One or the Other

Chapters

Chapter 2 - Scootaloo's bottle
Chapter 3 - Ketchup vs Fries
Chapter 4 - Sweets and Eats
Chapter 5 - Trouble Blooms
Chapter 6 - Troubled Bloom
Chapter 7 - Sneaking a Ride on a Scooter
Chapter 8 - The Mourning After
Chapter 9 - Idol Threats
Chapter 10 - On the Warpath
Chapter 11 - Sorry
Chapter 12 - Aches and Pains
Chapter 13 - Eeeyup
Chapter 15 - Making it Even
Chapter 16 - Judgment
Chapter 17 - Nothing to Wear
Chapter 18 - Double (D) Take
Chapter 19 - Laying out the Cards
Chapter 20 - Why not?
Chapter 21 - A Long Time Coming
Chapter 1 - Sweetie's Hands
Chapter 14 - A Broken Promise, and a Simple Question

Chapter 2 - Scootaloo's bottle

I blindly swatted at the alarm clock ringing away next to my bed. After a few false swings I finally hit the trigger and shut the thing up. I groaned into my pillow as the sounds of activity outside nagged at my ears juuust enough to keep me from drifting off again. Flattening them back helped but it was too little too late. I gradually pushed myself up onto my knees and elbows, letting my wings hang down along with the sheet draped over me from over the top of my head to my ankles. I really, really wanted to just faceplant right back down but I needed to get up if I was gonna meet Sweetie and Apple Bloom for lunch.

I shifted myself around until I was sitting on the side of my bed, legs hanging over the side and sheet still draped over my head. Two years ago I would have already been out the window and flying. Recently I had to drag my naked rump out of bed every morning through sheer force of will. That's when I was waking up in the morning, anyway. The weather team works when the weather schedule says we work, day or night. Throw in random wild weather trying to sneak out of the Everfree every once in a while and you can kiss a regular sleep schedule goodbye. The really sucky part was that everypony else who sees us napping all the time thinks we're being lazy! Rainbow Dash used to make it look so easy.

Of course… that may not have been the only thing that's been dragging me down.

I threw off the sheet and finally opened my eyes to the same messy bedroom as always. Same laundry pile, same overflowing waste basket, same dusty old carpet, same old posters, same desk covered in receipts and bills, all around the same empty bed jammed into the same corner. Ever since I got my own apartment cleaning had stopped being any kind of priority. It's not like I was going to be bringing anypony home with me anytime soon. Not with my stupid luck.

After a few minutes of rubbing my eyes and seriously debating blowing off lunch I finally dragged myself out of bed to stretch. I usually kept enough clear space on my floor to do my morning routine by kicking the laundry pile back into its corner where it belongs. At the very least I never skip my hamstring stretches. When you fly a lot there's a tendency to keep your legs a little bent, not to mention that you're just not walking as much, so you gotta stretch to stay loose. Plus, whenever we do a sleepover I catch Sweetie Belle checking me out when I do them. Especially the one where I cross one ankle over the other and bend waaay over.

Not that she seems to notice me checking HER out. Or flirting with her. I get that Apple Bloom is probably just straight but I know I've seen Sweetie checking me (and Apple Bloom) out. Sometimes I could swear Apple Bloom was too, but that was probably just wishful thinking. It didn't stop me wishing, though. I could wish about her all day long. And I did, her and Sweetie both.

I grumbled to myself while I reached down first one leg, then the other, keeping my wings extended and my tail high for maximum stretch. They have no idea what they do to me. What they've been doing to me for years now; ever since Sweetie had come home from that family vacation when we were sixteen. She'd only been gone for a month and a half so it couldn't actually have been as big a deal as my stupid brain made it seem like at the time. She was still Sweetie, still one of my absolute best friends, but she was just-- I felt like I couldn't breathe when I saw her. When she came in for the big Crusader-style hug all I could do was stand there and let it happen. That night I laid in bed on my back with my wings all splayed out, replaying it over and over in my head. She had just been so… stunning. I don't know if she'd somehow filled out to some magic tipping point or if I was the one who'd changed in my head but after that nothing had been the same. Not for me, anyway.

She still does it to me, too. Whenever I go to the boutique and see her modeling something for Rarity she knocks the wind out of me. Sweet Celestia, the rack on that filly-- er, mare. She's eighteen now, after all. Eighteen and finally old enough that I can make a real move without getting in trouble. Okay, without getting in trouble with the law, family members are another story. I did NOT want to get on Rarity's bad side. Either Sweetie would say yes and confirm everything I was hoping for… or she'd shoot me down and I'd have ruined our friendship, the Crusaders, and maybe my life.

…But that rack, though. And her legs. And hips and, well, everything else, too.

I dropped down and braced my wings against the floor, tucked in my arms against my chest, and balanced on my toes for some wing-ups. This is one of the exercises I hate most. It's important for stunt flying because it works a few muscles that are hard to develop safely in the air without pulling something but anything that makes me have to think about or touch my chest sucks.

“…seven, eight, nine, ten…”

It's not so bad when I'm working out with clothes on because my binder keeps my stupid, ugly, lumpy, squashed-looking boobs out of sight and out of mind. It used to be that I pretty much never took my binders off but after most of them wore out I couldn't get away with that anymore without having to wash the only one I had left every day. It's wearing out too but it still does the job and keeps the stupid things flat, like they should have stayed in the first place.

“…sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty.”

I got up and flapped my wings a couple of times to shake off the dust then picked my way over the trash patch to the chin-up bar braced in the door by the foot of my bed and started doing a set. Now this was something that Apple Bloom could kick my tail at any day of the week. She was, like, five or six inches taller than me and almost double my weight with all those curves and that dense earth pony muscle, but she could do a hundred chin-ups and barely break a sweat.

“…four, five, six…”

She can beat me at almost anything about pure strength. Hay, I've seen her do a hundred one-armed push-ups with a bushel of apples on her back for a bet. I lost five bits but it was worth it just to watch. She may not have gotten into rodeos like her sister but she sure seems to enjoy working on her strength. I like to swing by Sweet Apple Acres and hang out while she works sometimes just so I can watch.

“…eleven, twelve, thirteen…”

Apple Bloom never notices, either. I've run into Sweetie there sometimes and I swear she's doing the same thing but Apple Bloom is totally clueless. It's like she doesn't even get that she's hot. Or maybe she's just too straight to notice her completely gay and possibly gay (if I'm lucky) friends drooling over her. Thank Celestia that Big Mac had never noticed. They'd have to scrape me off the ground with a spatula.

“…nineteen, twenty.”

I dropped off the bar and did a big, back arching stretch with my arms up over my head as far as I could reach. A few pops in my back and a sigh of relief later I relaxed. That routine was really just a warm-up but it was good for waking up. I was still tired but I'd be good once I had my shower. I needed to be because Sweetie's birthday party was tonight. Not her real birthday party, we had that on her birthday with all her family and other friends, this was her “Crusader Birthday Party”. Just me, her, and Apple Bloom, celebrating that she was finally eighteen like us.

Finally eighteen. Finally available and, as far as I or anypony else knows, still single. That meant it was time for me to finally do something about it. I made my way over to my dresser. A little digging through the clothes I'd actually put away at some point and I pulled out my “plan”, all one-eighth of a bottle of it, donated from Rainbow's kitchen over half a year ago. The moment I'd turned eighteen Rainbow had brought me up to her house and sat me down to have a mare-to-mare talk about drinking.

“Everypony else is gonna say 'don't' and 'wait 'til you're twenty-one',” she'd said, “but... Look, let's face it, squirt, you're gonna do it sooner or later whether you're supposed to or not. So I'm gonna tell you how to do it right.”

I'd listened closely while Rainbow Dash explained the ups and downs of adult drinks. What to drink, what wasn't worth the bits, how to avoid a hangover, how to handle the hangover when you messed up the avoiding part, everything. But the part that really stuck with me what was she told me about getting drunk.

“All you really need for a good time with your friends is enough to break the ice. Get everypony to loosen up a little and take the sticks out of their rumps. Trust me, having one of your friends puke on you is not cool and puking on your friends even less cool. You don't wanna be that mare. Juuust… trust me on that one, kiddo. Point is, if you can't have fun with your friends with just a little of this stuff then it isn't the drinks. You either need cooler friends, or to be a cooler friend. Besides, where's the fun in a party you don't remember?”

There was probably “just enough” right here. Just enough to get my friends, the coolest friends ever, to loosen up. Maybe enough to get them to “mess around” a little if either of them actually wanted to. After all, we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Doing crazy stuff is our thing. All I'd have to do was pull out the bottle and they'd go for it. It'd be so easy. I mean, I'd never had the guts to try it but… well, that was different. Dash had just given me this almost empty bottle and told me I'd know when I was ready. I don't know why but that made me more uncomfortable about drinking it than if I'd swiped it or something. Maybe that was why she did it.

I stared at the bottle for a long time. Eventually, I carried it into the bathroom and stopped to look into the mirror over the sink with it still in hand. Slowly, I unscrewed the cap, turned the bottle over, and kept it that way until the last drop swirled away down the drain.

"If your friends only wanna hang with you when you're bringing the drinks then they aren't really your friends.”

I took the bottle out into my bedroom and stuffed it back in my drawer to throw away later. Not wanting to waste any more time, I went back to the bathroom so I could shower and beat my head against the wall because I was already regretting doing the right thing and was probably going to regret it even more when the party wrapped up and left me frustrated and alone afterward. Just like that stupid beach trip last summer.

Being eighteen sucks.

Chapter 3 - Ketchup vs Fries

It was another glorious day in Ponyville and just about everypony (and creature from the school) was out to enjoy it. Pegasai soared overhead alongside the odd changeling, griffon, dragon, or hippogriff. A donkey, a yak, and a griffon all walked into a bar, and the earth ponies carrying it apologized and helped them up.

I like all the activity. Ponyville is so lively ever since the Friendship School opened a few years back. The actual population isn't any bigger really but so many new creatures visit all the time. It means good business for most of town. Everycreature who comes through from distant lands wants a taste of Equestria and Ponyville's shops are happy to sell it to them. Apple Bloom says Sweet Apple Acres is doing better than it has in years. All in all, it's a good time to be in Ponyville.

“Hey, quit hogging all the ketchup.”

“I ain't hoggin' it. There's plenty to go around.”

So long as you don't get between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Recently they started getting weirdly competitive, even for them. I'm not sure who keeps starting it. One moment everything is quiet, the next they're glaring at each other. We were having lunch together at the open-air cafe, as usual. Not a day goes by that I'm not glad that the older students at Ponyville High are allowed to leave the school on lunch break. It makes Scootaloo's absence from classes a lot easier to cope with.

“That fry is more ketchup than fry. It's a ketchup fry that somepony dropped a piece of hay in.”

“Do you think you could actually make ketchup fries?” I wondered aloud.

“No!”

I blinked a few times at just how intense their unanimous answer was. After a second or two I shrugged it off and levitated myself another fry. I must have pretty weird tastes because everypony acts really funny whenever I start talking about cooking. It's starting to feel a little personal, if I'm being honest. Like that one time I offered Princess Twilight some breakfast at the Boutique. She just kept asking “How!?” over and over again until Rarity led her out of the kitchen.

“Seriously, AB, why don't you just drink the ketchup and I'll eat the fries.”

But if I drew lines of ketchup on a sheet pan and baked them could I actually make ketchup fries? Something to try later.

“So, y'all looking forward ta tonight?” Apple Bloom asked while plunging a fry extra deep into her ketchup and making unblinking eye contact with Scootaloo.

“You know it,” Scootaloo answered, glaring back just as hard while she took a fistful of fries. “When is Rarity leaving town, again?”

“Soon! She's getting on the 1:20 to Canterlot and she'll be gone until Monday evening! We'll have the place to ourselves all weekend. She did make me Pinkie Promise that we'd stay out of her work rooms though so… we're basically only allowed to hang out in my room and the kitchen. What do you girls want to do, anyway?”

“I'ummo,” Scootaloo said around a large mouthful of deep-fried hay. “Whl fink uf sumfin.”

“Huh, y'all remember back when we'd always answer a question like that with 'Crusadin'?'” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah,” I sighed fondly, then smirked. “But I think you'd probably have said 'Crusaderin''.”

“Good times.”

Scootaloo swallowed and stuck her tongue out in disgust. “Don't say 'good times' like that. You sound like an old lady.”

“I do not!”

“Do too!”

I levitated the last, pretty tiny fry off the platter, popped it in my mouth, and stood up to stretch and go pay the bill. Apple Bloom and I probably had enough time to make it back to school before lunch ended but it was better safe than sorry. My friends followed my lead, still arguing nonstop. As usual, they'd demolished most of the platter. That's the good thing about sharing meals with those two: I have no chance of gaining weight while they're around. Well, no chance of gaining it most places.

And speaking of food…

“I thought I might make us some dinner tonight,” I said as we started to move away from the table. “Any requests?”

“What!?”

“No way!”

I frowned and crossed my arms. They didn't have to sound so frightened. “A simple 'that's thoughtful of you, Sweetie Belle' would be nice.”

“Er, thoughtful…? Thing is, Sweetie…” Apple Bloom began only for Scootaloo to cut her off when she threw her arm around her shoulders. Or as close as she could get with her feet on the ground while being half a head shorter.

“Leave dinner to us! I mean, come on, it's your birthday party, right?”

Apple Bloom nodded vigorously. “Yeah, ain't right that you should hafta feed us when this whole thing is fer you.”

“You can just kick back and chillax. You won't have to lift a finger. Or a horn… glow… thing. You know what I mean.”

“Y'all can even go all Rarity and lay back on a fancy lookin' couch the whole time if ya like.”

“I'm not feeding you grapes, though.”

My frown melted away into a smile. “Aww, you girls are the best!” I reached out and pulled my fellow Crusaders into a tight hug. No wonder they'd been all skittish! They'd probably been planning to surprise me with something special the whole time! I relaxed the hug a little when I heard them make some funny sighing sounds. Probably squeezed them too hard, I'm always doing that. Scootaloo shifted around a little, her tail curling over in a way that brushed right up against my thigh.

I quickly let go and beamed at the pair of them before I could blush too hard from what Scootaloo was doing. “In that case, let me pick up the whole bill for lunch. It's the least I can do.” I slipped my way between them and lead the way to the cashier with a spring in my step. A loud clap sounded from somewhere behind me. I paused and glanced around at the other tables.

“Did someponies just high-five?”

“Er, nope!”

“Not us!”

Chapter 4 - Sweets and Eats

I swung the front door open and was immediately met with a one armed hug from Apple Bloom.

“Happy birthday, Sweetie! How's bein' all grown up treatin' ya?”

I returned the hug gratefully, grinning from ear to ear. “You know it's not really my birthday anymore.”

“Yeah, but now it's time for our party,” Scootaloo said eagerly. “I've got two extra larges with our names on 'em right here.”

Apple Bloom pulled away and hefted the bulging bag in her other hand. “Genuine Sweet Apple Acres goods! Plus a little sumthin' from Sugar Belle. I tell ya, marryin' her might just be the smartest thing Big Mac's ever done.”

The three of us laughed while I lead the way upstairs to the guest room that had become my unofficial second bedroom ever since my parents decided Rarity was well off enough for them to start leaving me with her whenever they ran off on some vacation or business trip. My magic swung open the door and pulled some cushions out of the closet for us all to sit on.

“Make yourselves comfortable!”

Scootaloo wasted no time dropping the pizzas in the middle of the floor, sitting down, and pulling out a slice of mushroom and black olive.

“Ya wanna wait fer us or what?”

“Hey, I'm hungry, okay? I was moving that cold front into town all day! Besides, there's plenty. We got two extra large half 'n half pizzas. Mushroom and olives, and jalapeno and onions on this one. The other's got tomato and spinach, and, uh...” she peeked under the lid, “something called 'anchovies'.”

Apple Bloom leaned to look over Scootaloo's shoulder. “What the hay is an 'anchovies'?”

I shrugged. “I've never heard of them before.”

“Me neither,” Scootaloo admitted. “It's something they started stocking last year when the Friendship School really starting bringing in lots of other creatures. They told me dragons, griffons, and changelings love 'em.”

I eyed the strange, ragged, dark brown things suspiciously. “Are they safe?”

“They ain't allowed ta sell sumthin' to ponies if ponies can't eat it.”

“How do you know?”

Apple Bloom sat down and started pulling things out of her bag. “'Cause my family sells food, that's how. There's all kinds of rules 'n stuff ya gotta follow. Speakin' of, I got a fresh baked apple pie from Applejack, a jar of zap apple jam and a homemade loaf of bread to eat it on fer breakfast tomorrow, plus a mess of Sugar Belle's new apple fritters.”

“New recipe?” That definitely had my attention. Sugar Belle does wonderful things with an oven.

“Emy goof?” Scootaloo asked around her mouthful of crust.

“Well, I tried one before she wrapped 'em up…”

“And?”

“And,” she rubbed the back of her neck self consciously, “she had to chase me off before I ate 'em all.”

Scootaloo and I laughed at Apple Bloom's chagrin. I lifted a slice of tomato and spinach with my magic. The “anchovies” would have to wait. Might as well have some good food first.

An hour later the pizza was demolished (along with most of the baked goods) and Apple Bloom bid it farewell with an earth rattling belch.

“Nice,” Scootaloo said, appreciatively. “Bet I can beat it.”

“Please don't,” I sighed.

“Phew! 'S'cuse me. Just went 'n snuck up on me there.”

“What's wrong, Sweetie? We tried becoming 'Cutie Mark Crusader Belchers' once, remember?”

My eyes rolled. That had been Scootaloo's idea, of course. “I was young and didn't know any better.”

Scootaloo let herself flop back onto the floor. “That's your excuse for all the dumb things we used to do. You used to be cool.”

“Hey, I still do dumb things! I actually ate some of those anchovies.”

Apple Bloom shuddered and Scootaloo laughed. “Yeah, they're pretty nasty. I think I like 'em.”

“I think they mighta been…” Apple Bloom had another shudder, “meat.”

My stomach churned. I had a bad feeling along those lines right from the start but I'd been afraid to say anything. The worst part was that the more of them I ate, the better they tasted. “I'm never eating those again.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, they weren't that bad.”

“I'm with Sweetie.” Apple Bloom rubbed her stomach like a mare with lasting regrets. “Ponies ain't meant to eat meat. Granny Smith's told me stories--”

I cut her off quickly. “We know. You told them at Nightmare Night that one time. You Pinkie Promised never to tell them to me again.”

“Yeeaah, I'm gonna go with Sweetie on this one.”

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “What's wrong, Scoots? Ya scared of a few stories?”

Scootaloo sat straight up. “What!? No way!”

“Suuure. Tell that to the Headless--”

“You know, there's another meat dish you can try. It's called a knuckle sandwich.”

“So, what do you girls want to do now?” I interrupted. This was not a good time for roughhousing. Not when I had so much pizza, pie, and fritter in me. I'd probably explode.

Apple Bloom's eyes darted to her bag. She opened her mouth then closed it again and shrugged.

“You got any of our Crusading plans here?” Scootaloo asked.

“I didn't think to grab them. I knew I forgot something.”

“Er… I may have… Uh, never mind.”

Scootaloo and I both turned our attention to our friend. She was avoiding our eyes and was a little bit red in the cheeks like she was embarrassed about something.

“What is it?”

“Something cool?”

“Uh, nothing. It was a dumb idea.”

“Hey, we're the Crusaders,” Scootaloo said proudly. “Whatever it is, we've done dumber.”

I gave my friend a 'Look'. “Why are you saying that like it's a good thing?”

“Trying new things is our whole thing,” Scootaloo swept her hand over the mark plainly visible on her thigh below the hem of her shorts. “Getting other ponies to try new things includes us, right? Plus, trying new things helps us introduce other ponies to those things. Sure, haiku didn't do anything for us but we got a filly her mark in it during our very first camp!” She fluffed up her wings and sat up straighter. “It's our duty to try new things, no matter how dumb!”

“…You know,” I said, a little worried, “that actually makes a scary kind of sense.”

“I know. But,” Apple Bloom glanced at the bag, “ain't no pony gonna have a talent in this.”

“Come on, just spill it!”

Apple Bloom sighed. “Alright. But I'm tellin' ya now, I think it's a bad idea.”

Reluctantly, she reached into the bag and pulled out a hefty cube shaped thing wrapped in waxy brown paper with a fancy label like a wine bottle's stuck on one side.

“A salt lick,” Scootaloo deadpanned. “Wow. We toootally didn't make one of those in school when we were twelve.”

“Uh, Scootaloo, I don't think that's like the ones we made in school.” I took hold of the hefty cube of salt and floated it close enough to read the label. “'Aunt Appletini's Hard Salt Lick'.”

Scootaloo's interest came back in a flash, although it was weirdly… not happy. Not unhappy, but not happy either. “Hold up, hard salt lick? You mean like a hard-hard salt lick?”

“A branch of the family makes 'em. Based offa the hard apple cider they make. A couple got left behind after the last reunion and I put one away. They don't go bad so I've just held onto it.”

“Don't we have to be a few years older for this sort of thing?” I asked, nervously.

“Nope. These here are legal at eighteen 'cause you'd have to lick down a whole hay of a lot of it to really get mixed up. Applejack says the salt'll get ya sick before ya get drunk, unless yer a super lightweight. Like, lighter than Pip kinda lightweight. Most ponies are done by the time they round off a corner. It's just supposed ta make ya all… warm 'n fuzzy. Loosen ya up, y'know?”

