Losing a best friend is hard. The conversation that never happened.
Scootaloo paced back and forth. Many thoughts went through her mind and she dreaded what she was about to do. The foliage around the clubhouse gave the area a unique smell. Most ponies wouldn't be able to recognize it from other wooded areas, but the small filly had spent enough time here to recognize it. Normally that smell reminded her of happy times, positive nostalgia. Today it filled her with dread.
The small filly paused. Am I really doing this? She shook her head. No enough is enough. The orange filly had been pondering this for some time.
In the distance a small bow can be seen. The girl almost skipped as she walked. Happy innocent bobbing. Cheerful naive bobbing.
As the yellow filly got closer, Scootaloo's heartbeat rose. The day seemed hotter. The air thicker.
Eventually she could hear the soft crunch of the grass with every step Apple Bloom made. The sounds made her internally wince. She didn't want to do this.
As Apple Bloom noticed Scootaloo she gave her normal greeting. A slight bob of the head and a smile as she closed her eyes to wave. It was like a cruel joke. A charade which hid the issues that had been stewing for a while. The poor girl didn't know what was coming.
Scootaloo awkwardly smiled and waved back. For a second she froze and doubted herself. A hundred thoughts passed through her mind but the reoccurring subject was telling her to leave before it was too late. But it already was wasn't it?
"Hi Scootaloo!" She gave her a hug. "You wanted to talk to me about something?"
The small pegasus took a deep breath while rubbing the back of her neck. Here goes. "Yeah Apple Bloom, I did." She poked the ground with her hoof and lowered her eyes.
"What's wrong Scootaloo?"
"You know- Well I-" *sigh* "Apple Bloom, I don't think we should talk anymore."
Apple Bloom paused. Her face didn't change. It was as if she saw something for the first time and didn't know how to react. This moment seemed out of place. What is going on? She burrowed her brow "What do you mean Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo responded in a way which almost seemed rehearsed. "We've been friends for a while. Best friends. But lately I feel like we're not close anymore." She grimaced.
"What are you talking about? Sure we both have conflicting school and work schedules. But we do see each other at work at least once a week. Didn't we have lunch together the other day?" Apple Bloom frowned "What's this about?"
The small pegasus snorted. "You act like you don't know."
"Is it because I'm not good at answering my letters? I told you I'm bad at managing them. Plus I've gotten a lot better these last few months. You just don't send as many as you used to." Apple Bloom shook her head. "You barely sent me any letters this year anyways."
"It's not only that. It's Diamond Tiara." Scootaloo subconsciously flexed her wings.
The yellow filly got noticeably upset "What does my friendship with Diamond have to do with anything?"
The orange filly looked into her eyes. "You know what happened last week right? All those things Diamond said."
She stomped her hoof down. "That's what this is about! You know how Diamond can get sometimes. But she's been under a lot of stress lately and she means well."
"I'm stealing Twist's joke here but Hitler meant well too."
"That's not funny."
"She doesn't mean well at all. That situation happens all the time and you still put up with her. Do you know what she said?"
"Kinda, I don't really keep up with the discussion boards."
"Well let me give you the low down." Scootaloo wiped her eye. "Twist and her sister were having a Nightmare Night party. They took off work, cleaned up, bought food and sent out invitations and everything. Diamond Tiara found out she wasn't invited. Do you know what she did? Instead of getting mad at Twist and her sister, she got mad at me. I wasn't even involved in the slightest. It's not like Diamond and Twist got in a huge fight a few months ago when she insulted Twist for mourning her grandmothers death. It's not like Diamond and Twist haven't talked in a while. It's not like Twist's sister wasn't close to Diamond in the first place. No, she turns around and uses me as a target. She spent hours writing racist and offensive things on the discussion boards to all of our friends and they even told her I didn't do anything. She was trying to convince people that I hated them even though her stories were full of holes and EVERYONE knew she was full of shit. You don't see it because you're both earth ponies. But she hates pegasi. Everyone has a story where she says bad things about pegasus ponies. Everyone has told you these things and yet you still choose to not believe she's racist and be her friend. You say she's too dumb to actually be racist. She doesn't even know what she's saying half the time. Or she had a few bullies on the middle school bus who were pegasi. That's probably why she decided to get angry at me instead of Twist. She said and I quote I fucking hate Ryan. If there was a zombie apocalypse I'd put a bullet in his head and watch the zombies get him and then tell everyone that the zombies got her. And you know what you did? You went to Nightmare-Scream with her anyways. Just you two. After everyone told you that she said those things you still showed her your support. After Twist and her sister declined going because of those things she said. And because she's a terrible person to be around. You didn't even go to Twist's party which was the day after because you were sick. Why would you go to Nightmare-Scream when you're sick? You don't give nearly that amount of leeway to others when you're in perfect health let alone sick enough to miss a party and work. That's hurtful."
