my head still, “but Scootaloo is standing next to the–”

“Scootaloo!” I yelled, breaking free from Tiara’s grip and spinning around to find my friend standing right next to the buffet table. For some reason, the orange pegasus seemed a few shades grayer than normal, but it was probably just the light. Even though the rest of my friends look fine.

As I ran towards her, I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to hug her for being at my show or strangle her for scaring us all so badly. As I leapt towards the surprised pegasus, I decided to compromise by hugging her really tightly.

“What the hay were you thinking?” I asked as I tackled her. “We were all so worried about you when you ran off, and then we couldn’t find you and–”

“Sorry,” she said, her voice numb. “I needed some time to think. To accept the fact that I’ll never fly.” She frowned and I looked into her eyes. They were the same shade of purple they normally were, but at the same time, they looked almost dead, like there was nothing in them.

“But I thought we already had that talk,” I said, a tiny pit of worry growing in my stomach. “When we went to the Crystal Empire for the tryouts.”

“No,” Scootaloo said, shaking her head. “You said I might be able to fly one day.” She gulped and for a second I saw the same old pain in her eyes before they went back to being dead. “I still hoped, you know, thought that maybe if I kept at it and practiced my scooter stuff, that one day I’d be able to fly with my parents and Rainbow Dash, but no, I’m going to be stuck on the ground until I die. Soon, I’ll be too big for Rainbow Dash to lift me up when she’s flying, and that’ll be it. Ground bound forever.”

“You still have your scooter though,” I said, trying to cheer her up somehow. I’d never really thought about how it might feel to be a pegasus and know you could never fly. Even I could do a little bit of magic, and I could do a little bit more every day I practiced, but Scootaloo could only dream of flying. “That was… I don’t know anypony better at scootering than you.”

Scootaloo just shrugged. “I guess, it doesn’t really matter though.” She blinked at me. “Oh, my parents are visiting tomorrow, so I’ll have to cancel whatever you have planned for the weekend. We need to talk about some things. Maybe if I promise I won’t try flying again, they’ll let me move in with them at Cloudsdale again. Also... could you please stop hugging me? It’s getting a bit difficult to breathe.”

No. My eyes watered. This was wrong, Scootaloo was the most passionate pony I knew, and now she was just empty, like… like everything I knew about her had been scooped away. A waffle cone without ice cream. I squeezed her tighter. “You can’t leave,” I squeaked. “We’re friends, we’re Crusaders. Crusaders don’t leave other Crusaders behind.”

She gave me an empty smile, no anger or sadness or anything in it, it was just nothing. “And Crusaders don’t lie to each other.” My grip on her went loose and she took the opportunity to push me off her. “Don’t worry,” she said as she got to her hooves. “We’ll still be friends even if I leave, and if I do leave, it won’t be for a while.” She offered me a hoof up. “I still have to finish the semester off, either way.”

“But we’ll still do stuff together, right?” I said, sniffling and refusing her hoof. “We’re still going to be friends, right?”

Scootaloo nodded as my other friends slowly approached her. “Of course, we still have tonight, we still have the rest of the semester, and we’ll still be friends even if we live in other cities.” She gave me her hoof again and I slowly took it. We still had tonight.

“Excuse me,” a light-blue mare with a pink mane said, suddenly coming between me and Scootaloo. I recognized her immediately as Aloe (or Lotus) from the spa. “I hate to interrupt you, but the spa is hosting a mixer for all our clients next week, and we were hoping we could have you sing for it.”

“Well…” I wanted to help her, but at the same time, I hadn’t spent much time with my friends, and if Scootaloo was going to be moving soon (which she better not be). “I’m afraid–”

“I know you’re probably very busy, and after tonight’s performance I imagine you’re going to be a lot busier, and we can only pay you about nine hundred bits, but we’d also be more than willing to throw in a few spa passes for you and your friends.

Nine hundred bits! That could buy ice cream and gifts for all my friends. It could maybe even get me something that would make Scootaloo happy again, and Rarity would love the spa passes. I glanced back at Scootaloo who was now surrounded by the rest of my friends and explaining herself to them. For just a tiny second, I thought I saw the old her.

“...Okay,” I said, nodding at her. “I can do it, when do you need me?”

Aloe/Lotus smiled at me. “Wednesday at 6:00, come by the spa tomorrow and I’ll have the songs we’d like you to sing ready.”

“Excuse me,” a brown stallion said from under the gazebo, “Sweetie Belle, is it? My daughter is having her cute-ceañara next weekend, and I was hoping you I could have you perform, I know she’d just love your singing.” He gestured for me to come over and I glanced back at my friends. I could just talk to him real fast and then go back to them. Besides, I could use the bits from my show to make my friends happy, and singing would make even more ponies happy and… I glanced back at my friends before trotting over to the stallion to discuss the show.

***

There was always somepony else. Whenever I finished talking to one pony, somepony else came to talk to me about doing a show for them. At one point, I actually had to go back to the boutique to get the unused planner Rarity got for me just to make sure I didn’t accidentally double-book myself. By the time I’d finally dealt with everypony, the party was almost over and all my friends but Diamond Tiara had gone home. Did they even say goodbye to me? I couldn’t remember. Maybe they left when I was at the boutique.

“Busy night?” Tiara asked as she sat next to me. “I don’t think I even saw you after our talk earlier.”

“Sorry,” I said, giving a yawn and leaning against her. “Everypony wanted to talk to me about their events to see if I could perform for them.” I flipped open my plan and showed it to her. “I don’t think I’m going to have a free moment until winter break.”

She laughed as I rested my head against her neck. “It’s not that bad,” she said, stroking my mane. “You’ll still have plenty of free time we can spend together.”

“And the rest of my friends?”

“Them too,” she said. “You’re not just going to abandon your friends because you have a job now. Besides, they’ll understand that you’re busy. At least, they will if they’re your friends.”

I gave another yawn and fell back in the grass, staring up at the night sky. “I’m going to use the bits to show them how much I care about them, that’s why I agreed to all the jobs in the first place… Well, that and to sing and make more ponies happy.”

She laughed and laid down next to me. “Of course you did, only you would care so much about making everypony happy. You know, nopony’s going to hate you if you use some of those bits for yourself.”

“Maybe I’ll get some ice cream for me,” I said, nodding slowly. I felt tired and thin… like a bit of dough stretched so thin it gets a bit see through-ey in the middle. I probably just needed some sleep. Then again… “Scootaloo’s talking about leaving. About going back to Cloudsdale.”

“I heard,” she said, turning to kiss me on my cheek. “How are you holding up?”

“It’s my fault,” I said, frowning. Somehow, her kiss didn’t even make me feel a little good. “I should’ve… I don’t know, done something different. Told her the truth sooner or not told her at all. Instead, I got mad and… I messed up.”

“No you didn’t,” Tiara said, getting up to her hooves. “You did what you thought was right, it’s not your fault if Scootaloo couldn’t handle it.” She offered me a hoof up. “Come on, I know what’ll cheer you up.”

“Kissing?” I asked as I took her hoof. “Because I don’t really feel like kissing right now.”

“Nope,” she said, trotting away from me. “If you want to, sure, but I want to show you my favorite thing about grown-up parties.”

“Oh?” I asked, feeling my ears perk up. “What is it?”

We reached the refreshment tent and she pulled the flap back up. “The drinks,” she said as we stepped inside. The tent was empty, and the remains of buffet just made me wish I had gotten here before all the good food was eaten.

“But lots of parties have drinks,” I said as she headed to one of the punch bowls and grabbed the ladle with her mouth to pour out a couple of cups of juice. She sighed as she put the ladle away.

“Not those types of drinks, Sweetie. I’m talking about the alcohol. More specifically, in this case, the rum punch.”

“Oh…” I said in understanding, glancing at one of the glasses she poured out. “But aren’t we too young to drink that stuff?”

“Maybe,” she said, shrugging as she took a sip of her drink. “All I know is I’ve been stealing drinks from Daddy’s business parties for years, and it always makes me feel better. I guess if you drank the stuff all the time, it might be bad, but a little drink every now and then, that just dulled the pain a little, gave me one night where I didn’t feel terrible.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, looking between her and the other glass of punch. If big pony drinks just made you feel better, why would only adults drink them? Maybe because they had more problems than fillies? I certainly had way more problems now that I did before I had my cutie mark.

“You know I wasn’t a very happy filly back before you were my friend,” she said, sighing. “I already told you most of it, I think. It made me lash out at you and your friends, but at the same time, I couldn’t really figure out why I was so unhappy and angry all the time. Then, during one of Daddy’s parties, I snuck a drink, and I actually felt good. Like, I wasn’t angry at myself, and I just felt okay about everything for a few hours. I thought you might want that same feeling, but if you don’t, I’m not going to force you.”

I frowned and stared at the drink as I wrapped it up in my magic and brought it closer to me. “Well, I guess it wouldn’t be too bad. After the day I had, I deserve a little happiness, right?”

She nodded and I took my first sip of the punch.

***

Tiara and I giggled as we sat behind the stage. Tavi had stopped playing an hour ago, and the park was mostly empty now. A few ponies had passed out in the field, and Applejack and Rarity were off sitting under a tree in the distance. What ponies were still awake were mostly sitting and talking.

“You… you know what we should do?” I asked, the world bobbing around me for some reason. “We should… We should start kissing the rest of our friends.” At the last few words, I started giggling. Tiara was right, adult drinks made everything seem better, no wonder they loved this stuff so much.

She sighed as I gave her a big messy kiss right on the lips. “We…” She trailed off and pointed a hoof at me while she thought. “We already talked about this, Sweetie, relationships are good because they’re special. If you start kissing everypony, then … then I won’t be special. I like being special.”

“You’ll always be special, I’m dating you, I just… I just want to kiss my friends to make them happy,” I said leaning back and forth. “That’s not so bad is it.”

“Sweetie, you can’t just… kiss ponies and not date them. You have to be dating a pony to kiss them,” she said, rolling her eyes. “We already talked about this.”

“Yeah…” I said slowly, trying to figure out if there was anything wrong with her reasoning. It seemed right, but… Something in my head clicked. “Wait! When you first kissed me, we weren’t dating. So… That… If we weren’t dating and you could still kiss me, then…” I nodded, sure I’d made a convincing argument.

“But I… I wanted to date you,” she said. “You can kiss somepony as long as you want to date them.”

“Oh…” I said before leaning forward to give her another kiss. “That… I guess that makes more sense. So… I can only kiss other ponies if we’re dating or if I want to date them, and I can only want to date other ponies if I’m not currently dating somepony?”

Tiara nodded. “Uh-huh. That’s it, Sweetie, it’s really not hard to understand. Dating about… Dating is about having a special pony you care about more than other ponies… If you date a lot of ponies, it’s not special.”

“That…” I tried to think of something else to argue with that. If Tiara liked dating me because it made her feel special, then… “Ooh! What if I dated other ponies, but… but I told them I was dating you first, and that you were special… Like, I would date them, but not as much as I dated you.”

“I guess…” Tiara slowly nodded her head at me. “I guess that’s okay if dating other ponies is really that important to you. I mean… I want you to be happy too, but I want us to be special. I don’t want you to have what we have with other ponies… not all of it, at least.”

“It’s not…” I fell on to my back, suddenly feeling super tired. Thinking hard and kissing took a lot of energy. “I just want all my friends to be as happy as possible, and if dating me might make them happier… I think it would just be nice if I could be all friendly and kissey with all my friends… or at least the ones who wanted to be friendly and kissey with me.”

“Alright,” Tiara said, moving to lay down next to me on the grass. “If you find somepony in our group of friends who wants to date you, and if you make it clear that you’re dating me first, and if you let me be there on your dates with other ponies, then I guess I can… I guess that’s okay.”

I smiled and kissed her before giving a massive yawn and closing my eyes for a second. Why was the grass suddenly so comfortable? “Thanks, Tiara, you’re the best marefriend… you’re the best marefriend…” I fell asleep before I could finish the sentence.

***

My head hurt when I opened my eyes, and I tried to remember what happened last night. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep on the grass, which made it really confusing that I was sleeping on the feather bed in my room. Did I get up after I fell asleep? If I did, why didn’t I remember it? I glanced at the clock. Almost noon. I shivered, suddenly remembering Rarity’s opening words in the time loop. That… had I fallen back into the time loop somehow? Was that even possible?

I shook my head as I got to my hooves. No, if I was back in the time loop, Rarity would be waking me up right now, so… I couldn’t be in the time loop, unless I was somehow in another time loop. Could I just accidentally fall into other time loops? Did being in one time loop make me more likely to be in other time loops? I looked around my room. Everything seemed normal, my saddlebag was where I’d dropped it when I came home last night, my planner was on my nightstand, all my dolls were where I’d left them, and Diamond Tiara was in a sleeping bag at the foot of my bed. Okay, that last thing wasn’t normal. It was… very un-normal, actually.

“Psst. Tiara.” I whispered, trying to wake her up without scaring her. “Tiara. Why are you in my bedroom?”

She didn’t stir.

“Tiara.” I said, a little louder than I was earlier. “Tiara. What happened after I fell asleep last night?” I turned to check my coat for grass stains, they were always the absolute worst to clean, and I really didn’t want to spend half my day scrubbing my coat, especially since I had no idea how long that meeting with Mr. Rich would take. I let out a sigh of relief, my coat was clean, which meant no problems for me, or at least, one less problem.

“Tiara,” I said, tapping her on the shoulder, causing her to suddenly jolt awake.

“Wha–” she said, thrashing over to look at me. “Sweetie! Why are you in my house and… why are you so tall?”

“I’m not,” I said, frowning down at her. “You’re just sleeping on the floor. The floor of my room. And I have no idea how you got here. I was kind of hoping you remembered what happened after I fell asleep.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Sweetie. I feel asleep maybe five seconds after you did… I… did we talk about you dating other ponies last night?”

“That… sounds right,” I said, slowly nodding my head. “I think you said it was okay as long as I told them that they wouldn’t take your place and that I had to bring you along on our dates so you could watch… I guess? Does that sound right to you?”

“I… That sounds kind of like something I’d say… At least, it…” She frowned. “I think that’s the only way I’d be even a little okay with you dating another pony.” She stretched, and I couldn’t stop myself from staring at her. She just looked so… good, but good didn’t even really describe it. Rarity looked good, but I didn’t want to stare at her all day. Looking at Rarity didn’t make me feel all weird and warm. Huh. Did sexy work? That sounds like how you’d describe a pony when you can’t stop looking at their body… their soft, curvy, wonderful body.

“Still,” she said, “I’d like it if you didn’t just start dating everypony. You’ll only date friends who want to date you, right?”

I nodded at her as she got to her hooves. Why couldn’t I stop looking at the way her flank moved? “Sounds good…” I said, not really thinking about what she was saying. “Should… we head downstairs? Maybe Rarity knows how we got here.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” she said, heading the door and apparently not noticing the fact that I couldn’t stop looking at her. How did I not notice how good she looked until now? Last night something must’ve flipped in my brain, because now the way her flank looked was pretty much the only thing I could think about. My mind filled with memories of how it felt when she leaned her body against mine, and I couldn’t stop wishing she would do it again… Like… soon. Really soon.

I followed her to the kitchen and almost tripped down the stairs because I couldn’t stop looking at her. Somehow, I managed to look away from her when we found my sister and Mr. Rich talking at the downstairs table. They both turned to look at us as we walked into the kitchen.

“Daddy!” Tiara said, her eyes moving to look at her father, while I tried really hard to just look at my sister. “What are you doing here?”

He smiled at her as she moved to sit next to him. I took the opposite space next to my sister. “I was coming by to thank Ms. Rarity for looking after you last night, something you should do as well. It’s a good thing she was there to make sure you were both safe.”

“Thank you Ms. Rarity,” Tiara said, looking at my sister. “I’m sorry for staying out so late last night, Daddy, I didn’t mean to…”

He laughed. “It’s quite alright, my little Tiara,” he said, patting her on the head. “Fillies will be fillies, right Rarity?”

My sister sighed. “Sweetie Belle, I understand last night was a special night for you, but…” She pinched her nose. “We can talk about that later. Right now, we need to discuss some personal boundaries.”

She smiled and turned to look at Filthy Rich. “Mr. Rich, I understand your desire to see your daughter happy, and I have the same wish for Sweetie Belle. However, you doing favors for Sweetie Belle isn’t something I’ll tolerate.”

“Why not?” I squeaked before my sister turned to glare at me.

“Because, Sweetie Belle, I don’t want him to use those favors to get to me,” she said, her voice cool. “I will not see my designs sold for the exorbitant prices Mr. Rich talked about.”

“And I don’t understand your reservations,” Mr. Rich said. “I’m offering you a percentage of the profits higher than most retailers would offer. This deal benefits the both of us.”

“That’s precisely my problem,” Rarity snapped, glaring at him. “Profit. If I sell my designs to you, they will be marketed exclusively to the rich and powerful, and that is not what Carousel Boutique is about. I started this business to bring high-fashion to the masses, and I want everypony in Equestria to be able to afford an elegant and stylish dress if they so choose. Selling my designs to you would be a betrayal of my original vision.”

Mr. Rich paused and tapped his hoof on the table, humming while he thought. “Well, in the interest of putting our past animosity behind us, I suppose I could halve the selling prices of your dresses.” He smiled at Rarity. “Consider it a peace offering for the sake of our daughters’ happiness.”

“My sister,” Rarity said, giving Mr. Rich a small, forced smile. “Sweetie Belle is my sister.”

“Of course,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re so protective of her and your mother is so often away, I keep wanting to think she’s your daughter.” He smiled at her. “Still, if it makes your sister happy, don’t you think we can afford to compromise a little, overlook our past history, and try to make a fresh start of things?”

“For the sake of Sweetie Belle, I’d be… amenable to such an arrangement, just as long as our past stays in the past and… I know you’re already planning on hiring a tutor for Sweetie Belle, and while I appreciate the gesture, I’m also aware of the fact that your ‘gifts’ tend to have strings attached,” Rarity said, her posture super stiff, “and so I’m afraid I can’t change my stance on that issue.”

Mr. Rich frowned at her. “Diamond Tiara’s happiness is my primary concern, and right now, the thing that makes her the happiest is seeing Sweetie Belle happy. I’m not about to risk that by giving Sweetie gifts with strings attached.” He gave my sister a quick smile. “I can be quite generous to my friends, Rarity.”

“Generous as long as we have something you want, you mean,” Rarity said, pressing her lips tight, and glancing at me. She was about to say something else when Mr. Rich laughed.

“Now, Rarity, do you really want to air old grievances now? I just want to see Sweetie have everything she needs, but if you want to go through our past...”

My sister’s face went paler than usual at that, and she shook her head. “No, Mr. Rich, you’ve made your point.” She laughed nervously. “As long as your gifts to Sweetie Belle have no hidden strings, I suppose there’s no harm in it.”

He smiled at my sister and I shivered for some reason. “Wonderful news, and I look forward to working with you. As soon as I get home today, I’ll have my lawyers start working on formalizing our business relationship.”

“Wonderful,” my sister said, mumbling at the table. “If that’s all then, I need to have a talk with my sister.”

“Of course,” he said, getting up on his hooves. “Tiara, let’s go.”

“Alright,” she said, following him towards the door to the boutique’s main room. “I’ll see you later, right, Sweetie Belle?” She paused and turned to look back at me.

I nodded at her. “Sure. I’ll be by later today.”

“Actually, you won’t,” my sister said, drawing my attention back to her. “Sweetie will be by to visit you as soon as her grounding is over.”

“Grounded!” I squeaked as Mr. Rich and Tiara left the boutique. “What did I do to get grounded?”

“You agreed to everypony who asked you to do a show for them without even consulting me. I understand your enthusiasm, but you can’t just say yes to everypony. Your education comes first.”

“But why?” I said, frowning at her. “I already know what my special talent is, so why should I care about school? Singing is what I’m meant to do, I shouldn’t be stuck in school all day.”

“Sweetie Belle,” my sister said, “it’s important for a filly to have a proper education. You can’t neglect it just because you found your talent. I promise, I only want what’s best for you.”

“I know,” I groaned, “but it’s so dumb. All day, I’m in class, and I keep thinking I could be singing instead. It’s just… what’s the point?”

“The point is that you need to be a well-rounded individual. Now then, we’re going to go upstairs, look through your planner, and see which shows won’t interfere with your schoolwork. Then you’re going to spend the rest of the weekend in your room,” she said getting up from her spot on the table.

“But I told my friends I’d spend time with them this weekend,” I said as I followed her to the stairs.

“Good, then this lesson will be even more effective. I’ll tell Applejack to explain to them that you’re grounded when she stops by this afternoon. I’m sure they’ll understand,” she said as we went up the stairs.

“Fine,” I said following after her. It could be worse, I thought, trying to cheer myself up. As soon as I’m done being grounded, I can spend lots of time with my friends. I frowned. At least, I could when I wasn’t practicing for future shows, but… I was going to use the money from those shows to buy gifts for my friends, so they couldn’t be too mad with me for not spending as much time as I used to with them, right? It was like everypony said, sometimes things just changed.

Author's Note

This chapter got... a lot darker than I would've preferred. I might change some things about it later, but I'm not sure what those things would be yet. On the upside, the next chapter is Nightmare Night, and it's going to be softer than this one. Mostly.

9. Mare in the Mirror

“Now, I’m sure you’re all very excited for Nightmare Night,” Miss Octavia said, looking out from her podium at an auditorium filled with ponies, “and far be it from me to keep you from celebrating the holiday. However, you should know that… How many of you are familiar with Discord?” Most of the hooves in the room went up.

“And how many of you know he’s real?” About half the raised hooves went down.

“And that he’s free from his prison?” Octavia frowned as even more hooves went down, leaving only about fifty up in the air. I sighed and wished I could lean against Diamond Tiara. It would be so nice if we could just admit we were together, but I wanted to make sure all my friends were okay with it first, especially Scootaloo, who was being… She hadn’t stopped being difficult since our fight a month ago. At least she hadn’t talked about leaving lately, although if she stayed like this… I don’t think I’d mind her leaving that much.

“Right,” Octavia continued, “and just to make sure, who knows that Ponyville is one of his preferred haunts?”

Only five hooves stayed up in the air, and my friends made up three of those. I glanced at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sitting in front of me. It had been a while since the draconekis– drakon– drey– Discord had visited us, but he was actually really nice, and nowhere near as bad as everypony made him out to be. Like this one time, he showed us a whole bunch of alternate worlds to help us get our cutie marks, and he always tells the absolute best stories when he visits.

Octavia sighed into her microphone. “Yes, well, I suppose finding a history teacher has just moved up on my priority list.” She shook her head for a second. “Anyways, for those living in blissful ignorance, Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony. After spending a thousand years as a lawn ornament in the castle gardens, Celestia, in her infinite wisdom, decided to rehabilitate him. Now, he’s free to…”

I tuned her out, instead thinking about how great it would be to get out of school and spend at least an hour kissing Diamond Tiara before doing Nightmare Night stuff with my friends. It would be even better if I could kiss her in front of my friends, but… Scootaloo. I thought back to the growing pile of bits I’d saved up from my performances, and... maybe if I got Scootaloo something really nice, she might get back to her old self, but she’d turned down seeing the Wonderbolts with Rainbow Dash, so it’d have to be something really nice. If I had Diamond Tiara help me get her something nice, maybe the two of them could stop hating each other.

“...So for those of you intending to celebrate Nightmare Night, please be warned that Discord is planning a prank. He assures us it’s completely harmless, but… after last year, it was deemed best that everypony be properly warned. If you don’t want to be pranked, the school and dormitories have been designated a safe zone. If you’re not there at 6:00, you’ll be considered fair game for whatever he has planned. Any questions?”

A filly in the front row raised a hoof. “You want us to believe that Discord is going to go around pranking ponies tonight? How gullible do you think we are, and why would you–”

“Ah yes, well I suppose that brings us to...” Octavia sighed and took a deep breath before gesturing towards somepony off stage. “Fillies and gentlecolts, I present to you Discord, the elemental spirit of chaos and disharmony.”

What looked a goat-headed snake with mismatched arms and legs walked out onto the stage, waving his paw-hand (as opposed to his talon-hand) at the audience. “Thank you, Tavi.” he said, grabbing the microphone with his tail and leaning over to float on his back, not bothering to use his wings to keep him up or explain just how he could just float in the air. “That was a lovely introduction. I particularly enjoyed the part where I turned off gravity.”

Octavia sighed and rested her head against her forehoof. “I’m not taking the bait, Discord. Can you please just make the announcement?”

“What bait?” he asked innocently. “I’m just talking about what happened… or is it will happen? Tenses are always so problematic.” I felt a tickle in my stomach, and when I looked back at the ground, I saw it was a hoof further away than it should be. Most of the ponies in the room shrieked while a few laughed. I gave a giggle and tried swimming through the air before bumping into Melody.

“Sorry,” I said, trying not to giggle as she gave another small scream. Around us, more and more ponies switched to laughing as they got used to the lack of gravity. “I didn’t mean to hit you.”

“It’s fine,” she said, trying to stop herself from spinning while I enjoyed the feeling of seeing the world upside down. Was she blushing or– My thoughts vanished and my cheeks suddenly got hot as Tiara’s head accidentally bumped into my flank, spinning me towards the front of the room, where Discord tapped his chin with his talon-hand. “It’s good, but it needs something else. What do you think, Tavi?” he asked, turning to look at the only pony who wasn’t floating in the air.

“I think you should just make your announcement and gently set everypony back on the ground,” Miss Octavia said, glaring at him from her spot on the auditorium.

“But they’re having so much fun,” he said before snapping his claws. “That’s it! Discord, you handsome genius, how could I have ever doubted you?” Giant bubbles suddenly popped into existence around us, and I immediately grabbed on to one of them and rode it towards Discord and Octavia, leaving my friends (except Scootaloo, I couldn’t find her in the chaos of several hundred ponies floating around each other) behind to bounce their bubbles off each other.

“Discord!” Octavia said, hanging from the ceiling, or… no, I was just upside down. “You promised no pranks.”

“Indeed, I did,” he said, floating over/below her. “But this isn’t a prank, it’s a surprise. Pranks aren’t this much fun.”

Octavia growled as I bounced in her general direction. “Don’t you have something to tell everypony here?”

“Oh yes,” he said, turning back to look at us. “Everypony, listen up. Because Nightmare Night technically honors this academy’s patron, the rest of your classes are cancelled and the auditorium will remain a gravity-free zone until the night ends. Have fun!”

We all let out a cheer while Miss Octavia’s face went red with anger. “That… You…” she sputtered at him. “I was going to tell them we were having a special Nightmare Night party in the cafeteria after the assembly was over. It was supposed to be a–”

“A surprise?” he asked, tilting his head and laughing. “It looks like mine’s better. Still, if anypony wants to leave the bubble room to go to your boring Nightmare Night party, they’re free to do so.”

“Your party doesn’t sound boring,” I said, floating over Miss Octavia and Discord. “It’s just, how often do you get to…” I trailed off as I saw the back half of an orange pegasus sneak out of the auditorium. “Scootaloo!” I yelled, bouncing myself off the stage’s back wall towards the door. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to go fast without gravity, and it’s even harder to steer yourself, so I was stuck slowly drifting towards the doors exit, occasionally being bounced off course by somepony else.

Several minutes later, I finished slowly floating towards the exit and headed off after my friend, giving one last look to the rest of my friends bouncing and laughing above me as I opened the door. I could have called my friends over to help, but… they were having so much fun, I couldn’t take that away from them. Instead, I gave them all a tiny smile and slipped out of the auditorium, hoping nopony had noticed me.

Scootaloo sat alone in the middle of a cafeteria filled with cobwebs, plastic spiders, carved pumpkins and snack tables, staring down at a plate of Nightmare Night cookies. “Oh hey,” she said, briefly looking up at me before going back to staring at her plate. “Why’d you leave the bubble auditorium?”

Really? She was asking me that? I tried not to roll my eyes as I sat next to her. “Because I wanted to make sure you’re okay. I thought you’d be super happy about getting a chance to fly.”

“Sure,” she said, snorting. “I get to pretend to fly for a few hours, enjoy how awesome it is, and then go back to being stuck on the ground. Not exactly my idea of a fun time.” She frowned and took a sip of her punch. “I think I’d prefer to just not fly at all.”

Ugh! She was being so… I don’t even know the right word, just… why did she have to be so stupid about this? She was still really fun and great even if she couldn’t fly. At least, she used to be. Now, she was pretty much the opposite of that. Still… I took a deep breath and smiled at her. “Come on, it’ll be fun,” I said, trying to cheer her up. Every now and then, I could see a little glimpse of the old Scootaloo, but it was buried under all the other stuff.

Scootaloo gave me a tiny smile and shook her head. “Sorry, Sweetie, but I just don’t… You should go and have fun.”

“Why are you being so difficult?” I snapped, immediately regretting it. “I know it stinks that you can’t fly, but I thought you knew that. What’s the big deal? None of us care if you can’t fly, we think you’re great like you are.”

“I don’t care what you think,” she said, glaring at me. “You all might be fine with the fact that I can never fly, but I’m not. I want to fly, I want to be like Rainbow Dash, I want to visit my parents in Cloudsdale, but I can’t do any of that because my stupid wings don’t work right.”

“Hey girls, what are you doin’ out here?” Apple Bloom asked. “This… I don’t think anypony’s gonna leave the bubble room to play here. Even the teachers are having fun. Well, except Miss Octavia, she’s just starin’ down Discord.”

“Scootaloo’s being difficult,” I said, pointing a hoof at my friend. “She’s upset because… I don’t even know why she’s upset this time.”

“I told you, it’s because… you know what, forget it. If you couldn’t understand it the first time, I don’t think you’ll understand it the second time I try to explain it to you.” She rolled her eyes at me, and I tried really hard not to lose my temper.

“I understand that you’re so set on being sad because you can’t fly that you won’t enjoy the good things. You… I just want to see you happy, but it’s like nothing can cheer you up. Tell me what I can do to help you feel better and I’ll do it,” I said.

“You can leave me alone,” she said. “It should be easy for you, just do some more concerts and spend time with your new best friend. I know that’s what you want to do anyways.”

She dared?! She dared act like I wasn’t a good friend after all I’d… “What’s your problem?” I yelled. “It’s like I don’t even know who you are. The last month, it’s been all moping and whining, and I can’t… What happened to the cool confidant pony who didn’t worry about anything? What happened to the Scootaloo I knew?”

Scootaloo laughed, but it wasn’t a real laugh, it was mean and sad and twisted and not very fun at all. “Where’ve I heard that before? Sounds awfully like something I said when my friend Sweetie Belle was replaced with a frilly girly-girl.”

“Uhmm… maybe you two should go and spend some time apart,” Apple Bloom said, cutting in between us and smiling nervously. “You know, before anypony says something she might regret later.”

“Fine!” I yelled, completely ignoring Apple Bloom. If Scootaloo wanted to be miserable all the time, she could do that on her own. “It looks like we can both agree on one thing: we don’t know each other anymore.”

“Yeah, I guess we don’t,” Scootaloo said. “Have fun wearing makeup and worrying about whether or not boys like you and all the other girly crap you seem to love so much.”

I tried not to laugh at the last bit. Worrying about boys didn’t strike me as something I was ever going to do, unless it was worrying about how to let a boy down nicely. “And you can have fun being… Oh wait, apparently you can’t have fun anymore.” I grit my teeth and spun around, storming off as angrily as I could, while tears stung my eyes.

***

“You wanna talk?” Apple Bloom said, sitting next to me. I’d curled up in front of my locker and started crying, barely bothered by the fact that the linoleum floor kind of needed cleaning… I made a note to take a shower before I got into my Nightmare Night costume.

“I’m fine,” I said, sniffling. Why was I so sad? Scootaloo was being a big dumb idiot, so why should I be sad about not being friends with her anymore? “Just… what’s gotten into Scootaloo lately?”

Apple Bloom sighed as she leaned against the wall of lockers. “You know what’s gotten into her, and… I get the last month hasn’t been fun, but we just gotta give her some time. She’s got a lot to work through.”

“It looks like she just has one thing to deal with, and just doesn’t want to,” I said, mumbling into my tail.

“And you know it isn’t that simple,” Apple Bloom said. “How’d you feel if you learned you could never get your cutie mark or use magic?”

“Not… not great,” I said, frowning and lifting my head up to look at her. “But I’d get over it. How hard is it to just accept that? Even if…” I tried to think about how I’d feel if I couldn’t cheer ponies up by singing. “Even if I couldn’t deal with it easily, I wouldn’t go and make my friends miserable.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” she said, smiling at me. “But that’s you. Scootaloo… I’m sure if you give her a bit of time and space, she’ll start feelin’ better. Just… if she apologizes, you’ll forgive her, right?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head at my friend. Maybe I could use my small pile of bits to get her something nice, instead of… To get her something nice. I sniffled back tears and gave her a tiny smile. “Thanks for checking up on me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, getting up on her hooves. “So, wanna go back to the bubble room?”

I nodded and bounced up on my hooves. If a room filled with giant bubbles couldn’t make me forget about Scootaloo, then nothing could (except maybe alcohol, but I couldn’t figure out a good way to get into Rarity’s liquor cabinet without risking her noticing).

***

My bubble floated past Discord, who was still talking with Miss Octavia. “Come on,” he said, “I know there’s a part of you that wants to join in the fun, and Nightmare Night comes but once a year.”

“And believe me, I’m quite thankful for that. If nights like last year’s Nightmare Night become commonplace, I’ll quickly lose what little sanity I have left,” Octavia said. What’d happened last Nightmare Night, anyways? I remembered getting into my costume, and I kind of remembered some stuff after that, but it was all really blurry.

“Oh, I already apologized for that,” he said, dismissively waving a paw at her. “I also promised not to use any magic on you without your consent, and I owe you a reality-warping favor of your choice, so I really don’t see why you’re still hung up on last year’s unpleasantness. Is it my fault you refused to wear a costume?”

“What are you guys talking about?” I asked, spinning around in circles over them. “Do you know what happened last Nightmare Night? Nopony else seems to remember all the details, and I kind of want to know how much candy I got. Scoot– My friends and I had a bet to see who could collect the most, and I want to know if I won.”

“Really?” Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow. “Your memories of an entire night are almost completely obliterated, and your primary concern is who collected the most candy?”

I nodded at her from my bubble while Discord laughed. “You’re a pony after my own heart, Sweetie Belle,” he said when he finished laughing. “Are you enjoying my little surprise?”

“I sure am,” I said, bouncing off my bubble and launching myself towards the ground. “This is almost as good as that time you tried to help us get our cutie marks.”

“Well, I’m glad somepony can enjoy themselves here. Your teacher seems absolutely determined to hold a grudge against little old me,” he said. “Even though I apologized and offered to make amends, she still won’t forgive me.”

“Why won’t you forgive him?” I asked before Octavia could say anything. “If he wants to apologize, then what’s the point of staying angry?”

“He killed me!” Octavia yelled, glaring at him. “Multiple times. You’ll forgive me if I don’t feel like pardoning my own murderer.” I guess… that was probably the best reason to stay mad at somepony I could think of.

“First of all,” he said, standing up to his full height, “I never killed you, other ponies did that. Second of all, you got better.”

Octavia gave a growl while I looked between the two of them. “Discord,” I said, looking up at him as I bounced off the floor. It’s really hard to stop bouncing when there’s no gravity. “That’s… if you want her to forgive you, maybe you shouldn’t joke about it as much. Maybe just try being nice with her.”

“Fine,” he said, sighing and snapping his fingers. Eight hundred ponies who were floating through the school’s massive auditorium just a second ago found themselves in the middle of the cafeteria, their hooves on solid ground. “I suppose your little party wasn’t too terrible, and… consider this a little apology for my boorish behavior today.”

“This doesn’t make us anywhere close to even,” Miss Octavia said, still keeping her glare trained on him.

“Oh, of course not,” he said, flashing her an uneven smile. “I imagine you’ll be holding Nightmare Night over my head until your dying breath… Unless, of course, you’d prefer it if you didn’t die. You’d have an eternity to practice that viola of yours.”

“Cello,” Miss Octavia said, correcting him.

“Then you could learn to play a viola,” he said, shrugging his shoulders as he snaked around her. Around us, the students were finally getting over their shock and a few of them were taking a hesitant step towards the snack table. “There’s a lot to do with an eternity, far be it from me to tell you how to spend it.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Octavia said, her glare softening. “The idea of spending an eternity watching those I care about withering and dying doesn’t strike me as particularly appealing.”

Discord’s goofy smile vanished for a second. “No, I’d imagine it isn’t. Something I never considered before, actually. Perhaps I’ll stop by and talk with Celestia about how she deals with it tomorrow. Still, there has to be something I can tempt you with to even the score between us… Ooh! I can take away your memories of Nightmare Night, maybe dull the edges a bit if you’d prefer.”

Octavia shook her head. “I don’t think so, as unpleasant as it was, I can live with those memories. They helped make me the mare I am today. No, I can’t think of a situation where forgetting would be better than remembering. Besides, I’m not about to let you out of your debt so easily.” She turned to look at me. “Shouldn’t you be playing with your friends, Sweetie Belle? I can’t imagine listening to adults talk is particularly entertaining for you.”

“Actually, it is,” I said, smiling at her. “I mean… You two sound like you’re the only ponies who remember last year’s Nightmare Night, and I was kind of curious–”

“You don’t want to know the details,” Octavia said, frowning. “The short version is: Discord played a prank on everypony in Equestria. It didn’t go particularly well.”

“But I can’t think of a situation where forgetting is better than remembering,” I said, throwing her words from a second earlier back at her.

“Very good point, Sweetie,” Discord said, moving to stand next to me. I looked back at my friends who were talking with Scootaloo about something… Whatever, they could talk with her if they wanted, and I could just talk with Octavia and Discord instead, although… why wasn’t Diamond Tiara with me? There was no way she would choose Scootaloo over me. I mean, we were dating.

Miss Octavia rubbed her forehead. “Fine, I don’t know exactly what you did during Nightmare Night, but Discord’s spell turned you into your costume.”

“You mean I was turned into a bunch of clothes?” I squeaked. No wonder I couldn’t remember Nightmare Night.

“N– no,” Octavia said, stammering while Discord laughed hysterically. “Not… he turned you into whatever you were dressed up as.”

“Oh. That makes much more sense,” I said, nodding my head. “So then why can’t I remember being a zombie?”

“Because–” Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you dressed up as a zombie? Really?”

I nodded my head. Zombies were totally cool. Not as cool as vampires, but I’d done that one a few years ago, and you just can’t repeat Nightmare Night costumes, that’s super boring.

“Allow me to explain,” Discord said before Miss Octavia could start talking again. “In my infinite wisdom, I thought it would be best if little fillies and colts didn’t remember Nightmare Night at all. After all, I didn’t want to traumatize anypony.”

Miss Octavia’s glare returned. “Oh, you would’ve been fine if you’d gotten into the spirit of the holiday,” Discord said. “It’s not like I set out to scar you, I didn’t even know you at the time.”

“We talked just a week before,” Octavia yelled, causing a few fillies to glance at her. Apparently Discord talking with the school’s headmistress just wasn’t that interesting compared to free snacks.

“From your perspective,” he said, shrugging. “But from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint… Well, you really must learn to think outside the box, Tavi.”

I heard a bunch of noise coming from behind me, and turned to see Miss Lyra surrounded by a bunch of students. On the one hoof, Discord and Octavia’s talk was kind of interesting. On the other hoof, if she was going to be setting up games or something, that was way more fun. I gave one last glance to Octavia and Discord before trotting towards my friends.

***

Diamond Tiara and I walked through the school courtyard as ponies pushed past us. “So,” I said, daring to brush my flank against hers in public, “what do you think Discord’s Nightmare Night prank is going to be? I hope I actually get to remember it this year, because turning into my costume sounds so much fun, I can’t believe I forgot it.”

She rubbed her forehead. “Is that what happened last Nightmare Night?” she asked, as we trotted off to pick our costumes up from the boutique.

“Wait a second, please,” a voice called out from behind us. I looked back to see Life Bloom trotting towards us. “I want to go over your math work before Nightmare Night starts properly,” she said, catching up to us. Rarity had hired her to tutor me about math stuff a month ago, and since then, she’d really taught me a lot about solving for variables, while I tried to help her with being a bit friendlier. I think she’d made more progress teaching me than I had with her.

“I don’t know,” I said, glancing between her and Diamond Tiara. Tiara was going on her Manehattan trip in the next few weeks, and I really wanted to get as much kissing time in as possible with her before she left, since Rarity wouldn’t let me go with her for some dumb reason. On the other hoof, I couldn’t just say we were dating, and Life Bloom wanted to help me.

“It won’t take more than an hour, and I promise you and Diamond Tiara can go back to whatever romantic thing you have planned,” Life Bloom said as we started our walk back to the boutique.

“You know?” I asked, feeling my chest suddenly get tight with panic. Based on the look on Diamond Tiara’s face, she was feeling the same thing I was.

“Your romantic affiliation is quite obvious,” Life Bloom said. “The two of you seem to spend all your time together, and the way you constantly lean on each other for support… A pony would have to be blind to miss the fact that you two are dating.”

“So everypony knows?” I asked, thinking back to Scootaloo. Is that why she’d been… well, if she knew, she would’ve said something, right?

Life Bloom shook her head. “I don’t think Melody and Scootaloo… they might see the evidence, but they seem to be going to great lengths to avoid the obvious conclusion. Melody in particular seems intent on deluding herself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked as Diamond Tiara tensed up next to me.

“It means the mare is ignoring evidence for reasons…” Life Bloom sighed. “For reasons that should be obvious.”

I frowned and looked at her. “Are you trying to say that she likes me? Because she barely talks to me anymore, so I don’t think…” I looked to Diamond Tiara for help.

“I think what Sweetie’s trying to say is that if Melody liked her, she would be a bit more obvious about it,” Diamond Tiara said, kissing me on the cheek and leaning into me. At her touch, my worries shrank into nothing and I let out a sigh of relief. If Melody liked me, I’d know about it, and so far she hadn’t done anything that made me think she did. Besides, why wouldn’t she tell me she liked me?

Life Bloom just sighed. “I think you have all the information you need to draw the correct conclusions. If you, too, are intent on avoiding those conclusions, that’s… I will follow your advice and hold my tongue for now.”

I guess that was good? She wasn’t immediately being brutally honest anymore, but I really wish… What was she getting at? Melody didn’t like me. If she did, I’d have a problem, because then I’d have to figure out how to make her happy and keep Tiara happy, and what if there were other ponies who liked me and I had to make them happy, and… I started to hyperventilate.

“Everything’s fine,” Tiara said, nuzzling at my neck until I calmed down. “I’m here, and that’s all you need to focus on.”

I nodded as I worked to clear my head of everything but Tiara. If I could just do that, I’d be fine. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, forgetting everything but Tiara’s touch. As I did, I felt my pounding heartbeat slow down. Once I’d calmed, I gave Tiara a thank-you kiss on the cheek and started walking again, while Life Bloom looked on, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“In any event,” Life Bloom said as we reached the boutique, “the details of your romantic life are none of my business. What is my business, though, is making sure you understand the basics of geometric proofs.” Diamond Tiara sighed as I opened the door to the boutique. Hopefully we could get done with math stuff soon enough for us to do kissing stuff. At the very least we could do kissing stuff tomorrow. Hopefully.

***

Life Bloom tapped her glasses as she looked through my homework, while Diamond Tiara leaned against me. “Very good,” Life Bloom said. “You clearly understand the core concept, although there are still a few problems with the execution.” She floated her pen up and made some marks on the paper. “You skipped a step here, used the wrong order of operations here, and there are a few other small mistakes here and there, but overall… this is solid B-level work.”

“Thanks,” I said, trying not to giggle as Diamond Tiara kissed my cheek. Apparently, kissing me while I tried to work was a little game to her, and… yeah, it was a pretty fun one.

“I assume your work will be even better when you don’t have somepony constantly distracting you,” Life Bloom said, looking back at me and rolling her eyes.

“So, is there anything else you want to talk about or can we have some alone time before Nightmare Night?” Diamond Tiara asked, wrapping a foreleg around me and pressing me close to her while I let out a small happy sigh. Being next to her… Actually, doing anything with her just made me so happy.

“Actually,” Life Bloom said as she floated her pen back to her saddlebags, “I was hoping we could talk about relationships. I had a few questions, and was hoping you could advise me.”

“Sure,” I said, giggling as Diamond Tiara stroked my flank. Her touch was so soft and nice and amazing, I never wanted her to stop touching me. I rested my head against her neck, careful not to poke her with my horn. “You don’t mind if Diamond Tiara and I–”

Life Bloom shook her head. “I’ve spent the last hour dealing with your displays of affection. At this point, I think I’m mostly immune.”

“Great,” Tiara said, tilting her head to kiss the tip of my horn as my mind suddenly went completely empty. Her doing anything with my horn felt absolutely amazing, and horn kisses were somehow even better than regular kisses.

“So,” I said, slowly regaining control of my head after Tiara’s horn kiss, “what did you want to talk about?” Life Bloom’s eyes had gone wide, and she was looking at us like we’d just just made out in front of her, which… actually, that would probably be really fun. Could we get to making out soon?

“You… she just kissed your horn,” Life Bloom stammered.

“I know,” I said, nodding enthusiastically. “It feels super great.” I turned to kiss Diamond Tiara’s neck. “Can I please just kiss the tip of her horn to show her how nice it feels?”

“Absolutely not!” Life Bloom said, her eyes somehow going even wider. “That’s… Kissing another unicorn’s horn is… It’s something intensely personal. Please, never ever try to kiss another unicorn’s horn unless you’re dating them and nopony else is around. Hasn’t somepony spoken with you about hornplay?”

“No,” I said, frowning and shaking my head. “What’s the big deal about it though? It doesn’t hurt anypony and feels super good. Like, have you even tried it?” Next to me, Diamond Tiara was trying her hardest not to snicker as her hoof went back to stroking my flank. What was so funny?

Life Bloom took a deep breath. “Kissing another pony’s horn… your nervous system is intimately tied with your horn, and any stimulation of it… Hornplay… Perhaps I’m a prude, but the only pony I’d even consider letting kiss my horn would be a very special somepony, and I’d never entertain the notion of doing it in public.” She glanced at Diamond Tiara. “But I’m guessing you knew that.”

“A little,” Tiara said as I settled back against her, feeling incredibly calm after the horn kiss. I still don’t see what the big deal about it is, it feels good, so what’s the problem? “I know it’s not something you should do in public, and that it’s apparently one of the best feelings a unicorn can have.”

“Then if you knew it was supposed to be private, why did you do it right in front of me?” Life Bloom asked, fidgeting uncomfortably with her glasses.

I smiled slowly at my friend. “I don’t know, but I’m glad she did,” I said, my whole body feeling relaxed. Horn kisses were the absolute best thing to forget about my fight with Scootaloo. If Tiara could just kiss my horn every hour or so, I might be able to deal with seeing Scootaloo tonight, which… I’d probably have to do since she was still a crusader and we always trick-or-treated together.

Tiara patted me on the side, causing me to give another happy sigh. “I don’t know,” Tiara said, shrugging. “I guess I just wanted to see how you’d react. Like, maybe it wasn’t that big a deal.”

“Well it is,” Life Bloom said, managing to look everywhere but at me.

Was she being shy for some reason? Maybe if somepony kissed her horn, she wouldn’t freak out so much about this… Speaking of which… “What did you want to ask me about?” I asked, pulling the conversation away from horn kisses.

“Yes,” she said, glancing from my homework to me, “I was actually hoping to ask your advice on the courting process. It... “ Life Bloom looked between me and Diamond Tiara. “Can she keep a secret?”

“Mm-hmm,” I said, nodding my head a tiny bit, taking care to not accidentally stab Tiara with my horn. “You can keep a secret, right, Tiara?”

“I suppose,” she said, “but I was really looking forward to us having some alone time so I could kiss your horn a few more times before we have to go get ready for Nightmare Night.” My eyes went wide and my heart quickened at the idea.

“Can you ask your questions really quickly?” I asked, trying not to whimper at the thought of how close Diamond Tiara’s lips were to my horn tip.

“Yes, I believe I would like to end this conversation as quickly as possible,” Life Bloom said, clearing her throat. Why was she suddenly so uncomfortable? I wasn’t doing anything bad, was I? Nopony was being hurt. “I was just wondering… how would you suggest I earn Apple Bloom’s interest? After our… fight a month ago, I’m having a hard time imagining a successful courtship.”

“You’re doing that thing where you talk super formally,” I said, frowning at her and trying to focus on the conversation and not Diamond Tiara or her lips or my horn or any of those things. Life Bloom and Apple Bloom, that was… important to Life Bloom. Had to focus on it and not kisses.

“Sorry,” Life Bloom said, rubbing one of her forehooves against the carpet nervously. “It’s… something I’m working on. Anyways, my question stands, how should I go about informing Apple Bloom of my infatuation? Is now the ideal time, or should I continue demonstrating value…” She shook her head. “No, that sounds too manipulative, but…”

“You like her and want to tell her that, but you also don’t want to mess things up by telling her,” I said, nodding at her slowly, enjoying the feeling of my muscles moving. I felt like I’d just had the most amazing stretch ever.

“That adequately sums up my dilemma, yes,” Life Bloom said. “It is… I only have one shot at this, so I feel I need to do everything possible to guarantee an optimal outcome. I mean, I don’t want to make a mistake.”

“Just tell her how you feel,” I said, looking up at Diamond Tiara. “That’s what she did, and I think it worked great, right?”

“But you were already at least somewhat interested, I think. At the very least, you never struck me as a particularly discerning type.”

“Hey!” I squeaked, suddenly sitting upright. “I’m plenty discerning.”

Tiara laughed and kissed my cheek. “Sweetie, one of the first things you wanted to do after we kissed was kiss your friends. There are a lot of wonderful things about you, but…”

“Fine,” I said, trying to think of how these things went in Rarity’s books. “Okay, what you need to do is… a really big romantic gesture. Like, something super awesome that immediately lets her know how much you care.”

Life Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Really? What makes you think that will work? It seems… risky.”

“Well, it usually works in Rarity’s stories,” I said, leaning back against Diamond Tiara. “Wait… no, that’s usually what the stallion does to get the mare back… They usually first start dating after some coincidence or something. You know, something light and fun and…”

“Tiara,” Life Bloom said, turning to look at my marefriend. “Is there any chance you have advice a bit more grounded? Perhaps not rooted in works of fiction?”

“Just because it’s fiction doesn’t mean it’s not true,” I said, frowning at her while Diamond Tiara went back to stroking my flank to reassure me.

“By definition, it does,” Life Bloom said, rolling her eyes at me before looking back at Diamond Tiara.

“I don’t know,” she said, idly tracing the outline of my cutie mark with her hoof. “I’d just tell her how you feel. If you want something, you should go after it, right?”

“Perhaps,” Life Bloom said, eyes darting to the ground as she bit lightly on her bottom lip, “but I can’t be sure I’ll–”

“Look,” I said, getting my thoughts together and trying to help both of my friends be happy together, “maybe you’ll crash and burn and Apple Bloom will say she doesn’t like you that way, and you’ll know you never ever had a chance, right?”

“That…” Life Bloom frowned and narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to reassure me? Because I don’t think it’s working.”

Okay, so maybe I needed to work on my opening pitch, but I still had a point. “But even if all that bad stuff happens, if you’re nice and stuff, Apple Bloom will still like you. It’s like…” I laughed. Why was I the one telling her to be honest? That sounded like something she’d say. “Isn’t it better to know the answer for sure then just doubting yourself?”

“Wise words,” Life Bloom said, smiling and getting up on her hooves. “And something I should’ve remembered. Amazing how chemical imbalances in your brain can make you lose sight of core truths.”

“What?” I asked, tilting my head at her. “Could you speak less science-ey?”

“Of course,” she said, looking back at me. “What I’m saying is, at least in my case, my infatuation made me blind to something that should’ve been obvious. One might even say it made me act contrary to my nature.”

“Oh…” I said, nodding my head in understanding. “Well, it’s not all bad, it’s really fun too. Like, you wouldn’t believe how fun kissing is. Are you sure you don’t want me to–” Diamond Tiara tightened her grip on me and cut me off. Oh right, I was dating and couldn’t just offer to kiss ponies.

“Never mind,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m sure you’ll figure that out soon enough…” An idea entered my head. “Ooh! Tiara, if Life Bloom and Apple Bloom start dating, do you think we can have kissing parties to see who’s the better kisser? That could be really fun.”

“N-no,” Tiara said. “I’m dating you, I don’t want to kiss Life Bloom or Apple Bloom.”

“Why not?” I asked, frowning. “They’re both really nice, and if we both do it, then…”

“Their niceness isn’t the issue,” she said, pushing me off her. “I don’t like the idea of you dating somepony else, and I definitely don’t want to join in any weird kissing parties.”

“Even if it’ll be really fun?” I asked, frowning at her. Kissing parties shouldn’t even count as dating other ponies, it’s just fun everypony can join in on.

“I think I’ll have to decline the invitation as well,” Life Bloom said, frowning. “Although, increasing the sample size could dramatically increase my kissing ability later, while also noting other ponies’ techniques. Actually, I’ll have to think about it…”

Tiara cleared her throat. “That is, if your marefriend approves of you participating in such an activity. If not, I’m sure I can find another way to increase my sample size,” Life Bloom said, glancing from Tiara to me

I gave Tiara my best pleading look, and Tiara just sighed. “We can talk about it later, alright?”

“Is that all, then?” Life Bloom asked while I gave a squeak of excitement at the good news. I was barely paying attention to her as I planned out how fun all the kissing parties would be. The answer was: very.

Could I bring all of my friends to it? Maybe they’d even be fun enough that Scootaloo would stop being grumpy and we could all go back to having fun together and being friends. My head swam with images of the seven of us all kissing each other in a big clump in the clubhouse. Maybe we could even bring over more ponies… Ooh! We could invite the entire class and everypony could have fun kissing everypony else, and nopony would have any reason to fight.

Suddenly, a pair of warm berry-flavored lips pressed against mine, and I suddenly found myself transported from the clubhouse surrounded by my best friends to my bedroom where my super amazing and pretty marefriend was kissing me. Right, the kiss in my room was worth several hundred in the clubhouse, or something like that. I gave a little sigh and leaned into her kiss.

“What was I thinking about, again?” I asked as she pulled away from me, a bead of berry-vanilla saliva momentarily connecting us before falling to the floor. At some point, Life Bloom had left the room, leaving the two of us behind.

Tiara smiled and shrugged. “Knowing you, probably something crazy or that involved kissing… possibly both.”

“Well,” I said, darting in to nibble on the tip of her ear that was apparently super sensitive. “I’m definitely thinking about kissing stuff now.”

She giggled and pulled me closer to her. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

***

“I still don’t get your costume,” Tiara said as we walked out of the boutique. She had a golden tiara and fake pink horn on her head, and a matching pair of fake pink wings on her back.

“I told you, I’m a robot,” I said, flipping the magic whirring contraption Rarity got me on. Err… zzdddt… boop. “It’s not that hard to get.” Beep boop.

Tiara rolled her eyes. “I get that you’re a robot, I just don’t get why you’re a robot.”

“I thought it would be funny,” I said, struggling to move in the silver-painted cardboard boxes that made up most of my costume. I guess it being so difficult to move in made the costume more authentic.

“But why? What’s so funny about you being a robot? I just… I don’t get it,” she said, rolling her eyes at me before kissing my cheek.

“Yeah, well, I don’t get why you’d dress up as Princess Cadence,” I said as we trudged towards the Crusader clubhouse. “I mean... “

“Fine,” Diamond Tiara said. “If you think a costume idea is funny, I guess that’s as good a reason as any.”

“And at least I’m not dressed up as something real,” I continued. “Can you imagine how weird it’d be if you actually ran into her while trick-or-treating?”

“Why would I run into her while trick-or-treating?” Tiara asked, frowning as she leaned against my cardboard boxes.

“Careful,” I said, pulling away from her. “You’ll dent them, and then nopony will know what I am because my costume’s ruined.”

“I don’t think that’ll happen,” Tiara said, taking a step away from me. “You’d still be covered in that silver powder and… That’s going to take forever for you to wash it out.”

“Will not,” I said as we entered the Apple Family’s orchards. “I mean, I can just ask Rarity to use one of her cleaning spells on me if it proves really tough to wash out.”

“Right,” Tiara said, shaking her head, “I forget that unicorns have a spell for pretty much everything.”

I nodded at her and there was a long pause as we tried to think of something to say. Normally, we’d fill the silence with kissing and touching, but the silver powder of my costume made it really difficult to hide anything we did. If Tiara showed up to the clubhouse with a silver hoof or silver lips, there weren’t many believable excuses we could come up with to explain it.

“So…” I said, trying to figure out what to say. “Who do you think is going to have the best costume?”

“You,” Tiara said, smiling at me. “Even if I don’t get why you’re a robot, you’ll still be the best looking pony there.”

I blushed and really tried hard not to kiss her for that. If I did, then… we’d probably have to admit we were dating sooner than would be good. I could live with Scootaloo not being okay with it, since she apparently didn’t care about me, but… something told me Melody wouldn’t be happy. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t get past that little worry that… “Why can’t we tell everypony we’re dating yet?” I asked, glancing at Tiara.

“Because I don’t want your friends to get upset with you,” she said.

“But they apparently already know,” I said, flicking an ear in irritation. If only Scootaloo and Melody don’t know we were dating, then what was the big deal? I didn’t really care about Scootaloo right now, and Melody… she said she didn’t have any feelings for me, so she wouldn’t be upset, right? Right?

“Not all of them,” Tiara said, giving me her best reassuring smile. “I know Scootaloo’s being difficult, but I don’t want to make things worse between the two of you. I know how important her friendship is to you.”

I shook my head. “Not anymore, I... “ I paused before telling her about our most recent fight. “I just can’t deal with her when she’s like this. I don’t know how to help, and everything I do seems to make things worse.”

Tiara smiled and leaned in to kiss me before catching herself. “We can talk about it later, but… we should just focus on having fun tonight.”

“You’re right,” I said, frowning at my own selfishness, “I almost… Ugh, that was so dumb of me, I shouldn’t just ignore what my friends think. What if I accidentally upset them? I was so focused on doing what I wanted, I almost completely forgot… I need to keep my friends happy. That’s what’s important, I can’t let my own feelings–” I stopped talking as we approached the clubhouse, not wanting my friends to accidentally overhear anything. “Oh hey, Tiara, how are you?”

Tiara gave me a confused glance before looking up at the clubhouse and nodding at me. “Great,” she said. “Do you have any idea what Discord’s big Nightmare Night prank might be?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head and recalling my conversation with Discord. “Apparently, last year, everypony turned into their costumes. I think–”

A big booming voice came from the clubhouse, and I trotted up to the entrance to see Discord standing in the center of it. “And I promise, nopony will be harmed during my little prank tonight, you can all trick-or-treat without fear.”

“Really?” I asked as I entered the clubhouse. “Because it sounds like last year–”

“Last year, I made a few mistakes,” he said, interrupting me again. “I know, it’s stunning to think I’m anything less than perfect, but even I can err from time to time. Last year was one of those very few occasions, and one single pony was harmed because of that failure. I assure you, it won’t happen again.”

“So this prank’ll be fun then?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head at Discord. “Can you tell us what you’ve got planned?”

Discord smiled and tapped Apple Bloom on the nose with one claw. “Now, now, I can’t make those promises, and I certainly don’t wish to spoil the surprise. All I can say is that tonight will be… interesting. I actually got the idea for this year’s prank from seeing Tavi and her marefriend together last Nightmare Night.”

“But it sounded like last Nightmare Night was really bad for her,” I said, sitting on the opposite corner of the room as Scootaloo, the only pony in the room not in costume, while Diamond Tiara shuffled over near Life Bloom, who was wearing a lab coat and styled her mane so it was standing up almost straight. Was she supposed to be dressed up as some sort of scientist? Because that was pretty close to what she actually was. Can you even do that for Nightmare Night? Go as yourself?

“It was,” Discord said, slithering around to face me. “But! It still gave me a wonderful idea for my next masterwork, and I believe tonight will be far more interesting than last year. Besides, if you don’t want to join the fun, you can just stay home.”

“And not get any candy?!” I yelled, jumping up to my hooves. “Are you absolutely crazy? That’s like… Nightmare Night without candy is absolutely... I mean… free candy.”

Discord’s face cracked open as laughter belted from his throat. “That’s the spirit,” he said, patting me on the head. “But if you want the prize, you have to play the game. And I promise, nothing harmful will happen to any of you who choose to go out tonight.”

“Alright,” I said, slowly nodding my head and glancing between him, Diamond Tiara, and the rest of my friends. “Everypony else is coming with me, right?”

Everypony but one nodded their heads. “I think I’ll pass,” Scootaloo said, giving a shrug. “Might as well… Not that big into candy, you know?”

I growled at her and was about to say something not one-hundred percent nice when Discord cut me off. “Come now, Scootaloo, perhaps a night with your friends is just what you need to start feeling like your old self.”

“And just how’d you know I was… What makes you think I’m not feeling normal?” she asked, slowly turning to face the dracone… drak…

“Hey, Discord, how do you spell your name?” I asked before he could respond.

“D-I-S-C-O-R-D, Sweetie Belle,” he said before turning back to look at Scootaloo. “Oh come now, Scootaloo, you don’t think I’d recognize the signs of a pony not in harmony with herself? That’s practically my name… In fact, it is my name.” He laughed again. Discord laughed a lot, almost as much as Pinkie did. Or me. “Still, you can’t go trick-or-treating without a costume… Ooh! I know!” He snapped his finger and Scootaloo was dressed up in a Wonderbolt’s dress uniform: a military-blue coat, light blue shirt, a bunch of shiny medals, and a pair of aviator glasses. “There, just like mommy dearest.”

Scootaloo looked at herself and her face went bright red. “That’s not funny,” she snarled, trying to rip the costume off but finding it stuck to her body.

“Come now, you can’t take the costume off until after Nightmare Night’s over,” Discord said, wagging a claw at her. “Besides, if anypony could benefit from my little prank, it’s you. Speaking of, a riddle for you, my little ponies: If my prank, early, you seek to undo, then to yourselves, you must be true.” He smiled and gave a flourish. “That goes for everypony here, by the way. Consider it a treat to counter my trick. Now if you’ll excuse me, I really have to be getting ready. It simply won’t do if I’m seen without my costume.”

“Wait, you’re wearing a costu–” I tried to say before he snapped his claws and disappeared in a puff of magic. How could he cut me off just by disappearing?

“Hey, you girls ready to go trick-or-treating?” Socket asked as he flew in through the window. He hovered in the air and looked around, his eyes finally settling on Scootaloo, still desperately trying to rip the costume off. “Did I… Did I miss something?”

“Just Discord being really cryptic,” I said, frowning. Why was Scootaloo so upset with her costume? I mean, I get that she couldn’t fly, but… she wouldn’t get that upset, and what did Discord mean by–

“Really?” Socket asked, landing on the floor and cutting off my thought. Was everypony just going to keep interrupting me tonight? It’s like I couldn’t go one second without–

“Yep,” Apple Bloom said. “Apparently he did something that really upset Scootaloo.”

“It’s this stupid costume,” Scootaloo said, still struggling to tear it off. “I don’t want… Is this some kind of sick joke from him? What did I do to tick him off?”

“Uhmm… I’m sorry if this is a bad time, but I really don’t see what’s so bad about the costume beyond the obvious fact,” Melody said, poking her head out of her shell. She’d decided to dress as a turtle for Nightmare Night, and it actually kind of went well with her coat color. I don’t get why she’d want to dress as a turtle, though.

“You mean the fact that she can’t fly,” I said, immediately regretting my words as Scootaloo spun around to glare at me. I know it wasn’t the nicest thing to say, but a little bit of me… I don’t know, she’d been so difficult lately, and maybe for a split second, I wanted to be difficult back.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, crumbling under the weight of Scootaloo’s glare. How come she could be as big a jerk as she wanted, but the second I tried it, I felt instantly terrible? Was I just supposed to be Miss Polite while Scootaloo kept lashing out at me?

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said slowly. “Doesn’t sound like there needs to be a reason beyond the obvious to me, I can’t fly, and Discord thought it’d be funny to dress me up as one of Equestria’s best fliers.” She gave another growl. “Anyways, since I apparently have to celebrate this stupid holiday, we might as well go and get it over with.”

I gave a squeal of excitement at the thought of free candy and suddenly found everypony in the room staring at me. “Sorry,” I said, feeling my cheeks get warm. “I just… It’s free candy, girls and Socket. It’s really hard for me to not be happy right now.”

“It’s alright,” Life Bloom said, a small smile forming on her lips. “Your enthusiasm is a wonderful antidote for…” She trailed off, glancing at Scootaloo, who was too busy leading the group out of the clubhouse to pay attention to us. “Well, your almost overwhelming joy is always refreshing. At least, it is when it isn’t making me question my sanity.”

“Thanks,” I said, nodding as Socket landed next to us. He’d dyed his coat green and had a bolt sticking out of his neck.

“So, LB,” he said, looking at my friend. “What’re you dressed up as?”

Life Bloom rolled her eyes. “I find it hard to imagine that you don’t know what I’m dressed up as, considering I’m your creator.”

“Oh,” he said, tilting his head at her. “So you’re the scientist who created Frankenstein? Cool. What was her name, anyways?”

“Frankenstein,” Life Bloom said, gritting her teeth. “I’m dressed up as Frankenstein, you’re dressed up as the monster.”

“The creature,” Melody said from behind us, causing us all to look back at her. “It’s… Frankenstein’s the monster, not the creature.”

“That’s…” Life Bloom raised up her eyebrows and stopped in her tracks. “Either I’m incredibly confused, or that’s… I didn’t expect you to say something so insightful.”

“It’s nothing,” Melody said, smiling faintly. “Mare Shelley is just really popular at my house, and… actually, one of my earliest memories is sneaking Frankenstein into my bedroom and staying up all night reading it.”

Life Bloom was about to say something when my laughter drowned her out. “And just what’s so funny?” she asked between bouts of my giggling.

“It’s just…” I snorted from giggling. In the corner of my vision, I saw Diamond Tiara struggling not to roll her eyes. “We have Frankenstein, the creature, and a shelley mare.” I pointed at Melody to make sure they got my joke before going back to giggling. “Get it?”

“Unfortunately, I do,” Life Bloom said. “You should feel absolutely terrible for that pun, by the way. It’s possibly the worst I ever heard.”

“Is not,” I said as my last wave of giggling finished. “You know deep down it was funny.”

“It was only funny because it was so incredibly bad,” Diamond Tiara said, joining our group and giving me a small smile. Of course, she thought it was funny, she just couldn’t be seen agreeing with me around my friends all the time.

“I liked it,” Melody said. “It was... “ She trailed off. “I liked it.”

“Huh… where did Apple Bloom and Scootaloo go?” I asked, looking around for any trace of my friends– I mean, my friend and Scootaloo. They must not have noticed we had stopped walking.

“I don’t know,” Life Bloom said, frowning. Suddenly, the two of us tensed up as we sensed the crackle of magic in the air. My horn tingled as the air around me suddenly swam with magic, and it almost felt like when Diamond Tiara kissed my horn. My eyes rolled up towards the sky at the sensation as the magic in the air increased, and my knees felt like they’d turned to jello. It hadn’t even started yet, but Discord’s prank was completely super amazing.

Melody and Tiara were yelling at each other about something, but it seemed really small and unimportant, like a tiny insect buzzing next to my ear. I closed my eyes in the hopes of stretching this moment out forever. Everything was just so perfect, even Melody and Tiara had gone quiet. I guess there was enough magic in the air for them to notice it now.

The sensation of magic in the air vanished, and I opened my eyes, both curious to see what had happened and way too happy to really care. Whatever Discord’s prank was, it couldn’t have been that–

I froze, instantly recognizing the pair of pine-green eyes staring at me. I’d seen them plenty of times the last few weeks. Seen them whenever I had to check my reflection. The other pony’s white coat and purple-pink mane made her identity even more obvious. I looked at my friends and saw that they’d also doubled when my eyes were closed. This… could be interesting? I had twice as many friends tonight, so that was great! I could even talk with myself and see what was on my mind.

“So, me,” I said, smiling at myself, “what do you want to do? We were going to go trick-or-treating, but–”

I was interrupted – Again? Seriously? – as my lips pressed against mine. Was it cheating if I kissed myself? Because… apparently my double (and possibly me) is an awesome kisser. Like, apparently, I knew just what I liked.

My double pulled away from me, smiling as she did, while I stared at her in a mix of shock and something else I couldn’t quite recognize. My friends and their doubles had stopped staring at each other and turned to look at me and my other self.

The other me giggled as she noticed the other ponies’ stares and she flashed them another smile. “So,” she/me said, “which of you wants to kiss me first?”

“I do!” Melody’s double said (it was definitely the double; she wasn’t dressed in a costume) as she bounded towards the other me. In a second, their lips were pressed against the other’s, and a series of soft moans and squeaks came from… one of them.

“I’m really sorry,” the real Melody said, “I don’t know why I’m acting this way. You know I–”

“Oh stop it,” the other Melody said, pulling away from the other me for a second. The other me used the break to kiss all over other Melody’s neck. “You’ve spent the last two months dreaming about this, and I’m not going to listen to you say that you haven’t been fantasizing about this opportunity.”

I looked at the real Melody, whose cheeks were as red as Apple Bloom’s mane. “Is that… you said you didn’t like me.”

Melody looked down at the ground while the other Melody went back to kissing the other Sweetie. “I do, just not… I…” Melody squeaked, while her counterpart just groaned.

“She’s lying,” the other Melody said. “Your stupid friend told her you were freaking out because you thought she had a crush on you, so Melody decided the only possible solution was to act like she didn’t like–” She was cut off as the other Diamond Tiara – the one not dressed as a princess – tackled her.

“Don’t you dare kiss my marefriend,” other Tiara said. “She’s mine, nopony else’s.” I… What did she mean about… Who told her to back off? What was going on?

“I can’t bear this waiting anymore,” the other Life Bloom said. “Our true love is somewhere out there, probably alone and scared, we have to go rescue her. Apple Bloom! We’re coming!” She sprinted down the path leading to town, the real Life Bloom chasing after her a second later.

“Uhmm…” Socket said as Other Tiara and Other Melody continued to fight with each other. “I should probably go and see if Life Bloom is all right.”

“You fool!” his double said, following after the real Socket as they both headed to town. “You waste your time on others, when we could instead combine the two greatest minds on earth. Equestria has yet to recognize our genius, but an army of robots will surely persuade them!”

“Please,” Other Sweetie begged of the real Melody. “I know you like me, so can we just kiss? I’ll show you something that feels really fun… At least, it does for me, it will probably feel good for you too.”

The real Melody just stared at her, horror, fear, and desire wrestling for control of her face. The other me kissed her neck, causing Melody to go completely rigid. “Okay,” Other Sweetie said, “now I want you to wrap your lips around my horn.” She smiled and pressed her lips against Melody’s, as the horror grew in Melody’s eyes.

“Stop it!” I snapped at myself. “Can’t you see this isn’t making her happy? This is… It’s wrong.”

“Who cares?” Other Sweetie said, turning from Melody to look at me, a wicked smile on her face. “The only pony who worries about that junk is you. You worry so much about what your friends will like, but what have they ever done for you? Let’s stop worrying about what they’ll like and instead focus on what we like.” She pounced on top of me, and before I could figure out what I should do, I felt her lips around my horn tip. Suddenly, I was a lot less concerned with getting her off me.

“See,” Other Sweetie said as I went limp. “This is way better than worrying and freaking out about other ponies. We can totally have our own fun.”

“But… I want my friends to be happy,” I said, feeling like my tongue was made of lead while Other Sweetie went back to kissing my horn. Maybe just laying on the ground for a bit wouldn’t be too terrible.

“Yeah, well, why?” Other Sweetie said as I tried to keep my back leg from twitching. “Wouldn’t it be more fun if they focused on making you happy? Think of all the fun things they could do with you. Do for you… Diamond Tiara was right when she said you deserve to be happy. Our happiness is the greatest thing in the world.”

I looked at the real Diamond Tiara, hoping she’d say something, but instead she just stared at the sight of me on top of me. “Remember the night you got drunk and made out with Diamond Tiara? Remember how absolutely fun that night was? Imagine if we brought in Melody to our kissing games. I know you want to.”

“That…” I slowly nodded, trying to get my brain to put words in front of other words. “It doesn’t matter what I want, it’s about what she wants.”

Other Me laughed at that. “She doesn’t know what she wants.” She pointed a hoof at Melody, who was still standing perfectly still, staring at me… or us, I guess. Melody had the same look on her face that Diamond Tiara did. “They both want us, Sweetie, let’s have some fun with them.”

“Absolutely not,” Other Tiara said, pushing Other Melody away and getting up on her hooves. “Sweetie’s mine, you’re both mine, that means you do what I want you to do, and I’m not going to share you.”