Scootaloo scratched her head. “Doesn't alcohol evaporate? How do they…?”

“Magic.”

“Oh, right, duh.”

“You ever had one?” I was asking Apple Bloom but my eyes kept wandering back to Scootaloo. There was something funny about the way she was looking at the salt.

“Nope. Don't really know why I brought it. Guess it was sorta the spur of the moment. I mean, it's an adult thing and we're all adults now, so…”

“Let's try it.” Apple Bloom and I both looked to Scootaloo. She'd gotten rid of the serious face and was back to her usual, cocky self.

“Um, I'm not sure about that,” I said.

“Oh, come on,” she pressed. “We're old enough, right? It's safe, right?”

“None of us hafta try it if we don't want to. Ain't none of us got nuthin' to prove.”

“Come on, I at least wanna try it,” Scootaloo insisted.

“Well… it has been a while since I had anything salty. Other than those anchovies.” I shuddered. “Maybe it'll get that taste out of my mouth.”

Apple Bloom looked at the cube with a newfound interest. “Good point. Ya know what? Open 'er up, I'm gonna take a lick. 'Least this here was meant for ponies.”

“Wimps.”

Chapter 5 - Trouble Blooms

I felt awful warm in the face. It started up about twenty minutes after my first go on the salt lick and showed no signs of going away. The three of us passed it around from me to Scoots to Sweetie. We each stuck to our own corner and, after almost an hour of licking, each of those corners was getting mighty smooth. The lick tasted like salt more than anything, which was no surprise. There was a hint of apple cider and some other taste that had to be the alcohol, but still mostly salt. Honestly, it was the most relaxed I'd felt around my friends in moons.

The best part was that it looked like Sweetie was feeling it too. It felt like forever since I'd seen her so relaxed and carefree. It was like the shadow that'd been hanging over her head for the last few years was just gone, and she was just good old Sweetie Belle again. Not nervous, not fiddling with her skirt, not biting her lip, or lashing her tail, or doing anything but talking, laughing, and smiling that million-bit smile. Sweet Celestia, had I ever missed seeing that smile aimed my way, like the sunrise over the orchard in applebuck season. It was worth bluffing my way through all the girl talk in the word to see it again.

“I don't care how 'cute' he is now,” Scootaloo insisted. “He's still Snails.”

“Aw, come on,” Sweetie giggled. “He's not that bad.”

“He's weird.”

“Compared to who?” I asked. “This is Ponyville. Y'know, home of Pinkie Pie?”

“Whatever. Hey, lick it or pass it. Make up your mind.”

Sweetie rolled her eyes and took a long, slow lick of her corner before passing it to me by hand. Her magic had started to get a little shaky a few licks ago and it looked like she'd stopped trusting it. I took my lick straight away and passed it on while I tried to come up with the next stallion to talk about. It was my turn and I had to contribute something or it'd look suspicious. “What do ya reckon about Rumble?”

“Rumble?” Scoots raised an eyebrow. “What about Rumble?”

“Y'know.”

Scootaloo stared at me like I was talking fancy again. “What about Rumble?” she repeated.

“He's a guy,” Sweetie prodded.

She look her lick and handed off to Sweetie. “Uh, yeah? What about it?”

“Haven't you seen him?” Sweetie pressed. “He's sooo cute!”

“Mmm-hm. C'mon, Scoots, don't you two work out together sometimes? Hay, y'all're both on the weather team!”

“I guess? I dunno.”

“And?”

“And… what?”

Sweetie and I both stared with our mouths wider than barn doors. “You mean you really haven't noticed!?” she asked.

“How didjya manage that?” Even I knew Rumble was one of the most pined after young stallions in town these days. Plus he was an athlete and all, and a great flier.

Scootaloo shrugged. “I don't know. I just… don't notice colts that much, I guess.”

“Huh.” Sweetie looked down at the salt lick, took her lick and passed it off to me again.

“Whatever. Now can we pleeeease change the subject?”

“Nope!” Sweetie and I chorused.

“At your birthday we talked about nothing but sports, sports, and more sports,” Sweetie said.

“We had our turns. Reckon it's Sweetie's now and that means…”

“Girl talk!”

“Uuuggghhhh… You know… you call it 'girl talk' but it's all about guys.” She straightened up and shot the two of us an evil looking grin. “You two ever been interested in a girl?”

Sweetie Belle's cheeks went pinker than the streaks in her hair. “Scootaloo!”

“What? It's a fair question.”

“No it's not!”

I raised an eyebrow. That was a lot of protesting for such a silly question. Kinda made me wonder if she wasn't being a hundred percent honest. Except… well, I'd seen the way Sweetie looked at colts, hadn't I? We'd just been talking about colts! Sweetie could 'girl talk' her way through the list of every eligible colt in town with Diamond and Silver before breakfast!

“What about you, AB? Ever had a mare catch your eye?”

I carefully kept my face neutral and my ears still. “Can't say I have.”

“How do you know?”

“Beg pardon?”

Scootaloo leaned in a little closer. “How can you know for sure? Maybe you're into mares and don't even know it!”

Inside, my stomach churned. Outside, I snorted. “I'd know! Ya don't just not know!”

“When you were a kid, did you like colts?”

“Well, uh...”

“So, one day, you woke up and liked 'em, right?”

My face got a little warmer. Scoots was leading us somewhere I didn't want us to go. Why was she of all ponies suddenly so interested in this? Stuff like this usually made her gag harder than a barn cat hacking up a hairball.

“I suppose…”

“So what if tonight you realize you like mares, too?”

“I… dunno.”

“There's only one way to find out.” Her grin turned downright wicked. “You two should kiss.”

A nasty jolt shot right up my back. “What!?”

“Hey, it's the Crusader way! The only way to know is to try it out, right?”

I had about a half dozen reasons why that was a load of horseapples ready and rarin' to go. Not everything needs to be tried to know how you feel about it. I ain't never jumped off a waterfall onto pointy rocks neither but I'm pretty sure it's a bad idea, I don't need to test it myself. Not on purpose, anyhow. I didn't need to go kissing any mares to know that I definitely, absolutely, one-hundred-and-ten-percent hated it.

“M-maybe she's right.”

My train of thought jumped right off the rails and all I could think to do was stare at Sweetie while the cars piled up. She was agreeing? “Are y'all serious?”

All of Sweetie's relaxed mood had gone up in smoke. She was fiddling with the hem of her skirt, her ears drooped, and she was still very pink in the face. “I mean, it's possible, right?”

“Sweetie, I don't think--”

“Maybe you've never wondered but… um… maybe,” Sweetie swallowed. “Maybe I have.” She cringed like she expected to be shouted down by the Princesses themselves. I shot a glance at Scootaloo but she looked just as surprised as I felt.

“For real?” Scootaloo asked.

She shrugged, not taking her eyes of the carpet. “A little. Just sometimes. Just curious. I've never, um, you know, tried, so I'm not sure. I've just… wondered. A lot.”

“Why didn't ya ever say nuthin'?”

Sweetie's whole posture deflated like a popped balloon. She sorta hugged herself like she was cold, like she oughta be rubbing her arms and shivering. “Well what could I do? Just trot up to Diamond Tiara or somepony and say 'hey, I might like mares. Mind if I test that on you?' I'm scared just telling you two!”

I frowned. She was scared. Real scared. She must've been carrying this around for a good long while, worrying and fretting over what everypony would think. She might even have been crushing on some filly in school the whole time and been too frightened to make a move. Sure, a lot of things were off limits until a pony hit eighteen anyhow, but that ain't ever stopped anypony from at least dating.

Then it hit me like a freight train that this was it. This was the thing that'd been dragging on her for the last few years! This was why she'd turned half-way to a nervous wreck, always so awkward and jumpy. It was because she was scared of being found out! She had a feeling she liked mares, really liked mares, and she was terrified of doing anything to give herself away 'cause she was scared stiff that we'd turn on her if we found out!

I put the salt lick down on the empty pizza boxes and scooted off my cushion so I could put an arm around her shoulders, close enough I could pick up a hint of perfume and that fancy shampoo of hers. Her whole body was trembling and she was tense as could be. This whole thing wasn't right. Sweetie shouldn't have to feel scared of caring about somepony, nopony should. And she sure as Celestia shouldn't have to be scared of Scoots and me! Plus, not even being sure? She should at least get to be sure, shouldn't she? She couldn't go on not knowing something that important about herself, could she? I knew from experience how awful that felt and just thinking about Sweetie or Scoots feeling the way I did half the time… well, it just wasn't right. I couldn't let one of my best friends live like that, could I? She didn't need to.

I swallowed hard and cleared my throat best I could. “Hey, y'all ain't got nothin' to worry about. We're best friends!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo chimed in, bold as brass. “We're with you no matter what.”

“And… and if it'll help y'all…” I swallowed, unable to believe what I was about to say. “Y'all can test it on me.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie both gaped at me. “Are you serious?” Sweetie squeaked.

“Reckon I am. Ya need to know, one way or the other.” I tried to laugh all casual like even though my guts were all tied up in knots. “Ain't like it'll hurt me, right?”

“It's just, um,” Sweetie's blush deepened, “it'd be my first.”

“Mine too. But hey, sharing first times is how we got here! 'Sides, which sounds better to you: using my first kiss to help one of my best friends or using it on some colt I just end up splittin' with a month or two later?”

Sweetie wiped her watering eyes. “You'd do that… for me?”

“Sure as sugar would or my name ain't Apple Bloom! 'Sides,” I gave Scootaloo a sharp look that got answered with a wide eyed stare, “it'll confirm that I don't like mares. Y'know Scoots'll just keep naggin' me 'til I try.”

“Daring you,” Scootaloo corrected almost automatically.

Sweetie Belle threw her arms around my neck in a tight hug. “Thank you! Thank you so much! I-I thought I'd never--”

I swallowed hard to keep dinner and dessert right where they were. Did she always have to press herself up against me like that? “Come on now, ain't no time like the present. Let's do this before I get cold feet.”

Sweetie let go and we pulled apart. “Right, uh, okay. So… how should we start?”

“Er, I was hopin' you'd know.”

“How would I know?”

“Well, Rarity gave ya that big, long talk, right? Ya told us all about it.”

“That was for stallions.”

“Kissin's the same though, ain't it?”

“Oh just kiss already!” Scootaloo shouted. “Face each other, get up on your knees, put your arms around each other and,” she clapped emphatically, “bam, lips together.”

I looked at Scootaloo suspiciously. “Y'all came up with that mighty quick.”

She shrugged. “You'd be surprised what you see while flying over town. Earth ponies and unicorns never think to look up and pegasai have to look down in case somepony else decides to take off without looking or something. Sometimes I see ponies making out where they think nopony can see. It's not like I go looking for it,” she added, quickly. “You just have no idea how much of it is going on until you can see over everypony's fence.”

All of a sudden I was very glad I never wore shirts with open collars. From the look on Sweetie's face (plus the way she was looking down at her undone buttons) she was reconsidering her own choice in blouses.

“Right. I'm never goin' outside again.”

“Ever.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Just do it already.”

Me and Sweetie turned back to face one another. We got close, up on our knees like Scoots said, put our hands on each other's waists and inched together. We'd hugged plenty of times but this was… different. Most times hugs were just a friendly greeting or a celebration or something. This time it was just setup for what we were gonna do. But maybe if I just finally did it then those stupid thoughts would finally leave me alone for good. Like being afraid of the water; you just had to dive in and get over it.

“Are you sure?” Sweetie said softly. “Once we do this--”

“I'm sure.” I wasn't. “It's just a kiss.” It wasn't. “Ain't like we're about ta get married or nuthin'.” 'Least that much was true.

“On three?”

“Okay. One. Two... Three.”

Sweetie leaned in close, shutting her eyes along the way. I closed mine too, mostly because I knew that's what you were supposed to do when you kissed somepony. Then our lips met.

It was… moist. Obviously a pony's mouth is full of spit but I'd never really thought about it before. Sweetie's lips moved against mine, which was a… really weird feeling. It's part pushing, part pulling. It was like Sweetie was sucking on my bottom lip just a bit. Maybe I was supposed to do it back? I parted my lips just the tiniest bit and pulled.

Sweetie shivered and pulled away. Our lips separated with a quiet sound like somepony smacking their lips after eating a spoonful of soup. Our eyes opened again, staring straight into each other's.

“So, uh, how was that?” I asked. It was nice to hear my voice sounding a lot steadier than I felt.

“C-can we try again? Sorry, I'm just… still trying to work it out. We can stop now if you want.”

“What's that thing Pip says? 'In fer a penny, in fer a pound'? Reckon I can handle a bit more.”

Why did I have to say that?

Before I could change my mind, Sweetie leaned in again and this time we stayed together. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my mouth. Our lips came together, rubbed, pulled on each other, then broke apart. Again. And again. And again. Sometimes it was quick, other times we lingered, working our mouths together for several seconds before breaking softly. It was strange and wet and soft and warm and the way Sweetie's chest was bumping against mine every so often was getting real distracting but… it wasn't awful, I can give it that much. It sorta made my mouth feel a tiny bit tingly. Especially with the way Sweetie was starting to change angles, making our lips fit together in new ways that felt kinda nice too. Even if it did mean more jostling.

Her scent was impossible to ignore. That gentle hint of flowery perfume and herbal shampoo was almost as powerful as the salt lick. I breathed it in deep to savor the feeling of warmth and comfort it always brought me. Her arms shifted with every kiss, rubbing my back gently and sliding her arms around me into a proper hug. I copied her a little but not quite as much. Our busts were pressed together properly by the hug now, making it all the more distracting even with my shirt and overalls in the way. Then again, that felt kinda nice, too.

I finally broke the kiss for good, pulling away enough to get myself to stop pressing against Sweetie. We both knelt there for a long moment, breathing a little heavy, and trying to make sense of what we just did. Then Scootaloo got impatient.

“Well? Anypony gonna say anything?”

We both shuffled away from each other back to our cushions. I don't know if Sweetie was avoiding looking at me as much as I was at her but I wouldn't be surprised.

“It, um, was…” Sweetie Belle fumbled.

“Alright,” I finished.

“'Alright',” Scootaloo deadpanned.

“Y'know, alright, I guess.”

Scootaloo looked at Sweetie but she only blushed more strongly and fidgeted some more. “I-- I need to think about it.”

Satisfied enough, Scoots smirked. “Okay, my turn.”

“What!?”

Scootaloo shrugged casual like, but her wings were twitching an awful lot. “Hey, only one way for me to find out, too.”

“I dunno…” Kissing Sweetie was already crazy but Scoots too?

Scootaloo crossed her arms defiantly. “You did it for Sweetie.”

I sighed. Maybe it'd actually help? Then it would be all spread out rather than being some awkward thing just between me and Sweetie. It'd be a Crusader thing, and there were lots of Crusader things. What was one more?

“Fine, y'all can try on me too.”

We got in the same position as I had with Sweetie, more or less. Scootaloo went straight for the hug, which I went along with, even if it felt awkward as all Tartarus. Scootaloo's wings meant I needed to put my arms a lot lower on her back to get under them. On the plus side, there was actually a bit of space to breathe thanks to Scootaloo's flat chest. As we leaned in, Scootaloo's purple eyes darted over to Sweetie watching from the side then back up to me.

“Thanks.”

The kiss kicked off before I could answer. Sweetie had been gentle and slow, Scootaloo was firm and fast. Her kisses didn't linger as long, didn't work her lips around as much, but she also sucked harder which maked it more intense in its own way. It wasn't long before she pressed in closer to me, sinking against my bust and kneading my lower back. A little jolt hit me in the stomach when I felt Scootaloo's hands starting to wander lower. I cracked open an eye. Hers were shut like she was totally in the zone. A particularly deep kiss sent a shiver right on through me and made my eye flutter shut again. I kept thinking that I should stop, that I should call it off, but instead I pushed back, turning my head and parting my lips a little more. Scootaloo made a funny noise in her throat and her hand wandered all the way down to my--

I finally broke the kiss by yanking my head back hard. “What the hay, Scootaloo!?”

Scootaloo blinked like she was coming out of a daze. “Wha--?”

“I said I'd kiss you. That don't mean ya get to go grabbin' at me!”

I expected Scootaloo to crack a joke or roll her eyes and call me a foal for complaining. What I didn't expect was for her to look away, blush, flatten her ears, and mumble “Sorry”.

Despite what Scoots'd just done, I couldn't help but feel a little bad for her. The urge to push Scootaloo off and declare the test over faded the more I looked at her downcast expression. Then it clicked into place. She'd been hurting just like Sweetie, hadn't she? Knowing Scootaloo, she'd been putting on a brave face since this whole topic came up 'cause it was that or run out of the room screaming 'cause she was just as nervous, scared, and confused as Sweetie. She hated girl talk, she hated acting mushy, but here she was talking about kissing 'cause she'd seen a chance to finally find out where she stood.

I slipped one hand off Scootaloo's back and used it to turn her face back up. I figured I should say something comforting, y'know? Try to make her feel better about it like I'd done for Sweetie. Then I looked into those big, purple eyes of hers and I saw… something. It was that sort of look she'd had when we were little and she'd been so worried about being flightless that she'd bailed on our Equestria Games routine. When we'd finally confronted her she'd looked at us the same way. Like she was scared but hopeful, too. Back then I'd just wanted to hug her tight and tell her that everything was gonna be okay.

I leaned in close.

“AB, I'm-- mph! Mphm mm mm… Mmmmm...”

This time Scootaloo practically melted into me. The aggression and haste were gone and swapped out with something almost as soft and gentle as Sweetie Belle. I worked my lips against Scootaloo's just like Sweetie had done to me, and I pulled her in close so our fronts pressed flush together. It was weird but, Scoots' chest felt sorta… I dunno, off somehow. Still… it all felt sorta nice.

Then I had an idea. Once I was sure she was all the way back into it I let one of my own hands wander down towards her rump. She stiffened up fast, wings ruffling and quivering as she worked out what I was up to. My hand skimmed over Scootaloo's shorts, then curled up so that only my first two fingers and thumb were extended. I jabbed them into Scootaloo's backside and--

“Mph!” Scootaloo yanked away and fell back onto her rump. “Ow! You pinched me!”

“Eeeeyup!” I folded my arms, smug as you please. “Only one way ta find out if ya like it or not, right?”

I was expecting Scoots to just laugh it off or maybe get just a little bit mad. Instead she looked… I don't know what she looked like. She was looking at me with a fiery light in her eyes, her wings were flared out like a griffon ready to pounce and… she was licking her lips? My eyes went wide. Well, that bright idea had just backfired harder than an overstuffed confetti cannon at a Pinkie Party.

“Um.”

Me and Scoots both jumped, the moment between us broken. We both looked over to where Sweetie had perched herself awkwardly on the edge of her bed, legs crossed, and hugging a pillow.

“Did you… did you like it?”

“It was--”

“Okay.”

Me and Sweetie both raised an eyebrow at Scootaloo.

“Just 'okay'?” I teased. “Y'all ain't got nuthin' else ta add?”

Scootaloo shifted so she was sitting cross-legged, then winced and rubbed the left side of her rump. “Yeah, you pinch hard.”

Me and Sweetie both burst out laughing. The wadded up tension in my stomach started to ease up when Scootaloo joined in. Soon the three of us were laid out, laughing our tails off.

Chapter 6 - Troubled Bloom

Once we finally calmed down, Sweetie had pointed out the time and suggested we start getting ready for bed. I volunteered to brush my teeth and change first while she got out the sleeping bags, and Scootaloo cleaned up the pizza boxes. Truth be told, I mostly wanted to get a few minutes to myself to think. That whole kissing business had gotten out of hand real fast. Sweetie being curious was one thing, but the way Scootaloo acted there was no way she wasn't into mares. Nopony “accidentally” grabs somepony's rump like that. Guess that's what she meant by not noticing colts. I'll bet she doesn't.

I gathered up my pj's, toothpaste, and toothbrush from my bag and headed out of Sweetie's room and down the hall to the fancy bathroom with its shiny tiles and white stone counter top. I made good and sure the door was latched before I started undressing. Once my overalls were unfastened, I shed my shirt and ran the sink with cold water. A few good splashes across my face took the edge off the heat, but didn't help me work out what all I should do next.

I braced my hands against the edges of the sink and stared down at the swirling water. So my best friends were probably into mares, that didn't change anything important, right? They were the same ponies I'd known since we were all blank flanks. They were still Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, and they were still my best friends no matter what. If it turned out that they just plain weren't into stallions, what did it matter? Ain't like they'd be hurting anypony, right? I nodded to myself as I made up my mind to support them no matter what, especially Sweetie. Poor thing, living so scared like that. Anypony who gave her a hard time over this was gonna have me to deal with, that was for darn sure!

That just left the… 'other' problem. I let go of the sink and picked up my toothpaste and brush. I might've squeezed the tube a mite more than I needed to so that there was enough minty goo on the bristles to make me gag. I took a deep breath through my nose and kept brushing anyhow. Maybe if I did it long enough it'd get the weird feeling out of my mouth. Thank Celestia Scootaloo had at least kept her tongue to herself. I brushed a little harder.

It didn't mean anything. Kissing was just supposed to feel good, right? Couldn't it just be a physical thing? Like a doctor tapping your knee with a hammer. Doesn't matter what you think about the hammer, your leg is gonna move. Maybe it just felt better when they were the right type for you. If I kissed a colt I'd like it even more, right? It'd be all neat and easy instead of confusing. I wouldn't be dwelling on it that way. Wouldn't feel like I could still feel Sweetie pressed against me, or like Scoots' hand was still on my rump. My lips wouldn't still tingle and my darned heart would've slowed down already.

