Aviators: Friendshipby MitslitsChaptersFalling ApartReunionRevelationsConfessionsPropositionAcceptanceFalling ApartFalling Apart Scootaloo donned her favorite purple helmet, securing it firmly over her riotous purple mane. She hopped nimbly onto her brand new bright orange scooter, her hooves immediately putting themselves in the perfect position for maximum balance as if she had ridden this scooter a hundred times. With a satisfied grin, she opened her massive wings. The orange mare allowed herself to think back to the good times. "Come on, Scoot!" Apple Bloom called, looking back over her shoulder. "You kin do it." Scootaloo looked into the eager amber eyes of her country friend and then met the soft green eyes of Sweetie Belle. The white unicorn nodded eagerly. "Yeah, come on, Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle smiled shyly. That did it. Scootaloo opened her wings, back then they were still so small. She whipped them back and forth in a frenzy, trying desperately to lift herself even a few inches off the ground. But it was no use. She broke out in a sweat, but still her efforts yielded nothing. "I-I can't", she paned sadly, wings coming to a fluttering halt. "Apple Bloom!" Applejack called. She stood up on a hill with Winona. The pale yellow filly started. "Comin', Applejack!" she called up to her big sister. "I gotta go. Zap apples are comin' in soon and Granny Smith wants us all to help set up. Sorry." With that, she turned and trotted up the hill as fast as her stubby legs would take her. Sweetie Belle's and Scootaloo's eyes tracked their friend until they could no longer see her. Scootaloo hung her head. "Forget it, Sweetie Belle. I'll never be able to fly. Not like Rainbow Dash." The small unicorn looked at her, a little anxiously. "I don't want you to be Rainbow Dash. I want you to be Scootaloo." She quickly leaned forwards, and kissed her friend on the cheek. Then, blushing furiously, she began backing up. "I have to go." She turned and ran. Scootaloo grew dizzy. A silly grin took control of her face and her tiny wings buzzed faster than ever. Then, without realizing it, her hooves rose off the ground and she was floating above the flowers. The pegasus sighed. She wished she could go back to that time, but she knew it was impossible. She pumped her wings once, shooting off like a rocket. Scootaloo zipped down the dirt road, soon arriving in Ponyville. She skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust near Sugarcube Corner. Scootaloo leaned her scooter against the doorframe and trotted inside. She immediately froze. Apple Bloom heard the bell signaling a customer and turned. Her eyes widened in shock. "S-Scootaloo?" she asked. Pinkie Pie, behind the counter, perked up. "So, that was two cinnabuns, right? Here you go!" The preppy pink party pony plonked a brown paper bag down onto the counter and accepted the bits Apple Bloom gave her. "Have a super-duper-uper day!" Scootaloo rubbed one foreleg with the other, trying to avoid her former friend's eyes. "Hey. How's it going with AJ and the rest of the family?" She tried to hide her awkwardness by straightening her helmet. "Granny Smith died", Apple Bloom said coldly. Scootaloo looked up abruptly. "I'm sorry to hear that." She was shocked to find that she meant it. "Yeah, well." Apple Bloom shrugged. She reached up to straighten Scootaloo's helmet for her, but stopped with her hoof halfway there. She dropped it and her eyes found the ground. "Big Mac's settled down with Cheerilee. AJ's still hangin' out with Twilight an' the others, lahk we used to." The orange Pegasus winced at the mention of the old days, or, as she called them, the good times. "Uh, yeah." Her wings flared briefly. "Good set of wings on ya", Apple Bloom remarked. "And Ah see ya got yer Cutie Mark. Without us, Ah guess." She looked at her flank where a purple and pink butterfly rested. She sighed. "Look, this isn't right", Scootaloo said, for the first time looking the earth pony in the eyes. "What happened to us?" Apple Bloom's eyes hardened. "Ah was hopin' you could tell ME, seein' as it was you who messed it up." Scootaloo was immediately on the defensive. Her wings shot up angrily, before she could stop them. "Now wait just a minute! You were just as much to blame as I was!" The ding of the customer bell stopped them. Both mares swiveled their heads to see who had interrupted them. "Sweetie Belle", Scootaloo whispered. The unicorn's eyes widened, eyes immediately filling with tears. Without saying another word, she turned and cantered back out of the sweet shop. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shot out of the door as one. Scootaloo hopped onto her scooter, opened her wings and shot forwards. Apple Bloom cantered after her. As they chased after Sweetie, Scootaloo was hit by another memory. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were standing in a meadow full of dandelions. The Pegasus fanned her wings, blowing the seeds everywhere. Sweetie stood by laughing until she got a mouthful of seeds. She giggled and stumbled into Scoots. The two fillies went down in a tangle of limbs and dandelions. They ended up with Sweetie Belle sprawled on top of Scootaloo, looking down at her with both embarrassment and love in her eyes. Scootaloo reached up a hoof and brushed Sweetie's purple and gray mane out of her vibrant green eyes. Why hadn't she ever seen, really seen, those beautiful eyes before? Without a second thought, she stretched her neck up and kissed the unicorn lightly on the cheek. She giggled nervously, rolling off of the orange pegasus. "Do you really like me, Scoots?" Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Of course, Sweetie." She winked. "That's why I kissed you." The pegasus put on a burst of speed and careened in front of the fleeing Sweetie Belle. She spread her wings as wide as they could go and cradled Sweetie Belle in her feathers. Apple Bloom came up, panting. She jerked her head, indicating them to follow her. Sweetie Belle practically glued to her side, Scootaloo followed Apple Bloom slowly. Tears came to her eyes when they reached their destination. The country pony looked back, her own eyes filled with tears. "Ah thought this would be a good place tah tahlk about what happened." Even Sweetie Belle nodded wordlessly. Scootaloo flew up, hearing the others climb the now worn ramp. She landed silently. It was just as they had left it. Scootaloo looked at the faded paper with slight red X's over all the places in town they had gone to. Weathered, abused pillows filled one corner, tattered blankets and games another. All three stood side by side, surveying their old clubhouse. ReunionOut of habit, the three former Crusaders busied themselves. Scootaloo grabbed as many pillows as she could carry while Apple Bloom did the same with the blankets. Sweetie Belle swept off the layers of dust and grime on the floor with her tail; she absentmindedly began humming their old theme song. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom froze as her sweet voice rang out among the room. “We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders…” she trailed off and went back to her work silently. Apple Bloom piled two blankets one on top of the other and made two more piles in the shape of a small circle. Scoots followed, dropping a hoof full of pillows on top of the blankets. Eventually, all three settled down, making themselves comfortable. “Ah think we should get this all out in the open, once ‘n fer all”, AB said, a little roughly. Sweetie Belle was looking a little nervous, but she nodded. Scootaloo spread her wing, draping it over Sweetie’s back. After all that had happened, it felt good to just be touching her again. “Why haven’t you said anything?” she asked the unicorn. “She made a vow ta herself”, Apple Bloom spat. “After ya left. She told herself she would never tahlk ta anypony agin, until we were friends. Ya might have known that if ya had actually stuck around ‘stead of goin’ off with them Wonderbolts.” Scootaloo was about to deliver a stinging retort, but she felt Sweetie Belle stir slightly under her wing. She turned to face her. Purple eyes met green, and in them she saw all the pain Sweetie had felt when their friendship had fallen apart. Painfully, Scoots remembered the proud, determined filly Sweetie had used to be. Now all she could see was a broken shell of a pony. “When did this happen?” she wondered. “It must have been after I left.” Another