Other Me pouted at her. “Oh, come on, we’re not even dating really. You don’t get a say in what I can and can’t do. Besides, if we were dating, I’m pretty sure I could find a way to change your mind.” She gave Other Tiara a smile that burned like lightning, and I felt a tingle of excitement run up my spine. Is that… Is it weird that her smile gave me the same feeling kissing Diamond Tiara did?

“See,” Other Sweetie said as Other Tiara’s eyes lost their focus. “Deep down, you just want to make me happy.” She leaned in close and nuzzled at Other Tiara’s neck. “Now could you please kiss my horn? I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

The other Tiara just nodded her head before moving to wrap her lips around the tip of Other Me’s horn. Other Me giggled and kissed Other Tiara’s cheek. “Good girl. I knew you could make me happy.” She looked at the other Melody who was slowly getting up on her hooves. “Now, Tia, don’t you think adding others to our herd can be… rewarding?” She whispered something in Other Tiara’s ear and the smile on her face grew.

“You make a good point,” Other Tiara said, staring through Other Melody. “If you want to kiss Sweetie, that’s okay, but you have to kiss me first.” I really don’t like Other Me. She’s not anything like me.

Other Melody tilted her head for a minute before nodding. “If I get to kiss Sweetie, then I can kiss you.”

“Great!” Other Sweetie said, clapping her hooves together. “That just leaves the three of you to take care of.” She gave a squeal of delight and whirled around to look at all of us. “This is going to be so much fun.” She flashed us all her electric smile that threatened to burn me up, and the three real ponies took a step back and glanced at each other. We didn’t need to say anything before we sprinted off towards Ponyville and as far away from the other me as possible.

***

“What they hay?” the real Tiara asked as we ran to Ponyville. “Sweetie, I… I really like you, but that other you is kind of evil.”

“I know,” I screamed between gulps of air. “She’s just… I don’t understand why she’s like that.” I glanced back behind me to see if they were following us and couldn’t see any sign of them. “Maybe we can hide from them in the bakery.”

“No,” Melody said from beside me. “I’m pretty sure they’re still us, just… twisted a bit. We have to think of hiding somewhere we wouldn’t think of hiding in.”

“How… in Equestria… can you think that pony’s… anything like me?” I asked, as we pushed ourselves through the empty side streets of Ponyville. The main square was probably filled with celebrators and their doubles. Actually, if their doubles were as terrible as ours, how come the whole town wasn’t freaking out? Were we just really unlucky?

“Well, you did say… you wanted to… consider dating other ponies.” Diamond Tiara said. “And I had a problem with the idea… Maybe... “ She trailed off as she struggled to keep up with Melody, who didn’t even seem a little winded. How was the pony dressed as a turtle the fastest in our group?

“Yeah, but only if…” I saw our hope on the top of a hill just outside of town. “Come on! I know where we can hide.” I pushed myself forward as fast as I could as I headed towards a place I knew I’d never think of looking for myself… Unless… if I could think of hiding there because I knew I wouldn’t look there, could I also think of looking there because I knew I’d never…

“Sweetie!” Tiara said from several dozen paces in front of me, and pulling me out of my head. When did she get so far ahead of me, and when did I stop moving? “Come on, we can’t stop now. We… I really don’t want to spend time with the other you.”

I shook my head and followed after her. I could think of whether I could think of looking for me in a place I’d never think of looking for me at later. At least, I could if I didn’t get stuck thinking of… Ugh! Thinking about what I would and wouldn’t do was really hard, especially when I had to think about what two me’s would do. Right, I thought as I followed my friends, let’s get somewhere safe first, and then we can think about the weirdness of the situation later. We don’t want to get caught by us.

***

We threw the door to the old schoolhouse open to find we weren’t the only ponies who thought of hiding in there. Scootaloo cowered in the corner as Other Scootaloo yelled at her. (Thankfully, our doubles weren’t wearing our costumes too, otherwise I would be completely lost) “I just don’t get it!” Other Scootaloo yelled. “I know it stinks we can’t fly, but we always knew that was a possibility. It’s like…” She ran a hoof through her mane. “Rainbow Dash said it might not happen, and she also said we’re still pretty awesome, so why in Equestria did–” She stopped and spun around to look at us as a flashbulb smile lit up her face. “Sweetie! You’re here, I’m so… why are you out of breath?”

“Other Me… is… completely… crazy,” I panted as I slammed the door shut and Melody and Tiara moved to bar it with whatever chairs and tables were close by.

“Really?” Other Scootaloo asked. “She should still be kind of like you, so I can’t imagine her being that bad. Maybe a bit clingy, but…”

“She’s nothing like me,” I said, raising my voice at my friend (my real friend, not the pony who replaced her). “All she cares about is what she wants, and I think she mind-controlled the other Tiara and Melody.”

“Uhmm… she didn’t,” Melody said as she finished barricading the door. “I mean, she didn’t mind control the other me. I… The real me almost took her up on her offer, the only reason I didn’t was because she wasn’t really the pony I liked, she just looked like her.”

Oh right, now I had that to worry about. “You said you didn’t like me.” I said, panting as I turned from Scootaloo to look at Melody. “If I’d known, I would have… You know, I would’ve… why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because Scootaloo told me not to,” she said, frowning and looking at Tiara. “She told us not to.”

“No,” Diamond Tiara said slowly, “Scootaloo told us we were stressing Sweetie Belle out and said if we cared for her we should back off, and that’s what I did: I backed off, told her there was no pressure, and gave her space until she decided she wanted to go out with me, right Sweetie?”

I nodded at her, still trying to think about what happened. Were they saying what I… “Scootaloo, did you tell them not to go out with me?”

The other Scootaloo (the one I knew) shook her head while the real one just glowered. “No,” Other Scootaloo said, “I told them you were freaking out and said if they really cared about you they’d give you some space. It was… I did it to help you, and I never told them to lie to you.” At the last few words, she glanced at Melody.

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me the last few months?” I asked, looking at Melody (I felt a top, spinning around to look at all my friends).

Melody nodded. “I just didn’t want to upset you, and I thought if me saying I didn’t like you made you feel better…”

I smiled at her. “Well, you didn’t have to, I’m sure we can work something out, right Tiara?” So, Other Me might be crazy and kind of scary, but calling Tiara “Tia” was actually a kind of great idea. I’d have to check with her later and make sure the nickname was okay with her.

“You already know what I want and am willing to put up with,” Tiara said as she pulled the blinds shut. “Just don’t…” She shook her head. “You know I don’t think of you as my property, right, Sweetie?”

“Of course,” I said, trotting up behind her and kissing the back of her neck. “Why would I ever even think that?”

“Because the other me…” She trailed off, and I laughed.

“Tiara, you saw what the other me is like, right? I’m not even sure why they look like us if they’re going to act completely different than we do. They aren’t us.”

“Uhh… we kind of are,” the other Scootaloo said from her spot next to the “real” Scootaloo. “At least, I am. I think… I’m not sure how to put it.”

“You’re a part of her she doesn’t want to acknowledge,” Melody said, sitting against the pile of chairs and tables that blocked the front door.

“Yeah,” Other Scootaloo said, nodding her head, “That’s exactly what I am. I’m all the stuff she doesn’t want to admit she is. How’d you know?”

“Because…” she bit her lip. “I think that’s what all of the doubles are. At least, that’s what mine is.”

“But you’re not… You know, like her,” I said, frowning. The doubles couldn’t be us. Mine was nothing like me. She was completely selfish and a little crazy and she manipulated her “friends” to get what she wanted and… I was nothing like that.

“I am though,” Melody said. “Maybe I don’t do those things, but I still want to. I wanted to tell you how I felt, and sometimes I want to just… say what’s really on my mind, instead of just going with what everypony around me is saying. I guess… I just don’t because I don’t want to be mean or accidentally hurt somepony’s feelings.”

Was I seeing things? I could swear her coat actually glowed while she was talking, but the second she stopped talking, everything went back to how it should be. I rubbed my eyes and looked at her again, and she definitely looked how she normally did. Maybe I was just stressed, that was… that was probably it.

“You’re both wrong,” Scootaloo said from her corner. “These doubles aren’t us, and if they are, they’re wrong.” She glared at her double. “I’m not… You’re not me, okay? You’re just a joke, something I thought I could be back before I learned my friends were all lying to me and that I could never fly.”

“Oh, don’t even start with that,” Other Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, your friends lied to you, but guess what, you lied to your friends, too. And yeah, you can’t fly, but so what? We’re still pretty awesome, or at least, we would be if you could just accept the fact. Instead, you’ve been making all our friends miserable because… because you’re a chicken!”

“Am not!” Scootaloo said jumping up to her hooves.

“Oh? So you’re not a cowardly flightless bird? I thought that’s what you’ve been complaining about this entire time,” Other Scootaloo said, matching Scootaloo’s glare with her own. How come we all had kind of crazy doubles, but Scootaloo had a double that was basically who she used to be? Then again, Diamond Tiara’s double was also who she used to be, so…

Ugh! That still didn’t explain why my double wasn’t anything like me? I wasn’t scary or crazy, and… yeah, I wanted to date other ponies, but I didn’t want to manipulate them into dating me.

“That’s! That’s completely not fair,” Scootaloo said. “How come you’re rubbing the fact that I can’t fly into my face? Aren’t you supposed to be me?”

Other Scootaloo rolled her eyes while I tried to move to get a better view of their fight. What? This was interesting, and maybe I could get the old Scootaloo back. That would be… I wanted a good view if that happened. “I’m not rubbing it in your face, I just accept it. If I wanted to be mean, I’d tell you our parents abandoned us, but we both know that’s not true.”

“Yeah… but they didn’t let us move in with them when we asked. They don’t want us around because… because we’re a disappointment.” Okay, so maybe this was a bit personal to be listening in on, like, I didn’t even know who Scootaloo’s parents were, and if they abandoned her… It’s not a nice feeling. Not that I… my parents didn’t abandon me, they love me, but they also wanted to travel, and I wanted to stay here for school, and Rarity said she could look after me, and… It’s not like they abandoned me, they were going to be back in a few weeks for Hearth’s Warming.

“No,” Other Scootaloo said, “that’s not what they said, and you know it. Mom wants us to think things over before we do anything, and she doesn’t want to see you throw your life in Ponyville away because of a fight. I don’t want to see you throw your life in Ponyville away because of a fight. Especially since… you know the whole getting upset with Sweetie thing was for the absolute dumbest reason possible.”

“It was not!” Scootaloo yelled. “I didn’t want to see my friend turn into some girly-girl, and it turns out I was right and…” She paused, realization entering into her eyes. “She and Tiara are dating. That’s... How could she do that to me?”

“Uhmm, I didn’t do anything to you,” I said, speaking up for myself and earning a nod from Other Scootaloo. “I wanted to tell you earlier, but we’ve spent the last month fighting or not talking or whatever you want to call this, and I hate it! You’re my best friend, and I really want to tell you everything, but if you’re going to keep yelling at me, then why should I tell you anything?”

The real Scootaloo sighed and it looked like she turned gray. “I guess you’re right. Some friend I turned out to be, huh?” Ugh, then there was the flipside to the super-angry Scootaloo of the last month, the one who wouldn’t stop pitying herself and talking about what a failure she was.

“Stop it right now,” Other Scootaloo said, jumping between Scootaloo and me. “You know what’s even less awesome than you lashing out at your friends? This, and I’m not going to let you do it tonight. You… You’re not a bad pony. You aren’t a failure. You’re surrounded by ponies that love and support you, and it’s complete B.S. that you’re doing this to them. That’s not what good friends do.”

Scootaloo opened her mouth to say something, but Other Scootaloo cut her off. At least I wasn’t the only one getting interrupted tonight. “No! Don’t start that either. You are a good friend, or at least, you know how to be one. Yeah, it stinks that you can’t fly, but it didn’t take away your ability to choose. It didn’t take away your ability to be the best version of yourself you possibly can.”

Other Scootaloo grabbed the sides of Scootaloo’s face and stared her dead in the eye. “You can choose, Scootaloo. Choose which pony you want to be. I know it’s easy to give up, to say you never had a chance and just moan about it forever, but... there’s another option; you can choose to be better. Choose to be the best pony you possibly can. Yeah, it’ll be hard. A lot harder than just whining. But hey, when did we ever do the easy thing?”

Scootaloo stared at herself for a long time, before a look entered her eyes. It was a good look. The look that led to us getting covered in tree sap or stuck in a taffy-pulling machine or chased by sharks or burning a building down. Okay, it didn’t sound like a good look, but it meant that–

“Yeah, alright,” Scootaloo said, her eyes glinting with determination while I tried not to smile. “I’m gonna do it. I… I might be…” She frowned for a second. “I might have some bad days, but I’m not gonna give up. I might not be able to fly, but I’m better with a scooter than pretty much everypony, even…” She started to laugh. “I’m better than Rainbow Dash at something, and I can be so much better. I can be better on my scooter, I can…” She turned to look at me and flashed me a smile that was half-apology, half-bravado. “I can definitely be a better friend.” Her coat glowed orange and her other self faded away.

“I can’t fly, but that doesn’t have to stop me from being awesome, right?” She looked back at where her other self was to find an empty space, while I stared at her flank – or, more accurately, stared at the wheel and lightning bolt on top of a pink heart that had suddenly appeared on her flank.

“Scootaloo!” I said as I ran towards my friend. She had just enough time to look at me before I tackled her to the ground. “You’re back! I mean, you were always here, but you’re… and you… Your cutie mark! And… Oh my gosh! We need to get Pinkie to throw you a party, but not just any party, it has to be a we’re-sorry-for-lying-to-you party, a cuteceaňara, and… It has to be a hundred parties in one!”

My friend tried to squirm out of my grip, but I wasn’t about to let that happen yet. Suddenly, she stopped and just looked at me. “Wait, are you saying I got my–” I nodded. “And… you forgive me just like that? After how rotten I’ve been?”

“Of course,” I said, letting go of her and springing up to my hooves. “You’re back, and who can be angry when you just got your cutie mark? I mean, you have to be so excited. I remember how excited I was when I got my cutie mark and–”

I was cut off as she shoved her hoof in my mouth. “Yeah, having my cutie mark is great,” she said, glancing at her flank. “Not exactly how I imagined getting it though… Like, I didn’t even do anything, I just said stuff.”

“Ehuffhuufhuuf,” I said, her hoof still in my mouth. “Eeeoouhoofouomymoof.”

“Right,” she said as she pulled her hoof out of my mouth. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said ‘it’s the epiphany.’ Apparently, doing something isn’t the big reason you get your cutie mark; you have to realize something about yourself. It’s funny, right? We spent all that time doing all that crazy random stuff, and apparently that’s like the worst way to try and get your cutie mark,” I said, smiling at her.

“And… you’re forgiving me, just like that?” Scootaloo asked, frowning. “I mean, I’m glad you are, but I was… I haven’t been the nicest pony lately.”

“Yeah, but it’s Sweetie Belle,” Diamond Tiara said, looking out the school’s window with Melody. “She’d probably forgive you if you burned her house down.”

“Only if she’s sorry,” I said, glancing back at her. “And Scootaloo’s sorry, right?”

Scootaloo nodded. “See?” I said. “Besides, I should apologize for not supporting you enough… I mean, I did kind of yell back a few times,” I said, frowning for a second. “Scootaloo, I’m sorry for–”

She shoved her hoof back in my mouth and I rolled my eyes. Really? At this point, it was almost a running joke. Could I maybe finish one thought tonight without being interrupted? “You don’t need to apologize,” Scootaloo said. “None of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t been so… well, you know…” I nodded at her. “Look, Sweetie, if you want to wear makeup, that’s awesome, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I should’ve... “ She smiled at me. “I should’ve realized that earlier, but I guess I just didn’t want to admit things had changed.”

“But they haven’t,” I said, spitting her hoof out of my mouth. “The only thing that’s changed is we both got our cutie marks, and… I’m dating Diamond Tiara, so I guess that’s two things, but that’s it!”

Scootaloo’s smile turned into the same smile Rarity gave me whenever I talked about what I hoped Santa Hooves would get me for Christmas. What did this have to do with Santa Hooves? “Of course, Sweetie Belle, I… it just took me a while to realize that. Forgive me for being such an idiot?”

“Well, duh,” I said. “I think everypony’s an idiot now and then. Even Miss Twilight acts like an idiot occasionally, and she’s pretty much the smartest pony eve–”

“Sweetie, we have a problem,” Diamond Tiara said, and seriously? Again? “You found us.”

“Uh, of course I did,” I said, rolling my eyes at her. “I mean, I never lost you. The only ponies I lost tonight were…” I trailed off as I figured out what she meant. “Oh.”

Tiara nodded and returned my eye roll as I walked up next to her to look out the window. I kind of deserved that one. “Yeah, what were you saying about everypony being an idiot now and then?” she asked as I tilted the blinds to see the two ponies standing outside the schoolhouse entrance.

“Ohhh, Sweeeetttieee,” the other me sing-songed while pirouetting right in front of our window. Immediately to her side stood Diamond Tiara… or the other Diamond Tiara. “Whatever happened to my dear playmate Melody? I was so looking forward to spending time with her tonight.” She smiled and sneered at once. “I suppose I’ll just have to find some other amusement for the night. Perhaps you’ll be amenable? It’s not cheating if it’s with yourself.”

Okay, making out with yourself, that was pretty creepy right? Sure, it would probably be really fun, because she knows pretty much everything I like, but… I shook my head. Nope, it was definitely creepy. Fun, but creepy.

“Wait, what happened to Melody?” I asked. “We haven’t seen the other her, it’s just been the four of us. Well, five, but then Scootaloo…” I stopped as I remembered Discord’s earlier riddle and the way Melody seemed to glow when she explained why the other her was still kind of her. “I think I know how we can make her doubles disappear.”

Tiara rolled her eyes. “You just figured that out? I thought it was kind of obvious that–”

“Bored now,” Other Sweetie said, violently pulling the doors to the schoolhouse open. Oh, right, they went both ways… Kind of should’ve thought of that before we barricaded ourselves in. “Come on, Sweetie, the night’s already a few hours old and I’ve hardly had any fun. This is my night, and I’m not going to have you ruin it like you ruin everything else.”

“I do not,” I said, yelling back at her as she pushed the furniture away, Other Tiara following in her hoofsteps.

Other Me rolled her eyes. “Yes you do, it’s always about other ponies and making them happy. We almost drove ourselves crazy trying to make both Melody and Tiara happy, but you never asked yourself what you wanted. What I wanted.”

“That… That’s not true,” I stammered, taking a step back from her. “Wanting to date both Tiara and Melody, that was for me.”

“No,” she said, sighing while I retreated away from her. “That was for them, sure I’d like it… I’d really like it a lot.” She glanced to Melody and the real Tiara. “Actually, maybe we can talk with them about it later, but right now… Right now, you’re going to do something for yourself. Right now, you’re going to put your needs above somepony else’s.” She gave a smile that made my stomach twist. “Tonight, you’re going to show your friends how selfish you really are.”

“Leave her alone,” Scootaloo said, jumping between me and the other me. “What’s your deal anyways? Can’t you see you’re scaring her… or you, or… this is actually kind of confusing.”

“I know,” I said from my spot behind her. “I’ve been trying to figure out what our relationship is with our doubles all night.”

“Don’t care,” Other Me sing-songed. “Oh, and Scootaloo, unless you want to join me in having fun tonight, you should get out of my way, because I’m not about to let you ruin my night out.” She glanced at me. “Sweetie, dear, if Scootaloo doesn’t get out of my way or start kissing me in five seconds, I’m going to start telling ponies every dirty nasty mean little thought you ever had about them. Won’t that be fun?”

Did I just blackmail myself? That hardly seemed fair. “You’re going to indulge yourself tonight, Sweetie Belle, no point in fighting it.” She gave me the same smile Rarity’s cat gave as it pounced on its toy mouse. “I promise it’ll be fun.”

I gave a sigh. What could I do? If I didn’t go along with what Other Me wanted, she’d tell my friends all my secrets, and then I wouldn’t have any friends anymore, and then how could I make anypony happy? “Get out of her way, Scootaloo, I… maybe if I give her what she wants, she’ll go away.”

“Are… are you sure?” Scootaloo asked, looking back at me while Other Me’s face lit up. I just nodded at my friend.

“Yeah, I… I don’t know what she’ll say, and I don’t want her to upset you all.” Why was other me such a jerk? It’s… I couldn’t be that selfish, could I?

“There you go, talking about what other ponies want again,” Other Me said, grinning hungrily as she paced past Scootaloo. “Mhmm, I promise I’ll break you of that bad little habit by the time tonight’s over. Ooh, let me unlock the pony you always secretly wanted to be in front of all our friends. If you do this for me, if you show the world how selfish you can really be, I promise I’ll disappear.” She giggled. “There won’t be any need for me then. Now, be a good girl and kiss my horn like Tiara does it. I promise I’ll treat you once you’re done.”

Maybe if I just did what she wanted, she’d go away. That’s how it worked for the others, right? They accepted something about themselves and their doubles disappeared. Maybe if I did something I wanted that–

Wait. Was I that dumb? “No,” I said, trying to stare my other self in the eye with as much bravery as I could.

“Excuse me?” Other Me said, raising an eyebrow. “You’re still going to deny what you want, even when it will hurt your friends? Are you stupid or crazy?”

It depended on who you asked, I guess. I mean, I definitely wasn’t the smartest of my friends, and I could be a bit silly at times, but–

“Well?” Other Sweetie asked, still staring at me – what was the word? Contemptuously?

Oh right, I had to deal with her. “Neither,” I said, my face breaking out in a smile. “In fact, you’re right, I should be more concerned with my own happiness, and do you know what would make me super happy right now?” Her face somehow went paler than white. Actually, she almost looked kind of translucent. “Not kissing you.”

I tried not to laugh at her. Just because I was doing what I wanted didn’t mean I had to be mean about it, even if Other Sweetie was kind of a jerk. I might have laughed a little though. “Oh! And before you go, you should know I’m not going to be anything like you. Yes, I really want to date Diamond Tiara and Melody and maybe some other ponies, and I’d definitely like to host huge kissing parties, but I’m not going to make ponies uncomfortable while doing it… You can get what you want without making other ponies feel bad.”

I struck my best dramatic pose. If I was going to monologue, I might as well do it with style. “I am Sweetie Belle, I have wants and needs, and I’m not going to be shy about expressing them, but I’m not going to start hurting my friends. I can get what I want without being anything like you.” With that, the other me vanished into thin air, and I felt a warmth bubble up in my chest. I smiled at Tiara and Melody. “I like both of you a lot, and I think it would be nice if we could–”

“Absolutely not,” Other Tiara said, jumping between me and the rest of my friends and interrupting me for the three-hundredth time that night. “You’re mine to play with, and I’m not going to share you with anypony.” She glared at Melody. “You want to date her, you do what I say. I want to hear you say you’re mine to do with as I please, you understand? Daddy could buy all of you if he wanted to.”

The real Tiara sighed and shook her head. “Since I’ve heard you all accept some terrible part of yourself, I suppose…” She took a deep breath. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

Tiara smiled at me, tears stinging her eyes. “Sweetie, I’m really trying to be better, but it’s hard for me to stop thinking of you as mine, and I hate the idea of you dating somepony else. I’m trying to be okay with it and support it, but deep down, the very thought of kissing somepony else just makes me sick, and I don’t know how to balance it. I don’t know how to be a better pony and be true to myself, but I’m trying.” She glared at her other self. “And no matter what, I’m not going to go back to being her. Yes, she’s still a part of me, no matter how much I’d wish otherwise, but she’s not all I am anymore, and… I want to be better.” She gave me a tiny smile as her other self faded away, leaving behind four fillies who’d just admitted their dark side to everypony. For a few minutes, we all found the floor super interesting.

My friends had just gone through and faced their inner demons, and what they… what we all needed right now was some cheering up. Luckily, they had me, and I had Nightmare Night.

“So,” I said, looking up from the floor. “It’s still Nightmare Night, let’s go find the rest of our friends and get as much free candy as we can.”

“Really?” Melody asked, poking her head out of her shell. “After all that, you still want to go trick-or-treating?”

“Duh,” I said, “I’m not going to pass up the one night a year we can get free candy just because I had to face some unpleasant truth about myself. If anything, that just makes me want candy more, because what cheers you up like candy? I mean, besides ice cream, but there’s no free ice cream tonight.”

Scootaloo laughed and smiled at me. “Sounds like a plan.” She glanced at Diamond Tiara, and gave her a half-hearted smile as well. “Can you give me a moment, though? I... kinda owe somepony an apology, I think.”

“Sure,” I said, gesturing for Melody to follow me out of the schoolhouse.

“Look,” Scootaloo said to Tiara as I pushed the door shut, “I get what–” The door clicked shut and I turned to look at Melody.

“So…” I said, smiling at her. “Us… and Tiara… I guess we should talk about that soon, and try to figure out how this is going to work. Still, I’m sure we can figure something out and it will be completely great and we’ll all be happy and there will just be so much kissing and–” I stopped talking as a pair of lips pressed against mine, and I leaned into the kiss in what was probably the best interruption of the night. Her lips didn’t have the berry taste Tiara’s had, but they were somehow even softer than her lips were, and I didn’t even think that was possible. It was like being hugged by my favorite stuffed animal, just… not as hairy… and wetter.

“Sorry,” she said, suddenly pulling away from me, her green cheeks tinged red. “I just, I wanted to know, and…” She tried to hide under her bangs. “You probably don’t want to date me anymore, I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I said before returning the kiss. “I liked it too, and I promise we’ll figure it all out when we talk with Tiara. It’s not going to be easy, but I’ll figure out a way for everypony to get what they want.”

“Thanks,” she said, her blush finally fading. “Do you think we can have that talk soon? I’d… It would mean a lot to me if we did.”

“Of course,” I said as the door to the schoolhouse opened, and Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo trotted out, with Scootaloo patting (one of) my marefriend(s) on the back. “Just not tonight. Tonight is about one thing and one thing only.”

“Free candy?” three of my best friends asked, looking at me with varying degrees of excitement.

“Free candy!” I shouted, pointing a hoof towards town. “Now let’s go find the rest of our friends, make sure they’ve dealt with their doubles, and get as much candy as we can carry. If we hurry, we can probably get there before the rest of the trick-or-treaters have dealt with their doubles, meaning we can get first pick. Also… where are Apple Bloom and the rest of our friends?”

“When I left them, they were having some fight at the clubhouse,” Scootaloo said from behind me. “Also, what if the grown-ups are still dealing with their doubles and can’t give us any candy?”

I froze. “That– That– That–” My brain struggled to find a solution. “That– That– That–” Maybe if I just had a… No, not without a… Could I just take it? Would that be stealing? Perhaps I could find Socket and have him do another… “That– That– That–”

“Good job,” Tiara said, poking my side with a forehoof. “You broke her.” She gave a sigh and kissed my cheek. “Sweetie, if you don’t get any free candy tonight, I’ll have Daddy buy you an entire warehouse of candy for you.”

My ears perked up and I swirled around to wrap my forelegs around her neck before pressing my lips as tightly as I could against hers. I couldn’t help but giggle as we kissed. “Thank you so much!” I said when our kiss finally ended. “For a second, I was really scared there. Still, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, I mean, Nightmare Night candy just tastes better than regular candy. It’s a known fact.”

“Of course,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Everypony knows that.”

“Now come on,” I said as I sprinted towards the clubhouse. “It’s like Pinkie says, ‘time is candy,’ and right now, we’re losing a lot of candy.”

Author's Note

Sweetie unlocked: Personal Agency: +5 to initiative

Happy ~~Halloween~~ Nightmare Night! It's been another fabulous year writing stories for you all, and here's hoping for many more. I'll see you all next time, and who knows, I might have a secret project coming down the pipe.

10. Brand New Day

I nodded approvingly at Mount Candy, towering above everypony in the clubhouse. It was good. “So,” Melody said, tilting her head and looking at the mountain. “What exactly are we doing again? We put all our candy in the pile–”

“Mountain,” I corrected.

“Okay… mountain,” Melody said. “We put all the candy in the mountain... and divide it amongst ourselves? Wasn’t it already divided up before we put it in the p– mountain?”

“No,” I said, glancing away from the most beautiful sight in Equestria to Melody, who was probably one of the top ten most beautiful things in Equestria. “We divide it up first. Speaking of which, does everypony have their favorite candy ready for me?”

“Anything apple flavored,” Apple Bloom said, making a point of looking at the candy mountain and most definitely not at Life Bloom. It was… They’d been acting weird since we’d found them last night. Probably because Life Bloom’s double confessed her crush to Apple Bloom. At least, that’s what I guess had happened. Once we met up last night, we didn’t really talk, just trick-or-treated.

“Those sour chewy fruit things,” Scootaloo said, picking a pink square out of the pile, unwrapping it and popping it in her mouth.

“I wouldn’t mind if I got the... “ Melody’s eyes drifted over the mountain. “Hmm, would it be okay if I had those chocolate bars with the peanuts in them?”

“Sure,” I said, nodding. “LB?”

Life Bloom sighed. “I would like whatever dark chocolates you have.”

“Great,” I said, smiling at her. “No one else ever likes those, so we won’t have to worry about getting rid of them this year.”

“Ooh! Could I have the caramel stuff?” Socket said from his spot on the opposite side of the mountain. At least, I think it was him. It was definitely a colt’s voice, and I didn’t think there were any other colts in the clubhouse.

I nodded.

“So…” he said, “is that a yes or a no or…”

Right. Mt. Candy kept him from seeing me. “Sure,” I said. “That’s fine with everypony else, right?” There was a chorus of agreement.

“Okay then. Diamond Tiara?” I said, looking at my marefriend. Well, one of them… possibly. We still had to have our big talk about how we’d get things to work, but that could wait until after candy. Everything could wait until after candy.

“I guess I’ll take the chocolate peanut butter cups,” Diamond Tiara said from her spot right next to me.

“Oh, I always take them for my second candy pick,” I said, frowning. “I love chocolate and peanut butter, and combining them somehow makes them even better; it’s like, the whole is greater than the sum of its delicious parts.”

“Wait,” Life Bloom said, squinting her eyes at me. “You’re familiar with that phrase?”

“Duh,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Who isn’t familiar with the fundamental tenants of gestalt psychology?” I tapped my chin in thought. “Of course, in this case, the peanut butter cup doesn’t have any properties that aren’t found in either chocolate or peanut butter, so I might not be using…” I trailed off as I noticed all my friends were staring at me. “What?”

“It’s…” Life Bloom finally spoke after spending a few seconds rubbing her forehead. “You know what, I don’t think I want to know. I can’t imagine… No, I definitely don’t want to know.” Why was everypony being weird? Gestalt psychology was pretty common knowledge. Like… it would be weirder if I didn’t know about that.

“Right,” Diamond Tiara said, before kissing my neck. “Well, if you want, I can probably be persuaded to share some of them with you.”

“Alright,” Scootaloo said from Tiara’s other side. “I’m totally fine with the two of you dating, but can you please try not to do all the mushy stuff in front of me?”

“I have to agree with Scootaloo,” Life Bloom said, giving a pointed glare to Tiara. “While I have no issue with your relationship, I’d prefer it if I didn’t have to see all the private details.”

“Fine…” I mumbled before remembering last night. There had to be a way I could make me happy and make my friends happy. “Can’t we do a little kissing? Nothing big, but maybe like… cheek kisses occasionally?” I asked, looking from Tiara to Scootaloo.

“Sure, I guess,” Scootaloo said, shrugging. “Just… you know, try not to overdo it. I don’t want our friends to get bogged down doing kissing stuff when there’s so much more cool stuff we could be doing instead.”

“Alright,” Tiara said before turning back to look at me. “So, we all said what candy we’d like, or everypony but Sweetie Belle did, so what happens next?”

“I sort the candy out,” I said, grabbing several Sugar Sticks from the mountain and ripping the tops off before pouring what was basically pure sugar down my throat. I grabbed them as quickly as I could find them, sometimes pouring six pixie sticks down my throat simultaneously. I shook my head after I finished off roughly thirty pixie sticks in less than three minutes, a new record for me.

“Alright,” I said, looking at my new friends. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had already taken a few steps away from the mountain. “You girls and Socket might want to get away from the mountain, things are going to get a little hectic here in a few–” I froze, or more accurately, time froze. My friends had gone completely stiff, and the background noises of the outside world stopped. I was in the heart of the sugar high.

I trotted over to candy mountain, giving the base of it a kiss. It was so beautiful, and now I was going to destroy it. I gave a sniffle, before delicately plucking several peanut butter cups from the pile with my magic and tossing them towards Diamond Tiara. The second I released them from my magic, they hovered in the air. If I stared at them long enough, I could see them inching towards the ground in front of Tiara, but watching them move in slow motion was so boring and I more-pressing candy-related issues to deal with.

My teeth chattered as I sorted the pile, my blood turning into… mostly sugar. I laughed as I threw candy to my friends, there was so much candy and I could do everything. It was like the time loop, but better because I got to eat candy. Time sped up and, I glanced back at the pile. It wasn’t anywhere near sorted yet. I grabbed a few more Sugar Sticks and downed them in a second. In less than a second. Everything had happened in less than a second. Around me, Melody and Tiara had just gotten to exchanging a worried glance, while Life Bloom looked like she was trying to understand something that broke her understanding of a rational universe. Probably in a second she’d give up up trying to understand. Maybe not. She’d probably ask about it later. But not right now, right now, I had candy. I ripped the top off some more Sugar Sticks and poured them down my throat.

More candy. Caramels for Socket, fruit chews for Scootaloo, dark chocolate for Melody. No, Life Bloom wanted dark chocolate, I grabbed the dark chocolate hovering in the air and flung it towards Life Bloom. In a second… or an hour, it would react. It depended on how you looked at it. The mountain shrank. The first peanut butter cups hit the floor.

My muscles grew heavy. More Sugar Sticks. Lots more. I threw pop rocks and wax lips over to my pile. The best candy was the sweetest. It was always the sweetest. Did I mention how much I loved candy? It’s just the best, especially when you can break time. Time-breaking sugar highs are just great. As I sorted, I watched as my hoof seemed to float through the air. It was going so slow. Why couldn’t it go faster? Everything needed to go faster. I needed more Sugar Sticks. Maybe then I could push my body to go as fast as I was thinking. Then I could eat more candy because I was going so fast that I had to eat candy. I really like candy.

The mountain shrank.. Seven arcs of various candies shot from its center to my friends, and if you looked long enough, you could see the candy creep through the air. Almost done. I couldn’t find many more Sugar Sticks. Around me, my friends were doing… something. Melody and Tiara had taken a step towards me for some reason, Socket was looking at me like I’d suddenly turned into the coolest pony in the world, and Life Bloom’s face was empty of all expression. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had their mouths opened. If I listened hard, I could occasionally hear the dull roar of their yelling between long periods of silence, but I couldn’t listen, I had to keep sorting. There was still so much candy that needed sorting. So much more to do before the sugar high faded and I had to go back to being so boring and slow.

No more Sugar Sticks. No more sorting. The mountain had been reduced to little more than a pillow. Seven streams of candy flew through the air slower than a snail. I was suddenly so tired. My brain fell back into sluggishness as my thoughts sped up. I yawned and wobbled on my feet. I was so tired, and the remainder of unsorted candy seemed as good a pillow as any other. I yawned and fell towards it, my body floating gently down to the ground. Huh, I thought as I used the air as my pillow. I’d probably hit the ground in another hour, but I’d be asleep in just a few more seconds. Who knew it takes so long to fall a few hooves?

***

“How long is she going to be out?” somepony asked. Their voice sounded familiar, and it was definitely a mare, but… Ugh! Why did my head hurt so much? Oh right, I was coming down from the greatest sugar high ever. Maybe if I had…

“More Sugar Sticks,” I groaned, hiding my head under my hooves. It felt like my brain had just exploded and splattered all over inside my skull. I needed more sugar, if I never had to come down from my sugar high, my head wouldn’t have to hurt. It just made sense. More sugar. I definitely needed more sugar.

“Absolutely not,” Diamond Tiara said, her normally pretty voice now sounding like nails scraping against my ear drum. I moved my forelegs up to cover my ears. “You’ve been passed out for the last hour, and I’m not going to have you pass out from another sugar crash.”

I grumbled something incoherent and not nice. What part of no talking didn’t she understand? Oh, right, I didn’t tell her that, and I’m pretty sure we haven’t hit the relationship stage where she can read my thoughts. At least, I hope we– No, thinking hurts too much. “Can you please not talk again? Or at least wait until my head stops hurting.” Wait, that was my marefriend. Maybe I shouldn’t talk to her like that.

“Sorry,” I said before curling up and burying my head into my flank. “I just… I really need more sugar.”

“Actually, I think more sugar might actually kill you,” a voice – Life Bloom? Yeah, it was definitely Life Bloom – said. “Of course, I didn’t think it was possible for a pony to metabolize sugar like you just did, so my body of knowledge is a bit more limited than I’d like. Still, I’m positive more sugar won’t solve your problem.”

“I can make you one o’ those potions I make for Applejack and Big Macintosh after they spend all night sampling the cider,” Apple Bloom said. “When they wake up, they kind of act like you do now, so I think it should work. Just give me a few minutes.”

I nodded my head a tiny bit, before deciding I shouldn’t move my head again unless the clubhouse was on fire, and even then, it might be better if I took my chances. “Why do I sort the candy for you all every year?” I asked, my voice muffled by my fur, which was feeling really soft ever since I started using that special shampoo Tiara’d gotten me. It felt as good as my head felt bad, and it smelled… well, it smelled nice enough that it didn’t make my head feel worse. Kind of lilac and vanilla-ey.

“Because a year from now, you’ll have forgotten how awful the sugar crash was and just remember the high,” Scootaloo said, her voice sounding like she’d just scraped a bow against violin while also scraping a hoof against a chalkboard. Oh! And now I felt like I was going to vomit, so that was… I didn’t even think it was possible for me to feel worse, but somehow my body managed.

“I hate that you’re right,” I said, before swallowing the nausea back down into my stomach. “At least, right now, I do, I’ll probably be super excited to eat my body weight in sugar next year. ‘Ooh! This will be so great, my head definitely won’t feel like a minotaur stomped on it an hour from now.’”

“No you won’t,” Diamond Tiara said. It sounded like she was standing right next to me, but I wasn’t about to check. “I’m not going to let you eat that much sugar again. In fact, I don’t like the idea of you eating sugar at all, now.”

“I agree with Tiara,” Melody said, from some place behind Tiara. The fact that she barely ever talked above a whisper made her my favorite pony ever right now. “I mean… I’m not going to tell you what to do, but maybe it wouldn’t be terrible if you stopped and thought things through a little more before you did them. If you want to, of course, I just don’t think you should… We worry about you when you blink out of existence like that.”

“Is that what it looks like?” I asked before trying to bury my head deeper into my side. “To me it looks like you all just freeze solid. In fact, I kind of feel like I’m moving too slow when I eat that much candy.”

“Probably because you can perceive far faster than you can act,” Life Bloom said from… somewhere. Trying to figure out where she was used up brain energy that was better spent trying to figure out new ways of describing how much my head hurt. “Actually, if you wouldn’t mind imbibing that much sugar in a more controlled laboratory setting, I think it could be really–”

“Absolutely not,” Diamond Tiara and Melody both said.

“Eating that much sugar clearly isn’t good for her,” Melody said. “I can’t believe you two would force her to do that to herself just to sort your candy for you.”

“We don’t force her,” Scootaloo said, causing me to wince. How come I hadn’t noticed how terrible her voice was before? “We even tried to stop her a few times, but she said eating all that candy was her favorite thing about Nightmare Night.” Past me was a moron. Future me was also probably a moron. All me’s except this one were morons, except maybe – maybe – the one who drank the intelligence potion. Speaking of which–

“The books!” I squeaked, before immediately hating myself for talking. Maybe if I hadn’t completely forgotten about them for the last two months, I might’ve read a warning about this sugar high. Probably not. I mean, I was warned about the time loop, and I still messed that up, so me warning me not to do something I really wanted to do probably wouldn’t have worked. Stupid past me.

“What books?” Tiara asked, causing me to groan again. Now I had to do more talking, which was very not good.

“Can I tell you about it after I drink Apple Bloom’s potion?” I asked. “Actually, can only Melody talk until I drink Apple Bloom’s potion? Please?”

“Uhmm… everypony else is nodding, so I guess that means it’s okay,” Melody said after a really long pause. “What should we… what do you want to talk about?”

“Nothing,”I groaned. “I just want to lay here and wait until I don’t feel like I’m about to die. You’re just the only pony who can talk without making me feel worse.”

“Oh… okay,” Melody said after a long pause. “Maybe the rest of us should go outside for a bit until Apple Bloom finishes her potion, then? We should probably let Sweetie rest.” There were a few more seconds of silence, followed by the sound of hooves clacking on wood as my friends left the clubhouse. Well, most of them.

“Shouldn’t take much longer, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said. “This hair-of-the-dog potion doesn’t take that long to–”

“Words... “ I groaned. “No more…”

“Right, I forgot,” she said. “I’ll just be… workin’ on this potion and bein’ quiet then, I guess. You’ll be feelin’ fine in no time.”

I didn’t say anything about her still talking. If I did, she’d probably start apologizing for talking again, and that was the opposite of what I wanted. Things were quiet now, and the only sound I had to deal with was the bubbling of Apple Bloom’s potion. I could live with that.

“Alright,” she said after what felt like a beautiful eternity of silence where the only things I had to deal with were my extreme nausea and the baseline pounding in my head… Okay, it wasn’t that beautiful, I guess, but it was definitely better than listening to ponies talk and having my head somehow feel even worse. “This potion should work. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but my gut tells me this is kind of like the cider headaches it usually cures.”

“Give it,” I said, blindly sticking a hoof out to grab at it.

“Just open your mouth and tilt your head back,” Apple Bloom said. “If you’re not gonna open your eyes to see what you’re doin’, I’m not gonna give you the bottle. They’re expensive, and I don’t want you to break them.”

“Fine,” I said, getting up on my hooves and tilting my head back, making sure not to open my eyes as I moved. Opening my eyes would be extremely not good. Like, it would probably be the least good thing I could do.

“Alright,” Apple Bloom said from right next to me. “Keep your mouth open until I say you can close it, and don’t spit out any of the potion. It tastes as bad as you feel.”

I groaned. “Can you make it fast then?””

Instead of getting an answer, I felt something that tasted like broccoli covered in dirt mixed with soap and old coffee grounds with maybe a dash of cinnamon fill my mouth. Somehow, I managed to swallow it instead of vomiting immediately, but the second I swallowed, I had another mouthful to deal with, and then another, and then another.

“You can close your mouth now,” Apple Bloom said after several more gulps of what had to be poison. Was the potion supposed to be so awful it made me forget about my head, because if so… Actually, my head didn’t hurt anymore.

In one quick move, I opened my eyes and wrapped my forelegs around Apple Bloom. “Oh, thank you so much. You have no idea how much better I feel. Now, the only thing I have to deal with is the awful taste in my mouth, which–” My eyes darted to the remaining candy pile. “I think I know how to take care of.”

“Absolutely not!” Diamond Tiara said, standing at the entrance to the clubhouse. “You were just complaining about how awful you felt, and now you want to eat more candy?”

I nodded at her as I broke my hug with Apple Bloom. “Of course! Now I know there’s a cure, so I can just eat all the candy I want, then Apple Bloom can make a nasty potion to make me feel better, and then I can eat more candy to get the taste out of my mouth. It’s perfect.”

“No it isn’t,” Tiara said. “That’s... “ She sputtered before taking a deep breath and pinching her nose. “Okay, so first of all, this ‘plan’ of yours means the only thing you’ll ever do is eat candy and drink potions. Does that sound like fun…” She trailed off as she saw the look on my face. “Nevermind. Okay, new point. Your plan doesn’t leave any time for kissing me. Is that what you really–”

“No!” I yelled, sprinting towards my marefriend before wrapping my forehooves around her and planting a big fat kiss on her lips. And another. And another. And then another. Then a really long kiss where I sucked on her lips to get a really nice taste of her–

“Gross.” Scootaloo said, coming up the ramp to the clubhouse. “Sweetie, if you want to eat Tiara’s face, can you please do it somewhere not around me? Maybe your room, or… just anywhere I’m not at. I don’t want all that mushy stuff to hurt my awesomeness levels.”

“You know,” I said, breaking my kiss and giving Diamond Tiara’s cheek a little nuzzle. “I think being able to put up with mushy stuff would make you more awesome.” I gave Scootaloo my best cocky smile. “Actually, not being able to deal with ponies kissing is kind of lame.” Okay, was playing to Scootaloo’s pride the nicest thing ever? Maybe not, but it didn’t hurt her, and it led to me getting more kisses, which… who could be upset by that.

“Oh, it is so on,” Scootaloo said, matching my smile with her own. “I can deal with all the mushy stuff you throw my way and then some. In fact, I bet I’m better at dealing with mushy stuff than everypony else in this room.”

“Really?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Diamond Tiara while the rest of my friends walked back into the clubhouse. “Is that a challenge?”

“Of course,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Hit me with your best shot. If I can deal with whatever romantic mushy stuff you can think of, then no more kisses around me, but if I can’t, if I freak out or whatever, then you get to do all the kissy stuff you want from now on.”

My smile got even bigger and maybe just a tiny bit devious. This was going to be so much fun. “Okay,” I said, trying not to show my excitement. “Any rules on what I can’t do?”

“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “But you only get three shots. I’m not going to sit here and watch you make out with Tiara all day. Deal?”

“Deal,” I said, nodding my head at her before looking at the rest of my friends. “You all can leave if you want, If you want to watch as well, that’s totally fine, I just don’t want to force you to.”

Life Bloom gave me a nod of gratitude before trotting to the door. “I’d prefer to leave as many of the details of your romantic life to the imagination as possible.” She shuddered as she walked out of the clubhouse. “I saw more than enough yesterday.”

“Melody?” I asked, looking at my friend/possible other marefriend. “I’d get it if you–”

“I’m fine,” she said, her jade cheeks going red. “I’m… I wouldn’t mind staying and watching if you’re okay with it. I… uhmm… don’t mind.”

Socket looked between me and the door. “I guess I can stay,” he said, frowning. “I mean… This could be fun. Might take my mind off some stuff.” I made a mental note to ask him about what stuff he needed to take his mind off of as soon our kissing contest was done. Ooh! I was in a kissing contest, this was going to be so much fun.

“Yeah, I’m okay with stayin’ too,” Apple Bloom said, rubbing the back of her head. “You know, maybe I can learn somethin’ about kissin’ ponies. In case I ever find a special somepony.” At the last few words, she glanced briefly at the door.

“Alright,” I said, turning to look at my marefriend. “You ready?”

She gave a tiny nod, her eyes never looking away from me. I brought my lips up against hers, a long sigh escaping as I felt their heat against mine. I slipped my tongue into her mouth and she gave out a surprised gasp. At least, I think that’s what it was, it was difficult to tell with my tongue in her mouth, which, by the way, somehow made kissing even better, especially when Tiara started sucking on it. I didn’t even know you could do that.

Several minutes later, we pulled away to catch our breath and found a very unimpressed Scootaloo polishing her hooves. “I don’t think you can top that, and I’m not even a little grossed out. Looks like I already won.” My other friends had a harder time concealing their reactions. Melody couldn’t seem to look away from me, Apple Bloom was looking at everything but me, and Socket was staring off at the wall, his wings extended out.

Shoot, that was probably the best kiss we’d ever had. Just feeling Tiara’s saliva on my lips made me all tingly. Maybe if I– My eyes lit up as an idea entered my head. I whispered my plan in Tiara’s ear and she gave a reluctant nod. “Fine, but we’re having our big relationship talk as soon as this is over, understand?”

I nodded at her before turning to Melody. “Uhmm… Melody, do you want to help me win my bet with Scootaloo? I mean, we’re going to be talking about us dating later today, anyways, right?”

“What?” Melody asked, jumping back in surprise. “I’m sorry, do you mean… You want to kiss me? Now? In front of your friends?”

“If that’s okay with you,” I said, giving a small smile to my friend. “If not, I totally under–”

“No, no, that’s fine,” she said, taking a few steps towards me. “So… what do I do? Do I just press my lips against yours or–”

“Really, Sweetie?” Scootaloo said from her spot next to the crusading table. “If kissing your marefriend didn’t work, what makes you think kissing somepony else is?”

I turned and smiled at her. “Watch and see. Or, I guess you can forfeit now, if you want.”

She laughed. “You know I’m not going to surrender, right?”

“That’s what I was hoping to hear,” I said, giving a tiny giggle that didn’t sound anything like my double’s crazy giggle before kissing Melody. It was crazy how different Melody and Tiara’s kissing style was Tiara was like a partner, you kissed her and she kissed back, but kissing Melody was like… butter, if that makes any sense. The second I touched her, she just melted into me, and I actually had to keep her up. It was still really nice, just different by a lot.

My head lowered as Melody twisted her body around so that I was almost on top of her when I felt the warm touch of Tiara’s lips swallow up my horn. Her tongue traced my horn’s spiral, and my left back leg kicked up. as a moan came from my mouth and got caught in Melody’s throat. My whole body burned from Melody and Tiara’s combined touch while my mind slipped into a nice happy void.

“That was… fun,” Melody said as our kiss ended. I gave her an empty distracted smile in agreement. Kissing was fun, and being kissed by multiple ponies was… funner. I giggled as my brain turned over the fun-ness of kissing. Why didn’t ponies just kiss all the time? I mean, besides the fact that they’d eventually starve to death, which I guess is an okay reason for not kissing all the time, but you could definitely still kiss a lot of the time.

“Hey…” I said as I started remembering that there was a world outside of kissing. “What happened to Apple Bloom and… and…” I trailed off as my brain went back to thinking about kissing.

“Socket,” Tiara said. Right, I could think about kissing later, right now I had a contest to win, and Scootaloo was… frowning slightly as she glanced at the floor.

“They left, because that was… Obviously, I’m cool enough to deal with it, but I can totally see how they aren’t. In fact, I bet most ponies couldn’t deal with seeing you kiss and make those noises, so unless you can somehow top that, I guess I win and don’t have to deal with seeing you do anything like that again. Not that it bugs me of course, I’m totally cool enough to see ponies kiss,” Scootaloo said, looking at a point just below where I was standing.

Shoot! That was pretty much my best shot. If seeing me kiss somepony while another pony gave me a horn kiss… How could I top that? Maybe if I had my entire class with me or had asked Rarity to give me the other half of that talk, then maybe, but I’m pretty sure that if I left the clubhouse, I’d lose the game.

“So,” Scootaloo said, still making sure not to look at me. “You forfeit? Because if you can top that, you’re totally crazy. Not in a bad way, but... Do you feel any shame though?”

“Of course I do,” I said, taking a step forward and feeling my cheeks get hot. We’d just made up and I really didn’t want us to get in another fight. “I feel shame when I do something bad, but kissing is… it’s the exact opposite of bad. It’s super fun and absolutely nopony gets hurt doing it. Why should I feel shame for doing something that good?”

“Well, it’s just…” She paused and stared at her own hooves. Ugh! Maybe if she’d been kissed before, she’d get why kissing was so awesome, and… The idea bulb in my head lit up, and before Scootaloo could do anything, my lips were against hers. For a second, her whole body went tense and her rough lips refused to open up, but then something completely happened: She kissed back, and the inside of her lips were just as soft as Tiara’s and Melody’s.

She didn’t just kiss back though, not like Melody who melted under my kiss or Tiara who pushed back as hard as I did, kissing Scootaloo was like kissing an incoming wave that just kind of washed completely over you. It was… I totally get why Melody melted under my kisses. Now, if I could get somepony to kiss my horn while Scootaloo kissed me… I think I might be in heaven.

A second (or a minute?) later, we pulled away from each other, and I had to make sure I wasn’t just floating in the air. I wasn’t. At some point during our kiss, Scootaloo’s wings had popped open, and my friend looked completely shocked. “What… just happened?”

“I kissed you,” I said, smiling at my friend, “and then you kissed me back, and you’re actually a really good kisser, and was that your first time, because if so, you should definitely get a special somepony as soon as possible and practice kissing as much as possible, because you could really be great at it.”

“Yeah… no,” Scootaloo said, still looking shocked. “I mean… what the hay just happened?”

“I think… Sweetie won the bet,” Melody said from the same spot she’d been standing at when I’d kissed her.

“Oh! You’re right,” I said, spinning around to look at her and… the blank spot where Tiara used to be. “What happened to Tia?” I asked, looking back at Melody.

“She… uhmm… she left when you kissed Scootaloo. I think she was pretty upset,” Melody said, her eyes still kind of glazed over from the kiss.

“Shoot!” I said, trotting to the exit. “Scootaloo, are you okay if I leave you alone for a minute? I just need to make sure Tia’s okay.” Yeah, Other Me definitely had a good idea referring to her as Tia.

“I… just… what happened? Did I kiss back… why did I do that? Did I… No, I couldn’t have,” she said, still staring off at a place that didn’t exist.

“I can keep an eye on her,” Melody said, giving me a reassuring smile as I headed down to where Tiara was standing and scowling at the sky. I know I probably should’ve told her what I wanted to do before I did it, but I needed to surprise Scootaloo, and I kind of did it for Tiara, so I don’t really see what the big deal is. It’s not like I hurt her.

“Hey,” I said, as she spun around to glare at me. “I guess you’re kind of upset.”

“You think?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “But what could possibly upset me?”

“Probably that I kissed Scootaloo without asking you,” I said, frowning at her. “I mean, I think that’d upset you, but if I did something else wrong instead, then I’m totally sorry.”

“And are you sorry for kissing Scootaloo?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at me. Was this our first big fight? Were we supposed to do something special to celebrate it? Because most other relationship firsts had you do something special. Usually kisses, but I didn’t think that would be appropriate.

“I’m… sorry for upsetting you,” I said, giving her a smile. If I apologized, everything would be okay and we could go back to kissing.

“But… you’re not sorry for kissing her. If you had to do it again, you would, right?” she asked, but it sounded like she already knew the answer to that question.

“... Yeah, but… I did it for us. Now we can kiss in front of Scootaloo as much as we want. It’s not like I wanted to kiss Scootaloo.” Although I didn’t not want to. It was an unexpected bonus.

Tiara took a deep breath. “But… you just don’t care, do you? It’s like… if one of your friends asked you to kiss them, the only reason you wouldn’t want to is because it would upset me, right?”

“That’s a dumb question,” I said, frowning and taking a step towards her. I wanted to kiss her to cheer her up, but my stomach told me that that wouldn’t help things at all. Besides being really fun. “Of course I’d want to kiss other ponies, but I generally don’t because we’re dating, and I know you don’t like it.”

She took another calming breath. “Sweetie, I’m really trying not to be controlling and possessive, and I’m willing to try you dating Melody as well, but I just… I can’t see you go around kissing other ponies like that. It’s… I have to go home and think, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait!” I squeaked as she started trotting off. “I’ll walk with you, and we can talk this out and everything will be fine, I promise. I don’t want you to be upset with me.”

“I know,” she said, stopping her walk and sighing. “You don’t want to hurt anypony, but what we want is really different. You want to kiss lots of ponies and have as much fun as possible, and I want… Well, I want you, and I hate seeing you kiss somepony else, although… you know I’m trying to be...”

“I know,” I said, nuzzling against her neck. “And I really want to make you happy, I just… I also like kissing other ponies. Your kisses and Melody’s kisses and Scootaloo’s kisses are all so different and good, it feels wrong to not experience them. It’s… Kissing other ponies doesn’t hurt anyone.”

“Look,” Tiara said, pulling away from me and resuming her walk home, “I just… I want to be alone right now, so I can think everything through.”

“We’re not breaking up though, right?” I asked, feeling my eyes suddenly get wet. Luckily, Tiara had got me that water-resistant makeup a few weeks ago, otherwise I would have had to hold back the wave of tears that were going to hit me in about… thirty seconds, I figured.

“No,” she said as she trotted off into the apple orchard. “I promise we aren’t going to break up over this.” She turned back and gave me a tiny smile. “I know you’re not going to like this, and I don’t like making you upset, but right now, the only thing I know is that I need some time to think, and I can’t do that with you around for… a lot of reasons, actually.” She trotted back and gave me a kiss on the cheek, but it didn’t feel as good as it usually did. “We’ll talk Sunday, and everything will be fine, so… try not to get too upset tonight. I’m sure your friends will cheer you up.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled as Tiara walked away. “And I am sorry for upsetting you.”

“I know,” she said as she trotted over a hill, leaving me to sit alone under the clubhouse and cry. I was right when I guessed it would take me thirty seconds to start sobbing.

***

“Uhmm… do you want to talk?” Melody asked from behind me while I continued to sob. How long had it been since Tiara left? An hour? Several? “Scootaloo and I heard you crying and I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Then… then… why did you wait an hour before coming down?” I asked between sobs.

“You… it’s only been a few minutes, Sweetie, and we just heard you crying a few seconds ago. I came down as soon as I could,” Melody said, stepping around one of the black-tinged puddles that had formed next to me. I guess water-resistant makeup doesn’t hold up against my sobs.

“So…” Melody said, looking from me to the puddle of makeup tears to the otherwise empty orchard. “I’m guessing things didn’t go well with Tiara?”

I shook my head. “That’s… yeah, she’s pretty upset with me for kissing Scootaloo, and I don’t get why, because I only did it so we could win the contest and kiss around Scootaloo. Well, mostly.”

Melody took a deep breath. “You do understand why she’s upset with you, right?”

“Yeah… I understand, but… I don’t get it. Kissing’s fun! Really fun. Everypony enjoys it, and it doesn’t hurt anypony. At least, it shouldn’t,” I said, frowning. I really like Diamond Tiara, but I just… what’s the big deal about me kissing other ponies? And why do the all the stories just say you can have one special somepony? That just seems like it would lead to hurt feelings and other not fun stuff.

“But you… You care about Tiara’s feelings, right?” Melody asked.

“Of course,” I said, nodding my head. “Just because I don’t understand them doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore them. I want her to be happy. I want everypony to be happy, but I don’t think I’m doing a very good job of it.”

“I’m pretty happy,” Melody said, giving me a small smile. “And I have you to thank for it. Maybe some ponies are upset with you right now, but I’m sure they’ll come around. As long as ponies care for each other, everything will be fine, and I don’t think you’ll ever stop caring about somepony, so that’s half of what you need. The other half, you can’t control.”

“Thanks,” I said, giving her a smile. “I just wish I could do something to make Tiara feel better, but instead she just wants to sit in her room and think.”

“Then let her think. You said the same thing to me a month ago when Scootaloo stormed out of the cafeteria and…I think you were right about that,” Melody said, patting me gently on the back.

“But it took a month for me and Scootaloo to make up, and that only happened because she faced down her double. I can’t wait for next Nightmare Night to make up with Diamond Tiara, I’ll probably go crazy without having somepony to kiss, and she’s really good at…” I trailed off as I remembered who I was talking to. “Oh, I mean… I could kiss you, I guess, I was planning on doing it anyways, so if Diamond Tiara and I spent an entire year fighting, I’d have you at least–”

I stopped as I realized how awful that sounded. The fact that Melody looked like I’d slapped her just proved me right. “Not to… I don’t think you’re less than Diamond Tiara, I just really wanted to date both of you, I’m… sorry for that. I might have been talking faster than I was thinking.”

“It’s fine,” Melody said, the look of pain on her face slowly vanishing. “You didn’t mean anything, and you apologized. Just… I don’t know, if we start dating, could you maybe… not make me feel like I’m less important to you than Diamond Tiara?”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, nodding my head at her and smiling while remembering Diamond Tiara’s request that I let any potential partners know she was the most important. I could… probably get it so everything worked out fine. I mean, maybe if I could get Tiara and Melody to start really dating each other, Tiara wouldn’t mind it so much if I liked Melody just as much as her.

“Okay,” she said, going back to giving me a smile. “I think… I think Scootaloo wants to talk to you. Are you okay now?”

I nodded at her and beamed. “Thanks to you, I am. I would totally still be here sobbing and thinking about… about…” I sniffled for a second. “I should probably go talk to Scootaloo.”

“That’d be good,” she said, nodding her head in agreement. “I’ll just be… heading back to the academy, I guess. I’ll see you Sunday?”

“Alright,” I said, waving a hoof after her as she trotted off. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Great, I thought as I headed upstairs, now it’s just me and–

“You kissed me!” Scootaloo yelled as I walked into the clubhouse, her wings flaring out slightly at the mention of the kiss. “Why the hay would you do that?”

“To… win the bet,” I said, taking a seat next to one of the four remaining candy piles in the room. Shoot. Diamond Tiara and Melody left in such a hurry they forgot their candy. I’d have to get that back to them, what’s the point of the day after Nightmare Night if you can’t spend it eating candy?

“But why’d you think that was okay?” she sputtered. “It’s… there are boundaries, Sweetie Belle.”

“And I normally wouldn’t just kiss you, but you said anything went and I wanted to win the bet. I’m sorry for upsetting you, but you didn’t say I couldn’t kiss you in the rules,” I said, smiling at her.

“Because I didn’t think I needed to! Kissing me is like… Something your double would do,” she said, frowning as she realized the problem with that statement. “Okay, and I get that you kind of are your double, but you also said you didn’t want to be like her. And guess what? You look a lot like her from where I’m standing.”

“That’s not fair!” I squeaked, losing my smile for a second. “I said I didn’t just want to use ponies to get what I want or… Oh… I kind of did do that, didn’t I?”

She nodded. “Yep. But hey, you won the bet.”

“Okay! I’m sorry for upsetting you, I didn’t mean to, I just wanted to–”

Scootaloo rubbed her forehead. “Win the competition, I know, and I know I said anything goes, but maybe you could ask before you kiss me next time?”

“Ooh! Does that mean you want me to kiss you again, because I can definitely bring that up with Tiara and Melody when we have our big talk. I’m sure they’ll love to have you join our… what do you call a group of ponies that are dating? A herd? I think I heard that somewhere…” I giggled. “Heard. Herd. Heard herd. Heardherd. Can you hear the difference?”

Scootaloo stared at me and rubbed her forehead. “No… I mean, yes, I can hear the difference, but I don’t want you to kiss me again, alright?”

My giggling stopped and I frowned at her. “You mean you didn’t like kissing me? I thought you were a really great kisser, and… you had fun, right?”

Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to think of something to say. “Me enjoying or not enjoying it isn’t the issue. The issue is you’re already dating somepony – or someponies, I’m not sure where you are with Melody yet – and I just… My gut tells me this is going to end with somepony really getting their feelings hurt, and I’m afraid it’s going to be you. You are pretty sensitive.”

“I am not!” I said, “I’m just as tough as you are.”

Scootaloo just raised an eyebrow and pointed at the streaks of makeup that were staining my cheeks. “Alright, maybe not,” I said, frowning at her. “But nopony’s going to get hurt. I mean, it’s just ponies who care about each other having fun together. How could that end poorly? Nopony can get hurt by kissing or dating.”

“Diamond Tiara did,” Scootaloo said, sighing and taking a seat next to me. “Look, maybe you can work this out and everything will be fine, but my gut is saying this is going to end with everything going up in flames, and I don’t want to add to that.”

I frowned and nodded. “But… you do want to date me, right? It sounds like you do, but just don’t want to get involved because you think ponies dating multiple ponies is a really bad idea, which is silly because it’s totally the best idea ever. I mean, if you date multiple ponies, you never have to worry about love triangles, and… Ooh! I know just how to solve Apple Bloom, Life Bloom, and Socket’s problem.”

“Stop right there,” Scootaloo said. “Do we need to have another talk about how you shouldn’t meddle in other ponies love lives?”

“But that was before I started dating,” I said, groaning and tapping a forehoof on the ground. “Now I’m the relationship expert in the group, and I really think I could solve all their problems if the three of them just started dating.”

She just shook her head. “Sweetie, I saw the fight they had when Life Bloom’s double said she had a crush on Apple Bloom, or I saw the start of that fight, and let me tell you that it’s super complicated, and… how did you know about that love triangle?”

“Time loop,” I said, shrugging. “I spent a loop trying to set you and Socket up, and it ended with everypony getting really upset with each other.”

“And… you just proved my point,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. “Promise me you won’t try to get them to start dating each other?”

“Fiiiiiine,” I groaned. “I promise I won’t try to convince them to start dating each other.” But if I nudged things so that they happened that way, I wouldn’t be breaking my promise, and that way everypony could be happy. Okay, yes, right now, Diamond Tiara really doesn’t like the idea of me dating other ponies, but I know I can convince her to come around. Who doesn’t like more kisses?

“Anyways,” I said, lighting my horn up and floating Tiara and Melody’s candy into separate bags, “I should probably get this candy back to them. We’re… okay though, right?”

She nodded. “As long as you don’t kiss me again, we’re great. I’ll even scooter you over to Diamond Tiara’s place and the Academy.”

“Really?” I asked as I floated the bags over to me. “Are you sure?”

“Well, I did get my cutie mark for being awesome on the scooter as well as awesome in general, so it would be pretty lame if I didn’t help you out,” she said, wiggling her flank to show off her cutie mark.

Shoot! I’d completely forgotten to do anything to celebrate her getting her cutie mark. Sure, it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since she’d gotten it, but still, she was my best friend and we’d just made up from a huge fight and… “What if we have an ice-cream social at Sugarcube Corner tomorrow, it’ll be my treat. Wait… no, an ice-cream social is what I’d want to celebrate my cutie mark… or just in general, I guess. Anyways, how do you want to celebrate getting your cutie mark?”

She shrugged as we headed out of the clubhouse. “I don’t know, it’s funny, it doesn’t actually feel that special, you know? Like… when I look back at it, I kind of feel like a big idiot for not realizing it sooner, but I was just so hung up on flying that I couldn’t see what I was actually good at.”

“I know,” I said, as we reached Scootaloo’s scooter. “I mean, for me, I don’t feel like I actually did anything special, and instead just realized something about myself. It’s… actually not as big a thing as we made it out to be, is it?”

She shook her head as she hitched a wagon to her scooter. “Yes and no. It’s like… I know who I am now, but I haven’t changed. Kind of makes me regret all those years we spent doing every crazy thing we could think of… Would any of us actually be happy if we got cutie marks in – I don’t know – ziplining?”

I laughed as I recalled the, I think it was like, fourth time we got completely covered in tree sap. “Maybe… If we did get our cutie marks in ziplining, then I guess we would be because it’s our special talent, but… I get your point.”

She smiled at me as I hopped on the back of the wagon. “Glad to hear it. So, where do you want us to go first?”

“I thought we could go to Diamond Tiara’s and drop her candy off on her doorstep first, and then head to the dorms. Thanks again for helping me,” I said as I floated the left behind bags of candy onto the wagon.

“No worries,” Scootaloo said as she put on her helmet. “Figured it’s the least I could do after being such a jerk this last month.” She flicked her wings as she spoke, which she never did unless something was bothering her or unless she was about to start scootering, but I’m pretty sure it was the former in this case.

“It’s fine,” I said as she got onto her scooter. “What’s bothering you?”

“You mean besides the fact that I spent the last month being a huge jerk to my best friend?” she asked, looking back at me and rolling her eyes. “Nothing, Why would anything else be bugging me?”

“You were flickering your wings. You always do that when something’s bugging you,” I said, deciding not to mention the other reason she flicked her wings. It probably wouldn’t help my argument that much.

“We’re about to take off. Of course, I’m flicking my wings, I don’t want to get a cramp while we’re racing through town,” she said, turning to look back ahead of her and buzzing her wings. “Now hold on tight.”

“Something’s bugging you,” I said, holding the candy bags tight against me and getting as flat against the wagon’s surface as I could as we took off through the orchard. “I’m not going to drop this until you tell me what’s on your mind!” I yelled as loud as I could, trying to be heard over the sound of the wind.

“I know!” Scootaloo yelled back. “If you really want to get into it, can we talk about it when I’m not racing through an apple orchard at speeds that are literally breakneck?”

I nodded at her before remembering she couldn’t see me unless she wanted to risk running into an apple tree. “Fine!” I yelled as loud as I could. “What do you have in mind?”

She laughed as she ducked under a low-hanging branch. “Actually, I thought we could talk over shakes at Sugarcube Corner. That is, if you’re up for more sweets.”

Did she even have to ask?

***

“You sure you don’t want me to pay?” Scootaloo asked as we took our seats at Sugarcube Corner, Melody’s bag of candy sitting next to me. “I figure after everything I put you through, the least I can do to apologize is pay for your shake.” She frowned and looked down at her shake. “At least have me do something to show how sorry I am.”

“But you don’t need to,” I said, taking my first sip of my vanilla cream shake. Obviously, it was delicious. Did that even need to be said at this point? I mean, it’s a vanilla cream shake. “You apologized, it’s clear you’re sorry, and I just want things to get back to normal. Besides, having you pay for dessert is silly. Why would I have you pay when I’m making bits and you’re not? That would just be mean.”

Scootaloo winced. “That’s… that’s the problem though, not the bit thing, but I don’t think things can go back to how they were before. I mean, you’re definitely dating Tiara, probably going to start dating Melody, and… are there any other ponies you have an eye on?”

“Nope,” I said, shaking my head between sips of my shake. “Unless you’re interested. I mean, you’re my best friend and I’m sure Tiara would be totally fine with–”

“Gonna stop you there, Sweetie,” Scootaloo said, putting a hoof up. “Still not interested in joining… whatever it is you have planned. You’re just so sensitive, I can’t see this ending any way other than bad.”

I frowned at that.

“Not that I’m saying you shouldn’t do it,” Scootaloo added. “I think I lost whatever right I had to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do over the last month. I just don’t want to make things worse, you know?”

“Okay,” I said, slowly nodding my head. “But! If I wasn’t dating anypony, would that change your mind? I mean, do you not want to date me because I’d also be dating other ponies, or do you just not want to date me?”

Scootaloo sighed and rubbed her head. “Can we please talk about something else?”

“Come on,” I groaned, gesturing my arms dramatically. “I know you enjoyed it when I kissed you; if you didn’t, you wouldn’t have kissed back, so what’s the issue?” I might have said that a bit louder than I meant to, as several other ponies in the bakery turned to look in our direction. Whoops.

“Sweetie, we were just fighting yesterday, and now you’re asking why I don’t want to date you? Can’t we just… enjoy being friends again? That’s all I want,” Scootaloo said, slinking low in our booth.

“Fine,” I groaned. “But if I was single, you’d be up for it, right?”

“Sweetie!”

“Sorry… It’s just, you know, we’re best friends. Why wouldn’t we date? There’s not something wrong with me is there?” I said, taking a sip of my milkshake. At least I had my milkshake to cheer me up.

She gave a heavy sigh. “No, besides this conversation going on way longer than I’d like, there’s nothing wrong with you.”

“Alright,” I said, frowning and deciding we could talk about why she did or didn’t want to date me later. “So… what’s on your mind? It’s been so long since we caught up, I don’t know how you’re doing. How have you been?”

Scootaloo smiled at me. “That sounds like the Sweetie I know, and honestly… well, I’ve been a lot better since yesterday, although...“ She trailed off, not wanting to say what was on her mind. I didn’t need to ask. “Well, I’m trying to be better. What’s up with you?”

“I’m guessing you don’t want to hear about me dating Tiara and Melody?” I asked, looking up from my shake at her.

She nodded. “Please.”

“Hmm, well…” I said, tapping my chin when a terrible thought suddenly entered my head. “Apple Bloom.”

Scootaloo groaned and rubbed her forehead. “Please don’t tell me you want to date her too.”

“What? No! I mean… I wouldn’t be against the idea, but Life Bloom has a crush on her, and she has that crush on Socket, and I just don’t see Apple Bloom being up for dating multiple ponies, but if she wanted to, that would totally be fun,” I said, thinking over the pros and cons to adding Apple Bloom to my dating group. She was a great friend, and it would probably be really fun going out with her, but she already had her own love triangle to deal with, and I didn’t think she had a crush on me.

“Okay,” Scootaloo said, nodding at me as she took another sip of her shake. “Just… wanted to make sure. What’s on your mind with her?”

I frowned in thought, trying to make sure I had my argument planned out perfectly. “Twist.”

Scootaloo stared at me in confusion, as I realized that my argument might need just a bit more to it than one word. “Her old friend, Twist. The two of them stopped talking after Twist got her cutie mark, and…” I trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.

“You think now that we have our cutie marks, she’ll stop talking to us?” Scootaloo asked, finishing the thought for me. I nodded at her.

“Maybe…” I said, looking down into my shake. “Maybe we’re good enough friends that she won’t leave us, but… something tells me she isn’t going to take this well.”

“Really?” Scootaloo asked, tilting her head. “She seemed fine to me this afternoon. I think you might be overthinking things.”

“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “Maybe we can do something nice for her to show that we’ll still be her friends even if she doesn’t have a cutie mark. Ooh! Maybe we can help her get her cutie mark. That’s what the Crusaders are all about, right?”

