“Seriously, what makes you think this is, in any way, a good idea?” Scootaloo helplessly shrugged her shoulders. It wasn’t the first time she’d done so since Diamond Tiara announced her ridiculous plan. “It’s stupid. You’re going to stalk Silver Spoon like a creep? And you want to drag me into this, so I’ll end up looking like a creep too!”

“Stop whining, Scootaloo! It’ll be fun, trust me! An adventure, just you and me!”

Diamond’s voice was muffled, coming from inside her big walk-in wardrobe. For the last few minutes now the filly had thrown a number of outfits out of there into a slowly growing pile. Scootaloo suspected the dresses and tops and pants would have easily paid for a dozen new scooters or so. Not that she was envious or anything. Not of Diamond Tiara of all ponies. She wordlessly stepped to the side as a gem-encrusted black pleather belt sailed by and nearly hit her in the head.

“No, no, definitely no… Oooh! Now this is it!” A shapely young mare leg was the first thing that came back into Scootaloo’s sight, followed by the rest of its owner. Diamond beamed at her, halfway turning around to show off what she probably assumed an adventuring pony wore. To Scootaloo, the white and pink shirt and vest combo together with the cheerleader-like mini-skirt looked like what a pony who never went on an adventure in her life thought she should wear. If Daring Do’s outfit was a hearty meal, this one was a candy cane. Sweet, tasty. Not something to depend on. No matter what Pinkie Pie said. Or Twist, for that matter. “Tell me, Scootaloo, how do I look? Beautiful? Ravishing? Now now, it’s okay to be overwhelmed, I have that effect on ponies!”

Scootaloo resisted an eye-roll. “You look good. Not sure that’s the best choice to go sneaking around. Unless you’re trying to infiltrate a sweet shop…”

“That’s kinda what we’re going to do.” Diamond put her fists to her hips. Scootaloo had a quick impression of a drill sergeant for gingerbread ponies, and hid her grin behind a hand. “I know where Silver Spoon will be today. So, that’s where we’re going! I’ll get my booties, they’re in the hallway.” Without another word, and without waiting for a reply, the young mare was marching off. Scootaloo followed at a distance, slightly bemused. To the point where she flinched when suddenly, Randolph appeared behind her. She had no idea he could move this quietly, but after what she’d seen him do at their school that one time, she supposed she shouldn’t be too shocked the creaking of his joints and cracking of old bones didn’t give the elderly stallion away for miles.

“Apologies, Miss Scootaloo.” The old butler inclined his head. “I did not wish to frighten you. I was merely curious to see if the two of you had found a way to get along. By all appearance, that seems to be the case.” He looked away from her, down the hallway. Scootaloo followed his gaze, to where a muttering Diamond Tiara struggled to tie a pair of hopelessly expensive hiking boots. “It is good to see the young mistress up and about. The last few days she had stayed in her room, complaining about feeling under the weather, not even going outside into the garden. They are particularly pleasant this year. I worried about her wellbeing, all holed up in her room…”

“You know she wasn't really sick, right?” Scootaloo looked back to Randolph. She saw him cough into a fist, eyes still trained on the pretty young mare wrestling with her hoofwear, a dry cough like months of dust. “Diamond Tiara was never sick, she just faked it. That was all an act. She told me herself.”

The stallion merely shrugged. Bony shoulders lifted and lowered with dignified practice.

“I am happy to see a semblance of the energetic, vibrant, and perhaps a little too headstrong little pony the young mistress used to be. That she is better now, recovering from whatever malady it was that ailed her, no matter the origin. That is my most important concern.”

Scootaloo, for a moment, just stared at him. “You’re too good for her, you know that?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say too good,” Randolph chuckled. “Just the right amount of good. You should perhaps now join her, before Miss Diamond—”

“Hey! Are you coming, featherbrain?! Don’t make me leave without you, I totally will!”

“—loses her patience.”

Filly and stallion shared one last look. Scootaloo peered into the butler’s old, but warm eyes, noted the many, many lines in his coat she could see now that she was close enough to. Years of service in what had been, to her, a demanding little monster. And Randolph… he just smiled.

“Good luck on whatever undertaking the two of you agreed on.”

Scootaloo nodded. “I will. I promise I won’t be a stranger from now on.” As she turned away to follow behind Diamond Tiara, jogging to make up for the other filly’s head start, she could hear the warm smile following her in turn.

