Chapters Author's Note
Before we get started I'd like to thank Cander for inspiring this short fanfic, here's hoping you enjoy it.
Asking
"Come on Scootaloo, its time to get up," Holiday said as she poked her head into her niece's bedroom where she was still sleeping. "You don't want to be late for school do you?"
Scootaloo yawned a little as she wiped the sleep from her eyes, she had stayed up late the night before trying to figure out what she was going to tell Sweetie Belle. She had only recently realized she had a crush on the Unicorn filly and hadn't really figured out how to tell her and even if she would be able to tell her the truth.
"Still thinking about Sweetie Belle huh?" Holiday asked as Scootaloo got out of bed. "Do you think you're going to tell her today?"
"Maybe, I don't really know what to say though," Scootaloo admitted with a shake of her head. "You two have been friends for quite awhile, right?"
"Yeah, since she first moved to town and joined Ms. Cheerilee's class," Scootaloo said with a nod, she had met Sweetie Belle almost a year before they had met Apple Bloom at Diamond's cute-cenera. "So, we've been friends for quite awhile now, I guess its part of the reason I fell for her..."
"Well, just tell her how you feel, if Sweetie Belle is really your friend it won't matter, you two can still be friends no matter what," Holiday said as the two walked downstairs. "Is there anything else that worries you about this?"
"I don't know really, I've never really felt like this about anypony before," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "She's a really good friend, I just wish that I knew what I should say to her. I'm just a little worried, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean, you'll be fine," Holiday said as they came into the kitchen where Lofty was finishing breakfast, the Pegasus mare smiled at the two as she placed the plates on the table.
"Good morning you two, how'd you sleep Scootaloo?"
"Okay I guess," Scootaloo said as she played with a strand of her mane a bit. "I'm just trying to figure out what to do is all, with, you know."
"Take my advice, just tell her how you feel about her and speak from the heart, its never failed me with your aunt Holiday," Lofty said with a smile as she nuzzled Holiday. "I'm sure you and Sweetie will be fine, right Holiday?"
"Yep," Holiday said with a smile as she kissed Lofty gently on the lips. "You'll find somepony someday, it may be Sweetie, one can only hope."
Scootaloo thought for a long moment, Sweetie was always into music so maybe she could do something related to that... no wait, she wasn't ever really that good at playing an instrument so that was out. Maybe there was something, I mean there had to be some option for her, right?
She was more nervous than anything else really, Sweetie Belle was a good pony and they had been friends for a long time but was it possible that they could really become something more than just friends?
"Well, I'll think of something I guess," Scootaloo said with a smile. "I guess I might as well just try and talk to her after school, it wouldn't hurt to at least try."
"Good luck Scoots, you'll do just fine," Lofty said as she ruffled Scootaloo's mane. "Your first crush, its so adorable!"
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she sat down and started eating.
"Immensely, we're very happy for you," Holiday said. "Just promise you'll be careful, okay? I don't want you to get your little heart broken."
"I don't think she has anything to worry about," Lofty said with a light chuckle. "Besides, she's got all the charm of her dad's side of the family, she'll do fine."
"Yeah, that's what worries me, remember how nervous he was when he tried to ask out her mom?" Holiday pointed out with a chuckle. "Don't worry Scootaloo, you'll do just fine, I promise."
Scootaloo smiled a little, it certainly helped that she had her two aunts to be there for her when she needed advice. She was still a little nervous about telling Sweetie, but she had a bit more confidence than she had before, maybe there was at least a chance she'd be able to tell her the truth, and hopefully she wouldn't say no.
Scootaloo turned her attention back to her food, she wanted to get a good breakfast before it was time to get to school.
00000
"Okay students, I have a new assignment for all of you," Cheerilee said as she took out a stack of papers and started to pass them out to the foals. "I want you each to pair up in groups of two and read the lines together, okay? We'll be putting together a play over the semester for anypony who may be interested and these are lines from it."
"Hey Scootaloo, do you want to work together?" Sweetie Belle asked and Scootaloo looked up surprised at the Unicorn filly who gave her a smile.
Scootaloo blushed a little and nodded. "Sure, I'd love to," she said with a smile, she had worked with Sweetie plenty of times before, so this wasn't really all that different, it just felt weird somehow.