It was just like when I'd catch myself looking at them. A mare didn't have to be attracted to somepony like Sweetie to know that she was awful easy on the eyes. Besides, she was just a great pony to have around. Anypony would want to be around her! As for Scoots, well, it wasn't my fault she was such a darned showoff! If I could make her stop I'd do it in a heartbeat, only… well, how are you meant to tell a pony to stop bending over so much? And it wasn't my fault Sweetie didn't do up all her buttons either! I wasn't trying to sneak looks, they were just always around, that's all!

After a good, furious scrubbing, I finally spat out the toothpaste, caught some water from the sink to rinse with, and set my brush off to the side out of the way. I shut off the water and tugged my overalls the rest of the way down. A quick unhooking around my back and I was down to just my plain, red underwear. Not wanting to be caught so close to naked after all that'd happened, I hurried about getting into my red plaid pajamas and wadding up the rest of my clothes inside my overalls. Then I was out the door. No time for more lollygagging or taking care of any nagging itches. Not that I had any. I wasn't about to let kissing my best friends get me that worked up no matter what my body was saying about it. I'd cool off on my own if I just left things alone, just like always.

Then I reached Sweetie's door and looked inside. What I saw almost made me drop my bundle of clothes. Scootaloo and Sweetie were making out, and they were making out hard.

They'd gotten together the same way they'd done with me, arms around one another, and were going at it like there was no tomorrow. There were only one difference: Scootaloo's hands weren't the only ones wandering this time. Their tails were both sweeping back and forth, Scootaloo's wings were half open and quivering, and Sweetie looked like she was pressing her chest against Scootaloo on purpose.

A storm of feelings ran round and round in my head faster than I could wrangle them. I was confused. I was scared. I was queasy and tingly and worried and excited and--

One of Scootaloo's hands wandered the other direction, sliding right up Sweetie's side further and further.

--I was angry.

“Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle!”

They flew apart like they'd been zapped. “AB,” Scootaloo started, “I wasn't--”

“I think I saw what y'all were doin' pretty darn well!”

“It wasn't her fault!” Sweetie cut in. “I just thought-- since you and I, and you and her-- I thought it was fair--”

I narrowed my eyes at the pair of them. “And y'all just waited 'til I was gone, that it?”

Sweetie wrung her hands together. “Well, you seemed so sure you weren't-- but Scootaloo and I are both--”

“Yeah, what's eating you?” Scootaloo put her fists on her hips and glared right back at me. “You're acting like we're cheating on you or something.”

A horrible chill ran right from my ears to my toes. “I-- I reckon we should call it a night. Sleep off that salt lick. We can talk about all this tomorrow.”

I made a beeline straight for the sleeping bag Sweetie must've laid out for me before she'd gone to town on Scootaloo. Sweetie hurried out into the hall, pausing only to grab her silky, pink nightie from her dresser. Scootaloo brushed past me on the way to her own bag, shooting me a dirty look along the way.

I barely noticed. My whole body felt hollow and stiff like it was all just a fever dream. I wasn't jealous; I couldn't be jealous. It didn't make a lick of sense for me to be jealous! There was no way under Celestia's bright sun that I was jealous! It was the salt lick, had to be. What in Equestria had made me bring that stupid thing along!?

I fumbled my way into my sleeping bag, back facing the rest of the room. Sleep was what I needed. Just a good night's sleep to clear my head. Everything would make sense again in the morning. We'd all just move on and forget anything strange had ever happened. We'd laugh it off over zap apple jam on toast, and go back to being best friends. We'd go work on new plans for the Crusader Camps and friendship tutoring, watch Scootaloo practice stunts, hang out at Sugarcube Corner and drink milkshakes the size of our heads, or maybe go hang out with Diamond Tiara and have some of that fancy food of hers. Because I wasn't jealous, I didn't like mares, and I wasn't going to let anything come between me and my friends.

And I definitely didn't feel like crying myself to sleep.

Chapter 7 - Sneaking a Ride on a Scooter

I stared at the dark wall of Sweetie's room and tried my hardest to fall asleep.

My nerves were buzzing from before. Everything that had happened was still sinking in, starting with the salt lick and ending with the feel of Sweetie all squished up against me while we made out. How long had I been wanting to do that? How long had I been wanting to taste her lips, or to feel that brush of Sweetie's tongue just barely trying to get into my mouth? Well, I hadn't really seen that last bit coming. It was almost like Sweetie wanted it as much as I did.

I couldn't believe I'd gotten to cop a feel of Apple Bloom's rump, too. Sure, AB hadn't been as into it as Sweetie (that spot she pinched still hurt if I poked it), but she was a Crusader through and through. She hadn't fooled around with a mare so how could she be sure she wouldn't like it, right? There had only been one way to find out. And, wow, watching those two make out might have been the hottest thing I'd ever seen in my life, hotter than Sweetie on the beach in a bikini, even. Of course, then she'd freaked out on us. That wasn't so cool.

Somepony shaking my shoulder jolted me out of my new memories. I rolled over and squinted into the darkness to see which of my friends had decided to bother me. If I really strained, I could just make out the horn poking out above the shadowy head hanging over me.

“Sweetie?” I whispered. “What's up?”

Sweetie just knelt there, leaning over me. After a few seconds it felt a little bit creepy so I started to whisper again. Just when I opened my mouth, Sweetie leaned down low and pressed her lips to mine. Well, almost. She was just as blind in the dark as me so she only caught the corner of my mouth on her first attempt. She fixed that on her second try.

It took me a few seconds to catch up to what was happening. Just as Sweetie pulled away, probably thinking I was turning her down, I leaned into it, kissing back for all I was worth. Somepony whimpered. Sweetie swung her leg up and over top of the sleeping bag to straddle me, kissing me over and over again. We barely even finished each kiss before going right into next one. I pulled my arms free from the bag and threw them around her. She sank lower, the feeling of her heavy bust pressing down on me set off another desperate sound from somepony. I pushed further into the kiss. I wanted in. I swiped my tongue across Sweetie's lips practically begging her to let me in. This time it was definitely Sweetie who made a funny noise and then…

Sweetie let me in. Pulled me in, sucking on my tongue like it was a candy cane. Somewhere in the back of my head, I was laughing. Neither of us had a CLUE what we were doing. Someday, I was gonna look back on this frantic midnight makeout and say, “Wow, we sucked at kissing back then”. For the moment, it was the best thing I'd ever done. Well, at least it was right up until I topped it by sliding my left hand down and--

“Mph! Scootaloo!” Sweetie's voice was a quiet hiss, but I could hear the blush in it. The kiss broken, I smiled evilly up at her even though she probably couldn't see it. I gave Sweetie's rump another slow, steady squeeze. The hot air of Sweetie's breath tickled my face real nice.

“What?” I whispered back. “You want me to,” I squeezed again, “stop?”

Sweetie shivered with each squeeze. I shifted my hand around, massaging Sweetie's fantastic rump firmly but hopefully not too hard. Her underwear was as silky as her nightie and didn't leave a lot to my imagination while I was feeling around. Sweetie pretty much never wears pants so I don't get to check out her rump often but it's awesome. Not as big as AB's but, hey, whose is? She's still got a perfect curvy fullness that just begged to be squeezed. My other hand sneaked its way just under the bottom of her nightie to rub the soft skin of her upper thigh just above her mark. Oh, Celestia, did it feel good.

“Just say the word,” I whispered. Sweetie didn't say a word, any word. She just breathed and trembled. Mostly her hips, which had started rocking time with my grasping around. “Well? You wanna-mph! Mmm~”

This time is was Sweetie's tongue that went into my mouth. Sweetie pushed in hard and fast, practically lashing her tongue against mine. It was like we were in a wresting match fought entirely with hips, mouths, and boobs, and I was seriously outmatched in at least two of those areas. By the time we came up for air I was panting and hot in the face.

“Whoa.”

Sweetie giggled. “Sorry.”

“Sorry? That was awe--!”

A faint rustle caught my ear. Sweetie started to whisper something that I cut off by yanking my hand back out from under the nightie and clapping it over her mouth.

“Did one of y'all say sumthin'?”

When I felt Sweetie go stiff on top of me, I realized that she'd forgotten, too. All that whispering, lip smacking, and wiggling around wasn't going to go unheard forever, and Apple Bloom wouldn't have asked if she wasn't pretty sure she'd heard us. Pretending to be asleep wasn't gonna cut it.

“Just talking to myself,” I answered a little shakily. “Thinking out loud.”

Silence. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to break through my ribs.

“Everythin' alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah, just kinda wound up, you know? Hey, you think maybe another turn on that salt lick would mellow me out?”

Apple Bloom snorted. “Reckon you've had enough. You 'n Sweetie both.” Sweetie pressed herself down harder against me like she was trying to hide. “G'night, Scoots.”

“Night, Bloom.”

Silence fell again except for the sound of Sweetie's unsteady breathing so close to my face. We lay together for a long time waiting for some kind of clear signal that Apple Bloom was down for the count. It was just our luck that she didn't snore.

After a while, I pushed on the side of Sweetie's right hip, urging her to get off me. She slowly, scared or reluctant I had no idea, lifted herself up and over onto carpet next to me on her knees. Both of us were practically holding our breath, just waiting for Apple Bloom to throw on the lights and shout “gotcha!” at the top of her lungs.

The room stayed dark. I bit my lip, wanting to say something but too afraid to risk it. Instead, I reached out and found Sweetie's shoulder so I could give what I hoped was a comforting squeeze. I flinched a little when Sweetie's hand closed over mine, but only for a moment. I felt Sweetie's fingers lacing together with mine, squeezing gently, almost like she was scared to be doing it. Which, thinking about it, she probably was. Then she let go and slipped away. The faint creak of her bed and rustle of sheets were the last things I heard before there was nothing but three mares breathing.

I rolled back onto my side to free my wings (Sweetie Belle pinned them in a very uncomfortable position when she got on me like that) and went back to staring at the wall. Everything we'd gotten up to felt a lot less fun now. The sick, twisted feeling that'd took hold of my stomach the moment Apple Bloom spoke up only got worse and worse with every passing second. I'd done enough stupid things in my life to know guilt when I felt it and this was some major guilt. I'd been so caught up in my stupid games, so caught up in how good it felt messing around with Sweetie, that for just a moment there…

I turned onto my stomach and drove my face onto my pillow.

How did I forget Apple Bloom?

Chapter 8 - The Mourning After

I still couldn't believe what had happened by morning.

I don't know how Apple Bloom's relatives got a salt lick to be hard, but if it could let me kiss my best friends like that, then I wanted more. Just thinking about it made me feel all warm and tingly. Being all squished together with Apple Bloom, the way Scootaloo's hands wandered… Watching the two of them together had been almost as good as being on top of Scootaloo while she was grabbing at me. I knew for sure that I was going to be thinking about that while I was having my alone time later.

And when I sneaked out of bed there had been a moment where I didn't know which of my friends I wanted to go to. I'd just sat there on the edge of my bed, staring into the dark while images of being all tangled up with both of them danced in my mind. I had only been able to settle on Scootaloo because it seemed like she was the most into it before. Or, in other words, I was afraid Apple Bloom would reject me.

I peeked out from under my sheets when I heard a sleeping bag rustling. My bedroom was just starting to light up with the rising sunlight sneaking under the curtains, but both of my friends were already up and about. Apple Bloom's bag was empty and, since I could hear the shower going, I had a pretty good idea where she went. The sound I'd heard was Scootaloo getting up to stretch, already dressed, like she'd put on her clothes before getting out of her bag. Or like she'd never taken them off.

I propped myself up on one elbow for a better view. Scootaloo had her back to me and was doing something she'd once told me were called “standing hamstring stretches”. She had her legs crossed at the ankles, and was bending aaaall the way over. After a few seconds she stood up, switched which leg was crossed over, and then back down she went. Scootaloo always said stretching was important before working out. For me it was just fun to watch. Very fun.

All too soon Scootaloo straightened up and glanced over her shoulder. It wasn't the first time I've been caught watching but it might have been the first time I saw Scootaloo blush and lay back her ears because of it.

“I, uh, I'm gonna go stretch my wings,” she said with a shaky flap for emphasis. “I'll be back.” She darted out the door without waiting for an answer.

I slipped out of bed and followed after her. I caught up at the front door where she was struggling to undo a lock that was really meant for unicorn magic. I reached out with mine and slid the latch back.

“Uh, thanks. How is anypony supposed to…?”

“You'd have to kinda jam something in there to lever at it. It's supposed to be for unicorns.”

“Right, Rarity's place, lots of gems to steal, got it.” The two of us shared a moment of awkward silence until Scootaloo jabbed a thumb over the shoulder towards the door. “So, uh, flying. Later!”

“Scootaloo, wait.” She froze. Her hand was on the door knob but she didn't turn it. My own hands fidgeted with the hem of my nightie. “Um, about what happened last night...”

“Yeah, yeah, that was, uh, pretty crazy right?” Scootaloo said to the door.

“Um--”

She turned around, arms folded. “I mean, the three of us getting all… touchy-feely 'n stuff, right? I mean, gross, huh?”

My heart sank like stone. “Gross?”

“Guess that's why they don't let kids have adult salt licks, right? Ew.”

“I-I guess. But I was--”

“We should probably forget all about it.”

A sour ache crept up the back of my throat. “Forget…?” I rasped.

“Pretend like it never happened, you know?” Scootaloo wasn't looking at me. She looked at the walls, the ceiling, the coat rack, anything and everything but me. “You're cool with that, right? I mean, it's not like any of it meant anything. Just… three mares messing around 'cause of some crazy salt lick, right?”

I stared at her, unable to speak, something Scootaloo probably missed while counting threads in the carpet. She must have taken the silence as agreement because she turned around and threw open the door.

“Catch ya later.”

I stepped forward, reached after her, tried to say something, anything to call her back but it was too late. Her wings launched her skyward with one, powerful sweep and the force of her takeoff slammed the door shut in my face.

I ain't usually a “shower in the morning” sort of pony. Washing up in the morning before going out in the fields to get all sweaty and dirty again just don't make any sense and crawling into your clean bed all filthy from the day's work don't make much more. Better to get it done in the evening before dinner so you were clean for the table, especially if you're having guests.

But after last night, I felt a need for it. It wasn't like the “fooling around” itself made me feel dirty or nothing it just… caused things. Things that needed cleaning up. That didn't mean I'd liked it! Nothing but reflex. Didn't mean a thing. Not a single darned thing.

I was wringing the last of the water out of my tail when I heard the first crash so I just shrugged it off. Probably Scootaloo making a mess knocking over one of Rarity's things, doing some silly stunt indoors like she was still a little filly and not a grown mare who needed a lot more space before she can go flailing around. The second crash made me pause. That wasn't so unusual; what was weird was that nopony was shouting anything. If we made a mess we'd be in trouble with Rarity, Sweetie especially. She should be shouting at Scootaloo if she was knocking something over.

The third crash made me drop the towel, throw on my shirt, and yank up my underwear as fast as I could. Overalls would have to wait. I rushed headlong out the door and ran smack into Sweetie Belle.

“Whoa there! Sorry 'bout that! What's all the…”

Sweetie was in a state. She was still in her nightie, her hair and tail still mussed from bed. Tears were running down her face like there was no tomorrow and… there was this look in her eyes. Like somepony had ripped her heart out and stomped all over it. I had never seen anything like it, not on Sweetie. I reached out for her shoulder.

“Are you--?”

Sweetie pulled away. “Don't touch me!”

“Sweetie, what's gotten--”

“Go away. Get out! Get your clothes on and just-- just go away!”

There was a warning bell ringing hard and fast inside my head. Something had gone wrong here. Very wrong. There was no way in Tartarus that I was leaving Sweetie alone like this. “I ain't goin' nowhere. Not 'til you tell me what's goin' on.”

“You're what's going on!” Sweetie jabbed her finger into my chest, right at my collar bone. “You and her and that-- that stupid salt lick!”

A nasty feeling tickled the back of my head. “Wha-- what d'you mean?”

For whatever reason that really set her off. “What do I MEAN!? I don't mean ANYTHING! None of it meant ANYTHING! It was all just some stupid GAME to both of you, wasn't it!?”

“Slow down!” I grabbed Sweetie's shoulders on impulse. I didn't like how worked up she was getting. Not one bit. “What're ya talking about?”

“Let go of me!”

“Sweet--”

“I SAID LET GO!”

It felt like I was on my back, laying on something hard and flat. Sweetie's faces were swimming around above me. Two of them. I'd been talking to Sweetie. Couldn't hear her now, though. There was just a loud ringing and something wet dripping on my face. I groaned and waved a hand to try to shoo whatever it was. Something caught hold of my hand in a vice grip.

Pain bloomed from the back of my head, growing stronger as the ringing faded and another sound rose over it. I flattened my ears down and screwed my eyes shut. Maybe if I stayed still I could fall back asleep again.

“Apple Bloom!? Apple Bloom, say something!”

“Whuuzaah…?”

Something warm and soft fell on top of me, knocking what little wind I'd caught right back out. Then I was lifted up and pulled into what could only be one of Sweetie's neck-cracking hugs.

“I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-- I don't even know what I did! Suddenly you were just-- I didn't mean to-- Please be okay!”

“Sw-Sweetie!?” I choked into a face-full of something warm and soft wrapped up in silky pink fabric.

“Apple Bloom!? Are you okay? What can I do!?”

“Air!"

“Oh Celestia! Sorry!”

The hug eased up enough that I could suck in a deep breath of glorious air. Sweetie didn't let me go all the way though, still holding me up with one arm around my back, her free hand frantically brushing stray hairs out of my face.

“I didn't mean to. I swear I didn't mean to!”

I shook my head to try clearing the fog out. I was down to single vision and the dizziness was fading quick. The ache in my head was settling in for the long haul. I groaned out a simple, “What happened?”

“I think I-- I think I shot you.”

“Shot… me?”

“With my horn. I didn't even know I could-- I mean, I've never blasted anypony before.”

“Ya mean that's what a magic blast feels like? Sweet Celestia, I almost feel bad for all those bad guys the Princesses've blasted.” I cradled my throbbing head in my hands. “Ya sure it wasn't a train?”

Sweetie made a horrible noise like a sob getting strangled. I looked up and met her bloodshot eyes. If she'd looked bad before then she looked more miserable than a pig in a desert now. I shifted my weight around so I was sitting up on my own without Sweetie's support and, before Sweetie could object or do any more fussing, reeled her in for a tight hug.

“Apple Bloom, I--”

“S'all right. I don't know what's gotcha in such a mess but I'm here fer ya.” I squeezed just a little tighter. “And I ain't goin' nowhere."

Sweetie broke down right then and there. I sat with her on the floor, gently rocking her side to side, rubbing her back and letting her sob into my neck, just like Granny used to do for me when I was little. What I'd said was half a lie. I had a pretty darn good idea what had Sweetie hurting so bad, just like I had a pretty darn good idea what'd been happening after we turned out the lights. Scootaloo might've been one of my best friends but she'd just made the mistake of making my other best friend cry. I was gonna let Sweetie cry herself out and say whatever she needed to say, and then I was gonna track down that pegasus, truss her up, drag her back, and wring that apology outta her if I had to.

So help me Celestia, I was gonna fix this.

Chapter 9 - Idol Threats

I soared high around the outskirts of Ponyville in one long circle.

Well, more of a blob. Ponyville isn't exactly round and I was not feeling up to risking the borders of the Everfree. With my luck, I'd probably find poison joke, or some crazy, evil lake that spits out copies of your worst fears. Facing down an army of angry Sweetie Belles and Apple Blooms was the last thing I needed. Timberwolves weren't high on the list either.

I had nowhere to be but flying helps me think. I told AB that once a few months back. She'd laughed and said that explained why I never did much thinking when we were little. We ended up in a wresting match over that. She technically won, but that was only because she'd got me in a headlock with my face shoved into one of her boobs (as usual) and I wasn't in any hurry to get out of that (as usual).

No way I was gonna get away with that anymore.

I groaned and banked into a lazy turn over the White Tail Woods towards Sweet Apple Acres. Lap four. Maybe if I flew long enough I'd be able to forget about what happened. Or at least stop feeling sick about it. Honestly, I'd be good with “not constantly ready to barf everywhere”. If I'd actually stuck around for breakfast I probably would've lost it fast.

Why couldn't I have just kept my big dumb mouth shut? Had it really been so bad before? Was it really worth ruining everything? So I'd gotten to make out with them. Big stupid deal! I'd been fine with the way things were! Okay, so that was probably a lie, but I was holding it together, right? Sure I was miserable and lonely and I kept having to work out my frustrations alone at night and spent every day tortured by the ponies I wanted most being right there and not being able to tell them, but…

Okay, maybe I really HAD needed to do something. The way I did it was still dumb. Maybe I'd be lucky and find out that Sweetie took it well, or that she'd been ready to forget the whole thing too. Apple Bloom sure as Tartarus was.

“Hey, squirt!”

I snapped out of my thoughts at the familiar call. A blur of rainbow blazed past me from below right in front of my face, looped around above me at dizzying speeds, then slowed enough to fall into formation beside me.

Rainbow Dash. Even after all the years I've known her she's still everything I want to be. Tough, strong, heroic, and brave, Rainbow is a lean, mean, flying machine. The fastest thing on two wings and still the only one who can pull off a Sonic Rainboom. I even dress like her, unless anypony was asking, then it's totally just because shorts and tank tops are practical for stunt flying. Any other day I would have been thrilled at the chance to hang out with my honorary big sister.

