Bad to the Belle

“How much longer is it?” Sweetie Belle groaned, the heat of the daylight sun scorching her into a sweaty mess.

“There's still some more blocks left to cover, if you want, we could take a break,” Cloudchaser suggested.

“Gladly!” Sweetie Belle agreed, downing half of a water bottle in one go. The duo parked inside the alley way, far enough to avoid Manhattenite contact, but close enough to escape if trouble emerged from the shadows. Sweetie Belle sat down with a sigh of relief, unhooking herself from her backpack. “Feels like we've been walking forever...” The unicorn stretched out.

“I know... But we'll have to hurry before sunset, those cops are more active at night,” Cloudchaser's words gave Sweetie Belle some nervous energy, but not enough to continue on.

“I'm just glad nopony spotted us yet,” the unicorn finished off her water bottle with a satisfied exhale.

“That too, but I wouldn't worry about it till tonight, cops are more ornery when the sun goes down,” Cloudchaser sat down with her friend.

“Kind of like werewolves?” Sweetie Belle laughed, Cloudchaser joining in.

“Kinda, only worse,” Cloudchaser cracked up. For once, Sweetie Belle was enjoying herself, most of her worrying had melted away in that moment. Sweetie Belle felt compelled to record this moment in her journal. Digging through her backback, the unicorn snatched her notebook. Unintentionally, this drew Cloudchaser's attention. “Isn't that the thing I picked up at the train station?” She asked.

“...Yeah, why?” Sweetie Belle hoped that Cloudchaser would just leave it at that.

“You looked devastated when I gave it to you, I was curious about why it was so important to you...” Cloudchaser felt awkward bringing it up, but she craved to have the knowledge.

“Because... It's my personal journal,” Sweetie Belle blushed, hoping Cloudchaser's eyes would look elsewhere.

“Seriously? I wouldn't have guessed that by the colors, I sorta believed it belonged to Rarity and that you were going to blackmail her with whatever was inside it,” the pegasus chuckled a bit.

“Oh trust me, I've been in my sister's diary many times before, but blackmailing doesn't work anymore when most of Ponyville knows about the dirty stuff,”

“Ouch...” Cloudchaser couldn't fight back her smile, “apparently I don't know the dirty stuff,”

“Oh, it was just about coltfriends, pregnancies, abortions, debts, and a bunch of other depressing stuff,” Sweetie Belle spoke casually about it.

“Did your she ever write about you?” Cloudchaser was hooked now, and on a different subject too, Sweetie Belle was thankful for that.

“A few times, mostly with empty threats of sending me off to boarding school, boot camp, and giving me away to somepony else,” the unicorn shrugged.

“Why didn't she do all that?” Cloudchaser was puzzled.

“Dunno, by that time I spent more time away from home than usual, just to get Rarity out of my mane,” Sweetie Belle set her journal down, grabbing another water bottle from her backpack.

“I'd know seeing as we barely hang out at your place,” the pegasus laughed a little.

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle took a few gulps of water.

“...So anything embarrassing in your little book there?” Cloudchaser joked.

“N-none of your business!” Sweetie Belle pulled the book out of Cloudchaser's sight with her magic.

“Oh come on Sweetie Belle, it can't be that bad! It's not like you were a chronic bed wetter!” The pegasus cackled. Unimaginable nighttime moments of Sweetie Belle's foalhood returned to her as her cheeks flushed harder than before. Shaking away the thoughts Sweetie Belle decided to pin the question back to the pegasus

“...So you're saying you wet the bed?” Sweetie Belle tried not to sound embarrassed.

“What filly or foal didn't back then? At least it didn't stick long with me.” Sweetie Belle dodged an emotional bullet.

“Yeah, there was a certain colt who had that problem all the way up into middle school” Sweetie Belle started, “It was only made public because the other colt who slept over at the time found out about his problem, I kinda felt bad for the guy.”

“Yeah, anyways, you don't have anything to worry about now,” Cloudchaser tried to convince Sweetie Belle to part with her journal.

“I still don't feel comfortable letting you read this while I'm alive...” Sweetie Belle admitted.

“That's no fair!” Cloudchaser said with no serious bone in her body.

“How about this, if you're on your death bed before I am, I'll let you read it, okay?”

“Fiiiine,” Cloudchaser agreed, but her curiosity wasn't put to rest. The duo sat in silence for a few moments. Sweetie Belle's mind wandered off into Cloudchaser's past, reminding herself what the pegasus went through. It was still unfathomable how she could remain to be so positive after all this time.

“...How do you do it?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Huh?” Cloudchaser was in the middle of playing with her stiletto.

“How do you remain so positive? I mean you've been beat up, ridiculed, lost your best friend, and were nearly raped... How?”

“I still have some hope, also, it was nearly rape for a reason,” Cloudchaser fliped out the blade of her stiletto.

“Oh...” Sweetie Belle grew silent, thinking about if the colt survived or not.

“Yeah, it's a funny story actually, I left the sorry flankhead with a few scars. He didn't show up to school for a whole week. Almost thought he transferred schools because of it. Once he showed up next week, he didn't even have the balls to look me in the eye anymore when he passes by in the hallways.”

“Whoa... He didn't try and make up some stupid story to the cops or anything did he?” The unicorn was enthralled with her friend's story.

“Nah, he wouldn't be that stupid, he knew it'd all just turn against him, you can't cover up the intention of rape,” Cloudchaser explained.

“Good, at least he learned his lesson,” Sweetie Belle felt there was actually some justice in the world.

“...So you ready to start walking again?” The pegasus asked.

“Not yet, I wanna scribble something down first,” Sweetie Belle opened up her journal. Cloudchaser couldn't help but sneak a peek as best as she could. Her attempt were defeated as Sweetie Belle caught on and turned the journal from her seeking eyes. A joking groan came from Cloudchaser's lips as she leaned back down on the wall.

Sweetie Belle's horn began to glow as she wrote out her thoughts on paper...

Being closer to our new life, I'm thankful that the bond I have with Cloudchaser still remains strong. Ever since running away from home, I've learned so much about her that I probably wouldn't have known otherwise. Yet she still has much more to learn about my life... Or my online life really. When I told her I never had a coltfriend before... I sort of lied. I know if I tell her about it, I won't hear the end of it. There'll be so many questions that I don't want to answer.

Maybe starting over in Manehatten can change that. If I'm lucky that is.

Closing her journal shut, Sweetie Belle stuck it in her backback, “let's go,” she stood up, pulling her backpack back on.

“I was wondering if you'd ever take your nose out of that thing,” Cloudchaser laughed as she closed her stiletto, hiding it in her backpack. The two ventured back into the heated city.