Sweetie smiled and scooted her desk closer to her Pegasus friend, Apple Bloom smiled a little and went to go find her own partner while Cheerilee started to pass out the papers.
"This should be interesting, we haven't really done anything like this in awhile," Sweetie commented. "What do you think Scootaloo?"
"Yeah, it might be fun," Scootaloo said with a smile, she just was happy to get a chance to spend time with Sweetie Belle, though it made things a little awkward.
Then again it couldn't be that bad right? It wasn't like they were going to have to read mushy romantic lines or something, at least she hoped they wouldn't.
"Here you two are, you'll be reading a scene between the characters Uplift and Chrysanthemum," Cheerilee said as she placed down two stacks of papers in front of the fillies. "They're two ponies living in the town that play a fairly major role in the play and you're madly in love with each other but you don't want to admit it."
Scootaloo's face turned red at that, did Cheerilee know or was this just one really weird coincidence? She looked over at Sweetie and realized the Unicorn was blushing too, so at least it wasn't just her.
"Umm, is there any way we could have different roles?" Sweetie asked as she tried not to blush more.
"Don't worry about it, you two will do just fine, its just a play you don't have to worry about it," Cheerilee said as she went to give the next scripts to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
Scootaloo looked down at the papers, the scene looked like it was when Uplift and Chrysanthemum were finally going to admit their feelings for one another, which just made here more flustered. She couldn't believe it, of all the things they could've had to read together we were having to read a love scene, it was like some higher power was doing this to make her life difficult.
"So, what are we going to do?" I asked as I looked over at Sweetie.
"Well, I guess we don't really have much of a choice," Sweetie said as she looked over the lines. "Its pretty mushy stuff, are you okay with this?"
Scootaloo blushed a little as she looked over the lines, it felt almost like what she wanted to tell to Sweetie Belle. Uplift was a Pegasus mare that worked as part of the town guard while Chrysanthemum was a Unicorn mare (she paused a moment at that, but it wasn't that unusual in Equestria at least who ran a local flower shop.
The two had been friends for a long time, she could tell that much, but it felt like they wanted something more without really knowing that the other felt that way. It was weird how much that reflected Scootaloo's own feelings about Sweetie, and she wasn't sure what to really think about it.
"No, its fine," she finally said with a smile, she could at least give this a try. "What about you?"
"Sure, I'm fine with it, I just, you know, am a little nervous is all," Sweetie said with a smile as she picked up her lines and looked at them. "So, how are we going to do this, should we read our stage directions, or what?"
"Yeah, lets do that," Scootaloo said as she looked at her own lines and nodded. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Sweetie said with a smile. "I think you're up first."
"Uplift crosses from stage right to where Chrysanthemum is preparing her flower arrangements," Scootaloo read out loud from her script as she tried not to look at Sweetie Belle. "Hey Chrys, how's it going today?"
"Chrysanthemum smiles at Uplift as she puts away a bouquet of flowers," Sweetie read. "Hello Uplift, things are going well, I was just making sure that I have everything ready for the festival."
"I look forward to that, your flowers are always the best part," Scootaloo read as she looked over at Sweetie Belle a little. "They always brighten up the town and make everypony happy."
"Aww, thanks Uplift, I try my best," Sweetie said as she gave Scootaloo a smile. "So, do you have a date for the festival dance yet?"
"No, not yet, I've been interested in this one pony but I don't really know if they would be interested in going with me," Scootaloo read, she tried not to blush as she said this, she knew that what was coming next would probably be even more embarrassing to read than that, but she knew she wanted to say it. "What about you, have any stallions asked you to go to the dance?"
"A few, but nopony has really interested me, there is this one pony though that I wish would ask me," Sweetie said as she looked over at Scootaloo, her green eyes sparkled with happiness as she looked at the Pegasus filly. "They're an amazing pony who I've felt this way about for a long time, but I've never been sure how to tell them just the way I feel."
"I know what you mean," Scootaloo said. "What should we do?"
"Maybe we should just confess our feelings to the ponies we love most," Sweetie read, she reached over and placed her hoof on Scootaloo's.