The yellow filly sniffled "I got sick at Nightmare-Scream! I was tired. You know I have bad social anxiety, we both do, and I really didn't feel like going to a party where I didn't know a few people and everyone would be drinking. Plus I had school work that I had to do."
"It doesn't matter anyways. Diamond is a jerk and you don't even care. You support her anyways. You listened to her rant for hours on the phone for not being invited. I bet she told you some of those racist things and you didn't say anything. She's selfish and mean and you support her. When I'm nothing but nice and do good things for you, you don't support me. You only answer your letters when you think I'm upset. Sometimes you'd ignore them completely."
"I already apologized. I know you got tired of not getting responses and just gave up. I know we used to hang out every week and now I've seen you less than 5 times this year. I'm sorry. When I apologized you barely said anything."
"I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to show you I was mad at you because I know you already got panic attacks because of me. What am I supposed to say? I didn't forgive you. I was angry and trying to forget that I was. I didn't want to bring it up and you caught me off guard. It hurts when you wouldn't give half an effort towards me but you'd cancel plans or insist on making it good with other people. Especially Diamond. Why the hell would you do that for Diamond of all people? You're half the reason I was obsessed with Littlest Pet Shop. Did you know that there are over 20 episodes in season 5 right now and season 6 was announced? I barely watched 3 of them. Knowing me that's unheard of."
"You can watch the episodes without me! I never told you not to watch them. I still need to catch up on those too."
"My interest level went down. I didn't watch season 4 episodes when it came out because we were supposed to watch them together. I stopped reading fan fiction because I didn't want to see spoilers. And even though you said it wasn't true, I know for a fact you aren't nearly as interested in it anymore as you claim to be."
"I still like the show the same amount. It's just that I haven't done anything related to it in a while. Why am I the bad guy because you were losing interest."
"It's not your fault but these things happened."
"So that's it then? You just want to stop talking forever?"
"No. Maybe. I don't know, I just know that you stress me out and I feel like you're acting when we do see each other at work. Almost like our interactions feel forced."
"It's not like that. When i said those things earlier this year I was in a bad place. I didn't mean it.
Scootaloo looked at her "To be honest It's like you don't want to be my friend anymore and just don't want to tell me."
Apple Bloom tensed up. "That's not true! AND YOU KNOW IT! We've been friends for over 11 years. We grew up being friends. Why would I not want to be your friend anymore?"
"I don't know! That doesn't make sense to me. It also doesn't make sense to me that you're still friends with Diamond after all that she's done. I don't care if she's depressed. She's a toxic person and doesn't deserve to be treated better despite the fact. It doesn't make sense that you wouldn't take me seriously anymore. Nothing makes sense. You're Diamond's bitch and she's got you wrapped around her hoof."
"Fine! IF YOU FEEL LIKE THAT DON'T TALK TO ME ANYMORE!"
A deafening silence fell between them as a breeze reminded them that they were still on the planet.
"I'm leaving. I'm sorry I missed your birthday but no offense I didn't think you'd answer my letters anyways. I left the gift I got you in the clubhouse." Scootaloo lowered her head and walked off.
"I don't care." Apple Bloom slowly walked up the ramp to the clubhouse. Suddenly the place seemed dark and hallow. In the corner of the room sat a small saddle bag.
"She remembered I needed one." Apple Bloom sniffed as she walked towards it. Picking it up she realized it was heavier than it should be. Opening the bag she gasped. Apparently Scootaloo still collected the Littlest Pet Shop Comics. And all the missing ones up to date were there. Over 130 dollars worth of merchandise. It took months to collect and she diligently kept buying extra because she knew Apple Bloom couldn't make it to the comic store but still wanted the comics. No tears were shed as the last embers of their friendship was lost in a sea of darkness and uncertainty.