memory wormed its way into her brain. “I promise I’ll come back”, Scootaloo said to Sweetie, Apple Bloom glaring at them all the while. “The Wonderbolts have just invited me for one tour. I’ll be back this summer.” She leaned forwards and lightly pecked her marefriend on the tip of her nose. The orange pegasus spread her wings, already outfitted in the standard blue and yellow Wonderbolts costume. She leaped into the air, joining Spitfire and Soarin, who had been waiting for her. That was when Sweetie Belle broke. Really and truly fell apart. She didn’t want to stay in Ponyville with only bitter Apple Bloom. Rarity, away at Canterlot, would not be returning until the summer either, and every other pony had one thing or another planned. The spirit flew right out of the unicorn and that was when she made her vow. She told only Apple Bloom and then she quit speaking. Sweetie was delighted when she heard Scootaloo was coming back from the tour early-until she found out why. She wasn’t coming back because of Sweetie Belle. She was coming back because of Rainbow Dash. Scoots remembered the sheer jolt of terror she had felt when she found out that Rainbow Dash had been hurled into a tree by a bolt of lighting. She left the tour early. To her immense relief, Rainbow was fine, just a broken rib and a few bruises. Scootaloo didn’t return to the ‘bolts after that. Instead, she bought a house on the edge of Ponyville, traveling to the town only when necessary. Scootaloo cursed herself. How could she have been so selfish, abandoning Sweetie Belle like that? Apple Bloom was tough and bitter; she had probably been glad to see Scoots leave after what had happened. The yellow earth pony adjusted her bow, trying to keep the sour expression off her face at seeing Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle curled together. They had barely been together for an hour, but they were already glued to each other. In a way, she envied them. Apple Bloom hadn’t ever been a silly schoolfilly, concerned only with colts and gossip, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be totally alone. Truth be told, she had missed her friends. But she, like the rest of the Apple Family, was stubborn and refused to back down. Scootaloo shifted into a more comfortable position, took a deep breath, and looked Apple Bloom straight in the eyes. “Okay”, she said, a steely determination in her words. “Let’s just start at the beginning.” RevelationsApple Bloom placed a hoof on her chin, staring up at the ceiling. “Tha beginnin’ will be hard ta fahnd, Ah think.” Sweetie Belle looked down, shuffling her front hooves nervously. Scootaloo’s wing rustled with the movement. She glanced over at the beautiful white unicorn. Why had she ever left? Were the Wonderbolts worth all this pain she had caused? But she knew it had started long before she ever left to join the ‘bolts. “I think it all started with me.” The unicorn jerked up her head with a small squeak of surprise. Her green eyes widened as she shook her head. Sweetie pointed a hoof at herself. Apple Bloom huffed. “Oh, will ya’ll quit tha whole ‘lover-takin’-blame-fer-the-other crap? It was all of our faults.” The earth pony stood up. “Maybe this wasn’t tha best idea. Ah think we should just keep away from each other.” She looked at them. Scootaloo glanced over to see Sweetie Belle’s eyes filled with horror. She remembered her promise to herself, to keep them all together and fix their friendship. The orange pegasus rose slowly to her hooves. “No.” Apple Bloom, already halfway out of the door, stopped. She turned, fixing Scoots with a glare cold enough to freeze the feathers off her. “WHAT did ya say?” She narrowed her eyes, fixing Scootaloo in her piercing gaze. “I said no”, the mare said, standing her ground. “We need to fix this, right here, right now. I’m NOT going to pretend we never had any sort of relationship. We used to be inseparable.” Sweetie Belle stood up as well, shoulder to shoulder with her marefriend. She opened her mouth, breaking the vow she had kept for so many years. “Scootaloo’s right. We can’t ignore everything that ever happened and just start over. We need to talk about this and find out when everything went wrong. I don’t know about you, Apple Bloom, but I don’t want to give up on everything we ever had so easily. It’s killing me, being here with both of you, not being able to laugh or even smile. There’s nothing to laugh or smile about. I love you. Both of you. I’m not letting you slip through my hooves again.” She blushed and looked down. The other two mares gazed at her in shock. Scoots was the first to recover. She lightly kissed the tip of Sweetie’s horn and then threw a challenging glare at Apple Bloom, who was still standing in the entryway. Apple Bloom shifted her weight from hoof to hoof for a little while before nodding slowly. She walked over to her blankets and pillows, settling into them again. The other two mares did the same, Scootaloo again stretching her wing over Sweetie’s back. “Fer me, it all started when Ah saw you two for the first time.” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo lay in their favorite field surrounded by dandelions. Sweetie’s front hooves were wrapped around Scootaloo’s neck, her head resting lightly on her friend’s neck. One of Scootaloo’s front hooves was stroking Sweetie Belle’s mane the other was propping her own head up. “Scootaloo?” Sweetie asked, neither looking up nor opening her eyes. Scoots looked down at Sweetie. “Yeah?” The unicorn did look up then. She fixed her green eyes on those of the orange pegasus. “I was just wondering. When are we going to tell Apple Bloom about us?” Scootaloo bit her lip. “I don’t know, exactly. When do you think would be a good time, Sweetie?” She shifted, so they could look at each other easily. Sweetie Belle sat up. “Maybe…maybe we shouldn’t tell her”, she suggested hesitantly. Scoots sat up as well. “What? Why wouldn’t we? I mean, sure she doesn’t have a marefriend…or a coltfriend…Okay, I kind of see where you’re going with this.” She put a hoof up to her mane, scratching her head. “Still, are you sure we should keep something like this from her?” She put her hoof down. The unicorn filly looked uncertain. “I think it’d be for the best.” She spit on her hoof and held it out. Scootaloo smiled. She hadn’t done a spit-shake in FOREVER. Eagerly, she spat on her own hoof and slapped Sweetie’s. “Okay. We don’t say a word of this to Apple Bloom.” It was a week later. Apple Bloom was trotting through the market with Apple Jack, looking for a good place to set up their apple cart. She and her sister veered down a narrow alleyway, emerging into a well-traveled, but still relatively empty part, of the market. Apple Jack began to unload the apples, arranging them artfully on the cart. Apple Bloom was struggling to shift some buckets when she noticed them. Darting behind the bucket, she hoped fervently that she had not been spotted. Crouching low to the ground, she snuck a quick peek. They didn’t seem as if they had seen her. She sighed in relief. “Apple Bloom!” Applejack said sternly. The filly leaped a good three feet into the air, landing with wide, startled eyes. “What’sa matter with ya?” her sister asked. “Ah need yer help settin’ up the cart! Ya kin play with yer friends AFTER we’ve finished settin’ up.” Apple Bloom jumped in with a will. They set up their stall in record time. Apple Bloom scurried off, tailing the two fillies. She followed them to a relatively slow part of the market. “What’re they doin’?” she wondered. Then she gasped, falling back behind the corner of a building. Her large eyes filled up with tears. Apple Bloom fled from the market, tears streaming down her cheeks. Scootaloo’s head jerked up. “Did you hear that sob?” she asked Sweetie Belle. The unicorn, still blushing, hoof touching the spot on her cheek where Scoots had kissed her, shook her head. Scootaloo, sure that she had been hearing things, put it out of her mind. “I…I’m so sorry, Apple Bloom”, Scootaloo said, tears welling up in her eyes. “You didn’t let on for so long.” The earth pony nodded, choking back tears of her own. “Ah know. And maybe if Ah had told ya, everythin’ would be different.” She looked down at her hooves. Sweetie Belle smiled sadly. “Maybe I should go next.” Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded. “Okay, Sweetie.” The unicorn took a deep breath. Confessions“I think it all really started when…when Apple Bloom found out”, Sweetie Belle admitted. Scootaloo gasped. Had her friend really been broken for so long? How had she not noticed? The white unicorn continued. “She started to grow distant and bitter. I was being eaten alive by guilt, forcing Scoots to keep the secret, trying to keep it myself. I nearly broke when Apple Bloom finally confronted us.” Apple Bloom paced around the clubhouse, thoughts racing around her brain like frightened pegasi. “Should Ah really tell ‘em? Of course Ah should! But it could ruin everything. Who cares? They ruined it first. But… that’s not a real excuse”, she argued with herself. The small filly froze as she heard hoofsteps on the ramp. “Hey, AB!” Scootaloo called out cheerily as she trotted into the clubhouse. “Sweetie said she’d be here in a few minutes.” The two fillies sat on a pile of pillows and blankets until they saw the tip of a horn poking out. “Sweetie’s here!” Scootaloo announced as she hopped down to meet her friend. “Ah kinda guessed that”, Apple Bloom muttered, as she climbed down too. The unicorn hoof-bumped Scootaloo and then turned her hoof to Apple Bloom. She started in surprise. Tears were spilling down the usually stoic pony’s face. “Wh-what’s wrong, Apple Bloom?” Apple Bloom’s pink bow was soon crushed underneath her hoof. Tears still running down her face, the filly stood, teeth gritted, glaring at the pair in front of her. “Why didn’t you two TELL me?” she shouted. Scootaloo stumbled backwards in surprise. “What are you talking about, AB?” “Ya’ll know exactly what Ah’m talkin’ about! Am Ah such a baby that ya’ll cain’t tell me ya’ll two are marefriends?” The yellow filly was a mixture of anger and grief. Sweetie Belle froze. She blinked once, twice, slowly, very slowly. The orange pegasus looked at her two friends, one sobbing, the other frozen in shock. She was going to have to handle this. “We didn’t think you were a baby at all-“ “Then why didn’t ya say somethin’?” Apple Bloom yelled. Scootaloo held up a hoof, trying to quiet her friend. “We just didn’t want you to feel left out”, she explained. The pink bow split in half as Apple Bloom ground her hoof down sharply. “Left out? Ya think sneakin’ ‘round behind mah back, havin’ ta not tell me, is includin’ me?” “I didn’t want you to be jealous!” Sweetie Belle burst out. “I thought-I thought if you found out the two of us were together, you would start hanging out with other fillies. I didn’t want to lose you”, she finished sadly. Apple Bloom just stared at the small unicorn. “Well, Ah think yer plan has backfired, Sweetie. Ah don’t ever wanna hang out agin.” With that, the filly stomped out of the clubhouse. She didn’t look back. Scootaloo pulled Sweetie Belle closer with her wing. She recalled that day clearly; in her head, she called it the Dark Day. Sweetie Belle wiped her eyes with her hoof. “And it was all downhill from there, I guess.” Apple Bloom glanced down, shuffling her hooves. “Ah didn’t really mean what Ah said that day”, she said, after a few moments had passed. “Ah was gonna find ya’ll agin, probably at school, but ya’ll ignored me after that and Ah…Ah thought ya’ll were better off without me. So Ah kept to mahself after that.” Tears fell softly on the fabric. Her roving hooves flipped over a corner of the fabric. A name was embroidered in a fancy script on a small patch in the blanket. The mare peered closer. Sweetie Belle was scrawled in pink thread. The unicorn, as if sensing that it was her hoofwork, leaned in. “We thought it would be better if we stayed away from you for a little while”, she whispered. “It was never supposed to be permanent”, Scootaloo added. Feeling that she had to do something other than sit there, she stood and walked until she was standing in between her former friends. She lay down, and extended her wings. One rested on Sweetie Belle’s back, the other on Apple Bloom’s back. Apple Bloom stiffened for a moment, but then she relaxed, curling into the orange pegasus. Sweetie Belle did the same on the opposite side. Scootaloo smiled sadly and lay her head down, closing her eyes and savoring the moment. PropositionA soft knock on the door brought the three mares to their hooves, awkwardly stepping away from each other. Sweetie Belle fired up her horn, a soft purple matrix of magic dancing around the crystalline white spiral. The door was enveloped as well, and it swung open to reveal a slightly older Cheerilee. Her mane was shot through with streaks of gray, and her eyes had deep circles underneath them. However, the teacher’s eyes still shone with the glad, uplifting light they had always had. “Hello, girls. I had hoped I might find you here”, she rasped. Scootaloo stared at her former teacher. “Cheerilee? What are you doing here?” Apple Bloom trotted up to her, kissing her on the cheek and throwing a hoof over the teacher’s neck. “Hiya, Cheer! How’re things goin’ with Big Mac?” “They’re just fine, thank you, but that’s not what I came to talk about”, Cheerille laughed, ducking out from underneath AB’s hoof. The mare moved back, smiling for the first time since she was with her former friends. “Well, what’s it, then, Cheer?” The schoolteacher looked at each of them, meeting each of their eyes. She reached into her saddlebags, marked with a smiling flower. Cheerilee rooted around in her pack for a while until she pulled out a faded poster. She lay it on the floor of their clubhouse, smoothing it out with one hoof. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle all crowded around it for a look. When they did, tears threatened to spill, despite their best efforts. “I’m sure you all remember that”, Cheerilee laughed, trying to soothe the trio. “But, I have a favor to ask of you.” Apple Bloom looked up at her. “Anythin’ fer you, Cheer”, she said, voice shaking. The schoolteacher grimaced. “Please, don’t make promises you might not be able to keep”, she cautioned, holding up a hoof. Sweetie Belle looked up at that. “No, Mrs. Cheerilee, she meant it. You meant so much to us when we were younger. I wish things could still be as they were, you know things have changed. But one thing that has not changed is our everlasting respect for you”, she concluded. Cheerilee smiled, touched. “Why, thank you girls. I came to ask you if you three wanted to participate.” She tapped the poster with her hoof. “In this. As special guest stars in the school talent show. You three would be the last act, after everypony else had gone.” The three mares jerked their heads up, their eyes wide, brimful of tears. “We-we’ll have to think about this”, Scootaloo said. “But thank you for offering.” Cheerilee nodded, dipping her head to pick up the poster, but she found herself blocked by a pale yellow foreleg. “Ah’d lahke ta keep that”, Apple Bloom said. “Please.” The schoolteacher nodded. “Of course, my dear.” She trotted down the ramp, the three mares watching her until their straining eyes could no longer see her. “I want to”, Sweetie Belle said immediately. Scootaloo winced. “Sweetie, I’m not sure it would help. It might do more harm than good.” Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. The white unicorn stamped her hoof, glaring at the two of them. “I don’t care. If this has even the slightest chance of mending us, which it does, then I will do it! Consequences out the window! It can’t possibly tear us farther apart then we were”, she finished. Scootaloo closed her eyes, feeling so drained. After everything that had happened…whose fault was it really? Hers and Sweetie’s for not telling Apple Bloom? Or Apple Bloom for what she did next? Sweetie was hurrying home after school. Rarity had promised to let her help place some of the gems on her new dress. The filly had been delighted when her sister had told her that she could assist her. This was the first time ever! Suddenly, two flanks blocked her way. The unicorn found herself facing Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. “So, blank flank”, Silver Spoon began. “Still haven’t found your worthless talent yet?” Diamond Tiara stepped forwards, getting right up in Sweetie Belle’s face. “Sil’s right, Sweetie. You might be a unicorn, but you’re worthless. You’ll never find a talent.” “Because you don’t have one!” Silver Spoon finished, laughing in Sweetie’s face. “You’re a pathetic blank flank.” The two rich fillies started to trot away. Scootaloo had witnessed the whole thing. She buzzed her wings in anger, racing out in front of the fillies. “Stop right there, you two! You can’t get away with that.” Silver Spoon stuck a hoof out in front of her, examining it uninterestedly. “Oh, yeah?” Diamond Tiara asked. “And I guess you’re going to stop us, blank flank, can’t fly.” Scoots narrowed her eyes. “Oh, real original, Diamond. I’m SO hurt by that.” Silver rolled her eyes. “Oh, Snips, could you come here for a moment?” The tiny colt came racing up to her, nearly tripping over his own hooves. “Of course, Silvie. Whatever you want.” Snips was practically drooling. The rich filly grimaced, backing away from him. “Yeah, just get rid of HER”, she spat contemptuously, pointing at Scootaloo. The unicorn colt nodded. “Of course!” He menaced the pegasus with his horn, herding her away. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Yeah, real scared now.” She began to walk off. “You two losers aren’t worth my time.” Later that night, Rarity jumped as a small, bedraggled, and very beaten Sweetie Belle dragged herself into the boutique. “Darling, whatever happened to you?” she asked, dashing over to her sister. “S-Silver Spoon is not as i-innocent as I thought”, the filly sobbed. It was a few weeks after Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara had attacked Sweetie Belle, that Scootaloo had witnessed it. She was in her favorite dandelion field when she heard Apple Bloom laughing. Creeping through the tall grasses, she snuck up and spied on her friend. She couldn’t keep in the gasp when she saw what was going on. Furious, Scootaloo rammed her hooves into Apple Bloom’s side. Silver Spoon screamed and scrambled away from the enraged filly. Apple Bloom glared at Scootaloo. “What are ya doin’?” she shouted. Purple eyes burned with rage as Scootaloo pinned Apple Bloom to the ground. “No, the better question is what were YOU doing? You know how much she hurt Sweetie Belle!” “I wanted to hurt ya as much as ya hurt me!” Apple Bloom retorted. “An’ tha only way ta do that was through Sweetie Belle.” “So you decide to hook up with the same filly that beat Sweetie to a pulp? How could you?” the small orange filly screamed, tears in her eyes. She let AB up, tiny wings buzzing, lifting her off the ground slightly. “I hate you. Forever and always, I will hate you. Never speak to me again.” Scootaloo winced. Sweetie Belle was right. This might save them, salvage whatever was left of their ruined, broken friendship. She looked up, meeting their eyes. She held out a hoof. “I’m in.” AcceptanceApple Bloom looked at Scootaloo’s hoof, still sticking out. Sweetie’s was rested lightly on top of it and both mares were looking at her expectantly. Sighing, she put her hoof on top of Sweetie Belle’s. “Ah really hope Ah won’t regret this.” Scootaloo caught her up in a gigantic hug. “I promise you won’t!” she squealed. The earth pony pushed her away, suppressing a smile. “Ah already do, ya squealer.” Sweetie Belle snuck up on AB’s other side, took a deep breath, and squealed right in her other ear. Apple Bloom tottered on her hind legs, one foreleg clapped to her ear. She collapsed back onto the pile of pillows. “Arrrgh! Ya foals, now Ah’m deaf in both ears!” The mare caught up a pillow and flung it in their general direction. The poofy projectile caught Scootaloo in the neck, and she pretended to choke on a feather that had landed near her nose. “Oh, help! Murder murder!” She thudded onto the ground dramatically, tongue lolling out of her mouth, trying to stop the giggles bursting out of her mouth. Sweetie Belle sat next to the downed pegasus, brushing her forelock back from her forehead. “No!” she screamed, pretending right along with them. “Not my Scooty-poo!” That brought Scoots back from the dead, laughing so hard that she snorted. “Scooty-poo? Don’t ever call me that again.” Apple Bloom leaped off of the pillows, poking Scootaloo in the side. “Scooty-poo, Scooty-poo, watcha gonna do?” She shrieked with laughter and danced away as Scootaloo threw the pillow. She made a leap for it, catching it expertly in her mouth. With a dead aim, she launched it at Sweetie Belle. The unicorn eeped and ducked, hooves covering her head. The pillow soared over her, slamming into Cheerilee who had just walked through the door. “Oh!” the teacher laughed, as she brushed feathers out of her mane with a forehoof. “Anyone would think you three were still fillies”, she chuckled as she surveyed the feather- covered room, crouching Sweetie Belle, and the other two mares laughing hysterically. “I just came back to ask if you three would be participating in the talent show. You’ll be on last.” Scootaloo stood, answering for all of them. “Yeah, we’ll do it. When is it anyway?” She opened her wings, watching a few pillow feathers float lazily to the ground. “A week from Tuesday”, Cheerilee replied. “Now, I should be going.” She turned and exited the clubhouse. Sweetie Belle gasped. “A week? That’s all we have? We better get started.” She swept up a hooffull of feathers, dumping them out the window. Scootaloo blocked her with a hoof, making an elegant bow. “Allow me.” She opened her wings, barely able to in the confined space. She beat them a couple of times, clearing the whole place of feathers. “Done. And, yeah, we should get started”, she nodded. A pale yellow hoof shot into the air. “Ah’m handlin’ props this time. No offense, Sweetie Belle, but last time was a disaster.” The other two mares nodded. “Agreed”, Scootaloo whinnied. She raised a wing. “I’ll handle the whole dancing thing. I’m thinking of an areal ballet type. Got a soft song whipped up, Sweetie?” she asked, glancing over at the unicorn. Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No, but I’ve got the beginnings of one right now. How’s this sound?” Three heads popped out of the curtain separating the audience from backstage. Three mares sighed as they saw the full house, packed with family and friends and even a few strangers. Cheerilee trotted out onto the stage fearlessly. “And now the time you’ve all been waiting for!” she announced grandly. “I’d like you all to give a big welcome to our three guest stars: Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom! These three are former students of mine, and have competed in the talent show before, but now they’re back and better than ever! Please give a warm welcome to…Acceptance!” The red curtains drew black slowly to reveal a black stage. A spotlight flicked on as the first few bars of the song drifted out of the piano. Sweetie stood in the center of the stage, alone, waiting for the right moment. The piano picked up slightly and she opened her mouth, letting her sweet, clear voice ring out. 1,2,3 What does friendship mean to me? 4,3,2 Figure out what it means to you What it means to you… At this point, Scootaloo zipped over Sweetie’s head, sending the curtains swirling from the sudden breeze. They say every cloud has a silver lining Apple Bloom tugged hard on a rope, sending a beautiful, shimmering cloud out just to the right of Scootaloo. But ours has turned to gray We’ve fallen apart Broken away The first silver cloud was replaced by a dull gray cloud that Scootaloo kicked, breaking it in half. The two halves landed on either side of Sweetie. What happened to what we used to be? When nothing could separate us three Scootaloo twirled in midair as a cardboard cutout, expertly painted, flipped out from underneath the stage. It was the three mares, but in the painting, they were fillies again, off on one of their numerous Crusades. There was no way that we could see What was coming What was up ahead Scootaloo zipped forwards, right over the crowd, sharply banking at the end of the verse, returning to hover over Sweetie Belle. But now we have another chance To make things right again And I won’t let it slip away Streamers fluttered down from the ceiling. Scootaloo tried to catch them, but they slipped right through her hooves. Cause this is worth everything Everything To me The three walked up to the front of the stage as the song ended, hooves on each other’s shoulders. The crowd hooted and hollered, stomping their hooves on the ground as hard as they could, noise rising into the clear night air. Later that night, the three mares tumbled into the clubhouse, laughing and panting, but smiling. “That was awesome!” Scootaloo shouted. The other two mares nodded in agreement. Scootaloo spread her wings over their shoulders, head lowered, big grin still plastered on her face. “Friends forever?” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shared a glance over the pegasus’ lowered head. They grinned at each other, then lowered their heads as well. “Friends forever.”