"Yeah, maybe," Scootaloo said, it was weird it was almost like this play was speaking to her, she took a deep breath, now was the time for her monologue. "Chrysanthemum, you're one of the most amazing ponies I've ever met. When we first met as fillies, I knew I wanted to be your friend for the rest of my life. We had fun, we had our adventures together, and we've had a lot of both good times and bad. All through it, you've been there for me when I need you, and I've never felt closer to anypony than I do to you. Would you do me the honor of being my date to the Autumn Festival Dance?"
Sweetie paused a long moment, she was surprised at how much passion Scootaloo had put into that line, it was almost as if she meant what she was saying to be more than just acting. She shook her head, it was probably nothing, Scootaloo wasn't exactly one for such mushy things so she was probably just really good at acting.
"I'd love to go to the dance with you Uplift, I've felt the same way about you ever since we were just fillies. I love everything about you from your grace to your strong will, I'd love nothing more than to be with you," Sweetie said with a smile. "Uplift takes Chrysanthemum in her forehooves and kisses her on the lips."
Scootaloo blushed a little, she was almost tempted to do more than just say the lines, she almost wanted to actually sweep Sweetie Belle off her hooves and tell her how she felt. She blushed a little, she was in the middle of class right now and she doubted that kind of thing would really go over well.
"Wow, that was, really good Scootaloo," Sweetie said with a smile as she finally broke character. "I didn't know you were that good an actress."
"Well, you know, you pick up things here and there," Scootaloo said with a smile, in truth she hadn't been acting at all but she wasn't ready to admit that just yet. "You did really good yourself."
Sweetie just smiled, they went over the lines a few more times before the bell rang signifying the end of the school day.
00000
The three fillies headed to their clubhouse, there wasn't a lot going on right now as they were getting ready for another cutie mark session. There were still lots of ponies who needed help figuring out their talents or what their cutie marks might mean.
"Hey, Sweetie, can I talk to you about something?" Scootaloo asked as they reached the clubhouse.
"Sure, what's up?"
"Something, alone..." Scootaloo said with a blush and Apple Bloom nodded and headed up into the clubhouse.
"Is everything okay Scootaloo? Is something wrong?" Sweetie asked as she looked back at Scootaloo who was still a little nervous. "Why didn't you want Apple Bloom here?"
"Its, something personal," Scootaloo said and trotted over to her friend, she blushed a little and took Sweetie Belle's forehooves in her own. "Sweetie, there's, something I want to tell you, I've been wanting to tell you for a little while now but I haven't ever figured out the right words."
"What is it Scoots?"
"Its, hard to explain but recently I've been having, feelings for you," Scootaloo admitted with a deep blush. "I was wondering if you wanted to... umm..."
She froze a little, she was too nervous to even continue as she looked in Sweetie Belle's green eyes. The Unicorn filly looked at her curiously, she wasn't really sure what to make of what was going on here, she had an idea of what Scootaloo was trying to say, but she wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Are you trying to say you... like, like me?" Sweetie asked and Scootaloo nodded slowly. "You mean you have a crush on me?"
"Yeah, I know its a bit silly isn't it, but I've felt this way for awhile now," Scootaloo said softly. "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, you know... go out sometime? I mean I know we've been friends for awhile, and I don't want to ruin that but, what do you say?"
Sweetie paused as she looked the Pegasus filly in the eye. Honestly she wasn't sure what to say, she had no idea that Scootaloo was going to confess this to her and she had no idea what she really wanted to do.
"Scootaloo, I... honestly don't know what to say," Sweetie admitted as she looked at Scootaloo. "You're a really good friend and all, but I'm not sure how I feel about you just yet. Let me think about it a little bit before I give you an answer, okay?"
"Okay, I understand..." Scootaloo said as her ears drooped, she had hoped that she'd get more of an answer, but she understood why Sweetie wanted to wait.
"Hey, its not a no, I just need some time is all," Sweetie said with a smile as she gave Scootaloo a hug. "Come on, lets go help Apple Bloom."
Scootaloo smiled and nodded as they headed up into the clubhouse.
Scootaloo headed home after they had finished working in the clubhouse, they had managed to help some ponies figure their cutie marks out but she still felt a bit down. She knew it had been a long shot when she tried to admit her feelings to
Sweetie, but she had hoped that it might at least give her some sort of answer instead of a rather non-committal one while Sweetie thought about it.
