The CMC had been busy recently. While they were good at helping ponies with their Cutie Mark related issues and handled most of them fairly quickly, the fact Gabby had heard of them all the way in Griffonstone showed how fast and far news could travel in a short time (the fact Rarity loved to brag about it to everypony around at her Boutiques). And where news traveled, ponies often weren't very far behind. As a result, it was good to just have fun together. In this case, just playing video games at their clubhouse. For several hours (it was a Saturday, after all).
“Sweetie Belle! Cover me!” called Scootaloo, feverishly pounding away at the buttons. The orange pegasus charged forwards in a virtual hoofball field, her character keeping the ball tucked under a wing as she rushed towards the in zone.
“On it!” Sweetie Belle called, her in-game self blocking an opposing player for Scootaloo.
“On your left!” Apple Bloom called, her character charging forwards and intercepting another tackle.
“Thanks!” Scootaloo replied with a smirk.
“TOUCH DOWN!” announced the game loudly, Scoot's character doing a victory dance in the in zone.
“Oh yeah!” cheered Scootaloo, the others patting her on the back. “That was the last match! We beat the game!”
The three shared high hoofs with each other in celebration as their in-game selves hoisted up a huge trophy. True, it was nothing particularly epic or amazing, just beating a video game, but when did cause for celebration need to be?
Scootaloo gave an excited jump, using her wings to get what lift they could to make the best jump she could....then came down, noticing Sweetie Belle float each of them a bottle of water in her light-green telekinesis.
“Good job!” Sweetie Belle said, smiling...then blinked, noting the sudden downturn in her friends' expression. “...What's wrong, Scootaloo?”
The Pegasus's eyes had wandered to her wings, before shaking her head to clear it. “Uh, nothing!” she replied, her smile back. “Just sad the game is over!”
“Oh, yeah...” said Sweetie Belle, rubbing her head. “It was fun being able to play sports together like that...” she said, showing a slight bit of upset herself.
Apple Bloom nodded. “So...what should we do now?”
“...Go play outside?” Scootaloo suggested with a very slightly forced smile.
The CMC had simply headed outside into the clearing near the club house and grabbed a ball and, as children were apt to do, began bouncing the ball back and forth with their heads. Thankfully, after an incident involving a certain unicorn filly getting a bit overzealous with a previous ball (may it rest in pieces), this one was enchanted by Twilight so as to make it nigh impossible to pop.
The game continued as normal, with one bouncing the ball to the other with their head, hoof, or wing and repeating the process to another, until Sweetie Belle hit a bit high, forcing Scootaloo to do a wing assisted jump.
“Incoming, Apple Bloom!” the little orange filly called, spiking it to her with a hoof.
“Got it!” Apple Bloom gave it as hard of a headbutt as she could manage. The ball was launched Sweetie Belle's direction, but arced high and the little white filly missed her jump. The ball went straight into a tree, falling just right into a split of the branches and remained lodged there.
“Oops...” muttered the unicorn crusader, looking up at the ball dangling in the branches.
“Ugh, Ah thought we'd not have tah worry about this so long as we stayed away from that dang kite eatin' tree!” Apple Bloom complained with a growl. Miss Starlight really hated that thing.
“I got it!” called Scootaloo, the pegasus trying a wind assisted jump to grab it...and falling short, landing with an 'Oof.' She shook her head and got back to her hooves before giving it another try with the same result. Third time same result.
“It's okay, Scootaloo,” said Sweetie Belle, looking up at the ball. “I think I can get it. It's my turn anyway....” She focused and her light-green telekinesis grabbed the ball, slowly dislodging it with a fair bit of effort. “See?”
Instead of smiling at her friend retrieving their ball, Scootaloo looked down slightly. “...Yeah...Good job...”
The unicorn filly cocked her head. “Is something wrong?”
Sccotaloo shook her head, seeming to subconsciously pull her wings behind her. “Nah...let's just get back to playing, okay?”
Later that day, the three sat in Rarity's boutique, each working on a large poster.
“Sweetie Belle, does a poster fer our Cutie Mark help service really need that much glitter?” asked Apple Bloom, looking at the glitter covered piece of paper...and Sweetie Belle's equally glitter covered mane.
“Nah...it needs more,” said little white unicorn, completely seriously as she put more on it except a different color. “Isn't yours a bit too plain?” she asked, looking at the pretty bare bones one the little farmer had made.