“Yes, Miss Scootaloo. That would be much appreciated.”

When Scootaloo agreed to take Diamond’s homework to her, she had not imagined she would end up huddling in the bushes around Sweetcream Scoop’s ice cream parlor. She had never considered the bushes particularly huddleable either. Now here she was, planning to spy on one half of her personal bully band… with the other half. A part of her, the rough and tumble tomboy one, was annoyed Diamond Tiara seemed to know better hiding places than her. Snobs shouldn’t make for good spies.

“This is silly.”

“I would have thought,” Diamond began in a voice dripping with false pleasantry, “ you are familiar with doing silly things, little miss Cutie Mark Crusader.”

“I got my Cutie Mark, thank you very much.” Scootaloo scooted further into the bushes for a better view. She kept her wings tightly pressed to her sides, not wanting to get them caught in anything. “Anyway, you think she’s going to be here? We’ve been waiting ten minutes or so by now.”

“She’ll be here.” The pink filly squatted close to the ground, skirt pulled up over her knees. “She always eats here when she’s alone. Silvie can’t resists a good cherry cream sundae, not even if her life depended on it.”

Scootaloo pushed a branch away that was getting a little too frisky. “You sure about that?”

“Of course I’m sure!” Diamond Tiara’s annoyance showed in the downward curve of her brow. She still looked pretty, but Scootaloo had been on the receiving end of that frown too often not to feel a little irritated herself. “I know her better than anypony! She always comes here about two hours after school has ended, gets a cherry cream sundae, and takes tiny bites with those ridiculously small spoons that are way too impractical to get done in any reasonable time!”

That was… detailed. Not for the first time, Scootaloo wondered if maybe Diamond Tiara wasn’t as okay as she had thought. “Okay, I know you’re friends, or used to be, but that’s kinda too much. Have you been stalking her?” Right after saying that, she put a hand to her forehead and groaned. “What am I saying? Of course you have. And now I’m doing it too. We’re doing it right now.”

A disdainful sniff. “Get with the program, featherbrain.”

“Up yours.”

“How witty.” Diamond rolled her eyes dramatically. “I keep forgetting how talking to you for longer periods of time is an exercise in frustration. If Silver hadn’t cut me of, I would—wait! There she is!” She pointed to a table outside the shop, one in the shape of a heart and given shade by a turquoise parasol. “I knew it! Hah! She’s come… with her coltfriend. Ugh.”

Like Diamond had said, Silver arrived with her beau in tow. Snails towered well over her, and with how lanky he was and that mop of greenish mane on his head, he looked a lot like a closed parasol himself. He pulled her chair into place, she sat down, touched his arm, and both smiled at one another.

“Yeesh.” Scootaloo shuddered. “They’ve got it bad. As soon as one of them calls the other shmoopy, I’m out of here.”

That earned her a confused look. “Shmoopy..?” Diamond repeated. Scootaloo wasn’t in the mood for it, though.

“Long story. Turns out goofballs in love say goofbally things.” She cracked her knuckles. Time for action! “How we doing this?”

“I don’t think that’s actually a word. But fine. We wait til he goes inside for whatever inane reason he has. And trust me, he has lots. When he does, I’ll go distract him. You go to Silver Spoon. Engage her. Try to find out what happened with her and the dork knight over there. After that, we regroup in Sugarcube Corner.”

“Why there?” Scootaloo asked, eyeing her from the side. “Has all that ice scream made you hungry for sweets?”

Diamond Tiara glared at her. For just a moment, however. When she turned her attention back to their targets, she might have blushed just a tiny bit.

“That’s not important! What is important is that you find out why these two suddenly turned into a couple.”

“I still say this is a waste of time.”

“Noted. Now get to it.”

Grumbling, Scootaloo got up, flexing wings and legs. Diamond Tiara rushed over to the shop’s entrance when their quarry wasn’t looking, somehow managing not to get a single frill caught in anything. Scootaloo rolled her shoulder and made for her own entrance.

Silver Spoon sat alone for the moment. She was idly fiddling with the menu, in Scootaloo’s opinion not really reading any of it. If Diamond was to be believed, she’d just order the same thing as always. Scootaloo sidled up to the filly until she was too close to believably overlook her, and did a double-take.