She understood of course, they were friends and had been through a lot together so she didn't blame Sweetie for wanting to think it over. Still, it was kind of disappointing to her, but maybe she'd at least get an answer soon. In the meantime, she just had to try and focus on something else, anything else.
"Hey slugger, how'd it go today?" Lofty asked as Scootaloo entered the kitchen. "Anything new to report?"
"Well, I told Sweetie how I felt about her..." Scootaloo said softly as she rubbed her foreleg a little.
"Oh, how did that go?" Holiday asked curiously as she looked up from the food she was getting ready. "When's you two's first date?"
"She, well she didn't say yes, or no really," Scootaloo said with a sigh. "She said she had to think about it a bit before she could give me any sort of answer. I guess I don't really blame her, but I was really hoping that..."
She trailed off a little and her aunts smiled and trotted over and gave the little filly a hug.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, I remember my first crush on a filly," Lofty said with a chuckle. "I was just a little older than you are now and she, well, she didn't exactly say yes either. Still, you just have to give Sweetie time."
"Don't worry about it Scootaloo," Holiday said as she ruffled Scootaloo's mane a little. "Sweetie probably is going through the same thing you are right now. I don't think she'd really want to hurt your feelings, so just give her a little time to figure it out, I'm sure everything will be okay."
Scootaloo smiled a little as she hugged her two aunts. She was glad that she had two amazing aunts that were willing to help her out when she needed them to be there for her. It wasn't easy having her parents away all the time, but between them and Rainbow Dash she at least had ponies that were willing to be there for her whenever she needed them.
"Thanks, that really means a lot," she said as she looked up at the older ponies. "I don't really know what Sweetie's going to say, but I just hope that she'll still be my friend after all of this."
"Don't worry Scootaloo, there's no reason she wouldn't be," Holiday said and Lofty nodded. "You three have a bond most ponies could only dream of. You're not just best friends, you have a connection deeper than that, I remember what you told us about when you got your cutie marks together, that's something special."
Scootaloo smiled and nodded as she looked back at her cutie mark. They were right of course, it was hard to imagine having life without her friends, they were like her family more than anything else. That was something that would never change, no matter what happened.
"Now come on, lets stop with all this moping around, dinner's almost ready," Lofty said with a smile as she and Holiday got back to work on dinner. "And don't worry about all of that, I'm sure Sweetie will be able to figure this out soon enough."
"You really think so?" Scootaloo asked.
"Hey, love works in mysterious ways, look at the two of us," Holiday said with a chuckle. "Who would have thought a quick sketching session would lead to true love? Maybe you two are meant to be together, who knows."
"Just try not to ask her to mate you in front of her parents like a certain mare did," Lofty said with a smirk as she wrapped her wing around Holiday. "Don't worry about it Scootaloo, just be yourself and Sweetie will love you for it no matter what."
Scootaloo smiled and nodded as her aunts finished cooking and set the food out on the table, it was time to put that aside and eat some dinner.
00000
In another part of Ponyville Sweetie Belle was on her way home to Carousel Boutique and thoughts were racing through her mind. She hadn't expected Scootaloo to tell her that at all and honestly she had no idea what to do now that she had said it.
It wasn't that she didn't like Scootaloo, she just wasn't sure how to feel about the idea of dating her. Scootaloo was her best friend in Equestria, it was odd but even though she shared a bond with both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, sometimes it felt like she was closer to the Pegasus filly.
Maybe it was because they both had parents that were always away doing Celestia only knew what, Sweetie's parents had basically dumped her on Rarity years ago and had never really bothered to raise her. Heck they hadn't even been there at her cute-cenera, something that Scootaloo could relate to.
Was it possible that she could feel more for the Pegasus filly than just friendship? Could their relationship really become something more? She honestly had no idea, she didn't want to say no to Scootaloo, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to say yes either, it was all very confusing!
She opened the door to the boutique where Rarity was working on a dress inside, she turned to see Sweetie and gave her a smile.
"Hey Sweetie, how are you doing this evening?" Rarity said with a smile as she paused her work on the dress. "How was school today?"
"It was okay I guess," Sweetie said with a shrug, maybe she should try talking to Rarity, she'd know what to do at least.
"Rarity, there's something I want to talk to you about, if you're not too busy."