“Oh, hey, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow stared, bewildered, for all of two seconds before she hitched her carefree attitude back in place. “So, where you headed, kiddo?”

“I 'unno.”

“Yeah, I'm kicking back myself.” Rainbow did a lazy roll onto her back, keeping pace with me even after putting her hands behind her head and casually crossing her legs. “You know how hard it is to get a day off these days? Just thought I'd come check in on my awesome little sister. See if she felt like, I dunno, a race?”

“Not really.”

“Okay, that's it.” I had to pull up hard into a hover to keep from plowing straight into Rainbow when she was just suddenly there in front of me. I hadn't even seen her move.

“What's going on with you, Scoot? One, you're not basking in my awesomeness. Two, you didn't even blink when I called you my sister, and three,” she looked me up and down, “you look like you slept on a couch last night. Oh, and four? Why aren't you with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle? Y'know, big Crusader party? That you three wouldn't stop talking about all week?”

My stomach lurched. I needed an excuse yesterday. “I'm, uhh, just… stretching my wings! AB and Sweetie can't fly?”

Rainbow planted her fists on her hips. “You call that flying? You're like a depressed lead balloon! It's actually the best soaring I've ever seen you pull off, but it's toootally not like you. You've been flying totally lame for months now, and I wanna know why.”

“It's no big deal,” I said, a little defensive at my flying being called lame. “I'm just… tired, okay?” I turned and swooped to Rainbow's right. She was soaring at my side again in an instant.

“Yeah, the circles under your eyes kinda told me that already. Believe me, I know what it's like to stay up waaay too late with friends, and I've seen how you fly after doing it. This ain't it.”

“Just leave me alone, Rainbow.”

“Not happening, kiddo. Not 'til you spill it.”

I grit my teeth. “It's nothing.”

“It got anything to do with why Apple Bloom is turning Ponyville inside out looking for you?”

I missed a wingbeat and the unexpected drop jolted my already cramping stomach. I clapped a hand to my mouth as something started to rise up. I needed to get ground side fast. I tucked my wings and dove, guts knotted and eyes stinging. Too late I realized my angle was too steep and my speed was too high. Pegasus magic or not, this landing was gonna hurt. I flared out hard to slow down and pull up. Wind ripped through my wings but the ground was still coming up fast.

Hands clamped onto my waist, instantly cutting my speed in half. The warm rush of another pegasus' magic, the same magic that lets us haul chariots through the sky and snatch falling ponies out of the air, washed over me.

“Gotcha!”

We sank to the grassy ground at the edge of the orchard. I swallowed hard to force the stinging acid back down along the way. The moment my feet hit the grass I tore away from Rainbow, and staggered towards the trees so I could brace myself against a sturdy one. My breaths came deep and shaky, each one just about setting off my stomach again.

There was only one reason Apple Bloom would be tearing up Ponyville to find me: Sweetie took it badly. And that meant that I'd messed up. I'd messed up bad. AB was going to kill me. Rarity was going to kill me. Half of Ponyville was going to take turns killing me. Pinkie was gonna throw a “killing Scootaloo” party. They'd set up a waiting area, and get Discord to revive me after each turn so that everypony got a chance. Or maybe turn me into a living pinata, hang me in the schoolhouse, and hand out sticks.

“What's going on, Scootaloo?”

“I--” I winced at how my voice rasped through my burning throat and swallowed again. Could I tell her? Sweetie was scared to let anypony know about her, she'd said as much, hadn't she? I couldn't betray her trust. Y'know, some more. “I can't tell you.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Look, squirt, if you made a Pinkie Promise that's getting you and your friends hurt, it's not worth it. Trust me on that.”

“I didn't.”

“Then spill.”

“I can't.” I turned around and leaned back against the tree to take some weight off my shaking legs. “I don't have to make a promise to keep my friend's privacy.”

Rainbow facepalmed. “If you weren't totally being dumb right now, I'd be proud of your loyalty. I can keep a secret, Scootaloo. Besides, I think I got a preeetty good guess what's going on.”

“You don't,” I grumbled. “You really, really don't.”

Rainbow threw up her hands in a shrug. “Okay, have it your way. Word of advice? Try wiping the lipstick off your face after you mess around with your friends.”

“Hah! Shows what you know! Sweetie and AB weren't wearing lipstick when we made ou--” My eyes went round as plates when I finally caught the smug smile Rainbow was wearing. “Oh HORSEAPPLES!” I slid down the tree and buried my face in my hands, wings and ears limp.

“Yeah, you kinda walked right into that one.”

“How? How did--?”

Rainbow sat down next to me and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Kiddo, there are only a few ways to get one of your friends that sorta mad. Plus, I already know you've got the hots for them, remember?” I flattened out my ears and hunched my shoulders even tighter. That stupid beach trip was gonna haunt me for the rest of my life. “And, come on, three young mares, alone and unsupervised at somepony's eighteenth birthday party? We've all heard THAT one before. One of you brought a salt lick and things kinda went from there, right?”

“Apple Bloom had one.”

“Huh.” Rainbow cocked her head and scratched the back of her neck with her free hand. “I kinda figured it'd be you.”

I peeked at my idol through my fingers. “So… you got into this same mess at my age?”

“Pft, hay no! My eighteenth birthday party had Fluttershy as a guest. D'you honestly think she'd have stayed in the same room as a hard salt lick?”

I almost laughed. “Yeah, not really.”

“Y'know, I still don't think she's tried one. She'd rather hang with Discord on his own turf than touch hard salt. How crazy is that?” This time I did laugh, weakly, but still. “So, no, I've never gotten into the mess you're in. Heard about it with other ponies but never been there. I can tell you one thing though: the longer you hide from them, the worse it's gonna be. That's just basic friendship, squirt.”

I groaned and thumped the back of my head against the tree.

“I'm serious. This is the sorta thing that can wreck friendships.”

“Greaaaat. I feel sooo much better now.”

“Hey,” Dash jostled my arm gently, “Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are pretty cool ponies. Not as cool as me, but pretty cool. Whatever you did to mess things up, they'll forgive you. As long as you're sorry. You sorry, kiddo?” I swallowed roughly and nodded. “Then get your tail back over there and tell 'em.” Rainbow gave me one last shove then got up and dusted herself off. “I gotta go. Me 'n Pinkie are planning out a lesson on pranks for next week and it is gonna be awe-some~! You gotta go too, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I just…” I gingerly rubbed my queasy stomach. “I need to chill for a few minutes first. Plus,” I held out my left wing to check my feathers, “these things are gonna need some preening.”

“Minutes, squirt. I better not find you here in an hour.” Rainbow opened her wings and bent her knees but hesitated just before making her first flap. “Oh, and Scootaloo?”

I looked up from my ruffled feathers to meet my honorary sister's suddenly not-so-friendly face. “You know I don't give a flying feather if you're gay or not, and I don't care whose idea it was. DON'T play around with their feelings. If you're not prepared to go all in, then get out now. If you try your best and it doesn't work out, that's a whole other thing but… Look, play around with somepony else, not your best friends, or it's not just their families you'll have to deal with. Got it?”

Then she was gone in a blazing streak of rainbow.

Chapter 10 - On the Warpath

When I left the boutique I was peeved.

Nopony made Sweetie Belle cry like that. Nopony. The only reason I wasn't gonna beat the daylights out of Scootaloo when I found her was because of Sweetie's tearful pleading before she'd let me go to find our complete jerk of a friend. A slap across the face wouldn't hurt her, though. Much.

I went to just about every business and stall in town asking if anypony had seen Scootaloo. The few that had all said she'd been flying a different direction. The last pony I'd asked pointed me toward my own family's orchards. When a streak of rainbow split the sky starting from the fields closest to the Whitetail Woods I broke into a run. Sure enough, Scootaloo was sitting at the base of an apple tree, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at the ground.

I set my jaw and slowed to a steady stride. Scootaloo's ears twitched. She looked up, and her eyes went round as dinner plates.

“Apple Bloom!” She sprang to her feet. “I was just about to go back and talk to--” I wound up my right arm and slapped my friend across the face with about a quarter of what I felt like giving out. Angry or not, I almost winced at how loud it was. Scootaloo reeled back and covered her left cheek. “What the hay!?”

“You know darn well what! What is wrong with you, Scootaloo!? D'you have any idea what ya did to Sweetie!?”

“I--”

“I found her cryin' her eyes out 'cause of you! I just spent an hour lookin' after her 'cause you,” I jabbed a finger at my friend's face, “went and stomped all over her feelin's!”

“I didn't--”

“Y'all saw how nervous she was last night! Y'all shoulda known she was worked up about it. Especially the way you two were goin' at it after lights out.”

Scootaloo's went almost as pale as Sweetie. “You-- you knew?”

My own face flushed a little. “I heard the two of you. You were kissin' and I heard her… sayin' yer name.”

Scootaloo waved her hands frantically. “It wasn't like that! We didn't go that far, I swear! And-- and she came onto me!”

“That whole thing was yer idea!”

“You agreed to it!”

My face flushed even hotter, right on up to my ears. “I was just tryin' ta help!”

“Then why were you jealous?”

On some level I knew I was losing control of the argument. The rest of my head was flooding with images and feelings from the night before. Sweetie's lips, the pressure of her body against me, Scootaloo's hands wandering down…

“I-- I wasn't--”

“You totally freaked out! Everything was cool until you saw us, and then you flipped!”

“You were sneakin' behind my back!”

Scootaloo threw up her arms. “We were in the middle of the room! We were just doing what you already did!”

“I didn't feel nopony up!”

“Tell that to my rump!”

“I oughta kick that rump of yours straight to the moon! Y'all show it off enough!”

“Nopony's making you look! If you can't keep your eyes off me, that's YOUR problem!”

“I-- I don't like mares!”

Scootaloo took a step forward. “You liked 'em fine last night!”

I stepped back. “No-- no I didn't! I-I was jus'--”

“You kissed her first! You volunteered! You could've just said no, or told me and her to do it, but you stepped up. You wanted her as bad as I did!”

“If ya want her so darn much, then why'd ya tell 'er to forget it happened?”

Just like that the tide shifted again. Scootaloo stepped back, ruffling her wings uncomfortably. For the first time I noticed they were pretty mussed up. “It's not like that.”

“Oh yeah? Then what's it like, Scootaloo? Huh? What's it like? Y'all just after a one night stand?”

“No.”

“It just a game to ya? That what Sweetie is, just a game?”

Her wings flared. “No!”

“Then why ya gotta let her down like that?”

“I-- It's--,” Scootaloo's eyes darted back and forth, looking for an escape route that wasn't there, not with the branches of the tree right above our heads. “It's because--”

“Y'all already got somepony, is that it?”

“Yes, no, sorta, I don't know!”

I balled my hands into furious fists and lashed my tail. “Yer cheatin' on somepony!?”

“No!”

“Who is it? I oughta go tell 'em right now! Diamond? Silver? Huh? Who--”

“YOU!"

Scootaloo was breathing hard. I'd almost forgotten how to breathe. I just moved my mouth around silently while waiting for my brain to grind back into action. It felt like an eternity before I could force a shaky, shallow breath, take a step back, and even start trying to sort out what I just heard.

“…Me?”

Scootaloo looked away. “Last--” Her voice cracked. “Last night, when you-- when you interrupted us the second time? I forgot you were there. I was so into Sweetie Belle that-- It was like you weren't there anymore.”

“Y'all were just caught up, that's all,” I said, voice weak and wavering. Scootaloo shook her head and looked me in the eye.

“Don't you get it? We're best friends, all of us. We promised we'd be together forever. If-- if Sweetie and I-- you'd get left out. We wouldn't be the Crusaders anymore. We'd be Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle… plus Apple Bloom. I can't do it. I just can't, okay?”

“Then-- then why'd ya--?”

“I don't know, okay!? It was late, I was licking that darn salt-- I really wanted to-- You're both hot, okay!? Sweet Celestia, do you have any idea-- Have you seen Sweetie? Have you looked in a mirror!?”

The heat that'd drained out of my face following Scootaloo's confession came back full blast. It wasn't like I hadn't ever overheard a comment or two, but getting it to my face, and straight from one of my best friends, that was something else. And it was a pretty short list either way.

“I'm nothin' special.”

Scootaloo's eyes turned earthward. Her wings kept half opening and closing up again like she didn't know what to do with them, and her tail kept flicking to the left. Her hands balled up in fists but her voice got soft. “That's a load of horseapples and you know it. You're special to me, Apple Bloom. Both of you. I-- I care about you both. You girls are everything to me.”

I couldn't quite stop myself from chuckling. “Don't let Rainbow hear ya sayin' that.”

Scootaloo smirked. “Heh, yeah. She'd be all 'whoa, squirt, you feeling okay?'”

“Ha! She'd probably decide you were a rogue changeling or sumthin'.” We shared a quiet laugh at the image of Rainbow Dash gathering up her friends and trying to explain that Scootaloo had turned evil because she'd stopped worshiping her shadow. It was shame the moment couldn't last. I sighed and shook my head. “Look, Scoots, if ya wanna be with Sweetie, then you should be with her. I don't care if it means I'm playin' second fiddle the rest of my life.”

Scootaloo ran her hands over her hair. “You're not getting it. I care about you both. As much as I want Sweetie… I want--” she took a deep breath, steeling herself, “I want you, too. How can I pick between my best friends?”

I turned away and folded my arms. Scootaloo could be so gosh darn stubborn. “I keep sayin' I don't like mares. It's a real easy choice, Scoots.”

“Yeah, right.”

I laid my ears back. “I'm serious!”

“Say it to my face.”

“What?”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you're not interested.”

“Y'all callin' me a liar?”

“Pretty much.” When I rounded on her she went on before I could give her another piece of my mind. “Yeah yeah, sister's the element of honesty, you were raised right, yadda yadda. I've seen you check out Sweetie before, and I know you were into it last night.”

“Stop it, Scootaloo! Just stop it! This ain't about me, it's about you!” I took a step forward and this time it was Scootaloo who backed up. “This is about you runnin' out on Sweetie!” Another step. “This is about you pushin' fer us ta fool around!” Another. “This about you sneakin' in the dark and messin' around with Sweetie.” Scootaloo's back bumped into the tree.

“Apple-”

“This is about ya grabbin' my rump! I finally had that all under control! I was good! I was happy! Then ya had t' go an-- ya had ta go 'n mix it all up again! Now nuthin' makes sense and I don't know what I want anymore and I keep thinkin' about it over and over and it just won't stop and--”

“AB?”

“And what the hay is Applejack gonna think!? And Granny? An'-- An'-- I don't--” My voice broke. Scootaloo was so close. I'd gotten her backed right up to the tree, just inches away from me. Any closer and we'd be touching. Her purple eyes looked right up into mine, and I could feel her breath on my face and neck. She tried to say something, but she didn't really get much out. Her lips moving caught my eye, and then…

I had to know. I just had to.

It happened fast. One moment we were standing there, panting and staring, the next I had her sandwiched between me and the tree trunk, my lips pressed to hers. Because I needed to know if it was just the salt. I needed to know if it was just my head being messed with, or if everything I was feeling, everything I'd been feeling, was real.

Scootaloo turned her head a little and pulled on my upper lip. My eyes fluttered closed.

I couldn't like mares. I'd never liked mares. If I did I'd be enjoying kissing her. My heart wouldn't be pounding like it was trying to break out of my chest. My face wouldn't be burning. My stomach wouldn't be all twisted and fluttery. I wasn't like that. I wasn't! I'd never been like that with anypony else!

Scootaloo's arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer. Our lips worked against one another, pressing together and pulling apart over and over.

I could stop this any time I wanted. It was just a test. It didn't mean anything. It couldn't mean anything.

Scootaloo's tongue was at my lips.

I let it in.

Chapter 11 - Sorry

When the clock struck noon, I was sitting cross legged in the middle of my bed, hugging a pillow to my chest, and nursing a dull ache in my horn. After Apple Bloom had left to find Scootaloo, I'd managed to drag myself into the shower, and then get dressed in a simple white blouse and purple patterned skirt. My hair and tail were still a little damp, and I hadn't bothered to style them at all. Last night I'd wanted to look my best for the mares I was crushing on, so I'd spent an extra long time trying to make myself look good. I don't think either of them even noticed. Even if they had, it didn't really matter anymore.

I hugged the pillow a little tighter.

Why? Had it all just been the salt? But Scootaloo had been so eager. If I closed my eyes I could still imagine the feel of her hands all over me. She'd kissed me so hard and she'd just been about to play with my chest when Apple Bloom had interrupted. Later she'd gotten under my nightie. If we hadn't woken Apple bloom up who knows how far we would have gone! I'd been so carried away that I probably would have let Scootaloo do anything to me. Scootaloo didn't feel the same way, though, did she? Neither of them did. It'd been too much to hope for after all. What were the odds of my friends feeling the same way about me as I did about them?

One of the lessons at the school teaches that a friendship, a close friendship, is a kind of love. And love is a powerful, magical thing. It's love that gave the Elements their power, that freed the changelings from their horrible hunger, and that makes the bonds between friends so special. But what we don't teach, is what a pony is supposed to do when shes not sure if it's friendship love anymore. What if it's love love. Capital 'L' Love. Princess Cadance love, not Princess Twilight love. What is she supposed to do then? How does she make it go back to being friendship? Would it just go away if she ignored it, or was it too late to fix it by the time she noticed it? Had I already ruined what we used to have? Could I even follow my calling without them by my sides?

Maybe Scootaloo was right, and it would be better if we forgot all about it. Maybe if we all agreed to go on with everything like this entire disaster never happened, then we could be friends again. Maybe if I tried really, really, really hard, I could fall for somepony else instead. Maybe…

The bell on the front door of the Boutique jingled. I mentally kicked myself for forgetting to lock it. Thank Celestia that Rarity would never know. I'd already caught Tartarus for that before and once was plenty. I hugged my pillow tighter as footsteps approached my room, reaching true “death grip” status on the poor thing. Three light knocks came on the guest room door.

“Sweetie? Y'all in there?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat as best I could to make way for a little, trembling breath. “Come-- come in.”

Apple Bloom pushed the door in gently, first just enough to look in, then wide enough for her to step inside. Behind her, following a few slow, guilty steps behind, was an orange pegasus. If my pillow was alive it wouldn't have stayed that way for long.

“I, uhh, I found Scootaloo.” For some reason she went a little flushed in the cheeks when she said that. Whatever caused it didn't stop her from reaching back and tugging Scootaloo out into the middle of the room by her arm. “And she's got sumthin' she needs to tell ya.”

Scootaloo kept her eyes on the carpet while she rubbed her arm where Apple Bloom had yanked on it. “I'm sorry,” she mumbled.

“For--” I had to stop and clear my throat for how hoarse I was. All that crying was going to have me sore for hours. “For what?”

“Freaking out. And for saying that we should forget about, y'know, all that stuff we did.”

“And?” Apple Bloom prodded.

Scootaloo grimaced. “And for starting everything in the first place. And not thinking about how you felt.”

“And?”

“Oh for-- Apple Bloom!”

“And!?”

“Ugh, and for accidentally--” Apple Bloom nudged her shoulder sharply. “And for making out with Apple Bloom when she found me just now.” She shot our earth pony friend a nasty look. “Because telling her that will totally make her feel better.”

I flicked my eyes back and forth between my best friends, trying to work out how I was supposed to feel about everything I'd just heard. Scootaloo had freaked out? What did that mean? Had she not meant everything she'd said that morning? Had she been just as confused as me? They made out?

“You made out?”

The color came back to Apple Bloom's cheeks with a vengeance. “It was her fault but… yeah, yeah we kinda did.”

Her words might as well have twisted a knife in my stomach. Did that mean they were together? Were they going to leave me behind? Maybe it would be better that way. At least then they could be happy. I could never have what I wanted but as, long as they were happy, maybe that didn't matter.

“I get it. I'm… happy for you.”

“Huh?” Apple Bloom's eyes went wide. Her hands flew up and waved back and forth frantically. “No, no, it ain't like that! Er-- Scootaloo was callin' me a liar for sayin' I didn't like mares and--”

“'Cause it's a load of horseapples. Wait, my fault?” Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom an incredulous look. “How was that my fault? You pinned me to a tree!”

“Next thing I know she's shovin' her tongue in my mouth.”

“And she liked it.”

“And--!” Apple Bloom's shoulders sagged. She slumped against my dresser like a puppet with half its strings cut. “And I liked it,” she said in a very small voice.

I dropped the pillow. “But I thought you didn't--”

“Yeah, well, somepony wouldn't take that fer an answer.”

Scootaloo had the grace to look guilty about being so intrusive. “Heh, uh, sorry. But you started that one. At least you admit you like mares now.”

“Er, I-- uh…”

“You've got to be kidding me! What the hay--!”

“Stop it!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo flinched when my voice cracked like it hadn't done in years. “Stop fighting! I'm sorry, okay!? Just forget it ever happened! Just-- Just stop! I just wanted--” I flattened my ears and pulled my arms and legs tighter around myself. “I just wanted to--”

“Sweetie, I'm--”

I let my head drop to my knees. We fight a lot, we always have. I've started my fair share of our fights, but right now? Right now I just couldn't handle it. I couldn't stand the idea of us hurting each other because what if that was it? The last straw? Fresh tears brimmed at the corners of my eyes. We couldn't be together right now. I couldn't take it.