“Oh hey, Silver Spoon! You here too? Wow, that's so cool, you know what, I'm just going to sit down next to you!” Scootaloo hopped into the closest empty chair next to her and did her best to act casual, but open, with the most nonchalant grin she could muster.

For just a moment, the pretty, bespectacled filly looked close to shocked. That melted away from her silver features quickly, replaced by a look best described as bored annoyance. Silver Spoon took a napkin from the small pile already ready on her side of the table and proceeded to wipe her squeaky-clean glasses methodically.

“Hello. Scootaloo. I didn't expect to meet you. Here, that is. We see each other in school, like, often enough, but now you're here. When I wanted to enjoy a nice date with my coltfriend... alone. What a lucky girl I am.” She put her glasses back, not any cleaner than they'd been before. Scootaloo was treated to the sight of two rows of sparkling, perfect teeth, arrayed in what might have been possible to mistake for a smile. In the dark. At a distance.

She cleared her throat, hoping to swallow some of the awkwardness down. “Well, okay, yeah. I get it. I'm disturbing your date, and I'm real sorry for that. I just wanted to talk to you for a bit. Since it looks like Snails is going to take a while and all.”

Scootaloo's muzzle snapped shut right after she blabbed that last part. She winced. When she saw the stare Silver Spoon directed at her, she winced again. Arms crossed, legs crossed, frowning like Scootaloo suddenly transformed into an icky worm. The Earth Pony sighed and began rubbing her temples.

“Where is she?”

Scootaloo blinked. “Who?”

“Diamond Tiara. She put you up to this.” Silver's hands fell away from her head. She gave her fellow filly a flat stare. “You don't have much reason to talk to me at all. Diamond does. But I'm not talking to her right now, so she has to use some... pony-pawn to do it for her. And it isn't me this time. What did she offer you, Scootaloo? Money? Favours? A kiss?”

Scootaloo didn't know whether she was blushing or growing pale. Something in between probably. “W-what?! No! Why would she—? Come on, Silver, that's not even remotely funny! Stop smirking! She didn't offer me any of that!”

That infuriating smirk only grew.

“But she did put you up to this?”

Scootaloo's mouth opened, but nothing came out. Racking her brain for an excuse that would work didn't help. And in the end, it wasn't worth the effort anyway. Why am I trying to lie for Diamond frikkin' Tiara? Maybe if she had promised me something..! Might as well go with the truth at this point.

Leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms too, Scootaloo nodded. “Alright, you got me. DT talked me into talking to you. Not for anything in return, though.”

Silver Spoon raised a brow. “You let yourself get roped into one of Diamond Tiara's schemes, without getting anything out of it yourself? Now that's the silliest thing I heard all day. Are you sure you're not the one who is sick?”

“Trust me, I've been thinking about that too.” Scootaloo chuckled and glanced in the direction the pink filly had wandered off to. Still no sign of her or Snails. It was a good thing the colt wasn't the fastest pony around, in any sense of the word. “Seriously, though. I'm kind of curious myself. You and Snails?”

“Oh my Celestia, this again?” Silver Spoon hid her face behind her hands. “She really can't let it go, can she?”

“Well, in her defence, I think it's kinda weird too.” Scootaloo shrugged. “Snails is a goofy, bumbling boy who likes to dig in the ground for new friends, and you, you're an old money rich snob who wouldn't be caught dead with a speck of dirt on you.” She paused. “No offence.”

The glare Silver Spoon shot at her through spread fingers suggested she had indeed taken offence. Scootaloo scratched her neck. She had trouble meeting her eyes.

“And you're, you know, pretty. Scratch that, you're gorgeous. And it's not like you're dressing to hide it. Any colt in our class must have been drooling after you at one point or another. You could've picked anypony, so... why Snails? What made him stand out compared to the rest?”

Scootaloo watched her counterpart turn a light shade of red around the edges of her muzzle. It suited her, Scootaloo decided. Silver quickly huffed and turned away with a pout that only made her look cuter.

“There isn't much to say that I didn't already tell Diamond Tiara! It's not my fault none of you mares can look beyond your noses!” She glanced over as if daring Scootaloo to disagree. “Snails is one of the kindest stallions I've ever met. He was nice to me, even when... I wasn't all that nice to him.” Her pretty face fell.