“And just how would we do that?” Scootaloo asked as I took a big slurp of vanilla shake. “We already know her talent involves potion making or something, she knows it, so what else we can do?”

“Ooh! We could figure out why she hasn’t had the epiphany yet and then help her with that,” I said, looking up from my shake at her.

“That doesn’t sound right,” Scootaloo said, scrunching up her forehead. “Isn’t the whole point of a cutie mark figuring it out for yourself? Besides, how are we supposed to figure out whatever’s holding Apple Bloom back? We can’t exactly get inside her head.”

“I don’t know,” I said, frowning. “But… you saw her other self, right? You know, the Nightmare Night one? What was she about?”

Scootaloo tapped her chin. “Let’s see, her other her… She was really angry at the real Apple Bloom. Said she was abandoning the family tradition, that she just had to accept her cutie mark was going to be something about apples.”

“Well, other her does have a point. Our names kind of foreshadowed our talents, didn’t they? Your special talent is scootering–”

“Being awesome on my scooter,” my friend corrected.

I sighed and nodded. “Right, and your name’s Scootaloo. My voice sounds nice, and my name’s Sweetie Belle. Okay, so it has an extra ‘e’ at the end, but bells also sound nice, so there’s… kind of a link.”

“Yeah, I kind of see your point, but… look at Rainbow Dash and her friends, they aren’t defined by their names. Yes, Rainbow Dash is awesome, and her name is awesome, but that’s not her talent,” Scootaloo said as I took another slurp of my shake. There weren’t that many slurps left.

“No, but her talent does involve going fast, and if you do something in a dash, you do it fast,” I said, tilting my head to look up at her.

“Fine,” Scootaloo said, flicking her wings. “But… Oh! I’ve got it. Fluttershy, sure she’s shy, but her name doesn’t have anything to do with taking care of animals. And, Pinkie Pie’s name doesn’t relate to parties. I suppose you could argue that Rarity’s name kind of relates to fashion, but really, her name could apply to anything that’s… well, you know, rare.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding my head and admitting her point. “So her talent doesn’t have to be about apples, but names usually describe something about the pony, right?”

“Sure,” Scootaloo said, finishing her shake. How did she finish her shake before me? Sure, maybe I was trying to savor it and make it last, but still, I wasn’t being that slow. “I don’t think anypony can argue that.”

“So… Okay, what does her name describe about her? The fact that her family’s really into apples? That doesn’t make much sense though, because… our names describe us, not our family. Even if family is important to her, her name shouldn’t just relate to them, right?” I said, before taking several big gulps of milkshake to try to keep up with Scootaloo. The resulting brainfreeze wasn’t worth it… like, at all.

“You alright, Sweetie?” Scootaloo asked as the icepick lodged in my brain melted. I gave her a nod as I sat back up. “Alright,” she said after another long pause. “Well… I guess I get your point, but I don’t think we should assume her special talent is about apples just because the word’s in her name. You see how good she is at potion making. If that’s what she wants to do instead of growing apples, then I say we let her.”

“Alright,” I mumbled, giving the treacherous brainfreeze-causing milkshake a glare. “But we’re Crusaders, we should be helping her get her cutie mark, so…” I paused to think as the last traces of my brainfreeze melted. “We… assume – that’s the word I’m looking for, right?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Should be, depends on how it’s used though,” she said, idly pushing her straw around the empty glass.”

“Right, we assume she’s going to get a potion-making cutie mark, and then figure out… you know, what’s holding her back. It can be like one of those mystery novels Twilight likes reading so much.”

“Ooh, I love mysteries!” Pinkie yelled, hopping out from nowhere. “I even have hats you can borrow.” She pulled a deerstalker cap and bowler hat out from somewhere and set it down on the table. “Who wants to be the great detective and who wants to be the bumbling sidekick?”

“I want to be whichever pony gets to wear the bowler hat,” I squeaked, my eyes firmly fixed on the black hat.

“Bumbling sidekick it is,” Pinkie said, lifting the round hat up and flipping it onto my head. It landed perfectly on my head, and even had a cute tilt to it. At least, I think it did; I’d have to check in the mirror to make sure, but it definitely felt right on my head. Even if I had to be the bumbling sidekick, it was still a really nice hat. Scootaloo grabbed her deerstalker and put it on, making sure the ear flaps were pinned up.

“Looks good,” Pinkie said, looking between us. “It just needs one little thing to be perfect.” Before we could ask what it was, she pulled a hoof-sized wooden object out of the air and put it next to Scootaloo. “Bubble pipe, for when you have to do all your heavy deducing.” She giggled. “Deducing. Heh. That’s a funny word.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna pass, if that’s okay. Don’t really feel like carrying a toy around in my mouth all day. I might need it for something else, like talking.”

“I’ll take it,” I said before Pinkie could put it back wherever she spawned it, I grabbed the wooden pipe with my magic and bit the tip of it. “How do I look, Scootaloo?”

She smirked. “Fine, kind of funny, but not bad funny, more like… Maybe you should take a picture of yourself and show it to Diamond Tiara.”

“Are you trying to say I look cute?” I asked, flashing her a tiny smile that didn’t risk my pipe falling.

“I’m saying we should get going… can we please get going?” she said, looking between me and Pinkie.

“Sure,” I said, floating the pipe out of my mouth and finishing my shake. “Pinkie, do you have a mirror I can use?”

She nodded and pulled a tiny mirror out of her mane, turning it so I could look at myself. My makeup was still completely ruined from my earlier crying session – I’d have to fix that later – but the hat looked fine. It would look even better if I tilted it a smidge more to the right, though. My horn lit up with light-green almost-white magic as I made the necessary adjustment. “Perfect,” I said, giving my reflection a tiny nod of approval. Plus, my crying had washed all my eyeshadow off, so at least it didn’t look all streaky and raccoon-ey. That was a huge plus. “Hey, Scootaloo, do you think we can stop by Rarity’s so I can reapply my makeup?” I asked, looking from my reflection to my friend.

“Will it take less than ten minutes?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. I shook my head. “Then no.”

“Fine,” I said, giving her my best pout. It didn’t seem to change her opinion. “But… since we’re going to be doing the whole mystery thing, do you think we can…”

“No,” she said before I could finish the thought.

“Please?”

She shook her head.

“Pleeeaaaaseee?”

“Alright,” she said with a sigh. “But I’m only gonna do this once, so we better make it a good one.”

I gave her a huge smile as the two of us simultaneously jumped into the air. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS! YAY!”

“Ooh!” I said as the two of us landed back on the ground. “Do you think we can drop Melody’s candy off at her dorm before we start investigating?”

Scootaloo just sighed.

***

I knocked on Melody’s door and heard somepony moving around. The door opened to reveal a weirdly-familiar orange pegasus with a red, flowing mane and a golden smiling mask for a cutie mark. She looked at me and smirked. “Nice hat.”

“You’re not Melody,” I said in confusion, looking at her and ignoring her compliment. It was a nice hat though. Maybe I could talk with Rarity and see if bowler hats were supposed to be in this season.

She rolled her brown-red eyes. “No, and hello to you too, Sweetie Belle.”

“Wait, how do you know my name?” I asked as she continued blocking the path into the room. Wasn’t she going to invite me in?

Melody’s roommate raised an eyebrow. “Really?” she asked. “We’ve been in the same class for two months and you don’t recognize me?” She sighed. “I suppose I’m not too surprised considering all the time you spend sitting in the corner staring at your marefriend.”

I paused as I finally figured out how I knew her. “Oh! I know you, you’re the Las Pegasus pegasus… D-something, right? Daring? Daisy? Dain–”

“Dazzler,” she said, interrupting me. “My name’s Dazzler.”

“Right,” I said, nodding my head and forming a mn– a device to remember. “Dazzler, you’re from Las Pegasus, so you’re dazzling like a showmare.”

She scoffed. “Not likely, I’d rather die than dance in a chorus line,” she said, her voice tinged with anger. “Anyways, I’ll try to hurry Melody out of the bath. She’s been in there too long, anyways.” Dazzler shook her head. “Whatever she did with you today must’ve been exhausting because she’s been bathing since she got back.” She looked back at me as she headed towards the bathroom door. “What’s in the bag, anyways?”

“Nightmare Night candy,” I said, looking at the bag floating next to me. “Melody left hers at the clubhouse today, so I’m bringing it back for her. Is it okay if I come in?”

“Fine,” she said as she trotted over to the bathroom door. “You can sit on her side of the room.” She pointed a hoof to the side of the room opposite her. Both sides of the room were pretty neat, but Melody’s side was covered in half-penned sheet music and classic novels, while Dazzler’s didn’t have any loose papers or books on it at all.

Dazzler knocked on the door. “Sweetie Belle’s here for you,” she said before turning back to look at me. “I suppose I should ask if you want something to drink. We have water and… we have water.”

“I’m fine,” I said, flashing her my friendliest smile I could. My stomach told me she needed a friend. It also told me I needed another milkshake, but that wasn’t important right now. “So! Dazzler, why haven’t we hung out before? We both like acting, right? Or, at least we share a class, and if you’re Melody’s roommate, I’m sure we can have you join the Crusaders. Do you have any friends here yet?”

“I do,” she said as she took a seat at her desk. “Plenty of friends. I’m not looking for more. That should answer your first question.”

“Come on,” I said, frowning. “Who doesn’t want more friends? I just had two friends when the semester started, but now I have six, and I’d totally be fine with making it seven.”

“I’ll pass,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Sweetie, I’m sure you’re a perfectly fine mare, and I bet the rest of your friends enjoy your incessant unending enthusiasm, but it annoys me.” She gave me a critical glare and nodded.

“But why?” I asked. “I’m really good at cheering up ponies, and I’m a great friend, just ask Melody. Come on, let me at least try to cheer you up.”

Dazzler rolled her eyes. “Doubtful. Sweetie, do you see my cutie mark? It’s an image of… Nevermind, you probably don’t know who that is. It’s the comedy mask. My special talent is making ponies laugh. I don’t need somepony to cheer me up.”

“Really?” I asked, tilting my head. “Because you’ve done nothing but frown since I got here. Come on, let me cheer you up.”

She took a deep breath like Twilight does when she’s trying to calm herself. “No. I’m going to have to decline the offer. If you could just… sit in silence until your friend finishes her bath, I’d be appreciative.”

“Come on,” I said, gesturing dramatically with one hoof. “What can I do to get you to like me?”

Dazzler’s eye twitched. “I suppose that if you really wanted me to like you, you could…”

“Yes?” I asked, enthusiasm creeping into my voice.

“Fundamentally change everything about yourself.”

“What?” I felt like I’d been hit with a sledgehammer. And then hit with another sledgehammer. And another. Then a few more for good measure. She didn’t like anything about me? How could that even be possible?

“You really want to know?” Dazzler asked, narrowing her eyes at me? “Fine, let’s run down the list, shall we? First of all, you’re a burden in acting class. Sure, you’ve improved substantially over the last two months, but that doesn’t change the fact that you shouldn’t be there. Mr. Marelon had it right when he said you’re only here because the school’s providing free education to Ponyville residents, and now your special talent is apparently singing – which, correct me if I’m wrong, doesn’t relate to acting in the slightest.”

“It could… Maybe if I did a musical,” I squeaked out as she took a breath.

“Then, there’s the fact that you replaced our actually competent teacher with a mare who spends most of her time talking about mythological creatures instead of acting, because you didn’t like him, and you’re friends with the Headmistress. My talent lies in moving the hearts and minds of other ponies, and you getting Mr. Marelon fired is keeping me from improving.”

“But Mr. Marelon was a jerk. He made pretty much everypony in class cry,” I said, feeling my eyes water as she mentioned a name I was trying to forget.

“Yes, he was a jerk, but I didn’t come here because I wanted to make friends, I came here because I wanted to learn,” Dazzler said, glaring at me. “I wanted to learn how to act better, and Mr. Marelon was wonderful at that. Also! He didn’t make everypony in class cry, just you and your marefriend; the two ponies who had absolutely no reason to be in his class. Now, everypony in that class is worse off because of you.

“Beyond that… let’s see, I spent the last two months listening to Melody pine for you whenever we talked, while you seemed completely oblivious to her infatuation, you’re completely oblivious to the feelings of those around you, you’re annoyingly upbeat, you expect everypony to like you, you’re frivolous, and your hat is idiot–” She stopped talking as the bathroom door opened, a smile quickly forming on her face.

“Melody, your friend is as nice as you described her. It’s amazing we never talked in our acting class, isn’t it, Sweetie?” She flashed me a smile as I stared at her in shock. How could she go from so mean to happy so fast? Not even Diamond Tiara at her worst was that good.

I nodded in Dazzler’s general direction. “Uh-huh,” I said, still trying to figure out what happened.

“Well, I really should give you the two of you some privacy,” she said, getting up on her hooves and trotting to the door before flashing us another smile. “I’ll see you both later.”

The door closed, leaving Melody and me alone. “So…” I said, looking at Melody, who was still soaked from her bath. She looked cute wet. “Is she normally like that?”

Melody nodded. “Mostly. It took her a while to warm up to me, but once she did… She’s pretty much the only friend I have in Ponyville besides you girls.” She smiled at me. “It means a lot to me that the two of you get along.”

I gave her a tiny little smile. “Yeah… it’s great. You know me, we’ll probably be best friends any day now, I just... “

She smiled and kissed my cheek. “I’m so glad to hear it and– Oh, I’m sorry, was it… was it presumptuous of me to kiss you then? I’m just… I’m so happy to hear you’re getting along.”

“Yep, it’s great,” I said, doing everything I could not to cry and laughing nervously at my… What would the term be? Does marefriend work when you’re dating multiple mares? Should I even be thinking of her like that since we’re not actually dating yet? Sure, Diamond Tiara and us would probably work something out, but was me being pre… presumptuous bad? Would it just make things worse for the three of us?

Melody smiled at me. “I… I like your hat. Is there any story behind it?”

I nodded at her. “There is! Scootaloo and I are going to try to figure out why Apple Bloom doesn’t have her cutie mark yet, and I’m playing the part of the bumbling assistant. You want in? I mean… we don’t have any more hats, but I’m sure we can figure out something for you. I know! You can be the mysterious girl whose agenda is a mystery. Is she a friend or an enemy? Of course, she’s usually a love interest for the dashing detective, not the bumbling assistant.”

“Oh… Uhmm… Actually, the idea of Watson being a bumbling assistant – Sherlock Pones is what you’re referencing, right? – is something of a modern invention. In the original stories, he’s portrayed as a competent foil to Sherlock. While he doesn’t have Sherlock’s deductive abilities, he’s still a trained army doctor with more general knowledge than Sherlock, and actual social skills,” Melody said, glancing to one of the books on her desk. “So… you shouldn’t be that bumbling. Also, Watson managed to have a healthy relationship, so that’s another point for you.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling at her and resisting the urge to kiss her neck. We shouldn’t do that until after our talk tomorrow. “Anyways, I just wanted to give you your candy. You left it back at the clubhouse, and…” I stopped as I saw one of the candy bars in her bag. “Ooh! Is there any chance I can have a piece? You know, as a thank you for bringing you your candy?”

“Have you had anything that wasn’t just pure sugar today?” she asked, frowning at me.

“Does a milkshake count?” I asked, giving her a hopeful smile.

She shook her head. “I’ll bring a spare candy bar to our meeting tomorrow, alright?”

“Fine,” I said, hopping up onto my hooves. “I should probably get back to the scooter before Scootaloo leaves me. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

Melody nodded at me as I walked out the door.

***

A few minutes later, I was sitting in the back of Scootaloo’s wagon. “Did you have to take so long? How long does it take to drop off a bag of candy?”

“Sorry,” I said, holding onto my hat as Scootaloo started pushing her scooter. “I had to wait for Melody to get out of the bathtub, and… Her roommate is really nasty. Or, she is to me.”

“So, where is she on a scale of one to Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo asked as we raced through the streets of Ponyville.

“Could you maybe not use my marefriend’s name as the bad side of your bullying scale?” I asked as the wind whipped around us.

“Sorry,” Scootaloo said. “Old habit. Anyways, how bad is she?”

Scootaloo took a tight turn around a street corner sending me holding on to the wagon and my hat for dear life. “I don’t know!” I said after we straightened out. “Melody thinks she’s really nice, but her roommate, Dazzler, just doesn’t like me, and… she kind of has a good reason for it.”

A pony leapt out of Scootaloo’s way. “What do you mean? I can’t think of anypony having a good reason to dislike you. Even my reasons for disliking you were kind of…”

“Dumb?” I filled in, pushing myself tight against the bottom of the wagon.

“Yeah,” she said. “So why doesn’t she like you?”

I tried to think of everything she said. “Well, I got Mr. Marelon fired, and I kind of get her problem with that, since Lyra really isn’t the best acting teacher.”

“So what?!” Scootaloo yelled over the wind. “He was a jerk. If you hadn’t gotten him fired, he would have just made the semester miserable for you.”

“Yeah, but she would have learned something about acting, and… maybe I should have just quit the class. Now everypony’s worse off because I had a fight with a teacher,” I said as we reached Ponyville’s outskirts.

“Don’t be like that. You and Tiara had a problem, mentioned it to Octavia, and she fired him. Totally not your fault. Is there any other reason this mare doesn’t like you?” Scootaloo said as we raced down the dirt road leading to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Yeah, she thinks I’m… frivolous, dense, and naive. I think there were some other ones like… Would being too silly count as frivolous?”

Instead of saying anything, Scootaloo made a hard break, almost sending me tumbling out of the wagon. “Sorry,” she said, looking back at me. “I just want to make one thing totally clear, alright, Sweetie?”

I nodded at her.

“You’re fine. Maybe… you might be a little naive, and I can kinda see her point, but I like your silliness and your innocence, and if she doesn’t like that about you, that’s her fault, not yours. I don’t want to see you change everything about yourself just to make her happy, alright?”

“Alright,” I said, nodding at her and readjusting my hat. “Uhmm… thanks for telling me that. It’s nice having you support me again.”

She laughed and flapped her wings, sending us forward again. “It’s good to support you again. Definitely better than being upset with everyone and myself all the time.”

“If you ever want to talk about it, just let me know, alright?” I said as we moved through the trees. “I’m a really good listener. At least, I think I am.”

“You are. You’re great, Sweetie, don’t ever doubt it, and if she doesn’t like you, that’s her problem. Got it?”

“Got it,” I yelled, ducking under a tree branch that very nearly took my hat off. “Do you think we can go a bit slower?”

Instead of just slowing down, we came to an immediate halt, sending me tumbling out of the wagon. “Ow,” I said as I landed on my flank.

“Sorry,” she said turning to look at me and flashing a smile. “Guess I didn’t get a cutie mark for braking.”

“I don’t know,” I said as I got up on my hooves. “I think you did a good job breaking my flank.”

“Very funny,” she said as we trotted to the Apple family’s house. “But you are okay, right? We don’t need to go to the doctor’s?”

“I’m fine,” I said, adjusting my hat, floating the pipe over to me, and slipping into my best Trottingham accent. “Ready, Pones?”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to use that accent the entire time we’re here,” she said, looking at me and rolling her eyes.

“Indubitably, old sport, when on the case, it’s absolutely important you approach it with the right mindset. The proper Trotting’am accent energizes the mind’s natural deductive abilities.”

“How do you even… I didn’t think you even knew half those words,” Scootaloo said, looking at me like I’d sprouted a second horn.

“It’s the power of the accent, good mare. My deductive abilities have never been keener, now come on, the game’s afoot,” I said, puffing on my pipe and trotting off towards the house’s door.

Scootaloo followed along behind me and muttered. “I thought I was supposed to be the great detective.”

“And you are,” I said, looking back at her and blowing a bubble from my pipe. “I’m simply your ‘umble ‘ypercompetent sidekick. When I was visitin’ me love, she told me ‘ow cool Watson originally was, and I t’ought I’d channel that for our investigation.”

“Please just let me do the talking,” Scootaloo said as I knocked on the door. “I’d hate for my hypercompetent sidekick to overtax herself.”

“But Watson’s supposed to be the one ‘oo has all the social graces. Pones is just good for all the thinky stuff,” I said as we waited for the door to open up. “Mels said you were just good at doing all the deducing while Watson was good at everything else.”

“But I’m not Pones, and you’re not Watson,” she said.

“No,” I said, taking another puff on my pipe, “but we are playing the parts, and it’s important we strive to embody every aspect of our character.”

Scootaloo groaned. “Sweetie, you’re really making me regret th–” She stopped as the door creaked open and shoved a hoof in my mouth. “Hey, Applejack,” she said, looking up at the orange earth pony. “Is Apple Bloom here?”

“She’s out in the barn with Life Bloom,” Applejack said, looking from the barn to me. “What exactly’s goin’ on with Sweetie?”

“We’re trying to help Apple Bloom get her cutie mark and figure out why she hasn’t gotten it yet, even though she’s great at potion stuff, so Sweetie decided we should do an investigation and won’t stop speaking in a Trottingham accent. Your guess to why is as good as mine.”

“Wait a second,” Applejack said, narrowing her eyes. “You ain’t just gonna tell her, are you? She has to discover that for herself.”

“I know,” Scootaloo said, while I tried to spit out her hoof. I needed to say something,, but I couldn’t with a hoof in my mouth. “But she’s great at potion making, so… why doesn’t she have a cutie mark yet?”

“Ah’ve been thinkin’ the same thing,” Applejack said, suspicion leaving her face. “If ya wanna go help mah sister, Ah ain’t gonna stop ya, just don’t go tellin’ her what her problem is. Just… give her a hint, alright?”

“Sure,” Scootaloo said when an idea entered my head. Instead of trying to spit out her hoof, I started sucking on it, gently tickling it with my tongue as I traced the edge of her hoof.

“Sweetie! What the hay!” Scootaloo yelled, pulling her hoof out of my mouth as quickly as she could. Ha! I did it.

“Please don’t let Apple Bloom leave us,” I said, momentarily forgetting my accent. “I mean… we’d be terribly distraught if our compatriot stopped her interaction with us.”

“What’s she talkin’ about?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow before turning to look at me. “Could you try to say what’s on your mind without the silly accent?” Like she could talk about silly accents. I’d heard Big Macintosh speak and he spoke Equestrian just fine. Everypony in their family had different accents.

“Well, it’s just her abandoning friends with cutie marks has a historical precedent vis-a-vis Twist,” I said, trying to figure out the Trottingham way of saying “Apple Bloom left Twist when Twist got her cutie mark, and I don’t want her to do the same with us.”

“Alright,” Applejack said, her expression softening. “First of all, Ah may not be that big on speakin’ fancy, but even Ah know them words shouldn’t be there. Second of all, Apple Bloom ain’t gonna leave ya just ‘cause she got her cutie mark.”

“But she did with Twi–” I tried to say before Applejack interrupted me. Were we back to doing that now?

“Ah know what she did with Twist, but listen to me, she never cared about Twist half as much as she does about you girls. There’s a whole bunch Ah don’t want to get into, but Ah’ll say this, did ya see Twist standin’ up for Apple Bloom at Tiara’s cuteceañera party? No, ya sure didn’t. When Apple Bloom needed ‘er the most, Twist was nowhere to be found. Instead, she got you two, and I don’t think she could be any happier ‘bout that trade.”

“So… she’s not going to abandon us?” I asked, so thrilled by the news that I kind of forgot my accent. What? It’s really hard to keep talking in an accent all the time.

“Ah don’t see it happenin’, and if she does, Ah’ll tan her hide. Now, you girls go have fun investigatin’, and if ya find anything out, let me know, alright?”

“Don’t worry, m’lady,” I said, giving a dramatic flourish. “Scoots and Belle are on the case, and we’ll get to the bottom of this perfidious mystery faster than you can say perfidious.” Which, by the way, is a really tough word to say, so we probably had plenty of time to solve it.

Applejack and Scootaloo just sighed.

***

“Hey, Sweetie,” Scootaloo said as we trotted over to the barn. “Do you have any idea what perfidious means?”

I shook my head. “Not a bit. Why? Did I use it wrong?”

“I don’t know,” she said as we reached the barn. “I didn’t even know the word existed until just a few seconds ago. I’m just surprised that–”

“That I used a word you didn’t know?” I asked, rolling my eyes. “It’s not like I’m dumb… I mean… I’m not as smart as you or Apple Bloom… or Melody… Definitely not as smart as Life Bloom or Socket… or… Okay, I’m probably the dumbest pony in the group, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know things. I come across a lot of words reading Rarity’s romances, and I can remember some of them. Plus, Headmistress Octavia’s class does a lot of vocabulary building stuff.”

“Fair enough, I guess,” Scootaloo said as we reached the barn. “And thanks for dropping the stupid accent.”

Oh shoot! I’d almost forgotten my accent thing. “Thanks for reminding me, guv’nah,” I said, giving Scootaloo a bow and eliciting another sigh before she knocked on the door.

“Leave us alone,” Apple Bloom yelled. “We’re doin’ some delicate potion work, and I can’t have ponies disturbin’ us… We’re at a very delicate stage.”

“Oh, come on,” Scootaloo said, pulling on the barn door. “We’re not going to bug you, we just wanted to help you out.” She opened the door to reveal Apple Bloom and Life Bloom, cheeks red, moving between staring at us, each other, and the potion brewing behind them. “‘Delicate,’ eh?” Scootaloo laughed, raising an eyebrow. “Sure looks delicate to me.”

“Yeah,” I said, bouncing over to the golden potion sitting on top of a burner sitting on top of a metal table. “What are you making?” Accent. “I mean… What’ve we got in the oven… burner?”

“Do I really need to explain why Sweetie’s doing the accent thing?” Scootaloo asked as she shut the door. The rest of my friends just shook their heads.

“It’s almost certainly for some inane frivolous reason that I’d prefer not to understand,” Life Bloom said. I turned to look at her and frowned. Did the rest of my friends think I was… frivolous? Was Scootaloo just trying to be nice to me? Was I too dumb and silly?

“Anyways,” Scootaloo said, quickly changing the topic. “We just came by to see how you were doing, Apple Bloom…. Uhmm… you alright?”

“Sure,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Why wouldn’t I be fine? All my friends have their cutie marks… Everypony has their cutie marks except me. I’m just… great.”

“You’re not the only pony in town without a cutie mark, there’s still Pound Cake, Carrot Cake, Pip–”

Apple Bloom growled. “I’m the oldest pony in town to not have a cutie mark by several years. But you’re right, there are tons of foals who still don’t have a cutie mark.” Something told me my attempt to help Apple Bloom feel better didn’t help her feel better… like, at all. Was I too dense? I should have realized comparing Apple Bloom to foals would have just hurt her, so why didn’t I?

“Well, don’t worry,” Scootaloo said. “We’re here to figure out why you don’t have your cutie mark… Sweetie Belle thought–”

“Nope,” I said, quickly taking off my bowler hat and bubble pipe. “I… didn’t think anything. I mean, I did think, but I just… obviously, us dressing up for our investigation would be silly.”

“Sweetie,” Scootaloo said, looking at me, “you’re letting Melody’s roommate get to you. Remember what I said, we like you the way you are.”

“But Life Bloom just called me frivolous,” I said, pouting and pointing a hoof at Life Bloom. “She thinks I’m–”

“Allow me to stop you there,” Life Bloom said. “I think you’re a wonderful friend, who’s kind, compassionate, and always willing to cheer others up. Yes, you have moments of… rather extreme silliness, but I tend to find them rather endearing. If I had known that describing one of your actions as frivolous would be upsetting to you, I would have found a softer word.”

I frowned and nodded my head. “So… you all don’t secretly hate me?” I asked, putting the hat back on.”

“Course not,” Apple Bloom said. “We love you, Sweetie Belle, and if somepony doesn’t like something about you, that’s their problem.”

“But... “ I frowned. “Life Bloom just called me frivolous.”

Life Bloom sighed and pinched her nose. “No, I said something you did was frivolous and silly. There’s a difference. I’m not going to say you’re perfect or that you can’t improve yourself, there’s always room for improvement, but I don’t think any core aspect of yourself is bad. You’re just occasionally a bit too silly for my tastes.”

“Alright,” I said, making sure my hat was properly adjusted before slipping back into my accent. “Then let’s get to investigatin’, shall we?”

“And just what are you gonna be investigatin’?” Apple Bloom asked, trotting over to tend to her potion.

“We’re going to figure out what’s keeping you from getting your cutie mark,” Scootaloo said while I puffed on my pipe.

“Well, join the club,” Apple Bloom said, adding some powder thingy to her potion. “I’ve been tryin’ to figure out why I don’t have my cutie mark since I made that potion for Sweetie. I did somethin’ that’s… super difficult, right?” She glanced at Life Bloom for support.

“My research turned up no other cases of a foresight potion that left the user sane,” she said, giving a reassuring smile to Apple Bloom. “I still think we should try making the potion again. To be able to see the future and come back unscathed would be incredible. Think of all the marvelous things we could learn.”

“I know,” Apple Bloom said, “but if I get it wrong, I could drive somepony insane. I don’t wanna be responsible for that, especially if it’s one of my friends.” She glanced at me. “I don’t know what I’d’ve done if the potion hurt Sweetie.”

“Alright,” Life Bloom said, “I’m not going to force you to do something you’re uncomfortable with, even if I think the upside outweighs any potential downside, but I also understand your desire to protect your friends… Although I might have a solution.”

“What’s that?” Apple Bloom asked as she turned the burner off.

“Brew up a memory potion. If our potion doesn’t have the desired effects, we give the memory potion to the test subject and wipe away their memories of the incident. We manage to minimize the risk while still managing to test the potion.”

“I guess that could work,” Apple Bloom said slowly. “I’m still not going to test on anypony unless they know the risks though.”

“Of course,” Life Bloom said, nodding her head. “I would expect nothing less.” She turned back to look at Scootaloo and me. “Now how are you expecting to help Apple Bloom get her cutie mark, besides just… investigating.”

“Well, we figured that Apple Bloom’s talent is potion making, and obviously, she’s already great at it, but…” Scootaloo said, trailing off.

“Scootaloo and I both had to realize something important about ourselves before we could get our cutie mark, so I thought maybe if we figured out what Apple Bloom needed to realize, we could help her get her cutie mark,” I said, filling in the rest for her and completely forgetting my accent. Shoot, accents are hard.

“An interesting idea, but… if somepony told you your epiphany, would it have carried the same weight for you when you finally realized it?” Life Bloom asked, tilting her head.

“No,” Scootaloo and I both mumbled. “But we weren’t going to tell her,” I said, lifting my head up to look at Apple Bloom. “We just wanted to help you realize the epiphany, we weren’t going to tell her what the thing she needed to realize was.”

Life Bloom rubbed her forehead. “Perhaps you could start helping her by telling her your epiphanies, to give her an idea of what she’ll need to realize. Does that sound agreeable to you, Bloomi– Apple Bloom?”

“Sure,” she said. “I heard what Sweetie did to get her cutie mark, but I don’t remember her talking much about any epiphany, and we haven’t had the chance to talk about Scootaloo’s cutie mark yet.”

“Alright,” I said, nodding my head and looking at Scootaloo. “Can I go first?”

Scootaloo nodded.

“So, you know I got my cutie mark for doing that big show for you back in the time loop, which by the way, I’m really sorry you can’t remember it, it was great. Anyways, I didn’t get it just for performing, I got it for realizing my singing was special and that I could use it to make ponies happy. I don’t think I would’ve gotten my cutie mark if I didn’t have that epiphany,” I said, recalling the day I got my cutie mark.

“You wouldn’t have,” Life Bloom said, confirming my theory. “The epiphany is the key to getting a cutie mark. Demonstration is only necessary when the subject is discovering a hidden talent.”

I nodded, trying to see if I understood her. “So… if Apple Bloom discovered her talent was tap dancing, she’d have to do something to show she was good at it, but since she’s already really good at potion making–”

“Then the epiphany will suffice.”

“Alright, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said, turning to look at her. “So what was your epiphany?”

“It wasn’t anywhere near as fun as Sweetie Belle’s,” she said, smiling at me. “I had to accept that I couldn’t fly, but I also had to realize that that was okay because I’m great at a lot of things. I think the key was realizing I’m better than Rainbow Dash at scootering. My double last night helped me figure that out. Hey! How did you deal with your double, anyways? I never got to see how you and LB dealt with them.”

Apple Bloom laughed while Life Bloom winced at the nickname. “Actually, it’s kind of funny because… I didn’t deal with mine. My double wouldn’t stop yelling at me about how terrible I was for wanting to leave my family behind, so… Life Bloom kind of punched her, said she wouldn’t let anypony talk to me like that, and then… well, I think that’s about the time you showed up.”

“So… what happened to your double then?” I asked. I guess punching your doubles was one solution to the problem, probably not the best one, though.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t see her again after Life Bloom punched her. I’m guessing she just ran off. I’m more curious about why Life Bloom’s double disappeared.”

“I’m quickly developing a theory as to why that happened, but first, I have a question for Scootaloo and Sweetie. What made your doubles disappear?”

“We accepted whatever part of us they represented. Sweetie accepted that it’s okay for her to be selfish sometimes, and I accepted my awesomeness.” At that part, she struck a pose that… yeah, it looked pretty cool. “I think Sweetie got the bad end of that deal.”

“I see,” Life Bloom said, nodding. “And in lashing out to defend Apple Bloom’s honor, I engaged in the impulsive romantic behavior my other self embodied…” She frowned. “I fear I did you a disservice then, Apple Bloom.”

“It’s fine,” Apple Bloom said. “I don’t know what I could’ve done with my double, anyways. Am I just supposed to give up on my potion making to make my family happy?”

“I don’t think that would make them happy,” I said, reaching out to tap the potion with one hoof in idle curiosity. “They just want you to be happy, and if potion making makes you happy, I’m sure they’ll support you. They were okay with your sister moving to Manehattan, right?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking from me to the potion. “And don’t touch that. It’s… very volatile.”

“What’s it do?” I asked, pulling my hoof away from the potion, and keeping a cautious eye on it.

“It’s a restorative elixir. Granny’s hip’s been pretty bad lately, so I thought… a potion that could undo some of the effects of aging… You know, it won’t make her live much longer, but it will make her feel better, if that makes sense. It’s really hard to make right, so I thought if I could do it…”

I frowned in thought. “So… is that your plan? Make the age potion for Granny Smith? Won’t that just…” I stopped speaking as Scootalo trotted over and elbowed me. “What?” I whispered in Scootaloo’s ear.

“Let her do this for herself, I think she’s got it figured out,” she whispered back to me while Apple Bloom glanced from us to Life Bloom, who was giving me the same look Scootaloo was. I tried to think about what I could do. What I could do to not be so naive and dense. Ooh! I could help without spoiling Apple Bloom’s epiphany.

“Uhmm… we need to go,” I said, looking back at Apple Bloom as she checked the temperature of the potion. “Good luck with your potion for Granny Smith, and… will you test it out before you give it to her?”

Life Bloom nodded. “Of course, we’re not going to dose a pony with a potion that’s effects are untested.” I raised an eyebrow at her, causing her to look briefly at the floor. “Unless they volunteer for such an honor of course. Besides, the possible side effects of an improperly-brewed intelligence potion are nothing compared to the possible side effects of an improperly-brewed age potion.”

“Alright,” I said, dragging Scootaloo to the door with me. “Well, we’ll uhmm… See you tomorrow, right, Scootaloo?”

My friend nodded as we trotted out the barn door and slammed it shut. “Okay, what are you planning, and please tell me it’s less crazy than talking in the worst accent ever.”

“You’ll see,” I said as I knocked on the door to Applejack’s house. “If I tell you now, it won’t be a surprise when I tell Applejack.”

Scootaloo sighed. “Ugh, you’re starting to sound like Pinkie Pie,” she said as the door opened.

“Hey, Applejack,” I said as the door opened. “We figured it out. At least, I think we did. Apple Bloom’s really worried because she’s afraid if she does her potion stuff, she won’t be able to help you do farm stuff, and she doesn’t want to abandon her family. Maybe… I don’t know, have her make some potions to help the farm out. She knows one potion that can make apples grow to be completely huge. I bet that could be helpful.”

Applejack slowly nodded at me. “Ah reckon that’s a mighty good idea, Sweetie Belle. Anything else Ah should know about?”

I shook my head before remembering the potion. “Oh! Apple Bloom’s also making a potion that could possibly make Granny Smith feel younger, but she wants to test it first.”

“Test it? On what?” Applejack asked, her eyes briefly going wide with worry. “Well, Ah can deal with that later. Thanks for helpin’ me out, Sweetie.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said, smiling. “For being the bumbling sidekick, you made a pretty good great detective. Maybe next time you can wear my hat?”

“No thanks,” I said, giving Applejack a brief farewell wave. “I like this bowler hat way more.”

“So,” Scootaloo said as Applejack shut the door and we headed back towards her scooter, “what now?”

I yawned. “I think I’m going to bed. It’s been a long day, and I have to get ready for my relationship talk tomorrow and…” There was another yawn. “I’m kind of hitting a second sugar crash.” I glanced at the sun, barely an inch from the horizon. “Yeah, bed definitely sounds good.”

“But it’s still so early,” Scootaloo said. “We can go out and…”

“Scootaloo, I’m tired. We’ve done a lot today, I have to talk with Diamond Tiara and Melody tomorrow, and I want to be rested for it. I promise we can hang out tomorrow, just… I need sleep.”

“Fine,” she said as I hopped into her wagon. “Home it is.”

***

“Hey, Rarity,” I said, opening the door to the boutique. “I’m back.”

“Wonderful,” my sister said, calling to me from the kitchen. “You have some guests waiting for you.”

I groaned. I really just needed some sleep. Breaking several physical laws thanks to a sugar high really tires you out. Like, a lot. “Who is it? And can you tell them I’m tired?”

“It’s your marefriends, and if you want them to leave, you can tell them yourself,” she said as I trotted to the kitchen. That’s… Well, I guess I could put off sleeping for a little while longer. Especially since…

“Did you say marefriends with an ‘s’?” I asked as I entered the kitchen and saw Diamond Tiara and Melody sitting next to each other at the breakfast table.

Rarity nodded as they looked at me. “She did,” Diamond Tiara said, looking at me. “When I saw your candy, I got to thinking and… Well, Melody and I had a talk.”

“Ooh! What about?” I asked, sitting next to my marefriends. Did that mean everything was good? Ooh! Could we both be dating now? Was this going to be the best day ev–

“You know what about,” Tiara said, looking at me and raising an eyebrow. Right, Sweetie, don’t be so dense and naive. Still… Hopefully it was good news, right?

“Okay,” I said, looking from Tiara and Melody to the table. “So what did you decide on?”

“And that,” Rarity said, getting up on her hooves, “would be my cue to leave. I will be right outside if you need anything at all, so just yell and I’ll be right in.” She gave me a smile as she left the room with a tiny touch of don’t do anything stupid in her eyes as she walked out of the room.

“So…” I said, trying to think of something to say before Tiara spoke up.

“It’s fine, Sweetie Belle,” she said, smiling at me. “While I’m still not… thrilled about the idea of sharing you with anypony, if… if you talk things through with me first and don’t just date everypony you see, I think we can work something out.” Tiara frowned before looking at Melody. “Besides, your other marefriend… she’s sweet. We had a good talk in her dorm today, she understood my concerns, and was very… kind. I think I can deal with you dating her at least, and that’s a start.”

“Really?” I asked, ears perking up. “So you two both are okay with dating me at the same time?” They both nodded. “And you two like each other?” More nods. “Ooh! Do you think the two of you could go on a–”

“We’ll see,” Melody said, smiling at me. “Right now, I’m just happy we reached an understanding and that I can…” She blushed. “I can date you.”

“Speaking of that,” I said, turning to Tiara and smiling, “what changed your mind?”

“You,” Tiara said, a soft smile forming on her face. “The candy you left at my doorstep. It… You thought about me enough to deliver the candy I left at the clubhouse, but respected my wishes enough to leave me alone. I guess I realized that no matter how many ponies you date, you’ll never stop caring about me and will do anything to make your friends happy. It would be…” She paused and frowned, an old look of cruelty briefly flickering across her face. “Selfish of me to keep a pony so good for myself. That’s something the old Tiara would do, right?” There was a note of doubt in her voice, almost like she didn’t believe what she was saying, but that couldn’t be right.

I smiled and kissed her before leaning over the table to kiss Melody. “Well, I think I’m lucky to have two marefriends who are so great, and now I can kiss the both of you without having to feel guilty, and we should definitely go out on a group date to celebrate soon.”

“Alright,” Melody said, “I’m not busy tonight, so if you want, we could–”

I shook my head, interrupting her, before giving her a tiny apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I’d love to go out with you girls, but…” I yawned. “I’ve had a really long day. You know, after I finished sorting out your candy, I spent the rest of the day riding around town with Scootaloo, and… If we go out tonight, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my eyes open.”

“That’s fine,” Tiara said. “I should probably get home and take care of some of my homework. There’s… a lot of it, and I haven’t gotten any done yet.”

“Have fun,” I said as the three of us headed towards the door. “Will you two be fine or should I walk you back?”

“We’re fine,” Melody said, trotting up next to tentatively kiss my neck. “You should get some rest, I’m sure you’re exhausted after your sugar high.”

“Oh dear,” Rarity said, frowning as we entered the boutique’s main room. “Please don’t tell me you had her do the sugar thing.”

“I’m sorry,” Melody mumbled. “I didn’t even know–”

Rarity sighed. “It’s perfectly fine, dear, of course neither of you would know, and I’m sure Sweetie didn’t care to explain what happens to her when she imbibes too much sugar. Sweetie, all that sugar can’t be good for you. I swear, I don’t know how you and Pinkie can do it.” I laughed, recalling Pinkie’s words about me representing laughter. Our love of sugar definitely didn’t make the idea less likely, and… Ooh, maybe I could get a shake on my date with Tiara and Melody.

“Sweetie,” Tiara said, tapping me on the nose. “You kind of zoned out.”

“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I was just thinking about getting a shake on our date. Ooh! Maybe we could do it tonight.”

“Absolutely not,” Rarity said. “You’ve had more than enough sweets today, young filly. You’re going to get some sleep, and then tomorrow you’re eating nothing but salad.”

I groaned. “Do I have to?”

“Sweetie, don’t test me on this,” she said, frowning down at me as Tiara and Melody trotted to the door. “Now, say goodbye to your marefriends.”

“Fine,” I said, before turning to see my friends out. “I’ll talk with you girls later. If you two want, you can spend some time getting to know each other better, I’ll even pay you back if you want to have dinner together.”

“Maybe,” Tiara said as Melody opened the door. “What do you want to do?”

“I’d be fine just spending some time at your house talking,” Melody said. “Or, if you want, we could have a hayburger together. Not a date, just getting to know each other.”

They shut the door, leaving me to guess how it ended. “Sweetie, I understand you’re tired after the day you've had, but I just want to say something before you go to sleep: What you’re doing, dating multiple ponies, it’s very dangerous,” Rarity said, her lips creased into a frown.

I opened my mouth to say something, but she cut me off. “Not physically dangerous, but emotionally. It’s so easy for a polyamorous relationship to fail and fail spectacularly, and a part of me wants to forbid you from dating multiple ponies, but I know my word won’t stop you from doing something you want, so instead… a warning: If you want this to work, it’s of the utmost importance you prevent jealousy from entering the relationship. The moment it does, it will undermine and chip away at the health of your relationship until nothing’s left.”

“Alright,” I said as I headed up the stairs. “But I promise, everything will be fine. I mean, how can something so good and loving hurt somepony?”

Rarity just sighed and shook her head. “I hope you never have to learn the answer to that question, Sweetie, because it’s not one I can give.”

11. Strange Love

“Alright, everypony,” Lyra said as she walked through the door to our class, several stacks of papers floating next to her. “So, apparently, you’re all supposed to audition for the big school play next week. Actually, Bright Lights tells me that the audition is required to pass the class, so…” She started floating booklets over to everypony in the class. “You should probably get to reading the script.”

“Are you kidding me?” Dazzler said from her spot in the class as far away from me as possible. The anger in her face melted away after a second, and a smiling mask replaced it. “I mean… Couldn’t you have told us about this earlier? You know, in between lectures about humans.”

“Sorry, Dazzler,” Lyra said, frowning as she finished passing out the scripts. “I know, I messed up; but on the bright side, everyone is working with the same handicap. Except Bright Lights, I guess.”

“Great,” Dazzler said, irritation slipping into her voice. “Care to tell us what part you’re going after, so we don’t waste our time?”

“Actually, I won’t be auditioning,” Bright Lights said, causing a few students to murmur in surprise. “Since the acting teacher is supposed to direct the play, I’ll be… the assistant director, and that wouldn’t be fair to anypony if I auditioned and was the assistant director. That’s… I think that’s a pretty clear conflict of interests. Besides, I always wanted to try my hoof at directing… I mean, assistant directing.”

“Right,” Lyra said as the class’s attention shifted back to her. “So… Just do your best, and I’m sure you’ll be fine. All you have to do to pass is audition; you don’t actually have to get a part.”

“That’s good,” Diamond Tiara said, flipping through the script. “Because it looks like there are only eight speaking parts in this play.”

“Anyways,” Lyra said, clapping her hooves together. “Today we’re going to be talking about…” She glanced at Bright Lights. “What are we going to be talking about again?”

Bright Lights sighed and floated a few sheets of paper over to Lyra’s desk. “Method acting.”

“Right, so we’re going to be talking about method acting, which is kind of like… Imagine you had to play a human in a play…” The class groaned as the focus of the lecture shifted from acting to humans. Again.

***

The bell rang. “So,” I said, kissing Tiara’s neck before continuing. “What part do you think you’ll try out for? I think you’d make a great Green Hoof.”

Tiara laughed. “You really think I should try out to be the leading mare in a musical? Sweetie, I can’t sing. I can barely act.”

“Come on,” I pleaded as we trotted towards the exit. In one corner of the room, Bright Lights was talking with Lyra about something, occasionally glancing in my direction. “You’re great. I’m sure you can get any part you want.”

“Sweetie, you’re only saying that because we’re dating,” Tiara said, rolling her eyes before nuzzling at my neck. “You’re great at a lot of things, but being impartial isn’t one of them.”

“I don’t have to be impartial to know that you’re super-great and can get anything you want,” I said as we reached the door.

“Sweetie Belle!” a voice from behind me yelled. I turned around to see Bright Lights trotting towards me. “I need to talk to you for a minute, if that’s okay with your…” She gestured a hoof towards Diamond Tiara. “Marefriend?”

Tiara nodded. “That’s fine.” She leaned in next to my ear and whispered. “Don’t kiss her.”

“I wasn’t going to,” I squeaked as Tiara trotted out of the room before turning my attention back to Bright Lights. “Sorry, what did you want to talk about?”

“You… or your audition. I guess… I’d like you to try out for the part of Green Thumb.”

“What?” I asked, my ears perking up and my jaw actually dropping. “But… I’m not a good actress. Why would you want me to try out for the lead? Are you planning some kind of prank? Am I going to end up on a stage coated in red paint?”

Bright Lights stared at me, forehead scrunched up as she tried to follow my thinking. “Why would I… No. No, this isn’t a prank. The play’s a musical, and I think the lead needs to be a strong singer. You’re the strongest singer in the class, and you’re also the most improved actor. I think you can do the part justice, and I’d like to see try out for it.”

She frowned as she studied the doubt on my face. “You came here wanting to be an actor, right?” I nodded at her. “And… I admit your acting left a lot to be desired when you first got here, but you’ve improved a lot since then, and you’re a great singer. Can you look me in the eye and tell me there isn’t even a little bit of you that wants to be a Bridleway actor? Can you honestly say the idea of performing for hundreds – no, thousands – of ponies doesn’t send a shiver of excitement up your spine?”

I shook my head. I tried to do what she said, but just thinking about all those ponies watching me, hanging off of every word I said made my heart pound a little faster. “No, it definitely sounds fun, I’m just… I don’t know if I’m good enough–”

“But I’m telling you you’re good enough,” Bright Lights said, interrupting me. “Sweetie, after we have our run in Ponyville, we’ll be playing in the Royal Canterlot Theater for Princess Luna for one night only.” Bright Lights sidled up next to me as my head filled with images of me performing in the oldest theater in Equestria. “Imagine it, Sweetie, for one night, your name will be lit up in lights, the cream of the Canterlot nobility will all come to see you perform, and if you trust me, you’ll receive a standing ovation by the princesses. Even if you never want to act again, can you imagine how wonderful it will be for your career? Everypony will want you to play for them; you’ll be able to get whatever you want.”

“I don’t know,” I said, struggling not to smile at the idea of my name in lights. Performing for all those ponies would definitely be fun, but… my life wasn’t that bad now, and I didn’t want to agree to anything without talking to my friends. “It sounds really fun, but…”

“Fine,” Bright Lights said, her smile cracking. “If not for you, then… could you do it for me? Please? I want this show to be successful. More than anything, I want it to go right, and… I know we don’t spend much time together, but… I hoped you could help me.” Her whole body deflated. “I’m sorry for bothering you, go have fun with your marefriend.”

“Well, you just want me to audition, right?” I asked. If all I had to do to make her happy was audition… Besides, the idea of getting to sing in the Royal Canterlot Theater… that was like a dream come true.

“That’s all I want,” Bright Lights said, the smile returning to her face, “Although…” She shook her head. “Nevermind.”

“What is it?” I asked, panicking as her smile began to evaporate. “Tell me what you want. There’s no harm in telling me, right?”

“I was just thinking… Obviously, I’m going to be impartial when I decide who plays what role, but I could help you get ready for the audition. You don’t want to embarrass yourself when you do audition, right?” Bright Lights asked, something I couldn’t recognize glinting in her eyes.

“Uhmm… I’m mainly auditioning as a favor to you,” I said, frowning.

“Right, so… Could you please do a few rehearsals with me before the audition? I just want you to be as good as possible.”

I was about to tell her I had a lot of plans this week, but then I saw the pout on her face, and something inside me got all buttery and warm. She was so cute and kind, and Tiara and the rest of my friends would understand if I took some time to help Bright Lights. (I really needed to figure out if she preferred being called Bright or Lights.) “I guess I can help, but I’m also doing a few shows this week, and–”

“That’s fine,” Bright Lights said, her ears perking up. “I know you have work, I’ll just help when you have some free time. What are you doing after school?”

“Well, Tiara, Melody, and I were going to have dinner at Hayburger before one of my shows…” I said, frowning and guessing what she was about to say next.

“I understand you want to spend time with your… friends?’ Bright Lights asked, tilting her head at that. “But… perhaps I could come with you while you look through the script? Would that be okay?” Okay, so that actually wasn’t what I thought she’d say. It was definitely better.

“I guess we can do that,” I said, turning to look back at the door. “Just… It’s kind of supposed to be a date thing. The three of us have been trying to spend more time together, and–”

“Sorry,” Bright Lights said, trotting after me. “Are you saying you’re dating two mares at once and that… they’re okay with it?”

“Uh-huh,” I said, walking down the hall of our school. “I mean… Diamond Tiara had some issues with it at first, but she’s gotten a lot better about it lately. Ooh, just the other day, I caught Melody leaning into Tiara, and they’re really kind of cute when they don’t think I’m watching… Not that I secretly watch them to make sure they’re getting along.”

“Of course,” Bright Lights said, catching up with me and moving to walk by my side. Was she walking too close to me? Not that I was complaining, but… “So… are you just dating the two of them, or can you date other ponies as well?”

“No, I can totally date whoever if I clear it with Diamond Tiara… and Melody, I guess, but she doesn’t care as much. Why do you ask?” And didn’t she usually take another route to get to her next class? I wasn’t sure because we didn’t talk much, but I usually didn’t see her when I walked to my music class.

Bright Lights frowned for a second. “There’s… no reason, really, just curious.”

“Okay,” I said, turning to another hallway and catching sight of Melody waiting for me in front of the music class. The second our eyes met, my pace quickened and I felt little butterflies of excitement come to life in my stomach. A second later, my foreleg was wrapped around her neck, and our lips were pressed together. We… I kind of got in trouble if I did too much kissing in school, but nopony usually complained if it was short and sweet, although all kisses are pretty sweet. At least, all the ones I had were pretty sweet, maybe I should – what does Life Bloom say? – increase my sample size. No, I couldn’t do that without talking to Diamond Tiara, and she probably probably wouldn’t be up for kissing experiments, no matter how fun they are.

“Hey,” Melody said, pulling away from me as our (too short) kiss ended. She turned her head to look at Bright Lights, standing next to me. “You look… really familiar, but I haven’t seen you at the lunch table. Are you a new friend of Sweetie Belle’s?”

Bright Lights returned the smile. “I’d certainly enjoy that, but right now, I’m just a concerned assistant director trying to make sure the school’s end-of-the-year play is as good as it can be.”

“Of course, we’re friends,” I said, turning to look from one of my marefriends to Bright Lights. “I mean… if you want to be friends, I’d totally love to have you around. I think we have enough space for one more pony at the lunch table, but some of us might have to squeeze together.”

“I wouldn’t mind having to squeeze against you,” Melody said without missing a beat. That was so sweet of her offering to… Or maybe she just wanted the chance to eat lunch all pressed up against me. It was probably that last one. I mean, if I was her, I’d totally jump at the chance to press-up tight against my marefriend and spend all of lunch feeling the warmth of her body, the softness of her fur, and… Was it lunchtime yet? Could I spend music class leaning against her? Vinyl didn’t usually care what we did as long as we did the work and–

“Well, I’m sure you’ve got to get to your next class,” I said, tugging Melody towards the room with my magic. “We don’t want to be late for music class, right Mels?”

Melody sighed at the nickname, but the feeling of my hoof brushing against her flank made her sigh for… different reasons. She really liked it when I did that, and… yeah, I can totally understand why. “Sweetie, what’s gotten into you?” she asked as I shepherded her into the classroom, leaving a confused Bright Lights behind.

“Oh, well, I got to thinking about you pressed up all against me at lunch, and how super great it would be to full your warm fur against mine, and I started feeling all kind of warm and flustered, and–” I was interrupted by a kiss to my cheek.

“We can talk about this later, if you want, alright, Sweetie Belle?” she said, pulling away from me and giving me a tiny smile that didn’t come with teeth. “If… No, I’d prefer it if we talked about that privately.”

“Why?” I asked, tilting my head at her. “What could be so bad that…” I paused as I dimly recalled Rarity’s talk from a few months ago. Something in my gut told me this had something to do with that. Maybe I should ask her more about what two mares could do, because if it was as fun as kissing, it couldn’t be that bad. We’d definitely have to talk more about that later. I smiled at Melody in understanding and nodded. “Got it,” I said, turning and looking at the front of the class as the bell rang.

***

“So, Sweetie,” Diamond Tiara asked as I sat down for lunch. “What did the teacher’s pet want?”

“I don’t know if I’d call her the teacher’s pet,” I said, setting my tray down in front of me. “I mean, she really does most of the teaching in class… I think teacher’s assistant would be a better way of describing her.”

Tiara rolled her eyes at me. “Okay, whatever. What did she want?”

“She uhmm… she wants me to audition for the lead in the school play. Also…” I gestured towards the pony taking a cautious step over to our table. “She kind of asked if it’s okay to sit with us. It’s okay, right?”

I caught a scowl flicker across Diamond Tiara’s face for a second. “It’s fine, I don’t know where she’s going to sit with this table being so crowded though.”

In response, I wrapped my forelegs around both her and Melody, and drew them against me. Also, being sandwiched between my marefriends felt way nicer than I imagined, and I imagined it feeling pretty nice. Ooh… Maybe I could organize a group kissing session after I was done practicing with Bright Lights. Or maybe I could convince Tiara to let Bright Lights join our group. Tiara and Melody were already getting along okay, so maybe I could add more ponies to the mix? More ponies would be fun. More ponies are always fun.

“You don’t have to make room,” Bright Lights said gesturing to Socket’s usual spot. “It doesn’t look like anypony’s sitting here.” Huh… where was he at? Was he sick or…

“Scootaloo,” I said, looking at the pony sitting directly across from me. “Was Socket here today? Is he sick? Should we stop by and visit him, or...?”

“He was at his class today,” Scootaloo said, shrugging. “But he also said he wanted to meet up with the engineering club, so… maybe he’s doing that.” She kind of trailed off and went back to pushing her food around her lunch tray.

“Alright…” I said, narrowing my eyes at my friend. My gut told me something was on her mind, but… we could probably talk about it later. I turned to look at Bright Lights. “So… what’s up?”

Bright Lights smiled at me and my stomach got all fluttery while my head went light. “You invited me to have lunch with you, and I simply had to take you up on that offer.” She glanced at Tiara. “Of course, if I’m not wanted here, I’ll gladly leave.” I turned to look at Tiara as well, giving her my best puppy dog eyes.

Tiara just sighed at me. “Why would I have a problem with another pony joining the group? I’m not going to stop you from making new friends, Sweetie.”

“Really?” I asked, my ears perking up. “So you don’t mind if she helps me rehearse for the play after school today?”

Tiara’s ear twitched, but her smile held up. “Why wouldn’t I? Just… our date later tonight will be just the three of us, right?”

“Of course,” I said, nodding my head. “Why would I bring somepony I’m not dating to a date?”

“Because you want to date them,” Tiara said, rolling her eyes. Yeah, she had a point there. Plus, I really did want to date Bright Lights if she was up for it, she was just so cute and kind and… she was helping my singing career out in a big way. There were definitely worse ponies for me to want to date.

“And… you’re just staring off into space with that look in your eyes,” Tiara said, sighing. “Which I can only assume means you’re imagining dating Bright Lights.”

“I’m right here,” Bright Lights said, raising an eyebrow. “I’d appreciate it if I had a role in the conversation about me.”

“Fine,” Tiara said. “Here’s the basics: Sweetie Belle’s... what’s the word, Melody?”

“Polyamorous,” Melody said between bites of carrots before looking at Bright Lights. “That means she likes dating multiple ponies.” While she talked, I continued imagining Bright Lights, Melody, and Tiara laying in my bed, kissing, and… Again my mind flashed back to the big talk with Rarity.

“Right,” Tiara said, taking back over for Melody. “And… she really likes the thought of dating lots of ponies. Like, right now, I’m pretty sure–”

She was interrupted by me letting out an airy sigh as I imagined what three ponies licking my horn in unison might feel like. Even better, I realized with Bright Lights in the group, I could try to kiss her horn. That would probably be really nice, especially if I could convince somepony to kiss my horn while I kissed her horn.

Tiara sighed. “She’s definitely imagining a scenario that involves a lot of ponies kissing. Anyways, she’s probably going to try to convince you to join her little herd, so just… fair warning.”

Bright Lights just smiled. “I can think of worse fates than joining a group of mares who love each other. Of course, I would never want to impose on you.”

“Great,” Tiara said, biting something back in her voice. “Well, Sweetie’s polyamorous. I’m… willing to tolerate it, and for somepony to join the group, everypony has to approve of them.”

“Then I suppose I know who I need to work on persuading,” Bright Lights said, voice still upbeat.

“Yeah, and Sweetie and I can talk about that later. Now, can we talk about something else?” Tiara sighed and tapped my shoulder. “Equestria to Sweetie Belle, Equestria to Sweetie Belle.”

“Huh-what?” I said, my daydream suddenly dissolving as I tuned into the cafeteria table. “Is Bright Lights joining the herd?” I asked, trying to recall what my friends were talking about. “Because if so, that would be fun.”

“We can talk about that after our date tonight, alright?” Tiara said, kissing my cheek and calming me down. “So, you’re really going to audition for the lead in the play?”

I nodded at her. “Bright Lights says my acting’s improved this semester, and it’s not like I’m going to get in trouble for dreaming big. Besides, Bright Lights is going to help me get ready for the audition.”

“She’s also helping Lyra with casting,” Tiara mumbled. “I think she’s giving you more than enough help.”

“Now, Tiara,” Bright Lights said, a look of indignation flickering across her face. “This play is my best shot to get my name known by Equestria’s high society. I’m not about to jeopardize that just because I have a crush. Besides, if Sweetie does get this role, it will mean great things for her music career. You don’t want to get in the way of that, do you?”

“No,” Tiara said, talking into her lunch tray. “If it helps Sweetie, of course I support it.” She turned and tapped my shoulder. “And eat your food, you’ve been daydreaming since you sat down.”

“Alright,” I said, nibbling at the parts of my salad the broccoli hadn’t touched. I can’t believe Rarity put me on a diet just because I ate my body weight in sugar the day after Nightmare Night. Actually, I guess I could understand that, but why did she have to put broccoli in, like, all my food? Was I being punished for something?

As I ate, a silence fell on the table. Apple Bloom and Life Bloom sat in their corner, whispering to each other about potion stuff (they’d been inseparable since Nightmare Night), Scootaloo was pushing her food around her plate, and the rest of us just nibbled on our lunch. “So,” I said, looking at Apple Bloom. “How’s the potion-making going?”

“It would be goin’ better if Applejack stopped askin’ me to make a bunch of easy potions to help around the farm. I’m tryin’ to make a potion good enough to earn my cutie mark, but every day she asks me for a potion pretty much anypony can make.” Scootaloo and I just glanced at each other.

“Well,” I said, trying not to solve her problem for her. “You like helping your family though, right?”

“Of course!” she said. “I love my family, but… I gotta get my cutie mark, and… Helpin’ them ain’t helpin’ me.”

“Just keep at it,” Scootaloo said. “I’m sure you’ll get it any day now, right, Sweetie?”

“Right,” I said, nodding my head at Apple Bloom. “Just… this is something you have to figure out on your own, right, Life Bloom?” I asked, giving her a look that screamed not to be completely 100% honest in the situation.

“Of course,” Life Bloom said, nodding in acknowledgment. “A cutie mark is about personal discovery, you can’t be rushed or told what your cutie mark is, even if it’s patently obvious to everypony else.”

“Maybe I should just make that foresight potion myself and see what my cutie mark is,” Apple Bloom said, sighing.

“I wouldn’t do that,” I said, frowning at my friend. “The epiphany is… It’s one of the best feelings ever, you shouldn’t cheat yourself out of it.”

“I know, I know, I have to be patient, but… I’ve been waitin’ for years, and nothing I do seems to work. I don’t get it, I’m great at potion making, so why don’t I have a cutie mark?” Apple Bloom said, rolling her eyes and thunking her head against the table. “And don’t tell me I’ll figure it out, I know I’ll figure it out, but I want to figure it out before I’m Granny Smith’s age.”

“Anyways,” I said, trying to change the subject to something less upsetting. “What’s… what’s up with you, Scootaloo?”

“Just… thinking,” she said, pushing a slice of bread around her tray. “Nothing big.” That tone absolutely screamed she needed somepony to talk with, and I was a really good listener.

“Come on,” I said, frowning and putting my puppy dog look on reserve. “You can talk to me, you know I’ll always be there to listen to your problems.”

“Yeah, I know,” Scootaloo said, sighing. “I’m just worried if I do, you’ll get upset, and I really don’t want us to get in another fight.”

“Oh, please, it took you being a huge jerk for us to get in a fight last time. I’m sure we’ll be fine,” I said, giving her my “everything’s okay” smile

“Alright,” she said, looking from her food to me. “Promise you won’t get upset?”

I nodded.

“My talent really doesn’t have anything to do with this school, and I… well, we’re all old enough that we don’t have to go to school anymore. I was thinking maybe after the year was over, I could go to Manehattan or Las Pegasus and try to find work there. I’m not going to get any better on my scooter in Ponyville, so… why should I stay here?”

What?

She had to be joking.

What?

Scootaloo wouldn’t just leave me.

What?

But she was, she wanted to abandon me for Manehattan, just because… because...

”What?” I yelled, maybe getting a bit upset. “But… we’re best friends. You… you can’t just leave me… leave us.”

Scootaloo sighed. “Believe me, if it wasn’t for you girls, my bags would be packed. Instead, I’m torn. I don’t want to leave my friends, but you’re all that’s keeping me in Ponyville. Oh, and even if I do leave, we’ll still be friends. If you need me for something, I’ll be here as fast as I can.”

Bright Lights opened her mouth to say something, but Tiara just glared at her until she closed it. “Apple Bloom,” I said, turning to my friend. “Can you tell her why she shouldn’t leave? Tell her we need her. Tell her something.”

“She… kinda has a point, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said, frowning at me. “We’re all growin’ up, and we have to find our own place. Maybe that place isn’t Ponyville. I’d be lyin’ if I said I’d never thought about leaving before.”

Life Bloom nodded. “With the exception of the Academy, there are very few jobs in the sciences in Ponyville. It seems inevitable I’ll relocate once my education here is completed, although I don’t imagine that will happen until I have my doctorate.”

Traitors! Vultures! At least I still had my marefriends… “Tiara, Melody, you won’t leave, right?”

“Well… I might not,” Melody said. “I’ll be going out for one of the orchestras when I’m done, so there’s definitely a chance I’ll stay here, but I’ll go wherever I get a job.”

“And Daddy said he’d be happy to rent me an apartment in a city that’s… a little less Ponyville. Before we started dating, I was planning on heading for Manehattan at the end of the year.”

“I can’t believe this,” I groaned, looking around at all my traitor friends (and Bright Lights). “We’re best friends, doesn’t that mean anything?”

“Excuse me,” Life Bloom said, raising an eyebrow at me. “Can you honestly say you never considered leaving Ponyville?”

I frowned. “Well… of course I’m going to leave Ponyville eventually, if I want to become a famous singer, there’s no way it can happen in Ponyville. I thought I’d head to Manehattan in a few years and get a job singing in a nightclub.” Life Bloom tried to say something, but I talked over her. “I wasn’t going to leave you all, though. I was going to convince you to move with me. Imagine it, the seven of us moving to Manehattan together, renting an apartment, it would be such a great adventure.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at me. “Sweetie, you know I think of you as my best friend, right? Well, you and Apple Bloom are. Anyways, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but you’re acting a lot like the Nightmare Night you. You don’t want us to leave you, but you expect us to move with you to Manehattan when you want to move. That’s… pretty selfish, Sweetie.”

“I didn’t expect you to move with me, I just… really wanted it. I didn’t think you’d all betray me and leave for… wherever you want to go.”

Life Bloom tilted her head. “So… us leaving you is a betrayal, but you leaving us is perfectly fine? That seems rather hypocritical.”

It… I sighed. “But I don’t want to be alone.” I looked to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. “I really didn’t have any friends before you two, and… I don’t want to go back to being alone. I like having friends.” I sniffled and felt a hoof rest on top of mine.

“And you won’t be alone,” Scootaloo said, giving me a reassuring smile. “We’ll always be Crusaders, and I promise no matter how far away we are, we’ll write to each other every week, right?”

“Of course,” Apple Bloom said. “And we’ll visit each other all the time no matter how far away we get. I know anytime I get a few free days to myself I’ll head over to visit you or one of the other girls.”

“Friendship is not tied to geography,” Life Bloom said, looking at me through her glasses. “Friendship thrives in spite of it. I still correspond with my friends from before the Academy and plan on visiting them this summer. I intended to visit them over winter holiday as well, but will instead be assisting Apple Bloom with her potion making.”

“Ooh! Can I help?” I asked, my ears perking up. “I don’t really have any plans for Hearth’s Warming, so I’d be happy to–”

“Actually, we’re heading out of town,” Apple Bloom said. “Applejack doesn’t want me to get distracted, so we’re heading to another family farm that’s empty for the winter.”

“That’s fine,” I said, hiding my frown. Why did I feel like there was a bit of sand in my mouth that I couldn’t get rid of? “Hope you get your cutie mark, then, I guess.” Ooh! That was something we could talk about that wasn’t as depressing as all my friends leaving. “What’s everypony going to do over winter break?”

“I’m just going to visit my parents,” Scootaloo said. “By the way, you should totally see Cloudsdale in winter sometime, everything just looks so… cool.” I giggled at her choice of words.

“I’ll be visiting my parents as well,” Melody said. “It’s been so long since I last saw them, I can hardly wait.” She frowned as she saw the look of disappointment on my face. “I’m sorry, didn’t I tell you? I could’ve sworn I mentioned it.”

Tiara sighed. “I think she was daydreaming when we told her our plans for the holidays, which means… I’ll be out of town as well, Sweetie.”

“That’s fine,” I said, trying to sound collected and calm and happy. “I’ll just spend time with…” I looked around at all my friends. “Oh. You’re all leaving, that’s fine too.”

“I’m not,” Bright Lights said. “I’ll have to work on on staging and designing the scenery for the play. I don’t have time to go home.”

“Great,” I said, my eyes lighting up while Tiara scowled for a brief second. “You can help me rehearse then, right? You know, if I get the part.”

Bright Lights smiled. “I’d be happy to keep you company over break, Sweetie Belle.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “Also, I think Socket’s staying, so you two can hang out as well. I think he’s been feeling kind of left out lately.”

“Did you hear that?” Tiara said. “You can spend time with Socket. I’m sure you two will have tons of fun over break. You have so much in common.”

“Hanging out with Socket could be kind of fun, I guess,” I said, frowning at her. “Maybe he, Bright Lights, and I can do something over break.”

“Sounds great,” Tiara said, biting her tongue. “Just as long as you’re happy, that’s what matters.” She glanced at Bright Lights. “Just remember our relationship boundaries. alright, Sweetie Belle?”

“Of course,” I said, smiling at her. “You know I wouldn’t… do… anything…” I trailed off, the rest of the sentence catching in my mouth for some reason.

“You’re going to be without somepony to kiss for two weeks,” Tiara said, frowning. “I honestly don’t think you’ll last.”

Bright Lights smiled at Tiara. “If it would make you feel better, I can promise not to see Sweetie over break. Sure it might affect her performance in the play, but I’d hate to come between you two… or three.” She glanced at Melody.

“It’s fine with me,” Melody said. “I’m not going to get in the way of Sweetie doing what makes her happy. Besides, you seem like a very nice pony.”

Tiara groaned. “Can we please just talk about this later? Right now, all I want is to eat my lunch in peace.”

“Of course,” Bright Lights said. “Sweetie, do you mind if I tell you a bit about your role in the play?”

I nodded my head at her.

“Alright, well, you start the play working as a poor orphan mare working at a florist’s…”

***

“I think that’s enough practice for today,” Bright Lights said as Diamond Tiara gave a relieved sigh. “I’d recommend reading the script once more before tomorrow, but what I really want is for you to think about your character. Get in her head. Feel what she feels. You need to become her if you really want to sell ponies on the delivery and become a Bridleway star. If that’s not what you want, then feel free to ignore all my suggestions and just… have fun tonight.”

“No, no, I want to be a big star and make your production as great as it can be,” I said, frowning at the script. “Just… I have a date with Melody and Tiara tonight, but after that, I can totally spend all night rereading the script and getting into character. I promise, it will be my top priority after the date.”

She smiled at me. “Don’t stress yourself out, Sweetie, just… you realize you’re in a competitive field, right? Ponies have to dedicate their lives to singing or performing if they want be the best at what they do, and… That is something you want, right?”

I nodded at her.

“Great,” Bright Lights said, getting up on her hooves and flipping her mane as she headed to the door of the auditorium. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Sweetie.” She turned to look at me and gave me one last smile. “I knew my hunch was right when it told me you were exactly what I needed to make this production a huge success.”

“See you tomorrow,” I said, waving a hoof at her as she trotted out of the auditorium. “So…” I looked at Melody and Tiara. “What do you think?”

“She seems nice,” Melody said. “I think she just wants you to succeed in the play.”

Tiara rolled her eyes as she got to her hooves. “I can’t believe you two are actually buying that line. She’s totally manipulating you, Sweetie.”

“Is not,” I said, following her towards the door. “She’s just… She might come on strong, but she’s just really nervous about the play being successful.”

“She’s trying to control your life, Sweetie. She’s only been your ‘friend’ for a day, but now she’s giving you life advice and telling you how to spend your time,” Tiara said as we reached the door. “Bright Lights might as well be taking a page from my playbook.”

“But she’s not being mean,” I said, feeling a stab of anger rise up in my throat. “You made me feel terrible all the time, but she’s just… pushing me to be better. You know what I think?”

“No,” Tiara said as we headed towards town, Melody a few steps behind us.

“I think you’re jealous,” I said. “I think you hate the idea of sharing me with anypony else, so you’re trying to make her look bad.”

Tiara’s ear twitched. “Really? I’m jealous? You’re the pony who had a freak-out about your friends leaving, while I’m the one who’s trying to tolerate you dating other ponies, but you’re calling me jealous.”

“Yeah, well… if you weren’t jealous, you wouldn’t have a problem with Bright Lights, right Melody?” I said, looking to my other marefriend for support.

“I would really prefer not to comment,” Melody said from behind me. “I… I think you both have valid points.”

“See,” I said. “She thinks I have valid points.”

Tiara sputtered. “That’s… You’re ignoring half of what she said. Are you that set on dating a pony you barely know? At least with Melody you knew her for a few months before dating her.”

“I’ve known Bright Lights for just as long,” I said, trying to fight down my irritation. Why was she being so difficult? Bright Lights had been nothing but nice, but Tiara didn’t like her because… I don’t even know why. Because she wanted me all for herself?