Falling ApartFalling Apart Scootaloo donned her favorite purple helmet, securing it firmly over her riotous purple mane. She hopped nimbly onto her brand new bright orange scooter, her hooves immediately putting themselves in the perfect position for maximum balance as if she had ridden this scooter a hundred times. With a satisfied grin, she opened her massive wings. The orange mare allowed herself to think back to the good times. "Come on, Scoot!" Apple Bloom called, looking back over her shoulder. "You kin do it." Scootaloo looked into the eager amber eyes of her country friend and then met the soft green eyes of Sweetie Belle. The white unicorn nodded eagerly. "Yeah, come on, Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle smiled shyly. That did it. Scootaloo opened her wings, back then they were still so small. She whipped them back and forth in a frenzy, trying desperately to lift herself even a few inches off the ground. But it was no use. She broke out in a sweat, but still her efforts yielded nothing. "I-I can't", she paned sadly, wings coming to a fluttering halt. "Apple Bloom!" Applejack called. She stood up on a hill with Winona. The pale yellow filly started. "Comin', Applejack!" she called up to her big sister. "I gotta go. Zap apples are comin' in soon and Granny Smith wants us all to help set up. Sorry." With that, she turned and trotted up the hill as fast as her stubby legs would take her. Sweetie Belle's and Scootaloo's eyes tracked their friend until they could no longer see her. Scootaloo hung her head. "Forget it, Sweetie Belle. I'll never be able to fly. Not like Rainbow Dash." The small unicorn looked at her, a little anxiously. "I don't want you to be Rainbow Dash. I want you to be Scootaloo." She quickly leaned forwards, and kissed her friend on the cheek. Then, blushing furiously, she began backing up. "I have to go." She turned and ran. Scootaloo grew dizzy. A silly grin took control of her face and her tiny wings buzzed faster than ever. Then, without realizing it, her hooves rose off the ground and she was floating above the flowers. The pegasus sighed. She wished she could go back to that time, but she knew it was impossible. She pumped her wings once, shooting off like a rocket. Scootaloo zipped down the dirt road, soon arriving in Ponyville. She skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust near Sugarcube Corner. Scootaloo leaned her scooter against the doorframe and trotted inside. She immediately froze. Apple Bloom heard the bell signaling a customer and turned. Her eyes widened in shock. "S-Scootaloo?" she asked. Pinkie Pie, behind the counter, perked up. "So, that was two cinnabuns, right? Here you go!" The preppy pink party pony plonked a brown paper bag down onto the counter and accepted the bits Apple Bloom gave her. "Have a super-duper-uper day!" Scootaloo rubbed one foreleg with the other, trying to avoid her former friend's eyes. "Hey. How's it going with AJ and the rest of the family?" She tried to hide her awkwardness by straightening her helmet. "Granny Smith died", Apple Bloom said coldly. Scootaloo looked up abruptly. "I'm sorry to hear that." She was shocked to find that she meant it. "Yeah, well." Apple Bloom shrugged. She reached up to straighten Scootaloo's helmet for her, but stopped with her hoof halfway there. She dropped it and her eyes found the ground. "Big Mac's settled down with Cheerilee. AJ's still hangin' out with Twilight an' the others, lahk we used to." The orange Pegasus winced at the mention of the old days, or, as she called them, the good times. "Uh, yeah." Her wings flared briefly. "Good set of wings on ya", Apple Bloom remarked. "And Ah see ya got yer Cutie Mark. Without us, Ah guess." She looked at her flank where a purple and pink butterfly rested. She sighed. "Look, this isn't right", Scootaloo said, for the first time looking the earth pony in the eyes. "What happened to us?" Apple Bloom's eyes hardened. "Ah was hopin' you could tell ME, seein' as it was you who messed it up." Scootaloo was immediately on the defensive. Her wings shot up angrily, before she could stop them. "Now wait just a minute! You were just as much to blame as I was!" The ding of the customer bell stopped them. Both mares swiveled their heads to see who had interrupted them. "Sweetie Belle", Scootaloo whispered. The unicorn's eyes widened, eyes immediately filling with tears. Without saying another word, she turned and cantered back out of the sweet shop. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shot out of the door as one. Scootaloo hopped onto her scooter, opened her wings and shot forwards. Apple Bloom cantered after her. As they chased after Sweetie, Scootaloo was hit by another memory. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were standing in a meadow full of dandelions. The Pegasus fanned her wings, blowing the seeds everywhere. Sweetie stood by laughing until she got a mouthful of seeds. She giggled and stumbled into Scoots. The two fillies went down in a tangle of limbs and dandelions. They ended up with Sweetie Belle sprawled on top of Scootaloo, looking down at her with both embarrassment and love in her eyes. Scootaloo reached up a hoof and brushed Sweetie's purple and gray mane out of her vibrant green eyes. Why hadn't she ever seen, really seen, those beautiful eyes before? Without a second thought, she stretched her neck up and kissed the unicorn lightly on the cheek. She giggled nervously, rolling off of the orange pegasus. "Do you really like me, Scoots?" Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Of course, Sweetie." She winked. "That's why I kissed you." The pegasus put on a burst of speed and careened in front of the fleeing Sweetie Belle. She spread her wings as wide as they could go and cradled Sweetie Belle in her feathers. Apple Bloom came up, panting. She jerked her head, indicating them to follow her. Sweetie Belle practically glued to her side, Scootaloo followed Apple Bloom slowly. Tears came to her eyes when they reached their destination. The country pony looked back, her own eyes filled with tears. "Ah thought this would be a good place tah tahlk about what happened." Even Sweetie Belle nodded wordlessly. Scootaloo flew up, hearing the others climb the now worn ramp. She landed silently. It was just as they had left it. Scootaloo looked at the faded paper with slight red X's over all the places in town they had gone to. Weathered, abused pillows filled one corner, tattered blankets and games another. All three stood side by side, surveying their old clubhouse.
ReunionOut of habit, the three former Crusaders busied themselves. Scootaloo grabbed as many pillows as she could carry while Apple Bloom did the same with the blankets. Sweetie Belle swept off the layers of dust and grime on the floor with her tail; she absentmindedly began humming their old theme song. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom froze as her sweet voice rang out among the room. “We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders…” she trailed off and went back to her work silently. Apple Bloom piled two blankets one on top of the other and made two more piles in the shape of a small circle. Scoots followed, dropping a hoof full of pillows on top of the blankets. Eventually, all three settled down, making themselves comfortable. “Ah think we should get this all out in the open, once ‘n fer all”, AB said, a little roughly. Sweetie Belle was looking a little nervous, but she nodded. Scootaloo spread her wing, draping it over Sweetie’s back. After all that had happened, it felt good to just be touching her again. “Why haven’t you said anything?” she asked the unicorn. “She made a vow ta herself”, Apple Bloom spat. “After ya left. She told herself she would never tahlk ta anypony agin, until we were friends. Ya might have known that if ya had actually stuck around ‘stead of goin’ off with them Wonderbolts.” Scootaloo was about to deliver a stinging retort, but she felt Sweetie Belle stir slightly under her wing. She turned to face her. Purple eyes met green, and in them she saw all the pain Sweetie had felt when their friendship had fallen apart. Painfully, Scoots remembered the proud, determined filly Sweetie had used to be. Now all she could see was a broken shell of a pony. “When did this happen?” she wondered. “It must have been after I left.” Another memory wormed its way into her brain. “I promise I’ll