Scootaloo leaned across the table. “When you were with DT, right?”

That earned her a snort. “Don't get me wrong, I don't regret that! Time with Diamond Tiara was lots of fun, and we were on top of the world! But with Snails, it was... it was different. Mocking him never felt quite right.” Scootaloo bit her tongue. Literally. Now wasn't the time to point out how wrong mocking anypony was.

“He was always smiling, only not when we tore into him and his chubby friend. Then he got all sad and looked down at his hooves. It was like hurting a puppy. And that was before he told me he liked me.” Silver Spoon took a deep breath and slowly let it go again. When she was done, a happy little smile showed itself. “It was more show than tell, really. Who would have expected that one tall boy you called nasty names to come visit you at your own home, right? Well, he did. And he brought me a present.

“He had this big rock with him. All dirty, grimy, just like him as he held that thing up to me. He said it was like me. At first I thought he was joking. Getting back at me. 'Look, this ugly lumpy rock, that's you!' I totally would've bought it if he'd done that. Not like I didn't insult him first! But that wasn't it. The rock... it was a shell. A Fire Snail shell.”

The filly's eyes wandered wistfully towards the ice cream shop. Scootaloo wondered to herself why nopony had come out to ask for their order yet. Not that she wanted that to happen, not when Silver laid everything open like this.

“It was, like, totally silly. He said he found it in Ghastly Gorge. Who goes to there to look for things? Honestly! Well, he did, and he brought it back from there. To me. For me.”

Silver Spoon shook her head. She came to meet Scootaloo’s curious gaze again, and Scootaloo knew her curiosity was clear to see.

“It was weird, you know? Those things aren’t common. I do have more expensive stuff, but Snails doesn’t have much money, so he went to look for something nice to give to me. Fire Snail shells just look red on the outside, but on the inside, they glimmer like a rainbow fire! It’s still warm when I touch it. And this is going to sound like the corniest thing ever, but I think it was his way of saying ‘hey, I like you, you can be pretty on the inside too if you want it!’”

The two fillies looked at each other. For a moment, neither said anything. Silver Spoon leaned back, twiddling her thumbs, still occasionally daring a peek to the shop exit. Nopony came out yet, though. Whatever Diamond Tiara had pulled to keep Snails away, it had worked.

Scootaloo was the first to break the silence. She scrunched her nose like she'd tasted something that clung to under her tongue. “You're right. That is the corniest thing ever. And I watched two grown-ups calling each other 'shmoopy-shmoop'.”

Silver Spoon just shrugged. “Like I said. I’s nice thought anyway. It was also nice to be treated like Snails did just for me being me, and not because of Diamond Tiara.” The silver filly rolled her eyes. She propped her chin on her palm, staring off bored. “That's what I am to most ponies. That one girl hanging with Queen Mean of Ponyville School. Snails wasn't intimidated... like, too much. He kept trying to win me over after that first big gift. Visits, smaller gifts, lots of them. I guess it worked, after a while. I kinda liked having him around, even if Diamond Tiara couldn't stand him. And less than a month ago, it sort of... clicked between us.”

Scootaloo's ears snapped straight up.

“Less than a month ago? While I wasn't around?”

“Yes. Snails came for one of his 'secret' visits. I saw him stand there with this crooked flower in his hand, smiling like he just woke up from a funny dream, and we just started kissing. Right in the doorway. That was the best day of my life!” Silver glanced sidelong at her, with a smirk on her face. “While you weren't around. Lots of our schoolmates got hitched while you were gone. Ooh, maybe you not being around made everypony all romantic!”

She gave the girl a flat stare. “What was that about being pretty on the inside?” Scootaloo groused.

“Hey, I'm a work in progress! Canterlot wasn't built in a day, you know.” Silver shrugged again and crossed her legs the other way. “And Snails is totally helping me with that. When he's around, I can be sure he tells me when I'm being naughty. Not like that's always a bad thing, though...” She said that last part with a slightly different smirk. One that made Scootaloo blush a little and feel hot under her shirt. She was kind of glad when Silver directed it away from her. Scootaloo saw her narrow her eyes in a squint. Silver Spoon’s mischievous smirk broadened.

“Well! Talk of the Windigo! Looks like she finally made her move. Good for her.”