“You knew she existed, you didn’t have an actual conversation with her until today. But… oh wait, she’s cute, so you want to date her,” Tiara said. “Because that’s all that matters to you; if a mare looks cute and you think it would be fun, you’re all for dating her. Because that’s what matters, right? Having fun?”

“Of course,” I said. “What’s more important than having fun and making sure other ponies have fun? You make it sound like me wanting to enjoy myself is a bad thing.”

“Having fun isn’t bad, Sweetie, but I want more than fun. I want a relationship. I want somepony to love me,” Tiara said, stopping in her tracks.

I frowned. That was… “Of course I love you,” I said, trotting up to her and nuzzling her neck. “Why would you think I didn’t?”

“Okay, yeah, you love me, but you love everypony. It’s not like you love me anymore than you love Scootaloo or Life Bloom or any of our other friends,” she said, pulling away from me.

“You’re right,” I said. “I do love all my friends. I like to think I love everypony, but I love them all in different ways. I love you in a way I don’t love anypony else, that’s just… it’s our love, and nopony else will ever have that, no matter how many mares I date.” I glanced back at Melody. “And I love you in your own special way too, because you’re Melody, and she’s Tiara, and it would be silly if I loved you both the same way. But I do love you, Tiara.”

She sighed and I felt the warmth of her cheeks nuzzling my neck. “And I love you, Sweetie Belle. If you really want to add Bright Lights to our group, I won’t stop you, but I still don’t think this will end well.”

“Really?” I asked, my ears perking up as I kissed Tiara’s cheek. “You mean it? You’re sure you’re okay with it, because if you aren’t, I totally won’t do it.”

“I know,” Tiara said as we started walking back to town, an invisible burden weighing her shoulders down. “But you won’t be happy, and… I have to love you in your own way. If I can’t let you be you, then… I don’t know, it’s not real love, right? I just… don’t stop loving me, alright?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said, trotting behind her. “Why would I stop loving one of the two best marefriends in the world?”

Tiara smiled. “Sweet talker.”

“Well, being sweet is in my name,” I said, giggling.

Tiara and Melody both sighed. “We really need to stop giving her opportunities to pun,” Tiara said, looking back at at Melody. Melody just nodded.

“Wait,” I said, stopping where I stood. “Tiara, did you just say you loved me?” Tiara nodded.

“Ooh! I think that’s the first time you actually said that, do you know what this calls for?” I asked as a wave of giddiness bubbled up inside me.

“Probably something involving Sugarcube Corner,” she said, rolling her eyes.

I nodded at her before bounding off into town. “I’ll meet you girls there, I’ve just got to drop my saddlebags off first. First one of you to Sugarcube Corner gets kisses by me. So does the last one!”

Before they could say much else, I was halfway to Carousel Boutique.

***

Angry voices came from the boutique as I trotted towards it. Yes, I was in a rush so I probably should’ve just barged in, but on the other hoof, I could hear what grown-up ponies were talking about. I pressed my ear against the door and recognized the voices as Applejack’s and Rarity’s.

“I can’t believe you!” Rarity yelled. “You expect me to just leave my sister behind so we can go on vacation?”

“Now, Ah ain’t sayin that, mah diamond, I just figured since your folks were gettin’ back soon, we could maybe slip away for a while.” Applejack said. Even though her voice wasn’t as loud, it sounded like she was closer to the door.

“But they aren’t getting back. Apparently, they decided it would be fun to spend the holidays in Mareami because, and I quote, ‘the weather there is just so nice.’ Oh, and also I’m supposed to give Sweetie their love.” At the mention of my parents, I bit my lower lip. I loved my parents – why wouldn’t I? They were great – but thinking about why they weren’t around ever… Well, when they were out of sight, I tried to make them out of mind.

“You’re tellin’ me they can’t be bothered to come back home for the holidays?” Applejack asked, her voice wavering. “Don’t they know the whole point of… Don’t they know you’re supposed to spend the holiday with family?”

“No, they don’t, Applejack. At least Sweetie has me around; when I was her age…” Rarity growled. “I was left alone for days when Dad had a game, and when it was off-season it was even worse. At least…” She took a deep breath and switched to her diplomat voice. “They made sure I had everything I needed growing up.”

“Everything but parents to be there for ya’.” Applejack said, her voice closer to Rarity’s now. “Ah don’t know how I’d cope with folks like that. Folks that are more interested in havin’ big fancy vacations than raisin’ their kids.”

Rarity sighed. “I don’t know how many postcards I got that read ‘Greetings from Haywaii, wish you were here!’ It’s… did they not see how cruel that was? To leave your child behind and then send them a postcard that…” Rarity let out another growl. I didn’t want to hear this, I don’t like hearing things that make me sad, but… I needed to know. Know why they didn’t want me around, and maybe this conversation had the answer.

“Come on, now, sug,” Applejack said, her voice reassuring. “Don’t pay your folks no mind. They ain’t worth botherin’ yourself over.”

“I know,” Rarity said after a while. “And… thank you, if it wasn’t for you, I would’ve done the same thing to Sweetie they did to me.”

“Don’t you worry ‘bout it, sug. Now, about this vacation… Ah know how much ya care for Sweetie, but can’t ya just find a sitter for her? It ain’t like we’re goin’ anyplace fancy,” Applejack said. “Besides, can ya honestly say she’d like spending a couple weeks on an old farm?”

“No,” Rarity said. “But then, that doesn’t sound particularly enjoyable to me either. I’m not going to leave my sister alone on Hearth’s Warming, Applejack, and there’s nothing you can say to convince me.” At least somepony wanted me around.

“Now, I ain’t ‘bout to suggest that, but… what if ya left her after Hearth’s Warming? Ain’t nopony’d begrudge ya that, right? Just a week with you, me, and Apple Bloom.”

I moved from my spot at the door to peek through the window. Rarity was staring at Applejack with an eyebrow raised. “And just why is your sister going on our romantic vacation?”

“‘Cause, she needs to focus on gettin’ her cutie mark. Havin’ Sweetie around would just distract her. ‘Sides, Ah don’t need Sweetie tryin’ to seduce li’l Apple Bloom and add her to her herd. Don’t got no time for Apple Bloom to get into all that romantic stuff, anyhow.” What? I didn’t even want to date Apple Bloom… At least, she wasn’t that high up on my list.

Rarity’s eyes froze into a glare, and I shivered just looking at them. “Excuse me, Applejack, I’m afraid I misheard you. You didn’t just–”

“Ah ain’t sayin’ nothin’ bad ‘bout your sister,” Applejack said, apparently unfazed by Rarity’s glare. “Just don’t think it’s right, her foolin’ round with other ponies like that.” Why? What was bad about liking multiple ponies? I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong.

“Oh, you don’t hate her, you just hate the things she does, is that it?” Rarity asked, her glare somehow getting colder.

“Yup,” Applejack said, nodding before catching her mistake and backpedaling. “Oh, come on, Rarity, it’s… ponies ain’t meant to herd, and if you don’t want to teach her how to do things better, that’s your business, but I ain’t about to let my Apple Bloom be alone with her. Don’t want her to get any wrong notions in her head.” She… Applejack really thought what I was doing was that bad? It’s… she didn’t like me?

Rarity was actually shaking now and had that look on her face that told me to run before she exploded. “Oh yes, Applejack, it would be terrible if Apple Bloom saw a non-traditional relationship. Why, she might start thinking it’s okay for two mares to date, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

“Now, that’s just a durn fool argument. There’s probably more mares datin’ mares than datin’ stallion in this town – but there’s only two herders I know of, your sister and Pinkie, and we all know Pinkie ain’t exactly right in the head.”

“Isn’t she also an Apple?” Rarity asked. “And more importantly, considering just how polyamory works, I don’t think it’s fair to say my sister and Pinkie are the only herders in town. If they were, they wouldn’t be herders.”

“Look, Pinkie can still be an Apple even if Ah don’t approve of some o’ the things she does, and you know good and well that if it weren’t for Pinkie and Sweetie, the rest of their herds would find nice normal relationships,” Applejack said.

Rarity’s teeth ground. “That’s just… so hypocritical. How can you complain about herders, when Pinkie spent a very lovely evening with us? Or is herding just wrong when it doesn’t affect you?”

“And Ah only did that cause you kept pesterin’ me to. Don’t go puttin’ me in the same deviant boat as you,” Applejack said. Okay, they definitely weren’t talking about my parents anymore, and… I really didn’t want to hear this anymore.

Luckily, it sounded like Rarity agreed with that thought.

“Get out!” Rarity yelled, slamming the door open with her magic just as I got on the hoofpath leading from the boutique.

For a long time nopony said anything as Applejack and Rarity stared at me, and I stared back, debating whether or not I should run away crying. “Sweetie Belle,” Applejack eventually said, her face red as she shuffled out of the boutique. “Uhmm… it ain’t nothin’ personal, but… maybe ya should stay away from Sweet Apple Acres for a li’l while. Just don’t want Apple Bloom gettin’ distracted until she earns her cutie mark.”

I just stared at her as she walked away, as a voice in my head told me to be really nasty to her. “Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said from inside the boutique, “please come inside. I suppose there are some things we need to talk about.” I nodded dumbly at her as I shuffled back into the boutique.

“So…” Rarity said, looking at me.

“Why don’t Mom and Dad want me around?” I asked as whatever was keeping me from crying snapped.

Rarity’s frown deepened. “Oh dear, you heard that as well?” She sighed and sat next to me, stroking my mane with her hoof. “It’s not that they don’t love you, they do, but… I honestly don’t know. It’s a question I asked myself many times when I was your age. I think it would be better if they completely ignored us, but then they have to get us those wonderful gifts or take us on vacation with them, and… For a few days it feels like we’re all a normal family.

“I can’t answer your question, Sweetie Belle, because I don’t know the answer. I wish I did, but…” She trailed off. “If you come up with the answer, you’re a smarter mare than I.”

I stared at her and frowned. If it was bad for me, how much worse was it for her. At least I had her to watch over me when Mom and Dad went on one of their trips, but she didn’t have anypony when she was my age. I tried to imagine what the last few years would’ve been like without her, and… I don’t know how I could’ve made it through this semester without her.

“I’m glad I have you to watch over me, and… I’m sorry you didn’t,” I said, leaning against her as she stroked my mane.

“It’s alright,” she said, smiling softly. “I have you now, and that’s what matters.”

***

An hour later, I finally walked into Sugarcube Corner to find Tiara and Melody staring at me. “What happened to you?” Tiara asked as I sat in front of the remains of my room-temperature shake.

“Sorry,” I said, looking at my melted shake and frowning. There was nothing more disgusting than a melted shake… Except broccoli. Broccoli was always more disgusting. Like, it wasn’t even a contest. Maybe a broccoli-flavored melted shake would be more disgusting than just normal broccoli, but even then, it still had a sliver of the goodness that came with being a shake. “Rarity and I had a… talk.” Well, it was less a talk, and more us sitting next to each other for a while, but it was a really good sitting session, and we didn’t really need to say anything.

“Well, we can always order another shake,” Tiara said, raising a hoof up and causing Pinkie to appear right in front of us.

“Heya, Sweetie, the usual?” she asked, tilting her head at me and noticing the faint redness around my eyes. “Looks like you could use some cheering up. Ooh! Is this the part where you found out some people don’t like herds? Dissy told me that part was coming up.” She pulled the shake out from somewhere and sat next to me. “Now, how can Auntie Pinkie help you?”

I wanted to ask how she knew what happened, but then remembered it was Pinkie Pie. That pretty much explained it all. “Actually, it’s not… bugging me that much,” I said, looking at my new milkshake. “I don’t understand it enough to be upset, I mean… I like spending time with ponies I care about and don’t want to play favorites, and apparently that’s… bad for some reason? Like, Applejack thinks it’s so bad she doesn’t want me to spend time with Apple Bloom? I know I should be upset, but I just don’t understand it.”

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Jackie’s banging on that drum again?” She laughed and shook her head. “Sometimes, she can just be so silly, especially when it comes to Apple Bloom. Anyways, to answer your question, some ponies think herds are weird or icky or whatever. I really don’t get it either, but the important thing is that you do it right. You can’t just treat a herd like you’d treat a normal relationship or you’ll go completely nutso or everything will end up on fire or sometimes both at once.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What do you do differently?”

“Well, it’s kind of… actually, there’s something both herds and singles absolutely have to do right,” she said before chugging my melted shake.

“What’s that?” I asked, trying not to gag at the sight of somepony drinking my old disgusting shake.

“You have to have rules,” Pinkie said, slamming the melted shake down. “I’m sure you already figured this out, but you can’t use being polyamorous as an excuse to just kiss everypony you see… I mean, you can, but you have to make sure the ponies you’re dating approve first, and that makes managing really large herds super difficult unless your herd is pretty relaxed. Like, I date a lot of ponies, but I’m not really dating them if that makes sense. It’s more like ‘Hey, I wonder what Roseluck’s up to to today?’ or ‘Maybe after work tonight, I can see if Berry and Ditzy are up for a night out.’ You know, that kind of thing.”

I actually didn’t know what kind of thing she was talking about, but… we had rules, so I guess we were doing something right. “Oh! That’s another thing. You just can’t do the whirlwind storybook relationship if you’re poly. I mean… you can try, but that means either giving one pony special treatment or spreading yourself too thin. When you’re dating a bunch of ponies, you just can’t give one pony as much time as you could if you were just dating one pony. Plus, it’s super emotionally exhausting.”

Pinkie tilted her head. “It’s a bit better if you have everypony dating everypony else, but there’s still going to be favorites and cliques and a huge chance that everything turns not fun.” She took a deep breath and struck a dramatic pose. “But you don’t choose the herd life, it chooses you.” She winked at me. “And it looks like the herd life likes laughter.”

Okay? Did we… I’m pretty sure that conversation happened in one of the loops, although we might’ve talked about it after the loop. I couldn’t remember. Plus, I don’t think it really mattered. Pinkie knew what she knew, and figuring out how she knew it just led to headaches.

“What’s she talking about?” Tiara asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, Pinkie kind of had this idea that our group kind of corresponded with the Elements of Harmony. She thinks I’m Laughter and Life Bloom’s Honesty. I… don’t completely see it,” I said.

“Really?” Melody asked, her eyes lighting up as she turned to look at Pinkie. “Do… do you think I have an element or… No, of course you don’t, you hardly know me. Besides, why would I ever be chosen as an Element Bearer or… correspond with an Element.”

Pinkie laughed and patted Melody on the head. “Don’t be silly, filly, anypony can have a connection with one of the elements. I’m just a baker and a party-thrower extraordinaire, but I’m also the Element of Laughter… or the Bearer of the Element of Laughter. I’m not exactly sure how all that works.” She frowned and tilted her head for a second before springing back up. “Anyways, the point is that if you could see everypony in Equestria, you could probably find funnier ponies who deserve the title more. The thing is… you don’t have to be a Bearer to have an affinity for an element. And if you look at any group of friends, you’ll see traces of the Elements in them.”

She stared at Melody for a few seconds with her sky-blue eyes causing Melody to inch away from Pinkie. “Hmm… You, I think, are… Kindness. Definitely Kindness.”

“You… just looked at me and knew?” Melody asked, tilting her head to look up at Pinkie. Pinkie just laughed.

“No, silly, you’ve been coming to Sugarcube Corner for months, and I see how you treat everypony when you’re here. I just did the staring thing to seem deep and mysterious.” At the last few words, she waved her forelegs up and down and drew out the syllables to make herself sound spooky.

“And then spoiled it by telling us the truth,” Tiara said, rolling her eyes. “Anyways, I’m guessing there’s no chance I have an element, right?”

Pinkie tapped her chin in thought. “Well, I came up with this theory back… I came up with this theory before you joined the group, so I didn’t originally have a place for you, but you know who else didn’t originally have a place in our group of friends? You know who else originally started out as our enemy?”

Tiara sighed. “Something tells me it’s–”

“Discord!” Pinkie yelled, jumping up into the air. Was there a term for that bouncy thing she did? There had to be. I made a note to look it up later. “He wasn’t our friend at first, but then he was because of the power of friendship, and now we’re best buddies. You’re…” She twirled around dramatically before pulling a crown out of her mane and rested it on her head. “The Element of Forgiveness.” Oh! I still had her tiara in my room until she earned it back… Considering how good she’d been the last two months, I should probably give that back to her soon.

“That’s not a real Element,” Tiara said, frowning. “You don’t have to make something up just to make me feel better.”

“I’m not,” Pinkie said. “Sure, the Elements of Harmony are the big ones, but there are other virtues, other things friendships need to thrive, so they should have their own element.” More laughter. “Come on, you’re the first Element of Forgiveness, doesn’t that make you feel even a little better?”

Tiara smiled. “I guess it’s not that bad. Kind of cool, right, Sweetie?”

I nodded at her before kissing her. Good news deserved celebratory kisses. “Coolest thing ever,” I said before pulling her towards me for another kiss. “Ooh! We should totally stop by my room at the Boutique, I have something for you.”

Both Tiara and Melody did a spit take, or they would have if they’d been drinking anything. Instead, they just kind of made fish faces. “That…” Tiara said before regaining her composure. “Wait, what do you want to give me?”

“Your tiara,” I said, before giving her another kiss. “You’ve been so good lately, you totally deserve it.” An expression that could have been either relief or disappointment formed on her face before quickly twisting into a smile. “Oh! But if I give Tiara her tiara back, I should do something nice for Melody as well…” I frowned in thought. “I know, what if the three of us had a party at Tiara’s place after my show Friday. I know we could all probably stand to blow off some stress after our auditions.”

Tiara frowned at me. “Are you sure, Sweetie? It’s… Friday’s going to be pretty busy for you already. You’ve got the audition after school, and then after that you’re performing for Button’s birt–”

“I know my schedule,” I snapped, interrupting her and making me feel terrible for a few seconds. I took a deep breath. “I mean, I just think it would be fun if the three of us spent some time together without anypony else around.” I leaned in next to Tiara and whispered. “And… maybe you could find some of that rum punch?”

“Ah,” she said, nodding in understanding. “That sounds fine to me. Daddy will be out of town this weekend, so it kind of works out. That is, if you’re fine with it, Melody.”

“Oh, and that would be my cue to leave,” Pinkie said, looking at the several customers standing in front of the register. “See you girls later.”

“Bye,” I said, waving after her as she dashed behind the register. “Thanks for the talk.”

“Anytime!” she yelled from the opposite side of the register, causing several ponies near her to wince. “Just come to me if you ever need advice on the herd life.” A few other ponies turned to look at me and I wilted under looks that… weren’t quite mean, but they definitely weren’t friendly.

“So…” I said, slinking low in my seat until the gazes passed. “Are you two getting along okay?”

Tiara smiled and glanced at Melody. “Better than I expected, honestly. It… she’s almost as sweet as you and not quite as hyper.” Hey! I wasn’t hyp– Okay, I was totally hyper, but I still didn’t like being called it. “When I spend a day with her, I feel relaxed instead of exhausted.” Melody blushed at that.

“Hey!” I squeaked, suddenly feeling a tightness in my chest. She thought I was exhausting? Did she not like me? “Do you want your tiara back or not?”

She laughed and kissed my cheek. “I love spending time with you, Sweetie, I just appreciate the differences between you and Melody. Love ponies in their own way, right?”

I nodded along. “Alright, but I still don’t think you should call your marefriend exhausting.”

“You called me jealous, earlier today,” she said, grinning at me.

“Yeah, but I was kind of mad at you,” I said. “It’s not like I’d normally call you jealous.” Even if she kind of was.

“And that makes you calling me jealous better?” Tiara asked, raising an eyebrow.

I sighed and shook my head, closing my eyes. “No. I just… I don’t know, the idea that you might not like me got me...” I trailed off, suddenly thinking about my parents.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of warm lips press against my cheek, and then another pair on the opposite cheek. I opened my eyes to find myself sandwiched by my two favorite mares in the world. (Although if I had to choose between having them as marefriends and having Rarity as a sister… I don’t want to make that choice.) “It’s alright,” Melody said as she broke the kiss, scooting around to lean against me. “We both love you, Sweetie. Yes, you might be a bit exhausting sometimes, but that doesn’t make us like you any less, alright?”

“Alright,” I said, nodding at her and smiling before returning the kiss. “So… you two aren’t going to leave me just because I’m so high energy? Because if you are, I can totally change.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Tiara said, nestling against my other side. Around us, a few ponies were glancing our way like we were some kind of exhibit to be looked at. Ugh, I hated those looks. Why is three mares dating so interesting that it’s stare-worthy? It’s just like two mares dating but plus one. A teeny part of me wanted to put on a real show for them like we did for Scootaloo, but… I didn’t want to put Melody through that. Instead, I decided to just enjoy the feeling of my two marefriends leaning against me while we talked about silly stuff and I sipped my shake.

***

“Very good,” Bright Lights said as we finished our reading. “I can tell you practiced last night. If you keep putting in this much work, you shouldn’t have a problem getting the part. That is… You still want it, right?”

I nodded at her. “I do.”

“You want to see your name up in lights? To be the pony everypony should know?”

“I do!” I said, imagining how great it would feel to be the best singer/actress in Equestria. Imagining how it would feel to have everypony in Equestria love me. Next to me, Tiara just sighed, her tiara sitting on her head again. Now that she’d earned it – at least, in my mind, she had –it seemed to fit her better, it was less osten… ostent… less showy and now just seemed like a part of her.

Bright Lights smiled and leaned in close to me. Her honey-scented perfume made my head get light. “That’s what I hoped to hear. Remember that ambition, Sweetie. Hold on to it, and there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.”

“And what are you getting from all this ‘help’ you’re providing Sweetie Belle?” Tiara asked. “Or are you just doing it from the kindness of your heart?”

Bright Lights leaned back, taking the honey smell with her. Why couldn’t Tiara just trust her? I mean, I trusted Tiara, and she’d been nothing but mean to me for years. “Well, I do want our play to be a success,” Bright Lights said, “and I think Sweetie Belle is my best chance for accomplishing that, but I’ve always been honest about that.” She frowned at Tiara. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t want what’s best for Sweetie Belle, as well. It’s… we can both get what we want this way.”

“Yeah,” I said, turning to Tiara. “Come on, this is what I want. I always wanted to be an actress, and this musical… it’s giving me that dream back.” I leaned in and nibbled one ear. It might have been a cheap trick, but it was a quick way to win arguments with Tiara, or bury them before they could even get started. “You want me to follow my dreams, right?”

Tiara sighed. Not her usual sigh of irritation, but a sigh of contentment and satisfaction. She was a sucker for ear nibbles, just like I was a sucker for horn kisses. We both had ways of getting what we wanted. “Of course I do,” Tiara said as she practically melted into me. “I’m just… Promise me you’ll be careful?”

“What’s there to be careful about?” I asked, ending my nibbling and tilting my head. “It’s just acting.”

“I don’t know,” Tiara said, melting into a puddle by my side while Bright Lights looked on with eyes narrowed. “Just… something in my gut makes me worry.”

I giggled at that. She was just looking out for me even when I didn’t need looking after. How could I be irritated by that? “Well, I appreciate the worry, but I’ll be fine,” I said, cuddling up next to her before looking back to Bright Lights. “So… you really think I’m good?”

“Of course,” she said, smiling at me before glancing to Tiara. “You know how to move ponies so you get just what you want. You’re going to be a great actor.” I couldn’t help but smile at that, even as I felt a tiny little tinge of nausea in my stomach for a reason I couldn’t quite understand.

***

“Hey, Rarity,” I said as I trotted into the Boutique, while my sister worked on pacing a hole in the Boutique’s floor. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing,” Rarity said, smiling at me as she continued pacing. “Just… thinking about Applejack.”

“Really?” I asked, frowning in thought. “Are you two still friends? Did you break up? Wait! If you’re not friends anymore, then can the Elements still work? What if somepony invades? What if… What if Tirek comes back, what will we do then? You have to make up with Appleja–”

“Sweetie, it’s fine,” Rarity said, cutting me off. “We are still dating as far as I know, we just had one of our fights, and honestly, this one wasn’t that bad.”

“But… you kicked her out,” I said as I plopped down just outside of the circle Rarity was pacing. “That seems like a bad fight to me.”

Rarity sighed and sat down across from me. “Normally, I suppose it would be, but… considering our track record, the fact that nothing wound up broken makes it one of our tamer fights.”

I tilted my head at that. “Okay… I’m confused, I thought you two loved each other. Fighting doesn’t sound like loving, unless…”

“I’m going to interrupt you before you can finish that thought, Sweetie,” Rarity said. “Yes, most relationships put a high premium on getting along, but… How to put this in terms you might understand? Passion, I suppose, is the root of it. Applejack and I are both exceptionally passionate ponies, and–”

“And that’s why you love each other so much, right?” I asked, filling in the blanks for her.

“Partially yes… It’s also why our fights are so exceptionally volatile, and…” She paused as the door to the Boutique opened up, revealing the pony we were just talking about, her hat in her hooves.

“Hey, Rarity, it’s been mighty hard goin’ without ya the past few days. Think maybe we can hash things out?” Applejack said as she trotted into the Boutique. As she did, Rarity closed the door with her magic and bolted it. “Don’t see much point in endin’ a fight when we both still have things we wanna say.”

My sister nodded. “Agreed. Sweetie, go upstairs. Something tells me you’re about to get a lesson on the two-fold nature of passion.”

“Ya mean yer gonna have her listen to this?” Applejack asked as I hastily trotted upstairs.

“I’d prefer it if she didn’t,” Rarity said, “but considering the… nature of our arguments, I don’t harbor any hopes she’ll completely tune us out. Besides, she was just wondering how our passion could be a bad thing. I suppose this will sate her curiosity.”

“That’s just it!” Applejack said as I reached the top of the stairs, “Ah get yer parents bein’ rotten–”

“Aloof,” Rarity correct, her voice going ultra rigid. “They care, they just aren’t very hooves-on.”

“You call it aloof, I’ll call it rotten,” Applejack said. I paused at the top of the stairs and pressed myself against the wall so they couldn’t see me. “But that ain’t mah problem. Mah problem is you.”

“Me?” Rarity asked, her voice rising. “I’ve done everything I can to prepare Sweetie for the world. While I admit I haven’t been a perfect sister, I’m trying my best.”

“But you’re not… Ya should be protecting her from deviancy, not givin’ her an advanced class on it,” Applejack said, trying to bring her voice down a bit.

“Oh, yes, because Celestia forbid Sweetie ever find out about the facts of life. No, I’d be much better off trying to preserve her innocence for as long as possible, that’s your preferred stance with Apple Bloom, right?”

“You’re sayin’ that like it’s a bad thing, but mah sister ain’t the one datin’ anypony who smiles at her real nice. Ah know mah sister ain’t gonna be workin’ the streets of Manehattan; Ah don’t know if Ah can say the same about Sweetie.” What did she mean by that? Was there anything wrong with being a street performer in Manehattan? I mean, if it earned a living…

Rarity apparently thought there was something wrong with that as she let out a scream that had me shoving my hooves in my ears. “At least I try to treat my sister like she’s an adult. You, on the other hoof, can’t go a day without checking on Apple Bloom. And oh look, my sister managed to free herself from a time loop after earning her cutie mark, while Apple Bloom can’t even manage that. Yet for some reason, you’re the one calling me a bad sister.”

“Yeah?” Applejack asked, raising her voice to meet Rarity’s. “Well, you’d be just as rotten as your parents if it weren’t for me teachin’ you not to ignore her. Don’t think most ponies need that particular lesson, but Ah guess it kind o’ runs in the family.” Something crashed downstairs, and I decided I’d heard enough to get Rarity’s point. I didn’t even need to sneak back to my room as the sound of yelling and things shattering masked any noise I might’ve made.

***

Five hours later, a pillow was shoved over my ears as I tried to ignore the sounds of everything in the house breaking, and Rarity and Applejack yelling louder than a tornado. They weren’t actually arguing now, just… yelling insults at each other.

“You inbred country yokel!” Rarity yelled, punctuating it with something else breaking. (How was anything in the house still intact?) “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’re qualified to give family advice unless it’s on what alcohol pairs best with kissing your cousin!” (crash!) Oh. They were actually talking about family stuff. Yay.

“Ah told you that in confidence!” Applejack yelled back. “But hey, at least I have actual kinfolk, and–” (crash!) “–wasn’t just left to fend for myself, ya stuck-up hussy!” (smash!)

"Oh yes, there it is, the great Apple Family values," Rarity said (well, yelled, pretty much everything they said was yelling right now). "How easy it is to be born to the greatest family in Equestria. To hold your head up high and judge us lesser families for not measuring up to your impossible standards. You think you're better than the rest of us just because circumstances made you an Apple and not an orange." My sister's voice turned from anger to sadness here. "You act as if... as if you have some inherent superiority over the rest of us, but... You have a great family, I won't deny that, but... I'm proud of what I made. Sweetie and I have a decent life, she has somepony to care for her while our parents..." There was more sobbing. "How dare you try to make me feel like a failure for that."

For a while, nopony said anything while my sister sobbed. It was... uncomfortable, and I really kind of wanted to just run down there and give her a big hug and tell her how great she was, but the rest of me thought that would be a really bad idea.

"Ah'm sorry, mah dearest diamond. Yer right, maybe Ah do get a bit full o' mahself sometimes... And maybe... ya made a great home for your li'l sister here, and don't let nopony tell you otherwise. Ah'm.... If Sweetie wants to go date every mare in Equestria and yer okay with it, that ain't none o' mah business," Applejack said. So... they just spent hours emotionally wrecking each other, and now Applejack was apologizing? Like Rarity would forgive her just like that?

“Oh, no, Applejack, it’s... You just wanted to help, and maybe I should have listened to what you had to say instead of just dismissing you out-of-hoof," Rarity said, and if I strained really hard, I could make out some sniffling. Well, it was probably less sniffling and more sobbing. "Perhaps you’re right, perhaps Sweetie does need a bit more guidance than my laissez-faire attitude can provide." I really didn’t like the sound of that, but at least they weren’t fighting anymore.

“Please, I insist you accept my apology, my apple, I can’t live with the knowledge I was so cruel to you,” Rarity continued. Please tell me they weren’t about to–

“Ain’t you who should be apologizin’, Rarity. This whole fight’s mah fault, I should’ve just–”

“Enough of that talk,” Rarity said, cutting Applejack off. “I won’t have you pitying yourself. I shall accept the blame for this fight.” Oh great, they were arguing about who should apologize now. Hopefully that wouldn’t last too long.

***

Two hours later – Two hours – they were still apologizing to each other and fighting over who was responsible for the fight. If I wasn’t curious to see just how long they could keep arguing, I probably would’ve marched down there and accepted full responsibility an hour ago just to get them to be quiet. It was ten at night, and I had class in ten hours. I sighed and rolled out of bed to look through the script again. If I couldn’t sleep, at the very least, I could get ready for my auditions.

I flipped through the pages, paying special attention to the songs and the notes I’d have to hit. Bright Lights wanted me for this part because I could sing, so studying the music and singing the songs a few times would probably be a good idea. At some point during my reading, I noticed the downstairs had gotten… kind of quiet. They weren’t yelling anymore, but if I listened hard enough, I could definitely hear them making some sort of noise. Giving the script one last look through, I decided I definitely didn’t want to know what was going on downstairs right now, and trotted back to my bed.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a sound like the moan Tiara made when I nibbled her ear multiplied by a hundred. Or maybe infinity.

***

Whatever Rarity and Applejack were doing downstairs, woke me up six more times while I was trying to sleep. Sometimes it sounded like Rarity making the noise, sometimes it sounded like Applejack, and sometimes it sounded like them both at once. Now, I had class and my auditions and my show for Button to deal with, and I’d barely gotten any sleep. I yawned at myself after I finished putting on my makeup (lots of makeup to hide the bags under my eyes) and trotted downstairs to head to school and see just how bad the fight was.

Literally everything in the downstairs was broken: the counters, a sink, the clothes horses, some display cases, windows, the wall, and in the middle of the storm were Rarity and Applejack, surrounded by a nest of debris and cocooned in Rarity’s fabric rolls. They both looked like kind of a mess, but… neither of them looked hurt, so I guess that was something. As I hit the bottom step, it gave a squeak, causing Rarity to stir from her sleep and look at me.

“Sweetie, what are you doing up? Wait… what are you doing here?” Applejack’s hat sat on Rarity’s frazzled mane, and my sister’s movements were loose and languid without any of her usual primness.

“I’m staying here while Mom and Dad are out of town… I’ve been here for like the last three months,” I said, staring at her. Was she alright? I mean, besides the fact that she was a total crazy pony when it came to Applejack. Like… she was normally the best big sister in the world, but last night… Last night it was like somepony replaced her and my friend’s sister with madmares.

“Ah,” she said, unconsciously drawing closer to Applejack. “I suppose after the first hour of fighting, I forgot about everything that wasn’t the fight. I hope hearing all that wasn’t too upsetting for you.

“It’s fine,” I said shrugging and trying to hide a yawn. “After the first couple of hours, I kind of just got used to the yelling. Are you two alright, though? I heard a lot of things breaking last night.”

Rarity just laughed while Applejack turned over in her sleep. “Yes, we’re both perfectly fine. We yell and break things in our fights, but we never physically hurt each other. At least… we don’t when we’re fighting.” Okay, I really didn’t know what she meant by the last thing, and I really didn’t want to know.

“Right,” I said nodding my head. “So… is that normal for you? Like, I’m pretty sure demolishing half your house in a fight isn’t exactly normal.” Or healthy.

She just smiled at me. “And that, Sweetie, is the risk of letting passion rule your relationship. Of course, the other times, when our passions align with each other… Well, I’m already planning several grand romantic gestures for my sweet apple, and I’m sure I’ll be receiving a rather extravagant fruit basket in the next few days. Plus… Well, Sweetie, would you be too terribly upset if I left you with a friend after Hearth’s Warming? Obviously, if you’re not–”

“Go ahead,” I said, shrugging and turning towards the door, still struggling with the depths of my sister’s craziness. On the other hoof, if I wanted to ask her something, doing it while she was in this post-fight bliss would probably be the time to do it. “Oh!” I said, turning back to her. “Is it okay if I have a sleepover at Diamond Tiara’s tonight?”

Rarity yawned and stretched one hoof in the air. “If it’s okay with Mr. Rich, it’s fine with me. I trust you, Sweetie. Besides, considering… Well, it would be hypocritical of me to deny love right now, no matter what strange form it might take. Now, have a good day at school, Sweetie.”

“Thanks,” I said as I headed to the door to the Boutique and unlocked it.

“Oh, Sweetie,” Rarity said as I headed out the door. “Could you be a dear and hang the ‘closed’ sign up on the door? I don’t think I’ll be getting any work done today.” As I hung up the sign for her, the best big sister/craziest pony in the world collapsed back on to her makeshift bed, making sure to drape an arm over Applejack as she fell.

Was my relationship with Tiara and Melody going to make me that crazy or was Rarity just… a special case? I shuddered at the idea that love might make me as crazy as her as I trotted to school.

***

“So,” Bright Lights said, sitting at the lunch table (I really needed to figure out why Socket wasn’t sitting with us soon), “are you ready for the audition this afternoon?”

I nodded at her, trying not to yawn. I’d be more ready if I could get some sleep, but the last time I tried to sleep in class, I had to spend an afternoon dealing with Headmistress Octavia’s death glare. Not something I want to do again. “Great,” Bright Lights said, smiling broadly. “Now, I’m going to have you sing this part.” She flipped through the script and pointed at one song in particular. “This is Green Hoof’s establishing scene, we need to learn that she’s an orphan, poor, destitute, and generally shunned, but we also need to see her desire for grander things and unfounded ambition. Can you get in that mindset?”

“Yep,” I said, looking through the excerpt she’d highlighted.

“Good,” Bright Lights said. “Remember what I taught you, to be a great actress, you need to become your character. You’ve improved so much over the semester, I know you can do this.”

“Thanks,” I said, ears perking up. “Oh! Tiara and Melody and I are having a sleepover at her place tonight, do you want to come? You know… everypony’s okay with you joining our group if you are.”

“I’d love to,” Bright Lights said, a small smile forming on her lips. “Unfortunately, something tells me I’m going to be busy this weekend talking with Lyra about who should get what part. I’d hate for her to accidentally cast somepony in the wrong part.”

“Right,” Tiara said, rolling her eyes. “Because you’re being completely impartial with your casting, right?”

Bright Lights just smiled at her. “Of course not, I’m nurturing the best talent I can find and hoping it will thrive. If Sweetie Belle doesn’t deliver an outstanding performance today, I’ll just find somepony who’s better.”

She turned her head to look back at me, and as our eyes met, I felt a twinge of anxiety in my stomach. I had to get this right. She’d spent so much time helping me, I couldn’t just disappoint her. “You can count on me,” I said, giving her a smile of my own.

“I know I can,” she said. “Now get to rehearsing.”

***

I paced outside the auditorium, waiting for somepony to call my name. Why did they have to do this in alphabetical order? ‘Hello, Sweetie,” a familiar and unpleasant voice said from the doorway to the auditorium. Dazzler trotted out towards me, her expression unreadable.

“What do you want?” I asked, looking at her. “Trying to get under my skin before the audition? Because it won’t work.”

She frowned at that. “And why in Equestria would I do that? I’m not a bully. I derive no pleasure from going out of my way to torture you, I just… don’t like you, and I’m perfectly content to ignore you. Now, if you had something I wanted, that would be an entirely different issue.”

“Then why are we talking?” I asked, tilting my head. “Do I have something you want, or…”

“I’m trying to be civil. Melody so desperately wants us to get along, the least I can do is say hello to you once in a while. Perhaps in our little talks, I’ll find a quality of yours that redeems your failings,” she said, her voice level.

“Thanks,” I said, rolling my eyes. “You really know how to make a mare feel appreciated.”

“Listen,” she said, trotting close to me and lowering her voice to a whisper. “You know I don’t like you, you know my reasons for disliking you, and it’s very clear you’ve decided to return that sentiment. If I had to guess why, I’d say you think me too… direct, or perhaps you just don’t like the idea of having somepony dislike you.” Her eyes narrowed. “You always struck me as overly sensitive, and it’s easy to imagine that you’d react to somepony disliking you for legitimate reasons by twisting things around in your head so that I’m the villain. Or did I miss my mark terribly?”

“I didn’t twist things around,” I said, glaring at her.

She smiled. “Wonderful. I do so love knowing I have a read on a pony’s character. It makes dealing with them much easier. Now, on to my main point. Melody wants us to get along. I actually care about Melody, so… I’m willing to attempt neutral relations with you, if you’ll also promise to behave amicably. Deal?”

“Deal,” I said, smiling at her as my anger vanished as if a flip had been switched. This was great, if she got to spend any time around me, she’d see just how nice I was, and we’d be best friends in no time. Then I wouldn’t have to dislike her.

Dazzler matched my smile exactly. “Wonderful. In that case, I wish you good luck with your audition. Who knows, you might be good enough to be my understudy.” Or maybe you’ll be good enough to be my understudy, I thought, keeping my smile trained on her as she trotted off. Even if we were going to try to be friendly with each other, Bright Lights expected me to do everything I could to get that part, and I wasn’t about to disappoint her for the sake of my friendship with Dazzler. Besides... I wanted this. I turned my attention back to my script and ran through my scene again, doing my best to think like Green Hoof.

“Poor, all my life I’ve always been poor...”

***

“But I’ve got to get out of Skid Rooooow!”

I blinked as the song ended, dispelling the cobwebs of Green Hoof in my mind as Lyra and Bright Lights looked between me and their notepads. A tiny voice in my head told me I needed to water some plants, but that was Green Hoof talking… or at least, that’s what I thought Green Hoof would think about. Trying to completely become somepony else kind of does weird things to your head.

Bright Lights smiled as I came back to being myself. “Well done, Sweetie, we’ll let you know what we think before finals start next week. Miss Heartstrings, what did you think?”

“Oh, she definitely had a great singing voice. Definitely the best singing voice we’ve heard so far. That’s good, right?” Lyra asked.

Bright Lights nodded. “Thank you for your time, Sweetie Belle, our decision will be posted on the door to class Monday morning. Have a great weekend.”

I smiled at her and Lyra and gave the bow I’d learned to give my audiences at the end of the show, smoothly dipping my head and bobbing the forward half of my body down for a few seconds. Long enough to seem respectful, but not long enough to slow things down as Rarity put it. I definitely couldn’t slow things down too long; it was almost 5:00, I needed to be getting ready for Button’s party in less than an hour, and there was something else I wanted to do before that. I needed to get trotting.

***

I knocked on the door to Twilight’s castle, panting for breath as I finished my run from the Academy to her castle, the cold seeping through my coat. Why did the castle have to be so far from the Academy? That didn’t seem fair. The door creaked open after what felt like an hour of waiting and Twilight peered down on me. “Oh, Sweetie Belle! I wasn’t expecting you here; didn’t Rarity tell me you have a show today?”

I nodded. “Need… to be quick, just had a question for you.”

“You know you can ask me anything,” Twilight said, gesturing for me to step inside. “What’s on your mind?”

“Rarity… and… Applejack,” I panted as I trotted into the castle and sat next to the door, savoring the warmth of the castle… Did it have heated floors? Why couldn’t I have heated floors (and live in a castle)?

“Oh,” Twilight said, the smile on her face vanishing. “Oh...” She pushed the massive castle door shut. “What do you know?”

“I don’t know,” I said, frowning and shaking my head, trying not to think too hard about the things I heard last night. “I mean… they got into a pretty big fight last night, but this morning, Rarity was sleeping next to Applejack in the Boutique’s storefront like they were in love. I… I just want to know how it works.”

“You mean their relationship?” Twilight asked, tilting her head. “That’s… the rest of us girls and I have been asking that same question. All my reading says that this is a very unhealthy relationship, but… somehow they make it work.”

“Everything in our house is broken. There is a hole in her wall,” I said, staring at her. “That doesn’t sound like working to me.”

Twilight sighed and rubbed her head. “I know, I know, it’s completely terrible, but… Well… How has your relationship with your sister been lately?”

“Pretty good,” I said, wondering where she was going. What did my relationship with Rarity have to do with her relationship with Applejack? “I don’t think we’ve gotten into a fight in…” The penny dropped. “Are you saying that…”

“I think their relationship serves as an outlet for them to vent their own frustrations. Instead of lashing out at other ponies when they’re upset, they just… save it for each other. At least, that’s my theory.”

“But that’s crazy!” I said, hopping up on my hooves. “They just… Why would anypony want that?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said, gesturing for me to follow her deeper into the castle. “But they’re getting better. At least, I think they are… I haven’t seen Rarity show up on my doorstep in tears for months, so maybe their fights are getting better.”

“Yeah… I don’t think so,” I said as Twilight opened the door to a sitting room. “If they’ve gotten better, then their old fights would have to have levelled the town, and I don’t recall them destroying Ponyville… Unless you count that one time Rarity tried to remodel the town, but I don’t think that was Applejack-related.”

“It wasn’t,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes and glancing off towards some other part of the castle. “Although there was a fight after that where Applejack and Rarity argued about whether Rarity was leading Spike on… That was a fun fight to watch.”

“You watched it?” I asked, trotting over to a pile of seat cushions. “Isn’t that kind of… rude?”

“Well, I didn’t mean to,” Twilight said, taking a seat that was surrounded by towers of books. “Rarity and Applejack came over to apologize, and then they started fighting, and by the time I realized what was going on, they were already in full argument mode, and I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, so I just hid behind a wall of books…”

“And that worked?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“It did until Rarity punched a hole in it,” Twilight said. “Then, I kind of got mad at them for damaging one of the library’s books and teleported them out of the building. The next time I saw them, Rarity was all over Applejack and they were offering me a fruit basket to apologize…” Twilight sighed. “It’s always a fruit basket when they make up. Fruit baskets from Applejack, gems from Rarity, and big expensive gifts to each other. Ask Applejack to tell you the story behind her crystal apple sometime.”

“Wait… I’ve heard of those somewhere,” I said, tilting my head. “Aren’t they…”

“Rare magically-crystallized apples. Only one tree in the Crystal Empire grows them and it produces roughly five apples a year. There are less than forty known to exist, and I’m not sure where Rarity found it… or how she afforded it.”

“Huh…” I said, nodding my head. “Well… Yeah, that is a pretty good question. So… do my sister and Applejack love each other?”

“I think they do,” Twilight said. “I don’t really understand how they make things work, but… I think their love for each other is the only reason they’ve made it through all the crazy.” She laughed. “I’m sorry, I just… I tried to imagine how they’d make married life work, and it’s really funny and kind of terrifying. Anyways… I’m sorry I couldn’t help you out anymore, but if you figure out how their relationship works, please tell me, because we’re still wondering if we need to hold an intervention for those two.”

“Alright,” I said, looking at the clock on her wall. “I’m sorry, but I really need to get going, I was just…” I trailed off and my eyes watered, as I recalled the all-night fight. “I just want to make sure she’s okay. She’s done so much for me, and if she…” I shook my head. “I just want to make sure she’s okay. Anyways…” Twilight didn’t want to hear about my fears. I didn’t want to hear about my fears. My usual happy smile flipped back on. “Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me, I can’t imagine how busy you are.” I threw my forelegs around her neck for a quick friendly hug. “Anyways, I really have to get going, so I’ll talk to you later, alright?”

“Uhmm… okay,” Twilight said, frowning as I turned around and trotted to the door. “If you’re sure everything’s ok–”

“It is!” I said as I trotted out of her sitting room and headed to the streets of Ponyville.

***

“Hey, Button,” I said, trotting into the town hall and pavillion. “Happy Birthday!” The brown earth-pony colt had changed completely over the past few months. Where before he had been kind of short and pudgy, now he had this tall gangly awkwardness to him that… Well, it kind of fit. And he had his cutie mark now, it was… I think it was a joystick from one of those arcade games he spent all the time playing.

“S– S– S– Sweetie?” he asked, his eyes staring at… Well, he wasn’t really looking me in the eyes. “Wha– How?”

“I’m great,” I said, smiling bigger at him and trotting to give the birthday boy a quick – very quick – hug. “How are you? How’s the old school?”

“It’s… Uhh… Good?” he asked, tilting his head and still staring at my flank. It… I’d prefer it if he would actually talk in full sentences instead of just staring at me. Of course, I did the same thing when somepony kissed my horn, so… Oh, wait! Did that mean he liked me? That wouldn’t be good.

“So…” I said, taking a step away from him. “I should probably practice before your party starts… I’ll–”

“I can go with you!” he said, his voice hitting the upper register of my hearing. His voice was almost as bad about cracking as mine used to be. “I can tell you all about the school, and you can tell me how your school is.”

“Uhmm… I’d love to, but I really do need to practice for your party. Your mom’s paying me a lot for this show. Maybe we can… I don’t know, I kind of have to go somewhere after the party, but we should definitely catch up sometime, alright?” There had to be some way I could let him down without hurting his feelings. “Ooh! I know, I could introduce you to my marefriends. I bet you’ll love Melody.”

He froze, his face spasming between expressions so quickly it threatened to tear itself apart. “Mare… friends? You… you’re… herder? And…”

I nodded at him. “That’s what it’s called, I guess, I just don’t understand why you should only date one pony. If I like five or ten or however many ponies, why can’t I date them too?”

“Oh…” he said, staring at me as something entered his eyes. I might’ve made a mistake. “Hey, Sweetie… Uhmm, do you like me?”

“Of course, I do,” I said, packing as much enthusiasm as I could into my smile. “You’re a great friend, I just… I guess I’m not that attracted to stallions.” There, that was honest and it still let him down easy. After all, it wasn’t his fault, it was mine.

“Are you sure?” he asked, a pained smile on his face. “You could just be… maybe you haven’t seen the right stallion yet.”

I shook my head. “I’m pretty sure, Button,” I said. “When I look at my female friends, I can’t help but notice them: Scootaloo’s lean muscleyness, the stockyness of Apple Bloom’s back legs, the way Melody moves and sounds like soft velvet, or the perfect shape of Diamond Tiara’s…” I trailed off, noticing the weird look on his face. “Anyways, I don’t see that when I look at you or other stallions, I just kind of see… you. I mean, you’re tall and thin and kind of lanky, but it doesn’t really…” I shrugged. “There’s no spark, I guess. But… if I was going to date a colt, it would totally be you.” There. That should’ve spared his feelings at least a little bit. I mean… that was about as close to saying I would date him as I could get without actually dating him.

The look on his face didn’t make me feel like I’d spared his feelings. Instead, it looked like I’d just trampled them into the dirt before feeding them to some wild animal. “Uhmm… I’ve got to go rehearse,” I said, sprinting into a side room of the town hall. “Happy birthday, again!”

Before he could say anything, I shut the door to the room and started practicing. If I could just get through not talking to him for the next four hours, I’d be fine and wouldn’t have to see him again for… at least a month. I could live with that.

***

When my set ended, I shuffled quietly out the back door of the town hall, doing my best to make sure Button didn’t see me. His mom would probably talk to me later about payment, and… if she didn’t, I could live with it. If not getting paid was my punishment for making Button look like… I think I made him cry. Yeah, if not getting paid was my punishment for that, that was totally fair.

As I snuck out of the town hall, I shifted my thoughts from making Button cry to the evening I had planned with my marefriends. Rum punch and kissing? What could be better? By the time I’d reached the street leading to Diamond Tiara’s, my head was filled with thoughts of fun pretty things and there wasn’t even a tiny place left for my fears about Button.

I hummed my audition song and knocked on the door to Tiara’s as the sun slipped below the horizon. Why wouldn’t I be humming? I was just a few minutes from having punch and kissing? Everything was great. “Hey!” I squealed, wrapping my forehooves around Tiara as she opened the door. “Are you ready for tonight? I can’t tell you just how excited I am.” I let out a sigh before kissing her neck. “I can’t wait to put this week behind me.”

“Uhmm… are you sure we shouldn’t be studying for our finals?” Melody asked, a few paces behind Diamond Tiara. Seeing her, I let go of Diamond Tiara and trotted over to my other marefriend to give her the same greeting.

“I don’t see why,” Tiara said. “First, we’ve still got Saturday and Sunday before our first final, and second, can you really say no to Sweetie Belle when she sets her mind to something?”

Melody sighed and shook her head while I kissed at her neck. It was so fun when she tried to keep her composure before going all gooey. She never lasts long, but I love that she tries. “No,” she said before a soft moan escaped her lips. And just like that, she was melting.

“So come on,” I said, grinning as I pulled away from Melody, leaving her to melt into nothing. “Let’s get the drinks and… I don’t know, should we just start kissing or do kissing games or… Drinking games! I’ve heard those are a thing, but does anypony know any?”

Both my marefriends shook their heads. “Shoot,” I said, trotting into Tiara’s living room. She’d already gotten a few bottles of various drinks out and set them up on the coffee table, and there was a big bowl of rum punch next to them. Have I mentioned how much I love her? She’s the best. I gave a squeal and kissed Tiara again, this time pressing my lips against hers as my tongue slid into her mouth. We drew closer to each other as our tongues entwined and probed into the other’s mouth. When the kiss finally ended, there was a satisfying ‘pop’ as the vacuum seal formed by our lips broke. “Ooh, this is going to be so great,” I said, trotting to the bowl of rum punch and pouring a cupful before glancing back at Melody. “And don’t worry, I totally plan on kissing you just as much as I kiss Tiara, I just… This looks so great.”

I took a sip of my drink and the second the fruity taste hit my tongue, my sip turned into several long gulps. As I turned back to pour another glass, I felt somepony wrap a hoof around my barrel and kiss my cheek. “Don’t you think you should pace yourself?” Tiara asked, whispering into my ear.

“Uhmm… should I?” I asked as I poured another cup. “I mean… It’s really tasty, so…”

She sighed and thunked the based of my horn with her hoof. She did that every time I did something kind of silly. It was her way of telling me I hadn’t thought something through all the way. “Yes, you absolutely should pace yourself, unless you want to get blackout drunk and wake up in a puddle of your own vomit.”

“Wait,” I said, suddenly taking a step away from the punch bowl. “That’s… that’s a thing?”

“If you don’t pace yourself, it is,” Tiara said, pouring her own cup of punch. “So that’s why you’re going to pace yourself, alright?”

“Alright,” I said, taking a tiny sip of my second cup of punch and resisting the urge to drink it all. I guess tiny sips weren’t that bad, they just weren’t as fun as big gulps.

“Uhmm… are you sure we should be doing this?” Melody asked, still standing at the threshold to the living room.

“Of course,” I said, putting my cup of punch down and trotting over to Melody. I wrapped my forelegs around her and kissed a trail from her neck up to her lips, and as our lips pressed together, she melted into me. She was always a sucker for lip kisses. “It’ll just be so fun, the three of us kissing and drinking, how can you not want that?”

She blinked and tried to focus her eyes on Diamond Tiara. “Sh– should we let Sweetie do this? I still don’t think this is a good idea.” Why were they talking about me like that? Like they could just… control me or something? Marefriends don’t manipulate other marefriends.

Tiara just nodded. “It will be fine, she has the two of us to keep an eye on her. Besides, a couple of drinks aren’t that bad,” she said as she poured a cup of punch for Melody.

“It’ll be fun,”I said, before planting another lengthy kiss on her lips and drawing her as close to me as I could. “And, I promise that none of us will get drunk. We’ll just get tipsy and fun. Everything will be fun.”

“Well,” she said, taking the punch from Tiara. “If you’re sure… I mean…” I gave her my best pleading puppy look. “You know I can’t say no to you when you do that.”

I grinned as she took a sip of her punch. “I know.”

***

Two hours later, the three of us were laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling as we finished a marathon kissing session. My whole body felt like it had been completely drained of stress and filled with a pleasant flushed tingling feeling. I smiled at the ceiling as the three of us struggled to catch our breaths. Kissing for an hour straight really took a lot out of you.

“So…” Melody said between breaths, “you’re right, this is fun.”

My smile only grew as I slowly rolled my head over to look at her. “Told you.”

Melody giggled, and oh my goodness, she had the cutest giggle. It was all girlish and light like the clinking of a champagne flute. My eyes went back to the bottles of drinks on the coffee table. Did we have champagne? I’d never tried that, but it looked fun when everypony had some for New Year’s, and the sparkling grape juice was definitely tasty, so if it was anything like that…

I rolled over and shakily got to my hooves before wobbling over to the coffee table. “Hey... Tiara,” I said as I looked over the bottles of alcohol. “Do we… do we have any champagne?”

She nodded. “Yeah… It’s the tall one… with the gold foil. Why?”

“Because I want to drink some, duh,” I said, grabbing the bottle with my magic and unwrapping the foil and revealing a weird metal cage thing around the cork. “Uhmm… DT?”

Tiara sighed from her spot on the floor. “Yes?”

“How do I open this, again?” I asked, magically pulling the cage back and twisting the cork. “The stupid cork thing is stuck.”

“You’re not supposed to… You’re…” She struggled to think of something while I twisted the cork and shook the bottle in an attempt to get it out. Why did they have to make it so hard to– My thought was interrupted as the cork popped free and bonked against my horn as a spurt of champagne splashed against my face.

“Are you alright?” Melody said, stumbling to her hooves and staggering over to me. “That looks like… Should I kiss your horn and make it better?”

I laughed and licked from the corner of my lips. It tasted like the sparkling grape juice but better and with more alcohol and… Why didn’t ponies drink more often? I felt amazing. “Melsy, you can always kiss my horn,” I said, before smiling and kissing her cheek, prompting another giggle from her. Her giggles were just… the best thing ever. Well, no, horn kisses were the best thing ever, but her giggles were still really nice.

The next thing I knew, her lips were wrapped around my horn and her tongue was tracing the spiraled groove in my horn. My back leg spasmed and my magic flickered, sending the champagne bottle a foot closer to the ground before I managed to catch it and set it down on the ground. After that, I allowed myself to melt into her kiss and float into a land of absolute amazing happiness, where everything was just perfect.

***

I don’t know exactly how long the kiss lasted or how long I was floating through post-horn-kiss bliss, but when I finally drifted back into my head, I was lying back on the ground with Melody curled up next to me, and Diamond Tiara resting her head on my stomach. I moved a hoof to stroke her mane and stared at the ceiling. “That was fun,” I said.

“It was,” Melody said, twisting her body around so she could look down at me. “What do you… what should we do next?”

That was… I frowned in thought. We had alcohol, we had kissing, what should we–

Before I could finish the thought, Melody burst out laughing. “Oh… you’re right, this was fun, Sweetie Belle. I just… I don’t think I’ve ever been this relaxed.”

“So… you’d be up for doing this again?” I asked, looking at her.

She nodded. “Oh, absolutely, this is… it’s like…” Melody laughed again before blowing a raspberry on my chest, causing me to giggle and squirm.

“Okay,” Tiara said, rolling her eyes and lifting her head off my stomach while I squirmed. “Any reason you’re doing that?”

Melody shook her head as the raspberry kiss ended. “None! And isn’t it great?” She got up on her hooves and traipsed around us before heading to the quickly-emptying bowl of rum punch and pouring herself another cup. “It’s… I can do anything I want. For the first time in… I don’t know how long, I feel free. Ooh! Uninhibited, that’s the word.”

“Of course you do,” Diamond Tiara said, waving a forehoof around in front of her. “That’s what alcohol does, it lowers your inhibitions and makes you feel fine.”

“Better than fine!” I chimed in. “It feels great. Like… I’m not stressing out about anything right now.”

Melody laughed. “Sweetie, you don’t stress out about anything anyways, you’re the happiest pony I know.”

“Actually, she… gets stressed every now and then,” Tiara said. “Like… she was pretty upset after that fight with Scootaloo and…”

“And it’s more than that,” I said, as something inside me broke. A thing I’d spent years definitely not talking about was now rising up from my stomach and about to burst out of me with or without my approval. “Sometimes, I feel like… like I only pretend to be happy because that’s what I’m supposed to be. Because… Because that’s who I am, happy-go-lucky Sweetie Belle, and if I’m not me… You know, if I get sad or something, I won’t be me and then everypony will leave me, so I just kind of ignore it, you know? But when I’m drinking, there’s just… there’s nothing to ignore, and I feel so much lighter.” A big dumb smile formed on my lips. Somehow, saying all that made me feel even lighter. I looked at my marefriends, the two ponies I knew would love me no matter what, and my smile grew.

They both laughed. In my face. And the weight returned to crush me. “Oh, that’s a good one,” Tiara said, wiping a tear from her eyes. “Just… trying to imagine you as one of those mopey depressed ponies who always feel miserable… I couldn’t do it. You’re Sweetie Belle, you might get upset every now and then, but… that mare you described is like the opposite of you.”

Melody smiled and brought a cup of rum punch over for me. “You always know what to say to get me to laugh. You… Why would anypony ever want to leave the sweetest mare in Equestria?”

My smile grew. Happiest mare in Equestria, that was me, alright, and if it wasn’t… No, that was me. All my friends thought so. “You’re right,” I said, giving a little laugh, “it was a joke. Can you imagine me being all sad and depressed like that?”

They both shook their heads and I drained my cup of punch. Happy. Be happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. That’s who I was. “Sure, you cry, but it’s only for like… a few seconds, and then you’re back to normal,” Tiara said, taking a sip of her own drink.

“Right,” Melody said, “but for you to be so… gloomy… It’s easier for me to imagine the sun not rising than that.”

“Yep,” I said, rolling to my hooves and trotting over to the rum punch for another drink and trying to think of how great kisses were instead of thinking on… other things. “You know me, I’m a great joker.” After taking another drink of punch, I pressed my lips against Tiara’s and sucked the last drops of rum off them. Melody and Tiara were right. This was me, I loved kissing and all things fun. I planned a party so I could drink and make out with my marefriends. Why would I ever think otherwise? Why would I ever want to be otherwise?

Author's Note

So, Sweetie sure is doing some dumb stuff, right? Hope it works out for her.

Also, Tchernobog, thanks so much for the idea on how best ships relationship dynamic would work out. We wouldn't have had this beautiful fight scene without your contributions. :twilightsmile:

Finally, a bit of bad news. My backlog is completely spent. Chapter 12 has... two paragraphs written, and that's it. It's also scheduled to be absolutely massive, so I'm afraid it will be a while before the next update. I apologize for the future delay, but it shouldn't be as long as the gap between chapter eight and chapter nine.

12. Sweet Dreams

I was singing on stage, but I wasn’t on stage, I was in the audience, staring at myself. I looked closer at the me on stage. She was a bit smaller than me normally, she hadn’t done anything to her mane, and… Oh! She didn’t have her cutie mark yet. She looked… young and innocent, but then… would that mean I wasn’t young and innocent? The song drifted towards me, and the second the notes hit my ears, I recognized it.

“Hey!” I said. “This is the song I sang when I got my cutie mark.”

“Well done,” a mare standing next to me said. I turned to look at her, and… she was me, too. “I knew you had it in you to recognize the most important moment of your life. You didn’t disappoint.”

“Thanks?” I said, tilting my head at her. That was… that was a compliment, right? “Hey, why are you me?”

“We’re all you, here,” the other me said, waving a hoof at the audience. I looked around, and sure enough, all of them were recognizably me. “These days, it seems you’re the only person you’ll listen to, so… we got rid of the rest, or they left on their own.”

“Hey,” I said, jutting my chin up. “I’m not… I listen to plenty of ponies.”

“When they tell you what you want to hear, you do,” the other me said. “The rest of the time, you just sort of… tune them out.”

“No, I don’t,” I said. She was… I didn’t ignore ponies. I listened to everypony. The reflection of me was totally wrong about that.

“Really?” she said, rolling her eyes. “Then how many times in the last… month have you turned down Scootaloo or Apple Bloom or Life Bloom after they invited you to do something?”

“Uhhh… I didn’t, obviously. I’d never leave my friends hanging like that,” I said. “Honestly, who do you think I am?”

“I know precisely what type of pony you are,” she said, frowning and looking at the me on stage. “The question is: do you?”

“Yep,” I said, giving her my biggest smile. The smile I used when I needed to hide how annoyed I was. “I’m me. Do you have any other silly questions?”

She sighed as the edges of the world around us got blurry. “I have questions you won’t comprehend and answers you don’t want to hear yet. Hopefully, you’ll be willing to listen before things get too–”

***

My head felt like it was the dance floor for one of Pinkie’s parties and… something cold and solid pressed on my head. I stretched, my hoof hit something, and a loud clank bounced around my skull. I slowly opened my eyes, trying to prepare myself for the wave of light that was about to hit them.

“Gah!” I screamed before going quiet as the scream echoed around in… I looked around. Why was the punch bowl resting over my head? My forelegs twitched around as I tried to get the bowl off my head, but doing so just caused them to crash into more empty bottles. Why were there so many empty bottles? How much did I drink last night? I dredged my mind for any memories about what happened last night after… after… I remembered who I was supposed to be. The only thing I could recall were a few broken memories of me drinking or kissing or somehow doing both at once. I closed my eyes and tried to take the bowl off my head without making a sound. I definitely needed… I needed Apple Bloom to make me another one of those potions.

“You’re up,” Tiara said, causing me to flinch. Why did her voice have to sound so terrible? Why did everything have to sound so terrible? Everything except–

“Here, let me help you,” Melody said, trotting up next to me and gently removing the punch bowl. Have I mentioned how much I love her when my head hurts? Not that I don’t love her the rest of the time, but after a sugar or alcohol binge, I love her even more… and normally, I love her a whole lot.

“Thanks,” I groaned as I staggered to my hooves and tripped over another bottle. How much did I drink last night? I looked around and saw a floor littered with bottles. “When did we get into the beer?”

“You got into the cider around one in the morning, and then you kept going for about… four more hours,” Tiara said. Why couldn’t she just let Melody do the talking? “We tried to get you to go to bed, but… you were insistent. Then you started doing things with your tongue when you weren’t drinking, and… I couldn’t stay mad at you.”

I wobbled over to the sofa and crashed onto it. “What… did I do exactly? Everything’s kind of blurry.”

“You mean besides drinking enough to kill a grown mare and somehow just coming out with a hangover?” Tiara asked.

I nodded and sunk deeper into the sofa. “Yes, please, and… could you have Melody do the talking? My head really–”

“I know,” Tiara said. “That’s what happens when you stay up until almost dawn drinking.” Was she upset with me? After she and Melody had laughed…

A flare of anger ignited in my stomach and began to burn through my chest. She was mad at me? For being what she wanted me to be? They wanted happy silly filly Sweetie, so I gave them happy silly filly Sweetie, and now she was…

I drowned the anger inside of me with a smile. I couldn’t get mad at her, if I did, then I wouldn’t be happy silly filly Sweetie, and then they’d leave me for… I took a deep breath. I was happy silly filly Sweetie. I liked being her, even if a few bad parts of me didn’t. They didn’t matter though, they didn’t make my friends happy and keep them from leaving. My smile grew.

“You know me,” I said, trying to laugh without making my head explode. “I just… it was so fun, I couldn’t control myself.” I pushed myself off the couch and kissed the soft spot on Tiara’s neck. She was absolutely helpless when I kissed her there. “Besides, I thought you liked me being fun.”

Her eyelids got heavy as I kissed her neck one more time. Like I said, helpless. “I… I do,” she said, her voice sounding like she’d just emerged from a beautiful dream. I nuzzled against her and let her smell the remains of my perfume,drawing her back into the dream. The dream was better for all of us. “Just… I get worried when you do stuff like this.”

I smiled, managing to overcome the pain in my head as I looked at her. The harshness in her voice had been leached out by my affection, and now I could listen to her without wishing my head would just explode to put me out of my misery. Not that I was miserable. I was happy. “Don’t be. I’m… You’ve got to let me be me, right?”

She nodded and looked at her hooves, recalling our earlier talk. Love everypony in their own way. “I know, but… I don’t want you to hurt yourself, either.” She sighed. “But you’re right. Besides, it’s not like you getting blackout drunk is a nightly thing.”

“Exactly,” I said, pushing her chin up so she could look into my eyes. “This was just… a fun one-off thing. I’m not going to get drunk every night.” Although maybe I should. Drinking was probably… well, I just felt happier when I was drinking. Like I should be all the time.

But not when I was hungover. I winced as I looked out the window to check the time. It was way too late to just be getting up, and I really needed to get Apple Bloom’s potion before I could return to Rarity’s house. She… probably wouldn’t be happy if she knew I had a hangover. Plus… It was way past noon, and she hadn’t been by yet. If I didn’t get back to her soon, she’d stop by, and… then things would be a lot worse.

“I’ve… I’ve got to go,” I said, taking a step towards the door. “Need to talk to Apple Bloom.”

“Are you sure?” Melody asked as I trotted to the door. “If you want, you can sit down and we’ll get her.”

I shook my head and immediately regretted the decision. “No, need to get back to Rarity’s. She’s… I’m sure she’s getting worried by now, so… I have to get going.”

“Alright,” Melody said as I reached the door. “Is there anything I can get you before you leave? Some water, or…”

“No,” I said as I opened the door and beams of light burned through my eyeballs. “Actually… Do you think we could get some sunglasses?”

***

I trotted through the streets of Ponyville, sunglasses dulling the light and a shawl wrapped around my head dulling the sounds of town. I felt like I was about to vomit, and my body reminded me with every step I took how awesome it would be to just curl up in a dark room and wait for the hangover to pass. I kept going by reminding myself that if I didn’t get that potion, Rarity was definitely going to find out what happened last night, and then I’d get in trouble, even though she drinks… well, not all the time, and she never gets drunk, but she does drink, so she really shouldn’t get mad at me.

Somehow, I managed to make it to Apple Bloom’s without having my head melt, so… that was good, I guess. I flinched as I looked at the ramp leading up to the treehouse. Why did everything in it have to be made out of noisy wood? I gently placed a hoof on the wood and let out a sigh as the wood didn’t even groan in protest. Another hoof went onto the ramp and then another. Slowly, I climbed the ramp, doing everything I could not to make a sound. If Apple Bloom wasn’t up here, I’d feel like the silliest filly ever, and not in the good happy-silly-filly-Sweetie way.

At the top step, I looked into the clubhouse and–

Apple Bloom and Life Bloom.

Were.

Kissing!

I let out a squeal of excitement at the sight before the fact that I had a hangover came crashing violently into me, and I staggered into a nearby beanbag chair.

“You alright, Sweetie?” Apple Bloom said as she and Life Bloom trotted to my side, their hoofsteps echoing in my skull.

I pointed a hoof at my head and retreated into the fetal position. “Potion. Sugar withdrawal. Help.”

Apple Bloom sighed and got to work while Life Bloom just stared at me. “Really? And what prompted this display of gratuitous hedonism? Anything in particular, or just because it’s Saturday?”

“Just because it’s Saturday,” I said, retreating further into my chair. Why did she have to talk? Why did I have to talk? “You know me,” I said, continuing to talk for some unknown stupid reason.

“Indeed, I do,” Life Bloom said, her eyes never leaving me. Did she know what really happened? It sounded like she did, but… why wouldn’t she just tell Apple Bloom if that was the case? It’s not like she ever cared about being discreet before.

I didn’t say anything in response, and Life Bloom took the hint, not saying anything else while Apple Bloom brewed her potion. The hiss of the burner and the sound of boiling of water was an angelic choir to my ears.

“So...” Apple Bloom said as the burner’s hissing disappeared. “About what you saw…”

“I won’t tell anypony,” I groaned. “If you don’t want to tell anypony, I won’t ruin the surprise, but… why aren’t you telling anypony? You two are so cute together?”

“You mean besides the fact that Socket has a crush on Life Bloom?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah, besides… Wait… how do you know that?” We only talked about who everypony had a crush on in the time loop.

“You realize, of course, that I was trapped in the time loop with you, right?” Life Bloom asked. “That’s the whole reason you spent months trying to teach me to be less… formal and academic.”

“Oh… right,” I said, looking up to see Apple Bloom was doing on my potion. “So… how did you find out?”

“Nightmare Night,” she said as she took the potion off the burner and set it in a dark box. “Plus, once we started dating – though I guess we haven’t had an actual date – Life Bloom told me about our conversations in the time loop.” She flashed a smile at Life Bloom. “I love that I can trust her no matter what.”

“Yeah,” I said, frowning for some reason. “That’s… It’s probably a pretty great feeling. Right?”

“Well, of course,” Apple Bloom said as the box she put the potion in pulsed. “But you’d know that, already. I’ve seen the way Tiara looks at you, and something tells me Melody would never hurt you… or anypony else, actually.

“It’s super great,” I said, staring at the potion. I’m dating the two sweetest mares in Equestria, and things are just… so great and fun.”

“But are they more than just fun?” Life Bloom asked, still staring at me from behind her glasses. Why did she keep looking at me like that? And why did Apple Bloom put the potion in that box?

“Sure,” I said, shrugging. I mean… I guess they were more than just fun, but really, what was wrong with being just fun? Fun is great. I love fun. “They’re also really sweet and… You know, they’re both just so great.” Even if they don’t care about the real you, the treasonous voice in my head whispered while I definitely didn’t listen to it.

Life Bloom just nodded at me. What was she thinking and why–

“Potion’s cool now,” Apple Bloom said, lifting the potion from its box and trotting over to me. Still tastes awful though.”

“That’s fine,” I said, reaching a hoof out to grab the potion. I could’ve used my magic to grab it, but magic runs through your head, and… right now, the emptier my head, the better. I grabbed the potion and downed its contents in a few seconds.

I gagged after somehow finishing off the potion. Seriously, couldn’t they add some sugar to it or… I gagged one more time as my headache faded away. “Thanks,” I said, smiling at Apple Bloom. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said, frowning and looking between Life Bloom and me. “Though I kinda wish you’d stop getting into situations where I need to brew the potion for you. Moderation ain’t that bad a thing.”

“Indeed,” Life Bloom said, magically adjusting her glasses. “I find myself wondering how you can stay in shape while indulging your… less than laudable habits.”

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” I said, rolling my eyes at her. “It’s just fun. There’s nothing bad about kissing, or–”

“Eating your body weight in sugar?” Life Bloom asked, filling in for me.

“Yep,” I said, nodding cheerily at her. Or drinking your body weight in alcohol. “If it makes you feel good, what’s the problem?”

“Uhmm… Sweetie, do you know why most ponies don’t just go around kissing and drinking milkshakes all the time?” Apple Bloom said, taking the flask from me.

“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging at her. “Probably because they’re boring or don’t find it fun.” It is kind of weird that most ponies don’t do fun stuff all the time, but that’s not my problem. All I can do is have as much fun as I can and hope my friends join me. Having fun would be a lot better if I had it with them.

“No, Sweetie,” Life Bloom said, sighing and shaking her head. “They do it because they have responsibilities. They do it because they know there are things more important than just having a good time.”

I stared at her, literally unable to understand what she was saying. It was like… I recognized the words, but I couldn’t understand the sentence. If I wasn’t having fun, I was miserable.

Life Bloom just sighed. “That’s about the reaction I expected,” she said, shaking her head. “You know, this… unbridled hedonism of yours has gotten worse in the months I’ve known you, right?”