"Oh sure darling, I'm almost done with this anyway and I can always make time for my little sister," Rarity said with a smile as she put her tools down for a moment and turned to look at Sweetie. "So what seems to be bothering you."
Sweetie took a deep breath, how was she going to tell Rarity this? It was weird, but she really had no idea how she'd be able to tell her big sister what was going on.
"Well, umm... somepony asked me out today," Sweetie said nervously as she rubbed her foreleg a little, she was going to say more when Rarity picked her up and hugged her.
"Oh wow, my little sister is growing up, who's the lucky colt? Is it that one colt Button Mash? I've seen the way he looks at you."
"What? No, its not Button Mash, its not a colt at all, its..."
"Oh so its a filly then!" Rarity said interrupting Sweetie again and making the filly groan in frustration. "That's great, who is it? What did you say? Do you feel the same way about her? Where are you going for your first date?"
Well, at least Sweetie didn't have to worry about Rarity being mad that it was a filly.
"Its Scootaloo," Sweetie finally managed to get out and paused a moment as if she was waiting for another interruption but it never came thankfully. "She, told me that she felt that way about me earlier and, well to be honest I don't quite know what to do. I mean, she's amazing and everything, she always makes me laugh, we have a lot of fun together, but... I don't quite know what to say to her, or how I feel about her."
Rarity paused for a long moment as she looked at Sweetie, she was finally starting to calm down a bit and was gathering her thoughts. Sweetie was a little nervous and she needed some advice, that much was clear to her, she just had to figure out what to tell her.
"Sweetie, what do you think about Scootaloo?"
"What do I think? She's my best friend in Equestria along with Apple Bloom, she was the first friend I really had when I moved to Ponyville," Sweetie said as she tried to gather her thoughts. "I, really don't know how I feel about her."
"It sounds to me like you may feel something for her at least," Rarity said with a smile as she pulled Sweetie in close. "I have to admit Scootaloo is a bit, wild at times."
"At times?" Sweetie said with a chuckle.
"Okay, more than at times, but she's a good pony, she's loyal, and cares about her friends a lot, its up to you, but if I had a pony like that after me, I wouldn't mind at least giving her a chance," Rarity said as she gave her little sister another hug. "I know it seems hard to believe, but I envy that a little bit."
"Really? Because I've seen the way you look at Applejack," Sweetie said with a chuckle which caused the mare to blush deeply.
"Yes, but this isn't about my love life," Rarity said quickly. "So what are you going to do?"
Sweetie thought about it for a long moment, she still wasn't sure what to do but maybe Rarity had a point. It wasn't that she didn't have any sort of feelings about Scootaloo but she honestly felt kind of conflicted about the whole thing.
Though the more she thought about it, the more it almost seemed to make sense to her. Scootaloo was an amazing pony that much was true, maybe it was worth at least giving her a chance instead of turning her down.
"Well, at least sleep on it, come on lets get some dinner," Rarity said as the two sisters headed into the kitchen.
"I still think you have a crush on Applejack," Sweetie said with a chuckle as Rarity blushed more.
"I do not!" Rarity protested but she was just blushing more at the suggestion. "How about this, if you agree to try dating Scootaloo, I'll ask Applejack out."
"I knew it!" Sweetie said with a laugh. "Alright, alright, but I'm holding you to that."
Rarity just rolled her eyes and hugged her little sister.
00000
Scootaloo was more nervous than she had ever felt, Sweetie had sent her a message saying that she wanted to meet her outside of Sugarcube Corner to talk about what had happened yesterday. What was she going to say? Was she going to feel the same way about her or was this going to all be for nothing?
Why did she feel so worried now? She wanted Sweetie to feel the same way about her, but she didn't want to scare her off either, what was going to happen?
"Hey Scootaloo!" A familiar pink pony said as she opened the door to Sugarcube Corner while holding a plate of cookies, she gave the filly a smile and offered her a cookie. "Want one? We're trying a new recipe."
"Oh, uh, sure," Scootaloo said a little surprised as she took a cookie and started eating it, it tasted pretty good at least.
"Thank you Pinkie, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to figure out some stuff right now is all."
"Let me guess, you're in love with somepony and you don't know how they feel?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Scootaloo asked as she looked at the strange pink mare.