come back”, Scootaloo said to Sweetie, Apple Bloom glaring at them all the while. “The Wonderbolts have just invited me for one tour. I’ll be back this summer.” She leaned forwards and lightly pecked her marefriend on the tip of her nose. The orange pegasus spread her wings, already outfitted in the standard blue and yellow Wonderbolts costume. She leaped into the air, joining Spitfire and Soarin, who had been waiting for her. That was when Sweetie Belle broke. Really and truly fell apart. She didn’t want to stay in Ponyville with only bitter Apple Bloom. Rarity, away at Canterlot, would not be returning until the summer either, and every other pony had one thing or another planned. The spirit flew right out of the unicorn and that was when she made her vow. She told only Apple Bloom and then she quit speaking. Sweetie was delighted when she heard Scootaloo was coming back from the tour early-until she found out why. She wasn’t coming back because of Sweetie Belle. She was coming back because of Rainbow Dash. Scoots remembered the sheer jolt of terror she had felt when she found out that Rainbow Dash had been hurled into a tree by a bolt of lighting. She left the tour early. To her immense relief, Rainbow was fine, just a broken rib and a few bruises. Scootaloo didn’t return to the ‘bolts after that. Instead, she bought a house on the edge of Ponyville, traveling to the town only when necessary. Scootaloo cursed herself. How could she have been so selfish, abandoning Sweetie Belle like that? Apple Bloom was tough and bitter; she had probably been glad to see Scoots leave after what had happened. The yellow earth pony adjusted her bow, trying to keep the sour expression off her face at seeing Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle curled together. They had barely been together for an hour, but they were already glued to each other. In a way, she envied them. Apple Bloom hadn’t ever been a silly schoolfilly, concerned only with colts and gossip, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be totally alone. Truth be told, she had missed her friends. But she, like the rest of the Apple Family, was stubborn and refused to back down. Scootaloo shifted into a more comfortable position, took a deep breath, and looked Apple Bloom straight in the eyes. “Okay”, she said, a steely determination in her words. “Let’s just start at the beginning.”
RevelationsApple Bloom placed a hoof on her chin, staring up at the ceiling. “Tha beginnin’ will be hard ta fahnd, Ah think.” Sweetie Belle looked down, shuffling her front hooves nervously. Scootaloo’s wing rustled with the movement. She glanced over at the beautiful white unicorn. Why had she ever left? Were the Wonderbolts worth all this pain she had caused? But she knew it had started long before she ever left to join the ‘bolts. “I think it all started with me.” The unicorn jerked up her head with a small squeak of surprise. Her green eyes widened as she shook her head. Sweetie pointed a hoof at herself. Apple Bloom huffed. “Oh, will ya’ll quit tha whole ‘lover-takin’-blame-fer-the-other crap? It was all of our faults.” The earth pony stood up. “Maybe this wasn’t tha best idea. Ah think we should just keep away from each other.” She looked at them. Scootaloo glanced over to see Sweetie Belle’s eyes filled with horror. She remembered her promise to herself, to keep them all together and fix their friendship. The orange pegasus rose slowly to her hooves. “No.” Apple Bloom, already halfway out of the door, stopped. She turned, fixing Scoots with a glare cold enough to freeze the feathers off her. “WHAT did ya say?” She narrowed her eyes, fixing Scootaloo in her piercing gaze. “I said no”, the mare said, standing her ground. “We need to fix this, right here, right now. I’m NOT going to pretend we never had any sort of relationship. We used to be inseparable.” Sweetie Belle stood up as well, shoulder to shoulder with her marefriend. She opened her mouth, breaking the vow she had kept for so many years. “Scootaloo’s right. We can’t ignore everything that ever happened and just start over. We need to talk about this and find out when everything went wrong. I don’t know about you, Apple Bloom, but I don’t want to give up on everything we ever had so easily. It’s killing me, being here with both of you, not being able to laugh or even smile. There’s nothing to laugh or smile about. I love you. Both of you. I’m not letting you slip through my hooves again.” She blushed and looked down. The other two mares gazed at her in shock. Scoots was the first to recover. She lightly kissed the tip of Sweetie’s horn and then threw a challenging glare at Apple Bloom, who was still standing in the entryway. Apple Bloom shifted her weight from hoof to hoof for a little while before nodding slowly. She walked over to her blankets and pillows, settling into them again. The other two mares did the same, Scootaloo again stretching her wing over Sweetie’s back. “Fer me, it all started when Ah saw you two for the first time.” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo lay in their favorite field surrounded by dandelions. Sweetie’s front hooves were wrapped around Scootaloo’s neck, her head resting lightly on her friend’s neck. One of Scootaloo’s front hooves was stroking Sweetie Belle’s mane the other was propping her own head up. “Scootaloo?” Sweetie asked, neither looking up nor opening her eyes. Scoots looked down at Sweetie. “Yeah?” The unicorn did look up then. She fixed her green eyes on those of the orange pegasus. “I was just wondering. When are we going to tell Apple Bloom about us?” Scootaloo bit her lip. “I don’t know, exactly. When do you think would be a good time, Sweetie?” She shifted, so they could look at each other easily. Sweetie Belle sat up. “Maybe…maybe we shouldn’t tell her”, she suggested hesitantly. Scoots sat up as well. “What? Why wouldn’t we? I mean, sure she doesn’t have a marefriend…or a coltfriend…Okay, I kind of see where you’re going with this.” She put a hoof up to her mane, scratching her head. “Still, are you sure we should keep something like this from her?” She put her hoof down. The unicorn filly looked uncertain. “I think it’d be for the best.” She spit on her hoof and held it out. Scootaloo smiled. She hadn’t done a spit-shake in FOREVER. Eagerly, she spat on her own hoof and slapped Sweetie’s. “Okay. We don’t say a word of this to Apple Bloom.” It was a week later. Apple Bloom was trotting through the market with Apple Jack, looking for a good place to set up their apple cart. She and her sister veered down a narrow alleyway, emerging into a well-traveled, but still relatively empty part, of the market. Apple Jack began to unload the apples, arranging them artfully on the cart. Apple Bloom was struggling to shift some buckets when she noticed them. Darting behind the bucket, she hoped fervently that she had not been spotted. Crouching low to the ground, she snuck a quick peek. They didn’t seem as if they had seen her. She sighed in relief. “Apple Bloom!” Applejack said sternly. The filly leaped a good three feet into the air, landing with wide, startled eyes. “What’sa matter with ya?” her sister asked. “Ah need yer help settin’ up the cart! Ya kin play with yer friends AFTER we’ve finished settin’ up.” Apple Bloom jumped in with a will. They set up their stall in record time. Apple Bloom scurried off, tailing the two fillies. She followed them to a relatively slow part of the market. “What’re they doin’?” she wondered. Then she gasped, falling back behind the corner of a building. Her large eyes filled up with tears. Apple Bloom fled from the market, tears streaming down her cheeks. Scootaloo’s head jerked up. “Did you hear that sob?” she asked Sweetie Belle. The unicorn, still blushing, hoof touching the spot on her cheek where Scoots had kissed her, shook her head. Scootaloo, sure that she had been hearing things, put it out of her mind. “I…I’m so sorry, Apple Bloom”, Scootaloo said, tears welling up in her eyes. “You didn’t let on for so long.” The earth pony nodded, choking back tears of her own. “Ah know. And maybe if Ah had told ya, everythin’ would be different.” She looked down at her hooves. Sweetie Belle smiled sadly. “Maybe I should go next.” Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded. “Okay, Sweetie.” The unicorn took a deep breath.
