The trio arrived at Rarity’s boutique with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle still non the wiser to their friends’ condition and a bell jingled merrily as they entered the building.

“Hiya Rarity!”, exclaimed Sweetie happily as she led the other two to the living room. No answer. That was okay, “She must just be out doing something.”, said Sweetie matter-of-factly.

“Okay, now that we’re here, ya gotta go an take a shower Scoots.”

“Fiiiine.”, groaned Scootaloo. She was actually looking forward to getting clean under warm water for once, however, she wouldn’t let them know that; dirt loving tomboy that she made herself out to be.

With Scootaloo off to go get cleaned up the remaining fillies settled in on the living room couch. “Are you ready for the maths test on Thursday?”, inquired Sweetie.

“Am I ever.”, replied Applebloom confidently. She loved maths. “Ya reckon Scoots will have done any prep for it?”.

“Haha nope. I doubt she even remembered. We should remind her when she comes back just in case.”.

“Ah noticed that she was startin to struggle more and more recently with her grades. When she got called into the teachers’ office I know that there was more to it than her just smellin bad one day. Scoots aint the smartest of the class but she always managed to get decent grades, but, all this year she seems to have been struggling more than usual. Heck…”.

“Applebloom!”, Sweetie gasped.

“Sorry, sorry. Anyway, as ah was sayin. She even skipped class a couple times this month. And even when she’s in class she always seems distracted. Ah just don’t want to see Scoots fail just cos she’s going through one of them ‘phases’ as Applejack calls em.”.

“Should we talk to her about it?”, asked Sweetie, concerned.

“Ah think we should, but, ya remember back at the clubhouse when we mentioned going over to her house?”

“Yep.”

“Well she got real awkward and uncomfortable about it. The moment we asked her something she didn’t like she acted weird.”

“Maybe she really doesn’t like ponies coming to her house.”, Sweetie squeaked thoughtfully.

“Yeah maybe… We should still talk to her about it… and probably that too, but we should be careful about how we say it so she don’t start acting weird again.”

With their new objective set, the two sat on the couch passing idle unrelated chit chat back and forth but for the most part sitting in silence in anticipation for their friends return.

“Whew! That was one goood shower.”, exclaimed a happy Scootaloo, the airy utterance of her words reminiscent of the steam that wafted lazily off her body. “Hey girls, watcha been up to?”

A pause followed her statement and then Applebloom replied hesitantly, “Hey Scoots; I think we all need to have a talk.”

“Wow that looks like one hot shower.”, stated Sweetie quietly and offhandedly, commenting on the slightly reddened appearance of her friend’s body from the evidently piping hot shower. It was a valiant attempt to ease the ensuing tension in the room; unfortunately, neither of her friends appeared to have heard her.

Scootaloo’s smile faltered slightly, “What do you want to talk about Applebloom?”. She had a feeling that she knew what her friend wanted to talk to her about, if her tone of voice was anything to go by, and she didn’t like it.

“About the way you’ve been actin lately.”, answered Applebloom.

“Okaaay…”, feigned Scootaloo. “I didn’t know that id been acting any different than usual.”

Appleboom’s eyes narrowed the tiniest bit. She wasn’t as good as her sister, but she’d be lying if she said that she couldn’t pick up on the occasional tall tale. And Scootaloo was as bad as her idol when it came to fibs. “Oh, ah think you do Scootaloo. The way ya acted back at the clubhouse for a start. And how come for practically the whole year you’ve been acting strange at school, barely payin attention for the most part. You were almost on par with Snips and Snails for Celestia sake. Me an Sweetie want answers and you aint Levin this here boutique until we get some.”

Scootaloo was at a loss for words. She’d had no idea that her behaviour had changed at all let alone drastically enough for the astute Applebloom to pick up on it. Then came the worry, the fear. Applebloom was questioning about her actions in a way that would risk her secret coming out and that thought terrified the orange filly. So, she responded hotly, “What are you talking about? I haven’t been acting any different than usual. If this is about me getting in trouble for forgetting to take a shower, then you’re being stupid. You’re supposed to support me through that kind of stuff, right? Isn’t that what friends do?”.

