Developments

Written by: sasukex125

      "Today's the day!" Sweetie Belle thought to herself, "today's the day I tell Tagalong how I feel!"  It had been half a year since Tagalong had been brought back from the orphanage and was living with his family in Ponyville. Sweetie Belle boldly walked out of her house towards Tagalong and Scootaloo's home determined to prove herself. However, with every little step the filly took, the confidence she had slowly dwindled. When she arrived at the small home, she lost all the bravery she'd once had, and turned around to head back home. Suddenly, a hoof came around her shoulder, which caused her to squeal out of fright. Apple Bloom backed up, and Sweetie Belle looked at her friend.

       "Sorry there, Sweetie Belle, didn't mean to scare you." said the yellow filly.

       "Oh, it's fine... I thought you were somepony else." She said, still a bit jumpy. She had thought Tagalong hugged her, something he'd never done before. She'd had a crush on him from the first day she saw him, which was a bit strange, considering he was her friend's twin brother. Apple Bloom, as well as Scootaloo, knew about Sweetie Belle's crush, but they didn't make a big deal of it. Scootaloo thought it was a bit awkward when she was hanging out with Tagalong and Sweetie Belle, and neither of them talked to one another.

       "Anyways, I was gonna hang out with Scootaloo today. Y'all wanna come with?" Apple Bloom asked.

      Sweetie Belle looked around, then asked, "Is... Tagalong gonna be there?" Apple Bloom could see that she was nervous, and reassured her.

      "Nope, it'll just be the three of us!" Apple Bloom had a big smile on her face. Sweetie Belle let out a sigh of relief. Apple Bloom led Sweetie Belle into Scootaloo's house, and called out to her. "SCOOTALOO! We're here!" she yelled. Then, a loud bang could be heard through the entire house. Something big fallen, as they both felt the vibrations through the floor, then a yell.

      "OW! Okay, okay, I give!" It was Tagalong. Sweetie Belle's ears perked up, and she frantically looked for somewhere to hide.

      "Where'd ya put it?" yelled Scootaloo from down the hall.

      "OW! It's under your bed! Let me go already! I have somewhere to be!"

      Suddenly, the door flung open and Scootaloo carried Tagalong into the living room in a headlock. She threw him down to the ground with a thud. That's what hit the ground; Scootaloo had tackled Tagalong because he'd hidden her saddle bag. Tagalong had severely changed his personality from the time he first arrived in Ponyville. He went from being nervous and timid to being outgoing and bold.

      "Stay outta my room!" she yelled at him. She walked back to her room and slammed the door behind her. He stood up and noticed Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle in the living room.

      "Sorry about that. Hey Apple Bloom, hi Sweetie Belle." he greeted the fillies.

      " Hiya Tagalong," responded Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle had been caught up in watching Scootaloo throw him to the floor that she stopped trying to hide. When Tagalong's voice rang in, she snapped back to attention and looked at him. She started blushing and hid her face.

      "Okay... anyways, I gotta go. See you guys later!" he said, opening the front door and trotting off. Apple Bloom waved goodbye, then turned back to find Sweetie Belle holding back tears.

      "What's wrong, Sweetie Belle?" she asked. Her friend was hurting and she wanted to help. Sweetie Belle turned to Apple Bloom, sighed and then started.

      "I'm never going to have the courage to talk to him! I'm always going to be scared!" Sweetie Belle was now closer to tears. Apple Bloom didn't know much about crushes, so she tried to comfort her friend in any way possible.

      "Aw c'mon! You can do it if you try! Ya just gotta speak from your heart!"

      "Easy for you to say," said a sarcastic Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, then said,

      "Why don'tcha get Scootaloo to talk to him for you?" Sweetie Belle pondered the idea.

      "I don't know. I'll try it," said Sweetie Belle. She'd gained a slight bit of confidence from her friend. Scootaloo emerged from her room with her saddle bag, looking a bit irritated.

      "Oh, hi girls. Sorry you had to see that. He's acting really weird lately. Well, let's go to the clubhouse and see what we can do to get our cutie marks!"

      "Yeah!" yelled the other fillies. As they walked out of the house, Sweetie Belle tapped Scootaloo on the back.