"Oh, you just have that look on your face, I've seen it before," Pinkie said as Scootaloo took another bite of cookie. "So, who are you waiting for?"
"Sweetie Belle, she said she'd be here soon," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head. "I told her how I feel about her yesterday and I'm worried about what she's going to say."
"Yeah, but I'm sure everything will be okay, here take the rest of these cookies we can make more," Pinkie said as she placed the plate down on the ground next to Scootaloo. "You two have fun."
"Okay," Scootaloo said as she turned to see Sweetie walking up to her, she was dressed in a simple dress and gave Scootaloo a smile. Scootaloo blushed a little, Sweetie looked beautiful in that dress, but she wasn't sure what to say. "You look... wow..."
"Thank you," Sweetie said with a smile as she blushed a little and looked Scootaloo over, she hadn't really bothered to get dressed up, but she actually looked a bit less wild than usual, she even looked like she may have brushed her mane and tail more than usual.
"So, umm, does this mean you thought about what I asked you yesterday?" Scootaloo asked nervously as she looked at Sweetie Belle.
"I did, and I talked with Rarity about it as well," Sweetie said and paused for a long moment as if she was trying to figure out just how to say it. "Scootaloo, we've been friends for awhile now, and the more I think about it the more I realize I really do feel something for you. I just, am not entirely sure what that is yet."
Scootaloo's ears drooped a little, she wasn't sure what to make of what Sweetie was telling her, did she mean that she didn't feel that way about her? Or just that she didn't know how she felt about her yet?
"But I'm willing to at least try," Sweetie said with a smile as she placed her hoof on Scootaloo's withers. "You're special to me Scootaloo, no matter what you are friend or marefriend."
Scootaloo smiled and hugged the Unicorn filly, the two just held that hug for the longest moment, not caring who might see them.
"So, umm, what now?" Sweetie asked after a few moments.
"I, honestly didn't think that far ahead, oh Pinkie gave me cookies to share with you!" Scootaloo said and picked up the plate and offered Sweetie a cookie.
"Ooh, they smell delicious," Sweetie said and levitated one up and started to eat it.
Scootaloo just smiled and ate one too, they still had a few things to figure out, but this wasn't so bad, maybe it was even the start of something even better.
She hoped it would be.
Author's Note
Obviously the story isn't over yet, there's still more to come.
"Hey squirt, how's it going?" Rainbow called down as she saw Scootaloo walking around Ponyville, it had been a few days since she had talked to Sweetie and she was still kind of nervous so she had wanted to talk to Rainbow.
"Oh, you know, its going pretty good, I'm just a little nervous," Scootaloo said as she looked up at her honorary big sister with a smile. "I'm having my first date tomorrow and I'm still kind of nervous to be honest, I've never felt like this about another pony before."
"Well, who's it with?"
"Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo said with a smile as Rainbow grinned and flew down to her.
"Well its about time, so when did you tell her?"
"Oh, a few days ago, we've been kinda busy with Crusader stuff and other things so tomorrow was the first day we really got a chance to try and have a date," Scootaloo said and took a deep breath. "I'm still nervous to be honest, I mean I told her how I feel but what if she decides she doesn't feel the same way about me? This is kind of to try and figure it out so I don't really know."
"Scoots, you're going to be just fine," Rainbow said as she hugged the smaller Pegasus tightly. "Sweetie is just nervous, heck I was a bit nervous on my first date too."
"Wait you were nervous about a date?" Scootaloo asked as she looked up at Rainbow with a look of surprise on her face. "When was that?"
"Oh, I was a few years older than you are now, it was with... well that's not important right now," Rainbow said as she blushed a little. "Needless to say it didn't quite work out, but it was actually pretty nice at least. Honestly Scootaloo, you're going to be just fine I promise. You're an awesome filly and anypony would be lucky to have you, I know its not going to be easy especially if you're dating your best friend, but somehow I think it'll all work out, just let Sweetie figure it out okay?"
Scootaloo nodded and let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks Rainbow, do you have anything else you think I should do?"
"Yeah, be yourself, if Sweetie loves you it should be for who you are instead of who you pretend to be, that's the best advice I can give you," Rainbow said with a big grin. "You're the most awesome filly in Equestria, maybe even more awesome than I am."