“It's a sign. Granny Smith says too much stuff can distract your customers from what yer sellin'...” said little yellow Earth Pony practically. She wasn't her sister when it came to being all super practical, but she respected Granny Smith's business know how.
Scootaloo tapped her chin, looking at hers. Being she was Scootaloo, she was taking Rainbow Dash's advice on drawing ponies' attention: be as awesome as possible. “Hmm...still needs something...” she muttered, looking around. She gasped, seeing some fire engine red paint on top of Rarity's 'Materials Sweetie Belle is Allowed To Use' shelf (established so as to prevent yet another trip to the jewel mine looking for replacements). “Like that...”
The little pegasus trotted over to the shelf and used a wing assisted jump to try and grab the paint...but it was just out of reach, causing her to fall right back down. She tried once again, coming a little closer, but still not enough. Scootaloo gave a frustrated growl, bending her knees as far as she could and revving up her little wings before taking the best leap she possibly could. She managed to catch her hooves on the top self and grunted as she pulled herself up. “Almost...got...it...” she muttered, reaching for the can with a hoof...and screaming as she fell back and hit the ground with an 'Oof!'
“Dang it!” the little Pegasus exclaimed...then noticed the shelf rocking and several objects falling right at her, including some sharp sowing needles. She gave a yell and covered her face protectively with her hooves...
Only for a light-green magic aura to grab the objects and stop them inches from the orange pegasus's face. Sweetie Belle strained, trying to telekinetically manipulate all the objects at once and finally managing to divert them to the floor. “Are you okay, Scootaloo?!” she asked, rushing over with Apple Bloom.
“...I'm fine...” Scootaloo grumbled, getting back to her hooves and watching Sweetie Belle's magic as it faded. Her eyes wandered back to her wings.
“...Scootaloo, is somepony pickin' on yah for...yah know, not bein' able tah fly yet?” Apple Bloom asked, giving a frown. “Or did Diamond slip up without meanin' tah?...Again?” Diamond was their friend now and genuinely trying, but old habits could be hard to break. In her defense, she did apologize big time when she realized it.
“What?! No!” was the orange pegasus' reply. “It's...It's just...Ugh! You wouldn't get it!” she replied, looking at Apple Bloom's legs for a moment.
“W-What?” the little yellow farmer replied, taking a step back. “What do yah mean?!”
“You're great at Earth Pony magic! How would you get that...that I...that we...Ugh! I...I need to be alone!” the little filly finally shouted, dashing out the door.
“Scootaloo!” the two yelled, dashing after her...only to find her already speeding off on her scooter.
Scootaloo set on her bed, a pile of pillows set up nearby. She took a running start and jumped into the air, flapping her wings as hard as she physically could. The little orange pegasus struggled, hovering in the air for a few seconds, then fell hard into the pile in an explosion of feathers. Her response was to bury her face in a pillow and scream in frustration and anger. Then pound them with her front hooves. Then sat there, and instinctively tried to wrap her wings around herself...only to find them too small for that and kicked a pillow across the room in frustration.
“...Scootaloo?”
The pegasus Crusader blinked, looking up to see Sweetie Belle standing at the door. “S-Sweetie Belle?” She quickly shook the feathers off and got back to her hooves. “W-Where's Apple Bloom?”
“You said she wouldn't understand, so I came alone...” said Sweetie Belle sheepishly.
“...She's waiting in the hallway, isn't she?” Scootaloo questioned with a deadpan tone and expression.
“Yeah...but she's your friend! Can you blame her?!” Sweetie Belle questioned, face becoming one of pure worry. “Last time you ran off upset and we just let it happen, you threw away your scooter, tore down all your posters, and were sitting in your room all sad when we got back!...And we felt like huge jerks for not checking on you.”
Scootaloo just looked down. “...Oh yeah...I guess I forgot...”
The little unicorn trotted over and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Now what's wrong?”
“...It's...it's nothing...I'm just having a bad day...”
“...Scootaloo, when you have a bad day, you go to Rainbow Dash, not home. So what's really wrong?”
Scootaloo gave a sigh. Her eyes slowly went to her wings, then to Sweetie's horn. “...You...you won't understand...”
Sweetie Belle gave a reassuring smile. “I can try.”
“...I...I...” The little orange pegasus looked at her friend's expression. Remembering the last time she'd been this sad and her friends and Rainbow Dash helped.
The two trotted over and sat on her bed. Then sat there for a few, awkward moments of silence, listening to Scootaloo's clock slowly tick.