      "Yeah?" Scootaloo asked, turning her head. Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo, then spoke.

      "Okay... Could you talk to Tagalong for me?" she asked. She was really embarrassed to ask Scootaloo to do this.

      "Sure, what about? Wait, let me guess. You want me to tell Tagalong that you like him, don't you?" Scootaloo could read Sweetie Belle like an open book.

      "Was it really that obvious?" she asked. Scootaloo nodded.

      "Look, I can't, you have to. If I do it, it'll make you look more scared than you already are. Besides, I think Tagalong has a filly he's after too." Sweetie Belle's ears dropped in disappointment.

      "Who?" asked Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and said,

      "Silver Spoon. Honestly, I don't get it. She's so mean to everypony."

      After their conversation, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle caught up to Apple Bloom, who had walked ahead of them. Meanwhile, Tagalong was on his way to meet up with his friend Orion. Orion was new to Ponyville, and had moved from Cloudsdale. He had only known Orion for three weeks, but was already really good friends with him. Tagalong met Orion at his house and they tried to decide on what to do that day.

      "Maybe we can go to the arcade," suggested Orion with sight optimism in his voice.

      "Nah, we did that yesterday. Hey, how about we go to my house?" suggested Tagalong, "I'd like you to meet my parents!"

      "Uh, okay then. What do you want to do at your house?" Orion asked. Tagalong pondered, the snapped back to his friend.

      "We can go bug my sister! That's always fun!"

      "Alright then," Orion said. The two walked back to Tagalong's house hoping that Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle were still there. When they arrived at the house, Tagalong noticed that they had already left.

      "Hmm," he mumbled, "maybe they went to the clubhouse! Come on, let's go!" The two colts raced down to Sweet Apple Acres to find Scootaloo and the others. When they saw the clubhouse, Tagalong waved his hoof in front of Orion as a signal to stay low. The two darted into a bush and peaked out of it.

      "Okay, we'll sneak up on them, then jump in and scare them!" Tagalong said in a hushed voice.

      "Alright," Orion replied, staying inside the bush as Tagalong approached the clubhouse. He waved his hoof again and Orion darted out of the bush and ran with Tagalong up to the clubhouse. The two rushed into the clubhouse and yelled like maniacs. Scootaloo, who was sitting at a table, jumped out of her seat. Sweetie Belle squealed in fright, and Apple Bloom was unphased.

      "Ha! Gotcha!" Tagalong laughed. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo laughed too, enjoying the prank. Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be seen. Orion noticed that she had run out of the clubhouse and trotted next to her as she ran down the road.

      "Hey, what's wrong? It was just a prank!" Orion said, trying to calm her down. Sweetie Belle stopped and looked at him. He noticed that she was blushing as usual. She looked back to the clubhouse, then back to Orion.

      "I'm sorry," she said, "but I just can't be around Tagalong right now!" She started running again.

      "Wait! Where are you..." Orion stopped himself. She probably wasn't even paying attention to him anymore. Sweetie Belle ran home and locked herself in her room. She sat on her bed and thought of how she should talk to Tagalong. That night, she went to sleep with a plan for the next day and she hoped with all of her heart that she didn't mess it up. The next morning as she headed for school, she walked happily down the road to greet Tagalong and tell him that she liked him. When she had the schoolhouse in view, she started looking for Tagalong. She found Apple Bloom and Orion and walked up to them.

      "Hey Apple Bloom, hi Orion," she said in a happy voice.

      "Hiya Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom replied. Orion simply said "Hey," as he was more focused on finishing his homework before school started.

      "Um, you haven't seen... Tagalong around, have you?" Sweetie Belle asked nervously.

      "Naw, not yet. I think he's on his way with Scootaloo now, so you're safe."

      "No, that's not what I meant," Sweetie Belle replied, "I'm finally going to talk to him!"

      "Really? Well, you might want to wait a bit. There he is." Apple Bloom said, pointing a hoof towards the orange colt. He was talking to Silver Spoon. His overall expression was happy while he was talking to her. Scootaloo arrived and joined the group and watched with them.

      "Is he?" Sweetie Belle started to say.