“Of course it has,” I said, giving her the happy confident smile. “I’ve discovered more fun things to do, so I do them more. It’s not exactly a mystery.” Why exactly was she giving me such a hard time about enjoying myself? She was my friend. Friends celebrate each other’s happiness, they don’t… complain about them having too much fun. Is that even a thing?

“Sweetie, Life Bloom and I just want what’s best for you, and… Well, you’re not looking so great right now,” Apple Bloom said, moving to stand next to her marefriend. Even though I was annoyed with both of them for giving me the third degree for ‘having too much fun,’ the fact that they were dating… Oh, I couldn’t wait to have a party celebrating their couple status. It was going to be the absolute best.

Apple Bloom gestured to a mirror hanging on the clubhouse wall, and… Okay, I’d definitely seen better days. My coat and mane were unwashed, my mane was a knot, my makeup was half-faded and patchy, and there were bags under my eyes. “Oh, I just… I didn’t clean myself up before coming here. Guess I kind of forgot, this morning.” Plus, all my makeup and stuff were at Rarity’s, and I had to come here before I could go there. Not that Apple Bloom and Life Bloom needed to know that.

“Look,” I said, smiling sympathetically at them. “It’s great that you’re so worried about me, and I feel a lot better knowing I have you two looking out for me, but I’m fine. I just… You know, I wanted to enjoy myself this morning, so I got into the last of my Nightmare Night candy, and… Yes, I overdid it, but it’s not like I do this every day.”

Apple Bloom just sighed while Life Bloom shook her head. “You’re lucky you can put your body through so much pressure and come out fine on the other side, but that won’t last forever,” Life Bloom said, her stare burning through my coat.

“Alright, thanks for the advice,” I said, trotting out of the clubhouse. It’s great that my friends cared enough to worry about me, but why did they have to be so boring? Why couldn’t they see how much fun I was having? “I promise I’ll keep it in mind the next time I go on a sugar binge.”

“Wait!” Apple Bloom yelled as I left the clubhouse. “You don’t have to leave, Sweetie, we just–”

“I know,” I said, twirling around and giving them both a huge smile. “I just… I need to get going before Rarity starts worrying, I promise we’ll talk more later.” Before they could say anything else, I trotted out of the clubhouse. As much as I’d love to listen to them tell me that enjoying myself was terrible for some reason, I really did need to get back before Rarity started worrying. I glanced at the sun as it sank closer to the horizon. Hopefully, I still had time.

***

The lights in the Boutique were out and the shades were drawn when I inched the door open, ears straining to find even the faintest noise. I didn’t hear anything, and a quick look around the room revealed it was empty. Giving a sigh of relief, I trotted into the Boutique.

“Hello, Sweetie,” Rarity said, appearing in the door to the kitchen as the front door clicked shut. Rarity’s horn lit up, and the only door out of the Boutique locked shut.

“Oh… uh… Hey, Rarity, what’s up?” I asked, smiling at her with as much innocence as I could muster.

“Well, I had a very interesting day today,” she said, her voice as cold and sharp as ice. “I got a lovely letter from Mr. Rich describing the layout of his new Manehattan store and asking where I thought my dresses would best fit, and I thought ‘isn’t that odd, Sweetie’s having a sleepover with her marefriends at his house, but he’s all the way out in Manehattan’. So, I decided to stop by and see how you were doing, and there’s Diamond Tiara, who just so happens to be taking a few empty alcohol bottles to the trash.”

Oh no.

“Oh yes,” Rarity said, glaring at me as my smile evaporated. “I extended a line of trust to you, Sweetie, and this is your repayment? Betrayal at every level? Explain yourself.”

“Uhmmm….” I struggled to think of a reasonable explanation. “I… thought it would be fun, but knew you wouldn’t approve?” That wasn’t it.

“You’re right about that,” Rarity said, taking a deep breath. “I wouldn’t approve of my little sister running off to get drunk with her marefriends with absolutely no adult supervision. I assume Diamond Tiara convinced you to do this?”

I frowned. If I was going to get in trouble anyways, the least I could do was tell the truth and make things easier for my marefriends. “Actually, the party was my idea. Like I said, I thought it’d be fun.”

“Wonderful,” Rarity said, floating a quill and parchment towards her. “Now, I have to write a letter to Mr. Rich explaining that my Sweetie is a bad influence on his daughter.” She shook her head. “And that’s a sentence I never thought I’d have to say.”

“So… is that it?” I asked, creeping towards the stairs. Maybe I could–

“Oh yes, thank you for reminding me, Sweetie. Until the end of the year, you can consider yourself grounded. That means: No leaving the house unless it’s for school, no extra-curriculars, no friends coming over, no leaving your room unless given my explicit approval, and I will be accompanying you to all your shows,” Rarity said, her attention refocused on me.

“You mean I can still do my shows?” I asked, frowning. That seemed weird. Why could I do that but not anything else?

“Of course, I’m not going to let you welsh out of your obligations. No, you’re going to do your shows, but that’s it. No socializing or partying, just singing. Understand?” she asked.

I nodded. “I guess, but I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Rarity rubbed her forehead. “Sweetie, you very obviously do; if you didn’t, you wouldn’t have taken such measures to hide your actions.”

“Well, I knew you’d get upset, but that doesn’t mean I–”

“Just go to your room,” Rarity snapped. “I need to clear my head and write this letter to Mr. Rich. After that, we’ll talk.”

***

I leafed through a semester’s worth of notes. On the upside, this grounding gave me lots of time to study for my finals, but… that was basically the only positive. I flipped through my biology notes and turned to a recent lecture: Cancer: a breakdown in the body’s natural systems, occurring when cells divide uncontrollably. I highlighted the passage and made a note to ask about it during one of our review sessions. I knew cells were supposed to divide, so what exactly was bad about them doing it a lot?

Rarity knocked on the door and pulled me from my studying. “Can I come in, Sweetie?” she asked.

“You know you can,” I muttered. “Why even bother giving me a choice?”

“Because it’s your room,” Rarity said as she opened the door. “And I’m trying to respect your boundaries.”

“You know what would respect my boundaries even more?” I asked, turning to look back at my notes. “If you didn’t ground me for doing something fun. I bet when you were my age, you drank just as much.”

“That’s… not the point, Sweetie,” Rarity said, trotting to sit next to me. “The point is that you snuck around behind my back and lied to me. I understand better than most the dangers of underage unsupervised drinking, and… if you had told me what you wanted to do, I would have been more than happy to supervise and make sure that you and your friends drank and acted responsibly.”

“Define responsibly,” I said, looking from my notes to her.

“Not what you and your friends got up to last night,” she said, giving me the tiniest of smiles. “There are plenty of ponies who would be more than happy to tell you the dangers of drinking in excess.”

“Like what,” I asked, rolling my eyes, “having too much fun?”

“No,” she said, her a dark cloud coming over her eyes. “Like coming to in a strange town with no idea how you got there or how to get back. Like waking up in a puddle of vomit after a heavy bender. Like acting like a complete ass in front of your special somepony and almost ruining your relationship.”

“Wait, did that last thing happen to you?” I asked, tilting my head. “I mean…”

Rarity shook her head. “It happened to a dear friend who shall remain anonymous. I merely brought it up as an illustrative example, although… I suppose I have enough horror stories of my own that I don’t need to bring her into this.”

“Ooh!” I said, my eyes going wide. Maybe I could learn about even more kinds of fun by listening to Rarity’s stories. “Tell me?”

She shook her head. “While I’m all for illustrative examples, the look in your eyes makes me think you’ll take an entirely wrong message from it. Instead, let me say this: the path you seem intent on taking will only end in regret, and I will do my best to redirect you to a gentler one.” What was that supposed to mean? This path was super fun, nothing to regret about that.

“But I don’t want a… a gentler one, I want the fun one. The happy one.” I rolled my eyes. “Nothing bad’s going to happen to me.” Could ponies stop worrying about me? Like… just for once, be like ‘Oh, Sweetie Belle, we’re so happy for you, and you totally know what you’re doing.’ Is that too much to ask for?

Rarity groaned and twitched her ears. “Are you even listening to what I’m trying to tell you, Sweetie, or are you just… I want you to be happy, and I can tell you that unless you are extremely wise and cautious, this path leads only to empty fulfillment and regret. Do you understand me?”

“Got it,” I said, nodding at her, “you want me to be careful. I can do that.”

She crashed into my bed with a dramatic sigh. “Please don’t force me to ground you until our parents get back. Neither of us want that.” What? She was going to threaten to ground me forever and then play it like she was the victim? I… A pip of anger burned in my chest.

“And why would you do that?” I asked, trying not to let my anger show. Getting mad wasn’t very Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle likes fun things and doesn’t get mad at anypony.

“Because I want you to be happy and safe, and if I’m forced to choose, I’ll pick the latter,” Rarity said, sitting back up. “I don’t like it any more than you do.”

“I doubt that,” I said, frowning – no, not frowning, I couldn’t frown – and looking down at my pillows. Maybe if she didn’t see me frowning, it wouldn’t count.

“Look, Sweetie, can you please just think about what I said?” Rarity asked, pushing herself off my bed.

“Sure,” I shrugged, still not looking at her. “I have plenty of time to, I guess.”

Rarity just sighed as she trotted out of my room and clicked the door shut, leaving me to stare at the ceiling until I finally fell asleep.

***

I was back at my dream concert from the night before, but not. The me on stage was the me now, or pretty close to her, and… we were at a different venue. “Why am I back at Button’s birthday? Actually, why am I here at all?” And why could I only seem to remember dreams while I was dreaming?

“Because some of us want to talk to you,” the me I spoke with the other night said. “And right now, the only pony you listen to is you.”

“Not true,” I said, turning my attention from the me on stage to the me speaking. “I listen to all my friends.”

She sighed. “Sweetie, we had the same conversation last night, and nothing’s changed since then.”

“Yeah, well, I’m still right,” I said, glaring at her. “And how come you’re disagreeing with me? Aren’t we supposed to be the same pony?”

Other me just shrugged. “You contain multitudes. Some parts disagree with the majority, some fall out of favor, and some just decide to leave.” She turned and gestured towards a portal in the distance. “Your reason and good sense walked through that portal today, said they’d go somewhere they were appreciated, although I’m sure if you started listening to ponies again, they might be persuaded to come back.”

My eyes watered as I looked at the portal my dream-mes left through. They couldn’t just leave me, they were me. How could they do that? My eyes narrowed. How dare they! I couldn’t even trust my own mind not to leave me, that was… “Fine, I don’t need them anyways.”

“Will you listen to yourself?” the other me asked, her eyes going wide with panic. “You just said you didn’t need your reason or your good sense. You… You understand why that’s insane, right?”

“No,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I don’t need ponies who will abandon me, even if they’re technically extensions of me.”

“So if your friends left you tomorrow?” the other me asked, while the stage me continued to sing her song, holding the gaze of the rest of the audience. Was she just singing the same notes over and over?

I laughed. “They wouldn’t, they love me because I’m exactly who they want me to be. I’m happy-go-lucky innocent filly Sweetie.”

“No you’re not! You… maybe you were her at one time, but you’re not anymore, she’s dead, and her corpse is being twisted into something terrible, and you don’t even see it because any time we try to tell you something’s wrong, you beat us back down and bury us. It’s okay for you to be yourself. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay for your friends to leave you, that doesn’t diminish your bond with them or get rid of the good times. You… you have to believe me, because we can’t keep doing this.”

“I’m fine!” I yelled. “I’m fine, and I’m happy, and if ponies could just stop telling me I’m not fine, then everything would be great.” I glared at her. “Maybe you’re right though, maybe I shouldn’t try to keep everypony close to me. Maybe I should take Diamond Tiara’s advice and start cutting ponies who keep trying to make me sad out of my life. Maybe I should start with you, whoever you are.”

The other me sighed, tears forming in her eyes. “Please… just listen to yourself. This isn’t something a happy mare would say.”

“You’re wrong,” I shouted after her. “Everything’s going to be fine, and once everypony sees how much fun I’m having, they’re going to feel like big huge idiots for ever doubting–”

***

I woke up and groaned, staring at the ceiling as my latest nightmare dissolved. I rolled out of bed and looked in the mirror.Why had I been having so many nightmares this weekend? And why couldn’t I ever remember them? It seemed like every couple of hours, I woke up feeling like I was dangling over the jaws of some great monster, but before I could remember why, the feeling faded away. I looked over to my window.

The sky was just beginning to turn gray outside. I could try and get some more sleep, but if I wanted to properly clean up and put my makeup on before school started… I gave one last groan and shuffled out of bed. Was the weekend already over? It felt like it’d just started, and then I got grounded, and then Sunday… Sunday was so boring it might as well not have happened. I mean, at least I got some time in to study, but… seriously, just being stuck in my room all day is not fun.

I know I’m supposed to be punished and stuff, and I guess I kind of get why Rarity had to do it, but couldn’t she have just forced me to eat broccoli or something and then let me spend the time with my marefriends before they left me? I had less than a week left with them, and Rarity was being such an over-protective idiot with me. I’m fine. I’m happy. What’s there to worry about?

Those thoughts continued to turn over in my head as I showered and applied my makeup. Maybe I could skip one of my classes today so I could get some prime kissing time in… Besides, not counting the finals, the last week is pretty easy, and after the acting final today, that class could just be a total blow-off course.

My reflection yawned as I applied makeup to her. Her eyes were pretty baggy, and she looked like she hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in way too long, but a little makeup and… Didn’t Rarity say coffee gave her energy? Maybe I could see about having a cup of that.

“Hey, Rarity,” I said, shuffling out of the bathroom after finishing my morning routine. “Is there any chance I could have some coffee?”

She blinked and looked from her newspaper to me as I entered the kitchen. “Are you really sure you need the extra energy? I don’t want to deal with another Sugar Sticks incident.”

“Come on,” I groaned. “I’m just asking for one cup of coffee so I can get through the day. I’m not going to drink the whole pot… or… is that how much most ponies drink?”

“It is absolutely not,” Rarity said, trotting over to the pot and magically pulling another mug out of the cupboard. “While I’m fine with you drinking a cup of coffee from time to time – certainly, I have my own rather… extensive coffee habit, I’d prefer it if you drank in moderation.” She filled my mug halfway up with coffee and then added some cream to it. “Celestia knows you don’t need that much added energy.”

I yawned and staggered towards the counter, quickly grabbing the cup with my magic. “Today I do.” I took a sip of the coffee and gagged. “Needs more sweetness. Too bitter.”

Rarity just sighed while I floated the carton of cream over to me. “Of course it is… You know, Sweetie, there are other food groups besides sweet. I happen to enjoy the bitter taste of coffee.”

“That’s crazy,” I said, pouring half-a-hoof of cream into the mug. “Why would you ever want anything not sweet?”

“Because life’s not just one taste. There are so many different foods out there, so many interesting combinations, why would you ever want to cut yourself off from them because they’re not sweet? Sometimes, a mare wants something savory,” Rarity said, trotting back to her cup of coffee and newspaper.

“I guess,” I said, rolling my eyes and taking a sip of the new cup. Much better. “I don’t get it though.”

“We’re all well aware of that,” Rarity said, shaking her head and resuming reading the paper. “Now, let me know when you’re ready and I’ll walk you to the Academy.”

“Wait, why are you going to do that?” I asked, tilting my head.

“Because you’re grounded, and that means I will be keeping my eyes on you like a hawk. Giving you the opportunity to run off with your friends defeats the whole purpose of the punishment, doesn’t it?” Rarity asked, looking at me and raising her eyebrow.

“But I’m not going to run off,” I said, trying to smile at her as I took another sip of coffee. The coffee and cream made the smiling a lot easier. “I promise.”

Rarity’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll have to forgive me if I have a hard time trusting you right now, Sweetie.” Okay, as much as I hated to admit it, she did kind of have a point, she caught me lying to her, but it wasn’t my fault she found out. If she hadn’t gotten that letter from Filthy Rich, everypony would’ve been happy, and I’d be able to sneak off and do more kissing things with my friends… Well, not sneak, obviously, that would be wrong. Still, I knew enough to know that the only thing arguing with Rarity would get me was more trouble.

“I’m sorry,” I said, frowning and looking at the ground. Maybe if I was really nice and apologetic to her, she might end my punishment early. “You’re right, I… shouldn’t have lied.”

“Really?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I’m happy to hear you apologize, although… you wouldn’t fake an apology, would you, Sweetie Belle?”

I shook my head and smiled at her. “Of course not, you know I wouldn’t do that.”

“Of course not,” Rarity said, sighing while I ate my breakfast before school.

***

The acting final… wasn’t actually that bad. Maybe it was because I spent almost all of Sunday studying, or maybe it was because Lyra knew less about acting than I did, but I was finished with the test in minutes. So was everypony else though, so it was probably the latter. Still, studying all day Sunday probably helped at least a little. I mean, at least I wasn’t the last pony in class to finish; that was Diamond Tiara.

Music class was mostly just reviewing for the final and sitting in the back of the class waiting for everypony to look away so I could sneak a quick kiss from Melody. She’s not much of a fan of public kissing, but I really wanted it, and she’s pretty great about doing what I want, especially if I nibble on her ear a bit. I wasn’t… It’s not like I was convincing her to do something she didn’t want to do, I was just convincing her to do something we both liked, even if she didn’t like doing it where ponies might see. Well, I guess nibbling at her ear doesn’t technically count as convincing, but it got her to do something I wanted her to do.

“So,” Melody whispered while I tried to kiss her. “Did you… Uhmm… did you get the part?”

“Hmm?” I asked, tilting my head. Part. Part. Part… Oh, right. I shook my head. “They’re apparently having some trouble deciding who gets what part, I guess, so Lyra said it’s going to be a few more days.”

In front of us, Vinyl’s attentions were turned towards the board as she reviewed musical octaves or something. Like… I get that not everypony here was musically gifted, but didn’t everypony know that? At least I wasn’t missing out on anything by kissing Melody all class instead of “reviewing.”

“Oh,” Melody said, frowning while I leaned in to kiss her neck. She tried to hide it, but I could hear a little happy sigh escape her lips with each kiss. I think she secretly likes the thrill of kissing in public even if she won’t admit it to me. “Well, if you–”

I kissed her cheek.

“Would you stop it, please?” she asked, turning around to look at me with what passed as a glare for her. “I told you I don’t like kissing in public and now…” She tried to point to the several students who were glancing at us. “Can you just respect what I want? Is that too much to ask?”

“But I thought you liked kissing me,” I said, pouting. What was the big deal? Like… why would she get upset about me kissing her in public. It’s not like it was anything bad.

She sighed and shrunk away from the looks of ponies surrounding us. “It’s… can we talk about this later? Maybe after class.”

“Fine,” I said, still frowning. “But…” Was she going to leave me? Just because I liked kissing her so much I couldn’t contain myself sometimes? “You’re… you’re… not breaking up with me, are you?”

She shook her head, “Of course not, I–”

“Alright,” Vinyl said turning back to look at the class. “So, if everypony here is done kissing, let’s talk about consonance and dissonance.” A few fillies and colts in the front of class laughed while Melody’s green cheeks burned red. Maybe I wasn’t as subtle as I thought.

***

“Come on,” Melody said, trotting briskly past the usual lunch table. “Diamond Tiara, we’re having an emergency marefriends meeting.”

“What about Bright Lights?” I said, taking a few deep breaths and gesturing to my newest friend at the lunch table as I struggled to keep up with Melody. “We all agreed she could join the group, right?”

Melody turned around and just glared at me. She was… actually a little scary when she was upset. “Fine, she can come along as well, but we all need to have a talk right now.”

Scootaloo and Life Bloom exchanged glances while Bright Lights and Tiara left the table. “So,” Bright Lights said, keeping pace with me. “are you sure it’s okay if I join your group? I don’t want to step on anypony’s hooves.”

“It’s fine,” Melody said, a hint of sympathy entering her voice as she found an empty. “I’m just sorry that this is going to be your first interaction with the group. We’re really normally very happy ponies.”

Okay, so it definitely sounded like I was in trouble, but maybe… maybe there was some way I could turn this around so she wouldn’t be upset with me. “Look,” I said as I took my seat at the new table. “I’m really sorr–”

“What’s wrong with you?” Melody asked, her voice cracking at the question. “When we met… Do you even care about what we want anymore?”

“Of course I do,” I said, frowning as my eyes watered. I couldn’t cry now. Not around them. My frown twisted up into a smile. That was better. “I was just doing what I thought you wanted. I kissed you in your favorite places and even tried to not to draw attention to us. What else could I do?”

“Maybe not kiss me in public,” Melody said, a glint of anger leaving her eyes. I was making progress. Pretty soon she’d be as sweet as she ever was, and maybe I could turn the rest of lunch into a kissing session. Ooh! I could see how Bright Lights was at kissing.

“Come on,” I said, pouting playfully. “You know I normally would, but… Rarity has me grounded until the end of the year, and that means...” I sniffled and frowned for a second before the smile returned. “That class is the only time I can kiss you for the whole rest of the year. It was bad enough that I wouldn’t have anypony to kiss over break–”

“I’ll be here,” Bright Lights said. “I’ll be busy doing the set design and planning out the staging, but I’ll be here. If it’s alright with everypony, I could probably–”

“No, that’s great,” Diamond Tiara said. “I’ll sleep so much easier knowing somepony’s here to kiss Sweetie while I’m gone.”

“Thank you for being so understanding,” I said, wrapping my hooves around Tiara and drawing her into a big tight hug. “You’re the best… or… one of the best, and I promise when you get back, we’ll have lots of fun kissing stuff to make up for lost time.” I turned my attention back to Melody. “Anyways… I didn’t think I’d have anypony to kiss over break, and then with me being grounded, that meant the only time we had left to kiss was during class.”

Melody sighed and closed her eyes. “Alright,” she said. “I still don’t want you kissing me in class, but I can understand why you ignored what I wanted… Just… I’m sure we can work something out.” Ha! I did it. She wasn’t mad at me anymore, and now she was willing to compromise with me. Everypony was getting what she wanted. Or at least, we would be.

“Maybe we could do some kissing now,” I said, smiling. “If that’s–”

“Sweetie, we’re in a corner of the cafeteria, that’s not exactly private,” Tiara said, frowning. “I know you really want to kiss us a few times before we have to leave, but you still care about what we want, right?”

“Of course,” I said, trying not to sigh. Of course, I cared about what they wanted, I just… “Of course, I care about what you all want, but… going the next two weeks without kissing is going to be so hard. I haven’t gone that long without kissing since I discovered kissing, and… I can’t go back to not knowing how awesome kissing is.”

“Perhaps I could help,” Bright Lights said, smiling at the three of us. “I… Being a unicorn with a talent in theater means I have something of a talent for veils. If you want, I could cast a veil around the table so it just looks like we’re talking.” Something glinted in her eyes. “It’s a bit too intensive for me to cast and kiss at the same time, but if it will make Sweetie happy, I’m glad to do it.”

“Thank you so much,” I said, pulling away from Tiara so I could hug the newest member of my happy little herd. “You’re just… You’re so sweet, I definitely have to make it up to you once I’m ungrounded.”

“Just happy to help,” she said, smiling and shooting a glance towards Diamond Tiara. “You’re so nice to everypony, I want to do what I can to keep you happy. Mares as sweet as you are so rare these days, most ponies just care about their own happiness.” Her smile grew.

“Yep,” Tiara said, matching Bright Lights’ smile and nuzzling my cheek. “I’ve been telling Sweetie the same thing for months. She needs somepony to return the favor and get her anything she wants. Luckily, I can afford just that.” They both loved me so much! I knew how much Tiara cared, but… I hadn’t even had a date with Bright Lights, and she was already willing to do whatever it took to make me happy. How great is that?

“You two are the best!” I squeaked, wrapping a foreleg around Tiara and a foreleg around Bright Lights and drawing them into a threeway hug. “I have to be the luckiest mare in Equestria to have two ponies who care so much about making me happy.” And obviously, Melody cared a lot too, just not enough to do whatever I wanted. Still, she probably cared a lot.

Tiara kissed my cheek. “You deserve it, Sweetie Belle. If you ever need anything just let me–”

“Or me,” Bright Lights said.

“Know,” Tiara said, her voice frosty.

“And… uhmm… I’m happy to help you out too,” Melody said. “I’d just… I’m sorry for getting upset with you, I just… I love how much you care about making other ponies happy, and I don’t want to see you lose that.” I tried not to frown. She still cared about me. She did.

As long as I do what she wants.

I kept my smile up. That wasn’t fair, Melody was the sweetest pony I knew, and… she was just another one of those ponies that got concerned about me for no reason. At least she didn’t punish me for being too happy like Rarity did. Besides, I knew the kiss to turn Melody into a drooling puddle who’d be super happy to do whatever I wanted. Bright Light’s horn lit up and I pressed my lips against Melody’s. I’d get her to love me just as much as Tiara did in no time.

***

By the time lunch ended, Melody was sighing dreamily and resting her head on my shoulder and giggling at everything I said.

What… It’s not like… She was having fun, and everypony was a lot happier now. I didn’t do anything wrong, just reminded Melody how fun kissing was. It was fine. She was fine. She wasn’t upset anymore, and I respected her wishes about kissing in public.

As I walked to my next class and said goodbye to my marefriends, something in my gut turned that I tried not to listen to. I mean… No, I was fine. I was just reminding Melody how much she loved me and loved kissing me. That’s all.

The rest of the day kind of passed as… not a blur, but I couldn’t really get myself to focus on anything. My stupid stomach was still in knots, and I kept wishing I had a drink so I wouldn’t feel so… bad. Why was it so hard to feel good? That’s all I wanted, but parts of me kept refusing to be happy. What did I have to be unhappy about?

“Well, Sweetie Belle?” Mister Moldeaux said. The whole class was staring at me. Had I… Oh right, I was here now. How long had everypony been staring at me?

“Uhmm… what were we talking about?” I asked, tilting my head.

“Cancer,” he said, his voice flat. Of course, I’d even read through my biology notes on that recently. “What is it?”

Come on, I’d read those notes like… three days ago, I knew this one. “It’s… uhmm… a bad thing that happens. It’s…” I looked to my friends. “It’s… when a pony gets sick and has to go to a doctor to get a spell cast on them to cure it. If they don’t, it can be… bad. Really bad.”

He didn’t respond at all, instead just staring at me through his big black unreadable sunglasses. “Technically correct, but your answer misses the beauty and horror of cancer. Cancer is an imperfection of the body, one that arises organically when a few cells start acting – to risk equinopomorphizing a non-sentient entity – selfishly. The cells propagate rapidly, divert vital bodily nutrients to sustain their rapid growth, and finally, in their greed, destroy the system that supports them. That system of self-destruction is always something that’s fascinated me.”

“Oh, right, that was… that was definitely the next thing I was about to say,” I said, smiling up at him.

“Of course,” he said, nodding his head and turning back to the blackboard. “And I’m sure I’ll see something very similar to that on the test if I ask a question about it.” Why did he have to do that? Just… call me out for not getting the answer perfectly. I bit my tongue. I couldn’t get angry, I had to be happy. I had to stay happy, otherwise… No, they couldn’t leave me. I just smiled bigger at him. When in doubt, smile bigger.

***

After class was completely boring. I couldn’t do anything but sit in my room and look through my notes, and outside the room were ponies I could be kissing. I mean… This was all wrong. I needed to be happy, but ever since that stupid party, I’d been less happy than usual. Actually, I’d been a lot less happy, and… I couldn’t be unhappy, Diamond Tiara and Melody practically said they’d leave me if I stopped being happy.

I needed to be happy.

Sitting alone in my room, I closed my eyes, and practiced being happy.

***

I was back at the dream theater… or was it always a theater? Was it always a theater or was it originally a park? I couldn’t remember. No… this was new, it was… why was the singer-me in the school auditorium?

The me on stage was completely beautiful. Maybe a touch bigger than I currently was, she moved on the stage like a candle flame, her eyes the fire’s focus, with a glint of something sharp just beneath the surface. Her voice drew me closer to her, and when I looked into those burning dangerous eyes… I could probably listen to her – me – sing forever. Unfortunately for her-me, attendance seemed a lot smaller tonight. “Where is everypony?” I asked the air.

“Gone,” the dream-me said. I groaned at her, but didn’t feel as irritated to see her as I usually did. I just… She didn’t make me happy. She wasn’t worth thinking about.

“Ugh, can you please stop bugging me in my dreams? I’m trying to enjoy myself,” I said, not bothering to look at her and instead listening to the singer-me’s siren song. Listening to it, I felt like I was being pulled into another dream. Could you do that? Go into a dream from another dream.

“Very shortly, yes,” the other dream-me said. The one who tried to make me not feel good. “I just… I suppose I hoped we could have one last talk before the mold solidified. Maybe if I say the right words…” She sighed and looked at the me on stage. “But how can I compete with a song?”

“You can’t,” I said, shaking my head. And she was right, the me on stage… well, she sounded like I imagined a siren would.

“I know,” the me sitting next to me said, tears forming in her eyes. “It was silly of me to dream I could, I just wanted… I want you to be happy – actually happy. I hoped maybe we could… It doesn’t matter. You know what you want, and I can’t persuade you otherwise.”

I nodded at that. “Thanks for admitting that. I really don’t like arguing with you… or me, I guess. So… Since we’re here talking, what exactly do you… What part of me are you supposed to represent?”

She gave a sad smile and shook her head. “A part of you that won’t be around much longer. A part of you that gets in the way of you being ‘happy.’” She practically spat out the last word.

“Huh,” I said, frowning. Maybe I should’ve been sad about that, but there was this song playing and I just… didn’t feel sad. I felt like a week-old balloon sagging on the floor. “Well, if you promise to be happy, you can stay. That’s all I want.”

The other me laughed and shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way. You want to be happy, so I have to go. It’s as simple as that. I promise, you’ll feel better once I’m gone. You’ll be…” She shrugged. “The mare you want to be.”

“Oh… well… is there anything I can do for you?” I asked, turning back to the song. The song made me feel better.

She smiled. “Let me sit next to you while the song plays? Let me just pretend that…”

I patted the ground next to me and smiled at her. She trotted to sit next to me, and a second later, her head was resting on my shoulder. “Thank you,” she said as our attention was drawn to the singer on stage. “You know, if you… If you ever need me back, I’ll be here.”

“Shh,” I said, stroking her mane. “Let’s just enjoy the music.” The me on stage sang, and the world around us shrank. The concert hall faded away, and the ponies in the audience vanished one by one, until it was just me and the me on stage left.

My body felt heavier and heavier with each note played. My legs were leaden, and I just felt so… happy. I struggled to keep my eyes open, but… why should I? If it felt better with them closed, why keep them open? A contented smile played on my lips as my eyes narrowed. The last thing I saw before they closed completely was me standing on stage, perfect and beautiful and burning through the stage and completely happy as three balloons floated away in the distance. It was wonderful.

***

“Hey, girls,” I said, my usual happy smile plastered on my face as I sat next to my friends and kissed Tiara on the cheek. “How are you doing today? Excited for break? I’m just… so excited, I can’t even begin to describe it.”

“Really?” Melody asked. “Yesterday, you seemed pretty upset that we’d all be out of town.”

“What?” I asked, tilting my head and laughing. “No, I’m… I’ll definitely miss you, but I’m sure I’ll have tons of fun on my own.” I smiled at Bright Lights, who was sitting at Socket’s usual spot. “Besides, I won’t be completely alone.”

“Right,” Tiara said, frowning. Why did she have to be so unhappy about some things? It was just… nowhere near as fun as being happy all the time. Still, a quick kiss on the cheek took the edge off that frown. Better. That was better. My eyes scanned the lunch room and saw a familiar colt trotting out of the lunchroom.

“Socket!” I yelled, jumping away from the table and trotting over to him before he could make his escape. “Socket! Where’ve you been? We all really missed you.”

“Uhmm… just taking lunch at the shop,” he said as I shepherded him to the table. He wasn’t about to leave the group on my watch. Friends don’t abandon other friends.

“Really? Well, you can have lunch with us today, though, right? I mean...” I bit my lip and gave him my big eyes. “You aren’t going to leave the group, right?”

“Uhmm… what are you doing?” he asked. Right, I wasn’t… he didn’t want to date me, big cute eyes didn’t work on him as well. More smiles, then.

“Nothing,” I sing-songed as we reached the table. “But, just so we’re clear, you aren’t going to leave the group.”

“No,” he said, “I’m just working on a special secret project, and I kind of need lunch to get it done.”

“Ooh!” I said as he found a seat next to Bright Lights. “Is it that automated clubhouse you kept talking about? Are you still doing that?”

“He is absolutely not,” Life Bloom said. “Crusader bylaw 378: No Crusader is allowed to make augmentations to the clubhouse without gaining full approval of all active Crusaders and at least five adult ponies. Crusader bylaw 379: No mana engines. Ever.”

“Well,” I frowned. “He could still…” I turned to Socket. “What are you working on?”

“It’s a secret,” he said between shovelling huge bites of food into his mouth. “Can’t tell you.”

“Excuse me,” Bright Lights said, turning to look at her neighbor. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’ve–”

“Socket Wrench,” he said, flecks of food coming out of his mouth. Did he really have to eat and talk at the same time? “Welcome to the Crusade. What brings you to the group?”

“Uhmmm… I’m actually dating Sweetie,” she said, looking at me and blushing. Oh my goodness, the blush looked just so cute it took all my willpower not to hop over the table and just give her all the kisses.

“Another one?” Socket asked, raising an eyebrow and looking from me to Bright Lights. “Are you going to leave anypony else for the rest of us?”

I giggled. “Maybe... It’s definitely possible, but… something tells me no.”

Before Tiara could growl, my lips were against hers and my tongue darted teasingly into her mouth. I felt her body slacken as she got all happy. That was better. And… why shouldn’t I date anypony I wanted? It would be fun, and Tiara and Bright Lights both told me I deserved anything I wanted, and what I wanted was lots of kisses and fun. I smiled at that thought as my mouth caught Tiara’s moan.

A familiar unpleasant voice interrupted our kiss. “Excuse me, am I interrupting anything?” I looked up from the kiss, and Dazzler was just… staring at me. Maybe I wouldn’t date her unless she asked really nicely. Maybe even begged a little. After all, she was mean to me, and she had to make up for it.

“Just my lunch,” I said, going back to suck a little bit of berry chapstick off of Tiara’s lips while the rest of my friends exchanged various glances of not pleased-ness. Life Bloom and Apple Bloom both blushed and looked from me to each other, Socket just focused on his lunch, Scootaloo rolled her eyes, and Dazzler… Dazzler looked like she was about to throw up. Perfect.

“Anyways,” I said, ending the kiss several beautiful wonderful seconds later. “What’s up?”

“I’m trying to be friendly,” Dazzler said. “We are supposed to be friends, right?” She tilted her head to look at Bright Lights. “Oh! And you’re having lunch with the mare who’s in charge of casting. Lovely.” Well, if she was here to be friendly, I guess I could...

Bright Lights smiled as Dazzler took a seat. “I’m not in charge of casting, just giving Lyra my thoughts.”

“Of course,” Dazzler said, rolling her eyes. “Anyways, Sweetie, I never got to ask how your party was Friday night. It sounded like a lot of fun.” Her smile grew while my friends looked like they’d just been kicked.

“Wait, what?” Scootaloo asked, a thought quickly echoed by the rest of my friends. Shoot.

“Oh,” Dazzler said, fire dancing behind her eyes. “Did… Sweetie not tell you about that party? I’m sorry, I just assumed everypony knew when Melody told me about it.” I clenched my jaw. She definitely wasn’t here trying to be friendly.

“You had a party without us?” Apple Bloom asked. I needed to say something to make this okay. I needed to think.

“Well, it wasn’t really a party, really it was more of a… just a get-together with Tiara and Melody. There was going to be a lot of kissing stuff, so… I figured none of you would want to go.”

“It did sound fun, though,” Dazzler said. Why did she have to keep talking? Why was she even here at all besides to just mess with me? “Melody told me about how late the three of you stayed up drinking, and… well, I was a little bit envious.”

“You were drinking!” Scootaloo yelled, her wings buzzing. “Since when have you been drinking?”

“Uhmm… Since Diamond Tiara introduced me to rum punch, I guess? It’s really tasty, you should try some,” I said, smiling at her and trying to drain some of the tension from the room. Instead, Scootaloo just glared at Tiara. Great, and they’d been kind of getting along for a while, too.

“It’s…” Tiara stammered. “It was… She was upset after you started yelling at her, and I was just trying to make her feel better.”

“Is that why you had me make that hair of the dog potion, Saturday?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Oh yeah,” Dazzler said, nodding at Apple Bloom. “To hear Melody tell it, she stayed up until dawn just drinking rum punch and champagne. You’re Sweetie Belle sure is the party pony. It must just be… so much fun having her around.”

“Can I talk with you alone?!” I yelled at Dazzler, feeling not-happiness rise up in my stomach. She… She dared come here to my friends just to start a fight with them. This wasn’t friendly. This was the opposite of friendly. She had to suffer.

“Of course,” Dazzler said, bowing her head at me and getting up on her hooves. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Maybe about why you’re trying to get me in trouble with my friends. Why are you doing this to me?” I asked as we got out of earshot of the table.

“Hmm… maybe it’s because you hurt Melody yesterday. Maybe it’s because she’s so infatuated with you that she doesn’t even see how terrible you really are. Maybe it’s because, unlike you, I actually care about the happiness of my friends,” Dazzler said, her smile vanishing as she glared at me.

“I care!” I yelled. “I made sure she was super happy in the end; I gave her what she wanted. She… you should’ve seen how happy she was when lunch ended yesterday.” Was Melody saying bad stuff about me when she wasn’t around? She was definitely giving information to the enemy, and… she’d have to stop that. Actually, it would be a lot better if she and Dazzler could just stop communicating at all.

“Is that how you see it?” Dazzler said, tilting her head. No matter what, she never seemed to raise her voice. “Because from my perspective, it looks like you’re manipulating her into doing what you want. I can see those tiny gears in the back of your head just turning away, and… can you just leave her alone? She doesn’t deserve to be caught up in your crazy games.”

“Uhmm… she’s not caught up in anything, Dazzler,” I said, rolling my eyes. “She’s with me because she wants to be, and it sounds like you’re just jealous. Maybe if you were nicer to ponies, she’d like you over me.”

Dazzler’s eyes lit up. “Melody is my friend. For her sake, I’m trying to be friendly with you, but if you think that means I’m going to let you get away with torturing her, you’re dumber than I thought.” She pressed her lips into a smile. “Now, should we rejoin the group?”

I returned the not-smile and turned back to the cafeteria. “Why, Dazzler, that would be delightful. I’d hate it if all my friends thought you’d upset me.”

We opened the door and my table was half-empty. Scootaloo, Socket, and the Blooms were gone, leaving my marefriends behind. “What happened?” I asked as I took a seat between Tiara and Melody, while Dazzler took a seat next to Melody, putting four ponies on one side of the table and one pony on the other.

“We… might have gotten into a fight,” Tiara said, frowning and not looking at me. “We started arguing about the party, Apple Bloom was mad at you for lying to her, Life Bloom was… Life Bloom, Scootaloo was… I might have gotten a bit defensive with her. She blamed me for everything, said I was corrupting you, and then stormed off. So did Apple Bloom. Life Bloom went after one of them. I think Socket went to the library.”

I sighed. This… None of this was supposed to happen. My secret kissing party was supposed to be a fun thing, but now it had just turned into so much trouble, and why did all my friends have to be so dumb about it? Kissing and drinking were fun. Really fun. What was the problem, exactly? Ugh, I’d convince them eventually. “Great, can… can you and Melody try to make up with them after class today? I’m going to try and smooth things over with them both during class, but…”

“You’re grounded, I know,” Diamond Tiara said, sighing and kissing my cheek. “And Melody and I will work on calming things down after somepony decided to to spill all our secrets to the group.” She looked at Dazzler. “Why are you even here, anyways?”

Dazzler smiled. “Melody is my friend. Can’t a mare have lunch with her friend? And… as for the other things, I had no idea that was supposed to be a secret. I was just trying to make conversation.” I wanted to jump on top of her and strangle her. Not a lot, just… a little bit. Just enough for her to stop trying to ruin things for me. Ugh, why did she hate me so much? I was nothing but sweet.

I just smiled at her, making sure to bare my teeth. Just a friendly smile that might have possibly hinted at my frustration with her. It’s funny how many emotions you can convey while still smiling.

***

The rest of lunch was spent making fake pleasant conversation to keep Melody happy while I tried to think of how I could fix this situation with my friends. So far, ideas were pretty short.

“Hey,” I said, trotting into the Equestrian – language, not history – class and taking a seat next to Apple Bloom. “You’re… not too upset with me, are you?”

“Why would I be upset?” Apple Bloom said, looking down at her own books. “Sure, you had a secret party, got drunk, and then lied to me to help you cover it up, but… Why would I be upset with my best friend for doing that?”

Heh. When she put it that way, I kind of sounded like… No, I was fine. “I didn’t invite you to the party because it was for my marefriends only, and last time I checked, we weren’t dating. As for the drinking, I didn’t think that was any of your business, so… why would I tell you about it?”

“Because Crusaders don’t lie to each other,” she said, glaring at me. Oh, come on, could we still get upset about that law? I mean, they’d lied to me, we’d lied to Scootaloo… Apple Bloom was involved in both of those lies, and now she was mad at me for saying I lied to her about how I got my hangover?

“We’re all liars,” I said, unable to keep myself from rolling my eyes. “I’m a liar, Scootaloo’s a liar, you’re definitely a liar. We lie. Don’t act like me lying to you is some big betrayal of our friendship, because we’ve been lying to each other since we met… Or was telling me how great an actress I was not lying?”

“I…” she stammered at me. “You know, at least when I lied to you, I felt bad about it and knew it was wrong. You… You’re just staring at me, smiling, and sayin’ it’s totally fine. I can’t believe you, Sweetie. You were the sweetest, kindest, most carin’ pony I knew, and now you’re… You know, I don’t even want to look at you right now.”

Fine. Whatever. She wanted to act like she was… better than me? To act like… What? I don’t even know. I was fine. She was the one lying to herself, acting like her lie was somehow better than mine. Like… is it okay to lie as long as you feel really bad about it afterwards? Because that’s stupid. And… what’s the big deal about lying anyways? It’s just telling ponies what they want to hear to make them happy. That’s practically a good thing. Besides…

“You’re lying to all your friends right now, or did you just forget about your secret relationship with Life Bloom? Or does a secret relationship not count as lying, somehow?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“Could ya stop that?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at the ponies around us. “Ya made your point, just… please stop mentioning that I’m dating Life Bloom.”

“So you admit you’re just as much a liar as I am?” I asked, pointing a hoof at her as more ponies trotted into the class.

“Yes, fine, just…” She shook her head. “You know, I was worried about you.”

“But you’re not anymore?” I asked, letting my smile grow a bit.

She shook her head and looked back at her desk as the bell rang. “No, I’m not worried about you, anymore.” Yes! Finally, somepony who wasn’t worried about me for no reason or… There had to be a better way to put that. Either way, I finally had somepony who didn’t care about what I was doing. Why couldn’t the rest of my friends feel like Apple Bloom did?

***

Scootaloo was waiting for me outside the door to my Equestrian class. “Hey,” she said, ambushing me as I trotted out of Miss Octavia’s class. How did she get here so fast? “Apple Bloom, did you talk to her or…”

“Nope,” Apple Bloom said, trotting off to her next class. “She’s all yours to deal with. Have fun.”

“What was that about?” Scootaloo asked as Scootaloo and I walked over to our math class.

“I don’t know,” I said, magically adjusting the straps to my saddlebags as we walked. “I mean… it’s great that she isn’t worried about me anymore, I just thought it would make her be a bit friendlier.”

Scootaloo narrowed her eyes and glanced at me. “What do you mean she isn’t worried about you anymore?” She shook her head. “Never mind, we can talk about that later. Right now… What were you thinking, going out drinking? Don’t you know… You know, I was really starting to like Diamond Tiara, but now she’s convincing you to drink and… I don’t even want to think about her right now.”

“What’s the big deal about drinking?” I asked. “Everypony’s acting like I did some really bad terrible thing, but… I’m maybe a few years away from being able to legally drink, anyways, but everypony’s acting like I did the worst possible thing ever. Well guess what, it wasn’t bad, it was super fun, and if I get the chance, I’m totally going to do it again, so… just get used to it.”

“Well, it’s not like you,” Scootaloo said, frowning and looking back at me. Okay, that was total horse-hockey. Drinking because it was fun was exactly what I’d do.

“Uhmmm… Do you even remember the day after Nightmare Night? Or that time loop where… Okay, I guess you wouldn’t remember that one, but we both know I’m the fun mare. I’m the pony who eats a lot of sugar and ice cream and drinks a lot of alcohol. If it’s fun, I’m going to do it,” I said, causing a few ponies we were passing to glance at me. I felt a few stallions’ eyes linger on me for a few seconds longer than everypony else. Was it bad that I enjoyed the fact they were looking at me? I just… Maybe I like feeling like the center of attention.

“That doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Scootaloo said, picking up her pace to get away from the ponies glancing at us. “I get wanting to do fun stuff, I do… Maybe your idea and my idea of fun aren’t the same thing, but I get it. I also know you can’t just do whatever you want all the time.”

“And why not?” I asked as we reached the classroom. “Why would I ever want to do something I don’t want to do? It’s… it feels weird to even have to say that.”

“Because it’s not healthy!” Scootaloo snapped, whipping her head around to look at me. “Because doing what you want all the time is ridiculously bad for you. Can you even run a hundred hooves without gasping for breath?”

“I don’t see how that’s… That’s not the point,” I said as we took our seat. She was my best friend, and I still wanted her to be my best friend, but why did she have to be so difficult? Between her and Rarity, it was like the ponies I cared about most were turning on me. Everypony was turning on me, trying to ruin my happiness, but… I couldn’t let them. If I did, they’d leave me for not being the Sweetie Belle they wanted me to be.

Scootaloo sighed and thunked her head against her desk. “You don’t see how… Sweetie, you’re… When we get back from break, you’re going to start training with me, alright?”

I groaned. “Do I have to? That sounds like the exact opposite of fun. It’s totally cool that you want to spend more time with me, but can’t we do something I enjoy instead? Ooh! Maybe we could throw a big party with lots of sugar and sweets and drinks? Doesn’t that sound way more fun than working out?”

My friend took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “How about this, you keep up with my exercise program, and… I’ll go to whatever parties you decide to throw and I’ll be fine if you drink during them.” Now that sounded like fun.

“Will you drink as well?” I asked, looking up at her with big pleading eyes and smiling. “It’s no fun drinking by yourself.” Actually, that probably wasn’t true. Drinking was always fun, but that was something ponies said to each other, so maybe she’d buy it.

“Fine,” she said, shaking her head and pulling a notebook out of her bag. “If that’s what it takes to get you into shape, I’ll do it.”

I threw my forelegs around her in a tight hug. “Oh! I promise you’ll have so much fun you’ll wonder why you ever thought drinking was bad. I bet by the time I’m through with you, you’ll want to be just like me.”

I was so happy she’d agreed to meet me halfway, I even made a point of ignoring her when she muttered “I hope not.”

***

Five minutes before school was out, Mr. Moldeaux got a message saying I was supposed to head to the front office as soon as possible. Was Rarity really that worried about me possibly having a fun moment with my friends that she was pulling me out of class early? Sure, on the upside, I got out of class early, but why had she been acting so weird the past few days? Had everypony but me gone crazy? Either way, it definitely wasn’t fun.

“Hey, Rarity, what’s up?” I asked cheerfully as I trotted into the office, a huge smile on my face.

“Well, Sweetie,” she said, nodding at me. “You know I’m going to be leaving town for a few days after Hearth’s Warming, and I thought, if it was agreeable to both parties involved, you might stay with Miss Octavia while I’m gone. That’s alright with you, I trust?” The way she said it made it seem like it didn’t matter if it was alright with me or not. Not like I cared that much, Miss Octavia was… well, she was super strict, but she was kind of nice, and Miss Scratch was super fun. Her final today was actually just one question: What did you learn in this class?

“Sounds fun,” I said, “I mean… You know, I’ll get to be grounded in her house instead of our house. What could be better?”

Rarity’s eyes twinkled at that. “Well, maybe if you behave, Santa Hooves will end your punishment early.”

I rolled my eyes. “Nice try, Rarity, I know Santa Hooves isn’t real, and…” I trailed off as I saw her staring at me. “Oh.”

“Indeed,” she said as the bell rang. “And I believe that’s our signal to depart. Come along, Sweetie Belle.” Ugh… could she maybe try not bossing me around like I’m some sort of pet? Oh well. I smiled big as we trotted out the door.

“Coming, big sister,” I singsonged.

***

I stared at my reflection. I looked great. All my make up was on right, I looked as sweet and happy as I ever did, but something felt off, like… it felt like when I lost one of my baby teeth and kept tonguing the empty space. I looked at me and my skin bristled. Something was off, and I didn’t know what it was… I smiled and smiled until the prickling faded. That was better. Giving one last look at my reflection, I hummed a happy tune and trotted downstairs. “Hey, big sister,” I said, taking my seat at the breakfast table. “Excited for your romantic thingy with Applejack? It’s only like… what, a couple of weeks away?”

She smiled at the mention of her marefriend and a faraway look entered her eyes. “Yes, in fact, I am, Sweetie Belle. Thank you for asking. How are…” She trailed off. “Nevermind, I hope… You aren’t too mad at me for grounding you, are you?”

Of course I was! Well, not mad, exactly, mad wasn’t happy, but… I only had a few days left with my marefriends before they left to wherever, and I couldn’t spend time with them because my sister had to get all “concerned.” It’s… “Nope, I’m fine,” I said, smiling at her.

“Are you sure?” Rarity asked, frowning at me. What, she didn’t believe me? I was smiling at her and happy and everything. “Sweetie, I understand why you might be upset with me, but I am trying to help you. There’s nothing I want more than to see you happy and well-adjusted.”

“I know,” I said, still smiling at her. I trotted over and wrapped my forelegs around her neck. “And that’s what makes you such a great big sister. I’m… I’m really sorry for getting upset with you earlier.”

Rarity sighed. “Thank you, Sweetie, I really needed to hear that.” She idly stroked my mane. “I’m glad to see the sweet filly I raised hasn’t been completely erased.”

“Of course not,” I said, drawing my hug tighter and smelling her fur. She always managed to smell so nice, I mean… maybe not Diamond Tiara nice, but it was still good. “You know me, I’m...” Why couldn’t the words come out right? What did I want to say? What did I need to say? “You know me.”

She didn’t say anything, and instead just kept stroking my mane. It wasn’t… We’d done something like this earlier. The both of us sitting in each other’s silence, but this time was… It felt different. Hollow, maybe.

Eventually, the hug ended, we finished breakfast in silence, and Rarity escorted me to school.

***

The rest of the day passed with that same kind of energy. Odd silences and friendly smiles as I did my best to act like me. Is that funny? That I had to act like me? It sounds weird, right?

“Are you alright?” Melody asked, bringing me out from wherever my head was. We were at lunch now. When did that happen? My tongue pulled back from the empty place.

I smiled at her. “Yeah, of course I am. Why do you ask?”

She frowned and I could see something wet in her eyes. “It’s… you’ve been acting strange ever since the party. Did we do something wrong?”

“Of course not,” I said, kissing her quickly on the cheek. She really didn’t have a problem with quick kisses. “You and Tiara are great. You’re the best. You both are.”

“Alright,” she said, looking around to make sure nopony was paying attention to us before nuzzling my neck. “And… if you want to talk about anything, you’ll tell me, right? I’m always here for you.”

“I know,” I said, my tongue drifting back to the empty space. “You’re the best.”

***

I needed a drink. That was the answer. Well, maybe more than one drink, but… If I had a few drinks, I’d feel better, less… fuzzy. Did that make sense? It’s really weird to explain the feeling, but the whole world felt… almost deflated. Grayer even? Could things feel gray? Because no matter what I did, things felt gray.

How long had I been laying in bed, and… I tried to think more about the day. Apple Bloom and I had talked about something, but I kind of wasn’t paying attention to her while she talked. I mean… Ugh, I know that makes me a bad friend, but I couldn’t help myself, there were so many other things to think about. Better things.

Maybe that’s it, I thought, tilting my head. Sure, I couldn’t do what I wanted, but at least I could imagine it, right? I closed my eyes and was transported back to my party with Tiara and Melody. Tiara was licking my horn and lowering me down onto her couch. Next to me, Melody was holding a glass of rum punch, bringing it up to my lips whenever I needed it. In the dream or in reality, my hoof idly stroked my stomach, and… I don’t know why I was so sensitive all of a sudden, but the touch of my hoof felt great. Way better than I ever thought a hoof touch could. Huh.

In the dream, Melody brought her lips to mine, and I sucked the rum punch off them. I took another sip of the goblet and felt some of the punch dribble down my muzzle. Melody licked it up for me. My muscles tightened and released. I was in heaven.

***

I let out a happy sigh as I trotted to class. After spending the last few days… I guess you could call it fantasizing, I finally felt relaxed and could even go awhile without poking my tongue in the empty spot. Outside my acting class, everypony was gathered around and looking at a sheet of paper hanging from the door. Before I could ask what was going on, I felt Diamond Tiara’s forelegs wrap around me and I gave another happy sigh.

“Congratulations, Sweetie Belle,” she said, kissing my neck and then cheek.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking between her and the paper. Oh, right… it probably had something to do with the auditions. “Did I get the–”

“Of course you did,” Tiara said before I could finish. “You…” She trailed off and glanced away from me as the news sunk in and I felt my spirits shoot up into the sky. “I’m glad you got what you wanted.”

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” I said, trotting in place. “Tiara, do you know… I’ll have a chance to play in front of the entire Canterlot nobility, this… do you know what this means for me?”

“Indeed, I do,” Bright Lights said, trotting up behind me. “You have a wonderful opportunity. Don’t waste it.”

“I won’t,” I said, swiveling around and giving her a hug. I pulled away a second later as I felt somepony’s eyes on me. Dazzler. Of course it was her. Here I was, having a huge moment, and she was just… there on the edge, trying to make me feel not happy. I earned this, and she wasn’t going to get me down today. Or any other day. Nopony was.

I smiled and waved at Dazzler, but she just kept staring at me. Yeah, she definitely wasn’t in a friendly mood today, but then… was she ever? I shrugged it off and turned back to celebrate with my real friends. The ones who didn’t try to make me feel bad.

***

“Socket!” I yelled from my spot at the lunch table. For the first time in what felt like forever, he was actually heading towards our table, and he had a wagon full of stuff behind him. Was it for me? Or the rest of my friends?

“Hey,” he said, unhitching himself from his wagon. “Sorry for being gone so much lately, I was just working on everypony’s Hearth’s Warming gifts. I really hope you like them.”

“I’m sure we will,” Life Bloom said as Socket passed a long rectangular box to Scootaloo. The second the box was in her hooves, Scootaloo started tearing into it, ripping apart the wrapping paper in a few seconds.

“Cool” Scootaloo said, opening the box and pulling out a scooter. “Another scooter, I can always use those.” That was true, she broke, like, one a month. I don’t know how she can afford so many of them. Probably because of whatever her mom does.

“Not just any scooter,” Socket said. “I designed this one to be as aerodynamic, lightweight, and durable as possible. It wasn’t easy doing those last two things, but… I think it turned out alright. Let me know how it is?”

“Totally,” Scootaloo said, getting on her new scooter and giving her wings a few test flaps.

“One more thing,” Socket said as he handed out another box to Apple Bloom. “I talked with one of the mares in the enchanting class, and… the metal’s been enchanted with a cloudwalking spell and a slow-fall spell, so you should be able to scooter around in Cloudsdale without falling to your death. Although… you might want to test that one out, first.”

“I can’t believe it, this is the coolest thing ever,” Scootaloo said, circling the scooter around our table a few times and almost knocking over somepony walking to her lunch table. Whoops.

“Like I said, test it out first. I checked the spell crafting a few times, and… Just test it,” he said.

“Wow,” Apple Bloom said, opening her box and pulling out… something. It looked like a squat little box with a lid on top of it. Was the gift inside of it or… “A centrifuge, how did you…”

“Well, I figured you could use something to get purer reagents, and… the centrifuge is pretty good at that. So… You like it?” he asked, going back to his wagon pile.

“Of course, I do,” Apple Bloom said, “You’re a great friend, Socket, and… This is probably the nicest gift I’ve ever gotten. Thank you.”

“It’s fine,” he said, pulling another rectangular box out of the pile and giving it to Melody.

“Oh, you didn’t have to make me anything,” Melody said, pushing the box away from her.

“Come on, just open it,” he said, pushing it back to her. Between her and Apple Bloom’s gifts, the table was getting a little crowded. At least, Scootaloo’s gift didn’t need to be on the table (and something told me we’d have a hard time getting her off it).

“Alright,” she said, daintily peeling away the wrapping, careful not to rip it. “If you’re sure, I’d be happy to–” She stopped and gave a quick squeal. A second later, her forelegs were wrapped tightly around Socket’s neck, and I felt a little pang of irritation in my stomach. What the hay? She was just going to hug Socket because he got her a really nice gift? That was… she was dating me.

I looked over to her gift box just to see what was so great about it, and… Okay, he got her a portable lightweight piano. That was a pretty great gift. I mean, if he got me a gift that sweet, I’d at least give him a kiss on the cheek. “This is… thank you so much,” Melody said.

“Heh, no worries,” Socket said as the hug ended. “Just figured you could probably use it. And… I wanted to add a bunch of other settings and stuff to it, but I couldn’t figure it out in time. Hopefully, you’re okay with it just making piano noises.”

“That’s all I wanted,” Melody said, trotting back to her spot on the table and turning it on. She pressed a few keys (how could she play with hooves, exactly? It seems… weird), and nodded her head. “Thank you, Socket.”

“No worries,” he said, pulling the second to last box in the wagon out and hefting it over to Diamond Tiara. “Uhmm… I didn’t really know what you needed, but I thought…” Tiara opened the packaging and looked at the big square thing inside. “It’s… It’s supposed to turn coal into diamonds.” He scratched his head. “Maybe… I thought you’d like it because it turns something bad into something good, and… you know, ‘diamond’ is in your name, so I just figured… Hope you like it.”

“It’s wonderful,” Tiara said, giving him a small smile that Socket quickly returned. “It’s… thank you for the thoughtful gift.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, looking back to the last box in the wagon. “LB, your gift is pretty heavy, so… I wouldn’t take it off the wagon until you get back to your room… Or maybe find a more open space for it.”

“A task that would be made easier if you told me just what was in the box,” Life Bloom said, tapping her glasses and looking at her gift. Did he not get me anything? What the hay? I deserved a gift just as much as the rest of my friends did. Did he just not like me for some reason?

“It’s a graphite furnace. It’s used for… you know, you can use it to better figure out the chemical composition of various–”

“I know what a graphite furnace is,” she said. “And I’m amazed you could make one by yourself.” She sighed and looked at his cutie mark. “But then, considering that you can make an almost-functional mana engine, I shouldn’t be too terribly shocked.” She smiled at him. “I promise to make the most of this gift… Apple Bloom, perhaps we could combine our gifts to work on recreating Sweetie’s intelligence potion.” Life Bloom lowered her voice. “The barn at the usual time?”

“Sounds great,” Apple Bloom said, trying to fit her gift in her saddlebag. She flashed a tiny smile to Life Bloom. “I’ll brew the potions, you’ll brew the coffee?”

“Of course,” Life Bloom said. “We leave tomorrow for our vacation, so I feel it’s absolutely imperative we get as much work done as we can before then.”

I rolled my eyes, feeling something snippy and sharp in them. “Like it matters that much,” I said. “The two of you will get to spend all break together making potions anyways. But no, please remind me of how much fun you’re going to be having while I’m at home grounded.”

“Well, you wouldn’t be grounded if you hadn’t gone around throwing secret parties. You brought this down on yourself,” Apple Bloom said, her smile twisting into a glare.

“And you’re just upset that I didn’t invite you,” I fired back. How could she just sit there and judge me like that? “Well, whenever you and Life Bloom have your own kissing parties, which I’m guessing is what you two will actually be doing in the barn tonight, you don’t have to invite me.” The look on her face as I pulled out her secret for everypony to see, it made me feel… Well, I felt happy, but not my usual happy. Still, happy was happy, right? Besides, she deserved it.

“You two… you’re dating?” Socket stammered. Oh. Right. That’s why they were keeping the thing secret in the first place. Something panged inside me. Something that definitely wasn’t happy. There was… I just… I couldn’t be part of this, if I was, then I’d stop being happy, so I just got to my hooves and twirled away dramatically, leaving them behind to deal with… whatever. As I walked away, I never stopped smiling.

***

“Sweetie Belle!” a voice behind me called as the last bell of the semester rang. Apple Bloom hadn’t wanted to talk to me during Equestrian, and… I guess Scootaloo had sided with her since we didn’t really say much in math class, either. Luckily, we had our test in science today, so I didn’t have the chance to be ignored by them there. As soon as the bell rang, I was out the door and wasn’t looking back. I couldn’t.

“Sweetie Belle,” another voice said, this one much closer to me and far less friendly. Dazzler appeared beside me.

“Oh, hey,” I said, trying to make the cheer in my voice sound especially insincere. “Have you come to cause any more fights with my friends, or–”

“I came to apologize,” Dazzler said, her voice as flat as ever as we walked to the school’s exit. “Perhaps I have been a bit rude, and I’d like the chance to sincerely make amends. Name your price, and it’s yours.”

“Why?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Something told me she hadn’t just changed her mind on me for no reason. Unless… Oh! She was the understudy for Green Hooves. “You just want my part,” I said, glaring at her.

Now that I had something she wanted, she was going to play all nice with me. “That’s how it works, isn’t it? You go up to Sweetie, act friendly, and she gives you whatever you want. Sweetie’s always such a…” I ground my teeth. I had tried being friends with her, I really had, but she’d just… and now she… “Well guess what? It’s not going to happen, I… You get me and my friends into a huge fight, and now you think that just because you can say a few nice words and act sincere that I’ll give you anything you want?”

I wanted to stop… This anger wasn’t me, it wasn’t nice, it wasn’t happy, but… yelling at her, it made me feel so good, and that’s really all I wanted. Besides, if she didn’t care about me, why should I care about her?

Dazzler tried to say something, but I wasn’t about to let her get a word in. “Well… I’m not that filly anymore. I’m not...” I was though, wasn’t I? I needed to be her so my friends wouldn’t leave me, but I… My head hurt. “Just… you know, I liked you better back when you were honest enough to just say you hated me.”

“I just disliked you before,” Dazzler said, glaring at me. “but whenever I try to give you the benefit of the doubt, you always make me regret it.”

“Good,” I said. She was just jealous that I was a better actor than her. I just… Why did she have to hate me so much? If she’d given me the chance, I would’ve been friends with her. Instead…

“I can make her hate you,” I whispered, the words sounding like knives. It was mean, but… seeing that hurt in her eyes felt so good. Is this why ponies were mean to each other? Because of how good it felt? It felt good, but at the same time, I really wanted to just… vomit. This wasn’t me? Right?

Then why did I say it?

Dazzler didn’t say a word as I marched away, but the look in her eyes followed me all the way home.

13. Snowblind

I squirmed and stared up at the ceiling, but the only thing I saw was the look of pain on Dazzler’s face. It was so… I liked it. I liked hurting her back after she was so terrible to me. She deserved it. She did. But… Good ponies didn’t like hurting ponies. I was a good pony. But I liked hurting Dazzler. But good ponies didn’t like hurting ponies. My head was filled with knives that cut at every thought.

I am a good pony. I smiled and repeated the thought to myself. I am a good pony. I am a good pony. I am a good pony. I am… I kept repeating the thought to myself. Happy Silly Filly Sweetie was a good pony, that’s why everypony liked her. If she wasn’t, then ponies wouldn’t like her. But what if she liked hurting other ponies?

The two thoughts couldn’t line up, no matter how hard I tried to force them. Happy Silly Filly Sweetie is a good pony, and I have to be Happy Silly Filly Sweetie, but I liked hurting Dazzler… and Apple Bloom. I was a bad pony.

I couldn’t just not be bad though, I liked hurting her. I wanted to do it again. To punish her for not liking me. Maybe if I punished her enough for not liking me, she’d start liking me eventually? Maybe… I was being mean to her for her own good? That kind of made sense. I wasn’t a bad pony, I just did a bad thing to a pony to punish her for not liking me. It was really her own fault I was mean to her. Happy Silly Filly Sweetie was still a good pony, I just… happened to like doing mean things to ponies who deserved it.

… Like Apple Bloom deserved it. I shook my head. They all deserved it. If they were going to leave me, they deserved it. They couldn’t leave me, not after everything I’d done for them. I’d sacrificed so much for them to be happy, and if they didn’t care… They had to care. They were my friends.

“Sweetie Belle,” my sister said, knocking on my door. “May I come in?”

“Of course,” I said, a smile forming on my face as my sister magically opened the door. “What’s up, sis?” I rolled off of bed to greet her, a great big smile on my face.

“Well, you seem awfully chipper for being grounded,” she said, frowning and taking a seat next to my bed.

My smile faltered for a second. “Well… why wouldn’t I be chipper? That’s a good thing, right?”

“You know, Sweetie, the whole point of being grounded is to punish you. If you’re just going to smile and act like everything’s fine, I might have to rethink my punishment.” That totally wasn’t fair. She was… I’d already been punished and the only reason I was so happy was because that’s what she wanted me to be. She was going to punish me for that? I groaned.

“That’s a bit more what I expected,” Rarity said, smiling teasingly. “Now, Sweetie, since you’ve been such a good filly these past few days, I thought you’d appreciate coming down so we could celebrate the holidays together.”

It was already Hearth’s Warming? But I’d only been in my room for… “What happened to the Winter Moon Celebration?”

“We had it, it was lovely. Miss Octavia and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the orchestra’s concert,” Rarity said. “And I told you all this several days ago. Should we take you to the doctor’s?”

That… did ring a few bells. I think maybe I was arguing with myself or fantasizing about being Happy Silly Filly Sweetie with my marefriends. Thankfully, I hadn’t spent too much time arguing with myself about what to do with Dazzler over the last few days. I just had to bury those thoughts like I did with all the other bad thoughts and I’d be fine. Why couldn’t I bury them so easily? Why did they keep rising back up?

I shook my head. Couldn’t think about it. Had to think about something else. Had to think about Rarity instead. “No, I’m fine,” I said, realizing I’d spent far too long thinking after she’d asked her question.

Rarity nodded. “Uh-huh. And if you do need help, I trust you’ll let me know?” She raised an eyebrow at that last part. What? Didn’t she trust me?

“Of course,” I said, smiling and giving her a tight hug. “I… I know I haven’t been the most fun filly in the world lately, but I’m really sorry for lying to you.”

“You know,” Rarity said, a frown creasing her lips. “You’ve apologized to me every time we’ve spoken; I’m starting to suspect your sincerity.”

“What? Why?” I asked, pulling away from her, my smile breaking for a second. I’d been super nice to her lately, and now she was… Was I not good enough?

She smiled and patted my back. “I’ve spent enough time dealing with the Canterlot nobility to recognize a false mask when I see it, and the mask you’ve been wearing makes for a rather twisted mockery of your real face.”

No it isn’t. No, my real face, it’s… not a smiley-happy face. It’s not a face Silly Filly Sweetie should wear. It’s not… “I just want to be happy!” I yelled, surprising the both of us.

Rarity sighed and stroked my mane. “We all want to be happy, Sweetie. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem arises when you mutilate yourself in your pursuit and consider your own happiness to be the greatest possible pursuit.”

“I don’t… I don’t do that,” I mumbled, staring at the floor. I didn’t. My happiness wasn’t my greatest pursuit, it was just… Okay, I loved being happy, and it was so great not to care about anything, but it was so hard to get there. At least, it was without alcohol. I needed a drink, that was why I was feeling so weird.

“Sweetie, it’s obvious to everypony you haven’t been yourself the past few weeks, and this obsession with happiness… Something tells me that’s at the root of the problem.” Did she just say she didn’t want me to be happy? Was that? Why wouldn’t she want me to be happy? I wanted her to be happy. I loved her, and if she… if she didn’t care about me. The knives in my stomach bloomed and launched out of my mouth.

“And why don’t you want me to be happy?” I asked, pulling away and glaring at her. “I thought you were a good big sister.”

Rarity just took a deep breath. “I do want you to be happy, Sweetie, but tell me, have you been much happier these last few weeks than you were before?”

I frowned. That… I was happy. I was always happy. If I wasn’t, I wasn’t Sweetie. But – an ember of anger ignited in my stomach – I was twisting myself into everything my friends wanted me to be, and did they even care? No! They were mad at me for being what they wanted me to be. I love them, and they don’t even care.

Only one solution, I had to be even Sweetie-er.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, making sure not to break my smile as I hugged her. “I’ve just… I’ve been getting so angry lately, and I can’t really control it. It just bursts out of me and then I feel terrible, and… Please forgive me?”

“Of course,” Rarity said, patting me on the back. “We were all teenagers at some point, and I’m sure every mare living has a list of things she regrets about her youth. Hormones drive us all crazy at your age.”

“Really?” I asked, looking up at her. “Tell me what you did?”

There was a pause as Rarity looked from me to the door several times. “If I tell you, can you promise it will never leave this room?”

I nodded my head. She was my big sister, I wasn’t about to reveal her secrets to anypony. Unless she betrayed me… or unless I could get something fun for it.

“When I was your age…” Rarity sighed and shook her head. “This isn’t a particularly pleasant topic for me to dwell on, but I believe the roots of our teenage vices lie deep in our family tree, do you understand?” I nodded at her. I didn’t actually understand, but I didn’t want to look like an idiot. I didn’t want her to laugh at me.

“Good, now then, when I was your age, I suppose I underwent a blossoming similar to the one you’re undergoing now. I had always dreamed of being popular, but then one day, I found I’d caught the eye of almost every colt in the school, and a large percentage of the mares. Their attention, their adoration, it was unlike anything I’d experienced up until that point, and I soon surrounded myself with a swarm of eager suitors.” She stopped and looked directly at me, her ice blue eyes pricking something inside me.

“Don’t confuse affection with friendship, or adoration with love. Affection and adoration might offer a quick rush of ecstasy, but they fade all too quickly. Only love and friendship can sustain a soul, Sweetie.”

“So… what did you do?” I asked, looking up at my sister, eyes wide. She promised me fun stories, not boring morality stuff. Besides, if you got enough adoration and affection, then the rush would never fade, right? Also… I already had love and friendship. I loved my friends so much, I was willing to be exactly who they wanted me to be. It would be nice if they loved me enough to appreciate that, though.

Rarity tsked. “Do I really have to spell such a thing out for you, Sweetie? I… I suppose the polite way of saying it would be that I ‘slept around.’ I wasn’t a herder, like you are, I just had a rapid succession of dates, and as soon as the rush of falling in love wore off, I replaced my current suitor with a new paramour.”

Right, sex stuff. I hadn’t done that yet, but… why hadn’t I? It sounded fun, and if Rarity really liked it, why wouldn’t I? I had the three most gorgeous mares in Equestria, so… why didn’t I do it? Maybe it would become one of my new favorite things, like kissing or those fantasy sessions I’d spent the last few days imagining. Ooh! Or drinking. How could I forget drinking? I imagined having my three marefriends over at Diamond Tiara’s, getting out the alcohol, and then, Melody’s lips were pressed against my...

My sister’s disapproving cough brought me back to the real world. Right, she was here, so no fantasizing or feeling so flushed. That wasn’t something Happy Silly Filly Sweetie would do. “So… was it fun?” I asked, making sure my smile was flipped on.

“Yes, it wa–” My sister stammered and her cheeks went red. So sex stuff was apparently embarrasingly fun. Fun enough she didn’t even want to mention to me how fun it was. “That’s not the point,” she said, regaining her composure. “My point is that such choices ultimately led to a profound feeling of emptiness, and eventually, I realized that the mare I saw in the mirrors wasn’t the pony I wanted to be.”

“So… you stopped doing it when it stopped being fun?” I asked, tilting my head and listening to her like she’d just revealed the big secret of the universe.

She shook her head. “No, Sweetie, I stopped when I realized I wanted more from life than empty meaningless pleasure. I stopped when I realized that despite all my ‘companions’ I was as lonely as I ever was…” She trailed off and looked out the window, a tear forming in her eyes. Why did she have to cry? That wasn’t happy. Crying wasn’t something Happy Silly Filly Sweetie would do.

But I used to, a small pathetic voice whispered from somewhere. Why did my chest suddenly hurt so much? Smile harder.

“Sweetie, are you alright?” my sister asked, turning from the window to me. “That smile… It looks absolutely ghastly, like it’s trying to split your face in two.”

“Nope! Absolutely fine,” I said, modifying the smile to make it fit better. Smaller, but just as bright and cheerful as the light on top of the Equestria State Building. Being happy all the time was hard work.