“It's...okay, you remember back when we first joined the CMC how...alike we used to be?” Scootaloo asked, eyes wandering to a picture of the three of them with their CMC capes she kept next to her bed, Babs Seed included. “...No, even BEFORE that, we were friends before we ever met Apple Bloom...”
Sweetie Belle cocked her head. “What do you mean?”
“Like how we didn't have our Cutie Marks and Diamond and Silver picked on us...how we both were too afraid to let anypony know we were blank flanks until Apple Bloom stood up to Diamond...” the orange pegasus replied, giving a sad smile.
“...Yeah...I guess we did have a lot in common...” said Sweetie, the white unicorn putting a hoof to her chin.
“And...and...how me and you...were both...behind...”
The little unicorn gave a confused look. “Huh?”
Scootaloo looked over to her and pointed to her horn. “You couldn't do magic...I couldn't fly...” she explained, looking to our wings. “As everypony else learned how to fly...I...I felt like at least my best friend understood what that was like...”
Sweetie's face drooped. “I...hadn't thought of it that way...yeah...I did feel kinda bad when Snails beat me to getting magic down...no offense, but he's...well, Snails...He doesn't even seem to TRY...”
Scootaloo nodded. “...And...now it's gone...”
“...Gone?”
The orange pegasus sighed sadly. “Me and you stood up to Diamond together at the same time. We've got our Cutie Marks, Diamond and Silver aren't our bullies anymore...but those happened to all three of us at once...” she said, tears forming in her eyes. “...”
When she couldn't find the word, Scootaloo finally just used her wing to push a picture off her desk. Sweetie gasped and caught it in her telekinesis. “Scootaloo! What are you...doing...” she muttered, watching Scootaloo's expression become more despondent.
“...This didn't...you can do magic and me?” Scootaloo muttered, flapping her little wings and trying to fly, but failing. “...I'm still stuck on the ground...I might stay stuck on the ground...I used to think you might be stuck like me but you aren't...”
Sweetie Belle hugged her. “Rainbow Dash told you-”
“That it isn't what makes me special! I GET that...” the little orange pegasus replied, squirming free. “...I just...I just feel kinda alone...and...and scared...”
“...Of what?”
“...Remember how Apple Bloom and Twist used to be friends?”
Sweetie Belle had to think hard. She hadn't talked to Twist in so long it was hard to remember. “Yeah...”
“...Then Twist got her Cutie Mark and the two stopped being friends...” Scootaloo's tears grew more intense. “We got our Cutie Marks at the same time...we stopped being bullied at the same time...we stopped caring about being bullied for not having Cutie Marks at the same time...but we didn't stop being behind at the same time! You can use magic! You're good at magic! And Apple Bloom was ALWAYS good at Earth Pony magic! But I suck at pegasus magic! I suck at FLYING! ” she said, now becoming more fearful than sad. “...I'm the only one who's still behind...what if...what if...what if this time I get left behind?...Like Twist left Apple Bloom behind?...I don't want you guys to leave me...I don't want anypony to leave me...” The foal's voice broke a little as she said the last part. It was only at that point that Sweetie Belle remembered what building this particular room was in.
Sweetie Belle shook it off and looked back to Scootaloo with a raised eyebrow. “...Does this have anything to do with Sunburst telling us his Cutie Mark story when we met him at the party for Starlight and her friends stopping Chrysalis?”
Scootaloo's eyes darted back and forth. “...Maybe...Well it happened to him and Starlight! What if it happens to us?!”
The little white unicorn sighed. “Scootaloo! You're forgetting the rest of the story!”
“...I am?”
“Yes! You know, how it turned out he was so terrified of disappointing her with how he turned out to be better at knowing magic than doing magic?” Sweetie Belle asked, then blinked. “Huh...you know, I wish we'd met him that time we went to the Crystal Empire for the Equestrian Games...and had our Cutie Marks, we probably could've helped him a lot...Not the point! The point is that's not how they drifted apart! They drifted apart because they were both being too stubborn to actually talk to each other about their problems!...Just like me and Rarity have done a lot of times...”
Scootaloo blinked, then looked down. “...I guess you've got a point there.”
“And Apple Bloom should probably go talk to Twist about their whole mess too!” said Sweetie Belle, in a rather loud voice.
“Ah heard that!” Apple Bloom's voice called from the hallway.