“Go away.”

The room was quiet. I kept my head down and waited, waited for some kind of sign that my friends were leaving. Part of me wanted them to go and leave me alone to wallow. Another part was terrified they'd leave and never speak to me again.

A floorboard creaked under footsteps muffled by plush carpeting and flattened ears. My heart sank. They were really going. Because I told them to. What was wrong with me!? My ears shot straight up with my head hot on their heels when the mattress sank a little under added weight. My friends settled in on either side of me, Apple Bloom on my right, Scootaloo on my left, putting me smack dab between them. They were so close I could feel their warmth.

“No way.”

“Ain't happenin'”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders forever.”

“No matter what.”

“I know I messed up big time.” Scootaloo rubbed the back of her neck just like Rainbow Dash does. “I mean, your sisters are gonna kill me if they ever find out I ran out on you and turned Apple Bloom gay…”

“You did not!”

“Suuuper gay.”

I bit my lip. I wasn't ready to laugh yet but Scootaloo was pushing it. I let go of my legs and slowly uncurled myself from the fetal position I'd gotten into while they went on.

“Point is, Sweetie, y'all are stuck with us. I know it's gonna take us a while ta work everythin' out, but we ARE gonna work it out. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Scootaloo mimicked the motions. “Pinkie Promise. Now Rainbow Dash will have Pinkie's help when she beats me up if I run out on you again.”

“You told Rainbow Dash!?” I squeaked.

“No! She just kinda guessed from the way Apple Bloom was after me, and the way I was bummed out. She even guessed about the salt!”

I saw Apple Bloom about to snap something and got there first. “Can we please not fight right now?”

She just sighed. “What're we gonna do now?”

Nopony had an answer to that. Scootaloo raised her right hand, slow and uncertainly, and rested it on my left shoulder. Moments later Apple Bloom did the same on the other side. My shoulders sagged under the gentle pressure like it was squeezing the tension out of me. My fingers twisted and fidgeted together in my lap. Once again, I had no idea what to do with my hands.

“We'll figure it out, right?” I asked. “We'll still be friends, won't we?”

Scootaloo's wing stretched out to rest across my back. “We have to. You girls are the best friends I've ever had. I can't lose either of you.”

“Me neither.”

“Ya won't.”

I pulled my hands apart and put them over the ones resting on my shoulders.

“Thank you.”

Chapter 12 - Aches and Pains

Getting back home was a relief. Sure, it sucked that we were leaving things up in the air so we could “sleep on it”, but it meant I could do something I'd been needing to do since yesterday: take my stupid top off.

Unicorns and earth ponies have it so easy. All they have to worry about is arms and legs, maybe a horn if they're really long or trying to put on a sweater. Wings make clothes way harder for pegasai. Unless they're full open back, shirts need holes cut in them big enough not to chafe, but small enough that they wont catch the wind while flying and drag you down. Getting shirts on usually isn't too bad, but taking them off again means going against the grain of your feathers, and that is a surefire way to have a bad time. When my wings had finally caught up with the rest of me, I'd had a terrible time learning how to get dressed without needing an hour of preening afterward. Sure, you can get shirts that button up the back, but those are like having a ton of extra bras to fasten all the way up and down your back.

Speaking of bras: they suck. You've got your normal bras with hooks and snaps that you gotta work around your wings to deal with, then you've got your sports bras which are like wearing another, tighter shirt under your shirt. They say mares don't really need them and that they don't do a thing to stop you going saggy later, so why bother? And yeah, if you're just gonna sit on your rump all day, you're probably good. But, unless you're flat as a board, you're gonna want something to hold the stupid things still if you're gonna fly cloud busting duty.

Before long, and without too many ruffled feathers, my tanktop joined its many identical twins on the laundry pile. That only left my binder, which is an even bigger, tighter pain than a regular sports bra. I worked my fingertips under the bottom edge as gently as I could manage to start trying to peel the thing off. I winced as the fabric pulled away, probably leaving the usual reddish grooves where it had dug in. The tough, skin tight fabric fought hard to stay where it was. Any other day getting the stupid thing off took several long, painful seconds of contorting my arms and wings before I could feel the sweet relief of freedom without breaking any feathers.

This was not any other day. I'd been stuck in the horrible thing for over twenty four hours straight and during that time I'd been slapped across the face, made Sweetie cry, got pinned to a tree by the lips, come out of the closet, and almost ruined my relationships with my best friends. My chest ached and throbbed, my skin was sore around my ribs, the bases of my wings were chafing, and I was officially done with it.

“Come on you stupid--” I yanked and stretched at the unyielding black fabric first in the front then in the back. Breath hissed through my clenched teeth from the jolts of pain. “Get OFF!”

I gave a frustrated tug at the neckline that would've been totally useless for taking of a brand new binder fresh from the store shelves. This binder was not new. It'd been too small since forever ago; the fact that I was still using it was, being honest, more out of denial than anything else. After years of holding way more pony than it was built for, the binder finally gave up and split open right down the front. It was a lot like opening one of those new cardboard tubes of biscuit dough. My flattened chest instantly became unflattened in a display of cleavage that probably would have made Sweetie Belle's eyes pop out of her head if she saw it happen. Y'know, if my boobs weren't ugly and gross.

“Oh, come on! Why now!? Uuugghhh!”

I stalked across the room to my nightstand and rummaged through the top drawer for a pair of scissors to cut the thing the rest of the way off. The bottom band of the binder was still clinging on for dear life which would make getting it off a pain in the rump even torn in half. One quick snip with the scissors and I was finally free.

“Ohhh, Celestia, I needed that.” I shrugged the shoulder straps of the binder off and finally shoehorned my wings free in the back. The ruined fabric flopped to the floor, where it would probably hang out for a few moons before I decided to clean it up. My shorts and socks followed but got kicked over to the laundry pile instead. At long last, I reached the edge of my bed and flopped onto my side, careful of my wings and my sore chest.

That was my last binder, too. Three years of wearing the things, ever since I started my stupid growth spurt. I was the last out of the Crusaders at pretty much every step of growing up. Last to learn my natural magic, last to get (sorta) taller, hay, I was even the last to hit puberty by over a year and a half! They were seriously starting to think something was really wrong with me and then, bam, it all hit like a ton of bricks.

I glared down at my chest spitefully. If I'd been born an earth pony or a unicorn I would probably have been pretty happy when I started growing. 'Course, they'd turned out weird shaped, all lumpy and squashed and ugly, so that probably wouldn't have lasted. Even if they were as perfect as Sweetie's and AB's probably are, I'm not an earth pony, or a unicorn, or a crystal pony, or even a sea pony. I'm a pegasus and pegasai aren't busty. At least, y'know, we aren't supposed to be busty.

Pegasai are born to fly and up in the air a big bust is dead weight. Drag. A big pair of sandbags weighing you down that are only good for holding open the collar of your shirt to let the wind get in and blow it up like a windsock. Sure, the only reason any pegasus gets off the ground at all is magic, but the more body weight that magic has to lift, the less is left to be awesome. That means the pegasus ideal is lean, light, toned, and fit. Rainbow Dash has that nailed down perfectly. She doesn't exactly check the other boxes about grooming and styling and makeup, but that's just 'cause she's too busy kicking rumps and taking names to need to care. I wanted to look like that so bad it really, actually, for real hurts. A lot. That's what I got for breaking my Pinkie Promise to Fluttershy, I guess.

I groaned long and loud while I sat up and rubbed my sore chest gingerly, wincing from the pain of my memory of last time as much as my current agony. I had to go back to Fluttershy. The only other pony off the top of my head that even owned a measuring tape was fussy, overbearing, the sister of one of my crushes, and out of town. Even if she weren't, I'd probably end up in some kind of frilly, pink corset instead. I shuddered and slid off my bed to get dressed again.

…Then I started imagining Sweetie in a frilly pink corset. A nice, tight, uplifting corset, and her all posed on a bed with her hands in her lap so her arms pushed in from the sides and she was wearing this sneaky sort of smile and-- I sighed and turned right back around towards my bed.

“Stupid, sexy Sweetie…”

Chapter 13 - Eeeyup

Normally a walk in the orchard does a pretty good job of clearing my head. After all, I was born and raised at Sweet Apple Acres. It's home and, while it may not be my destiny like it is for my brother and sister, I know I'll always have a place in my life for the farm. This time I had too many thoughts and feelings for a walk to sort out. All I'd wanted out of this weekend was to have fun with my friends. We were grown mares now and once the school year was done for me and Sweetie we'd have to start thinking seriously about the future. Sweetie's party was just supposed to be one last fling before we had to grow up for good. Why did it have to go and get so complicated?

I stopped at the edge of the orchard across the way from the house we'd built for Big Mac and Sugar Belle when they'd gotten married. It looks a lot like the house my brother, sister, and I grew up in, just a whole hay of a lot newer. Not a missing shingle, or crooked step, or loose nail to be seen. She's still painted up pretty as a picture, fresh and clean as anything on a farm can be. Even has a nice, sturdy fence with big, solid posts all the way around that don't have so much as a splinter out of place. Weeks and weeks of chopping, sawing, hammering, and generally making a big old mess to put that little slice of paradise together, all for my big brother and his blushing bride to have a place they could call home. Plenty of space for a new branch of the family to grow.

Maybe I should've just stayed over with them instead of at the boutique. Then Sweetie and Scootaloo would've gotten together and left me out of it… except that the moment I found out I'd probably have lost it anyhow. I groaned and buried my face in my hands. Scootaloo couldn't be right about me, could she? I couldn't be jealous, right? I slid my hands down my face. I needed to talk to somepony.

I love my big sister, but making a fuss was the best case, and I didn't even wanna think of a worst. Granny… well, I didn't know how Granny would feel about it. She never said she's against mares getting together, but older ponies got pretty strong ideas about that sort of thing sometimes. Besides, she's always a little out of it, and there was a lot to explain. That just left Big Mac.

I crossed the yard, climbed up the steps of his front porch, and rapped my knuckles on the frame of the screen door. It was good to see my handiwork was holding up. Hardly even a scuff on the paint.

“Coming!” Sugar Belle called. A clatter of metal pans echoed down the front hall. “Just a moment!”

I grinned and rolled my eyes. Seemed like Sugar Belle was always in the kitchen baking something. “Making up for lost time” she calls it. A few moments later she stepped into the hall.

“Apple Bloom! You're back early! Don't tell me you and your friends ate everything already?”

“Er, well, most of it,” I admitted sheepishly.

A glow of magic undid the simple latch on the door and swung it open. “I can whip something up for you in no time. Did they like the fritters?”

“Eeeyup, everypony liked 'em fine. Er, thing is, is Big Mac around? I kinda need ta talk to him.”

“I think he's just out chopping some wood for the wood stove. Granny Smith is going to be teaching me one of the older family recipes tonight.”

I smirked a little. “And y'all were worried she wouldn't like ya.”

Sugar smiled a little shyly. “We didn't think we'd see you until next week. Is everything okay?”

I rubbed my left arm awkwardly. “Sorta. I just need ta talk to him”

Sugar Belle's hands fidgeted at her waist, uncomfortably like Sweetie's did when she was nervous. “Family business?”

“Nah, y'all're family now too, ya know. It's…” I turned my eyes to the wall, “a mite personal.”

“Well, come on through. I'll let you out the back door and give you some privacy.”

I followed my sister-in-law through the house and out the back door. Sugar Belle quietly excused herself, shot her husband a sweet smile, and retreated back into the house without another word. I inched my way off the back porch over to where my towering brother stood by a pile of logs and the weathered old stump he uses as a chopping block.

He dressed pretty much like I did. Or, I guess it's more that I dressed like him. Denim overalls stitched with his mark on the flanks and, a tough, rusty colored flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up that shows off those big old arms of his. He don't mean anything by it other than practicality but, from what I hear, Sugar Belle's the envy of a lot of mares. His big, red hand picked up a short, fat log like it was nothing heavier than a plastic cup and set it on the stump. Both hands took hold of his axe, smoothly raised it high and then--

*Thwack!*

I moseyed over towards the corner of the fenced in yard where Mac was working as casual as I could. “Afternoon, Big Mac.”

“Afternoon.” He set another log in place.

“Choppin' some wood?”

*Thwack!*

“Eeeyup.”

“Mighty fine weather, ain't it?”

“Eeeyup.”

“Heard it, uh, heard they scheduled some rain fer next week.”

*Thwack!*

“Eeeyup.”

*Thwack!*

Big Mac left his axe embedded in the stump after his final swing. He slowly rolled his shoulders and neck and wandered over to the fence a few of his large paces away from me. Thick red fingers plucked a long stem of grass and stuck the end in his mouth while he settled into an easy lean against a sturdy post. When he pointed a sidelong look my way, the message was clear as day: “I know ya got sumthin' ta say, and I'm ready ta listen.”

I shifted around uncomfortably against my own post, toying with a long lock of hair up by my shoulder. This'd seemed a lot easier to do in my head. “Hey, Big Mac? You and Sugar Belle. Y'all're in love, ain'tcha?”

He smiled. “Eeeyup.”

“Yeah. 'Course y'are. All hitched up and everythin'. Y'all've-- y'all've got it all figured out, huh?”

“Nnnope. Reckon nopony does.”

“But, you 'n Sugar Belle, yer happy together, right?”

His smile got a little bigger and just a tad dopey. “Eeeyup.”

I scuffed at the grass with my boot and buried my hands in my pockets. “How'd ya do it? How'd ya-- how'd ya pick 'er?”

Big Mac thought for a few chews on the end of his grass. “Liked 'er.”

“That's all?”

“Eeyup.”

“But-- but-- You love 'er, don'tcha?”

“Eeyup. Now. Didn't start out lovin' her. Didn't marry her straight away. Just met her after AJ sent me off to that town sellin' some apples after she 'n her friends straightened 'em all out. Thought she was right nice and friendly. We got ta visitin' every time I went out that way. Y'know the rest.”

I hunched my shoulders miserably. “Lucky. Y'make it sound so simple.”

Big Mac's expression sobered. “It ain't.”

“Yeah.”

I didn't know what else to say about that. I still had plenty on my chest, but how the hay was I supposed to put it all in words? It was like one big, tangled ball of yarn, all knotted up inside me, and I couldn't find an end to pull on. My best friends both had their eyes on me and each other by the looks of things. I'd heard of love triangles but this was plum ridiculous.

“I was out in the orchard this mornin',” Big Mac said. “Over out toward the White Tail woods.”

I nodded absently. It took several seconds for what my brother was saying to sink in and run a chill down my spine. Me and Scootaloo had been out that way when we'd-- Uh-oh. “Er, did y'all… see anythin' interestin?”

“Nnope.”

I was almost relieved to hear that except that wasn't a nope nope. That was a 'you're asking the wrong question' nope. Living with Big Mac you learned the tell the difference. “Did y'all… hear anythin' interestin'?”

Big Mac turned his calm eyes on me, both of them. “Eeeyup.”

My cheeks burned. That big galoot knew what was going on the whole dang time! “Y'all were eavesdroppin'!”

“Nope. I was workin'. You two were shoutin'. Then you weren't. I didn't stick around to find out what y'all got up to after that.”

“Nuthin'!” I half shouted as quick as I could. Probably too quick.

“Y'all sounded mighty upset.”

I folded my arms defiantly. “It's nuthin'! Ya musta heard wrong.”

His jaw set just a tad. “I heard.”

“Y'all didn't hear nothin'! Ain't nothin' goin' on with me 'n Scoots! And that's final! So y'all can--”

“It was her smile.”

I came up short on what I'd been about to say. Big Mac wasn't looking at me anymore. He'd turned his eyes back west, out over the fields of corn that stretched out to the neighboring farms.

“Uhh, what?”

“Sugar Belle. Y'all wanted to know why I picked 'er. It was her smile.” He pulled the stem of grass from his lips, gently turning it over between two fingers. “I saw her smile every time I stepped in that shop and I never got sick of it. Got to bein' that all I wanted was to see that smile. The way her nose scrunches up when she laughs. The way she turns her head. Before I knew it, I was stickin' around just so I could watch her work, listen to her talk, and see that smile.”

Big Mac pushed off the fence post and dusted off the back of his overalls with his free hand.

“That's a part of love, Apple Bloom, just… bein' there cause ya don't want to be anywhere else but there. 'Cause ya wanna see 'em. 'Cause ya wanna hear 'em. 'Cause there's a whole heap of little tiny things ya love about 'em that ya just can't put your finger on 'cause there's so many they add up to the whole pony.

“There's a whole lot more ta love than that but that's where ya gotta start. Ya gotta wanna be with 'em just 'cause it's them and not cause of what yer doin' together. I can be washin' dishes with Sugar Belle and be happy.”

“But, Big Mac, that just sounds like bein' friends, don't it?”

“Sugar Belle is my friend. She's just more'n that, too.” He fell quiet again after that, just looking at me with those stupid calm eyes of his. I looked away, back out over the fields.

Friends.

Sweetie and Scoots were the best friends I ever had. Sure, we had our own interests, our own hobbies, but it felt like the important things only happened when we were together. Even when we'd sorta pulled apart a little just after getting our marks, we'd ended up drifting right back together again because that's just how things are supposed to be. We may be different types of pony, and Celestia knows we didn't always agree on everything, but we're still three of a kind. Without the two of them I had no idea what I'd do.

And there sure wasn't anypony else I felt the same way about. It wasn't like I hadn't tried, neither. I'd tried to make myself like ponies so many times, but nothing had ever happened. I could look at a pony and know in my head that they were good looking. I could know they were charming or interesting or whatever else a mare could want. Except I never wanted them. Not ever. While most of the other girls, including Sweetie, were giggling and whispering about the colts at school I was always just… sitting there, not understanding a word of it, doing my best to bluff my way through, and wondering why I just didn't care the way they did. And, all the while, I did my best to ignore the only two ponies I did feel something about. Because they were mares, because they were my friends, because it was so strong it scared the living daylights out of me every time I looked in those eyes or saw that smile.

Because… it'd never mattered what we were crusading for. It'd never mattered where we were. It'd never mattered who we were helping with their mark. What mattered was that we were doing it together. Me and them.

I uncrossed and recrossed my arms once or twice. My ears and tail both flicked, and the toe of my boot dug at the ground. There was something that needed saying.

“Big Mac?”

“Yup?”

“I… think I might be in love.”

“Eeyup.”

“It's complicated.”

“Eeeyup.”

“It's real complicated.”

“Eeeeyup.”

“Y'all ain't upset with me, are ya?”

“Nope.”

“Even if I-- Even if I like--? Y'know-- If I were--?”

Big Mac turned to face me properly. Two long steps was all he needed close the distance until I had to crane my neck to look him in the eye. Being the tallest Crusader still puts me head and neck below Big Mac. His big, thick arms wrapped around my shoulders and reeled me in for a firm hug.

“I don't care who or what ya like. So long as you're happy and they treat ya right, nothin' else matters.”

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. I nuzzled into my brother's chest and hugged him back as tight as I could. “I love ya, Big Mac.”

Big Mac's chin rested on the top of my head. “I love ya, too, Apple Bloom. You goin' back to Sweetie Belle's?”

“Tomorrow. We're gonna talk it all out tomorrow.”

“Y'need someplace ta stay tonight?”

“Just fer tonight. Don't feel up ta tellin' AJ right now. Not 'til I know for sure what I'm gonna tell her.”

I could feel Big Mac's approving nod against my head. After a short while longer we pulled apart, Mac's hand still lingering on my left shoulder.

“Come on inside now and let Sugar Belle feed ya up.”

Chapter 15 - Making it Even

Forget my hands, I didn't know what to do with myself.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were both long gone for the day. Rarity wouldn't be back until the day after tomorrow, and Mom and Dad were… not who I wanted to talk to about this first. To them I was still their sweet, innocent little filly. Rarity at least knows better than that, but not any details. My family was all probably sure that I was having a good time with my friends. Meanwhile, I'd just spent all day sitting on the edge of my bed, chin in my hands, trying to think. Well, except for all the pacing. And talking to myself. And doing some crochet. And making toast. I couldn't just let that bread Apple Bloom brought go to waste, after all. By evening I was doing the sitting on my bed and thinking thing.

It was my idea for us all to take the day to think things over. That's what you're supposed to do when something big and confusing happens, right? Step back and think? Sleep on it? Rarity has almost begged me to look before I leap lots of times, but this might have been the first time in my life I actually did. The only problem was that I had no idea how to think something like this through.

I flopped back onto my bed and stared up at the pastel pink ceiling while I tried to run through it again. Answering what I wanted was easy: my friends. Oh, Celestia, did I ever want them. They were both so cute and pretty and, it made me feel naughty even thinking it, sexy. Like, when Apple Bloom wears something other than those old overalls? I couldn't keep my eyes off her. She had this one pair of brown capri pants that hugged that nice, round rump of hers almost as tight as Scootaloo's shorts hug hers. With hips like those, she was something else to look at. Being the slowest runner out of the Crusaders had its upsides… or “backsides”.

I giggled at my own terrible joke. “I wish I could get my hands on Apple Bloom's rump just once,” I told the ceiling. “Just one little handful? Well… maybe not that little. You know what I mean.”