Scootaloo swiveled her head around to follow whatever Silver Spoon spotted. She sounded weirdly satisfied with what she saw. It took Scootaloo just a moment to zero in on the unusual trio sitting down at a table not that far from them. Through the hustle and bustle around them and because of her talk, she would’ve missed their arrival if Silver Spoon hadn’t mentioned it.

Truffle and Peppermint Twist took seats across from each other. They were all smiles, just like they’d been all day. Truffle said something and grinned broadly, Twist leaned forward in a way that surely let him peer right down her top, and the both of them laughed and turned to the third pony with them: Tootsie Flute. The cobalt filly wore an ill-fitting trench coat, the most modest piece of clothing Scootaloo had seen on any mare the whole day. She almost seemed to vanish into the thing.

Scootaloo blinked in surprise. These three were friends? She didn’t remember that. As she watched, Tootsie’s coat slipped down her left shoulder, exposing blank fur. Did she even wear anything below? Her company noticed too and apparently commented on it; Tootsie blushed but made no move to pull it back into place. Not even when the serving pony came to take their orders, a young mare perhaps a few years older than them.

“I didn’t know they were close,” Scootaloo said to herself. She heard Silver Spoon snorting in amusement.

“Now that’s a shock! My dear Scootaloo, you have all the romantic sense of a cucumber.”

Scootaloo tried to ignore the barb. Considering she had spent more than an hour in the presence of Diamond Tiara today, she’d had lots of practice.

The older filly returned, bringing with her a sundea easily big enough for all three hungry students. Truffle was the first to take a spoonful, then Twist helped herself to one. Scootaloo couldn’t see whether they even had a third spoon, but even if they did, they didn’t seem to want to use it.

Truffle scooped up some ice cream, turned halfway around and held it in front of Tootsie Flute’s muzzle. The little Unicorn’s blush rushed to cover most of her face, but she leaned forward to take the offered food. Twist said something and nodded towards Truffle, then she tugged on the belt keeping Tootsie’s trench coat closed in the front. Tootsie Flute, in turn, squirmed in her seat, yet she didn’t do so much as raise an arm. What she did was give the Earth Pony filly a look filled with silent pleading, which earned her a round of giggling from both both her table-mates. More words Scootaloo couldn’t make out, followed by Truffle bending over the table to give Tootsie a kiss on her flushed cheek.

And then Twist gave her a kiss on the other cheek.

Scootaloo’s jaw fell open.

“Hmm? Oh, they’re kissing already? Somepony is a lucky filly today!” Silver Spoon poked Scootaloo’s shoulder. The Pegasus flinched, brought back to her own company. Said company wore a wide, saucy grin and a breathed just a hint heavier than before. “Keep your mouth open like that, and anything could go in! You wouldn’t want to, like, swallow a fly, right?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “No,” she admitted. “I was just, um, a little surprised. I didn’t expect… that.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw other ponies around them smiling at the trio currently sharing ice cream and kisses. Some of it dripped from Truffle’s spoon right into Toosie’s cleavage. Instead of her wiping it away, Twist pushed her muzzle down there, and whatever she did next, it had the Unicorn filly silently moaning. Scootaloo sensed her own cheek heating up at the sight, and she told herself it was from embarrassment. Pushing your nose down your friend’s boobs? Who even did that?

What does it feel like..?

“They look happy, don’t they?” Scootaloo couldn’t help but look back to Silver Spoon. The tone in her voice, it was suddenly unusually tender. She wasn’t looking at them, though, she was looking at Scootaloo. She couldn’t place the half-closed eyes or the small smile. “I’m happy for them. They deserve each other. So nice they agreed to share. It’s nice ponies can share, isn’t it? Sharing is caring, after all.”

Sharing is caring…

The words echoed in Scootaloo’s mind. She got up, so abruptly it made Silver Spoon flinch just as much as she had made her. Without acknowledging the Earth Pony’s bewildered look, Scootaloo turned to leave. “I gotta go. Nice talking to you, Silver Spoon.”

“Nice talking to you too…” it trailed after her.

As Scootaloo reached the exit, she saw Tootsie Flute had her wrists crossed behind her back. Something metallic blinked around them.

I gotta talk to DT about this.

Author's Note

Hey there. Looks like I owe several people an apology. Hopefully, I can make it up to anyone still willing to stick around.

As always, feel free to point out any mistakes or things you believe would improve the story!