"Aww, I don't know about that..." Scootaloo said bashfully. "I don't really know to be honest, but thank you, I'll figure this out I promise that I'll do my best."
"Do you really love her?" Rainbow asked.
"Well, yeah, I feel really strongly about her," Scootaloo said with a nod and a smile. "I'm still kind of figuring it out really, I mean I really do feel something. I've never really felt like this about a pony before like I said, so, I honestly have no idea."
"Well, I'm sure everything will work out fine, come on, lets go do some flying practice," Rainbow said with a smile as they headed off to a field near Ponyville.
00000
Sweetie Belle took a deep breath as she headed to Scootaloo's house, she had told her that she wanted to meet her there before they headed out to go on the date.
She still wasn't 100% about how she felt about Scootaloo, what would she say? What would she do? Rarity had tried to give her the best advice she could of course, but none of it was really that helpful. It was tough to try and figure out her feelings about Scootaloo, and it felt almost like she was doing this more to help her feel better.
Was it possible that she could really feel this way about one of her best friends? Or maybe this was just some sort of joke being played on her by the universe, she didn't think Scootaloo would do that kind of thing to her, but still, everything was all kind of a jumbled mess in her mind.
She finally stopped in front of the small two story house that Scootaloo called home with her aunts and knocked on the door. Scootaloo's aunt Lofty answered with a smile as she looked down at the filly.
"Well hey there Sweetie Belle, its so good to see you again," Lofty said with a smile as she ushered the little Unicorn into the house. "Scootaloo's upstairs getting everything together for you, she'll be down in a few minutes."
"Oh, okay," Sweetie said as she looked around the house, she hadn't been here that often, more often since Scootaloo's aunts had moved in a few months ago. "So, what exactly does she have planned? She hasn't really told me anything."
"Oh don't you worry about it, Scootaloo's got something nice planned," Holiday said as she came into the room and gave the filly a smile. "Are you nervous?"
"Yeah, a little, its my first real date," Sweetie said with a shrug. "What did you two do for your first date? Were you this nervous?"
"Well, that would either be the dinner we had with Lofty's parents, in which case yes I was very nervous..." Holiday said with a blush. "Or it would be the dinner we had a few days after, but yeah, that wasn't too bad at least."
"Well, at least you didn't start stuttering like crazy with that one," Lofty said with a laugh as she nuzzled her wife gently. "Really, we couldn't be happier together."
Sweetie smiled a little, she didn't know a lot about Scootaloo's family but what she did know was that she lived with her two aunts while her parents were working in Fillydelphia. She was actually glad to know that Scootaloo did have family that cared about her, she had always gotten the impression that the Pegasus filly's parents had kind of just stopped being around for some reason.
Maybe it was nothing, but she had to wonder why they were like that. Sweetie's parents were almost never around either since they had kind of just dumped her on Rarity while they did Celestia knows what. It wasn't that she didn't love her sister, but it felt like her parents didn't really want her sometimes.
Oh well, at least she had her big sister and her friends, as long as nothing bad happened today at least. No, she couldn't think like that, she was going to give this a try and hope for the best.
"Okay, I'm ready, we just have to wait for..." Scootaloo said as she came down the stairs carrying a picnic basket on her back. "Hey Sweetie, glad to see you're here."
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for anything," Sweetie said with a smile as she looked at the basket. "So, we're going to have a picnic?"
"Yeah, I know its nothing too fancy or extravagant, but I thought it would be nice to just have a little picnic," Scootaloo said with a nod. "I mean that's okay right? Would you rather go to Sugarcube Corner or the Hay Burger or something?"
"No, no, its fine, I'd love to have a picnic with you," Sweetie said with a smile. "So, where are we going to go for it?"
"Oh, right, follow me," Scootaloo said with a nod and lead Sweetie Belle outside.
00000
"Its just up here, Rainbow Dash said its the most beautiful place in Ponyville for this kind of thing," Scootaloo said as the climbed a hill together.
Sweetie admitted she was curious to see what Scootaloo had in mind for the date, she knew that it was going to be a picnic, but where would they have it? She got her answer soon as they came up over the hill and found themselves overlooking Ponyville with Canterlot in the distance.
"Wow, she's right, this is really nice," Sweetie said with a smile as Scootaloo laid out the blanket and started to set out food and plates for the two of them. "Do you need any help with that?"