Apple Bloom had a really nice chest, too. Nice and full and round… I wonder what they'd feel like? Probably like mine but it's not the same thing. It was too bad she had worn overalls to the party. Maybe if she'd just had a t-shirt I could have felt them rubbing against me better. Pressing through the thin, soft fabric, rubbing and sliding when I changed angles, like when we hugged at the beach. Her one-piece suit had gotten all damp, and it'd clung to her so tight, and all I could think about was how it was just in the way. I'd wanted so much to just start sliding it down…

My left hand wandered down over the front of my skirt. I bit my lip and shot a sidelong look at the door. Well, I was all alone. No parents or friends or older sister to worry about walking in, for once. I'd never actually opened the curtains so nopony was going to see… I pulled my skirt up and over my stomach so I could run my fingers over my upper thigh, slowly on up and in between.

*Thump-thump-thump!*

I froze, panties halfway down my thighs in the grip of my magic, at the sound of someone knocking on the front door. I scrunched up my face in frustration and thumped my head against my mattress. “Darnit, darnit, darnit!” I hiked my underwear back up and scooted off the bed. “I swear, if something isn't on fire…”

I smoothed my skirt back down on my way downstairs, still fuming. I HATE getting interrupted. It takes forever to get back in the mood again if something interrupts me. At home, my parents cost me so many opportunities by knocking on my door just when it was getting good. Visiting Rarity wasn't any better, either. It was like everypony I knew had this sixth sense about whenever I was about to--

*Thump-thump-thump!*

“I'm coming, I'm coming!” My magic undid the locks and yanked the door open. “What!?”

“Er, this a bad time?” Apple Bloom was on the doorstep carrying a big paper bag, and surrounded by the smell of apples, cinnamon, potatoes, fresh churned butter, and homemade hayburgers.

“Apple Bloom! No, no, it's fine! Er, I thought we were getting together tomorrow?” Bad choice of words! “Meeting tomorrow! With Scootaloo.”

“I was makin' dinner with Big Mac and Sugar Belle, and realized we'd gone and left ya ta fend fer yerself.” She thrust out the paper bag in front of her. “So I packed up some dinner for ya!”

The last of my bad mood poofed away and left me grinning like an idiot. “Aww, that's so sweet of you!”

“Aw, shucks, ain't nothin',” she grinned back at me. “Just dropped some at Scoots' place, too.”

It took me a long time to catch that we were both just standing there, smiling at each other. “Oh, right, you wanna come in?”

“Er, uh, sure, why not?”

I stepped aside to let her pass and was very proud of myself when I didn't immediately start looking at her rump once she passed by. Of course, as soon as I locked the door and started following her to the kitchen, my eyes betrayed me. Not that there was much to see. Stupid overalls.

“I've got mashed taters, couple of hayburgers, a mess o' greens, and a heapin' helpin' of Sugar Belle's apple crisp. Oughta be enough left over fer breakfast tomorrow, too.” She had her back turned while she unloaded her bag onto the kitchen table. I tore my eyes off her rump and managed to point them at the back of her head like a sane pony. Apple Bloom had beautiful hair. So thick and red and full and smooth and silky and-- “Er, Sweetie? Y'all okay?”

“Wha--?” I hadn't even noticed that she'd turned around. I hastily turned my eyes to the food she brought before I could get lost in those amber eyes of hers instead. “Sorry, I'm kinda out of it.”

“Y'all were… thinkin' about me, weren't you?”

“I, er, I'm sorry! I can't help it!” I wailed. “It's been driving me crazy for years and after yesterday--”

“It's okay.”

I flinched, but once what she said sank in I looked up at her face again. She was looking down a little and had gone an adorable shade of peach in her cheeks.

“It-- it is?”

Apple Bloom took a deep breath and nodded. “I ain't freakin' out no more. I'm still not sure about how I feel about everythin', but I ain't upset, 'specially not with you.” She looked me in the eye again. “Ain't nothin' wrong with ya.” She smiled slyly and turned back to finish unpacking the food. “Buuut I ain't sure why you 'n Scoots like my rump so much.”

“Um…” I slumped my shoulders. “You have a really nice rump?”

Apple Bloom's tail flicked a little, pulling my eyes right back down like they were magnetized. “You're lookin' at it again, aren't you?”

“Sorry,” I squeaked.

Apple Bloom's tail made a long, hypnotic sweep from right to left. “Guess I never really thought about it. I mean, Diamond 'n Silver like ta talk about looks 'n stuff, and I know we've done our share of 'girl talk', but I reckon most of the colts in town are too darn scared of Big Mac to go after me, so it ain't like they're linin' up ta tell me about my rump.”

I managed to look up just in time when she turned back around. “Is it weird?”

She gave the back of her neck a sheepish rub. “I dunno. I mean, it's weird that you and Scootaloo are suddenly all-- well, guess maybe it ain't really so sudden for you two? Anyhow, how y'all are suddenly talkin' 'bout how ya think I'm all… good lookin', I guess.”

“Hasn't anypony ever told you that before?”

She shrugged. “Not so much, 'lessen we're countin' Rarity. You?”

My hands started to fidget at my waist. I wasn't sure how to say this without sounding really stuck up. “Rarity says the colts in class are probably too intimidated. Like, they think I'm 'too pretty' for them to have a chance so they don't even try. That's what Rarity thinks,” I added, just to be clear.

“What, ya think she's wrong?”

“Maybe? I don't know. I don't feel pretty. I mean, I know I've got… y'know,” I made a vague wave at my body, “but I don't know. I just feel… normal, I guess.”

“I think yer pretty.”

I frowned and tried to think back to our conversation earlier in the day. “I thought you didn't like mares? You were sorta fuzzy on that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sweetie, a pony don't hafta like mares to know that yer pretty. Darn pretty.”

I looked away, folding my ears and hoping my face didn't look as red as it felt. “I'm not as pretty as Rarity.”

She started to fiddle with a lock of hair up by her shoulder. “I like how you look better. I know you're always comparin' yerself to Rarity, but it's apples 'n oranges. She's always puttin' herself together with all that fancy makeup and hair stuff to keep herself lookin' just so. Might as well be a part of her.”

I rolled my eyes. She wasn't wrong there.

“I know you put a little on sometimes, but y'always keep it simple. Most of the time y'let yer own looks shine through, y'know? I like that.”

“Me too. I mean, I like how you look. I mean, I think you're pretty without makeup.” I kicked myself for mangling that compliment so badly, but she still smiled all nervous and adorably.

“So, er, this is all yer food. Should be enough 'til tomorrow.” I nodded. I didn't have the heart to point out that she hadn't brought over any hayburger buns. “So, I, uh, guess I should be goin'.”

“I guess.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I'll see you 'n Scoots tomorrow. What, uh, what time did we say?”

“Ten… ish.”

“Right. Ten-ish. Right.”

“Mm-hm.”

“Eeeyup.”

I didn't want her to go. I mean, I REALLY didn't want her to go. I didn't really like being alone much just anyway, but I was ready to grab her tail and be dragged all the way to the door, begging her to stay. Standing around staring was so awkward it hurt, but I just couldn't say 'goodbye'. It seemed like Apple Bloom couldn't either because she just stood there, looking back at me and shuffling her feet. The silence stretched on and on until she finally broke it.

“Look, Sweetie, about earlier, with Scoots--”

“Which part?”

“Er, the whole makin' out thing.”

“Oh, right… Which time?”

She grimaced. “This mornin', when I went to find her?”

I got a little twinge in my heart. “Oh. That one.”

Apple Bloom's ears drooped. “I just wanted ta say I'm sorry for doin' that. 'Specially after the fuss I made last night.”

“Oh.” I flicked my tail a little. I'd been trying not to think about that too much. Every time I pictured them like that together without me it hurt just a little bit more. “I'm sorry too. For sneaking out of bed to make out with Scootaloo last night.”

“Heh, guess we both kinda had secret make outs with Scoots, huh? I just wanted to tell you that it's not 'cause I like her more or anythin'.”

The twinge got worse. “You don't have to explain.”

“Yes I do.” She was digging at the kitchen tiles with her boot toe and twisting a lock of hair between her left fingers like she did when we were taking a test in school. “I need ya to know why I did it. It's 'cause… well, last night when we…” she waved her free hand back and forth between us, “we'd all been lickin' that salt lick. And I needed ta know.” I cocked an ear. Where was she going with this? She looked so nervous. “I needed ta know if it was all just the salt or… or if I really liked it. Y'know, with Scoots.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I said slowly.

“And I did. With Scoots,” she repeated like it was some big hint.

“Ooookay… And…?”

“And, er,” she scuffed the floor a little harder. Rarity was gonna freak out if I forget to clean that smudge off. “Y'see, that leaves… you 'n me. Y'know, did I really like it when, uh, me and you, uh, last night?”

I cocked my head to the side. Why did that matter? “Isn't it the same thing?”

“Er,” she scratched the back of her head just below where her ribbon was tied. “Sorta… no? I mean, you're you and Scoots is Scoots. And I just-- y'know, I'm sorta-- Can I kiss you?”

My heart skipped a beat. “Huwha?”

“Just a little?” she asked like a filly begging to stay up late. “I just-- I need to know.”

“You--” I swallowed. Was this really happening? “You wanna make out? With me?”

“You don't want to. I shouldn't've asked. I'll get on outta yer hair.” She made to slip past me. Thank Celestia my brain caught up fast enough to get me moving in time to catch her.

“Wait! Yes! Yes! I'm saying yes!” I rushed to throw myself between her and the doorway. “I do want to! You have NO idea how much I want to.”

“Look, Sweetie--”

“This will make it all even, right?” I babbled desperately. “We'll all have secretly made out! Level playing field for tomorrow!”

“I dunno…”

“Please?” Apple Bloom does the best puppy dog eyes, I can admit that. That's never stopped me from trying my absolute best to match her. “Last night, when I went to Scootaloo? I wanted to go to you, too. I didn't because I thought for sure you'd say no. I felt so bad for going behind your back after you caught us. Let me make it even. Then, no matter what happens tomorrow, at least I won't feel guilty for that.”

“Ya don't hafta feel guilty. I get why you did whatchu did.”

I shook my head sadly. “I still feel bad. When I needed to know last night you stepped up for me. Please, just let me do the same for you, okay?”

Those were the magic words. Apple Bloom gulped, cleared her throat, gulped again, then, finally, nodded.

I shuffled my feet on the tiles while we got into position. Face to face and just apart, hands on each other's waists, eyes locked.

“Um, could-- would y'all mind startin'? I'm, uh, it'd be easier, I think.” She was shivering, just a little. So was I. “I just, uh, y'know, it's, uh--” I broke eye contact to look down at her lips for just a second before I closed my eyes. “Y'know, it's sorta-- liffphmph-mm!”

Apple Bloom had great lips. They were full and soft, and they tasted like… well, lips, I guess. They felt like magic, like every single hair on my body was standing on end. It was a bit of a strain to reach her mouth with mine without pressing myself against her. I had to stand up on my toes and lean way forward and I had no idea how long I could hold it, but I didn't want to push her too far. Even a few seconds was worth it.

And it looked like that was all I was gonna get. We broke apart as I dropped back down onto my heels. My whole body felt flushed and tingly from ears to toes. I licked my moist lips, and met her eyes again.

“Did that--? Uh…” She wasn't shivering or stuttering anymore. She was staring right back at me through half-lidded eyes in a way that I'd only ever seen in my dreams. “Apple Bloom?”

She leaned in and pressed her lips to mine again. A shudder ran right down my body so hard it made my knees knock together. Her strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me close into her warmth and her hay and apple tinged scent. My eyelids fluttered shut. By the time I started to get hold of her bottom lip to match what she was doing to my upper lip, she'd broken the kiss and started another. And another.

And another and another and another…

Chapter 16 - Judgment

I had Apple Bloom on top of me.

I was laying on my sister's couch in the boutique, pinned down by Apple Blooms amazing hips and wonderful mouth. I had a nice, big handful of her rump in one hand and was slowly sneaking the other one up her side towards her chest. Almost there. I was so close to finally getting my hands on those big, round, perfect--

“Sweetie Belle~! I'm hoooome~!” The door swung open and an avalanche of luggage poured into the boutique, followed by my sister. “I know I'm a little early but--”

Apple Bloom and I broke our kiss and stared at my sister. She stared right back, mouth hanging open.

“I--,” I looked between Apple Bloom and Rarity. “I can explain?”

Rarity shook herself. To my shock, she actually smiled! “Well, I don't think that's really necessary, darling. It looks quite self-explanatory to me.”

Apple Bloom slid off my lap so I could sit up. “You're… you're not mad?”

Rarity brought her hand to her chest, fingers splayed out dramatically. “Mad? Sweetie, daaarrling, why ever would I be mad? I'm happy for you!”

“You are?” Apple Bloom asked, just as surprised as me.

“Of course I am! Oh, I don't care about that whole 'forbidden love' nonsense! If Princess Cadance doesn't see a problem with it, why should I? Love is love, darling.”

I let go of a huge sigh and slumped back into the couch. “Wow, you have no idea how glad I am to hear--”

“Hey, guys!”

Scootaloo swooped in through the kitchen window and, before I had a chance to say anything to stop her, planted a big, long kiss right on my lips.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom shouted.

I pushed her off as hard as I could. She flapped backward a few feet and glared at the two of us.

“Hey, what gives?”

Rarity's face had gone right back to shocked and, this time, it wasn't fading.

Scootaloo took a hissing breath. “Oooooh. Oops.”

“R-Rarity? I-I can explain-”

Rarity's expression darkened along with the room. A rumble of distant thunder rolled outside.

“Yes, yes you will.”

The world plunged into darkness.

A blinding spotlight snapping on directly over my head cast a small pool of light barely big enough for me to stand in. Three more snapped on over a tall, broad, wooden judge's bench where Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight sat on either side of Princess Cadance.

“Sweetie Belle,” Celestia announced, “you stand accused.”

“Two counts of corrupting friendships,” Twilight chimed in. “Four counts of indecent behavior, twelve thousand eight hundred seventy two counts of indecent thoughts, and one count of public indecency for showing up to court naked!”

“Naked…?” I looked down and shrieked, hurrying to cover myself with my arms and tail.

“How do you plead?” Twilight asked.

“I-- what? What's going on!?”

“I heard guilty, did you hear guilty?”

“Guilty,” Celestia agreed.

“Guilty,” Cadance boomed, voice like thunder.

“Darn right!” Another spotlight snapped on over the jury box. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and half the ponies from school sat inside, all looking at me with disgust. “She went 'n corrupted my sweet little sister with her twisted wrongness!”

“Dreadfully sorry about that, darling. I just cannot begin to imagine where she learned such abominable behavior.”

“I'll throw her in Tartarus myself for what she's done to Scootaloo! Nopony makes MY number one fan lame and mushy!”

Cadance raised her gavel high. “Sweetie Belle, you are sentenced to eternity in Tartarus with all of the other deviants. You will have a chance for parole after everypony you know and love is dead. Do you have anything to say before your sentence is carried out?”

Tears dripped down my face, slow and steady. I tried to say something but words wouldn't come. I cried and begged soundlessly while their faces only became more and more disgusted. Cadance shook her head and brought the gavel down.

“ENOUGH!”

Pure, white light flooded the dark courthouse. The bench, the jury, everything was swept away in a flash. When it faded I was somewhere else. A quick glance down showed me wearing clothes again and no longer standing in a courtroom. Cool grass grew beneath my feet, the chirping of crickets drifted in the air, and the stars sparkled overhead. The moon hung midway up the sky, a tall, dark, winged figure silhouetted against it, drawing slowly closer. My stomach plunged deeper with every step she took closer down some kind of invisible staircase in the air.

I was dreaming and I needed to wake up. I needed to wake up fast.

Princess Luna was as regal as ever. Tall, though not so much as her sister, with a majestic wingspan and horn to match, and wearing an outfit I recognized as one that my own sister had made to suit her historical tastes. A old fashioned coat in midnight blue and trimmed with back, over a deep sapphire waistcoat embroidered with black and silver thread. Loose fitting black leggings lead down to knee high (black) boots with silver buckles. Lacy ruffles covered her chest, fastened to her collar with a black and white broach of the crescent moon.

When her deep green eyes met mine, all I wanted to do was sink into the ground and disappear.

“Er, hi, Princess Luna.”

“Greetings, Sweetie Belle,” Luna answered, calm and collected and worrying, “it has been some time since I have sensed you in such distress in the dream world.” The corners of her blue lips turned up a little. “It's unfortunate that I seldom get to see so many I count as friends unless they are troubled. Still, even in retirement, I find I simply cannot help but intervene.”

“Troubled? Me? No, no, I'm good. You should prooobably just wake me up now.”

Luna's expression fell to a frown. “Sweetie Belle--”

“Actually, I'll just pinch myself.” I dug my fingers into my left arm but felt no pain. “Come on! Come on! Aheh, um, aaaaany second now. Wake up--!”

“Sweetie Belle,” Luna repeated, voice stern, “you cannot run away from what is troubling you.”

“Troubling me? There's nothing troubling me. I'll just be going over, um,” I jerked my thumbs over my shoulder, “there.”

“As you wish.”

I turned away and came face to face with all the ponies from the courtroom.

“Freak!”

“Deviant!”

“Hussy!”

“Disgraceful!”

“Naked!”

I stumbled back and landed on my rump trying to get away as the mob advanced with torches and pitchforks raised high. A bolt of light blue magic swept them away just as suddenly as they'd appeared.

“Being judged and berated by friends, loved ones, and figures of authority. Placed on trial, stripped of your dignity, clothing, and power of speech. In my experience, these are elements common in the nightmares of those who fear condemnation and judgment due to who they are. The details of what you fear being discovered are not entirely clear to me, but the prominence of Cadance, the remarks of your sister and the sisters of your friends, as well as your own desire to flee from me, despite your subconscious calling for help across the dream realm and welcoming me in, suggest a few possibilities.”

I folded my legs under myself and huddled miserably on the grass. There was no getting out of this.

“Please don't hate me.”

Footsteps approached and stopped right next to me. Luna lowered herself down, settling cross legged on the grass in a way that looked weirdly casual for a princess. “I did not come to pass judgment on you, Sweetie Belle,” she said gently. “I have seen into the dreams of many who fear judgment for who they are or for what they want. They have ranged from the merely unconventional to the truly dark, but I do not judge them. Not here.”

Her hand brushed my chin, guiding my face up until our eyes met. “Nopony, no creature, not even the most powerful spirit, can truly control their innermost desires.” She pulled her hand back. “Even those who conquer them do not choose whether or not to have them in the first place. All we can do is try our best to live with them, and to seek out help when we cannot do so alone. Nopony is an island, Sweetie Belle.”

I looked back down at the grass in front of me, ears limp. “Promise you won't tell?”

“Your secrets are safe with me, so long as they pose no dire threat to Equestria, and so long as keeping them won't cause more harm than help.”

I sighed. That was an honest answer and I knew it was the right one. I've tutored creatures on the dangers of blindly keeping secrets. “I'm, um, well, there's this pony. That I like. She's… a she.” Luna said nothing so I pressed on. “And… so is the other pony that I like. And they're… mybestfriendsandIthinkI'minlovewithbothofthem?” I turned my head just enough to peek at Luna out of the corner of my eye. She looked… surprisingly calm, actually.

“Hmm. I cannot say I expected this, and yet I also cannot say I find it surprising.”

“You're… not mad at me?”

Luna's eyebrows went up high. “Why should I be mad?” she asked, unwittingly echoing my nightmare.

“Because-- because-- they're mares?”

She shook her head, her otherworldly hair rippling in sparkling waves. “It is true that, in my era, such things were more than frowned upon. It took me some time to adjust, but I find the modern world is a more joyful place for the change. I doubt very much that you would be shunned for such a thing today.”

“Because they're mares?” I tried again. “Y'know, two of them?”

“You are hardly the first young pony to be caught between two love interests, Sweetie Belle. Were I not sworn to secrecy I could tell you a story about… a certain somepony's misadventure many, many years ago.”

I scrunched up my forehead trying to think who she meant. “…Starswirl?”

Luna blinked at me then threw back her head and laughed. I scratched my head just behind my right ear awkwardly, waiting for her to stop. Did that mean I was right or really, really wrong? It took her a minute or two to calm down and wipe the tears from her eyes.

“Oh, I cannot wait to tell Celestia that. May I please tell Celestia you said that? I promise I won't say it was you.”

“Um… okay? I guess?”

“I apologize, I was simply imagining Starswirl as-- ahem, never mind. Where were we? Ah, of course! You are hardly the first young mare to be torn between her love for two ponies.”

“But what am I going to do? How can I make everypony happy? I don't even know how they feel! We're supposed to talk it all out tomorrow, but I'm so scared that everypony will find out and hate me for it. I don't know what to do!”

“You are planning to talk with them both tomorrow?” I nodded. “Both of them together?” Nod. “And they're aware of this and each other's involvement?” Nod-nod. “Then I would say you are handling this beautifully so far.”

“I'm… what?”

“I admit that I'm not the Princess of Love, but to me it sounds as though you are facing the situation honestly and honorably. I have certainly heard of ponies handling similar circumstances far less gracefully.”

“Er, does that still count if I sneaked out of bed last night to make out with one of them during our sleepover? And then secretly made out with the other one this evening after she secretly made out with her this morning?”

Luna blinked several times, ears flicking and mouth slightly open. “Ah, well, that is… slightly more complex than usual. But do not despair!” she added while I cringed. “I still believe that discussing it openly between the three of you is the correct thing to do. Although I would advise against further 'making out' until you come to a resolution.”

“But what should I do? Who should I pick? What if they want each other and not me? What if--”

“What if Equestria is overthrown by the Diamond Dogs with my sister as their queen? You can chase 'what ifs' forever, Sweetie Belle, and they shall lead you nowhere. Focus on the things you know. You have family who love you, friends who adore you, and at least one Princess who is proud of you. When the moon rises tomorrow, these will all still hold true.”