She sighed and got up on her hooves. “Just be warned, Sweetie, this fleeting fun of yours can leave behind something that will be with you for the rest of your days. As you have been so keen to remind me, you’re an adult now, and that means some mistakes can follow you around forever.”

“Like what?” I asked, feeling a panic grip my heart.

“Guilt, shame, a reputation that you’ll never be able to shake... the feeling that, no matter what, you’ll never be clean or good again... I can go on, but…” she looked at me and saw the fear buried behind my smile. “Something tells me, I finally gave you something to think about.”

Before I could say anything, she’d trotted out of my room and shut the door, leaving me alone. I replayed her words in my head, trying to figure out what she’d done wrong. She had to have done something wrong. If she hadn’t, why would she ever have traded in a lot of fun for a little fun? Maybe… she didn’t have enough fun? She mentioned feeling empty, so maybe it was like that dip in the hills that becomes a pond whenever it rains. It dries out if it doesn’t rain in a while, but as long as it’s raining, it’s fine.

As long as I could keep it raining, I’d be fine. I was going to be absolutely fine. Satisfied with myself, I flopped back on my bed and stared at the ceiling, imagining my next meeting with my marefriends as my whole body got kind of warm and flushed. It was definitely nicer to fantasize about than– It was nice to fantasize about.

***

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Sweetie,” Rarity said as I quickly threw my blanket over myself. She couldn’t just barge in here without knocking, even if it was…

“It’s Hearth’s Warming?” I squeaked, bouncing out of bed as a wave of giddiness washed over me. That meant it was time for the big Hearth’s Warming Pageant in town square (not to be confused with the Hearth’s Warming Eve play that played last night). Oh, and presents. Lots and lots and lots of presents. “Did Santa Hooves get me anything?”

Rarity smiled at me. “Well, when he told me what a good filly you’d been these past few weeks, I decided that… perhaps I could end your punishment a few days early.” Her smile vanished for a second. “Please don’t make me regret my generosity.”

“I won’t,” I said, bouncing up and down in front of her. “I’ll be the best filly ever, I promise. Nopony will be able to say anything bad about me.” Unless they knew I secretly really enjoyed hurting other ponies’ feelings, but I couldn’t think about that. Happy Silly Filly Sweetie wouldn’t do that.

But what if I don’t want to be her?

“Now then,” Rarity said, patting my head and turning to the door. “Shall we see what Santa Hooves left you?”

***

There weren’t any toys or boxes under the tree, instead, there was just an envelope with my name on it. “From Mother and Father,” Rarity said as I floated the envelope towards me.

“That’s it?” I asked, magically opening the envelope. “Like… there’s nothing else?” I only got one single gift? Two, I guess, if you count getting ungrounded early, but still…

“The greatest gifts in life are intangible, Sweetie. We might not be able to see them under a tree, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t just as–” She was cut off by my screaming.

“No way,” I said, waving the ticket around after my screaming finally finished. “An all I can eat pass to Sugarcube Corner. I can have… I can have all the shakes I want for a whole year.”

“And you so desperately need that,” Rarity said, sighing and rolling her eyes. “Try not to use it more than once a week.”

Like that was going to happen. “Sure thing, big sister,” I said, nodding my head at her. Could she just let me be me? Maybe just let me go one day without… I swallowed a growl.

“So…” I said, trying not to frown at my one gift. “Are we going to the big pageant today or…” I loved the Hearth’s Warming Pageant. In one of the coldest darkest days of the year, everypony got together to nurture what warmth we had left. Plus, there was usually a really nice singer to lead us all in the carols.

Rarity smiled at me and trotted towards the door, putting her saddle and scarf on. “I’d never take that from you, Sweetie.”

“Alright,” I said, staring at her. “That’s… We don’t have to leave right now, do we? We’ve still got a few hours left until it starts.” Plus, it was kind of cold out. Definitely not the type of weather I’d want to spend three hours waiting in.

“I’m afraid I must insist,” Rarity said, sighing dramatically. “I promised Pinkie and Twilight I’d help with the set-up, and… the poor dear does need somepony to make sure the decor doesn’t clash.”

“Well…” That was a pretty good point. The Pageant would be about a million times better if Rarity did the decorating, but… “Since I’m not grounded anymore, do you think maybe I can just stay here until later? You know, maybe you and Applejack could–”

“First, Applejack isn’t here right now, you know that. Second, we haven’t quite reached the point where I feel comfortable leaving you alone in the house for several hours.” Rarity floated a scarf and saddle vest out of the closet. “Now, hurry up, I don’t want to be late.”

“Fine,” I said, slipping into my saddle and wrapping the scarf around my neck. “It’s just… It’s my first day being ungrounded, and I don’t want to spend it all just watching you decorate stuff.”

Rarity laughed and opened the door. “Try to look on the bright side, Sweetie, maybe you’ll make a new friend out there. Besides, I thought you liked going out.”

Ugh, she was right, Happy Silly Filly Sweetie loved going out and meeting new people, but I just wanted to sit at home and dream. That wasn’t good enough, though. I had to be Happy Silly Filly Sweetie at all times. If I wasn’t… If I wasn’t, my friends would leave me, and I’d be all alone.

But they’re leaving anyways.

“You’re right,” I said, laughing and smiling at Rarity. “But you know… it’s so cold out, I didn’t want to turn into a giant Sweetie-cicle.”

“And that’s why you’re bundling up,” Rarity said, pulling out a pair of earmuffs. “I promise there won’t be a Sweetie-cicle on my watch.” She put a saddlebag on and packed up a couple of blankets. “If you get too cold, let me know, and I’ll give you one of the blankets, just… try not to get them dirty, alright, Sweetie?”

“Sure thing, Rarity,” I said, still smiling – always smiling – at her. Of course, letting it get in snow didn’t count as getting it dirty. Snow was water, you used water to clean things, so if I were to… drop one of the blankets into the snow, I was really just cleaning it, so she definitely shouldn’t get mad at me if that happened.

We walked out of the Boutique, and Rarity made sure to lock the door behind her. I don’t get why, since there wasn’t any crime in Ponyville, and… I don’t know, it just seemed silly, why bother locking the door? Oh well, Rarity did a bunch of weird things. Not that that was bad, she just… I couldn’t understand her sometimes.

“So,” I said, trotting to keep pace with her. “Is there anything I can do, or am I just going to be sitting out in the cold until the party starts?”

Rarity smiled cryptically. “I’m sure you’ll find some way to amuse yourself, Sweetie. If not, I’ll just find a job for you. Maybe you can haul away the empty crates.”

“Very funny,” I said as we made our way through Ponyville’s streets. “You are joking, right?” She had to be, I wasn’t cut out for carrying stuff. I had a hard time running for more than a minute, I definitely couldn’t carry big heavy empty crates. Or… were empty crates that heavy?

“A little,” she said. We turned to Ponyville’s main pavillion, where a stage had been set up for whoever this year’s singer was.

The second we reached the pavillion in front of Twilight’s castle, a pink blur raced from the stage to right in front of me. “Great, you’re here. You know all the songs you’re supposed to sing, right?” Pinkie asked, staring down at me. “All of Hearth’s Warming depends on you leading us in good cheer. If you get it wrong… If you get it wrong, we might as well just cancel the whole thing.”

Meep.

“Ah… haha, Pinkie, I was hoping to tell Sweetie she would be the singer for this afternoon’s festivities myself, but… since the cat’s out of the bag, happy Hearth’s Warming, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, stepping between Pinkie and me.

What– I was going to– Me lead Hearth’s Warming pageant? That was– That was– “You’re the best big sister ever,” I said, throwing my hooves around Rarity. “I’m… this is just, the best gift.”

Rarity smiled at me. “I’m glad you appreciate it. I was worried this new Sweetie Belle didn’t possess her old love of Hearth’s Warming carols.” And then she had to ruin it. What did she mean by new me? Happy Silly Filly Sweetie was still Happy Silly Filly Sweetie. She wasn’t any different.

But you’re different.

I shook my head as something buzzed in my ear. Nothing had changed. Silly Filly Sweetie couldn’t change unless she wanted to be abandoned by all her friends. She had to stay exactly the same. It was the only way. Even if my friends couldn’t appreciate that. “Nope,” I said, looking up at my sister. “I’m still the same old Sweetie.”

“Sweetie, we’re never the same pony we were,” Rarity said. What was that supposed to mean? She was still Rarity, Sweetie was still Sweetie, I was still me. I shook my head. I was still Sweetie. I couldn’t change.

“Right,” I said, laughing and pretending I knew what she was talking about before looking past her to Pinkie. “So… I guess you want me to rehearse the songs a few times before the show? Just to make sure I don’t miss any words?”

“That’s amazing,” Pinkie said, jumping over Rarity and landing right in front of me, her eyes wide. “How did you know? Are you psychic? What am I thinking about right now?”

“Uhh… parties? I guess?” I said before Pinkie suddenly burst into a fit of laughter.

“Oh, that was an easy one. What’s Rarity thinking about right now?”

I looked at Rarity and got as close to a frown as I dared, which was really about a half-smile. “That I’m not psychic.”

Rarity just raised an eyebrow. “This conversation is patently absurd, and I’m afraid I have to get to work on the decorations. If the two of you wish to keep playing silly guessing games, I won’t stop you, although I’d hope Sweetie spends a little time rehearsing before the pageant. I pulled no small number of strings for this.”

“Really?” I asked, taking a step towards the stage. Her gift was definitely great and all, but my gut told me that getting me to sing for the Hearth’s Warming pageant wasn’t that hard, especially since my sister had saved the town (and the world) at least a couple of times. Really, she probably could have gotten me to sing for Canterlot if she really wanted to.

If she really cared.

The buzzing I ignored came back. Of course, she cared. She did, even if she didn’t get me a show at Canterlot and instead stuck me to sing in Ponyville. But Ponyville was a growing town, it wasn’t that bad. I mean… I lived here, it was fine, just not Canterlot or Manehattan.

I shook my head. What was wrong with me? Her gift was fine. It was great. Definitely great, not fine, so why was I complaining? Silly Filly Sweetie wouldn’t complain.

“Did you hear me, Sweetie?” Rarity asked.

“Of course,” I said, nodding my head and looking to the stage. “I should probably get practicing though, don’t you think? Don’t want to mess up the pageant, right?”

Rarity called after me. “But Sweetie, what about the–” I didn’t hear the rest as I trotted to the stage and started rehearsing.

***

The world revolved around me on stage like the hub of a wheel, everypony’s attention bent towards me. I sang, they followed along, and for the first time in I’m not sure how long, I felt… Well, I don’t want to say happy because then that would mean I wasn’t happy normally, but it was an easy happiness, the kind of happy I didn’t have to try to be. Up on stage, there wasn’t any Happy Silly Filly Sweetie, there was just me.

For an hour, I got to be me. I mean, I was always me, but… for an hour, I felt peaceful. I think that’s the right word. The bits of me that ground against each other calmed down, and when the concert ended, I hummed the Hearth’s Warming carols to myself as I trotted off stage. Maybe I had been a bit… not so great the past few days. Not bad, but maybe… maybe–

“Well done,” Bright Lights said, stepping out of the shadows behind the makeshift stage. “I knew there was a reason I picked you as lead for the musical.”

“Because I’m such a great singer?” I asked, smiling and tilting my head at her. It was a slow easy smile and the complete opposite of the smile I’d spent the past few weeks wearing. It felt better than that other smile.

“Of course,” she said, returning my smile and managing to hide daggers in it somehow. “That and your enormous capacity for deception… and when need arises, cruelty.” That didn’t sound sweet? Wasn’t she supposed to be sweet and kind?

I laughed, my smile suddenly becoming a lot harder to keep up. “I’m… I don’t have any capacity for deception, and I’m definitely not kind.”

“Cruel,” Bright Lights said, her sharp smile growing. “I think you meant cruel.”

My face twisted into the Silly Filly Sweetie mask. It wasn’t a mask, it was me, but… sometimes I had to make extra sure I was Happy Silly Filly Sweetie. “Silly me,” I said, laughing, “you know how I can be sometimes.”

Her stare didn’t lessen. “I know how hard you struggle to keep that face up.” She trotted towards me and kissed my neck. “I see the occasional slips, the pain and anger of knowing you’ll always be that… caricature to your friends. I see how desperately you delude yourself, how you struggle to convince yourself that you’re nothing more than a silly foal. You know, it’s a tragedy of the highest calibre to waste such potential.”

I shivered, feeling the heat of her breath on my neck. She was– I wanted to– No! I was Silly Filly Sweetie, I had to be, otherwise my friends would leave me. Even if– A flare of anger launched up inside me. I couldn’t think about that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, still smiling at her.

“You don’t have to play dumb around me, Sweetie, I don’t love the smiling filly mask you wear, I love the beautiful twisted shard of shattered mirror underneath. Never try to hide yourself from me, and I’ll love you forever,” she said, before pressing her lips against mine. They were… They weren’t just warm, they were burning. Kissing Bright Lights was like kissing a fire that leapt inside my throat and heated my whole body up. By the time the kiss ended, I felt flushed all over.

“What did you…” I struggled to get words to work right. “I’m not a broken mirror,” I finally managed to get out.

“Oh?” she asked, trying not to roll her eyes. “Well, I think the descriptor matches you perfectly, and I’m sure if you think it over, you’ll come to agree with me in time.” She gave me a smile and another one of her burning kisses. I swear she gave me a fever with that kiss. “I’ll even give you the time to think on the answer, as I really have to do some planning for the production. Until next time.” She smiled at me and I leaned in for a kiss that never came.

***

The rest of the party passed like a series of pictures, completely removed from context, as I tried to think about Bright Lights’ riddle. How was I like a broken mirror? One minute, I was dancing with Rarity, the next, I was roasting marshmallows, and all I could think about was how I was like a broken mirror.

Well, she said I was beautiful, I thought, dancing in a conga line led by Pinkie. So it’s probably not a complete insult. Maybe. She also said I was twisted, and that word definitely didn’t seem as nice. Discord was twisted.

But he was still my friend. How did I get to sledding down a hill? Luckily, Rarity was steering it, otherwise, we probably would have crashed into a tree or something while I was thinking. She said something as we reached the base of the hill, but I didn’t really hear it.

Was I twisted then? Happy Silly Filly Sweetie wasn’t, but… was I her? I had to be her. If I wasn’t my friends would leave me. But Bright Lights wouldn’t. The fever she’d given me continued to burn through my thoughts and made the whole world around me melt. How was I like a broken mirror?

“Sweetie Belle, I’m really worried about you,” Rarity said. Was she complaining again? Things were fine, I was fine, like a piece of broken mirror. Was that fine? Anyways, she shouldn’t be bugging me about stuff.

“What’s there to worry about?” I asked, looking around at the Boutique. We were back here. Huh, when did that happen?

“It’s been impossible to get more than two words out of you since you performed on stage today, and your response to most prompts has been a rather flat ‘it’s fine.’ You even said eating broccoli for dinner was fine,” Rarity said. Had I really said broccoli was fine? That didn’t sound like me, but… I kind of recalled us talking about dinner and her mentioning broccoli.

“Maybe I’ve been a teensy bit distracted,” I said, using a forehoof to show it was just a smidge of distraction.

“And just what has been distracting you to the point of agreeing to eat broccoli?” my sister asked. How was I like a piece of broken mirror?

“Uhmm… I’ve just been so upset about you leaving me tomorrow,” I said, trying to think of a better answer. “I know you and Miss Octavia are close, but… what if I don’t get along with her? She’s a nice teacher, but not super fun.”

“I suppose her interests and yours don’t overlap much, but you both enjoy music, perhaps you could sing accompaniment while she plays on the cello like you did at your cuteceañara. That was fun, right?” she asked, her worries about me forgotten for the moment.

“I guess,” I mumbled. How was I like a shard of shattered mirror? “I’m probably just being silly. Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sweetie, I’m leaving for my trip tomorrow, don’t you want to… if you want to spend time with me before I leave, I’d be amenable to most requests,” Rarity said, eyes wide with shock and concern.

“Sure,” I said, shrugging. “What do you want to do?”

“It’s not about what I want to do, Sweetie. I’d planned for this to be your day. A chance for us to bond,” Rarity said, concern in her eyes.

“We don’t have to do anything,” I said, Bright Lights’s fever crushing my thoughts under its fog. “I don’t… Us doing stuff together doesn’t change our relationship, right? We’re still going to be sisters, no matter what.” And the stuff we do together can’t be as fun as the stuff I can do with my marefriends. Besides, I needed to think and I couldn’t do that with her around.

“Sweetie, you’re crying.”

Huh? My eyes were wet, I guess, but that didn’t mean– “No, I’m not,” I said, rolling my eyes. I was smiling, how could I be crying?

Rarity sighed and hardened her eyes. “This has gone on long enough, Sweetie. I’ve been patient, I’ve held my tongue and hoped you’d tell me what’s bothering you without my prodding, and I’ve hoped your behavior could just be chalked up as another case of teenage moodiness, but it’s very clear something’s hurting you, and I demand you tell me what it is. I can’t see you like this.”

“Then don’t look at me,” I said, my words cutting a gash into her. The jagged edge of a broken mirror scraping across flesh. Of course, she was just like everypony else. She didn’t care about me, she just wanted me to wear the Happy Silly Filly Sweetie mask all the time. Did that make Bright Lights right? Did I just pretend to be me for my friends? If I did, then why were they my friends in the first place? Bright Lights would love me no matter what I did. My legs buckled and I suddenly felt like I was about to vomit. “I… I need to lay down,” I said, staggering to the stairs and up to my room.

***

“Sweetie, can we please talk?” Rarity said from the other side of my door. I opened my mouth half way to say something, but closed it a second later. She didn’t want to hear anything from me that wasn’t Happy Silly Filly Sweetie, and I… I couldn’t be her right now. I just wanted to be me and happy and what was so bad about that?

But what if I’m a bad pony? There it was again, that question I really didn’t want to think about. There were so many other funner questions to ask, like how many ponies could I kiss in a night? That was a fun question, and why was it so hard to have a good time? A good time all the time, that’s all I wanted.

Or was that what other Sweetie wants? I frowned. No, I loved fun. That’s the one thing I knew. Fun was the best. Okay, so the real me likes fun, but so does Happy Silly Filly Sweetie. What did she want that I didn’t? Why did I even need her? So my friends didn’t leave me? Well, Bright Lights promised she wouldn’t leave me as long as I stayed me, so…

But that was silly, I already knew the rest of my friends didn’t want me to be me. They just wanted me to be what they wanted. Diamond Tiara and Melody had already told me as much. They– Why couldn’t they just love me? If Rarity wasn’t outside my door begging me to talk to her, I might have… An idea entered my head, and I unlocked my door.

“Alright,” I said, as Rarity pushed her way into my room. “We can talk, and I know what I want to do for my last night with you: Drink.”

***

It took a lot of convincing, but Rarity eventually gave in. Given the choice between letting me drink and hearing what was bothering me, or not letting me drink and not hearing what was bothering me, she chose the former. Half a glass of wine later, and my story was spilling out. I told her how I knew my friends secretly hated me. How they forced me to be the pony they wanted me to be. I didn’t tell her about Bright Lights, though; something told me she wouldn’t really understand. Like she’d understand anyways.

“Are… are you sure that’s how everything happened?” Rarity asked as I finished my story. “Scootaloo and Apple Bloom– I have a hard time believing that they’d secretly despise you.”

“Well, it’s true,” I said, taking another sip of my wine. Why did she have to keep the bottle so close to her, and why did the wine taste kind of weird? I mean, I guess it tasted okay, but it definitely didn’t taste like the stuff I’d had at Tiara’s. Maybe it was some weird kind of wine for ponies that didn’t like the taste of wine? Still, a little drink was better than no drink, and the alcohol loosened the ropes that had me all tied up the last few days. Hmm… Maybe I could see about tying Melody or Tiara up, that could be fun. Would that be fun? If done right, it sounds like it could be fun.

Rarity tapped her chin in thought. “While I believe you’re telling me what you think happened, I also feel the need to do some… independent verification, I suppose. Perhaps all this was just some silly miscommunication.”

Uh-huh. It sounded like she didn’t believe me. Why would I lie to her? I wanted my friends to like me, after all. If anything, I’d delude myself into thinking they liked me. But I couldn’t. I knew how they felt about me, saw how Melody and Tiara laughed when I tried to hint that there might be even a little bit more to me than just Happy Silly Filly Sweetie, and Apple Bloom was leaving because I’d lied to her like she’d lied to me, because it’s apparently okay for everypony but Sweetie to lie. Well, maybe Sweetie’s getting tired of all the special rules. Maybe she wants to be bad just like everypony else.

“Sure thing,” I said, smiling at my sister. If she wanted me to pretend for my glass of wine, I’d pretend. I’d do… a lot of things for a glass of wine, actually. Besides, maybe Rarity actually kind of cared a little about of me, instead of pretending just like everypony else. We don’t know that, Sweetie, they could still like us, maybe we should give them a chance.

Yeah, maybe… Maybe– But Bright Lights could accept me without wearing a mask, so why couldn’t my friends do the same? I mean, she’d only known me for a few days, and Apple Bloom had known me for years, so if any of them were going to accept me for me, it would’ve been Apple Bloom.

The fire Bright Lights had given me flared up, burning hotter and brighter. But she didn’t! She left me, just like… Just like they did. “Thanks for the wine,” I said, remembering that I was sitting across from my sister.

Rarity sighed and took a drink of her wine. “Unfortunately, our talk did little to ease my mind. Sweetie, if you want me to stay, say the word, and I’ll cancel my trip with Applejack. I’m sure she’ll understand, and if not…” She shrugged. “We’ve had our disagreements before.”

“I’m fine,” I said, keeping my smile trained on her. I didn’t want to ruin Rarity’s vacation. Even if she didn’t care about me. Plus, I’d get some time away from her.“I just– I think I could use a little change of scenery. You know, get out of the house, spend some time with Miss Octavia and Miss Scratch.”

Rarity nodded in thought. “That sounds reasonable, I suppose, although Miss Octavia and Miss Scratch will be under strict orders to keep an eye on you.”

“Alright,” I said, shrinking my smile just a little bit. Just enough to show I was disappointed while still smiling. Making sure I didn’t give her any reason to reground me. I had to be good until she was gone. Had to be good until I could talk to Bright Lights.

***

Rarity and I trotted down the streets of Ponyville, my saddlebags threatening to burst. Why did she make me carry everything? She always made me carry everything, and I’d never complained, but it would be nice if maybe she could help me for once.

“Now, I expect you to be on your best behavior while I’m gone, Sweetie. No…” She stopped and took a deep breath. “Be yourself, of course, but try to be the best possible version of yourself.” I guess that was kind of reasonable. I mean… I could still be me, she just wanted… wait, did that mean she didn’t think I was normally good? I’d spent my whole life being good, and now that I spent a few days thinking about what I wanted instead of what everypony else wanted, I was a bad pony? I was a great pony.

“Got it,” I said as she knocked on the door to Miss Octavia’s house. “Best me possible, should be pretty easy.” Just for emphasis, I gave her a big friendly smile. Friendlier than usual, I mean.

Rarity just sighed as we heard ponies shuffle around inside. “Of course, you will, Sweetie.”

Before I could say anything else, the door opened. “Oh, hey, Sweetie, Rares, what’s up?” Vinyl asked, gesturing for us to step inside. “Good work on your final, Sweetie, you aced it.”

“Everypony aced your final,” Miss Octavia said, coming down the stairs with a pile of pillows and blankets balanced on her back. “An ‘A’ in musical theory proved to be about as meaningful as an ‘A’ in acting. You know, it’s not the end of the world if you give a student a ‘B’ or, Celestia forbid, a ‘C.’”

Vinyl just rolled her eyes and floated the pillows and blankets to the sofa. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying, but I mean, all those kids worked hard, and I think they deserved the grade they got. You know, they’re all better musicians now than they were when they got here. Sweetie Belle even got her cutie mark.”

“And your class had very little to do with that.” Octavia rubbed her forehead and sighed. “Vinyl, I love you dearly, but you had a question asking ponies that are supposed to be musically gifted what a scale was.”

“But a lot of ponies really didn’t know that stuff,” I said, entering the conversation and feeling the need to defend my teacher. Well, one of my teachers.

“Yeah,” Vinyl said, floating the cushions off their sofa. “A lot of those kids were self-taught and didn’t know any of the actual theory when they got to class. Sound a little familiar to you?”

“Yes, Vinyl, it does,” Octavia said, turning from her fiancée to Rarity and me. “I apologize for our little disagreement, we are apparently of two minds when it comes to how challenging a course should be.”

“Tavi, it was an introductory class on musical theory. I wanted to spend a semester making sure everypony was on the same page before we got into the tough stuff,” Vinyl said, rolling her eyes and giving Miss Octavia a quick peck on the cheek before pulling the bed out of the couch.

“Oh, and I think you got a few too many pillows,” Vinyl said, shooting a glance at Miss Octavia. “I mean, these are like… all the pillows on our bed. I really don’t think she needs that many. Besides, that means there won’t be enough for us.”

“Yes, there will,” Octavia said, trotting to the couch bed and putting the sheets on with a practiced easy motion. “We’ll have as many pillows as we usually do.”

“Wait, you mean I’m going to have to sleep on the couch? But it has a bad spring on it that makes my back all achey,” Vinyl said, her eyes twinkling.

Miss Octavia just raised an eyebrow at Vinyl. “And that’s exactly why we’re taking the couch. It would hardly do to give our guest such uninviting accommodations.”

“Well,” Vinyl said, frowning in thought, “what if we had her share a room with–”

“I rather doubt that Moldeaux’s room is suitable for a filly, and we’re certainly not sticking her in the basement with Woodhoof unless you want to get rid of all that junk you’ve been storing down there.”

“It’s not junk,” Vinyl said, “it’s equipment. There’s a huge difference.” Even though she was complaining, she was smiling the whole time. Not like my smile though, it was different, lighter, maybe? I don’t know what the difference is exactly, but I think it was something in the eyes.

“Yes, well, do you want to wade through all your equipment and–”

My sister cleared her throat and the whole argument froze. “I do hope I’m not interrupting,” Rarity said, silencing Miss Octavia and Vinyl. “I just came to entrust my sister with two adults while I went on a vacation for a week. If they’re not around, I’ll just have to cancel my plans.”

Miss Octavia’s face went red and she took a step forward. “I apologize, Rarity, Vinyl and I have been… having a disagreement–”

“Bickering!” Vinyl said, popping up behind Miss Octavia and wrapping a foreleg around her. “That’s the word you like using, isn’t it?”

Octavia sighed and tried to bury a smile. Why would anypony ever try to do that? “Yes, but I’m also trying to reassure Rarity – to let her know her sister’s in good hooves – and the two of us bickering doesn’t project the proper image.”

Rarity opened her mouth to say something, but Vinyl talked over her. “Oh, come on, like she’s going to get mad at us for bickering a little.”

My sister’s face went red as one of Miss Octavia’s elbows jammed into Vinyl’s chest. “Octavia, can I speak with you privately for a minute?” Rarity asked, tilting her head towards their kitchen.

“Of course,” Miss Octavia said. “Vinyl…”

“Are you really going to ask me if I can look after a filly for a few minutes?” Vinyl asked, flopping down onto her bed. “After you entrusted me with a room full of kids for a semester?”

Miss Octavia just flashed Vinyl a tiny barely noticeable smile and trotted off to the kitchen, following after my sister. “So,” Vinyl said, “come on up. I mean…” She trailed off for a few seconds while I took off my saddlebags and took a seat on the couch-bed. “What’s up, Sweetie? How are things with you and Mels?”

“Alright,” I said, glancing back at my saddlebag to make sure it hadn’t collapsed and spilled out. “It stinks that she’s gone for the holidays, but I still have Bright Lights, so it’s not too bad. Still, why kiss one pony when you can kiss more?”

Vinyl blinked and stared at me for a few seconds. “I don’t know, but I’m pretty happy to have one pony to kiss. I’ve done the whole herding thing, and I can kind of get the appeal – I mean, making out with ten mares in one night is a pretty fun experience – but I’d trade all of DJ-P0N3’s conquests and adventures for a minute of Tavi and Vinyl.”

I stared at her, trying to figure out just what she said. “But… why? The DJ-P0N3 stuff sounds fun… Is this going to be one of those things where you start talking about how there’s more to life than fun?”

“Nope,” Vinyl said, laughing. “I mean, there’s totally more to life than just having fun, but if you don’t want to hear that song and dance again, well, I’ve been there before.”

“Really?” I asked, looking up at her from my spot at the foot of the couch-bed. “But… Why would you give that up? Miss Octavia doesn’t seem big on the having-all-the-fun-you-want front.”

Vinyl shook her head. “No, she can be pretty strict sometimes. Like… don’t ever get her started on impropriety. I mean, even after living with me for a year and some months, she’s still totally inflexible about that stuff. It’s cute, even if it does make her a bit – or a lot – fussy. What’s cool, though, is just how much she cares. The minute she knew you were coming over she started planning how to make this great for you because – well, first of all, she really likes you and Rarity – but also because she absolutely believes that that’s what a host should do. There aren’t many ponies with more straight-up willpower than her.”

“Huh,” I said, nodding my head in thought and trying to think on her words. They did kind of make sense. “But… it also sounds like she keeps you from doing what you want a lot of the time. You want to sleep in your bed, but she won’t let you. How can you stand that?”

“Because I care about her. You know… it’s like you’re singing a duet, you can’t just do whatever you want and improvise like you’re doing a solo show, you have to remember there’s someone else sharing the stage with you, and the only way your show’s going to be a big hit is if you both work together. A relationship is like that, the only way to make things work is to give in a little bit. Stop thinking about just yourself and instead – if you really care about the relationship – think about the greater good.”

“The greater good?” I asked, tilting my head.

“The greater good.” Vinyl nodded. “I mean, you should think about that anyways, because… you know, society doesn’t work if everypony’s just looking out for themselves, but especially with a relationship. Relationships can’t work with two selfish ponies. Or one, I guess, but they can last a little longer that way.”

I felt a frown form that never reached my lips. I didn’t need her relationship advice, I was just fine. And– “What makes you think I’m selfish?” I asked.

“I don’t,” Vinyl said, shrugging as a noise came from the kitchen. “You asked why I ‘put up’ with Tavi’s bossyness, and that’s my answer. Tavi and I are totally different ponies, but we both push each other to be better. You know, for the past year, I’ve gone to bed before two like… 90% of the time. Don’t always get to sleep by two, but I’m definitely in bed by then. Oh, and we both love each other, so I guess that’s a huge plus too.”

Her words ground through my head. “So… why does she do all that stuff? I mean, it sounds like she made a pretty big deal about me coming to visit, so… what’s the point of going through that trouble?”

Vinyl blinked and frowned. “This is the same Sweetie Belle who made friends with the shyest girl in class during her first day at a new school, right? Like… you haven’t been replaced by a double and there’s no brainworm whispering into your ear telling you what to do?”

“No,” I said, shaking the afterimage of a blue mare with pink mane away. She didn’t have anything to do with this. “I’m just… you know, trying to figure some stuff out.”

“Alright,” Vinyl said, rolling out of bed of the bed as the door to the kitchen swung open. “Well, if you need a sounding board to bounce things off of, let me know and I’ll lend you an ear or two. I mean, I’d be a pretty bad teacher if I didn’t listen to my students, although…” She turned to her fiancée. “Hey, Tavi, are teachers supposed to listen to all their students’ problems, or just the class-related ones?”

“All problems, of course,” Octavia said, and I caught my sister giving Miss Octavia a quick nod. What was that about? “Our job isn’t just to teach music or Equestrian, but to mold the future generation and hopefully impart some wisdom. We’ve all made mistakes we don’t want to see repeated.”

“Aye, captain, my captain,” Vinyl said, rolling her eyes. “Imparting knowledge til our fearful trip is done, right?”

Miss Octavia sighed. “Why do I bother exposing you to the classics if you’re just going to quote them against me? A little gratitude would be just so lovely now and then.”

“Well,” Vinyl said, sidling up next to Miss Octavia. “Maybe once everypony’s gone to sleep, I can kneel before you and sing your praises.”

“Vinyl, decorum, propriety, there’s a filly present, we shouldn’t–”

“Oh, it’s quite alright, Octavia,” Rarity sighed. “Sweetie has been exposed to far worse than a little innuendo, and as much as I’d like to believe otherwise, I don’t think such a small line will scar her.” She shrugged and looked at me. “And perhaps seeing how a healthy relationship works will do you some good. I know Applejack and I don’t make the best role models in that regard.” Rarity gave Vinyl a look before she could add anything else, and why did she keep acting like I wasn’t fine? I was great, I knew what a healthy relationship looked like.

Vinyl rubbed the back of her head. “Are you sure you two aren’t sisters? You both have that death glare down really well.”

“I think I’d know if I had another sister,” Rarity said after a pause. “Although I’ll take your comparison as a compliment to both of us. Fine taste recognizes fine taste, and such.”

Octavia smiled at my sister. “Have fun on your trip, I promise your sister will be in good hooves. I’ve planned several structured fun activities for us to engage in.” Great, structured activities sounded super fun. Maybe I could convince her to let me go play with Bright Lights. They still thought I was Happy Silly Filly Sweetie, so it should be a pretty easy sell..

Rarity wrapped her hooves around me and gave a quick peck on the cheek. “Have fun, Sweetie, I’ll be back in a few days, I promise.”

“I will,” I said, automatically returning the hug and kiss. And it was true, I was definitely going to have fun, but something told me she wouldn’t approve of the type of fun I wanted. That’s why she wasn’t going to find out about it.

My sister trotted out of the house, giving me one last wave as she left. “Have fun on your trip, Rarity!” I shouted as the door shut. “So, what are we going to do?”

“Well, it’s Thursday, which means it’s time for our weekly game night with Lyra and Bon-Bon, but since we knew you’d be visiting and it was the day after Hearth’s Warming, we decided–” The doorbell rang and Octavia sighed and muttered. “Dramatic convenience is still at work in Ponyville.”

“We decided to make it an entire game day,” Vinyl said, floating a stack of papers and some big heavy books towards me. “So roll up a character and let’s get to rolling.”

“What type of game has so many books?” I asked, flipping open the big book Vinyl passed to me.

Octavia sighed and opened the door, allowing Lyra and Bon-Bon inside. “Welcome, Sweetie, to the world of Mazes and Monsters.”

***

“Come on!” Lyra said, flopping back on the couch bed while I sat on a pillow behind the coffee table. “It’s been like… an hour, can you finish up already?” Ugh, it’s not like I was trying to be slow. I mean… maybe Mazes and Monsters wasn’t kissing fun, but I might as well try it. Besides, maybe it would help out my acting.

Besides Lyra and Bon-Bon, Mister Moldeaux and Octavia’s butler had joined the game. I didn’t know Professor Moldeaux lived with them, although I guess Octavia did mention it earlier.

“Lyra,” Bon-Bon said from next to her fiancée, “the last time you rolled a character, you spent all day poring through feats trying to get her absolutely perfect. We can at least give Sweetie an hour or two.”

“Fine... “ Lyra said. “But I still don’t get why we’re having her join the game, she’ll just be here for one week, so we’ll have to explain why she’s there and then why she had to leave.”

“Because we’re trying to be good hosts,” Octavia said, giving Lyra the same glare she gave whenever somepony in the class started being ‘unruly and disruptive.’ There weren’t many unruly and disruptive ponies in the class after the first few weeks of school. “What would you suggest as alternative, that we send her off to her room while we stay down here and play games?”

“Well… no,” Lyra said.

“Besides,” Vinyl said, “we’ll still be starting earlier than we usually do by a couple of hours, and none of us have to worry about work tomorrow.”

Bon-Bon cleared her throat.

“Right,” Vinyl added, “nopony but Bon-Bon has to worry about work tomorrow. Hooray for winter break.” While they talked, I made the last few tweaks to my character and went on to figure out which spells my character knew.

“And since she’s our game master, we’re all bound to her schedule,” Octavia said. “Sweetie, how are things going?”

“Fine,” I said, adding my spells to the character sheet. “Is an elf sorceress okay? She sounds really fun, but–”

“That’s fine,” Octavia said. “Our party could use another spellcaster. Especially after–”

“That wasn’t my fault,” Vinyl said, getting to her hooves. “Now, is everypony good with beer or should I bust the cider out?” What? They had alcohol? My mind immediately went to work figuring out how I could sneak some during the game.

“Perhaps we could play without the alcohol tonight? Watching you all drink while I’m forced to abstain can grow grating at times,” Octavia said, putting a hoof over Vinyl’s shoulders and keeping her from moving to the kitchen.

“What’s the big deal, Tavi, you never complained about us drinking before. I mean, you were totally fine with me getting hammered on eggnog last night, so…” Vinyl said.

Octavia whispered something in Vinyl’s ear and Vinyl sat back down on the ground. She knew. They both knew. I can’t believe Rarity would just… go and tell her that. What gave her the right?

“Alright, everypony,” Bon-Bon said, taking over the silence that Octavia’s whispers created. “If Sweetie’s almost ready, let’s start the recap...”

***

Everypony was on fire and it was kind of my fault. “Sweetie, the fireballs don’t care if you’re an ally or enemy; if you’re inside their area of effect, you get burned,” Bon-Bon said.

“And she’d’ve known that if you’d let us talk with each other out of character and got rid of that stupid time limit between actions,” Vinyl said. “You know, kind of like we’re doing now.”

“It’s about immersion, Vinyl. And back when I allowed you all to talk strategy during combat, it took four hours just to get through one battle,” Bon-Bon said. “This way works better.”

“Normally, yes, but perhaps we could make a small exception considering this is Sweetie’s first time playing the game,” Octavia said, looking between Vinyl and Bon-Bon. Vinyl and Bon-Bon had been sniping at each other all day for some reason, and it really wasn’t fun to listen to.

Everypony in the room nodded. “Good,” Octavia said. “Now, is there any chance we can go back to before Sweetie Belle–”

“Nopony’s going to die because of her mistake,” Bon-Bon said, looking back behind the screen thate separated her from the rest of the table. “Plus, she bloodied some of the bandits, so I think everything still works out in your favor.”

“Then I suppose I’ll be casting group heal on my turn,” Woodhoof said.

“That would be advisable,” Octavia said. “Sweetie, do you mind if I take a look at your character sheet? It would help me advise you on what spells to cast.”

“Sure thing,” I said, floating the sheet over to her while everypony else went back to the game.

Octavia looked over the paper and cleared her throat. “Uhmm… Sweetie, pardon me for asking, but why did you make all your spells combat spells? Really, the game offers a wide variety of options, and your character just seems a touch… combat focused.”

“You mean awesome focused,” Vinyl said while Woodhoof rolled to see how much he healed the group for.

“Says the barbarian,” Octavia said, sighing and kissing her fiancée on the cheek. “Still, I didn’t see your play-style being so aggressive, Sweetie. I imagined you in more of a supporting role.”

“That’s not a problem, is it?” I asked, the back of my neck suddenly burning. “I thought it would be fun.”

“It’s not a problem,” Octavia said, passing the paper back to me. “Just not what I imagined from you.” Of course she’d say that. All she knew was Happy Silly Filly Sweetie, she didn’t know the real me, but at least she’d accepted my character without too much fuss. “Now, I’d recommend you cast some of your single-target spells when we’re having the melée, although area-of-effect spells make for a wonderful opening move.”

“And if you can position things right so you don’t catch any of us on fire, then fireball away,” Lyra said, tapping a hoof at the square-grid table where our tokens sat. “Because friendly fire isn’t.”

Huh? I stared at Lyra, trying to figure out just what she meant. Friendly. Fire. Ohhh... I giggled. That was kind of funny. “Got it,” I said, smiling at her. “No more friendly fire. Just regular fire.”

“Octavia,” Bon-Bon said, “it’s your turn, and the clock is ticking.”

“Right,” Octavia said. sweeping her dice into a cup as I transitioned from being Sweetie Belle to Avernus, conjurer of the arcane. “I play my lute and cast Heroism on Vinyl.” I went to plotting Avernus’s next move.

***

I twisted and turned in Octavia’s bed, thinking about the game that had just wrapped up less than an hour ago. I glanced at the clock. Almost two. We’d stayed up late playing, and I was still sad we had to stop. Once I got the hang of it, I was pretty good at burning things to death.

A knock came from the door and pulled me from my thoughts on next week’s game (I really hope I get invited back, maybe I could see if the rest of my– No, why would they care about what I want? Maybe I could convince Tiara, Melody, and Bright Lights though). “What is it?” I asked.

Miss Octavia opened the door a crack, allowing hall light to spill in. “A thousand pardons, Sweetie Belle, while preparing for your arrival, I forgot to bring my medicine downstairs.”

“Are you alright?” I asked, lifting my head up to look at her better. She seemed alright, maybe a little gray, but she was always gray. She hadn’t been sick the entire time I’d known her, had she? “It’s not bad, is it?”

She smiled and shook her head. “Nothing to worry about, Sweetie. I just need to take my anti… everything pills, or risk having another episode.”

“Of what?” I asked, curiosity replacing concern.

“Of paranoid delusions, self-recrimination, and a whole other host of anti-social behaviors. Like I said, as long as I take my anti-depressants and anti-anxieties, I’m perfectly fine beyond some early morning oddness,” she said, trotting into the bathroom and pulling out a tray filled with pill bottles.

“Anti-depressants?” I asked, tilting my head at the unfamiliar word.

“Mood elevators, Vinyl calls them my ‘happy pills–’” Octavia stopped as my eyes went wide. Pills that made you happy, how awesome was that?

“Although they aren’t actually ‘happy pills,’” Octavia said, apparently reading my mind. “They stabilize my mood and keep my fouler thoughts in check. They don’t make me happy; they keep me from locking myself in my room yelling at a broken mirror. Do you have a history of locking yourself in the room and hating everything touched by Celestia’s sun with special attention paid to yourself?”

I shook my head.

“Days of lethargy and crying?”

More head shaking.

“Paranoid delusions that everypony’s plotting against you?”

“Definitely not,” I said, smiling at her as she reached the door out of my room, pill tray balanced on her back.

“Then you don’t need to concern yourself with what my pills do, and even if you did suffer from those symptoms, you still shouldn’t consider taking somepony else’s medicine. Self-medicating can be as bad as the illness,” Octavia said, turning around to look back at me. “So should I put my pills in the safe?”

I shook my head and she smiled. I was still going to take at least one just to see how it was, but it sounded like they wouldn’t make me happy. “I’m glad to hear that. They’re still going in the safe, of course, because doing otherwise would be grossly irresponsible of me, but–”

“Are there actually happy pills, though?” I asked. Ugh, if Rarity hadn’t given her that little speech in the kitchen, Octavia probably never would’ve been worried and I could have tried her pills. I wasn’t going to take them all. She needed them, but… I had to know if they could make me happy. Pills that make you happy all the time would absolutely be the best thing ever.

Octavia shook her head and trotted back into my room. “Sweetie, you don’t need pills or drink to be happy, and if you feel like you do, then perhaps you should look inside and see what’s causing those feelings.” Duh. I wanted to be happy all the time because who wouldn’t want to be happy all the time? Besides, I didn’t need them to be happy, they just made it easier.

“Alright,” I said, smiling to put her at ease. See! I was so nice that I was even lying to her to make her feel better. If only ponies could be that nice to me.

Octavia just shook her head and trotted back to the door. Apparently she didn’t buy it. “Get some sleep, Sweetie. You’re going to be rehearsing the classics with me come tomorrow morning.”

Yay.

***

Octavia and I stood in the living room, the bed turned back into a couch to make room for us. Octavia was on her back legs, cello carefully balanced, while I just stood and sang, following the music she’d provided me. It wasn’t in modern Equestrian, but I could pronounce the words alright, and I sounded like I knew what I was saying, which is really all that mattered. As long as I said what the lyrics told me to say, I was fine.

“Very good,” Octavia said as the song came to a close. “Are you sure you’re not proficient in Prench?”

“Non,” I said, shaking my head. “Je ne parle pas prançais.”

Octavia raised an eyebrow.

“Quoi?” I asked.

“You’re… You’re speaking Prench right now,” Octavia said before pinching her nose. “You know, what? Let’s just move on to the next song, shall we?”

I nodded and a knock came from the door. “One minute,” Octavia said, putting her cello back on its stand and trotting to the door. She opened it and revealed a powder-blue unicorn who just happened to be the newest member of my herd.

“Bright Lights!” I said, smiling and moving to the space between my host and my marefriend. My face was just an inch from hers, and her scent reignited the fire she’d given to me a few days ago. “What are you even doing here? How did you–”

“I had to speak with Lyra about the particulars of the play, and run my staging and scenery ideas by her. She mentioned you were staying just next door, and so here I am.” She smiled apologetically at Miss Octavia. “I hope I’m not intruding, Headmistress Octavia.”

Octavia shook her head. “Not at all, I’m just surprised. Rarity informed me that all of Sweetie’s friends were travelling for break, and if I’d known you and Sweetie were friends, I would have included you in my plans.”

“It’s completely fine,” Bright Lights said, laughing and tossing her mane over her shoulder. Every move she made kept my attention completely focused on her. But then, why shouldn’t it be? She was way prettier than Miss Octavia, plus I could kiss her. “I hope… would it be okay if I borrowed her while I went to the toy store? I’m doing some late Hearth’s Warming shopping and was hoping she could help me pick out gifts for our friends. I promise to have her back in a few hours.”

“That sounds fine,” Octavia said. “Just give me a second to see if Vinyl wants to come along.” Shoot! If she was coming, then I probably couldn’t do all the kissing stuff I wanted.

“You don’t need to do that,” I said, tearing my eyes away from Bright Lights to look at Miss Octavia. “The toy store is just down the road a bit, and…” Think. Think. Think. What could I offer her to tempt her into staying inside? “I know me being here probably isn’t the funnest thing in the world, and maybe you and Miss Scratch could spend the time doing stuff you want to do? I mean, I’m just going to the toy store, it’s not like I’m going off to Berry’s Bar or anything.” Not that I was opposed to going to Berry’s Bar if I could figure out how to get into the part where they sold all the alcohol at.

Octavia glanced from me to Vinyl’s DJ room and back again. “Yes, you’re right.” She tilted her head for a minute. “Besides, Berry has enough sense not to let you downstairs.” Octavia looked to Bright Lights standing behind me. “And, Bright Lights, isn’t it?”

She nodded.

“If Lyra trusts you to ‘help’ her with the play, I suppose I can trust you to keep an eye on Sweetie,” Octavia said. giving me and Bright Lights one last look. “Just be back in two hours.”

“Thanks,” I said, flashing her an even bigger smile than usual. “I promise everything’s going to be fine.”

Octavia shook her head as she turned back into her living room. “Yet whenever anypony says that, I always feel a sense of foreboding doom. Try not to go around tempting fate, Sweetie Belle. Especially in Ponyville.” With that, she shut the door, leaving Bright Lights and me outside in the cold. And me without a saddle vest.

***

A few minutes later, I was back on the street, but this time, I was actually dressed for the winter weather. “So,” I said, as the door clicked shut again. “What are you thinking of for gifts?”

Bright Lights rolled her eyes as we trotted down the street. “That was a lie, Sweetie. I just wanted a reason to get you alone. I thought having you help me shop sounded better than–” Instead of finishing her thought, she pulled me back into an alley and forced her lips against mine. My whole body burned at her touch, like I’d just leapt into a fire. If I stayed with her, she’d burn me up completely, but at the moment, nothing sounded better.

She ended the kiss and gave my horn a teasing lick while I panted. She was a really good kisser. Like… just the best. “Yeah,” I said taking a deep breath, “this is definitely more fun than going gift shopping.”

Bright Lights just smiled and kissed my neck. “So, what do you want to do with our two hours? I’m all yours, Sweetie.”

I just shrugged at her as we exited the alley and I readjusted my saddle. “I’m fine with whatever you want to do.”

Her smile twisted into a glare. “Don’t give me that line, Sweetie. We both know you don’t really care about what I want. The only reason you’re humoring me is because you want me to be happy.”

“So?” I asked, scrunching my forehead up as we walked in the direction of the school. “What’s wrong with wanting other ponies to be happy?”

“Nothing,” she said, her glare softening. “Just as long as you admit that you only care because it’s what you want.” She gave me another kiss and somehow my body got even warmer. With her around, I didn’t need the vest to keep me from the cold.

I tried to focus on what she was actually saying instead of the heat flooding my body. “And… What’s… You make it sound like I’m selfish.”

“Of course,” she said, tracing a hooftip down my flank. It was… how could her touching me feel so great? It wasn’t even a kiss, it was just a normal regular hooftip teasing up and down my flank. “Because you are selfish. I know you don’t want to admit it to yourself, but you’re probably the most selfish mare in Equestria, and I love that about you.”

I shook my head, trying to calm down a little, but her continued touches and caresses as we walked made that really difficult. “But… I’m not that selfish.”

Bright Lights laughed like daggers scraping against each other. “Sweetie, everything you’ve ever done has been because you wanted it. Even when you’re nice, it’s because you feel like it. Have you ever been nice when it didn’t suit you?”

That… of course there had to be an example. I mean, I was nice all the time. “I don’t know,” I finally said. “I feel like… I had to, right?”

“Let’s see,” she said, “you abandoned Apple Bloom when she disagreed with you, you strong armed Diamond Tiara into joining a herd even though she didn’t want to, and you’re doing everything in your power to get Melody to march in tune with your desires like Tiara is. Selfishness, thy name is Sweetie Belle.”

Maybe… Wait, how did she know all that– Another kiss ended the thought. She was right, I mean… Tiara really didn’t want to be in a herd, but she was happy right now. Happier. Because of me. Because she did what I wanted. That wasn’t bad.

“That’s not bad, is it?” I finally managed to ask. “Although I guess I could try to make up with Apple Bloom, she–”

“Nonsense, Sweetie,” Bright Lights said as we reached the dormitory. “So many ponies bind themselves with cares about the rest of the world, but not you. You’re free. Free to do what you want. Free to define happiness on your own terms and ignore conventional morality. Why would you ever trade your libertine ways for a pair of shackles?”

“I–” She kissed me again as we climbed the stairs. “You really think it’s good? What about other ponies?” I asked, struggling to string words together.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” she said, messing with the lock to her door. “What I think doesn’t matter, but tell me this: Would you rather go back to fretting about what everypony else wants or would you rather revel in all the pleasures life has to offer?” She swung the door. “If I’m wrong, just head back to Miss Octavia’s and we’ll never speak of this again. I’ll never give you the offer to fulfill your wildest dreams again.” She smirked. “But if I’m right, step inside.”

I chewed on my lower lip. It sounded… She wanted to fulfill my wildest dreams? My wildest dreams were really wild, and… maybe she was right. Maybe it would be nice to have someone I could be free with. Maybe– I stepped inside and she clicked the door shut behind me. “What wildest dreams?” I asked as Bright Lights laid down on her bed, managing to show off all the ways her body twisted and curved and I really couldn’t take my eyes off her.”

“You tell me,” she said, giving the same smile Rarity’s cat gave me when it had me cornered. My stomach fluttered and I couldn’t figure out if it was for a good reason or not, but why should I be scared of Bright Lights? “To quote our musical: ‘I’m your genie, I’m your friend, I’m your willing slave.’”

“You’re not going to convince me to kill ponies and feed them to you though, right?” I asked, giving her a smile.

“Don’t be absurd,” she said, smiling and laughing. Why did her laugh always have a metallic ting to it? “Why would I want to eat ponies? No, I just want you to be as happy as possible.”

“But… why?” I asked. What was in it for her? Why would she care if I was happy or not?

“Because I like you,” she said, readjusting her position on the bed, and I couldn’t help but notice the way her body shimmered and wiggled with each movement. “Because I enjoy seeing a liberated mare, and I don’t want to see her succumb to the pressures of society. Carve your own path, Sweetie, and I’ll be there to help you with it.”

Something didn’t feel right about that, but the moment she wiggled again whatever thought was in my head withered and died. Maybe she was– “What’s in it for you?” I blurted out. “If you’re… like me, why would you care about my happiness?”

Bright Lights laughed again. “But I’m not like you, Sweetie. Unlike you, I’m afflicted with conscience, and when I see an unhappy mare, I feel compelled to make her happy.” She held her hooves up like they were cuffed together. “Ah, if only I could be free of concerns for others like you are, but alas, I’m stuck in the mire of morality.”

Ugh, I wish– I did have a conscience, and… Yes, I liked getting what I wanted, but– “I’m not a monster,” I said. “Stop making it sound like I am.”

“You see,” she said, her smile only growing. “Even now, it’s about what you want. You don’t want me to make you sound like a monster, but what about what I want?”

“But you just want to make me happy,” I said, not leaving any room for doubt in the statement.

“I do,” she said, her smile turning into a look of sympathy as she beckoned for me to take a step closer to the bed. “And you’d be so much happier if you weren’t fighting yourself all the time. I’ve watched you all semester, and when I see you, I see a mare struggling to reconcile what she thinks she should be and what she is. It might hurt while I rip the mask away, but once you’re finally free, you’ll see how much better life can be.” She drew me towards her, and somehow the both of us ended up on her bed, Bright Lights straddling my back legs. She kissed all over my chest and I squirmed with each touch of hers.

“Now,” she said, suddenly pulling away from me. “You liked that, didn’t you?”

I nodded, wishing she’d stop talking and go back to kissing me. Why did she have to stop? Her kisses felt so good.

“You want more?”

I nodded again, desperate for the touch of her lips again.

“Then command me, Sweetie. Tell me what you wish and I’ll make that dream a reality,” she said, smiling down at me.

“Do… do it,” I said. struggling to get the words out.

Bright Lights tsked. “That’s not a command, Sweetie, that’s a pleading mewling request. I need you to command. To fully take charge and command a pony to do your bidding. To accept that what you want supersedes the wishes of everypony else. If you can’t do that, then no more kisses from me.”

“Do it,” I said, trying to make my voice firmer. To sound like I was commanding.

She shook her head. “That’s better, but just not good enough.” Bright Lights sighed and started to push herself off me. What? She said she wanted to make me happy, but now she was giving me commands? The heat of her kisses twisted into raw anger.

“Do it!” I yelled, tired of her silly dumb little games. “Just do it and stop toying with me.” Before I could even finish talking, I felt the heat of her lips pressed against my belly, her tongue tracing circles.

“There,” she said, briefly lifting her head up before going back to kissing me. “That wasn’t so hard to do, was it?”

I squirmed under her kisses and shook my head. It wasn’t hard; it was the easiest thing in the world.

***

An hour later, Bright Lights had finished kissing every inch of me, and I’d lost my ability to do more than lay in bed gasping for air.

“Well,” she said, sitting at the edge of bed. “Are you quite sated, or do you want me to go back to work? Obviously, I’d be happy to, but you might want to concern yourself with getting back to Octavia’s on time. If you’re late, she might start investigating, and then your whole web of lies might unravel. You don’t want the truth to get out, do you?”

I just stared at the ceiling. “I… do I?”

Bright Lights laughed. “Obviously, I wouldn’t presume to tell you what to think, but consider this. If ponies found out how you really are – ponies with power over you – they might try to change you. To make you back to how you used to be. Do you want to be unmade? To lose all you gained today? Lose all you’ve discovered to go back to being… her?”

“Not that,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t want to…” I took another gulp of air. “Today was fun. More fun than I had in a long time. “I…” More air. “Thank you.”

She shook her head and pushed herself off the bed. “Don’t thank me, Sweetie. I simply showed you the path to your true self. You were the one who leapt down it with such great aplomb.” She trotted over and kissed the tip of my horn. “I’ve never been prouder.”

“We can do this again, right?” I said, shivering at her kiss. Every kiss was a drop of water, and I was overflowing.

“I’m yours to command,” she said, smiling. “Anything else I can do for you, Sweetie?”

I was about to shake my head no when my mind pulled up something from last night. “Are there happy pills?” I asked.

Bright Lights’ eyes twinkled and her smile grew. “There are,” she said, “and if you want, I’d be happy to get my hooves on some for you. Just… don’t tell anypony about it. I could get in a lot of trouble for helping you.”

“Alright,” I said, nodding my head and rolling over to get a better look at her. I wasn’t helping her because she wanted me to, I was doing it because it helped me. “Not even Diamond Tiara or Melody?”

She shook her head. “Especially not them. Melody’s too easily swayed to be trusted, and I’m afraid Diamond Tiara would use that information to control you.”

I laughed at that. “Please, Tiara loves me. She’d do whatever I tell her.”

“Maybe,” Bright Lights said, idly stroking my mane as her attention turned to a collection of notebooks. “But she also doesn’t accept you for you, and she has an unfortunate jealous streak. Keep your other marefriends close, keep them under your thrall, do what you please with them, but unless you can know they’ll accept you for how you really are, don’t trust them.”

“Yeah,” I said, suddenly feeling a tingle on my coat where her lips should be. I drew her towards me and pressed her lips against my chest. She could kiss me a few more times before I left.

***

“Are you alright?” Octavia asked as I trotted back into the house. She and Vinyl were sitting on the couch bed, a bottle of beer and a glass of water on the table.

“Uh-huh,” I said, undoing my saddle vest. “Great, just… a bit cold.” Actually, my whole body felt like it was still on fire from Bright Lights’ kisses, but that probably wouldn’t go over well with Miss Octavia. I shivered, sweat forming under my coat.

“I see,” she said, getting off the couch and trotting over towards me. She pressed her hoof against my forehead and shook her head. “Sweetie Belle, you’re absolutely burning up. I insist you go lie down. I’ll be up shortly with a bowl of warm soup.” She glanced back at Vinyl. “That’s what you gave me when I had the cold last season, right?”

Vinyl nodded. “Sure is, but… how the hay do you not know what to do when someone has a cold?”

Miss Octavia sighed. “Vinyl, I had impeccable health as a filly, and once I was on my own, I didn’t have anypony to take care of me. If I got sick, I had to take care of it myself.”

“Right,” Vinyl said frowning. “Forgot you had like… the worst parents ever.” Well, I didn’t know about that. “But uhmm… so all those years you were on your own you didn’t have anypony to take care of you? I mean, even when you were Sweetie’s age?”

“No,” Octavia said, shaking her head. “When I was Sweetie’s age, I was struggling to pay for my tiny one-room apartment in Canterlot.” Really? She could be on her own at my age? I guess– Yes, I had my cutie mark, so I could live on my own if I wanted to, I just didn’t think anypony did.

“That sounds so fun,” I said, shivering as my mind went back to my time with Bright Lights. “Getting to live on your own, not have anypony to tell you what to do. It must have been great.”

Octavia shook her head. “As surprising as it may seem, being completely on your own without any support network isn’t that exciting.” She raised an eyebrow at me. “And where is this desire for independence coming from? I thought you were happy living with Rarity.”

“I am,” I said, smiling bigger for her. “I just… You know, it would also be fun to be on my own. Do what I want without having to worry about her or anypony.”

“Ah, idle thoughts of youthful rebellion. I’m not familiar with it myself, but Vinyl has explained the situation to me.” Octavia smiled and laughed. “I don’t think I could have handled dealing with her back then.” She stopped and her expression got firm. “Now get upstairs, I won’t have you getting the flu on my watch.”

“Yes, Miss Octavia,” I said. Bright Lights’ lips were against my neck, my chest, lower, all over. I shook my head. I needed to focus on Octavia, not… I needed to focus on Octavia. Once I was in bed, I could dream as much as I wanted.

“Good,” Octavia said as I shuffled upstairs. “Now, I’ll get you some veggie soup, but consider yourself on strict bed rest for the rest of the day.”

“Alright,” I said, reaching the upstairs landing and turning to look back at her. “Can we still go to Pinkie’s New Year Bash?”

Miss Octavia pursed her lips in thought. “If I think you’re feeling well enough, I’ll be happy to take you, but your health comes first, Sweetie Belle.”

***

The flushed feeling got worse as I staggered upstairs. Why was I so hot? I felt like I was melting more and more with every step. Once my head hit the pillows, the world turned into a weird blur. Sweat soaked the bed sheets and shivers racked my bodies. Octavia came in with my bowl of soup, and I slurped down a couple of spoonfuls.

I stared at the ceiling that warped and bent. It twisted into a face. My face. Tiara’s face. Dazzler’s face. All three at once. “Hello,” I said to me, my marefriend, and my enemy. “What are you– What are you doing here?”

The face bent down towards me, her mouth opening wider and wider. Impossibly wide, sucking up all the space in the room. Not even a face anymore, just a mouth swallowing me. Swallowing the world.

I fell down my own gullet. Tumbling deeper and deeper, bouncing against the lining of our esophagus. Miss Octavia bent over me, her hoof resting against my forehead, something metallic in my mouth. I fumbled to pull it out and fell out of the esophagus. I landed in a dark place. Morning sun shone through the curtains. I was strapped to a bed in the dungeon, me standing over me, a whip floating next to her. I stared down at the me in bed. I had to crack the whip. Had to. Needed to. Every inch of my body screamed at me to do it.

The whip lashed. Our bodies screamed and sang together to the tune of the whip’s cracks. Again and again. Faster and faster. The song reached its crescendo, the two of us sang one final drawn-out note as our song ended. We panted, exhausted for a long moment, both of us covered in sweat, and collapsed into each other.

I tumbled out of my mouth, back on to the bed. I was– I was– I bolted out of bed, clawing my way towards the door. This wasn’t my room. Everything was wrong. Why wasn’t I in my room? I bolted forward and collapsed on to the ground. Ka-thunk. The door opened, a gray mare trotted in. Gray mare. Octavia. I was in Miss Octavia’s room.

Miss Octavia trotted over and lifted me back into my bed. Her bed. “You look better than you did last night,” she said, tucking me back in. “Although, to be fair, I had Vinyl on stand-by last night to fetch my doctor.” She sighed at that for some reason and swallowed something on her tongue. She checked my forehead again. “Still hot, but not scalding. Do you feel like eating anything today?”

“Yes,” I said, flopping back on the bed and looking at the ceiling. It didn’t move this time. Yay. “Soup.” I burrowed under the sheets, struggling to keep warm. “Is there still soup?”

She nodded. “There is. I’ll be back in a few minutes, just… stay comfortable, I suppose.”

***

I sat down in the living room and stared at the clock. Twelve more hours until the year was over. “Come on, please,” I said, pleading with Miss Octavia. “I’m feeling way better today than I was yesterday, and I wasn’t feeling that bad yesterday. Let me go to Pinkie’s party. It’ll be her last party this year.”

“By definition,” Octavia said, rolling her eyes. “And you know good and well that she already has a Break in the New Year Bash planned for tomorrow starting at 12:01.”

“But I’m feeling better,” I said, trying not to stomp my hooves. It wouldn’t help me get what I wanted, even though I wanted to do it. Huh. What was I supposed to do when I wanted two things? Ugh, I really needed to talk to Bright Lights.

“You are,” Octavia said. “But you’re still recovering, and I don’t want to risk you getting sick again. It would be irresponsible of me to let you go.”

“Come on,” Vinyl said, poking her head in from the kitchen. “The kid looks great, and she already has it hard enough for the holidays without her parents or sister, you don’t want to add to that by keeping her from Pinkie’s party, do you?”

Miss Octavia sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Fine. You can go, Sweetie, but the instant you start feeling under the weather, we’re going home. Agreeable?”

I nodded and exploded into a giant hug that wrapped around Octavia. “Thank you, Octavia, and I promise everything will be totally fine. I feel great.”

She sighed as I bolted towards the door. “I really wish ponies would stop saying that.”

***

I trotted around the party in the town hall, hoping to see one particular pony. A lot of ponies were gathering near the dance floor while Pinkie worked on setting up a sound system that went from the stage to the ceiling, but a few were hanging out near the refreshments. My eyes went to the drink table. Whoever had made the adult punch and foal punch had decided to make them the same color. My mind filed that away for later. Octavia and Vinyl were sitting at a table near the drink and snack tables. I smiled and trotted over to them.

“Hey,” I said, taking a seat closer to Vinyl than Octavia. “What are you all doing?”

“Enjoying the last few minutes of comparative silence,” Octavia said, pointing a hoof towards the giant speakers being set up on the stage. “Before somepony–”

“Before somepony makes this party way more awesome,” Vinyl said, slipping on her magenta goggles. “And you know you love my music, or was I dreaming that time I caught you listening to my mixes after your shower?”

Octavia smiled and kissed Vinyl’s cheek. “Your music is wonderful and a terrific way to wake up the senses after a night’s rest. My objection is with the volume at which you play it. Music is best enjoyed when it doesn’t dominate the ears.”

“Whatever you say,” Vinyl said, grinning at Octavia. “But you still came to the party.”

“To support you and keep an eye on Sweetie Belle,” Octavia said. “I doubt you’ll be able to keep a good eye on her while you’re playing.”

“Uh-huh,” Vinyl said, nodding her head and glancing back at the stage. “You say that, but all I’m hearing is that you love my music best when it’s played nice and loud.” She laughed. “I should probably go finish setting up, but I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Octavia said while Vinyl got to her hooves.

“Oh, right,” Vinyl said, lighting her horn up and pressing the tip of it against Octavia’s temple. Whatever spell she’d collected flowed into Octavia, who gave Vinyl an approving nod.

“Thank you, dear,” Octavia said, giving Vinyl a quick appreciative kiss before Vinyl trotted over to the stage. Octavia turned to look back at me. “A noise dampening spell so I can actually hear myself think.”

“Can you hear me, then?” I asked, raising my voice.

“I can,” she said, taking a sip of her– she was drinking water? Really? “The spell doesn’t muffle normal sounds, just loud ones. If you want a better explanation on the mechanics, I’d recommend asking your acting teacher, as she invented it.”

“Really?” I asked, momentarily forgetting her weird thing with not drinking alcohol and tilting my head. “I thought Lyra was just all about humans and stuff.”

Miss Octavia shook her head. “Now she is, but back at Celestia’s Academy, she was a rather dedicated student of sonomancy; that’s sound magic. If not for Vinyl’s suggestion to take a course on mythology as a ‘blow-off’ class, Lyra might already have her doctorate; instead… Well, at least Lyra’s obsession is harmless.”

“Huh…” I said, the conversation trailing off. The two of us sat for almost a minute before she took a sip of her drink and I suddenly remembered something I wanted to ask her about. “Why don’t you drink?”

“Because I choose not to,” Octavia said, setting her cup of water down. “Does there need to be any greater reason?”

“But drinking is fun,” I said, trying not to roll my eyes. Being rude to her would be bad for me later. “It just makes me feel so good.”

Miss Octavia’s small smile vanished as she transitioned from being my sister’s friend to being my teacher. “And I don’t need to drink to feel good.”

That was… The back of my neck burned. How dare she talk to me like that. I was trying to be nice and talk to her, and she just threw it back in my face, like I was bad for wanting to drink. Well– I didn’t need her lecturing and telling me what to do. Her, Rarity, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom: They were all the same, always trying to tell me what to do. Trying to control me. I didn’t need them though, I had Bright Lights, and she didn’t just accept me for how I was, she liked it. Unlike everypony else, she encouraged me to be myself instead of trying to make me feel bad about it.

“I’m going to see if Bright Lights is here,” I said, getting to my hooves and somehow managing not to yell at her. My head pounded and throbbed as I walked away and Vinyl’s music clicked on and made my eardrums pound. I thought I liked Miss Octavia. Sure, she was a bit boring and bossy, but she also didn’t treat me special or anything, but then! Friends don’t say that about friends. I’m happy. Happier than her. Happier than everypony.

A pair of forehooves covered my eyes, and I swiveled around to push whoever it was away. I didn’t want to talk right–

Bright Lights staggered backwards, some of her punch spilling as she did, and mouthed something I couldn’t hear because Vinyl’s music was definitely way too loud. What’s the point of going to a party if you can’t hear people talk? I mean, I guess if you just wanted to dance or something it would be okay but– She tilted her head towards the exit. Outside? Yeah, that would work a lot better for talking. I followed her out the door.

“So,” Bright Lights said as the door shut behind us leaving us standing under a winter moon, “rough night?”

“I guess,” I said, frowning. “I’d really prefer it if we didn’t talk about it, though, I’m not really up for… I thought she was my friend.”

Bright Lights gave me one of those smiles she loved so much. A smile that screamed she knew a joke I didn’t. “It seems false friends are all too common these days, Sweetie. You should cherish those who care about you for you, and don’t try to place their judgments upon you.” She leaned in and stroked my mane. “Lucky for you, you have one such pony.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling and leaning in to kiss her. Our lips connected and the heat of her breath entered my throat. As we kissed, Bright Lights pulled me away from the entrance to the town hall towards a less noticeable side-entrance. “Where would I be without you?”

“Probably living the lie you almost drowned yourself with.” She gave my cheek another kiss. “Now, I have a little present for you.”

“What is it?” I asked, my eyes going wide. “Is it a–”

She kissed me again and whatever I’d wanted to say died on my lips. “You made a request of me last time we met, and I’m here to fulfill it.” Her horn lit up and she floated a pill bottle out of her saddlebags. “Happy pills. I didn’t know if your interests were in relaxation and ecstasy, so I settled on Joy. It seemed to fit you.”

“Really?” I asked, grabbing the pill bottle with my own magic and drawing it close to me. “This will make me happy?”

“As you’ve ever been. Now, I can only afford one bottle a month, so try to make it last. I promise, do what I request, let your name become a household item, and you’ll have as much Joy as you want.”

Instead of answering, I unscrewed the bottle and popped a pill into my mouth. Bright Lights offered me a sip of her drink and I greedily chugged it down. “How’d you get the alcohol?” I asked as I finished off her drink. I don’t know what the drink they were serving was, but it was blue and tasted kind of like lemonade.

Bright Lights just smiled and lit her horn up, shifting into a version of her that looked a lot older. “I grew up backstage on Bridleway. My parents were stagehands. I know how to cast an illusion spell like you know how to sing.

“So, should we go get some more of the blue lemonade?” she asked, opening the side door into town hall. “After all, you must be thirsty after taking that pill.”

I nodded as she floated the pill bottle back into her saddlebags. Nothing sounded better.

***

I danced with Bright Lights in time with the throbbing of Vinyl’s bass. My whole skin sang as I whirled around, taking in every second of the party. The whole world sang in harmony in time with Vinyl’s music, and I was absolutely expansive. I felt like my whole body was growing and inflating and mingling with the rest of the world.

Atoms. The word floated up from science class. My atoms mingled with everypony else’s. Bright Lights was kissing me. Her saliva was mine; my body was hers. We were each others’, and both of us were the world. “This is the best party ever!” I screamed, taking another drink of the blue vodka lemonade. How had I never felt this great before? My mind went back to the bottle of pills now resting in my saddle vest that was checked at the coat closet.

“One minute,” I said, giving Bright Lights a big sloppy kiss before trotting over to Octavia who was still sitting where I’d left her.

“I see you found your ‘friend,’” she said, raising an eyebrow at me. I laughed. We weren’t exactly being subtle, but you know, who cared? She was the best marefriend ever, and I didn’t care who knew it. She was giving me everything I ever wanted.

“I did,” I said, unable to keep myself from laughing. Every word out of my mouth tickled and vibrated in the funniest way. It had been so long since I’d laughed like this, but now the whole world was a joke. “And I’m really sorry about getting mad at you earlier, I just– I don’t know why I’ve been so angry lately.” Okay, so I wasn’t really sorry, but why was I even mad at her? Everything was so wonderful, and Octavia was so super nice, and why would I ever be upset with her? I loved her so much. I loved everything so much.

“Your age is a volatile one, you’re going through that last growth spurt before reaching adulthood, your body is flooded with hormones, and plus you’re supposed to be planning out your entire future. I can understand frustration, Sweetie Belle,” she said, taking a sip of water. She really should try the blue lemonade, it was the best thing ever.

My fever dream came back to me. Me holding a whip, the lash looked brilliant and beautiful, and why was I suddenly thinking about the tip of it stinging Octavia’s cheek? And why was my heart suddenly threatening to pound out of my chest? “... You’re a good mare, Sweetie Belle. Don’t forget that.” Huh? Was she still talking? How long had I been standing here? Probably too long, especially since Bright Lights was waiting for me with more kisses and drinks. Yeah, definitely didn’t need to be standing here.

“Sure thing,” I said, turning and trotting back to where I’d left Bright Lights. I’d apologized to Octavia, so now I could go back to having fun with my marefriend. “Totally.”

***

Bright Lights and I tumbled through ever-shining hours. When we finally came up for air, the music was gone and everypony was staring at the clock. Oh! Was it time? Time for the big countdown? Already? But the night had just started.

“Sweetie, have I mentioned how proud of you I am?” Bright Lights said, smiling at me.

Fifteen seconds left in the year.

I shook my head. “Nope, but I’m always up for ponies telling me how good I am.” I laughed and kissed her cheek. “So tell me!”

Twelve seconds.

“As you wish,” she said, bowing before me. “You’ve just come so far this semester. You aren’t the broken mare desperate for approval that you were at the start; you’ve shed all that baggage off, and freed yourself. You’re strong, liberated, and free to do as you please. There’s nothing left to hold you back.”