Applebloom and Sweetie sat back in shock at the speed at which their friend had become angered. Applebloom however took it upon her self to respond in kind; fight fire with fire and all that…” This is exactly the kind ah thing a’ve been getting at Scootaloo, you’ve been actin strange and when your own friends question you on it then you act even stranger.”.

“And angrier.”.

“I am not getting angry Sweetie.”, cried Scootaloo indignantly. Then she paused and stated more calmly and a bit abashed, “Okay, maybe a bit, but that’s only cause you guys keep prying into my life about things that aren’t really important. So what if I’ve been paying less attention in class than usual, I’m still passing the year.”.

“Oh?”, questioned Applebloom sardonically, “So, tell us what Miss Cherilee really called you in for today.”.

“Cause I was smelly.”

“Aannd.”, added Applebloom.

“And nothing. That was all she called me in for.”, Scootaloo tried once more to act indignant but she couldn’t quite stop the slightest tinge of nervousness from entering her voice. This did not escape Applebloom’s notice.

“No, it wasn’t Scoots,”, stated Applebloom simply, like she’d already figured everything out. Internally Scootaloo was uneasy, “Miss Cherilee wouldn’t just call you in for somthin as simple as that. Ah think you’ve been failing the year.”.

“I hav…”.

Applebloom got closer to Scootaloo and interrupted, “Do you think me and Sweetie like seein ya waste ya life like this? That’s what this is right, some fad or phase yer goin through huh? Its not cool Scootaloo and all you’re doing for yourself is making everything harder than it needs to be. You’re failing in school and you’re makin a fool of yourself with whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve with it and I’m SICK OF IT. I don’t want to lose my friend cause of some stupid fad but Im finding it real hard to keep being your friend when ya keep messing us about like this; especially with what mah sis been sayin about ya.”. Applebloom stopped her tirade rather abruptly. She hadn’t ment to say that. Sweetie’s interest was piqued.

“What has Applejack been saying about me?”. Scootaloo was tentative now. She hadn’t interacted with Apllebloom’s sister in a while now and the look on said friend’s face suggested that the news wouldn’t be positive.

“Don’t make me say it Scootaloo it was nothin.”.

“Doesn’t look like nothing.”, commented Scootaloo, “Did I do something to make her mad?”.

Applebloom took a breath and looked up at Scootaloo, directly into her eyes. “Mah sis caught ya stealing Scootaloo.”. Sweetie gasped as Scootaloo’s little heart plummeted. She tried to respond but the words refused to come.

Scootaloo recalled all the times she had had to resort to stealing for food, especially in winter when it was too cold to go out foraging. She didn’t like doing it because everyone always said that stealing was bad but unfortunately, it was either steal or starve and the little filly’s survival instinct tended to supersede her morals. She had snuck apples from the Apple family’s stall and orchards numerous times among others, yet she had always been cautious so as to not get caught. And she had never been caught, at least she thought she hadn’t.

Sweetie was troubled. On the one hoof she had been taught that stealing was among the long list of things one should never ever partake in. On the other hoof it was Scootaloo who had been caught stealing and she didn’t want to see her friends get in trouble. She honestly didn’t know what to think about Scootaloo right now. Sweetie’s thoughts turned to surprise when her sister chose this moment to enter the abode and worry when she realised that Applejack had probably mentioned the fact to Rarity. “Oh, hi Rarity. Where have you been?”, she chirped lively to her sister nonetheless.

Rarity smiled upon laying eyes on her loving little sister and proceeded to give her a quick nuzzle. Scootaloo’s heart twinged slightly watching the affectionate seen. Rarity then looked around the room and greeted Applenloom happily. Then her eyes fell upon Scootaloo and her kind smile melted into a look of disapproval.

Author's Note

Hey guys I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I will restate that uploads are going to probably be slow due to uni commitments but I will try to update as frequently as I can.
Sorry for any grammatical errors