“But-- but how can you be sure?”

She smiled at that question. “Because I know you and your sister, and I know your friends and their sisters. They, and you, are all good ponies who have faced far worse than a love triangle without being torn apart. Unless you truly believe that you being torn between two mares is finally going to accomplish what even Discord at the height of his villainy could not?”

I hunched my shoulders. “I guess it does sound a little dumb when you say it like that.”

She smiled and patted me on the back. “You will be alright, Sweetie Belle. Be honest with them, be honest with yourself, and do not fear the road less traveled.”

I heaved a sigh. “I just wish I could get it over with.”

“You will not have long to wait, it's nearly dawn.” She stood and brushed her leggings off. “Both of us must be going, I'm afraid.”

I got up too, straightening my skirt along the way. “Thank you, Princess. I think I really needed to talk to somepony about this.”

“It is my privilege to help my subjects-- my former subjects when they are in need. Feel free to let me know how things work out. I would enjoy some happy correspondence.”

“What if it's not a happy ending?”

“Then I will be glad to lend you an ear. For now…” Soft, white light bloomed around us, gently washing away the grassy field, the stars and, finally, the moon.

“It is time to wake up.”

Chapter 17 - Nothing to Wear

I thumped my fist on Scootaloo's door.

I wasn't having the best morning. I only had some old spare clothes at Big Mac's and they didn't fit right. The pants were too tight and my shirt wouldn't button up all the way. I wore a white t-shirt under it that made it even tighter, but at least it'd stop anypony from getting a good look down my shirt. I hadn't slept great either so I was tired, uncomfortable, more than a little cranky about all of it, and now Scoots was playing hooky on us!

It might not have been fair to jump to conclusions. Scoots wasn't always the best about keeping track of time, after all. Plus her crazy sleep schedule with her weather job and all that. It was way more likely that she'd just overslept than it was that she'd run out on us. Sure, she'd done it once already, but I had no proof she wasn't planning to come back like she said she was. But when I'd shown up at the Boutique right on time and Scoots hadn't even showed up late, well, that raised my suspicions.

I thumped the door again. “Scootaloo! Getchyer tail outta bed already!”

The latch clicked and the door opened just a crack, just enough for me to see one purple eye peeking out.

“Uh, hey, Apple Bloom. What's up?”

“We said ten and it's near on eleven, that's what's up. Where the hay you been?”

The door edged just a little more closed. “Sorry, I, er, can't come.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You care ta explain that?”

“I, uh, it's--”

Something was wrong with this picture. Since when did Scootaloo hide behind doors? And what was with all the stammering? “What's goin' on here? Why're y'all hidin'?”

“Hiding? I'm not--” I raised an eyebrow. “Okay… I'm hiding.”

“No y'ain't. Y'all're comin' over to the boutique right now if I hafta drag you there myself!”

“I can't! I'm-- I'm--” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “I don't have anything to wear.”

Now I was really getting peeved. “Oh, well, excuuuse me. I didn't realize I was already at Rarity's house.”

“Huh? No! Not like that! I mean it, uhh… what's what word that means you're not making a metaphor?”

I paused a second to think. In hindsight, I should've brought Sweetie along. She's lots better with words. “Figurative?”

“Yeah, that. I mean it figuratively. I can't wear any of my shirts. I'm sorta… half naked right now?”

“Oh. Oh!” Don't think about it, don't think about it. “Somethin' happened to yer clothes?” Don't think about it.

“Sorta. Hang on a sec.”

The door shut and I could just make out the sound of her hurrying away up the stairs. Whatever she was doing didn't take long because it wasn't even a minute before I heard her coming back.

“Here.” She cracked open the door again and pushed out a plain envelope. “Take this to Fluttershy so she can get me what I need. Just don't open it, okay? I'll explain everything later.” I took the envelope but she didn't let go. “Pinkie Promise you won't read it.”

“Only if you Pinkie Promise to explain this all to Sweetie 'n me. Today.” I could just about hear her cringing. “I'm waitin'.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Your turn.”

“Cross my heart and hope ta fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Now leggo.”

She finally let me take the letter. I stuck it in my front pocket and dusted off my hands.

“I'm gonna hafta swing by Sweetie first, let her know what's up before she starts worryin'. She's a mite jumpy right now.” I paused mid turn and shot a look back at what tiny bit of Scoots I could see. “Y'know, I could just grab a shirt from her place.”

“I can't wear shirts without wing holes, remember?”

“Oh, right. I'll get this 'round ta Fluttershy quick as I can. Don't think yer getting' out of the talk we're all havin' today.”

“I know, I know, just…” the door inched all but shut, “don't read it.”

The latch clicked and a bolt thunked into place. I looked down at the letter sticking out of my pocket. Just what in Tartarus had Scoots so worked up now?

Sweetie and I made our way through town at a brisk walk. When I'd gotten back to the Boutique, she'd insisted on coming with me right away. I gave her the quick version of what Scoots'd told me while she found her shoes and then followed me out into town.

“So, she messed up her laundry?”

“Best I can figure. What're the odds, anyhow? Probably the one time a month she washes any clothes, and she goes 'n ruins 'em. If that's even all it really is.” I cast a look over my shoulder and slowed down just enough to let her catch up. “You didn't hafta come along, y'know.”

“Scootaloo needs our help!”

“It's just deliverin' a letter. You coulda gone ahead and taken it easy.”

She shook her head hard. “If I spent one more minute alone in that place… I don't care how awkward things are right now, I'd rather hang out with you. Or Scootaloo!” she added quickly. “I mean, I would have gone to keep her company, but you know she hates anypony seeing her undressed.”

I couldn't really say that Sweetie was wrong about that, but… “Y'ever think there's somethin' weird about that?”

She cocked her head to the side. “Um, not really? Sure, she's a little touchy about privacy and her looks but--”

“She ain't though. She shows off her--” I paused while we swerved around a group of fillies and lowered my voice a little more once we were clear of them. “She shows off her rump every chance she gets.”

“Oh, thank Celestia,” she sighed, “it's not just me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Trust me, it definitely ain't you.”

“Like the way she hovers just right there?”

“Heh, or how she bends over ta pick stuff up? Yeah, I noticed. Used to really mess with my head sumthin' awful.”

She swallowed and glanced around. We were passing the outskirts of town now, well past the main traffic. Not that there was much going on during a Sunday morning. She kept it down to a whisper anyway.

“Do you think she was flirting with us this whole time?”

I almost tripped over my own feet. Images of Scootaloo posing, leaning, bending, hugging, and hovering all rolled through my head like one of those fancy magic image spells. In hindsight, there was a LOT of it to remember. “I, uh, yeah. Yeah, reckon she probably was. But it's weird. I mean, remember the beach trip? She wouldn't wear a swimsuit. Just kept on wearing the same ol' top and shorts. Wouldn't even get in the water! She used ta like swimmin'! Remember when we helped out Terramar? She loved it!”

“That was kinda weird, but maybe she… I don't know. I'm pretty sure she slept in her clothes the other night.”

“Ya think so?”

“Yeah. It's weird.” We started over the little bridge in front of Fluttershy's cottage. “Well, if it's because of everything else then maybe it will all come out today.” I winced at her choice of words. Stepping up to Fluttershy's door was a good excuse to drop the topic. “You think she's home?”

I thumped on the door. Chirps and squawks answered alongside a muffled “Oh my”. A few moments later the door creaked open to reveal Fluttershy in a flowing sunflower yellow blouse and the loose, slightly worn out jeans she wore whenever she was planning to do some gardening.

“Oh! Good morning!” Her voice warmed up fast despite her surprise. “I wasn't expecting to see you girls today. Oh, but where's Scootaloo?”

“That's sorta why we're here.” I pulled the letter out of my pocket and held it out. “She won't leave her house and she won't say why. Asked us ta give ya this letter. Made me Pinkie Promise not to read it.”

Fluttershy's face fell into a worried frown. “Oh my, that doesn't sound like her. I'd better read this right away.” Sweetie and I waited while she opened and unfolded the letter and started to read. If I wasn't worried before, the look on her face would have clinched it. “Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear!”

“What? What's goin' on!?” I asked.

“Is something wrong?” Sweetie added. “She's our friend, you know! We've got a right to know!”

Fluttershy was years older than us but she shrank back like she was the teenager. “Oh, oh dear, I can't say. P-please don't be mad! I-I just can't.”

I planted my hands on my hips. “Weren't there a friendship lesson about not keepin' secrets that're hurtin' yer friends?”

Fluttershy cringed. “Y-yes. But I really can't tell you. Especially since, um, I don't think I need to. She'll… she'll have to tell you, because…” she skimmed the letter again, “I don't think there's anything else to be done.”

“About what?”

“Please, it's a very personal matter for her.” She reached out and put a hand on both of our shoulders. “You're going to want to be mad but… she's going to need you right now. And she deserves to tell you herself.”

Sweetie and I exchanged worried looks. “Fluttershy, what's wrong with Scootaloo?”

“Is it sumthin' serious?”

She shook her head. “It's not like that, I promise. Just give me a moment to grab a couple of things and I'll come with you back to her place, okay?”

Sweetie and I shared a look while Fluttershy went back inside. Sweetie was biting her lip, ears folded back tight, worried as could be.

This day was just getting worse by the minute.

Chapter 18 - Double (D) Take

Apple Bloom and I sighed in almost perfect sync.

“Y'know, I was expectin' this day to be hard, but I didn't think we'd just end up sittin' around outside Scootaloo's door.”

“I know. I'm getting hungry.”

She shot me an incredulous look. “That's what's buggin' you?”

“I get cravings when I'm worried, okay!?”

“If that's true, how come y'ain't put on a ton of weight?”

“Because you two eat everything whenever we hang out. The rest, er,” I made a self-conscious adjustment of my collar, “only seems to want to go to a few places.”

She snorted. “No kiddin'.”

I shoved her shoulder playfully. “Look who's talking! Your rump is waaay bigger than mine!”

“It ain't THAT much bigger.” She craned her neck to look down at her backside as best she could. “…Is it?”

“I don't know how you got into those pants!”

Her cheeks flushed an adorable shade of pinkish peach. “I only keep a few old spare clothes at Big Mac's place. This is what I had handy.”

I let my eyes wander over her. I might've been teasing but I really, really wasn't complaining. I may have spent all morning sneaking looks, especially when we were walking around town. Her shirt was a little too small too, and it really accented her waist and just how much she flared out at the hips. It looked like she couldn't do the top few buttons but she'd put on a white undershirt on to cover her cleavage. I guess I couldn't have everything.

“Y'think she's okay?”

That brought the mood right back down. I twisted the hem of my skirt between my fingers, right back to my nervous habit. “Fluttershy said it wasn't anything bad, right?”

“It just don't make no sense. She was fine yesterday… or…”

“What?”

“Well, now that I think about it, last night, when I brought both of y'all dinner? She sorta stayed behind the door then, too. She was definitely wearing a shirt though.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. Same old black tank top. Bought 'em in bulk last year. How anypony so reckless grew up into such a bit hoarder I got no clue.”

A rattle of the doorknob got both of us on our feet in no time.

“Scootaloo?”

Fluttershy hunched apologetically in the doorway, clutching the same canvas bag she'd brought from her cottage. It actually looked fuller than it'd started.

“Is she alright?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Oh, um, it depends how you look at it…”

“Is she sick?” I asked.

“Hurt?”

“Dying!?”

Fluttershy gasped, horrified. “Goodness, no! It's not like that at all!”

Apple Bloom planted her hands on her hips. “Then what the hay IS it like?”

Fluttershy straightened up and met Apple Bloom's glare. “I'm sorry, but you'll just have to talk to her. I think it's for the best that you hear it from her. But…” she cast a look over her shoulder, then lowered her voice to a whisper. “Please, please be gentle. It's a sensitive subject and she's probably feeling very vulnerable at the moment. She's going to need you.”

Apple Bloom and I looked at each other again. She looked just as worried as I felt, and for good reason. Scootaloo was a lot like her favorite role model, and not just about their love of flying. They both liked to come across as all rough and tough but inside they're both super sensitive about their image. Scootaloo struggled so hard with not being able to fly when she was little, and if we were up against something like that again? Dealing with it wasn't going to be easy.

“I'll be back in a little while with something to wear that's a little more her, um, style.”

We stepped aside to let Fluttershy leave then both tried to fit through the door at once.

“Oof! Lemme in!”

“Hey, ladies first!”

“We're both mares! That don't work!”

“Yeah, but I'm more ladylike!”

“Just 'cause Rarity's yer sister that don't make you ladylike!”

Apple Bloom finally managed to muscle her way past me and get to the stairs. I hung back just long enough to close the door with my magic, then I was right on her tail all the way up to Scootaloo's apartment and through to her bedroom.

“Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom called over the thumping of her fist on the door.

“Okay, okay, I hear you!” Scootaloo called back.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Fluttershy wouldn't tell us anything.”

“Uh… yeah, yeah, I'm good. How're you?”

“Y'all gonna open up?”

“We can talk through the door, can't we?”

Apple Bloom clenched her fists. “No, y'know what? I've just about had it.”

I reached for her arm. “Apple Bloom, Fluttershy said--”

“No way, Sweetie. If she ain't gonna come clean I ain't gonna sit here and foalsit. I've got enough to sort out right now without either of y'all fightin' me every step of the way! Sweet Celestia, yer scarin' the livin' daylights out of me, Scoots! I've spent the last hour worryin' about you, and now ya won't even look me in the eye and tell me what's wrong? Well, let me tell ya something, Scootaloo, if you EVER wanna get in my pants, then you'll open this door right this second and I can't believe I just said that out loud.”

“Me neither,” I agreed, a little awestruck. Her face was almost as red as her hair, and I had no idea if it was anger or embarrassment at this point.

The door lock clicked. Slowly, very, very slowly, the door crept open. At first, I didn't see anything wrong. It was just Scootaloo, standing there in her doorway, eyes down and wings twitching like they do when she's nervous. Weird thing was that she wasn't wearing one of Fluttershy's shirts like I thought she'd be. She was wearing one of her own old charcoal gray t-shirts like she had before she'd bought all those tank tops. It used to be a good fit on her but now it was stretched across her--

My jaw dropped. Where the hay had THOSE come from? I blinked hard and rubbed my eyes but they were still there, full and round and amazing. Somehow, someway, Scootaloo had gone from flattest mare our age to… well, she was still way back in third place for us, but wow! Hugs were going to be a LOT squishier now.

I wrenched my eyes away from Scootaloo's new, above-average bust, and back up at her face. There were tears gathering in her eyes and her ears were pinned back hard. She was upset? Why? Sure it was kinda dramatic but why would she be…?

I looked again, and this time it struck me that it was more than just her chest. WAY more. Scootaloo was skinny. Really skinny. She was in great shape, sure, but you could count her ribs. With the slight exception of her rump, she was all sharp angles, as if her skeleton had grown twice as fast as the rest of her.

Now it looked like the rest of her had caught up.

There were curves on her hips. There were curves on her rump, on her chest, on her thighs, on her… everything! I could still see her muscle tone, the tightness of her stomach, and the definition in her arms and legs, but there was a new smoothness and fullness rounding out her figure in all the right ways. Even her skin looked different, her color richer and livelier. Her cheeks were fuller, her eyes seemed brighter despite the tears, free from dark circles that lurked under them so often these days. I'd never really thought of her as sickly but seeing her now? She just looked… healthier, somehow.

She was gorgeous.

“What the hay happened, Scoots?” Apple Bloom's voice was hard to read. Somewhere between shock and confusion, I think. I couldn't blame her. I felt like I'd just gotten blindsided by a wagon.

“Nothing! I'm not crying!” Scootaloo turned away and furiously wiped at her eyes with her wrist. “You're crying!”

“I didn't say anythin' about--” Apple Bloom gave me a helplessly bewildered look. I shook my head, took a half step forward, right up to the open door, and mouthed “gently” back at her.

“Why don't we sit down and you can tell us what happened, okay?”

Chapter 19 - Laying out the Cards

Scootaloo sat on the top right corner of her bed, tucked into the corner of her room, all hunched up and miserable looking. Sweetie was settled on the opposite corner, listening raptly, and I'd taken Scoots' old desk chair and straddled it backwards next to her.

“And when I woke up, I was…” she swallowed thickly. “I-- I panicked. I couldn't go outside looking like this. I wrote a note for Fluttershy and then you showed up about an hour and a half later.”

“But…how?” Sweetie asked. “What kind of potion was it?”

Scootaloo flared and folded her wings a few times before she finally took a deep, shaky breath.

“It was a healing potion. I-- I messed myself up with my binder. It was too tight. Way, WAY too tight. Do you girls know about--? You have to be careful with binding. I was using some fabric bandages the first time I tried it and I really hurt myself. I thought that, since I was using a real binder, it wouldn't matter how tight it was. I wore one all the time, even when I was asleep until it hurt too much to do that anymore, and I guess I… stunted myself. Zecora's potion fixed that and…”

She paused to swallow again. “I don't eat a lot, y'know, to keep my weight down. Like, when we have lunch, that's usually it for the day. I keep track of my calories so that I don't eat more than I can burn off. I guess that counted as 'stunting', too.

“The really stupid thing is that I was binding so tight because my boobs were ugly, but they were only like that because I was binding so tight. I didn't even know that could happen!”

“Why didn't ya tell us about all this before now?” I asked. “I get bein' embarrassed--”

Scootaloo's face twisted like she tasted something sour. “No you don't. I mean, look at you! What does somepony like you have to be embarrassed about?”

My ears laid back but I refused to look away. “My best friends sayin' stuff like that, fer one.” Scootaloo made a little 'hmph' and crossed her arms. Or tried to, anyhow. She had to adjust a few times, trying to figure out how to work around her new chest. “Besides, it ain't like yer THAT big, right Sweetie?”

“Of course they--” Sweetie's eyes drifted down to Scootaloo's bust, almost hypnotized by watching her push and adjust herself and her shirt around. “I mean… they are… kinda…”

“Sweetie Belle!”

“Whua?” She tore her eyes off Scootaloo. “Sorry, what'd you say?”

I smacked my palm into my forehead. “Yer not helpin'.”

“Uuuugh! I hate these things!” Scootaloo shouted. Sweetie and I both watched her trying to give herself breathing room by tugging at her shirt. “They keep getting in the way and UGH! This is stupid!”

“Scoots--”

“Look at this! I just try to cross my arms and they get all squished up!”

I shot a look at Sweetie but she was gone again. She had that sort of droopy eared, dreamy eyed look on her face like Spike used to get when he was little and following Rarity around. Meanwhile, her tail made slow, provocative sweeps side to side like Rarity's did when she was turning some stallion's head.

So much for “gently”.

Scoots groaned and slumped over on her side, still tucked into the corner. “Why couldn't I have just turned out like Rainbow Dash?”

“What's Rainbow got ta do with it?”

She pulled her knees up against her chest as far as she could. “She's the perfect pegasus. She's strong and fast and lean, like we're supposed to be.”

Sweetie must've recovered from la-la land enough to follow our conversation again because she chimed back in, voice soft and serious. “Rarity told me about that. She says the models for her pegasus lines are practically starving themselves to stay thin. It's a really big problem for pegasai mares. She's been trying to find different models for years. It's part of why she wanted Fluttershy to model for her so much that one time, remember?”

“That just ain't right. Why do y'all care about measurin' up to somethin' like that?”

“Says the perfect earth pony,” Scootaloo grumbled.

“So, y'all're upset 'cause pegasai ain't gonna think yer the hottest thing since dragon breath?”

Scootaloo just curled up a little tighter, and I kicked myself for saying it like that while Sweetie shot me a dirty look. Scootaloo acts like such a tomcolt all the time that I always assume she just don't care about that sort of thing at all. Here she lets me know that she does care, and I go handling it like a yak in a china shop. I shifted uncomfortably, trying to think of a way to dig myself out of the hole my big mouth had dug me into.

“I'm not a pegasus.” Scoots and I both turned our attention to Sweetie. She was picking at the hem of her skirt to avoid looking at either of us. “And I, uh, I still think you're pretty.”

Sweetie had just thrown me a lifeline. “She ain't the only one.”

Scootaloo sat up slowly, shooting me a suspicious look along the way. “I thought you don't like mares.”

Well, outta the fryin' pan… I ran my left hand over my hair until I had a single lock twisted between my fingers. “I suppose now's as good a time as any ta talk about this.” I got off the chair, turned it around and sat down on it properly.

“I've been thinkin' a lot since we all started this mess. I never even thought… I mean, I sorta-- I've been tryin' not to--” I heaved a sigh and let my head hang. “I always thought that might just go away if I ignored it long enough.”

Sweetie winced. “I know the feeling.”

“Me too,” Scootaloo said.

I looked back and forth between them. “You do?”

“Duh, of course we do!” Scoots rolled her eyes. “What, you think I was happy when I started wanting to jump you two all the time? You think Sweetie was excited to tell Rarity?”

“I, uh, I haven't actually told Rarity. Or my parents. Or anypony. I don't know how they'll take it.”

I thought about that for a second or two. I never really got to know Sweetie's folks all that well, but they'd always seemed like pretty open-minded ponies. Rarity I knew for sure was. “Rarity ain't gonna care. She'll make a fuss 'cause that's what she does, but she ain't gonna care. I bet Rainbow Dash don't care neither.”