"No, I'm fine," Scootaloo said with a smile as she secured the blanket and passed Sweetie a plate before taking out the last item, something she knew that Sweetie would love.
"Oh wow, is that a Triple Chocolate Cupcake? Its my favorite!" Sweetie said with a smile as Scootaloo set it out for her, she didn't know how she had figured it out. "How'd you know?"
"You always get it when we go to Sugarcube Corner, it wasn't that hard to figure out," Scootaloo said with a smile. "Pinkie Pie made it special for you when I said it was for the picnic... I hope you like it."
Sweetie gave here friend a smile and nodded, this was exactly what she wanted. She was a little impressed actually, Scootaloo had clearly put a lot of work into making this perfect and she was actually rather flattered.
"Its perfect," she finally said with a smile as they sat down to start eating.
Scootaloo smiled a little, she had been nervous about all of this to be honest and she had to get a lot of help given that she couldn't exactly cook very well. She had wanted to make sure that everything was perfect for Sweetie, no matter how this date ultimately went she just wanted to make sure that Sweetie was happy.
"So, how's it going with Rarity?" Scootaloo asked, trying to think of something to talk about.
"Oh its going well, she's been going crazy the last few days trying to figure out how to ask a certain farm pony out," Sweetie said with a giggle.
"Oh, so she's finally admitting how she feels about Applejack? That should be interesting," Scootaloo said with a laugh, it had been pretty clear that the two mares had a thing for each other to her for awhile. "Took them long enough."
"Tell me about it," Sweetie said with a chuckle as she took a bite of her sandwich. "Though, Spike's probably going to get jealous."
"Eh, maybe but I think he's kind of gotten over his crush recently," Scootaloo said with a shrug as she looked out at Ponyville. "Its weird, but, somehow this all feels, strange, like I don't really know what I want to do with my life right now."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Sweetie said with a sigh as she looked down at her hooves. "I mean its great helping ponies and everything, but do you ever wonder what we're going to do? I mean I've always kind of liked singing and you're a bit of a daredevil so there's always that."
"Yeah, I know but I honestly don't know if its what I want to do with the rest of my life," Scootaloo admitted softly, she had never told this to anypony before. "I mean its fun doing tricks and I'm really good at it, but I just don't know if I'm good enough to do that for the rest of my life, or at least as long as I can."
"Scootaloo, you're not just really good at it, you're amazing at it!" Sweetie said with a wide smile. "I've never seen another pony as amazing as you are on a scooter. You're great, heck I'm the one who shouldn't be sure, I've still got a lot to learn about music, but you? You've pursued your dreams and not let anything get you down, you really are one of the best ponies I've ever known Scootaloo, never let you get yourself down."
"Hey, you're pretty great yourself," Scootaloo said. "You're the best friend a filly could ask for, you're smart, kind, funny, and you do have a great singing voice. Its all of that which actually attracted me to you, but its really because of your good heart."
Sweetie looked at her for a long moment, she actually felt something flutter in her chest a little when she heard those words. Maybe she did feel something for Scootaloo that was more than just friendship, she had been wrestling with this for the past few days and it was starting to come to her that she really did feel something for her.
She had no idea what love really felt like, did she feel love for Scootaloo? Was it just her imagination? That was what was going through her mind, but one thing kept coming back to her. It was like her heart was telling her that she should go for it, and she really wanted to, but she didn't know what to do, at least not right away.
She leaned forward and kissed Scootaloo on the lips, catching the other filly off guard. But after a moment she relaxed a little and returned the kiss, wrapping her forelegs around Sweetie gently.
Scootaloo blushed a little as she broke the kiss, it had been her first kiss and it felt, amazing to say the least. She hadn't expected Sweetie to just go and kiss her like that, not that she was complaining.
"So, does this mean..." Scootaloo said softly as she looked at Sweetie nervously. "Do you really want to... you know..."
"Scootaloo, I wouldn't have agreed to that if there wasn't a possibility of me feeling that way about you," Sweetie said with a smile as she nuzzled Scootaloo gently. "I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and... yeah, I think I do want to be your special somepony, if you want me."
Scootaloo smiled and kissed Sweetie, the two fillies just like that for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of being close to one another.