Eight seconds.

Ponies were counting down now. I was too, but I was also talking to Bright Lights. Joy was apparently so awesome I could hold two conversations at once. “It’s all because of you, BL, you’re just… the best marefriend ever. Can you even imagine what I’d be like if you weren’t there to guide me?”

Five seconds.

Bright Lights’ eyes twinkled with hidden smoky brilliance and she crinkled her nose. Twinkled and crinkled. Twinkle Crinkle. “I think,” she said as I broke out in laughter at the rhyme, “that the you from even a month ago would find you unrecognizable.”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

Bright Lights kissed me as the crowd balloons fell. Every atom in my body exploded with the crowd. I smiled as the kiss ended an eternity later. Bright Lights raised her glass up. “To a new year and a better Sweetie Belle!”

I raised my glass with her and looked into her eyes, finally understanding her riddle. Inside me something beautiful and sharp was growing. It could show you exactly what you wanted to see but cut anypony who tried to hurt it. My body burned with an ecstatic fire. Beautiful, sharp, deadly.

Broken.

I shook the last word away and instead celebrated the heat that filled me and consumed me while I echoed Bright Lights’ toast.

“To a new year.”

And a new me.

Author's Note

So, I'm doing this new thing where I write blog posts that serve as chapter notes so people who don't want a cleaner reading experience can have that and people who like looking at the seems of stories and hearing my thoughts on stuff can read the blog post, which is here.

14. A Murder of One (Scootaloo)

The road to Sweet Apple Acres
Summer 5th, 1396, early afternoon

“Hey, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said, trotting next to me as we walked out of the Academy. I squinted from the late-spring sun hitting my eyes. I really do need to get a pair of shades like Rainbow Dash’s. “I’m… We’re gonna be turnin’ the old clubhouse into my alchemy lab over the summer, so if there’s anything you wanna save, you should do it now.”

That was it, then. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were officially dead, and Sweetie Belle had killed them... us... whatever, the point was that the crusade was over. “You’re not just going to throw all that stuff away, right?” I asked.

Apple Bloom scratched the bit of her mane behind her bow, and I couldn’t help glancing at the flask-shaped apple on her flank. It’d been five months since she’d gotten her cutie mark, and it still surprised me whenever I saw it. She probably felt the same way when she saw my awesome scooting cutie mark.

“Well, most of it will be, I guess. We don’t exactly have a bunch of empty space on the farm. That’s why I thought you–” That was a lie, they had tons of empty space at Sweet Apple Acres. They had at least three secret underground cellars for storing family stuff that I knew about, but I guess all that space vanished when Apple Bloom was having a fight with Sweetie Belle. Of course, everypony was having a fight with Sweetie Belle now. Except Bright Lights.

“I’ll look through it,” I said, snapping my eyes to the road and my wings tight against my barrel. I get that things between the three of us have been basically a non-stop fight lately, but there were still years of fun memories she was just going to throw away. At least she was letting me pick through the pile first.

“Hey,” Apple Bloom said after a long pause during our walk. “We’re still friends. That ain’t changing just because I’m getting rid of some stuff.”

“Please,” I said, rolling my eyes. “It’s just stuff you’re getting rid of. I’m not gonna get all sad just because you threw away our group photo.”

Apple Bloom frowned. “Yeah, Sweetie’d be the one who’d get upset about me throwing all that stuff away, and she doesn’t care about anything but herself these days.”

“She–” Something caught in my throat. “Hey, Apple Bloom... Come with me to her big show tonight. I’m taking the train to Canterlot tonight, and... it’d be cool if you went with me.” Why did I say that? There was no way in a million years that she’d lift a hoof to support Sweetie Belle. No, that ship had sailed pretty much since we got back from winter break. Since the day we got our first look at the new Sweetie.

***

Princess Luna's Academy
Winter 27th, 1396, lunchtime

Most of the group gathered around our cafeteria table to look at Apple Bloom; only Sweetie and her newest herd member were missing. Back then, I didn’t remember the name Bright Lights. That’s changed. “Congrats,” I said, giving Apple Bloom a hoof bump. “So, what’re we going to do to celebrate all the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally earning their cutie marks?”

“I’m sure Sweetie will have something planned,” Life Bloom said, causing Apple Bloom to tense up. “Assuming whatever was bothering her before our break has been resolved.” Life Bloom glanced at Tiara, who just shook her head.

“It… maybe it has, but I saw her a bit this morning and she wasn’t right,” Tiara said.

“And I wonder why that is,” Sweetie Belle said, trotting to the table with her new friend stuck to her like glue. “Maybe it’s because all my friends are talking about me behind my back.” Her eyes were sharp – like, so sharp you could cut your mane with them – and her smile was… broken, like it had all the stuff her smile normally did, but it didn’t add up right.

“Sweetie, we weren’t talking about you behind your back,” I said, stepping between her and the rest of the group. “We were worried about you because you haven’t been yourself lately.”

She laughed, and it sounded like a cheese grater rubbing against my eardrums. “I haven’t been myself lately? This is the only time I have been myself, and you all… You just left me.” Okay, so leaving Sweetie to stew for two weeks after we had a fight didn’t calm her down at all, it just made things a whole lot worse.

“Yeah, well if this is the real you, then you’re pretty rotten,” Apple Bloom said, her ears flattening against her skull. True, but telling Sweetie that wouldn’t make the situation any better. She just – I’m sure if we could find out what was really bothering her, she’d be back to her normal happy self in no time.

“We’re friends,” Sweetie half-squeaked, half-screamed. “Friends aren’t mean to friends.”

“So what’d you call telling everypony at our table that I was dating Life Bloom? Because it sure wasn’t nice,” Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie stammered. “I... Well, you deserved it. You deserved it for not accepting me, for just wanting me to put on the Happy Silly Filly mask.”

“The what now?” I asked, frowning. She wasn’t... Did she think she’d been wearing a mask the entire time we’d been friends? I looked between Diamond Tiara and Bright Lights. One of them was responsible for this, and my gut told me it wasn’t DT. We’d have to talk later.

“The mask.” Sweetie pulled her lips back all the way into a smile that looked like she wanted to eat me. “Me? Oh, I’m great, as long as you’re happy, I’m happy.” The “smile” vanished. “Well, that’s not enough anymore. You being happy isn’t enough anymore, I need to be happy too. I need to do what I want.”

Apple Bloom opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, I spoke up. My gut told me whatever AB wanted to say wouldn’t help smooth things over. “Alright,” I said. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we’ve been taking your happiness for granted or whatever, and if you have been wearing a mask the entire time we’ve known you, I get that you’d want to take it off, so… maybe this weekend we could meet the real Sweetie.”

Sweetie stared at me, her face twisting up. “You mean you’re okay with me being me?” She glanced at Bright Lights for a fraction of a second. Yeah. She was definitely involved with whatever was going on with Sweetie, then. “You don’t just want me to put on the Sweetie mask and go back to being what you want me to be?”

I shook my head before giving Apple Bloom a look that begged her to let me do the talking. “I didn’t know you felt like you were wearing a mask. We’re your friends. You can be yourself with us.”

“No judging me, then? No trying to make me feel bad?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. Ugh, this was going to be one of those things where anything even slightly negative about her would be blown up into us secretly hating her, wasn’t it? I looked at Bright Lights, who had the stupidest, meanest little smirk on her lips. If she had her way, it would be.

“Of course,” I said. “We’d be pretty bad friends if we did that, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, you would be, but at least you’re trying to make up for it.” I bit my tongue. What would Rainbow Dash do if one of her friends turned into an idiotic jerk? She wouldn’t just leave them alone, she’d do what she had to do to get them better. If she could save Rarity after Rarity completely upstaged her, I could deal with Sweetie. I definitely wasn’t going to leave her with Bright Lights.

“What? We’re the bad friends?” Apple Bloom yelled. Yeah, she wasn’t as willing to deal with Sweetie as I was. I didn’t blame her. “Do ya even know what that word–?” I shoved my hoof in her mouth.

“Can I just have a quick word with her?” I asked, turning back to look at Sweetie. She nodded. “Great, we’ll get right back to you. Don’t go anywhere!”

Sweetie grumbled something about me telling her what to do. I was glad she couldn’t see me roll my eyes.

“We… Uhmm… we’d love it if you could tell us what we can do to be better marefriends,” Melody said as AB and I trotted out of the cafeteria.

“Alright,” Apple Bloom said as soon as we were out of earshot. “Why the hay are you going along with this? Sweetie’s bein’ a complete pain in the flank, so why do we have to grovel and beg for forgiveness?”

“We don’t,” I said, looking back into the cafeteria. Everypony was various shades of pissed, except Bright Lights, who looked like the only happy pony in the group. If she wasn’t involved with whatever was going on with Sweetie, then Rainbow Dash wasn’t the coolest pony ever. “I’m not just going to do whatever she wants, but I am willing to play along until we can find out what’s bugging her and try to fix it. We owe her at least that much, right?”

Apple Bloom sighed and nodded. “We do. You think if I go out there and play nice with her she’ll actually notice me gettin’ my cutie mark?

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

***

Diamond Tiara's mansion
Spring 47th, 1396, late morning

“You’re late,” Diamond Tiara said as she opened the door to let me in. I looked at the flower beds that were just starting to bloom after Winter Wrap Up. Maybe it makes me a super girly girl, but I like spring. It means it’s almost summer and I’d be getting a few months of vacation soon. At least, it used to. Now, it meant I was about to start my new job in Manehattan, which was way less exciting. Still pretty cool though.

“I’m always late,” I said, bringing my scooter into her foyer. “We’ve literally never started one of our meetings on time.”

“And it would be nice if we could,” she said, trotting into the sitting room where two glasses of apple juice were sitting on the coffee table. “I like my drinks colder than room temperature.” She grabbed the glass on her side of the table, and raised it up. “To being a better pony.”

“To being a better pony,” I said, repeating her gesture and downing my juice before flopping onto the couch. “And boy has that been hard lately.”

DT sighed and took her seat. “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to just… smack Sweetie lately? Because it’s a lot more than I thought was possible.”

“Yeah, well, I think there’s a line for that at this point. How’s she been, anyways? More drama?”

“Most days, it’s a struggle,” Tiara said. “I know I shouldn’t do what she wants me to, but the minute I put up any resistance, she has her lips against mine and whispers in my ear about how much I’ll absolutely love it. Sooner or later, we give in.” I didn’t want to know just what Sweetie wanted Tiara to do. I’m not against sex or anything, I just don’t want to hear about my friend and Sweetie doing whatever they get up to when they’re alone. It’d be like that time I walked in on my parents back in Cloudsdale, but weirder. I’d known Sweetie since I moved here, and thinking about her doing that stuff with anypony else… Bleck.

“Well, Sweetie is persuasive,” I said, lamely. What do you even say to that? I guess ‘I’m sorry’ would work. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Tiara said, shaking her head. “I’m not being forced to stay.”

“Then why do you?” I asked, frowning and pouring another glass of apple juice for myself. “I get wanting to stay close to Sweetie in case she ever comes back to her senses, but you don’t need to make yourself miserable to do it. She’s–”

“Because it’s my fault,” Tiara said. “I’m the one who convinced her to take that first drink, I helped arrange the second party, and… I think Melody and I said something there that really messed with her. It was… She started talking about how she got sad, and worried if she got sad we’d all leave her, and we laughed. You know, it was something so unlike what she’d say, I thought it was a joke. We both did, but we’d all been drinking, and everything had been so fun, so I guess we just thought it was a bad joke. I did.”

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I can see how that would mess with her head.” I took a big breath. “Still, you didn’t know, and that’s probably the un-Sweetiest thing Sweetie could say. If I were in your place and I’d been drinking, I probably would’ve done the same thing.”

She sighed. “This… if I accidentally helped cause this, I can’t just leave her now. I have to help her.”

“And it would be easier if you could actually say no to her. I know Sweetie can’t afford that apartment on her own. Maybe her parents are helping her a little... but something tells me they aren’t,” I said, raising my eyebrow at her. If we wanted our Sweetie back, we couldn’t keep supporting ‘bad Sweetie’, right? Or would that just let Bright Lights get her hooks in deeper?

“I know,” Tiara said, sighing as she refilled her glass with more juice. “I thought the same thing, but then… Have I mentioned how persuasive she is?”

“Yeah, you have,” I said. And yeah, she was. Our one kiss had completely messed with my head for a week. Could I have lasted under an entire assault of Sweetie kisses? Probably, but not everypony could be as awesome as me. “I can’t blame you, I guess. If not you, Bright Lights probably would have supported her or something.” Although Bright Lights’ dad wasn’t literally Filthy Rich.

“Thanks,” DT said, leaning back into her seat. “You’re lying, but thanks.” She downed her drink. “Enough about Sweetie, how have you been?”

“Manehattan is still a go,” I said, my wings flicking. “Mom’s helped me get a job as a courier there, so as soon as the semester’s done, I’m out.” Courier wasn’t as cool a job as daredevil, but it let me go super fast on my scooter, so it wasn’t too bad. Plus, it kept me in the same city as Sweetie, so when it was time, I’d be there.

“Great. Daddy’s found me a few possible penthouses to stay in, so assuming Sweetie’s play is as big a career boost as Bright Lights assures her it is, we can head out. Oh! And the play’s coming along really well,” DT said, the last words steeped in sarcasm.

“Then everything’s coming up Sweetie, isn’t it?” I said, raising my glass up for a mocking toast. “Also, I thought you didn’t want to talk about her anymore.”

She shrugged. “I don’t, but I see her almost every day, and for some reason, I still want her to like me. Like, so desperately it’s not even funny. It’s terrible, but I keep thinking if I can just do this or that thing right, she’ll go back to being normal, and some days it almost works.”

“Huh,” I asked, tilting my head. “What do you mean it almost works?”

“Some days, it’s almost like I have the old her back, you know, like the day you three had your big cutie mark party? She has those days and she just loves me so much and everything’s wonderful, and the next day, she’s more miserable and grumpy and controlling than ever,” Tiara said. “I don’t know what I’m doing right or wrong, but it never manages to last, and even then, there’s still that… manipulativeness in her.” She frowned, and looked down at her hooves. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just crazy. I feel like it lately, you know?”

“We’re all feeling a little crazy. Maybe Apple Bloom has the right idea, just cutting all ties with Sweetie and going on with her life. Oh! She and Life Bloom are doing really well, by the way. I don’t think she’s told AJ that she’s dating Life Bloom yet, though… Probably because if she does, Applejack will start sitting in on their ‘study sessions.’”

“Right,” Tiara said, laughing. “Do they actually do any studying then?”

“Hey, it’s Life Bloom we’re talking about here. If she says they’re doing a study session, they’re studying... but there’s probably more kissing going on during those sessions than any study session I’ve ever had,” I said, smiling. It wasn’t that funny, but sweet Celestia, we both needed it.

“To Apple Bloom, Life Bloom, and healthy relationships everywhere,” I said, raising my glass.

“And to the rest of us!” Tiara added before downing her juice. “We certainly need it more.”

***

Sweet Apple Acres
Summer 5th, 1396, afternoon

I looked at the pile of stuff in the center of our old clubhouse. “You didn’t waste any time taking all this stuff down, did you?” I asked, looking at Apple Bloom.

She just shrugged. “I want this alchemy lab up as soon as possible. No point keeping a clubhouse if there’s no more club.”

“Yeah, I get it,” I said, trotting to the pile and looking over all our old stuff. Heh, for a second I felt like Sweetie Belle on the day after Nightmare Night, except instead of sorting a mountain of candy, I got to look for whatever trinkets I didn’t want to see thrown away, or... “You’re not going to throw this table away, are you?”

“It’s a bit small for me now,” she said. “It’s a filly-sized table, and I don’t know any fillies, do you?”

“Well, maybe if Applejack and Rarity were still dating…” I trailed off, trying not to laugh at the look in AB’s eyes.

“I don’t even wanna think about that,” she said, shooting a look back at the farmhouse. “Can you imagine the two of them trying to look after a filly? She’d need therapy for sure.”

“Yeah, no kidding,”I said, nodding along. “Geez, I heard them fight and make up once, and I felt like I needed therapy for it. How can they have kept going after some of the stuff they said?” Not that they were going anymore, but still, they lasted way longer than they should’ve.

“I don’t know, if ponies can put up with Sweetie, then my sister must’ve had no problem dealin’ with Rarity,” Apple Bloom said, stepping closer to me and the pile.

“Uh-huh, so, there anypony your sister has an eye on now?” I asked, pulling a couple of posters out of the pile. I rolled up the official Rainbow Dash Fan Club poster and put it in my saddlebag. Maybe if I collected enough, I could completely wallpaper my room with Rainbow Dash posters. And then I could never get a date, because the minute anypony saw my room, they’d bolt out screaming.

“Really?” Apple Bloom said, raising an eyebrow. “You need another Rainbow Dash poster? Don’t ya have enough already?”

“At this point, it’s really just a game to see how much Rainbow Dash stuff I can collect. Hopefully, it’s enough that I have to get an entire room in my apartment dedicated to her. Or maybe an entire other apartment,” I said, grinning at her.

“You’re jokin’, right?” Apple Bloom asked, frowning at me. I nodded.

“Yeah, but I’m still not gonna let this poster wind up in the trash. It’s a collector’s item,” I said, making sure it was secured in my bag before going back to the pile.

“And the only ponies who might possibly be interested in it live in Ponyville or Cloudsdale. Don’t exactly think there’s a Rainbow Dash fan club in Manehattan,” she said, joining me in looking through the pile.

“Not yet, there isn’t, but give me a few weeks there, and I’ll get it set up,” I said, tossing our official Crusader gavel in my bag.

“Hey, can I ask you somethin’?” Apple Bloom asked. “I mean, somethin’ else. Besides that.”

“Of course,” I said, throwing a few of Apple Bloom’s books out of the pile. Where was it?

“Why are you so into Rainbow Dash? I always thought... Well, I guess I’d just like to know before you left. Sweetie and I actually came up with a few theories back when she was still…” She let the thought die and pulled up a loose floorboard before pulling out a scroll. “Some of these suggestions are just a bit sillier than others, but if I guess the right one, just let me know.”

“Uhmm… I could just tell you,” I said, grabbing the scroll before she could unroll it and putting it in my saddlebags. I knew what I was reading on the train ride to Canterlot. “It’s not exactly a big secret.”

“Really?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head. “Then how come you never told me?”

“I guess because you never asked,” I said, shrugging. “Actually, I kind of thought I told you.”

“Ya didn’t,” Apple Bloom said, rolling her eyes. “So what is it? Is she secretly your long-lost sister? Sweetie thought she could be your mom, since we never actually met your parents, but–”

“No, she not my sister or my mom. She’s just awesome,” I said, nodding my head.

“Alright, so why are ya her biggest fan?”

“I just told you,” I said, taking a step away from her and looking back at the pile. “Because she’s awesome.”

“That’s it?” Apple Bloom asked, frowning. “You’re the biggest Rainbow Dash super fan ever because she’s awesome?”

I nodded. “It’s not really that big a mystery. How many times have I told you about how awesome she is?”

“A lot,” Apple Bloom said, rolling her eyes. “I’m pretty sure you talked about Rainbow Dash as much as Sweetie talked about candy, kissing, and dating combined, except she only had a few months to talk about all that junk, well, ‘cept candy. You’ve been talkin’ about Rainbow Dash since I met ya.”

“Fine,” I said, sighing and going back to sorting the pile. “There is kind of a story, if you really want to hear it. Remember the Summer Sun Celebration? You know, the one where Nightmare Moon returned?”

“Yeah, actually… didn’t we hide under the same curtain when she came back?” Apple Bloom asked. “I know there were two other ponies under there with me, but it was kind of dark, and–”

“I think we did,” I said, nodding my head. “I know I hid under there with Sweetie, and… yeah, I remember somepony next to Sweetie, and I think she had a bow. Huh, who knew? Anyways, so you remember how it was, I’d just moved to Ponyville, was completely terrified that Nightmare Moon was going to eat me, and then when she was leaving, Rainbow Dash just dashed off after her, and the next time I saw her, the sun was up.”

“But she didn’t stop Nightmare Moon,” Apple Bloom said. “Well, she did, but she did it with our friends.”

“I know,” I said, pulling a couple of Sweetie’s dolls out from the pile. These could go back to Rarity. “I mean, I know now, but at the time, all I saw was that everypony was scared to death, except her., She was totally willing to go hoof to hoof against a monster, and I wished I could be as brave as she was. You know, when I first moved here, I was so terrified, I made Fluttershy look like Rainbow Dash... but then, I saw a brave pony; I saw a pony I admired, so I tried to be more like her. “ I grinned at her. “And now, I’m almost as awesome as she is. Give me a few more years, and I’ll probably have my own fanclub.”

Apple Bloom laughed. “Well, you definitely got your humility from her.”

“Yeah…” I frowned back at the pile. “Hey, could you help me find something? Do you remember that photo we took the day we all celebrated getting our cutie marks?”

“I think it’s in my room somewhere. Let me go get it,” she said, trotting to the entrance.

“Cool, if you want to keep it, that’s fine, by the way, I just figured – I mean, I don’t want to see it go in the trash, you know? It was like the last good day the three of us had together.”

***

Sweet Apple Acres
Winter 34th, 1396, late morning

“Is Sweetie here, yet?” I asked, trotting into the clubhouse where Apple Bloom and Life Bloom sat, looking over a bunch of alchemy books. Well, at least they weren’t as obvious about the romantic stuff as Sweetie and her herd were. Ugh, if I was surrounded by kissy friends on all fronts, I think I might lose my mind.

“Nope,” Apple Bloom said, lifting her head up from her books. “Guess the new Sweetie doesn’t care much about bein’ on time.”

“Hey, go easy on her today, alright? We’re trying to win her back over, not push her deeper into Bright Lights’ hooves,” I said, taking a seat at the table. “I know she’s been a bit difficult to deal with, but yelling’s just gonna make things worse.” Even if I really wanted to yell.

“But she deserves to be yelled at after what she did,” Apple Bloom said, shaking her head and looking to Life Bloom.

“While I certainly agree Sweetie’s behavior has been less than satisfactory these past few weeks, I also understand the wisdom of Scootaloo’s plan. Responding with force will only serve to further radicalize both parties. Things are not so far gone that we can’t civilly voice our concerns. We are not animals – metaphorically, I mean.”

“Right,” I said, “so let’s be cool and everything will be fine. Apple Bloom, can you keep Bright Lights away from Sweetie? That way, you won’t have to deal with–”

“Hey, everypony!” Sweetie said, bouncing into the room. “Oh my goodness, I’m just so sorry for being so nasty these last few weeks, I never wanted to hurt my friends, I just wanted to be happy. That’s not bad, right?”

I shook my head. What had flipped the switch in Sweetie’s head from grumpy to happy? “No, it’s not bad, Sweetie, and if you ever felt like you couldn’t be yourself around us, that’s our fault, right, Apple Bloom?”

Apple Bloom nodded, just staring at Sweetie “Yep, so… you’re back to normal, then?”

Sweetie shook her head and laughed. “Of course, not. Why would I ever want to go back to being normal? It wasn’t fun, but this? This is fun. I feel so happy and alive, and I just want to hug you all.”

Before we could react, she’d tackled the both of us to the floor and had us locked in a huge hug. It was – I hate mushy stuff, but it was nice feeling like I had my Sweetie back, even if my gut told me whatever had been bugging her wasn’t actually gone.

“So,” she said, bouncing over to Diamond Tiara, balancing an entire pile of board games on her back. “What do we want to do first? I was thinking we could play my sister’s copy of Cards Against Equinity, but that’s kind of overdone, isn’t it?” She grabbed the box with her magic and threw it out the window. “Why’d I even bring it with me in the first place?” She doubled over laughing. “Right, because the joke would be funny, very meta, right?”

Meta? What’d that even mean? Had she been talking with Pinkie again? Ugh, probably. “So,” I said, getting back on my hooves. “What’s got you so happy today? Anything good?”

“Of course!” she said, her smile threatening to eat her face. “I’m with the best friends and marefriends in the whole wide world! How could I not be happy? How could I not be filled with joy?”

That got her a glare from Bright Lights, but Sweetie just laughed it off. “Well,” Apple Bloom said while Life Bloom helped her up, “I’m just glad to have the fun Sweetie back instead of the nasty one.”

I thought I saw Sweetie wince as she turned to focus her full attention on Apple Bloom. “Oh my goodness, Apple Bloom, you got your cutie mark and I haven’t even congratulated you for it!” She gave Apple Bloom another bone-breaking hug. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“Sure,” she choked out. “Just let me breathe…”

“Sorry,” Sweetie said, ending the hug and dropping Apple Bloom to the floor. “How is it? How do you feel? Not very different, right? Tell me all about it.”

“Alright,” Apple Bloom said, gasping as she got back to her hooves again. “Just, no more hugs, right?”

Sweetie nodded violently. “Anything you say. So come on, tell me!”

“Well, I was at the farm, Applejack and Rarity had kicked me out of the house to look around the orchard for a while, and I saw all the trees had this rot in them. They weren’t dead, but they sure were close, and I thought maybe I could whip up a potion that would take care of it. You know, somethin’ like that apple-growin’ potion I accidentally made with Miss Twilight, but it would target growth around the rotten areas and also keep the rot away in the future. I made the potion with no problem, and when I was squirtin’ every tree in the orchard with it, I guess I realized I could use my potion-makin’ to make Sweet Apple Acres even better. When I got back to the cabin, Applejack told me I’d got my cutie mark, and we spent the rest of the day celebratin’.” She glanced at Life Bloom at the last part, and I really wanted to not be thinking about how they celebrated.

Again, not a prude or whatever, I just don’t like thinking about my friends having sex. Especially Sweetie. Seeing her wearing makeup that first day, it was like... I’d never imagined my best friend doing anything at all sexual before, and seeing that – I didn’t handle the fact she was changing as well as I could’ve, that’s for sure. Wasn’t going to mess it up again now.

“That’s great!” Sweetie said, still smiling. “I always knew you’d figure out your special talent sooner or later, and the way you got it is just so great. You probably saved that entire orchard. The apples must think you’re a hero!” Did she mean Apples, like the family, or apples, like the fruit? Even for Sweetie, this was pretty hyper. Even Pinkie would probably tell her to take a chill pill.

“Thanks,” Apple Bloom said, nodding her head. “I was kind of worried you didn’t care about me gettin’ my cutie mark. It’s been all you lately, and I thought you just didn’t care about the rest of us anymore.”

Sweetie smiled and gave Apple Bloom a hug that didn’t look like it could break bones. “Of course it’s been all about me lately, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Your potions are probably going to be so great there’s going to be a huge line of ponies wanting your help.”

Diamond Tiara finished setting down all the board games and walked over to stroke Sweetie’s mane. “Are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been so up today… you haven’t gone on another sugar binge, have you?”

She laughed and shook her head. “I swear, I haven’t even touched it today. I haven’t eaten anything!”

“And you haven’t drunk anything either, right?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow. Right, because alcohol totally made you into a hyperactive marshmallow blur.

“Nope,” Sweetie said, shaking her head. “I mean, I had some water this morning, but that’s it. Anyways…” Sweetie looked around the room. “Where are the snacks at? I would kill for some punch or water, don’t know why I’m so thirsty.”

“Socket’s bringing the drinks,” I said, looking out the window for my friend. He normally wasn’t this late, but then, neither was Sweetie. Finally, I saw a brown speck on the horizon with something big and gray following after him. Please tell me he wasn’t going to –

“What’s that?” Sweetie asked, sticking her head out the same window and bumping her flank against mine. Whatever she’d washed herself with left my flank tingling for minutes after we’d touched, and – I didn’t have a crush on Sweetie, but if I did, could you blame me? She was – deep down – she was the best friend you could ever hope to have. Heck, she’d been nice enough to give Diamond Tiara a second chance. I don’t even think Princess Celestia would do that, although I guess I’d eventually given her a second chance, and she was pretty great when she wasn’t being terrible.

“I think it’s–” I looked closer and sighed. He actually had his robot working, and it was pulling a wagon full of drinks. Geeze, there were only going to be eight of us at this party, we didn’t need enough drinks to fill up a lake. Plus, why did he have his robot out? The last time he’d shown it to me, it’d taken five steps and fallen over, although I guess that problem had been fixed since it was now lugging the drink wagon.

“When did Socket get a robot?” Sweetie asked. Huh. Apparently the news that he had a robot wasn’t as big a deal to her as I’d imagined.

“He’s had it for a while, he’s just been struggling to get it to walk right. Guess that’s fixed now, though,” I said, shrugging and back away from Sweetie. Socket probably was going to need some help unpacking all those drinks, and I didn’t trust his robot to handle the ramp leading up to our clubhouse.

“Cool,” Sweetie said, bolting down the ramp and jumping up on the robot before I could think to do anything. “Hi, Mr. Robot, did you know you’re the first robot I’ve ever met? How cool is that?”

It didn’t say anything. It was a robot.

“Hey, Socket, how come your robot isn’t talking with me, yet? Did I upset it?” Sweetie asked, looking back at him.

“No, he – it – can’t talk. It’s a robot. It knows how to follow this medallion, and that’s it. It tries to stay within a ten-foot radius of the control medallion at all times. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn’t even know enough to avoid trees.” He looked up at the clubhouse towards Apple Bloom while I trotted over to the drink wagon and unhitched it from the robot. “Oh, and sorry about that, AB.”

Apple Bloom sighed. “It’s fine, just show me the trees he walked through and I’ll whip up a potion to fix ‘em. Although can’t you do something so it avoids other objects? You know, so it doesn’t trample over ponies?”

“Probably,” Socket said, nodding his head. “Yeah, that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Great,” I said, holding a gallon of juice with my teeth. “Ca’ ‘o ‘elp me out a li’l bit?”

“Right,” Socket said, trotting over to me and flipping a switch on the side of his robot. “Hey, Sweetie, can you make with the magic or will we be using old-fashioned horsepower to get these drinks up to the club house?”

Sweetie tried to light her horn up before collapsing into a fit of laughter. “Horsepower, that’s great,” she choked out between gasps of laughter. Great, it would probably be at least a couple of minutes before she calmed down enough to help us out. Life Bloom stuck her head out of the clubhouse window and lit her horn up, wrapping all the drinks in her cinnamon-colored magic.

“Thanks, LB,” Socket called out before pulling a camera out of his wagon. “I thought maybe the three of you could take a picture to celebrate you all getting your cutie marks,” he said.

“That sounds great,” I said, grabbing the camera strap and hanging it from my neck. “Uhmm… You know how to work it, right?”

He rolled his eyes. “I can build a robot. I think I can handle pushing a button on a camera.”

“Right, dumb question,” I said, glancing at Sweetie who was still rolling around in the snow and laughing at the robot. What had gotten into her?

“You’re worried, I get it,” he said, following my gaze. “If I were you, I’d be worried too, although she doesn’t seem as bad today as she was this last week.” No kidding, she’d been pretty close to unbearable since we’d gotten back from break.

“Come on,” Sweetie,” I said, heading towards the clubhouse. “Let’s get you out of the snow.”

“But it’s so fluffy!” she said, laughing and throwing the snow up into air. “Snow, it’s… how do they even make it?”

“In a factory,” I said. “Come up to Cloudsdale some time, and I’ll give you the tour. You know, just be sure to cast a cloudwalking spell first.”

“Could I actually get to feel a cloud?” she asked, getting up on her hooves and trotting with me. “Is it as soft and fluffy as it looks?”

“It’s pretty awesome,” I said, nodding my head. “Once you go on a cloudbed, other beds feel like rocks. I had to ask Mom to get me a cloudbed for my room when I was having my growth spurt because on top of being ridiculously uncomfy, my hooves were dangling off the edge. You don’t have that problem on a cloudbed that folds around and contours itself to you.”

“Sounds great,” Sweetie said, a glassy look entering into her eyes. How long had her eyes been unfocused? “Do you think I could try it out with you?”

I laughed and suddenly found it really difficult to look at Sweetie’s glazed-over eyes. “You know, I’m sure it’d be fine for you to try it if you had a cloudwalking spell cast on you, but I don’t think it’s big enough for the two of us.”

“Even better,” Sweetie said, trying to give me her best come-hither look. I really wish I had a spray bottle when she got like this. Bad Sweetie, no flirting with everypony you meet.

I coughed as my wings popped open at the thought. Sweetie took the opportunity to take a step closer to me. I could smell the perfume wafting from her. Really? She was either using way too much perfume or she was getting really close to me. I felt the heat of her breath against my muzzle. That second thing, then.

“Stop acting like you have a crush on me,” I said, pushing her away. A second later, she was back in my face. “What will Melody or Tiara say if they catch you?” Or Bright Lights, but –

She laughed. “It’s an open relationship, Scootaloo, there’s room in my herd for you.” I couldn’t stop looking at the makeup on her eyelids, but to be fair, she was so close, they were pretty much the only things I could see. Yeah, that was… I’d kind of walked into that one.

“I see how you look at me,” Sweetie said, leaning in and whispering into my ear. “And I want you to know, I feel the same way. We’re best friends, we do everything together, and I want to show you a whole new world of things we can do. Besides, it would be fun having someone as athletic as you in the herd.”

I – This wasn’t – She wasn’t right, she was sick. Maybe not physically, but she was sick. I couldn’t take advantage of that. If I did, I was just as sick as her.

“Get back,” I said, glaring at her. “I don’t have a crush on you, so… just stop.”

She laughed and turned around. “Whatever you say, but if you change your mind, I’ll be right here for you.” As she trotted off, she twisted the tip of her tail against my muzzle. Oh Celestia, it smelled fantastic. No, had to keep focused. I couldn’t do what she wanted me to, even if it would probably be fun in the short-term, and don’t think about that, think about something else. How fast could I get to the Crystal Empire on my scooter? Could I do it faster on Socket’s scooter than I could on a regular scooter? How much faster? “Don’t keep me waiting.” Yep. I could get there two hours faster going full-speed on Socket’s scooter. That was pretty great.

I blinked. Sweetie was gone, back closer to the clubhouse, making out with Bright Lights. Great. Where was Melody at? Wasn’t she bringing the snacks? “Hey, Socket,” I called as I trotted up the ramp to the clubhouse, leaving Sweetie and Bright Lights behind. “Did you see Melody on your way over?”

“Nope!” he said, pouring a cup of juice for himself. “Hope she gets here soon though, bringing all those drinks sure worked up an appetite."

“You had the robot do all the heavy stuff,” I said, rolling my eyes as my wings finally settled back down. “He’s the one who should be complaining, not you.”

“I had to load them onto his wagon,” Socket said. “That took some work. Plus, I had to, y’know, build a robot, and–” He peeked out the window. “Good, it’s still there. Sometimes, I think it moves when nopony’s looking. Have to keep him locked up in the workshop most of the time so he doesn’t go exploring on his own.”

“You’re joking, right?” I asked, wrinkling my forehead. I didn’t know a lot about golems and robots, but them doing stuff they weren’t ordered to do seemed like a pretty big problem.

“Uh, yeah,” he said, nodding his head and looking away from the robot. “Of course I am, I just keep him locked up in the workshop so nopony steals him. You know, a lot of mana crystals are powering him. Can’t believe the school let me use that many, actually.”

“Do they know you’ve got–?”

Sweetie screamed below us and my ears rang. “You! What are you here for? To make fun of me some more?” I looked out the window. She and Dazzler were staring each other down, Dazzler’s wings spread flat so she could balance as many snacks as she could on them, while Melody stood between them, looking like I did those few times Mom and Dad got into a fight. Bright Lights just looked satisfied. I really wanted to punch her in the face sometimes. What did Sweetie see in her?

“This is going to be bad,” Diamond Tiara said, whispering in my ear. No kidding.

“I’m here to help Melody,” Dazzler said, matching Sweetie’s death glare. “I know this is a foreign concept to you, Sweetie, but when you care about another pony, you help them even when it’s inconvenient to you. For instance, I would much rather spend my Saturday reading the bard instead of having to make even a second of conversation with the worst pony in the world.”

“Then don’t talk to yourself,” Sweetie said. That was… It was actually kind of funny. Her horn ignited and she lifted the snacks off Dazzler’s back. “And I totally know what it’s like to help a pony even when it’s inconvenient for you. My friends do it for me all the time.” And Sweetie used to return the favor. Not so much, anymore.

Dazzler just glared at Sweetie, like a thousand insults were trying to fight their way out of her mouth or something. She looked from Sweetie to Melody, and whatever she wanted to say withered. “I’ll see you later tonight, Melody.”

“Uhmm… alright,” Melody said, earning a glare from the pony who’d once managed to forgive and reform Diamond Tiara. “I… I’ll see you later, Dazzler.” Sweetie leaned in and whispered something in Melody’s ear as Dazzler walked off. Whatever it was seemed to calm Melody down some.

Sweetie carried the snacks up to the clubhouse, a huge dumb smile on her face. “Sorry about that,” she said, giving us a little laugh. “Anyways, we’ve got the chips.”

We all just stared at her. “You seemed rather antagonistic towards Dazzler,” Life Bloom said. Yeah, that was an understatement, up there with ‘I’m kind of fast on my scooter.’

“So what?” Sweetie said, shrugging as she floated the snacks onto a table. “You saw how mean she was to me. She deserves it.” Everypony just looked between her and the floor, not wanting to say anything. “Look, it’s not like I’d ever be that nasty to you girls, you’re my best friends.” She smiled at us. “Now can we please have some fun?”

***

Fun was actually really easy to have. Board games, juice, and chips were more than enough to distract us from Sweetie’s earlier outburst, and she was doing her best to be friendly. If this was the new Sweetie, then maybe it wasn’t that bad? Sure, I’d like it if she’d stop trying to kiss me, but at least she wasn’t being mean all the time.

“You sunk my cloudship!” Sweetie squealed, breaking out into peals of laughter. She collapsed onto the floor, giggling and laughing the whole time. Her back leg kicked and she knocked over my game board. Smooth.

“Okay, it’s not that funny,” I said, trying to reset my game board. Not that it mattered, all of Sweetie’s pieces were on the floor, and I didn’t think she could remember where they used to be.

“Kind of is,” Sweetie said, still giggling. “Everything’s funny if you see it the right way. With enough joy, the world becomes the greatest funniest thing ever.” Bright Lights whispered in Sweetie’s ears, and her laughter vanished. “Sorry,” she said, getting to her hooves. “I’ve got to go outside for a few minutes, I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll go with you,” I said, getting on my hooves and following her to the door.

“Actually,” Bright Lights said, tapping me on the back of the shoulder. “I was hoping the two of us could have some time to talk. We haven’t really had much opportunity to talk one-on-one, and a friend of Sweetie’s is a friend of mine.” Somehow, I doubted that.

“Fine,” I said, turning around to look at her while Sweetie slid out the door. “What do you want to talk about?” Everypony else was playing a game of Mareopoly that somehow hadn’t ended in a hoof-fight yet.

“Why, I wanted to talk about you, of course. You’re so dear to Sweetie, I feel the need to meet the mare behind the myth.” What was up with the way she spoke? It was like she was trying to lull me to sleep with her words. Like a bad hypnotist. ‘You are getting sleepy, very sleepy.’ Ugh, no thanks.

“Yeah, what about you, instead?” I asked, glaring at her. “Ever since she’s started hanging out with you, Sweetie’s been acting really weird. You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you?”

She sat down and put her hooves against her chest. “Me? Never. I encourage virtue wherever I find it. I’m afraid what’s gotten into Sweetie is simply a case of unrequited adoration.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying not to roll my eyes. Sweetie had more than enough affection and adoration headed her way.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Bright Lights asked. “The mare is obviously smitten with you, and you just rebuff her every advance. Can you tell me you don’t have similar feelings?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, shaking my head. “Sweetie’s not in a good place right now, and me joining her herd wouldn’t help things out any. I want what’s best for her, and enabling her delusions isn’t that.”

Bright Lights sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Are you that dense? The only reason she’s behaving so… poorly, is because she loves you. If she had you next to her, I’m sure her behavior would improve dramatically. Love has a way of curing all ailments, it’s said.” Like she’d know. “I know the sensation of Sweetie’s lips against me has done absolute wonders for my disposition. You should try it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. What the heck was going on here, anyway? She had to be trying to tick me off... right? She was either trying to push Sweetie away from me, or get me to march to the beat of Sweetie’s tune, so she could...

That was it, wasn’t it. That was exactly what she was trying to do. We made a huge mistake leaving Sweetie alone with Bright Lights over winter break like that. Sweetie couldn't have lasted all of five seconds against that level of cunning. Well, I wouldn’t give Bright Lights what she wanted.

“I see,” Bright Lights said, giving me a slow smile. “Well, for the sake of your friendship, I hope Sweetie never hears that you consider her infatuation with you ‘delusional.’ You know how volatile she can be lately. One minute, she’s your best friend, and the next, she’s completely disowned you.” Oh, crap. Could I have maybe figured out Bright Lights before I called Sweetie delusional? That would’ve been – Ugh, why was I such an idiot?

“What do you want?” I asked, wings twitching. For a pegasus, it’s less ‘flight or fight’, and more flight and fight. Not that it helped me much. Sometimes, having super-twisted wings can really stink.

Bright Lights tilted her head. “Why, I just want my beloved to be happy. I’d never threaten to blackmail one of Sweetie’s dear friends for my own advancement. What type of monster do you take me for?” A sharp one. If Diamond Tiara was the bullying equivalent of a sledgehammer, Bright Lights was a poisoned dagger. One cut could kill you.

I gritted my teeth. “And besides going out with Sweetie, what can I do to make her happy?”

“Well, that would, of course, be the ideal thing, but I suppose everypony can’t be as generous and loving as I. No, if you’re intent on being selfish, I suppose there’s just no helping it.”

My eye twitched. “Socket!”

“Yeah,” he said, looking up from the Mareopoly game. Apple Bloom and Melody looked like they were about to start yelling at each other. I don’t even want to know how the board game got Melody that upset, but that’s the power of Mareopoly, I guess.

“Let’s do that photo as soon as Sweetie gets back,” I said, getting to my hooves and trotting over to Apple Bloom. As if on cue, Sweetie bounced back into the room. Seriously, Ponyville has some weird timing thing that Cloudsdale completely lacks.

“Ooh! We’re doing the photo?” she said, still bouncing. What did she do to get herself so pumped up outside? Did she have a drink stashed out there? No, that usually made Mom and Dad kind of sleepy. That’s why they went to bed so much earlier when they had drinks.

“Yep,” I said, smiling at her as the rest of our friends cleared away. The three of us struggled to find some way we could position ourselves to show off our cutie marks. We eventually settled on a staggered formation, so our flanks and heads were visible at the cost of our torsos being covered up by the flank of the pony in front of us. Sweetie insisted on being first.

“Say cheese,” Socket said, holding his camera up. I did my best to give him a smile.

“Cheese!” the three of us said in unison as the flashbulb went off.

“Alright,” I said, blinking the flash out of my eyes and turning to Sweetie, who was waving a hoof in front of her eyes. “Sweetie, I want you to remember this when the light stops blinding you: You’re a great pony. You are. No matter what you do, you’ll always have ponies who care about you, who want you to be happy, and want you to be happy with yourself. Whenever the bright lights fade, and they will fade, we’ll be here for you. Got it?”

Her forehead scrunched up. “Kind of, but… I know I have ponies that care about me no matter what I do, Bright Lights told me that over break.”

I took a deep breath. That was it, then. Once the party ended, Bright Lights was going to whisper the right words to turn Sweetie against me in her ear. If I gave in and went with her plan, maybe... If I gave in, I wouldn’t be able to help Sweetie when the time came. I gave Sweetie one last smile. If I was going out, I might as well go out with style.

“Bright Lights,” I said, keeping my smile up as I trotted to her. “You’ve changed Sweetie so much since you met her, it’s completely night and day. So I just wanted to say, for all you’ve done for her…” Bright Lights tilted her head, struggling to figure out where I was going. It was nice seeing her lose that look of smug satisfaction. What was going to happen next would be even nicer, though. “You can go straight to Tartarus.”

Her eyes went wide as my foreleg barreled forwards. An instant later, my forehoof crunched against her muzzle and Bright Lights’ head snapped back with a crack. I winced as I put my weight back on my forehoof. Punching a pony in the face hurts. They never mention that in the Daring Do books. I looked around. Everypony but Sweetie’s herd looked completely shocked. Diamond Tiara was struggling to keep herself from smiling, Melody was sprinting over to Bright Lights’’s side, and Sweetie seemed to have no idea what just happened. “I’ll see you later, Apple Bloom,” I said as I left the clubhouse.

***

My right hoof ached as it grasped my scooter’s handle. It was a good ache. The type of pain that came after one of Rainbow Dash’s total-body workout sessions, but better. I winced. I was going to have to pay for that punch, though. Aunt Sea Breeze would hear about it, and then I’d get grounded because fighting isn’t ‘ladylike’ (although does that mean a colt could fight? That doesn’t seem fair. I’ve been training with Rainbow Dash, so I could probably take on half the colts at school with my foreleg tied behind my back). Still, the punishment was going to be worth it.

Yes, it sucked that Sweetie was probably going to be pissed at me forever now, but Bright Lights was going to get her mad at me anyways. This way, I at least got to go out on my terms. And one day, Sweetie was going to come back to her senses, and everything would be fine. Maybe she could join me and Diamond Tiara’s club.

“Hey, Scootaloo!” a voice called and I put on the brakes, barely swerving out of the way of the gray mailmare – Ditzy Doo – standing right in front of me. “I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t make it and I’d have to burn up this letter for you. It’s for you.”

“Huh?” I asked, scrunching up my face. Why was she waiting here to –

“Well, way back at the end of summer, I got a letter for you, and it had a note attached saying I needed to deliver it to you at this time and this place, and if you didn’t show up, I had to burn it. I’d never intentionally destroy somepony’s mail, but at the same time, I do try to follow all of our customer’s requests, so I’m really glad you showed up,” she said, one of her eyes doing a complete rotation in its socket. How could she fly with such bad vision? At least I could see where I wasn’t flying.

“Uhmm… okay,” I said, taking the letter from her hoof and biting it open. Who the hay thought envelopes were a good idea? Unless you had magic, you had to get all bitey to open any mail. I guess you could use a knife, but that was only a little easier.

I unfolded the letter.

Scootaloo,

Spring 13, 1399. 2:47 PM
Easton Heights Penthouse Suite, Manehattan

Save me.

Love, Smartie Belle.

P.S. I’m really sorry about how terrible I’m going to be for the next few months. I promise, I’ll do everything I can to make it up to you.

Author's Note

It's happening! The first part of our three part finale is here!

Special thanks go out to EquesTRON for not only being an awesome editor, but also suggesting the song title for this chapter. Expect a post-mortem in a few days once everything that needs to be said is published. Until next time, readers.

Also, this chapter probably would've been out yesterday if not for the hacking thing.

15. Don't Feed the Plants (Scootaloo)

Sweet Apple Acres
Summer 5th, 1396, late afternoon

Apple Bloom and I stood in her bedroom. The picture from our last good day stood on her nightstand. Maybe the Cutie Mark Crusaders weren’t as dead as I thought. Maybe they were just on life support. “You still care about Sweetie,” I said.

“I– Maybe,” Apple Bloom said. “I wake up, and it’s nice to be reminded of the good times. Not that things are bad now. I love Life Bloom, we’re still great friends, and gen’rally, things haven’t been better. I just... the picture reminds me of all the fun we had back when it was the three of us. Keeps me from gettin’ too mad at Sweetie whenever she does something stupid, which is just about every day.”

I laughed and slumped against Apple Bloom’s wall. “Yeah, it’s – we could probably run a gossip column just about all the stuff Sweetie and her herd get up to. Not that we should.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “No kiddin’...” We glanced away from each other, and she trotted over to the photo. “I guess you’ll be takin’ this to Manehattan with you?”

I shook my head, thinking of the letter now safely tucked away in my saddlebag. “You can keep it,” I said, smiling her. “As long as somepony’s holding on to it. That type of stuff’s important to Sweetie, and she’ll probably kill me when she gets back if I let that get thrown away.”

“You really think she’s coming back?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “I’m pretty sure New Sweetie is here to stay.”

I thought of the letter safely tucked away in my new courier’s bag, waiting for the trip to Manehattan with my mom in three days. “Smartie Belle” never said I couldn’t tell ponies about it, but it seemed personal. I didn’t want to share it with everypony. I only told Rainbow Dash because I needed somepony to help me make sense of things, and the other pony, well, she’d really needed to see it. Still… “I just have a hunch,” I said, smiling at her. Nope, if Sweetie wanted ponies to hear about the letter, she could tell them herself.

“Well, it’d be nice, that’s for sure,” Apple Bloom said.

“Come on, go with me to her play,” I said. “You know, for old times and stuff. Maybe we can get the Crusaders together one last time. I’ve got to get going to the train station, so what do you say?”

She sighed. “Fine. I guess it’ll at least be kind of fun to watch a show about a singing plant, and if somethin’ good happens with Sweetie, which I don’t think’s likely, that’s just a bonus.”

I grinned at her, summoning my best Rainbow Dash. “Come on, a night in Canterlot with the second-coolest mare in Equestria? Can you say ‘best night ever’?”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Keep talkin’ like that and I’m gonna change my mind.”

***

Ponyville Dojo
Winter 37th, 1396, daytime

Ninety-seven… ninety-eight… ninety-nine… one hundred. I collapsed onto the workout mat in Ponyville’s dojo.

“Good,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding her head. “Now give me a hundred more push-ups using your left foreleg. You have two minutes.”

I grunted and pushed myself back up with my left hoof, using my wings to help keep my balance. “So, care to tell me why you punched Bright Lights?” Rainbow Dash asked, flapping her wings a few hooves above me.

“Because she’s the worst,” I said between grunts. “Like, I’d rather hang out with Discord than her. I’d rather hang out with twenty Discords than her, that’s how bad she is.”

A weight suddenly pressed down on my back as I heard a way-too-familiar snap. “Oh, I’m so excited that you said that, I’ve just been dying for some company lately, and since you’re not up to much these days… Tea party?”

“Get off,” I yelled, struggling to keep myself from collapsing. Acts of Discord weren’t an excuse for failing a Rainbow Dash workout.

“Fine,” he said, snapping his claws and popping into existence right in front of me. “So, what do you say to Saturday? We can hang out and talk about boys and talk about how crazy Sweetie Belle’s gotten lately. Ooh! Should we start rumors about her? I heard she and Bright Lights are up to some very unchaste things, think of the scandal.”

“I’m pretty sure any rumours I could come up with would be tamer than the truth,” I said, my left foreleg beginning to burn. Seventeen. “And can we please stop talking about Sweetie? You know, for like one conversation?”

“Well, this is her story,” Discord said, hopping off my back, “We are but bit players, here to say our lines and shuffle off stage, and I think we’re supposed to be reflecting on how far Sweetie’s fallen now.”

“No,” I grunted, “I’m trying to do these push-ups like Rainbow Dash asked.”

“Yeah, so unless you’ve got something important to say, leave Scoots alone,” Rainbow Dash said, flapping between me and Discord. “She’s got enough to deal with without you here.” Twenty-five.

“Very well,” Discord said, sighing. “Here I was hoping for a pleasant talk, but it seems I’m to be sent back out into the wilderness. Whatever shall I do?” He swooned. Can stallions even do that? I thought that was just a mare thing, but like… a thirteenth-century mare thing. Or a Rarity thing. Whatever. He landed on his back and magicked a business card into my mouth. I spat it out. “If you ever want to talk more about what our dear Smartie – I mean Sweetie – Belle has been up to, just give me a call and I’ll be there in a snap.” To prove his point, Discord snapped his claws and vanished, leaving me alone again with Rainbow Dash.

“Uhmm… what were we talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked, flapping back over me.

“Me punching Bright Lights,” I said, giving another grunt. Thirty-eight. “Oh, and thanks for getting Aunt Sea Breeze to let me out of the house for our workout.”

She laughed. “Like I’m going to let you getting grounded be an excuse to get out of your training. If you’re working out with Rainbow Dash, you’ve got to stay in absolute peak condition. Anything else would make me look bad. Besides, I’ll be pushing you extra hard until you give me a good reason for punching another mare.”

“You saw what Bright Lights did to Sweetie Belle, right?” I asked. Forty-nine.

“Or Sweetie could just be going through puberty. You know, it kind of makes ponies crazy. Like, crazy enough to punch another pony,” Rainbow Dash said, effortlessly managing to hover above me. Her wings beat like drums, while mine just managed to buzz like a mosquitos.

“But I’m still me,” I said. “Maybe I’ve been a bit… moodier than usual, so has Apple Bloom, but Sweetie’s somepony completely different, and it didn’t really start until she got into Bright Lights’ hooves.” Ugh. Hadn’t I just told Discord I didn’t want to talk about Sweetie? What the hay, when did my life start revolving around her?

Rainbow Dash sighed and landed next to me. Sixty-five. “Okay, I get it. You see a bad pony, you see a pony hurting one of your friends and you want to defend your friend. That’s awesome. What’s less awesome is that the way you did it got you grounded and… has Sweetie talked to you at all since you punched Bright Lights?”

I shook my head. “Alright,” Rainbow Dash said, sighing. “So… how did this help? At all?”

“It wasn’t supposed to help, I just didn’t want her to completely get away with it. You know?” I asked, looking up at her. My whole coat was coated in sweat, and my body strained and burned with each push. Seventy-two. We weren’t even halfway done with the workout yet.

“So you just abandoned your best friend? Didn’t I already talk with you about not leaving your friends?” Dash asked. Seventy-five.

“I’m not abandoning her,” I snapped, ignoring the trembling in my foreleg. “The minute she needs me, I’ll be there for her, but I’m not going to sit around and watch her do this. I can still support a friend without supporting all the bad stuff they’re doing, right?”

Dash frowned. “I don’t know, it kind of doesn’t sound like it, but – are you sure you can’t just talk with her about it? That usually works for me.”

“Then you try talking to her, but I’m pretty sure it will just end with Sweetie screaming about how much you hate her. Not really a lot you can say to that,” I said before giving another grunt. “I...” I frowned, thinking of my letter from Ditzy. “She gave me a note. I mean, the old her gave me a note, and…” I explained how we might have accidentally made Sweetie Belle omniscient a few months ago. Omniscient. Fun word. Amazing the things you’ll learn in school.

“So, just so I have this right, Apple Bloom gave Sweetie a potion that could let her see the future, and then she wrote you a letter that told you to be in an apartment in Manehattan in three years?”

One hundred. I collapsed onto the ground and nodded at her. “And it’s been bugging me, because why the hay would she plan for this happening instead of doing literally anything else to stop it? Why not take a picture of Bright Lights and write ‘don’t trust her lies’ underneath it? That seems way simpler.” I looked at Discord’s business card and reached out to grab it. I had to get it in my bag before it got lost and somepony else wound up with the business card of a lord of chaos. Actually, why did he need a business card at all?

“That’s probably what I’d do,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding her head while I caught my breath. “But then, I’ve never been omniscient, so who knows? Maybe it’s all part of a master plan to do something epic. You know, like how Ahuizotl tricked Daring Do into getting the Stone’s Kiss for him. Something epic like that, except, you know, for good.”

“Maybe,” I said. My forelegs felt like jelly, and we still had to run laps and lift weights.

“The important thing is, do you trust Sweetie’s letter to you?” That was – I definitely didn’t trust Sweetie now, but the Sweetie back at the end of summer? Yeah, definitely, although maybe being able to see all the possible futures or whatever made her a bit crazy. Life Bloom pretty much said that, didn’t she? Nopony who’d been able to see the future had stayed sane. Maybe that’s what was causing Sweetie to be so weird, some residual crazy after seeing the future. Probably not; I still thought Bright Lights was the way likelier cause. So…

“Yeah, I guess I do,” I said, pushing myself up on my hooves and trotting over to my saddlebags to deposit the card.

“Then it sounds like you know what to do,” Rainbow Dash said, flying over to the storage closet and pulling out a bunch of white strips. I groaned. That could only mean one thing. “Now, are we here to talk, or are we here to work out? Because right now we’re doing a whole lot of talking and not a lot of suicide drills. What do you say, squirt, think you can keep pace with me?”

I turned around and grinned. Suicide drills might be the worst exercise ever, but that didn’t mean I was going to be a wimp about it. “Maybe… if I was half-asleep.”

She laughed and moved to the starting line. “Then let’s see how fast you are without that scooter of yours.”

“Faster than you are without your wings,” I said, taking my place as she blew the whistle for us to start.

***

Canterlot Theater
Summer 5th, 1396, evening

Apple Bloom and I trotted into the Canterlot Theater of the Performing Arts. The whole place was filled with the snootiest nobles you could imagine, and then in the back row of the highest levels were a collection of schoolfillies who absolutely did not fit in. It would be like Rarity joining Rainbow Dash and me for our workouts, but in reverse.

The trip to Canterlot had been pretty boring, and the two of us had spent the time talking about everything we could think of. For once, most of it wasn’t about Sweetie Belle.

“I think we’re up there,” Apple Bloom said, looking up from her ticket as we were ushered up the stairs. “Could we be any further from the stage?”

“Not really,” I said, looking around the gilded auditorium. There weren’t many places further away from the stage than the back row, which should really go without saying. I frowned. Melody and Tiara weren’t up there. I guess dating the star got you slightly better seats. Either that or they were backstage. I started looking around the auditorium for them.

“Uhmm, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said, looking between me and everypony else in the auditorium. “Do you think we’re a bit underdressed for this?” She was right; pretty much all the nobles were wearing something fancy, and I think I’d seen at least a few of those dresses on a clothes horse back at Rarity’s. I narrowed my eyes at one particular bright-blue dress with lily trim. I’d definitely seen that one before, back when Rarity’d gotten us all together for her plan to deal with Sweetie.

***

Carousel Boutique
Spring 29th, 1396, late morning

I looked between Apple Bloom, Life Bloom, and Rarity as the seconds ticked by. Rarity was looking over her speech, while Apple Bloom just looked annoyed. Twilight flipped through her book: Interventions and You: An Advanced Guide to Conflict Resolution and Intermediation. Life Bloom was as unreadable as ever. I wished I had something to fiddle with too.

I looked outside Carousel Boutique at the fresh grass, searching for any sign of Sweetie, Tiara, or Melody. They’d be here any moment, and we’d done everything we could to make sure Bright Lights wasn’t with her. We didn’t need her to fuel the fire; this was going to be tough enough already.

“Thank you, girls, for coming out and helping me,” Rarity said. “It’s been…” She shook her head. “I’m sure we don’t need to go over the past few months again. We’ll be doing that soon enough, anyway. The point is, I’m glad you’re all here with me for this.”

“It’s fine,” Apple Bloom said. “Figure if this has even a chance of getting the good Sweetie back, it’s worth a shot.” I thought back to my letter. Did this have a chance of working? Was I just making things worse by being here? Maybe if I was – I shook my head. If Sweetie knew enough to deliver a letter to me the hour I had my fight with Bright Lights, she probably knew enough to warn me against going to her intervention. Unless warned explicitly against it, I was going to do everything I could to help get Sweetie back. The letter just gave me another time to try.

The rest of us nodded. “Alright, everypony,” Twilight said, looking up from her book. “Remember, no accusations. We don’t want to make Sweetie feel like she’s on trial, we want to let her know she has ponies who care about her and want her to be happy.” I caught Apple Bloom scowling for a second. Don’t get mad. Don’t explode. Don’t make Sweetie feel like she’s on trial. We’re here for her, not against her. I closed my eyes and sighed, fighting the flash of anger in my belly. No matter what she’d done, we couldn’t get mad at her.

More seconds ticked past. I looked around the room again. Twilight had put her book away. Why did we have her doing this, instead of an actual psychologist? Hadn’t the last time we’d tried getting her to help us with something ended with Sweetie getting trapped in a time loop for a year? Nothing against Twilight, but I didn’t feel super confident about this plan.

Apple Bloom leaned in slightly closer to Life Bloom. Still trying to keep her relationship under wraps. Why? I was pretty sure Applejack was okay with fillyfooling, considering she’d been dating Rarity until a few weeks ago. Weird how the fight that finally broke them up didn’t level the entire town. Would have bet money that it would. I flicked my wings as the clock kept ticking. How much longer were we going to keep waiting? As long as it took.

I opened my mouth to say something, but the words died in my throat. The only thing that could kill this silence was the door to the Boutique opening.

There she was, trotting down the path to the Boutique, and Melody and Tiara were following along behind her, and there was no Bright Lights in sight. So far, so good. I took another deep breath as the bell over the Boutique chimed. Whatever happened, I still had the letter.

“What’s going on?” Sweetie asked as the door shut. “If you’re throwing me a party, I should really get Bright Lights here, she’d love this.”

Twilight’s horn lit up, and the lock on the door clicked. “Sweetie, we’re all here today because we love and care about you, and we’re worried about you,” Twilight said, turning to Sweetie and gesturing for her to take a seat.

“And you’re worried about me, why?” Sweetie asked. “Because of how amazingly happy I am?” She snorted and tossed her mane back. “Because I’m not the little filly you can all boss around anymore?”

“No, Sweetie, we’re worried because you keep stealing from my liquor cabinet,” Rarity said. “And I’m pretty sure you’re finding other sources of alcohol too.” She shot Diamond Tiara a quick glare, causing her to step back towards the door. For such a prissy pony, Rarity had an absolutely brutal glare. Not as bad as Fluttershy’s, but that wasn’t saying much.

“Well, if you didn’t want me stealing it, maybe you should put a better lock on it,” Sweetie said, rolling her eyes. What kind of insane Sweetie logic was that?

Rarity’s lips pressed against each other so tightly they almost disappeared. “Or, I could just pour out all my alcohol and replace it with alcohol-free equivalents. Which I did. Back when you first started drinking. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed until now.”

Twilight jumped in before either of them could say anything else. Maybe she wasn’t that bad a choice. Maybe. Hopefully. “Rarity’s just worried about you, Sweetie. A filly your age shouldn’t be drinking. We’re not trying to order you around.”

“Really? You’re throwing an intervention because you don’t like what I’m doing with my life, and now you’re saying you don’t want to tell me how I live my life?” she asked. Yeah. That was… Twilight could’ve phrased that better.

“Sweetie, they’re just concerned about you,” Tiara said, resting a forehoof on Sweetie’s shoulder. “Maybe… can you at least listen to them? For me?”

“Fine,” Sweetie said, sighing and turning back to look from Tiara to us. “Whatever you want to get off your chests, say it.”

“You’ve gone completely rotten,” Apple Bloom said. “You used to be my best friend, and now, I don’t even like lookin’ at you. Whenever I see you, I’m just reminded of how you – Why’d you spike the drinks at my birthday party?”

“Because I thought it would make the party better,” she said, frowning. “And you’re welcome for that, by the way. The party was way more fun than it would’ve been without me there.”

“You kissed me! Right in front of–!” Apple Bloom stopped herself and scowled. “How is that okay?”

Sweetie shrugged. “You looked cute, and I thought some kissing lessons could really spice up your birthday later. I’m sure Life Bloom appreciated it.” She gave the two of them a smile like what she’d done was the nicest thing in the world.

“Do you have to tell everypony we’re datin’? What part of keepin’ things a secret don’t you get?” Apple Bloom asked. This was starting to get out of hoof.

“Apple Bloom! Welcome and supportive,” I said, shooting her a quick glare. “We’re here to help Sweetie, not blame her.”

Sweetie laughed and turn around to stare at me. “Oh! You’re here to help me? How are you going to do that Scootaloo? Maybe punch Tiara in the face? Or… no, you two are best friends now, aren’t you? With your secret little meetings. No, you’d punch poor sweet innocent Melody in the face, wouldn’t you?” Sweetie shoved Melody in front of her. “Well, go on, do it! Or maybe you want to skip verbally attacking me and just go straight to regular attacking me?”

“Girls, if you could just calm down,” Twilight said before Rarity yelled over her. Rarity yelled.

Rarity... yelled.

Oh, horseapples.

“I raised you better than that, Sweetie! You don’t shove ponies. You don’t yell at your friends. You do not go around acting like an uncouth savage. Apologize right now!”

“That’s a good one,” Sweetie said, giving a short, harsh laugh. “You raised me? Sorry, but last time I checked, you weren’t Mom, and Mom definitely didn’t raise me. Meanwhile, you just bossed me around. Gave me orders and reasonable demands. Where were you when I needed you?”

For a second, Rarity looked like she’d been stabbed right through the heart, but then the edges of her eyes started to freeze. In fact, the whole room started to feel colder. She might be prissy and stuff, but Rarity was good at not exploding, way better than a lot of ponies, but when she blew up… We all knew how her fights with Applejack went. My gut told me we were getting close to the exploding Rarity threshold. She took a deep breath.

“Sweetie, Rarity, let’s keep things civil here,” Twilight said. “Remember, we all care about Sweetie.”

“Oh, really? So is judging me and trying to make me feel awful about myself part of ‘caring’? Because I’ve had enough of feeling bad. I’ve had enough of being–” She glare snapped onto Rarity. “Nopony’s ever going to tell me what to do again. I’m not going to let you all shackle me again.”

“Enough,” Rarity said, her voice sharp and clear. “I’ve been tolerant, I’ve tried to understand, I’ve tried to be a good role model, and I allowed you room to make your own mistakes, but obviously, that was a mistake on my part. From now on, there will be no more plays, no more performances, no more going off to be with your friends, and certainly, no more Bright Lights. When you’re not home under my supervision, you’ll be at school under the supervision of your teachers, and I shall make certain they know not to let you near Bright Lights.” A good threat, but...

Sweetie laughed. Rarity’d just made herself vulnerable, and Sweetie knew it. “Uhmm, the last time I checked, I’m fourteen, and I have my cutie mark, so you can’t tell me what to do. In fact, I don’t even have to live here anymore, so maybe it’s time we changed that.”

“You’re being impulsive,” Rarity said, doing what she could to regain her calm, but I could see how her jaw clenched. “How are you going to–?”

“Sweetie, when have we tried to control you, or whatever it is you think we’ve been doing?” I asked, trying to take her attention away from Rarity and leaving the house. Did she even have enough bits to rent an apartment? She’d been doing a few shows lately, but that couldn’t have been enough. I glanced at Tiara. It didn’t have to be.

“Uhmm… let’s see, you all lied to me about what my special talent is, always forced me to do what you wanted to get our cutie mark, punched my marefriend, and… oh! The first day we met, you forced me to give you my Summer Solstice gift.”

“You’re lying to yourself,” I said, glaring at her. “You’re taking what really happened and twisting it around to fit this idea that everypony hates you, but guess what, I–” I cringed at the next word. Not cool to say at all. “Everypony in this room loves you. We just don’t want you to completely ruin your life by the time you’re fifteen.”

“Well…” She stammered for a second, and I caught a glimpse of the old Sweetie in her eyes. “You’re going to yell at me for lying? After everything you’ve lied about? Lied to me about my special talent… You lie everytime you see Rainbow Dash because you want her to be your cool big sister. You lie and pretend that your parents haven’t completely forgotten about you. But guess what, they’re off in Cloudsdale having the time of their lives, and the only time they ever think about you is when it’s your birthday or a holiday or whatever.”

My parents wrote me a letter at least once a week, I got free tickets to all of Mom’s shows, and they always visited whenever Cloudsdale was close by. Plus… Wait, me lying to Rainbow Dash? How did she figure out who my Mom was? I hadn’t told anypony that. At least, not anypony in town.

“You can’t get mad at me for lying when you’re the biggest, nastiest liar out there. You lied to everypony you ‘cared’ about. For years, I thought you were my friend, and then it turns out... I wouldn’t have cared if you told me the truth.” Sweetie looked like she was about to sob before her face hardened. “Well guess what, I’m done. I’m not going to deal with ponies who betray me anymore.” She looked to Tiara and Melody. It would’ve been nice if they’d said something to help, but– “You didn’t know about this, did you?”

They both shook their heads as Sweetie spun towards the door and tried to open it with her magic. The lock refused to budge. “It’s timelocked,” Twilight said, looking at her. “None of us are going anywhere for the next hour.”

Sweetie raised an eyebrow. “Really? You timelocked the door? How am I ever going to escape?” She lit her horn and lifted up the window. Before Twilight could grab it with her own magic, Sweetie had jumped clear, leaving us behind to stare at each other like idiots.

“Well,” Rarity said, a minute later. “I believe that could’ve gone better.”

“Sorry,” Tiara mumbled, looking at the ground. “I was hoping you all would get through to her, but I can’t. I’ve tried, but it’s so hard saying no to her. Even if I wanted to help you, she knows just what to say to get me to back down.”

“I’m sure she’s sorry,” Melody said, briefly looking at the group. “She’s just so stressed during the week, the only time she ever really seems happy is the weekend. I bet once she calms down, she’ll apologize.” At least Tiara was honest about how terrible Sweetie was being. Melody had her head so far in the ground, she could see Neighpon.

“Well, at least she clearly cares about you two,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m sure her abandoning you is her ‘new’ way of saying ‘I love you.’”

“I’m really sorry,” Twilight said, looking up from the floor to Rarity. “I… wasn’t expecting that much hostility from Sweetie Belle. I never would’ve thought she’d be so–”

“Yes, the change is quite shocking to me, too,” Rarity said before taking another deep breath. “Just four months ago, she was this wonderful little filly, and now–” Another breath. “She’s right, of course, she’s old enough to conduct herself as she sees fit, and as she made so abundantly clear, it’s not my place to mother her. Could you take the girls home, Twilight? I have several work orders I need to catch up on, and I’m sure I’ll need to sort out all of Sweetie’s possessions sooner rather than later.” Twilight nodded and Rarity glared at Tiara. “I assume she’ll be staying with you tonight?”

Tiara mumbled something incomprehensible, but it sounded like she was agreeing with Rarity.

“Wonderful, at least I’ll have the small comfort of knowing she won’t be sleeping on the street,” Rarity said. She didn’t sound comforted, she sounded like she needed –

The letter. It wasn’t much, but maybe it could help her out a little bit. Like… I don’t know, but if I was her, I’d want to know.

Twilight fiddled with the doorlock, her horn igniting and wrapping the lock with her magic. I guess you could bypass a timelock if you knew the code. Kind of made sense, you’d have to have some sort of back-up plan in case you absolutely needed to get out of a building before the lock expired. Like, if a timelocked building caught on fire, you’d need something unless you wanted a roomful of burned up ponies.

Not that it helped us.

“Alright, girls,” Twilight said, popping the door open. “Come with me.”

***

An hour after the spectacularly-failed intervention, I was knocking on Rarity’s door. No response, and the shades were pulled shut. That was never a good sign. I knocked again and rang the doorbell for good measure. “Go away!” she said, her voice hoarse.

“Rarity, it’s me,” I shouted back. “Scootaloo.” Maybe my voice wasn’t that distinct. She could’ve thought it was Rainbow Dash. Somepony had said we sounded similar, so… it was possible.

There was a pause and then a click came from the door. “I’m sorry, Scootaloo, please come in. I’m sure today hasn’t been particularly enjoyable for you either,” she said as I stepped into the dark boutique. There was a faint light in the dark as the door clicked back shut.

“I don’t think it was easy for a lot of ponies,” I said. If I strained, I could kind of make out Rarity’s outline in the darkness. Geeze, did she have some sort of anti-light spell in here to completely shut out the sun?

“No, I suppose not, but the two of you… You’ve always been close. When the two of you were together, I always knew somepony would keep an eye on my Sweetie.” Well, that didn’t make me feel terrible.

She was right though, wasn’t she? It had always been me and Sweetie, and I’d kept her from going completely crazy or overdosing on sugar. Then I went away for two weeks, and… Was this my fault?

“Don’t think that,” Rarity said, either reading my mind or facial expression. How could she see my face in this darkness? “You did what you could, and I don’t think anypony could’ve predicted this.”

That was an opening if there ever was one. “Actually, I think somepony did,” I said, trying to pick the piece of paper out of my saddlebag. “Do you think you could turn the light up? I have a letter I’d like to show you.”

The lights to the room flipped back on, and I took a step back. Rarity looked like – she looked like the opposite of usual. Her eyes were red and her face was covered with that black stuff she put under her eyes. Behind her was a graveyard of ice cream cartons. I decided not to call her out on saying she had dresses to work on when she kicked us out. Sweetie was right, I didn’t really have room to talk there.

“I… apologize for the state of things,” she said, frowning and floating a brush to her mane. It was kind of messy, but compared to the rest of her, it looked totally fine. “You understand, I hope.”

I nodded, pulling the letter out of my bags. “Maybe you should look at this.”

She took the letter with her magic and stared at it for two seconds, scrunching her face up as she read. “Perhaps some context would be useful here,” she said.

“Right,” I said, looking at her. Amazing how we were at eye level now. Or… maybe not, but it was still weird. One day you wake up and you look like an adult, but you still feel like a filly. Like, I was a few months away from starting an actual job, but I was still looking forward to a summer spent playing with my friends. “So, remember when we were looking for Sweetie back on the first day of school?”