      "He is." Scootaloo replied. The group was too far away to hear what they were saying. They saw Tagalong ask her something, then Silver Spoon started laughing. Tagalong's expression quickly changed. Silver Spoon waved her hoof in a motion to call over Diamond Tiara and the two laughed and the unison phase "blank flank" could be easily heard. Tagalong walked over to the group with obvious disappointment in his eyes.

      "Well?" Scootaloo impatiently asked. She leaned in for the answer.

      "She laughed at me. She told me I was an idiot," He said. His voice was void of emotion.

      "That's okay, Tagalong. She's way too mean anyways. She wouldn't be right for you." Scootaloo tried her best to make Tagalong feel better about being shot down by his crush. The bell rang and they started for the door. Sweetie Belle felt bad for him. She didn't feel any jealousy that he liked Silver Spoon over her, just empathy that he had his heart broken. The school day carried on as normal. Tagalong kept his head low and Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara giggled to each other.

      "Okay class, have a great weekend!" announced Cheerilee as the bell was about to ring. Tagalong still had his head on his desk when Scootaloo patted him on the back. The bell rang and everypony rushed out the door. When Tagalong walked outside, Silver Spoon pushed passed him and smirked.

      Then in unison with Diamond Tiara, she said, "Later, 'Blank Flank'!" Tagalong kept walking home. Scootaloo had gone ahead with Apple Bloom to give Tagalong some space. Sweetie Belle was the last one to leave the schoolhouse. The walked up behind Tagalong and tapped him on the back. He turned around to her and saw she was blushing.

      "Um... hi, Tagalong." she nervously said.

      "Hi, Sweetie Belle," he replied. Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and thought to herself, then she finally spoke up.

      "Listen, Tagalong. I don't think you're an idiot! I like you. I like you a lot, actually." Sweetie Belle was blushing and so was Tagalong. He didn't expect this conversation and had been completely oblivious to her crush. He looked into her eyes and had to think.

      "I had no idea you felt this way. But, look, I think it's wonderful that you like me. I like you too, Sweetie Belle.

      "You... do?" she asked with optimism in her voice.

      "Yes, as a friend and I think it would be better if we stayed friends. I just don't want things to get awkward, you know?"

      Sweetie Belle sighed heavily at those words. "Yeah, I understand," she said. She looked down to the ground, then back up to Tagalong and tried to smile. "Thanks for listening," she told him. Then he leaned over and kissed her on her cheek. Sweetie Belle's heart skipped a beat and Tagalong walked away. She stood outside the schoolhouse for a minute or so, and then started walking home. "I did it! I finally talked to him! Even if he doesn't feel the way I do, I finally got the courage to speak to him!" she thought to herself.

      When Tagalong arrived at his house, Scootaloo was already in the living room. He put up his saddle bag and sat down next to her. He told her about what had happened with him and Sweetie Belle.

      "Wow," she said, "You're an idiot!"

      "What? How am I an idiot?" He hastily replied.

      "She really likes you and you passed her up? Trust me, things won't get weird if you two start going out."

      "Are you sure?" there was a slight unsteadiness in Tagalong's voice.

      "Positive. You two were made for each other. I still don't understand why you're here. Go get her!" Scootaloo demanded. Tagalong hopped off the couch and opened the door.

      "Thanks, sis!" he yelled as he ran out the door. He walked all the way to Sweetie Belle's house to talk to her. He knocked on the door and looked around impatiently. When the door clicked open and Sweetie Belle appeared. Tagalong looked into her eyes as she spoke.

      "Oh, hi Tagalong," she was suddenly taken back by the hug that Tagalong gave her. She giggled then said, "What was that for?"

      "I was wrong. Things won't be awkward if we... hook up. I do like you Sweetie Belle. Silver Spoon was right; I'm an idiot for not realizing it sooner."

      "Tagalong, do you really mean that?" Sweetie Belle asked. He nodded and they hugged again. She had started crying tears of joy. Then, they kissed each other. Sweetie Belle's heart soared. Tagalong broke the kiss and spoke up.

      "I, uh, have to head back home. I'll see you tomorrow, right?" he asked.

      "Of course you will," she said. They hugged one last time and Tagalong headed back to his house with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step.