“You were supposed to!” the little unicorn called back, then turned to Scootaloo. “But if it did work like that, why are we still sending letters to Babs? Why was Apple Bloom ever our friend if she was already ahead of us?...I know you're scared...but didn't Princess Luna teach all of us that sometimes we're afraid of things we shouldn't be?...Or taught you and Apple Bloom, she taught me that I shouldn't be a spiteful jerk to my sister for a misunderstanding...”
Scootaloo looked down at her hooves, thinking it over. “I...I guess that's right...but it was still our thing! It was still the thing that we had in common! And now it's gone...I just feel alone now...And I hate feeling alone!...Even if you won't leave me behind, I still just feel like...now no pony gets what it's like. It made us feel closer...I don't feel jealous, just...I wish you'd never learned magic...”
The little orange pegasus's eyes widened as her brain caught up to her mouth and she noticed Sweetie cover her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. “S-Sweetie, I...I didn't mean it like that! I meant...I meant...I'm sorry, I...I just wish we were still the same so I wasn't afraid of being alone...”
“That's hogwash!” said Apple Bloom, finally coming into the room. “Sorry, but yer wrong...Scootaloo, just because Ah learned how tah use Earth Pony magic first, do yah really think that there's nothin' Ah don't feel like Ah'm behind yah two in?!”
Scootaloo blinked. “...No...This isn't about you, Apple Bloom, it's about me and Sweetie Belle...”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Well Ah do! And that means this is about meh too! Cause who's right or wrong means the same thin' for us as it does for you and her!...Because Sweetie's more book smart than meh and Ah'd love tah be as athletic as yah are!”
The two other CMC members blinked, looking to each other. “...You do?” they both asked at the same time.
The farm filly nodded. “...Big Mac is the smartest outta the three of us, Applejack's the most athletic and Ah wanna be like 'em...but yah are both a lot closer tah them right now than meh...”
“...You think I'm really that book smart?” Sweetie Belle asked, eyes wide as she steadied herself from Scootaloo's slip up earlier.
“Sweetie, you're a livin' dictionary and get the best grades outta of us in class. Yah get A's and A pluses, Ah get B's and B minuses!”
“...I'm not that athletic...” said Scootaloo, giving a look back to her wings.
“Scootaloo, yer the engine fer our wagon and the only reason we can get anywhere half as fast as we do!” Apple Bloom replied. “And yah launched yerself tah Cloudsdale! Yeah, yah had a slingshot but that's still one of the most athletically things Ah've ever seen! Ah'm no slouch, but yah got meh beat nine ways tah Sunday! So yah, Ah know what it's like tah feel behind! And it stinks!”
“...You both always leave me behind when we race...” Sweetie Belle added. “You two are way better at the physical stuff than me...so I know what it feels like too...and Scootaloo, just because I'm not behind with my magic anymore doesn't mean I don't remember what it's like to be.”
The little yellow farmer gave a nod. “We know how yah feel, Scootaloo...We ain't gonna drift apart because of that...And we wouldn't even if we didn't know how yah feel! We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Since when do we ever leave one of us behind?!”
Scootaloo looked at her fellow Crusaders, both looking at her with reassuring smiles. She slowly smiled back. Her tears slowly turning to tears of a different emotion. “Yeah...I guess you're right...thanks...”
The trio shared a hug.
“What are friends for?” Apple Bloom asked.
“And sorry for being so mopey, I just...get scared when I think somepony might leave me...” Scootaloo explained, frowning a little bit.
“Ah think everypony gets scared of that...” the yellow farm pony replied. “Remember how plum nuts Ah went when we weren't hanging out after we got our marks?”
“And the entire reason I was mad at Rarity was because I thought she made all my friends abandon me at my birthday party...she didn't...” Sweetie Belle joined in with a small guilty look. “But we have each other, right?”
Scootaloo nodded with a small smile, Apple Bloom doing the same. “Yeah...hey...since we haven't in a while, do you wanna...you know?”
The trio nodded and took in a deep breath.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FOREVER!” the three yelled with their usual, well known loudness that rattled the windows and probably deafened a few of the ponies sharing the building with them.
Sweetie Belle chuckled with a big grin. “I forgot how much fun that was!”
Scootaloo nodded, now in higher spirits. “Yeah! Now come on, let's go play some video games!”
“Or some ball,” Apple Bloom replied.
“...Or go clear things up between you and Twist?” Sweetie Belle added.
“...Yeah...we can do that too...”
The End.