Confessions“I think it all really started when…when Apple Bloom found out”, Sweetie Belle admitted. Scootaloo gasped. Had her friend really been broken for so long? How had she not noticed? The white unicorn continued. “She started to grow distant and bitter. I was being eaten alive by guilt, forcing Scoots to keep the secret, trying to keep it myself. I nearly broke when Apple Bloom finally confronted us.” Apple Bloom paced around the clubhouse, thoughts racing around her brain like frightened pegasi. “Should Ah really tell ‘em? Of course Ah should! But it could ruin everything. Who cares? They ruined it first. But… that’s not a real excuse”, she argued with herself. The small filly froze as she heard hoofsteps on the ramp. “Hey, AB!” Scootaloo called out cheerily as she trotted into the clubhouse. “Sweetie said she’d be here in a few minutes.” The two fillies sat on a pile of pillows and blankets until they saw the tip of a horn poking out. “Sweetie’s here!” Scootaloo announced as she hopped down to meet her friend. “Ah kinda guessed that”, Apple Bloom muttered, as she climbed down too. The unicorn hoof-bumped Scootaloo and then turned her hoof to Apple Bloom. She started in surprise. Tears were spilling down the usually stoic pony’s face. “Wh-what’s wrong, Apple Bloom?” Apple Bloom’s pink bow was soon crushed underneath her hoof. Tears still running down her face, the filly stood, teeth gritted, glaring at the pair in front of her. “Why didn’t you two TELL me?” she shouted. Scootaloo stumbled backwards in surprise. “What are you talking about, AB?” “Ya’ll know exactly what Ah’m talkin’ about! Am Ah such a baby that ya’ll cain’t tell me ya’ll two are marefriends?” The yellow filly was a mixture of anger and grief. Sweetie Belle froze. She blinked once, twice, slowly, very slowly. The orange pegasus looked at her two friends, one sobbing, the other frozen in shock. She was going to have to handle this. “We didn’t think you were a baby at all-“ “Then why didn’t ya say somethin’?” Apple Bloom yelled. Scootaloo held up a hoof, trying to quiet her friend. “We just didn’t want you to feel left out”, she explained. The pink bow split in half as Apple Bloom ground her hoof down sharply. “Left out? Ya think sneakin’ ‘round behind mah back, havin’ ta not tell me, is includin’ me?” “I didn’t want you to be jealous!” Sweetie Belle burst out. “I thought-I thought if you found out the two of us were together, you would start hanging out with other fillies. I didn’t want to lose you”, she finished sadly. Apple Bloom just stared at the small unicorn. “Well, Ah think yer plan has backfired, Sweetie. Ah don’t ever wanna hang out agin.” With that, the filly stomped out of the clubhouse. She didn’t look back. Scootaloo pulled Sweetie Belle closer with her wing. She recalled that day clearly; in her head, she called it the Dark Day. Sweetie Belle wiped her eyes with her hoof. “And it was all downhill from there, I guess.” Apple Bloom glanced down, shuffling her hooves. “Ah didn’t really mean what Ah said that day”, she said, after a few moments had passed. “Ah was gonna find ya’ll agin, probably at school, but ya’ll ignored me after that and Ah…Ah thought ya’ll were better off without me. So Ah kept to mahself after that.” Tears fell softly on the fabric. Her roving hooves flipped over a corner of the fabric. A name was embroidered in a fancy script on a small patch in the blanket. The mare peered closer. Sweetie Belle was scrawled in pink thread. The unicorn, as if sensing that it was her hoofwork, leaned in. “We thought it would be better if we stayed away from you for a little while”, she whispered. “It was never supposed to be permanent”, Scootaloo added. Feeling that she had to do something other than sit there, she stood and walked until she was standing in between her former friends. She lay down, and extended her wings. One rested on Sweetie Belle’s back, the other on Apple Bloom’s back. Apple Bloom stiffened for a moment, but then she relaxed, curling into the orange pegasus. Sweetie Belle did the same on the opposite side. Scootaloo smiled sadly and lay her head down, closing her eyes and savoring the moment.
PropositionA soft knock on the door brought the three mares to their hooves, awkwardly stepping away from each other. Sweetie Belle fired up her horn, a soft purple matrix of magic dancing around the crystalline white spiral. The door was enveloped as well, and it swung open to reveal a slightly older Cheerilee. Her mane was shot through with streaks of gray, and her eyes had deep circles underneath them. However, the teacher’s eyes still shone with the glad, uplifting light they had always had. “Hello, girls. I had hoped I might find you here”, she rasped. Scootaloo stared at her former teacher. “Cheerilee? What are you doing here?” Apple Bloom trotted up to her, kissing her on the cheek and throwing a hoof over the teacher’s neck. “Hiya, Cheer! How’re things goin’ with Big Mac?” “They’re just fine, thank you, but that’s not what I came to talk about”, Cheerille laughed, ducking out from underneath AB’s hoof. The mare moved back, smiling for the first time since she was with her former friends. “Well, what’s it, then, Cheer?” The schoolteacher looked at each of them, meeting each of their eyes. She reached into her saddlebags, marked with a smiling flower. Cheerilee rooted around in her pack for a while until she pulled out a faded poster. She lay it on the floor of their clubhouse, smoothing it out with one hoof. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle all crowded around it for a look. When they did, tears threatened to spill, despite their best efforts. “I’m sure you all remember that”, Cheerilee laughed, trying to soothe the trio. “But, I have a favor to ask of you.” Apple Bloom looked up at her. “Anythin’ fer you, Cheer”, she said, voice shaking. The schoolteacher grimaced. “Please, don’t make promises you might not be able to keep”, she cautioned, holding up a hoof. Sweetie Belle looked up at that. “No, Mrs. Cheerilee, she meant it. You meant so much to us when we were younger. I wish things could still be as they were, you know things have changed. But one thing that has not changed is our everlasting respect for you”, she concluded. Cheerilee smiled, touched. “Why, thank you girls. I came to ask you if you three wanted to participate.” She tapped the poster with her hoof. “In this. As special guest stars in the school talent show. You three would be the last act, after everypony else had gone.” The three mares jerked their heads up, their eyes wide, brimful of tears. “We-we’ll have to think about this”, Scootaloo said. “But thank you for offering.” Cheerilee nodded, dipping her head to pick up the poster, but she found herself blocked by a pale yellow foreleg. “Ah’d lahke ta keep that”, Apple Bloom said. “Please.” The schoolteacher nodded. “Of course, my dear.” She trotted down the ramp, the three mares watching her until their straining eyes could no longer see her. “I want to”, Sweetie Belle said immediately. Scootaloo winced. “Sweetie, I’m not sure it would help. It might do more harm than good.” Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. The white unicorn stamped her hoof, glaring at the two of them. “I don’t care. If this has even the slightest chance of mending us, which it does, then I will do it! Consequences out the window! It can’t possibly tear us farther apart then we were”, she finished. Scootaloo closed her eyes, feeling so drained. After everything that had happened…whose fault was it really? Hers and Sweetie’s for not telling Apple Bloom? Or Apple Bloom for what she did next? Sweetie was hurrying home after school. Rarity had promised to let her help place some of the gems on her new dress. The filly had been delighted when her sister had told her that she could assist her. This was the first time ever! Suddenly, two flanks blocked her way. The unicorn found herself facing Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. “So, blank flank”, Silver Spoon began. “Still haven’t found your worthless talent yet?” Diamond Tiara stepped forwards, getting right up in Sweetie Belle’s face. “Sil’s right, Sweetie. You might be a unicorn, but you’re worthless. You’ll never find a talent.” “Because you don’t have one!” Silver Spoon finished, laughing in Sweetie’s face. “You’re a pathetic blank flank.” The two rich fillies started to trot away. Scootaloo had witnessed the whole thing. She buzzed her wings in anger, racing out in front of the fillies. “Stop right there, you two! You can’t get away with that.” Silver Spoon stuck a hoof out in front of her, examining it uninterestedly. “Oh, yeah?” Diamond Tiara asked. “And I guess you’re going to stop us, blank flank, can’t fly.” Scoots narrowed her eyes. “Oh, real original, Diamond. I’m SO hurt by that.” Silver rolled her eyes. “Oh, Snips, could you come here for a moment?” The tiny colt came racing up to her, nearly tripping over his own hooves. “Of course, Silvie. Whatever you want.” Snips was practically drooling. The rich filly grimaced, backing away from him. “Yeah, just get rid of HER”, she spat contemptuously, pointing at Scootaloo. The unicorn colt nodded. “Of course!” He menaced the pegasus with his horn, herding her away. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Yeah, real scared now.” She began to walk off. “You two losers aren’t worth my time.” Later that night, Rarity jumped as a small, bedraggled, and very beaten Sweetie Belle dragged herself into the boutique. “Darling, whatever happened to you?” she asked, dashing over to her sister. “S-Silver Spoon is not as i-innocent as I thought”, the filly sobbed. It was a few weeks after Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara had attacked Sweetie Belle, that Scootaloo had witnessed it. She was in her favorite dandelion field when she heard Apple Bloom laughing. Creeping through the tall grasses, she snuck up and spied on her friend. She couldn’t keep in the gasp when she saw what was going on. Furious, Scootaloo rammed her hooves into Apple Bloom’s side. Silver Spoon screamed and scrambled away from the enraged filly. Apple Bloom glared at Scootaloo. “What are ya doin’?” she shouted. Purple eyes burned with rage as Scootaloo pinned Apple Bloom to the ground. “No, the better question is what were YOU doing? You know how much she hurt Sweetie Belle!” “I wanted to hurt ya as much as ya hurt me!” Apple Bloom retorted. “An’ tha only way ta do that was through Sweetie Belle.” “So you decide to hook up with the same filly that beat Sweetie to a pulp? How could you?” the small orange filly screamed, tears in her eyes. She let AB up, tiny wings buzzing, lifting her off the ground slightly. “I hate you. Forever and always, I will hate you. Never speak to me again.” Scootaloo winced. Sweetie Belle was right. This might save them, salvage whatever was left of their ruined, broken friendship. She looked up, meeting their eyes. She held out a hoof. “I’m in.”
AcceptanceApple Bloom looked at Scootaloo’s hoof, still sticking out. Sweetie’s was rested lightly on top of it and both mares were looking at her expectantly. Sighing, she put her hoof on top of Sweetie Belle’s. “Ah really hope Ah won’t regret this.” Scootaloo caught her up in a gigantic hug. “I promise you won’t!” she squealed. The earth pony pushed her away, suppressing a smile. “Ah already do, ya squealer.” Sweetie Belle snuck up on AB’s other side, took a deep breath, and squealed right in her other ear. Apple Bloom tottered on her hind legs, one foreleg clapped to her ear. She collapsed back onto the pile of pillows. “Arrrgh! Ya foals, now Ah’m deaf in both ears!” The mare caught up a pillow and flung it in their general direction. The poofy projectile caught Scootaloo in the neck, and she pretended to choke on a feather that had landed near her nose. “Oh, help! Murder murder!” She thudded onto the ground dramatically, tongue lolling out of her mouth, trying to stop the giggles bursting out of her mouth. Sweetie Belle sat next to the downed pegasus, brushing her forelock back from her forehead. “No!” she screamed, pretending right along with them. “Not my Scooty-poo!” That brought Scoots back from the dead, laughing so hard that she snorted. “Scooty-poo? Don’t ever call me that again.” Apple Bloom leaped off of the pillows, poking Scootaloo in the side. “Scooty-poo, Scooty-poo, watcha gonna do?” She shrieked with laughter and danced away as Scootaloo threw the pillow. She made a leap for it, catching it expertly in her mouth. With a dead aim, she launched it at Sweetie Belle. The unicorn eeped and ducked, hooves covering her head. The pillow soared over her, slamming into Cheerilee who had just walked through the door. “Oh!” the teacher laughed, as she brushed feathers out of her mane with a forehoof. “Anyone would think you three were still fillies”, she chuckled as she surveyed the feather- covered room, crouching Sweetie Belle, and the other two mares laughing hysterically. “I just came back to ask if you three would be participating in the talent show. You’ll be on last.” Scootaloo stood, answering for all of them. “Yeah, we’ll do it. When is it anyway?” She opened her wings, watching a few pillow feathers float lazily to the ground. “A week from Tuesday”, Cheerilee replied. “Now, I should be going.” She turned and exited the clubhouse. Sweetie Belle gasped. “A week? That’s all we have? We better get started.” She swept up a hooffull of feathers, dumping them out the window. Scootaloo blocked her with a hoof, making an elegant bow. “Allow me.” She opened her wings, barely able to in the confined space. She beat them a couple of times, clearing the whole place of feathers. “Done. And, yeah, we should get started”, she nodded. A pale yellow hoof shot into the air. “Ah’m handlin’ props this time. No offense, Sweetie Belle, but last time was a disaster.” The other two mares nodded. “Agreed”, Scootaloo whinnied. She raised a wing. “I’ll handle the whole dancing thing. I’m thinking of an areal ballet type. Got a soft song whipped up, Sweetie?” she asked, glancing over at the unicorn. Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No, but I’ve got the beginnings of one right now. How’s this sound?” Three heads popped out of the curtain separating the audience from backstage. Three mares sighed as they saw the full house, packed with family and friends and even a few strangers. Cheerilee trotted out onto the stage fearlessly. “And now the time you’ve all been waiting for!” she announced grandly. “I’d like you all to give a big welcome to our three guest stars: Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom! These three are former students of mine, and have competed in the talent show before, but now they’re back and better than ever! Please give a warm welcome to…Acceptance!” The red curtains drew black slowly to reveal a black stage. A spotlight flicked on as the first few bars of the song drifted out of the piano. Sweetie stood in the center of the stage, alone, waiting for the right moment. The piano picked up slightly and she opened her mouth, letting her sweet, clear voice ring out. 1,2,3 What does friendship mean to me? 4,3,2 Figure out what it means to you What it means to you… At this point, Scootaloo zipped over Sweetie’s head, sending the curtains swirling from the sudden breeze. They say every cloud has a silver lining Apple Bloom tugged hard on a rope, sending a beautiful, shimmering cloud out just to the right of Scootaloo. But ours has turned to gray We’ve fallen apart Broken away The first silver cloud was replaced by a dull gray cloud that Scootaloo kicked, breaking it in half. The two halves landed on either side of Sweetie. What happened to what we used to be? When nothing could separate us three Scootaloo twirled in midair as a cardboard cutout, expertly painted, flipped out from underneath the stage. It was the three mares, but in the painting, they were fillies again, off on one of their numerous Crusades. There was no way that we could see What was coming What was up ahead Scootaloo zipped forwards, right over the crowd, sharply banking at the end of the verse, returning to hover over Sweetie Belle. But now we have another chance To make things right again And I won’t let it slip away Streamers fluttered down from the ceiling. Scootaloo tried to catch them, but they slipped right through her hooves. Cause this is worth everything Everything To me The three walked up to the front of the stage as the song ended, hooves on each other’s shoulders. The crowd hooted and hollered, stomping their hooves on the ground as hard as they could, noise rising into the clear night air. Later that night, the three mares tumbled into the clubhouse, laughing and panting, but smiling. “That was awesome!” Scootaloo shouted. The other two mares nodded in agreement. Scootaloo spread her wings over their shoulders, head lowered, big grin still plastered on her face. “Friends forever?” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shared a glance over the pegasus’ lowered head. They grinned at each other, then lowered their heads as well. “Friends forever.”