***

Rarity sat in silence after I finished the story. “Well,” she said. “I don’t know what I should be more upset about, the fact that Sweetie was used as a guinea pig – amazing she didn’t mention that when she was listing the litany of our failings – or the fact that Sweetie apparently saw this coming and instead of stopping it, just sent you a letter.”

“Yeah,” I said, frowning and folding the letter back up. “But at least there’s kind of a plan. That’s got to count for something.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “I suppose it does, yes... I just don’t like the idea of sitting on my flank for the next three years. Longer, since she didn’t ask me to save her.”

“Well, I’m sure she had a reason for it, I mean… Yeah, I’m not sold on it either, but maybe Smartie Belle had a reason for it. You’d probably act weird too, if you could see the future.”

“Yes, I suppose I would,” Rarity said, slowly. “Well, let’s hope Sweetie’s judgment half-a-year ago is better than it currently is.”

I gave her a tiny smile. “I think it kind of has to be.”

She chuckled. “Very true, and thank you for coming by, Scootaloo, I was so terrified I’d completely lost Sweetie Belle, and now… there’s hope. It’s certainly not ideal, but considering my last attempt at remedying the situation did exactly the opposite, I can put my faith in this letter of yours. There are worse things I could trust.”

“Like Bright Lights,” I mumbled.

“Indeed,” Rarity said, nodding. “What Sweetie sees in that mare, I have no idea, but what mare hasn’t erred gravely? One day, perhaps Sweetie and I will sit across from each other and share our battle scars. You’d be welcome to join us in this scenario, you’d have earned it.”

“Thanks,” I said, turning around and heading to the door. I heard the lock click shut followed immediately by the locks in the window. She’d learned. Great.

“Now, would you care to tell me what Sweetie was talking about when she accused you of lying to everypony?” She looked at me. It wasn’t an angry glare – it was worse. It was the look ponies gave me when they found out about my wings.

“Not really,” I said, rubbing the back of my head as my wings twitched. Fight or flight was kicking in, but I couldn’t fly and I didn’t want to fight Rarity. “You know, it’s not really that interesting anyways, and it’s not like I lied, I just–”

“Scootaloo,” she said, taking a step forward, “I hope you can trust me. I’m not about to share a pony’s deepest, darkest secret with the whole town, especially when that pony is Sweetie’s truest friend. Consider this me repaying the kindness you showed me with this letter. Generosity cannot go unrewarded.”

“Uhmm… isn’t that the whole point of generosity?” I asked, cocking my head.

Rarity laughed. “I suppose you could make that argument, but for me, I think it’s about the intent. You shared this letter with me not out of some desire for future recompense, but because you thought I needed to see it. It was a selfless gesture, and that’s what makes it generous. The fact I’m rewarding you for it doesn’t undercut that at all.”

That made sense. I guess. And it’s not like I was going to argue about the definition of generosity with the freaking Bearer of Generosity. There’s dumb, and then there’s that. I sighed. “You know, I’d really prefer to just… keep this whole thing secret. You know? Nothing against you, I just don’t want anypony to treat me different.”

“And I promise I won’t. You were – are – Sweetie’s most loyal friend, and that means you’re my friend. I’d never violate a friend’s trust.” She took a deep breath and sighed dramatically. Of course it was dramatically. “But if you’d rather keep your secret, I’m not going to force it out of you, I just want to help you in what small way I can.”

“Fine,” I said. “But this never leaves the room, alright? No mentioning it to any of your friends, and definitely not Rainbow Dash. Plus, I want–” I paused to remember the word. Something Rainbow Dash had to have a lot of because of all the buildings she accidentally wrecked. “Insurance. A secret of yours I can have in case you break your word.”

The twinkling light left Rarity’s eyes. “And I assume only my deepest darkest secret will suffice?”

I nodded, and Rarity got to her hooves and trotted upstairs. A minute later, she came down with a key floating beside her. “Safety Deposit Box 287 at the First Ponyville Bank. The documents in there are enough to completely ruin me, so I implore you not to unlock the box unless I break my end of the bargain.”

“Alright,” I said, reaching out and snatching the key. “And you’re not just going to empty the box out the minute I leave here?”

“I offered to listen to your secret and gave you the means to unmake me if I broke your trust. If that doesn’t suffice, then perhaps you shouldn’t be trusting me with your secret,” she said, her voice having the same stoniness it had when she was lecturing Sweetie. It didn’t really leave room for more talking. Do or do not, there is no arguing.

I took a deep breath. I could do this. “What do you know about my parents?”

“Nothing, honestly. If not for the fact you visited them over the holidays, I would have assumed them deceased,” Rarity said, frowning slightly. “You know, I think I’m better equipped than most ponies to understand the heartache of negligent parents.”

“But they aren’t,” I said, shaking my head. “The only reason they sent me down to Ponyville is because every pegasus has to enroll in flight camp, and…” I trailed off, wings buzzing in irritation. “The point is, I couldn’t really go to school in Cloudsdale, so they sent me down here. They figured that was the best chance for me having a normal childhood, and… yeah, it worked pretty well. Better than falling off cloud during a windstorm, at least.”

“I see,” Rarity said, nodding her head. “I’m not sure why you felt the need to keep all that a secret, but–”

“I’m not finished,” I said. “No, the big secret is...” My jaw clenched. “Do you remember your trip to Cloudsdale? You know, the first one?”

She nodded. “It’s not a memory I like to dwell on, but yes, it’s hard to forget almost falling to my death.”

“Well, you met my Mom during that trip. Actually, you knocked her out. She spent, like, the next three months fuming about a flailing unicorn one-hit KOing her. I don’t think Dad and I are ever going to let her forget it.”

Rarity tilted her head, staring at me for a really long couple of seconds. “Spitfire,” she finally said.

I nodded.

“Your mother is the captain of the Wonderbolts, the same group your idol desperately wants to join. I’m starting to see why you wanted to keep that information to yourself,” she said, thoughtfully chewing on the side of a cheek.

Really? Just like that? I thought for sure I was going to have to explain that I didn’t want Rainbow Dash to find out because she might start treating me differently to get in good with Spitfire, and then I’d go from being Scootaloo to Spitfire’s Daughter. Not just being Spitfire’s Handicapped Daughter was probably one of the best things about Ponyville. Everypony who knew in Cloudsdale treated me with this weird mix of deference and pity, and as much as being teased about it by bullies like – well, like Diamond Tiara used to be – hurt sometimes, being pitied was worse. Way worse.

“I promise I won’t tell anypony, Scootaloo, but I think you should. Rainbow Dash will understand,” she said. “Believe me, I know there are some secrets that can never be allowed to see the light of day, but this isn’t one of them. I think if you tell her the truth, your relationship will be all the stronger for it.” A harsh laugh burst from her throat. “But then, what do I know about the bonds of sisterhood?”

“But what if she starts treating me different because of who my mom is?” I asked. “I don’t want to be her friend just because of who my mom is.”

“Do you think your relationship will change that drastically? She didn’t choose to become your… honorary big sister, I think is the term you used, because of your parentage. You earned that, Scootaloo, all by yourself, and nothing will ever take that away. Besides, if Rainbow Dash starts treating you differently, just let me know and I’ll try to pound some sense into that thick skull of hers.”

I smiled and got to my hooves. “Thanks, Rarity. You know, I used to think you were way too prissy and girly to be awesome, but… you’re actually pretty cool. Not Rainbow Dash cool, but close. You know, in a prissy girly kind of way.”

She smiled. “I’ll wear that compliment as a badge of honor, Scootaloo. If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me.”

“Alright,” I said, unlocking the door. “I’ll catch you around.”

“And, Scootaloo,” Rarity said as I trotted back out into the sunlight. “Keep that key safe.”

***

Scootaloo’s house
Spring 33rd, 1396, afternoon

I paced in my room. Rainbow Dash was going to be here any minute for our workout session, and what was I even thinking? This was a dumb idea. Why did I ever think something Rarity said would work? Rainbow Dash was either going to yell at me for lying to her, or start treating me weird. None of those options sounded really good at the moment.

You can do this. Rarity was right, and if she wasn’t, I can just go to that safety deposit box and get back at her. Even if – no, if she kept my secret, I’d keep hers. If I did something dumb, that was my fault, not hers. Besides, if her secret was so bad it required its own safety deposit box, it would be pretty scummy of me to share it.

Rainbow Dash was going to be here any minute, and here I was pacing like a filly, because… I shook my head. This was so dumb. I wish I had Sweetie Belle around to help me out. She’d know exactly how to cheer me up. At least, the good Sweetie Belle would. The current Sweetie Belle would probably just try to make out with me. Or punch me.

Rarity’s key sat at the bottom of my saddlebags with Sweetie Belle’s letter and Discord’s business card. Why did I still have that business card? I’m pretty sure I didn’t need it to summon Discord, and for all I knew, he could just make the card disappear whenever he wanted. What else was in my saddlebags? I needed to clean them out soon. I hadn’t completely emptied them since I moved to Ponyville. Actually, maybe I should just get a new saddlebag, or a courier’s bag. Courier’s bag would probably work best since I was going to be one in… Wow, was it really just a month now? Yeah, I should definitely get a courier’s bag, although I’d have to make sure it wouldn’t interfere with my wing mobility.

A knock came from the door and I jumped from the floor to the top of my cloud bed in one jump. Hah, who said I couldn’t fly? “Come in!” I shouted, hopping back off the bed and running a hoof through my mane.

“What’s up, squirt?” Rainbow Dash asked as she opened the door. “Any reason we’re meeting in your room instead of the track field?”

“I… wanted to talk to you about something, and I didn’t want anypony else to overhear,” I said, looking from her to the floor. What the hay was I doing? If I was going to tell her the truth, and I was kind of committed to that now, I wasn’t going to act like a filly about it. I was Scootaloo, second-coolest pony in Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash nodded and kicked the door shut with her back leg. “Got it,” she said. “This about Sweetie?”

“Not everything in my life’s about Sweetie Belle,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I have my own stuff going on.”

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging and taking a seat next to my cloud bed. “I just heard how she got suspended for starting some rumors or whatever, so I thought maybe that had something to do with it. Got to say, I kind of lucked out picking you as my honorary little sister. I don’t think I could handle all the drama Rarity’s going through. Actually, I don’t think Rarity can handle all the drama she’s going through, and she’s pretty good with drama.”

I laughed, focusing on her hooves. “Well, it’s not like you’d have to stay my big sister if I did something bad, it’s just a title.”

“Yeah… no,” Rainbow Dash said, putting her hoof under my chin and lifting my head up to meet her eyes. “When I made you my honorary little sister, I meant it, and that means no backsies. You could start some crazy cult in the mountains, and you’d still be my honorary little sister. ‘Course, I’d kick your flank, but as soon as I was done, I’d try to get you back to being better. That’s what family does. So, what’d you want to talk about?”

“Well, it’s about my mom,” I said, keeping my eyes on hers. This was way less bad than me starting a cult, so I’d be fine. Probably.

“Oh,” she said, nodding her head and letting go of my chin. “So you’re finally going to tell me your mom is actually Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts?” My jaw actually dropped. It didn’t hit the floor or anything, but still, I thought it was just a figure of speech.

“Y- Y- Y- You knew?” I stammered. “Why didn’t you… How?”

“Uhmmm…. I’m like the biggest Wonderbolts fanfilly ever, and I might’ve, kind of, sorta stalked your mom a little back when I lived in Cloudsdale,” she said with a sheepish grin. “I knew who you were the moment I saw you in Ponyville,” she added, like it was the most obvious thing in Equestria. Actually, when she said it, it kind of sounded like it was.

“So… all this time, why didn’t you say anything?” I asked, before quickly closing my mouth. I wasn’t going to stare at her all slackjawed.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings to hover in front of me. “Let’s see, for starters, I figured it wasn’t any of my business; and second, I want to become a Wonderbolt because I’m the best flyer in Equestria, not because I’m friends with the captain’s daughter. There’s a reason I waited until I’d submitted my application to the Wonderbolt Academy before taking you under my wing. Oh, and by the way, the fact that you wanted to impress me without mentioning who your mom is, well, that’s one of the reasons I figured you were cool enough to be trained by me.”

She smiled and drew me close with a wing. The fit was a lot snugger than when I was a filly. “Now come on, are we going to keep talking about stuff that doesn’t matter. or are we going to make our muscles burn?”

“Definitely that last thing,” I said, smiling at her as we trotted out of my bedroom.

“So, hey,” Rainbow Dash said, returning her wings to her side. “What finally convinced you to tell me the truth?”

My smile vanished as I thought of Rarity and the key sitting in my saddlebags. “A friend gave me some good advice, I guess.”

She tilted her head and shrugged. “Alright, well, glad it’s out in the open. I’ve never been that great at keeping secrets. Not Applejack bad, but not great. Now, Rarity, she can keep a secret like nopony’s business. Maybe I can see if Applejack found out anything juicy while they were dating.” Her body tensed up. “Not that I’d ever use it against her, Rarity’s way cool, I’d just like to figure out what secrets she has buried in her closet. You have any idea?”

I shook my head and smiled up at my idol. “Nope, none at all. When would I even spend time with her? She’s all girly and stuff.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at me and waved a foreleg at my aunt as we trotted out of the house. “Right, well… Wait? How can you complain about somepony being girly? Your best friend is Sweetie Belle, girliest of girls.”

I grimaced. Of course she got back into this. Not that I was mad, she just seemed to keep popping up, even when I wasn’t trying to think about her. “Yeah, well, Sweetie’s special, and even then, she’s still a total pain in my flank.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “Also, I don’t think she’d consider me her best friend right now.”

“So?” Rainbow Dash asked, shrugging her shoulders. “We went over this, Scootaloo.”

“I know,” I said before she could give me the lecture on not abandoning my friends again. “And I’m not leaving her, I’m just saying I don’t think she’d think of me as a friend right now.” I returned the raised eyebrow. “And can you say she isn’t a complete pain in the flank right now?”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Well, you got me there, I guess.” She rubbed the back of her head. “I know I couldn’t deal with her right now.”

We reached the track field, where a few other ponies were jogging. Rainbow Dash moved from trotting to her pre-sprint stretches in one movement. Our conversation died off as we both went through our stretches, and the next time we talked, it was our usual banter.

Later that night, I snuck out of the house and slid an envelope containing the key to Safety Deposit Box 287 under the door to Carousel Boutique, a “thank you” scrawled across the front.

***

Canterlot Theater
Summer 5th, 1396, late evening

Sweetie and the rest of the cast danced around stage dressed up like plants, and they sang in unison:

”Something’s coming to eat the world whole,
hold your hat and hang onto your soul.
If we fight it, we’ve still got a chance,

“but whatever they offer you,
though they’re slopping the trough for you,
please whatever they offer you, don’t feed the plants.”

Sweetie Belle cut in with a line of her own.

”We’ll have tomorrow!”

And the rest of the cast echoed back.

”Don’t. Feed. The plaaaaa-aaaa-aaaants!”

The last note fell and everypony got up and stomped their hooves. As much as I hated to say it, it was a pretty awesome musical. The singing was more rock and less boring, and it was about a plant that ate ponies. Plus, Sweetie was a really good actress. Guess Bright Lights had done one thing right. The applause continued, and I caught a few noble-looking ponies creeping towards the side exit. The cast took another bow and the curtain fell.

“Well, what did you think?” I asked, looking at Apple Bloom.

She shook her head. “It was kinda silly. There are three plants that eat ponies, and none of ‘em talk. If somethin’ like that actually existed in the Amarezonian rainforest, we’d know about it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, and ponies don’t go around bursting into song. It’s a show. I don’t think every last detail has to be right.”

Apple Bloom laughed. “You say that, but I recall somepony talkin’ at length ‘bout how the physics in that racin’ movie were completely unrealistic.”

“That was different, there’s no way somepony could survive a crash that bad. Their train fell off a mountain, flipped over I-don’t-know-how-many times, and then Buck just walked out without a scratch,” I said, flicking my wings. I’m all for cool stunts, but that wasn’t a stunt, that was just cheating.

“But it’s just a movie, I don’t think every last detail has to be right,” Apple Bloom said, grinning at me.

“It’s different,” I said as we started shuffling towards the exit. “I wasn’t upset that the stunt was unrealistic, I was upset that they just made up something like that when they could have had an awesome real stunt pony do something awesome for that scene. Like, what if they had some daredevil ride her scooter down the mountain?”

We both snorted in laughter. “Hey, it’s still not as bad as that time Sweetie threw her soda at the movie screen because they dubbed over the singer,” I said, smiling as I looked around the auditorium again. Still no sign of DT or Mels.

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, “she always did have that little temper, didn’t she? Like a firecracker, real loud for a second, and then done.” She shook her head. “Anyways, what did you think of the play? Besides the fact the plant was completely unrealistic, I thought it was alright.”

I nodded. “I liked it. Way more than I thought I would, actually. Didn’t know musicals could have ponies getting eaten in them. Do you think there are any other ones like that? You know, lots of singing and murder and stuff?”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “You’re askin’ the wrong pony, Scootaloo, although Rarity did take AJ to see this opera about a barber, and Applejack wouldn’t stop complainin’ about how bloody it was.”

“Got it,” I said, as we managed to take another step towards the exit. We were going to be here for a while. “Anyways, yeah, I liked it, although the ending, it was kind of on the nose, wasn’t it? Like, I get it, feeding Songbird II was a really bad idea, I didn’t need a whole extra song about it. Even if it was a cool scene.”

“I think it was one o’ them fancy literary things,” Apple Bloom said, waving a hoof in the air as she thought. “A metaphor, you know, they weren’t actually talking about feeding the plants, it was about somethin’ else.”

“No kidding,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I got that, I’m just saying they didn’t have to make it so obvious. How lame would it be if every adventure in our lives ended with us saying what we learned?”

“I don’t know,” Apple Bloom said, half a step behind me. “I liked it, and anyways, haven’t a few of our adventures actually ended with us writing a letter about what we learned?”

Huh. That was… Huh.

“Besides, I don’t like how many stories these days are grey and subtle and stuff. Sometimes, you just want a story that’s big and overdone and fun,” Apple Bloom finished.

“Right, nice fun stories where everypony gets eaten at the end,” I said, as somepony up ahead slowed down the line. I caught sight of Dazzler’s familiar oranges and yellows way up ahead. She was looking for something.

“Well, maybe not fun, but… I don’t know, I like musicals, they got this bigness to them that other mediums don’t have,” Apple Bloom shook her head. “Maybe I should’ve paid more attention to Miss Octavia’s literature class, then maybe I’d know how to say what I want to say without soundin’ dumb.”

I laughed. “Well, you’re the only pony here who’s gonna be going back to the Academy next year, so maybe you can take one of those Equestrian Literature classes in between all your alchemy and biology courses.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Apple Bloom said, smiling. Dazzler’s eyes met mine and she started trotting right towards us. Great. At least Sweetie wasn’t here to throw a fit.

“You still came to her show,” Dazzler said as she reached us. “I don’t understand your loyalty to that mare. She has been nothing but terrible. Surely, she’s burned through whatever goodwill she’s accumulated.”

I shrugged. “She’s not exactly my favorite pony at the moment, but she’s still my friend. I’m not just going to throw her to the wolves.”

Dazzler clucked her tongue. “What that mare did to inspire such loyalty, I know not, but… perhaps you can be of use to me.”

“Great,” I said. “I’d love to be a part of another one of your schemes to get at Sweetie Belle. They always go over so well.”

Dazzler frowned. “Sarcasm is a tool of the cowardly. I thought you better than that.”

“It’s not cowardly,” I said, laughing. “I just like making fun of dumb ideas, and me joining whatever plan you have sounds like a dumb idea.”

The glare in her eyes slowly melted. “If my plan works, it’s going to hurt her. Bright Lights will almost assuredly be busy working the nobility, so it gives you the chance to comfort Sweetie and perhaps get her outside of Bright Lights’ influence. If that doesn’t interest you, then stay here.”

I looked at Apple Bloom. She nodded. “Alright,” I said, “but just so we’re clear, we’re doing this for Sweetie, not you.”

She just shook her head and trotted off, trusting us to follow her. What did she really want us for?

We followed Dazzler down the stairs and into the backstage area. She pulled a curtain back, revealing Diamond Tiara and Melody. “Hide with them, I’ll fetch your ‘friend.’”

We trotted into the tiny space, and she let the curtain fall, concealing the four of us and throwing us into darkness. “So,” I said, looking around for any light. “How have you two been?”

“Great,” Tiara said, and I could practically hear her rolling her eyes. “Sweetie’s just been so great lately, what could I complain about?”

“Ya know, you don’t have to keep dating her,” Apple Bloom said.

There was a long pause while Tiara thought. “I really do,” Tiara finally said. “Melody and I are the only ponies keeping her from being completely in Bright Lights’ hooves. Once that happens… I don’t think we’ll have a chance at saving her.”

“And… I’m sure she’s just stressed about the play,” Melody said. “Once tonight’s over, she’ll probably be back to her normal happy self, she’s just… She’s still good, just having a bad time.” At least one of them wasn’t completely delusional. Although – no, Sweetie was still good, or at least, she could be. She wouldn’t have sent me the letter otherwise.

“Ya know,” Apple Bloom said, “considerin’ we’re supposed to be eavesdroppin’ on Sweetie, maybe we should spend just a bit less time talkin’ and a little more listenin’.”

We went to waiting in silence, The seconds passed, and we did our best not to bump into each other. We failed pretty badly at that. Finally, I heard the squeak of a metal door opening.

“Alright, what’s so important that I had to get dragged away from my debut?” I heard Sweetie ask as the door clicked shut. “Every noble in Canterlot’s out there waiting for me, so just what’s so important?”

“I wanted to… apologize for my less than friendly behavior. I… understand it was rude of me to so casually dismiss your first offer of friendship, but don’t you think we can–”

Sweetie cut her off with a barking laugh. “Think we can what? Start over? For Melody’s sake? So she’s not caught between our fighting? You think I’m just going to forgive you after you started that nickname? After you tried to get me kicked out of the play?”

Dazzler growled. “I didn’t start that stupid nickname, and the only reason you almost got kicked out of the play is because you broke the school’s conduct policy. Don’t blame everypony else for your failures. There aren’t enough... Can we please try being friends? I want to spend time with my friend again.”

For a second, the room was so quiet, I could hear myself breathing. “Too bad,” Sweetie said. “I won, Dazzler. She loves me, and once she comes with me to Manehattan, she’s never going to see you again. You’ve lost, so… just stop trying, it’s kind of pathetic at this point.” Next to me, I could feel every muscle in Melody’s body clench up. Something told me she’d just hit a hard limit for how much of Sweetie’s bad behavior she was willing to excuse.

“You know, you were wrong,” Dazzler said, her voice was coming closer to us. “Despite everything, you still couldn’t make her hate me. I know you tried. I know you told her all sorts of lies, but I bet she wasn’t willing to believe any of them until she could hear them with her own ears. She said the same thing when I tried to tell her the truth about you.”

“Give me time,” Sweetie said, before twisting her voice into a sob. “Oh, Melody, she was just – She was just so awful! How could she say that? Said she hated you and just wanted to get you away from me to hurt me.” Holy horseapples. That was… Okay, it was unbelievable, but it was also straight-up evil.

Dazzler laughed. “Come on, Sweetie, you know Melody, she won’t believe anything bad you have to say about me, unless…” There was a pause as the curtain ripped away, bringing us out of the dark. “She hears it herself.”

All four of us looked kind of shocked, but Melody, she looked like she could kill somepony. More specifically, she looked like she could kill Sweetie. “You,” she said, taking a step towards Sweetie Belle. “I… I loved you. I thought you were a good pony, the type of pony who cared about others. I stood by you this last semester, because I thought...” She shook her head. “I don’t know what I was thinking, but clearly it was a mistake.” She looked at Dazzler. “I’m sorry for not believing you, I just… I couldn’t believe my marefriend was that terrible a pony. I thought you were better than that, Sweetie.”

“Better than what?” Sweetie asked, twisting her face up in a rage. If you looked hard enough, you could almost see the hurt in her eyes. “Better than being some groveling mare who lives and dies because of what everypony else thinks about her? Because I am. I’m free. I’m happy, I don’t have to worry about not living up to everypony else’s dumb impossible standards.”

“My standards? Is expecting basic equine decency too much?” Melody snorted. Apple Bloom, Tiara, and I exchanged looks and telepathically agreed that we really didn’t need to add anything to the conversation right now. “You – you rant and rave about what everypony else is forcing you to do, but do you have even the faintest concern about what you’re twisting everypony else into doing? We either do exactly what you want, or you accuse us of hating you.”

She gestured to Apple Bloom and me. “They were your two best friends, and you threw them away because… because they couldn’t sit idly by and watch you destroy yourself.” Melody paused for a second and let the words sit in the air. “And that’s... that’s exactly what you’re doing.” She shuddered and choked down a sob.

“You’re losing everything, and you’re so blinded, you can’t even see it. You’ve lost your friends, you’ve lost your sister, and you’re losing me, so… is it worth it? Do the drinking and your–” She gagged on the next word. “Games make up for everything you’ve lost?” Games? Something told me I wouldn’t find them in any of Pinkie’s parties. She sighed and staggered to the door, her anger spent. “Goodbye, Sweetie Belle.” Dazzler trotted away and followed Melody to the door. She turned and looked back at Sweetie.

“You know, when I offered you friendship, I meant it. I thought if Melody could see something redeeming in you that perhaps I was wrong.” She ducked out the door just in time to miss a glass vase Sweetie’d hurled at her. Shards of glass rained down on the floor.

Sweetie turned to glare at us, panting and heaving like a wild animal in the Everfree. “And what do you want? Huh? To make fun of me some more? To try and make me feel terrible again?” She narrowed her eyes at Tiara. “You’re going to leave me now too, aren’t you? Just like everypony else who pretended to be my friend.”

Tiara opened her mouth. “I–”

“Well, you can’t,” Sweetie said, slamming her hooves on the ground. “You can’t… This is what you wanted me to be. You told me I deserved to be happy, told me to stop worrying about everypony else. Well, I did!” She floated a flask out of a bag against the wall and brought it over to her. She unscrewed the cap and poured the entire thing down her throat. “I did everything you and Bright Lights told me to. You said I’d be happier, butwhy is it so much harder to be happy now? I’m literally doing whatever I want, but…” She looked at us with red-ringed eyes. “Why did you all have to leave me? You were my best friends and you just threw me away the second I got inconvenient.”

“We didn’t throw you away, Sweetie,” I said, taking a step closer to her. “We just didn’t think drinking and… whatever else Bright Lights has you doing would make you really happy.”

“Yes, you did,” she sobbed. “I loved you, and you abandoned me. You just... I would’ve done anything for you, you know.”

I looked around. Ugh, other ponies were going to hear what I had to say next. Still, it’s not like I had any other choice. “I love you too, Sweetie. You’re my best friend. You have been since the day we met. You know, I still have my first scooter, or… I have some parts of it, at least.

She looked up at me, a tiny smile on her lips. “Really? But you broke it, like, a week after you got it when you tried to jump Ghastly Gorge.”

“I did jump Ghastly Gorge, the scooter just couldn’t handle the awesomeness of my landing,” I said, taking a step closer to her.

She giggled faintly. “Neither could your legs.”

I winced at that bit of the memory. “Yeah, you had to pull me in that wagon back to the hospital. At least I had you to cheer me up while I was stuck in that cast.” Ugh, Apple Bloom and Tiara were hearing all this mushy stuff. If they let it spill, well, it’s not like I was going to be spending that much more time in Ponyville, anyways. For Sweetie, I could wreck my reputation.

“Come on, Sweetie, can you honestly tell me you’re happier now than you were then?” I asked, bringing my hoof to her cheek.

Sweetie chewed her lip. I almost had her back, and I was doing it three years earlier than that stupid note said I would. How awesome was that? I got to get my best friend back three years ahead of schedule.

“Of course she can,” Bright Lights said, trotting into the room.

Fuck.

“Sweetie, your name is on everypony’s lips tonight. There are at least three Bridleway producers out there who want you for their plays. Everything you could possibly want is at your hooftips. Everything I promised is coming true. Are you really going to give that up for a mare who abandoned you?” Bright Lights said, taking her place at Sweetie’s side. “We worked so hard for this, can you really just… throw it all away?”

My friend looked between me and Bright Lights like we were both coming at her with daggers. What was she seeing right now? “Is it worth it, Sweetie?” I asked; maybe I could still reach her. “What good is having all that stuff she promised you if it doesn’t mean anything? What’s better, all the money in Equestria or friendship?”

Bright Lights sneered at me. “See how she tries to make you choose, twists the truth into convoluted plots. You can have fame and friendship, and I don’t know what type of friend would force you to choose. Certainly, I’d never begrudge you your success. I’ll be right there with you to celebrate it.”

Sweetie looked up at me, a flint of suspicion in her eyes. I had to kill that thought right now. “I don’t care if you’re a Bridleway star, I just hate seeing what Bright Lights is trying to twist you into. Sweetie, you’re way better than that. You want to celebrate tonight, alright, that’s cool, you deserve it, but… remember all the times we used to hang out?”

She nodded slowly. “You didn’t need to drink to have fun then, so why is it so important to you now? Come on, the four of us can have a night in Canterlot, we’ll go to Pony Joe’s... and hey, Rainbow Dash pulled it so I have a room in the castle; maybe we can convince Celestia to let us in the Royal Bakery.”

Bright Lights shook her head. “You see how she tries to tell you what you can and can’t do? She wants to put you back in shackles. When have I ever inhibited your freedom?”

Sweetie frowned and looked over to Bright Lights. “But… Scootaloo’s right, I was happy back then. Maybe… maybe there’s more to being happy than just doing what I want all the time.”

“That thinking is beneath you, Sweetie. Can you really go back to the shackles after the liberation of the last few months?” Bright Lights asked, her eyes narrowing. “I gave you everything I had. I gave you my knowledge, I gave you joy, I did everything I could to see you happy, and now you’d… abandon me? Abandon everything we worked for, for a mare who just wants to order you around? To tell you how to feel and act? Can you go back to that?”

“I – I don’t know,” Sweetie said, shaking her head as tears formed in her eyes. “Why is it so hard to have fun? All I want is to be happy.”

Bright Lights clenched her jaw. “Then let me make this easier for you. You stay with me, and I’ll give you all the joy you could ever dream of. Everypony in Equestria will adore you, fillies will dream of growing up to be like you. You will want for nothing. Do you honestly think Scootaloo can bring you the same happiness? The same joy?”

Sweetie’s eyes contracted to pinpricks and she shook her head. What did that mean? I’d almost gotten her to admit she’d been happier with me, and now... Something was very wrong here. “If Scootaloo’s really your friend, she’ll understand why you have to go with me. If not… Well, either way, you’ll do what’s best for you.”

“Don’t go with her,” Tiara said, trotting to stand next to me. “If you do, I can’t follow.” She frowned. “Scootaloo, she’ll… she wants what’s best for you, Sweetie. We both want you to be happy. We do. Bright Lights just wants to make you think you’re happy.”

Bright Lights smirked and stroked Sweetie’s mane, while Sweetie just stared at the ground. “See how they all turn on you, dear. False friends will rot away at your soul, and take away what’s best about you. In the end, they’ll destroy you.” Wow, how in Equestria could Sweetie fall for that? Could Bright Lights make it any more obvious she was talking about herself?

“Allow me to make a deal with you, Sweetie. Give me tonight. Give me an evening filled with love and drink and pleasure and joy. Give me the evening you deserve after working so hard on this play. One evening is all I ask – and if, in the morning, you regret all I’ve given you, you can go back to living your mundane life in Ponyville, and we’ll simply part ways. If not, if I’m right, like I always am… What is one small friendship in comparison to the adoration of an entire nation? Agreeable?”

No. Absolutely not. If Sweetie trotted out that door – My mouth wouldn’t open. I felt the tingle of magic around my throat and legs. Bright Lights smirked. How could she cast without having that glow around her horn? Stage magic? Was that a thing? Stay. Stay. Stay.

“Scootaloo?” Sweetie looked from the floor up at me. I strained my forelegs against the magic. Tried to open my mouth or make any type of noise. Just stay. Don’t go with her. I struggled against BL’s magic grip. Why wasn’t anypony else doing something? Why couldn’t I just swing my hoof and hit Bright Lights in the face again? And again. And again. And again. And then run her over with a scooter.

This had to be illegal, right? Unicorns couldn’t just magically imprison another pony, but how could I prove it? How could I get free so I could pounce on top of Bright Lights? I needed to– Agh! How could somepony be this twisted and evil? What did Sweetie ever do to her?

“See,” Bright Lights said. “Scootaloo even agrees with my proposal. If you don’t enjoy yourself tonight, you can go back to Ponyville tomorrow, I promise.” Of course she would, because she knew just what to do to twist Sweetie’s head around her hooves. A night of liquor and whatever the hay else Sweetie was into these days, and she’d– Would she go back to hating me again, or would she just stop caring? How much more could Sweetie take? I threw my will against the magic cage again. I was Scootaloo, I could run just as fast as Rainbow Dash could, but Bright Lights had me completely stuck.

“Scootaloo, please… say something,” Sweetie said, evergreen eyes watering. No no no no. No. Don’t cry. Don’t let her see me cry. Don’t let me– Kick Bright Lights right in the side. Why would she even do this? I could get wanting to take over the world or something, but this, just ruining one of the nicest mares in Equestria? Why? Punch! My face twisted into a death glare, if I ever got my hooves on her again, that punch would– Hey, I could change my face. Maybe–

“Scootaloo…?”

No. No, Sweetie, that look wasn’t for you. It was for your crazy evil marefriend! Sweetie’s head lowered and a light faded out of her eyes. I tried to change my expression again, but it was stuck now. Stuck like Bright Lights will be whenever I see her again. How could I fight against magic, though?

Sweetie turned and followed Bright Lights to the backstage door leading out into Canterlot. Don’t go, Sweetie. Please, just… stay. Bright Lights can’t keep this spell up forever. Stay! I screamed after her. Bright Lights pushed the door open, careful not to use her horn. Sweetie, just… whatever you do, don’t go. The two of them trotted to the threshold. Please don’t go.

I love you.

I...

I watched as Sweetie followed Bright Lights out into the darkness of a Canterlot night.

Author's Note

Well, I'll see you all in the epilogue! Hope you "enjoyed" this last chapter.

Also, sorry for all the stuff I put you through, Sweetie, but it does get better. Eventually.

16. We'll Have Tomorrow (Scootaloo)

My head bumped against the metal wall I was resting against as the moving wagon started its descent. Four hours ago, I was in my cloud bed, and now I was headed to a town that nopony knew a thing about. Why had it even been chosen to host the Summer Sun Celebration? My house had more ponies than it did.

“You alright, champ?” Mom asked, sliding right next to me and running her hoof through my mane to look. “I could hear that bang all the way over here.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, yawning and nodding. Outside, the sky was going from black to gray. “Just… tired.”

“You can sleep once you get to Aunt Sea Swirl’s. She has a bed all set up for you, and we’ll get all your stuff unloaded,” she said before giving me a tight squeeze. “And I promise, I won’t leave without saying goodbye.”

“But you’re still going to leave,” I said, frowning.

“And you know why I have to. I’ll be back once the Summer Sun Celebration is over, and then we’ll spend a whole week together in Ponyville.” Mom sighed. “Champ, I can’t imagine how tough this is for you. You’ve just gotta be brave. Think of it as a game; go have fun, make friends, and I bet you won’t even know I’m gone.”

“Friends? Does this stupid town even have ponies my age?” I hugged Mom tight. “Come on, please, take me back to Cloudsdale, and I promise I won’t leave the house, just don’t send me away. I’ll be a good filly.”

She kissed my cheek. “You’re a great filly, Scoots, that’s not the problem. The problem is that every foal has to be enrolled in Flight School by their ninth Summer Sun Celebration.”

“It’s a dumb law,” I said, folding my forelegs over my chest and pouting. “You’re the Captain of the Wonderbolts, I bet you can convince them to give me an exemption, or–”

“Or homeschool you,” Mom finished. “We could do that, but this way, you get the chance to be a normal filly who can leave the house and have friends. Besides, we’re always just a letter away.” She tousled my mane, careful not to touch the bruise and smiled. “Promise me that you’ll at least try to make friends and have fun here?”

I mumbled something that kind of sounded like 'I promise’. “And if I hate it?” I asked.

Mom sighed. “Tell you what, champ. Give it ‘til the end of summer, and if – if – you haven’t made any friends here, and you’re still unhappy, we’ll talk about it and see what we can do. But only if you give it a real try,” she added, giving me the ‘Mom’ look. “If you just spend the whole summer moping in your room, then no deal. Fair enough?”

“Fine,” I said, another jolt thunking my head against the wagon’s wall as its wheels touched the ground. A minute later, we came to a stop, and a grey moving mare lowered the wagon’s back gate.

“We’re here,” she said, waving at me. “Welcome to your new home, Scootadude.” I tried not to laugh at the glare my Mom gave her. You don’t get to be Captain of the Wonderbolts without having a pretty wicked death glare.

***

I bounced a foam ball against the ceiling of my new room.

Bored.

Thump.

Bored.

Thump.

Boooooored.

Crunch.

Crunch? Crunch was different. My ball didn’t crunch when it hit the ceiling tile. I lifted my head and looked out my window. The streets were empty, probably because the, like, five ponies who lived in this town besides Aunt Sea Swirl and Uncle Dusty were trying to get some sleep so they could stay up all night. On a hunch, I pressed my nose against the glass and looked straight down, to find a filly lying in Aunt Sea Swirl’s flowerbed.

“Aunt Sea Swirl!” I shouted, trotting out of my room. “There’s a girl in your garden!”

No answer. I trotted downstairs.

“Aunt Sea Swirl! There’s a girl in your garden!” Still no answer. A note was on the front door:

Scootaloo,

Uncle Dusty and I are helping prepare for the Celebration, and we’ll be back later this afternoon. If you get hungry, there’s some leftover casserole in the fridge. Cheesy veggie casserole is still your favorite, right?

Love, Aunt Sea Swirl.

My stomach grumbled. I could go for some casserole, but – Filly. Garden. She could’ve been hurt or something, I could have casserole once she was okay. Maybe I’d share some with her. Not that I was making friends or anything. I was still absolutely going back to Cloudsdale once the summer was over, but if her crash was as bad as it sounded, the least I could do was share my lunch with her.

I peeked outside, and the filly was still sitting there, rubbing the side of her helmet with one hoof. I think she had a white coat, but she was covered in so much pink padding it was hard to tell. Next to her was a metal rod attached to a wooden board with two wheels on the bottom of it. “You alright?” I asked.

She whipped her head around to look at me with her pine-tree-green eyes and winced. She definitely had a white coat. “Not really,” she said. “My mom and dad got me this for the Summer Sun Celebration, and… I’m kind of awful at it.” She flashed me a smile. “How is this dumb thing even supposed to work?”

I shrugged. “I dunno, what’s it supposed to do?”

“You use it to make you go fast. I hear ponies really good at it can go as fast as some pegasuses,” she said, looking back at the medal wooden thing. Now that she mentioned it, I could kind of see how a pony could grip those v-bars and stand on the wood plank thing.

“Pegasi,” I said. “If there’s more than one of us, we’re called pegasi, and there’s no way that thing can go as fast as my mom.”

“Really?” the filly asked, finally getting up on her hooves. “Is your mom a super-fast pegasus? Does she know Rainbow Dash?”

I opened her mouth to tell her my mom was the fastest pegasus, but stopped. Back home, I was stuck as Scootaloo, Spitfire’s Daughter, but here… As long as I was here, I could be whoever I wanted to be. I could be Scootaloo, Travelling Circus Performer. Well, maybe not that last one, but… “She’s alright,” I said, shrugging. “And who’s Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh! You don’t know? Are you new here?” She narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. “I don’t remember Sea Swirl and Dusty Trails having a daughter… Let me guess, you’re an orphan taking shelter from the cold cruel world by hiding in the attics of ponies’ homes?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I just said I had a mom.”

She pursed her lips and nodded. “Alright, not an orphan, so… what’s up?”

“I was having lunch and heard somepony crash into my Aunt’s flower garden. I wanted to make sure you were okay, you were, so now it’s back to lunch. Nice meeting you,” I said, trotting back to the house and getting ready to shut the door on her. She was nice enough, I guess, but kind of dense. Not exactly the type of pony I’d spend much time with if I had a choice.

“Wait, wait, wait,” she said sticking a padded hoof through the door just as I was about to slam it shut. For a unicorn, she was pretty fast. Maybe she could be as fast as a pegasus if that thing of hers worked like she said. She smiled at me. “Hey, since you’re new here, why don’t I show you around… You know, whenever you’re done eating,” she added, her smile getting even bigger.

“You want to come in while I eat lunch?” I asked, sighing. She nodded, and the second I opened the door wide enough for her to get through, she was sitting at the kitchen counter. “So,” I said, shutting the door and trotting to the fridge. “What’s your name?”

“Sweetie Belle!” she said, flashing me a smile that was somehow different from the smile she’d been wearing a second earlier. Something told me she really liked smiling. “Yours?”

“Scootaloo,” I said, plopping the leftover casserole onto a skillet. Apparently, that was the funniest name ever, because Sweetie immediately burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny about my name?” I asked. It wasn’t like Scootaloo was that weird a name. It wasn’t any weirder than Dusty Trails or Sea Swirl or Spitfire. Or Sweetie Belle.

“It’s not funny,” she said, wiping a tear from her eyes. “It’s just…” She laughed again. “When I crashed my scooter, I met Scootaloo. It’s like destiny. Or, it would be if I didn’t crash my scooter two more times before I met you. Still, it’s kind of like destiny, right?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? That thing’s called a scooter? Why?”

She shrugged. “What do I look like, an etymologist?”

I raised my eyebrow even higher. “A what?”

“You know,” she said, shrugging. “A pony who knows what words mean.”

“That’s a dumb job,” I said, looking back at my frying pan. “If we didn’t know what words mean, we couldn’t use them.”

She frowned and tilted her head. “Huh. Then why would somepony make a job of just knowing what words mean?”

“I don’t know,” I said, grabbing a spatula and pushing the casserole around the frying pan. “You’re the pony who brought it up.”

She wrinkled her forehead up. “I did?” She must’ve made that etymologist word up. Had to have, also she might’ve needed a thicker helmet.

“Yes, you were telling me why a scooter was called a scooter. Or not telling, I guess.” The casserole was starting to sizzle. Time to flip it over.

“Oh yeah, I don’t know why it’s called a scooter.” Her eyes lit up. “Hey, you want to ride it? You can’t be any worse at it than me. Like… really not good. At all.”

I narrowed my eyes.”What’s it to you?” Why was she being so nice? Was she planning a prank, or... No, those eyes couldn’t be planning anything mean. It was impossible, like a cloud bunny scheming something.

“Your name’s Scootaloo? I thought it might be fun?” She frowned and looked like I’d punched her in the jaw. “I didn’t do something wrong, did I?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head and flipping the casserole. Why hadn’t I just put the thing in the oven? That would’ve probably been smarter. “Just…” I frowned. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”

She laughed again. “Of course, I do, you just told me. I’m not that dumb.”

Yeah, okay, I’d kind of walked into that one. “Silly me,” I said, shaking my head. I climbed up onto the counter and started opening up cabinets until I found the plates. One for me, one for Sweetie. I looked back at her. Was she still wearing all that padding? Did she have to wear it all the time? For safety reasons?

She nodded. “Yeah, are you alright? You might have some memory problems.” Pot. Kettle. Black.

“I’m fine,” I said, flipping the casserole onto the plate. Hopefully, she didn’t talk much while she was eating.

***

Is it possible for a pony to talk more while they’re eating food? I asked her where she lived, and she gave me her whole life story about how she moves between her parents’ and her sister’s, and then she went on about how her sister was helping plan the decorations for the Sun Celebration and that her dad was some super-important hoofball coach who had to travel all the time, and I really didn’t need to hear everything that had happened to her in the past eight years.

“So,” she said, trotting over to the scooter in the flowerbed and kicking it up with one hoof. “Want to give it a try?”

I nodded. What the hay, it could be fun. “How does it work?” I asked, trotting over to her.

“Well, you kind of got to stand on it with your back legs, but when you’re not moving, you need to keep a hoof on the ground to keep you balanced. Then you kind of have to kick the ground to make yourself go.” She mimicked the position for me before hopping off. “Standing’s not so bad, it’s making it go without crashing that’s the trick.”

I got onto the scooter, and instinctively spread my wings to keep my balance. It wasn’t that bad.

“Cheater,” Sweetie said, laughing. It didn’t sound like she was actually upset. I gave the scooter an experimental kick and pushed forward. A second later, I was flat on the ground.

“Are you alright?” Sweetie asked rushing to help me get back on my hooves. I’m sorry, I should’ve had you put on my safety pads before you tried.” She looked me up and down. “Actually, you don’t look like you have a scratch on you.”

I smiled. “Pegasus magic. It’s like Mom says, to be a great flier, you have to start as a great crasher. It’s…” I shrugged. “We can handle crashing a lot.” I looked at her and gestured to her pink suit of armor. “I’m guessing unicorns… not so much.”

She shook her head. “Not really, plus I’m kind of clumsy and useless anyways, so my sister forced me to put all this stuff on before I did any scootering.” She glanced down at the dirt. “So… do you want to try again?”

Well, it was definitely more fun than bouncing a ball in my room. “Sure,” I said, getting back on the scooter and giving it another kick. The scooter wobbled but I went forward. Another kick. The scooter wobbled again and I automatically spread my wings for balance. But… That wouldn’t work. Spreading my wings would increase drag, that would get the scooter going slower, and that would mean–

Crash!

“Alright, I think I’ve got it,” I said, hopping back to my hooves. “One more try?” She nodded, eyes completely focused on me. Scootering was about two things, balancing and going fast. I flicked my wings. They couldn’t let me fly, but maybe they could get this scooter going fast. I gave the ground another kick as my wings buzzed to life.

Back in a doctor’s office. It was a bunch of boring doctor stuff. Something about my wings. Mom said they weren’t angled right, and couldn’t generate much upward lift. They could get a ton of thrust, but weren’t strong enough to lift me off the ground. Was that right? Something like that. Mom said I was a late bloomer, that if I worked hard enough, I’d be able to do anything.

My wings had never beat harder, shooting me forward on the scooter. The wind whipped across my face. If they could get me going this fast, how come they couldn’t get me off the ground? They beat harder, buzzing like a hummingbird’s wings. How lame was that? Mom flew like a falcon, but me? Hummingbird. The uncoolest of birds. Still, my wings could beat really fast.

I twisted the handle to turn the scooter around back towards Sweetie, and my hooves brushed against something. I looked down. A bell. I rang it. Da-ding. During the two seconds I was busy looking at the bell, I’d completely passed Sweetie. Sweetie Bell. Another turn, another yank on the handle. I leaned into it as the scooter’s wheels cut grooves into the dirt road. I brought the scooter to a stop in front of Sweetie, who looked at me like I was Princess Celestia or something.

“H– Ho– Ho– How? I spent all morning trying to get that stupid thing to work, and you just– Are you sure you’ve never seen a scooter before?”

“How could I? It’d’ve fallen through the clouds,” I said, hopping off the scooter and passing it back to Sweetie.

“So… wait, Cloudsdale is literally up in the clouds? I thought… What would I do if I wanted to visit there?” she asked, staring at the scooter. “And how are you so good at that?”

“If you wanted to visit Cloudsdale, I guess you could grow wings or something, and…” I looked at the scooter and shrugged. “It’s really just about keeping your balance and going fast.”

She took a deep breath and eased onto her scooter. “Keep my balance and go fast. Keep my balance and go fast. I can do that.” I nodded and gave her a smile that I thought was kind of encouraging. If I could figure it out in three tries, she could probably get it eventually. She kicked herself off as fast as she could. Thirty hooves later, she and her scooter keeled over onto the dirt. Or maybe not.

***

“I give up,” Sweetie said, tossing her scooter aside. “You make it look so easy, and I can’t even go down the street without my scooter crashing.”

“Uhmm… I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it,” I said, frowning. “It just takes time.”

“Not for you,” she said before trailing off at some thought. “You know what, you’re really good at scootering, and since I’m not that into crashing… Would you like my scooter?”

“Are you sure?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, it’s your Summer Sun gift, and… You don’t need to give me your scooter.”

“But you’re way better at it than me, and this way, at least somepony gets to have fun using it.” She sat down on the porch of my house and rubbed her shoulder. “Plus, I don’t think I can take many more falls.”

“Well…” Scootering was really fun, but at the same time, I couldn’t just take the scooter of a pony I just met. “What if I just hold on to it for you, and if you want to use it or take it back, that’ll totally be fine.”

“That could work,” she said, nodding. “Now come on, Scootaloo, I want to show you the greatest town in all of Equestria!” Since she’d just given me her scooter, I figured I probably shouldn’t tell her that basically any other town in Equestria was better than this one. Ponyville didn’t even have a real sports team or anything.

***

There was actually more to Ponyville than I expected. They had a school and a town hall. And a bakery. Sweetie spent a lot of time ordering stuff there. “Thanks again, Mr. Cake,” Sweetie said as the yellow stallion brought our shakes and Sweetie’s cupcakes Thankfully she’d taken off her pink armor before she started our tour. I don’t think I could’ve taken her seriously otherwise. Not that I could take her that seriously now. “Hey, where’s Pinkie?”

He shook his head. “She’s been at the library all day, planning one of her surprise parties. If you see a lavender unicorn with a dragon trotting around town, try not to tell her anything.”

Sweetie nodded and took a bite of her first cupcake. “Don’t tell lavender unicorns anything, got it.”

“So, Sweetie,” I said, grabbing my chocolate shake while Mr. Cake trotted back behind the counter. “What do you do for fun around here?”

“Uhmm… Normally, I just– do you want to see my doll collection?” she asked. “It’s really great, I think I have a pony for everyone I know. I have Rarity, my parents… some fillies at school I used to hang out with until they saw my doll collection.” She winced. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that.”

It was definitely a strike against her, but… on the other hoof, she was nice and she’d let me borrow her scooter. I guess I could live with her having some weird crazy doll collection. I leaned in and smiled at her. “I’ll pass on the doll stuff, but what else do you do?”

“I… Sometimes my sister lets me help carry gems for her,” she said. “Also, I come to Sugarcube Corner.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?” I frowned. “You don’t have any other friends to hang out with?”

She shook her head. “I have… Dolls don’t count, right?”

“Please stop mentioning your dolls,” I said. “Like, the less you mention your dolls, the better.”

“Alright,” she said, frowning and taking the last bite of cupcake number one. “So… Is it that bad? Having a doll collection, I mean.”

“Nothing wrong with having dolls, I guess,” I said, shrugging. “It’s a bit girly, but whatever. I think the weird thing is you have dolls for ponies you know. You don’t use them to cast curses, do you?”

She almost spat out her cupcake at the word curses. “What! No, I’d never hurt somepony, I just like having them kiss. It’s fun.” Not actually better.

“Okay,” I said. “So, do you have any friends in town?”

“There’s my sister,” she said, smiling. “She’s totally the bestest big sister in the world.”

“Sisters don’t count,” I said, rolling my eyes. “That’s like counting your mom as your best friend.”

“Alright,” she said, pouting at me. She had a mean pout. “So, who’s your best friend?”

My mom. Not being able to fly in Cloudsdale was like a license to be bullied. My mom being Captain probably didn’t help out. Either they made fun of me more, or tried to suck up to me. Either way, it didn’t make them ‘friends.’ “Well, since I just moved to this town, I guess you are.”

Her eyes went wide, and the next second, her forehooves were wrapped around my neck while our desserts scattered across the room. “Oh my gosh, I’m your best friend. That–!” She hugged me tighter. “I’ve never had somepony call me their best friend before, we should – what should we do next?”

“You could let me breathe,” I choked out.

“Sorry,” she said, breaking the hug and crawling back to her side of the table. “I guess I got a bit carried away.” Yeah, and the sky was a bit blue. How crazy was this filly?

“Are you alright?” I asked, frowning at her. “You’re kind of high-energy.”

She shrank into her sweet and looked up at me with impossibly big eyes. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just… nopony’s ever called me their best friend before, they mostly just put up with me. We’re still friends, right?”

I nodded. Doing anything else would’ve been like kicking a puppy. “Sure – but you can be cool, right? Maybe cut out all the girly stuff while we’re hanging out?”

“Yup,” she said, dropping her voice as low as she could get it. “Just call me Sweetie Dude, that’s how ungirly I’ll be.”

Apparently, she didn’t get the idea of restraint that well. If she did something, she did it all the way. “You… you don’t have to act like that, just... less squealing, maybe? More chill?”

“I’ll try,” she said, frowning. “So… chill? What do chill ponies do? Ooh! I can watch you ride on your scooter some! Is that okay? Can best friends do that? You’re just so good at it, and–”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head. “We can do that. I probably need to let Aunt and Uncle know where I am, anyways. Probably should’ve left them a note before I headed out.”

***

I laid on my back stared at the growing twilight, coat matted with sweat after a hard workout, while Sweetie lay next to me. I didn’t know my wings could ache that much, but that was good, right? It meant they were getting stronger. I’d probably be able to fly any day now.

“How do you have so much energy?” Sweetie asked from her spot next to me. Really? She thought I had a lot of energy? She was basically a ball of hyperactive sugar.

“You’ve got way more than me,” I said, stretching and bumping a forehoof on the tree we were under. “You were cheering me on the entire time I was on the scooter, plus… have you met you? You’re kind of hyper.”

She laughed. “Maybe I’m a little hyper, but I can’t scooter or work out like you can. I do a few laps for gym and I’m done. You must work out, like, everyday.”

“I don’t, actually, but… you know, when I got on that scooter, it felt like something kind of clicked. It felt right, you know?”

“Ooh, do you think you’ll get a cutie mark for scootering? That’d be kind of cool.”

“I think you mean lame,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Hey, my name’s Scootaloo, my special talent is that I can ride a scooter really well. Ugh, no thanks.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Sweetie asked. I heard the sound of grass rustling and imagined her tilting her head to look at me. “If you’re good at something, what’s wrong with having it as your special talent?”

“Besides it being really obvious?” I asked, looking over to her. Our eyes met. “Well, let’s see, basically anypony can ride a scooter.”

“Hey,” she squeaked.

“If you spent enough time on it, you could probably figure out how to ride a scooter too. You’d just… probably have to spend more time on it than most ponies,” I said, frowning. “The point is, who wants a cutie mark in something so boring when you can get one in something awesome that nopony else can do?”

She nodded. “I guess that makes sense, but what would getting a cutie mark for something nopony else can even do look like?”

I stuck my tongue out at her. “Guess you’ll have to get one to find out.”

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t little Sweetie Fail,” a voice called out. I lifted my head up to see a pink filly staring at us. “You finally found somepony else to tolerate you?” the filly smirked. “I bet she doesn’t know how crazy you really are.” She looked at me. “What do you think, Sweetie, should I tell her?”

“Why do you even care, Diamond Tiara?” Sweetie asked, scrambling up onto her hooves. “I was just sitting here, not bugging anypony, and you had to come over and... What’d I ever do to you?”

She shrugged. “Does it matter? I’m just letting the new filly know how crazy you are. It’s a public service.”

“I’m not crazy!” Sweetie yelled. “I’m fine, just…” She nibbled her lower lip. “I’m not crazy,” she whispered.

“Said the crazy filly,” Tiara looked at me. “So, do you want to keep spending time with her, or do you want to hang out with me?” She looked me up and down. “You look like you might be kind of cool.”

I looked between a smirking Tiara and a Sweetie who looked like she was on the verge of tears. Was I really going to do this? I’d spent half the day thinking about how weird Sweetie was, and now… I got to my hooves. “You know, maybe Sweetie did some crazy stuff before, I don’t know, I wasn’t here.” Sweetie’s eyes watered up more. “But I do know that since I met her today, she’s been nothing but nice. I think it’d be kind of scummy of me to just abandon her because of what somepony else said. I’ll tell you what, if Sweetie does turn out to be some kind of crazy, maybe I’ll take you up on your offer, but until then...” I wrapped a wing over her barrel and drew her close. “She’s my friend, and I’m not just going to abandon her just because somepony I barely know says I should.”

Sweetie’s smile was brighter than Celestia’s sun. I took a step towards her bully. “And honestly, if I had to choose, I’d rather have somepony super sweet and kind of crazy as a friend than a super-sane bully, so… thanks but no thanks, DT.”

Tiara huffed and trotted off. “Well done, Sweetie, it looks like you managed to find somepony in town lame enough and dumb enough to be your friend.”

My wings flared at that. “I’m not lame!” I shouted after her.

Great, I’d probably just burned a bridge with the cool kids all because of some filly I hadn’t even known for twelve hours. Maybe I was kind of crazy too. Oh well, at least Sweetie would probably keep things kind of interesting. A second after Tiara left, I felt a familiar pair of forelegs wrapping around my neck. How many times had she hugged me today?

“Oh my gosh, you’re, like, the best friend ever, Scootaloo. Tiara was all like ‘Grr. Lame,’ but you were like ‘I’m awesome, and Sweetie’s okay,’ and then Tiara was like–”

I pulled her off me. “Breathe, Sweetie. Just take a few deep breaths and calm down. Also, you don’t need to tell me about something I just saw. I was kind of there.”

“Oh, right,” she said, nodding after taking a big gulp of air. “So… What do we do now?”

“I don’t know,” I said, leaning back against the tree. “My wings are still pretty sore, so maybe we could just… be chill for a few hours before we go to the sun-raising party?” I yawned. “Or maybe take a nap? I kind of had a long day.”

She nodded. “Sure, I guess we could do that, or I can get some bits from my mom and see how much sugar we can eat.”

Well,, if she was paying. “Yeah, alright.”

***

The scooter raced down the streets of Ponyville. After eating her body weight in sugar, she’d gotten the idea to hook her wagon up to the scooter so she didn’t have to walk to town hall.

“Hey, Sweetie,” I yelled, spotting an abandoned cart on the road. “What do you say I use that cart as a ramp?”

She just groaned. Was she going to go crazy every time she had access to as many sweets as she could eat? I angled the scooter towards the cart, and buzzed my wings as hard as I could. “So that’s a yes, then?”

Even louder groaning from behind me. I turned my head back and flashed her a grin. “Glad you’re on board.” The scooter shot off the ramp, and Sweetie gave a slow miserable groan as we flew. We flew. It was only a few seconds, but we must’ve at least gone fifty hooves before we crashed back into the ground and Sweetie gagged.

“All right!” I said, bringing the scooter to a halt outside the building she’d pointed out as the town hall during our tour earlier. “Come on, let’s get going. You don’t want to miss Celestia raising the sun, do you?”

“Don’t care,” Sweetie said. “Just give me a bucket and hide me behind some bushes. I can watch the sunrise from there.”

Actually, why was Celestia raising the sun indoors? That didn’t seem like the best idea. Maybe we were all going to go out once she arrived to watch the sun go up? I sighed and hooked my forelegs under Sweetie’s so I could drag her inside. “You’re just being overdramatic,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll be fine once we get some water in you.” Maybe. Or maybe adding anything to her was a kind of bad idea.

“Noooooo… Why did you have to hit that stupid cart?” Her stomach grumbled. Yeah, getting her another drink definitely wasn’t a good idea, unless it was one of those disgusting garlic drinks Dad got me when my stomach was upset. Garlic? That didn’t sound right.

“‘Cause I thought it would be fun, and I wanted to see how far I could go. Turns out the answer was pretty freaking far. Besides, it’s kind of your fault for drinking all those shakes,” I said, dragging her into the hall. There were only, like, seven ponies there. Was everypony in town suddenly sick? Seriously, there had to be more ponies in this town than that. Either that or everypony in town owned multiple buildings. I looked around the room. Where were my aunt and uncle at?

“You’re mean,” she pouted, right before I dropped her next to one of the many empty tables at the town hall. “You’re the meanest pony to ever mean.”

I rolled my eyes and took a seat next to her. “I thought I was your best friend.”

There was a long pause before she sighed. “That too.”

I smiled at her. “Hey, at least we got a good seat.”

***

An hour later, Sweetie was back to normal – or at least, back to her normal, which was still pretty weird. Good weird, though. “When are they gonna raise the sun?” she asked, looking around the now packed town hall. I’m pretty sure there was supposed to be more ceremony to it than this. Back in Cloudsdale, we would have had at least five different speeches by now, and we never hosted the Princess. I scanned the room and finally found Aunt Sea Swirl. I waved a hoof over for her.

“Whenever Princess Celestia’s ready,” I said, shrugging as Aunt Sea Swirl trotted up to the opposite side of the table.

“Scootaloo,” my aunt said, smiling at me. “I’m so glad to see you’re making friends. I was worried I’d have to start pulling teeth to get you to go outside.”

“Yeah, well, Sweetie’s pretty cool, I guess,” I said, trying not to laugh as another giant smile formed on Sweetie’s face. Something about them was contagious. Like, when she was happy, I kind of wanted to be happy too.

“Well, if you two ever want to have a sleepover, I’ll be happy to loan you the living room,” she said, causing Sweetie to gasp.

“Really? You’d do that for me? But you don’t even know me. What if I’m secretly really bad?” Sweetie asked.

“Are you secretly really bad?” Aunt Sea Swirl asked, mock frowning at Sweetie.

Sweetie shook her head. “I don’t think I am, but what if I’m, like, a secret sleeper bad pony, like the Marechurian Candidate? One day, somepony will say the right code word, and suddenly, bam!” She slammed a hoof on the table. “Bad filly.”

“And who let you see The Marechurian Candidate?” Aunt Sea Breeze asked before shaking her head. “Never mind, I think I know. Your parents brought you along for one of their evenings out?”

She nodded, and Aunt Sea Breeze gave another sigh. “The next time they have one of their date nights, let me know, and I’ll see about having a sleepover for you and Scootaloo, assuming Scootaloo’s okay with it, of course.” And assuming I was still here, although something told me I would be. Ponyville wasn’t that bad.

Offering to host a sleepover was enough to cause Sweetie to leap over the table and give Aunt Sea Swirl one of her death hugs. It didn’t take much to earn one of those, though. “Well, alright,” Aunt Sea Swirl said when the hug finally ended. “If you two need me, I’ll just be over with Uncle Dusty, alright, Scootaloo?”

I nodded at her.

As she trotted off, a chorus of birds started singing. Huh, I didn’t know this town had an animal whisperer. She was a pegasus, so she should be from Cloudsdale, but… why would somepony come from Cloudsdale to Ponyville? Besides me, I guess.

Some boring politician-looking mare took the stage and started through the usual “Blah, blah, blah, welcome” stuff. At least Ponyville kept things short. “... Princess Celestia,” boring politician mare finished.

“That’s my sister,” Sweetie whispered, pointing to a white unicorn pulling a stage cord with her teeth. Couldn’t she have just used her magic? If I had magic, I’d never not use it.

Nopony was behind the curtain, and I struggled not to bust out laughing. How amateur hour was this? Their politician lady only spoke for like ten seconds, and they didn’t even bother to make sure Princess Celestia was there before they started the ceremony.

Or maybe they had, and she just vanished. I shivered at the thought, and looked to Sweetie who was full-on shaking. I draped my wing over her to calm her down. Hopefully, she didn’t know that was something pegasi usually did with their special someponies or their kids. I just thought it would calm her down.

“She’s gone!” Sweetie’s sister said, causing most of the audience to start murmuring. So she was there, but now she wasn’t. Guess it wasn’t completely amateur hour. Still needed a longer speech. It wasn’t a ceremony without a long speech.

“What’s going on?” Sweetie whispered in my ear.

“Nothing, I’m sure it’s just a little mix-up,” I said, giving her barrel a squeeze. My wings weren’t big enough to completely drape over her, but they were good enough, I guess. She wasn’t shaking as much now, at least.

Somepony screamed, and my eyes went to the starry fog forming on stage. Probably not a mix up. The fog formed into a solid black alicorn, her mane and tail the only traces of the fog that’d formed her. Sweetie bolted for a nearby curtain, and I followed after. To keep her safe. I wasn’t scared. “Oh, my beloved subjects,” the nightmarish black alicorn called, her voice filling the hall, “it’s been so long since I’ve seen your precious, little, sun-loving faces.” Her words pounded a drum in my head. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom.

“What’d you do with our Princess?” A blue mare with rainbow mane flew up into the sky as somepony else bit her tail to hold her back. She was willing to fight an evil alicorn to keep this town safe. Even the guards were holding back. I could’ve been out there backing her up and being totally awesome, but instead I was hiding with my friend. Mom wouldn’t take this.

“Who is that?” I whispered to Sweetie Belle.

“I- I- I- I don’t know,” she said. “She looks like an evil Princess Celestia.”

“No, not her,” I said, scooting an inch closer to her. So she’d have somepony to lean on for comfort. “I’m asking who the pegasus is.”

“Rainbow Dash,” she said, her shaking slowing as she leaned into me.

“Could ya two be quiet?” a voice next to us asked. “Ain’t much good hiding if you’re gonna be talkin’ the whole time.”

“Sorry,” Sweetie and I both mumbled, ducking low to the carpet. Why was I still here? I could be out there helping Rainbow Dash, but instead... I tried to move my foreleg, but it completely refused. Why was I so lame? What self-respecting pegasus would just hide like that? Actually, there were a lot of pegasi here, and all but one were–

“... And I know who you are, you’re the Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon!” a purple unicorn said as everypony else gasped.

“Nightmare Moon?” Sweetie whimpered. Her haunches tensed up, and I used a wing to keep her close. If she ran now, that’d just draw her attention. Besides, if she could move, and I couldn’t, then that’d mean Sweetie was braver than me. Sweetie couldn’t be braver than me.

“We’re safe here,” I whispered. Just to calm her down, I was fine.

“... The night shall last forever!” Nightmare Moon said, bursting into villainous laughter. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom.

A blast of lightning filled the auditorium, and when it vanished, Sweetie was gone. I saw her sneaking out the back door to the town hall and immediately chased off after her while Nightmare Moon continued her villainous cackling. At least Sweetie waited to run off while Nightmare Moon was distracted.

My hooves clunked against the tile as I pushed myself forward as fast as I could. If Sweetie got away, there was absolutely a 100% chance she’d do something stupid. I had to follow her.

I caught Sweetie diving beneath some bushes just outside town hall and dove in after her.

“Do you think we’re safe?” she asked as I landed next to her.

I nodded. We were all going to die. “Sure, I bet everything will be back to normal in no time.” As I said that, the midnight cloud raced out of the town hall in the opposite of direction with a rainbow blur chasing after it. “See, I bet Rainbow Dash is totally gonna handle it. Did you see how awesome she was? She wanted to take on Nightmare Moon the second she appeared. Nightmare Moon will probably be calling uncle in no time.”

“Why would she be calling for her uncle?” Sweetie asked, her ears perking up. Apparently, now that she wasn’t in immediate danger, she was shifting back to her usual cheer. Meanwhile, my heart was pounding in my throat to the sound of doom. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom.

“It’s–” I shook my head. “It’s a saying, right? You’ve never heard it before?” Maybe it was a pegasus thing. Or maybe Sweetie just didn’t deal with that many fights.

She shook her head. “Nope, why would somepony say that, though? What does calling for your uncle have to do with a fight?”

A tiny smile formed on my lips as the pounding doom faded. “What do I look like, an etymologist?” I asked.

Sweetie sighed. “Ugh, that’s such a dumb word. What does it even mean?”

“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “You were the pony who mentioned it. I just threw it back in your face.”

“Which–” She yawned. “Makes you a really great friend.” She paused and shook her head. “I mean that, though. I was so scared when Nightmare Moon appeared, but you were right next to me the whole time. You made me feel like everything was going to be okay.” She looked up at the unnaturally dark sky. “Everything will be okay, right?”

I nodded and had a yawn of my own. “Of course, I’m sure Rainbow Dash will handle it, she was so brave and awesome.” I frowned. She wasn’t the pony hiding behind a curtain.

“Yeah,” Sweetie nodded, her eyes lighting up a bit more. Maybe if Rainbow Dash couldn’t get the sun up, we could just have Sweetie smile all the time. “And that purple unicorn seemed to know something. I bet the two of them will team up and kick Nightmare Moon’s flank. Ooh! They’re probably going to be absolute best friends. Rainbow Dash and Purple Unicorn.”

“Probably,” I said as ponies started coming out of the town hall. I kept an eye peeled for my aunt and uncle. “I bet if we take a nap, the sun’ll be back by the time we wake up.”

She yawned. “A nap does sound good.” she said, wobbling on to her hooves. “Do you think… Maybe we could have a sleepover while we wait for the sun to come back?”

“Don’t you want to be with your family?” I asked. “We’ll have plenty of time to hang out once the sun comes back.”

She frowned and got to her hooves. “They’ll be fine, I bet they won’t even notice I’m gone.” She gestured to the crowd. “My sister just ran off with some ponies, and my parents are probably don’t even know Nightmare Moon’s returned. ‘Oh, Sweetie, I have an awful headache, can’t you just go play in your room?’”

Her jaw clamped shut. “They love me, they’re just busy and I always get in the way and mess things up. It’s... Sleepover?”

I nodded and trotted over to my Aunt. “Hey, can Sweetie stay with us for a bit?” I asked. I almost asked if she could stay the night, but that could’ve been a very long time. “You know, just until Celestia comes back.”

My aunt nodded. “I suppose… If that’s what she wants, that’s fine.” She looked up at the now faceless moon. “Yes, I’ll let her parents know she’s staying with us.”

“Cool,” I said, trotting towards where I’d left the scooter. “So, Sweetie, anything you want to do?”

She yawned. “Sleep.”

***

I stared up at the ceiling from my sleeping bag. I couldn’t sleep.

“Hey, Scootaloo,” Sweetie said from the couch-bed. I guess I wasn’t the only pony who couldn’t sleep. “You like me, right? You don’t just put up with me?”

“Of course,” I said, keeping my voice low so I didn’t wake up my aunt and uncle. “You’re my friend. I’m pretty sure friends like each other.”

“Okay…” There was a long pause where the only sound was us breathing. In the distance, somepony screamed.

“Yes! Bon-Bon! Oh, Celestia! Don’t stop!”

“What was that?!” Sweetie asked, bolting up in her bed.

“Use those fingers, Lyra!”

“I don’t know,” I said, turning to my side. “Do you know what fingers are? And if you say the word etymologist, I’m going to shove my hoof down your throat.”

“Then I don’t know,” she said, laying back in bed.

“Maybe we can ask Aunt and Uncle about it in the morning,” I said. I really did want to get some sleep.

“Alright,” Sweetie said after a yawn. There was another pause as we both tried to sleep.

“Scootaloo, why do you like me?”

“I don’t know,” I said, tossing onto my other side. “You’re always happy. It’s nice. Being near you makes me feel good.”

“Always happy,” she mumbled. Well, since we were asking each other stupid questions, I guess I could take a turn.

“Sweetie, do you think I’m brave?”

“Of course,” she said. I heard her get out of bed, and a second later, she was laying on the ground next to me. “You were totally there for me tonight when I needed somepony. You told me everything was going to be okay.” That just made me a liar.

“But I was hiding with you. That doesn’t make me brave. Not like Rainbow Dash,” I said, turning over to face her and readjusting my wings.

“So? I was scared, and you were with me the whole way, saying everything was going to be fine. You even chased after me when it got all super-scary just to make sure I was alright. That’s pretty brave.”

“But I was terrified.” No, I wasn’t. Maybe I was a little scared. Maybe. “I was just as scared as you were.”

“So?” Sweetie said. “It’s like that book my sister read me: ‘The only time you can be brave is when you’re scared,’ and today – or tonight – you were completely brave. It doesn’t matter that you were scared, because I know that if anything’d happened, you’d be right there to help me.”

Well, I was there the whole time trying to keep her calm. That was kind of brave. I smiled and laughed. “Yeah, I guess I was kind of cool.”

She smiled. “And I’m sure one day, you’ll be so brave and awesome, everypony in Equestria will know it. Promise.” One day I’d be just as good as Rainbow Dash or Mom. Just as brave and awesome.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’m glad you crashed into my flowerbed.”

She laughed. “Me too.”

We both yawned, and my eyes suddenly got heavy. Huh, all that sleep I wasn’t getting finally caught up with me. Yay.

“Hey… Scootaloo,” Sweetie said, words coming out like syrup. “Can I say something silly?”

I nodded my head, eyes barely open.

“I’m… happy. Happy… I know we just met, but… my best friend, and…” She yawned. “I feel… No matter what… All the crazy stuff that happens when ponies grow up… Nothing’s gonna change that. We’re… friendship. Some things… No matter what stuff happens between us and changes… Friendship won’t.”

Outside, the darkness disappeared and sunlight came pouring through the window, lighting up Sweetie Belle’s sleeping face. My eyes closed, and her promise echoed in my head: Friendship won’t.

Author's Note

That's it! In the interest of spartan Author's Notes, you can find the big final retrospective thing here.