“Nah, she's cool with it. She, uh, caught me checking you girls out at the beach thing last summer. Plus my parents, Aunt Holiday, and Auntie Lofty were obviously cool with it when I told them last visit. So yeah, been there, done that.”

“Not with my family ya haven't.”

“What d'you… Oh.” Scoots grimaced. “Oh. Uh, are they, uh, not cool with…?”

I took a deep, long breath and held it for a good long while before I let it out in one big sigh. “I dunno. Apples are a mite old fashioned, ya know? It's one thing to live and let live with other ponies and creatures, but when it comes ta family… Ain't never heard about an Apple bein'… y'know. Dunno if that's 'cause no Apple ever has or if they ain't Apples no more.”

Sweetie and Scoots both let their ears droop. Scoots half opened her wings and ruffled them shut again. “Oh. Wow that-- that sucks, AB. I didn't know.”

I scowled at her. “No, ya didn't.” Part of me wanted to push on that. After everything that'd gone wrong so far, I was feeling more than a little cranky. But she didn't know, and I couldn't see how she could have. I sighed again and let my scowl fade. “Ya didn't know, Scoots. Ain't your fault I'm… the way I am. Just made me face it.”

Sweetie rocked herself side to side a bit like she was debating getting up. Guess she decided to stay put 'cause she just chewed her lip a little and looked back down at the bed.

“Somethin' ya wanna say, Sweetie?”

“I was just wondering… when did you figure it out?”

I slumped back in my chair. When had I figured it out? Hay, HAD I really figured it out? It felt like I'd found two questions for every answer so far. “I dunno. I've been havin'… Y'know, it's been botherin' me for a long time. I just kept on ignoring it. I made up so many reasons why I kept lookin' 'n daydreamin' about you two. Reckon I just about believed 'em most days. All seems pretty stupid now. But, uh, last night I stayed over at Big Mac 'n Sugar Belle's place. I was feelin' too mixed up ta go home, all confused and, uh, well, in the shower I--” heat crept right up my face, “I tried ta see how I felt.”

“Is this after we…?”

“Yup. Oh, uh, Sweetie and I kinda made out when I brought her that food last night. Like how we did in the orchard?”

Scootaloo sat up a little straighter, her eyes darting back and forth between us. “Including the, uh…?”

I rolled my eyes. “Eeeyup. Seriously, first chance both of ya get, you go straight after my rump.”

“Pft! You were all over mine!”

“Mine too.”

“Yeah, well, y'both made it seem fun enough.” Which it was. “That ain't the point. What me 'n you did had me all, uh, worked up, and I needed to know if it was-- if it was the real thing.”

Sweetie shifted her weight from side to side anxiously. “So…?”

“Well, uh, like I said, in the shower I tried, er, y'know, thinkin' about things. Y'know, to see if it'd, uh, 'do it' fer me.”

Sweetie's eyes went wide. “Ohhh, you were--”

I barreled right on over Sweetie as fast as I could. “So, I thought about you two. And, well, it… worked.” The heat in my face reached all the way up to my ears. “It worked really good.” They both stared at me, open mouthed, like I'd just turned into an alicorn. There had to be enough blood rushing into my head to flush me redder than one of Spike's rubies, right on up to the tips of my ears. “Don't y'all try 'n tell me y'ain't done the same darn thing!”

Sweetie's ears laid back. “…Last night, after dinner.”

“…Same.”

My stomach did a little flip. “So, I reckon I, uh, like you. Uh, might just be you. I'm not sure. I didn't, uh, try with anypony else. See, I've never really been interested in, uh, anypony else. At all. But maybe that's 'cause I was always so hung up worryin' 'bout how I felt about you two that I, uh, it's all a mess in my head. I just-- I ain't a hundred percent sure what I am.”

Scootaloo scratched the back of her head slowly. “I'm like ninety percent sure that I'm a hundred percent gay.”

“I'm, uh, good either way,” Sweetie admitted.

“And you both, y'know, still like me?” Scootaloo's voice was tentative, way more than usual. Like she was expecting a no. “Even though I've been a big jerk and, uh, look stupid?”

“You look great,” Sweetie said earnestly.

“But I'm a pegasus! We're not supposed to--”

I hadn't realized just how tight the knot in my guts was until the conversation shifted off of me. Darned if it wasn't a relief though. Truth be told, I wasn't sure if I should feel bad for taking the focus off Scoots in the first place or sorry for giving it back. I wasn't about to listen to her tearing herself down though.

“And we ain't pegasai. Us earth ponies 'n unicorns? We ain't got no problems with curves. Er, I mean, I don't think I do, anyhow. 'Sides,” I shot a sidelong look at Sweetie and her own wandering eyes. “Ya really gonna doubt Sweetie? She's been drooling over ya this whole time!”

Sweetie went real pink, real fast. “I have not!”

“Honestly, if I weren't here? I bet she'd be all over ya.”

“No I wouldn't! I mean, not right now. She's upset! And I wouldn't do that behind your back! Um… again.”

For a moment there things'd almost felt normal again, with us bickering and picking on each other. Any other day we would've kept on going until we got into one of our wresting matches. Wrestling matches that were starting to look a little different in hindsight. But Sweetie had just gone and brought us right back to the other night where this had all kicked off.

“So…” Scoots started. I braced myself for the question I knew was coming next. Somepony had to ask it and, sooner or later, we were all gonna have to answer.

“What're we gonna do now?”

Author's Note

I actually had these last few chapters written already. After posting chapter 18 yesterday, I decided to just buckle down and finish editing them.

Chapter 20 - Why not?

Late afternoon and we were right back in the spot where everything had gone off the rails. Sweetie got out the cushions for us to sit on and we gathered around an extra large mushroom and olive pizza, stuffing our faces so we wouldn't have to say anything. She took small, frequent bites, while Scoots crammed in half a slice at a time between fiddling around with one of the new bras Fluttershy had delivered (along with a plea for Scoots to go to the store to actually try some on herself for a better fit) before we left Scootaloo's place. I suppose I couldn't really blame her for being distracted. It took me years to fill out and she'd done it all over just one night. It had Sweetie pretty distracted too, if the way she kept glancing at Scoots was anything to go by. The bra flattened her down a good bit, but I guess just knowing what was there was enough for Sweetie. Me, I just tried to keep my eyes on my food.

And none of us had answered the question.

It didn't take too long to get down to the last slice and then we were just sitting around. The most anypony was doing was Scoots tugging at her straps for the thousandth time. It was starting to feel like we were just going to wait until we fell asleep staring at the almost empty box when Sweetie finally broke the silence.

“What ARE we gonna do?”

Scootaloo shifted around uncomfortably. “Maybe we should sleep on it some more?”

“Uh-uh, no way,” I said. “It ain't gonna get less awkward. The longer we leave it, the worse it's gonna be. I can't have this hangin' over us forever.”

Sweetie fidgeted a little, biting her lip before she spoke again. “I've been thinking. Maybe it'd be better if we all just stayed friends?”

“It's kinda late for that, isn't it?” Scoots asked. “I mean, friends don't make out, and we've all done it twice now.”

“Okay, so we go back to just being friends.”

Scoots' ears laid back. “I don't know if I can.”

“Why not?”

“I've kinda been hitting on you girls for moons. Some days I just wanted to jump you and--” Her wings ruffled and she ducked her head a little. “I really like you.”

Guess that wasn't really too big a shock. I felt dumber than Maud's entire rock collection for not working it out sooner with the way she'd been acting. “Is there one of us ya like more'n the other?”

She shook her head. “Some days I might think about one of you more often but it's pretty even.”

“But if ya had ta pick--”

“That's not fair!” Sweetie protested. “You can't just ask one of us to pick!”

I threw up my arms. “Well what else can we do!? Tell me! What in Celestia's name are we suppose'ta do!? You like me 'n Scoots, Scoots likes me 'n you, and I-- I like you 'n Scoots. It don't add up! So how're we gonna decide who goes with who? Flip a coin?”

“That's what I mean! Staying friends is the only way to be fair!”

“And what? Go back to bein' scared about yer feelin's? Go back to bein' miserable? How am I suppose'ta be happy just hangin' out with either of y'all now knowin' we're all wishin' it could be somethin' else?”

“You really want-- …us?” Scootaloo asked. She was all hunched up like she was trying to be smaller than she is. I don't think she started that sentence out planning to say 'us'.

I sighed and buried my face in my hands. “I can't pretend I don't anymore. Maybe I woulda worked it out on my own, I dunno.” I ran my hands down my face then sat back a little with my arms back to brace on the carpet. “Maybe I needed that kick in the rump.”

Scoots snorted. “Or a pinch.”

“Y'all were askin' fer that.”

“Yeah, sorry. I got carried away.”

“S'alright. Just ask Sweetie what I did to her last night.”

“Why, what happened?”

“It doesn't matter,” a very pink Sweetie answered. “But-- uh, it was… nice.”

“Y'almost fell over.”

Scoots sat straight up. “'Fell over'? What the hay did I miss out on!?”

“Nothing! She's just a really good kisser.”

“Heh, yeah… Did she do that thing where she--?”

“The point is!” I half shouted. “I-- uh, I dunno what my point was. But we just can't keep puttin' it off. We gotta make a choice.”

Sweetie looked back and forth between Scoots and me. “But… how? I've been thinking about it all afternoon and it just doesn't work. I mean, what if you and I got together, Scootaloo? Where does that leave you, Apple Bloom? Just… sitting alone, watching us while we get to be together? I can't do that to you, not after all this. Can you?”

Me and Scoots exchanged guilty looks. I already knew how I reacted to seeing them together without me, and Scoots had just admitted she couldn't pick between us. Hay, that whole drama that landed us in the orchard kicked off 'cause she couldn't pick. Just looking at her I knew that the same things were running through her mind. Slowly, she shook her head. A moment later I followed suit.

“Then the only fair choice,” Sweetie gulped and turned her eyes down to the floor. It was plain as day that she hated what she was about to say. “…is neither.”

I hung my head, swallowed just as hard as she did and, just as reluctantly, nodded. “Neither.”

“Neither,” Sweetie echoed. Her voice sounded hollower than a cider barrel at the end of a hoedown, and twice as sad. But she was right. It was the only thing we could do. The only way to be fair. Besides, how they hay was I gonna explain to my family? Maybe this way I could keep on hiding it--

“Why not both?”

I looked up so fast I just about cricked my neck. “Scootaloo?”

“Why not both?” she repeated, a little louder. She was sitting up straight again, looking at me almost defiantly. “I want you both. You,” she pointed at me, “want us both. And you,” she pointed at Sweetie, “want us both. So… why not both?”

Sweetie cocked her head like she'd never heard the word before. “Both…?”

I scratched the back of my neck. “I didn't think of that. I guess it, uh, would be fair, wouldn't it?”

Scoots looked back and forth between us, arms crossed then recrossed over her bust. “It's what we all really want, isn't it?”

“I mean, y'all've both said that ya wanted both, but…”

“Don't fear the road less traveled,” Sweetie whispered.

“Sweetie?”

She bit her bottom lip a little bit and gave her tail a flick. “I had a nightmare last night. Princess Luna--”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa! Princess Luna!? You told the Princess!?” Scoots' wings went full mast. “Are you nuts!?”

“You told Rainbow Dash!” she shot back.

I twisted a bit of hair between my fingers. “And, uh, Big Mac sorta overheard us in the orchard. I had a talk with him yesterday.”

Scootaloo groaned and slumped forward. “Aaaand I should probably mention that I ran into Discord when I went to see Fluttershy…”

“Discord!?” Sweetie gasped. “You told DISCORD!?”

“No, YOU told Discord! He sensed you blasting-- Oh, hey, hold on a sec, you blasted Apple Bloom? What the hay happened!?”

Sweetie pinned her ears back and shrank away. “I didn't mean to! I was just upset after you ran off and I fired off a spell by accident.”

Scootaloo didn't look happy with that answer, but she carried on anyhow. “Yeah, well, Discord noticed and decided to stick his nose in. And then he told Fluttershy!”

I held up my hands to get them to stop. “Hold up now, nopony panic. None of y'all told Pinkie right?” They both shook their heads. “Thank Celestia fer that. Fluttershy don't gossip, neither does Big Mac, and Dash ain't one to gossip 'bout much but Wonderbolts and Darin' Do. And we all know we can trust the Princess. She ain't never gone 'round talkin' 'bout nopony's dreams before.”

“What about Discord?” Sweetie asked.

“Fluttershy'll handle him. Once she explains that tellin' everypony is wrong he'll back off… Er, publicly, anyhow. He's gonna show up again though, y'know he will. Reckon he ain't never seen a pot he didn't wanna stir.” Privately, I wouldn't have put it past him to have been the one to put the idea of bringing that darned salt lick to the party in my head in the first place. That draconequus was crazier than an honest politician in an election year.

“Oh, crud,” Scoots sounded like somepony who was just realizing they'd left the oven on. “Big Mac is gonna kill me…”

“Naw! Might glare at ya a bit, though, bein' a big brother 'n all. He's… he's okay with it.”

“With…?” Sweetie waved her hand around between all three of us.

“Uh, depends how much he overheard. He don't mind the mare thing, though. Said all he cares about is that I'm happy.”

Scoots looked over at Sweetie. “What did the Princess say?”

“That I shouldn't be afraid of 'the road less traveled'. Oh, and that our sisters have handled worse than a love triangle.”

“I guess so,” Scoots said slowly, shooting me a look for confirmation. I just shrugged. I wasn't a hundred percent sold but, technically, the apocalypse is worse than a love triangle. At least it oughta be.

“So, neither or both?” Sweetie rubbed the base of her horn like she had a hornache. “What if everypony freaks out?”

Scoots shrugged. “Who says they have to know?”

I stiffened up right quick. “I ain't lyin' to my family!”

“Me neither!”

“Then…” Scoots' face lit up, “we don't lie.”

“Whatchu mean?”

She leaned forward eagerly. “Something Rainbow Dash told me. She said that even if we try it might not work out. I mean, ponies break up all the time, right?”

“That's a cheerful way to look at it,” Sweetie mumbled.

“So we call it a… a test run! I mean, we don't know if a three-way relationship will work, right? What if you decide you don't like mares after all? Or one of us falls for somepony else instead? If anypony asks, we can say we're still working things out! That way we only have to tell them once we're sure. The Wonderbolts practice stunts, like, a gazillion times before an official performance, and relationships are way harder, right?”

Sweetie and I shared a look. “That… almost makes sense,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“I mean, it IS a big choice… maybe it's not such a bad idea to take it one step at a time?”

“Just sorta… figurin' it out as we go.”

“Trying new things--”

“Testin' out ideas--”

She started smiling like it was Hearth's Warming come early. “It's like figuring out a whole new part of ourselves!”

I grinned back. “Yeah, we've always done that together before!”

“We do everything together!”

“And Big Mac told me he and Sugar Belle are still friends, and they're married. So, sayin' we're friends ain't lyin'! And sayin' we ain't a couple ain't lyin' neither!”

“Yeah!” Scoots held out her fist over the forgotten pizza box. “Cutie Mark Crusader Girlfriends?”

Sweetie's fist shot out fast enough to do Rainbow Dash proud. “Cutie Mark Crusader Girlfriends!”

I stuck my fist out to bump theirs. “Cutie Mark Crusader Girlfriends! But, uh,” I sat back again. “Maybe we oughta set some ground rules before we do anything crazy?”

“Like what?” Scootaloo asked.

“Well, uh,” I twisted a lock of hair. “I'm not comfortable lyin'. I know this is a practice run but, uh, if we get caught doin'… somethin', I think we oughta agree to come clean. Like, if AJ catches me kissin' you, Scoots, I'm not pretendin' that you ain't involved, Sweetie. That has disaster written all over it.”

Scoots sighed. “Yeah, yeah that makes sense. What about you, Sweetie? You got anything?”

Sweetie fidgeted around a little. “We don't have to lie if we're caught but… can we agree not to announce it to anypony unless all of us are ready? Just the part about the three of us being together, not our orientations. And when we do tell, can we promise to do it together?” She gulped and shivered. “I really don't want to face Rarity or my parents alone when they find out about us.”

I scooted off my cushion and settled in next to Sweetie. “Hey now, y'all ain't doin' none of this alone.” I put my arm around her shoulders, just like the other night, right when everything went all screwy. “No matter what, we're with ya, right, Scootaloo?”

Scoots scrambled over to Sweetie's side like she'd been waiting for the excuse all day. “Right!”

I felt Sweetie relax just a bit when Scootaloo settled in next to us and slipped her arm around her waist. “Thanks.”

“How 'bout you, Scoots? Y'all got anythin' ya wanna add?”

“Uh… yeah. I know I've been kinda, y'know, pushing it the last couple of days… or moons.” She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly with her free hand. “But, uh, maybe we should all agree that if one of us isn't comfortable with something, then we don't do it.”

I nodded. “Good call. And if we got a problem then we gotta talk about it. No more hidin' things. If ya want somethin' or don't want somethin', or if you're uncomfortable, then ya gotta speak up. I dunno about you two, but I ain't a mind reader.”

“Why do I feel like you're both talking about me?” Sweetie mumbled.

“I'm talkin' about ALL of us. I shoulda spoke up the other night about why I was upset. And I probably shouldn't've pinned ya against that tree, Scoots. And both y'all shoulda told me what ya were up to after we hit the hay.”

Scoots slumped a little. “And I guess I should've just come clean this morning about what happened to me. And I shouldn't have lied to you, Sweetie. Or run off.” She folded her ears back. “I'm sorry.”

Sweetie hesitated a moment, biting her lip, then she leaned in and planted a quick little kiss on Scootaloo's cheek that made her ears pop straight back up again. “I forgive you. And I'm sorry, too. For keeping this all bottled up for so long. And for blasting you, Apple Bloom. And I'm sorry for being so nervous.”

“I get why you were scared. I'm pretty nervous too,” I admitted. “I dunno how Granny and Applejack are gonna feel.”

“I, uh, guess I'm probably not as nervous as you two. I think everypony who doesn't actually know already probably thinks I'm gay anyhow, so don't worry about anypony finding out about that part. I mean, I've been trying to hit on you pretty much all the time.”

Sweetie hesitantly put her own arms around both of our waists. “You have no idea how glad I am that I wasn't imagining that.”

“Would it have killed you to say something sooner?”

I snorted. “Considerin' she only just turned eighteen, it wouldn't've been Sweetie who got killed.”

“…Yeeeaaah, good point. So, while we're apologizing, you gonna say sorry for pinching me?”

“Nnnope!”

“…Yeah, that's fair too.”

We all giggled a bit, trailing off until it was just us sitting together in silence. I kept my arm around Sweetie's shoulders, while Scoots kept hers around her waist, and all three of our tails looped together comfortably. All in all, it was a little slice of heaven. Sure, I was only halfway on Sweetie's cushion, my hand was caught between their shoulders, and there was a whole heap of future trouble to worry about, but I could've sat that way forever.

“So… either of you gonna eat that last slice of pizza?”

I rolled my eyes. “Dang it, Scoots.”

“Way to kill the moment,” Sweetie agreed.

“Hey, I'm hungry!”

“Go on then, Scoots. It's all yours. I can grab somethin' else later.”

“You're still hungry?” Sweetie asked. “Are all of the Apples bottomless pits?”

“Heh, AB sure isn't 'bottomless'.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You're just beggin' fer another pinch.” Scootaloo got a glint in her eye that sent a little tickle up my spine, just like that look she'd had after the pinch.

“Dun't tmpt muh.”

“Don't talk with yer mouth full!”

Scoots rolled her eyes and swallowed. “So… now what?”

“Sleepover?” Sweetie suggested.

“We, uh, we ain't gonna do more girl talk, right?”

Sweetie smiled sheepishly. “We probably shouldn't touch that again.”

We all fidgeted in silence for a few moments. Sweetie picking at her skirt, Scoots tugging at her straps, me twisting a bit of hair.

“So…” Scoots began, “you wanna make out instead?”

Silence.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Chapter 21 - A Long Time Coming

One of your best friends tossing and turning is really hard to listen to.

We'd stayed up way too late. Apple Bloom and I were going to be paying for it in the morning for sure. For Scootaloo it depended on the weather schedule. I thought about trying to get us to go to bed sooner, but it'd just been so great to be together again. Talking, laughing, planning, and yes, a little kissing here and there, but mostly just hanging out like we always used to. It was midnight before we finally got the sleeping bags out. Except Scootaloo couldn't seem to sleep.

A muffled groan was the last straw that convinced me to slide over to the edge of my bed and look over the side. “Scootaloo, are you okay?” I whispered.

“Mrm frmn.”

“What?”

I turned my ears forward to catch the rustle of sleeping bag followed by a grumble of: “I'm fine. Go to sleep.”

Before I could point out how not fine she sounded, Apple Bloom chimed in without bothering to whisper. “Didn't we agree ta be honest?”

“Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.”

I heard her bag rustle like she was sitting up. “Yer fine, Sweetie. I was gonna ask what was up if you hadn't.”

“It's no big deal,” Scootaloo mumbled.

“Whatever it is it's keeping you awake. Don't you have work tomorrow?”

“Clear skies until Thursday. I'm off 'til then, unless something big tries to blow in from the Everfree. You two have school tomorrow. Go to sleep.”

“I don't think ya realize how much noise yer makin'. 'Sides, we care about ya, Scoots. If there's something we can do--”

“It's my stupid boobs, okay!? I can't sleep because these,” the rustle of her bag turned to all out thrashing, “big, dumb things are in the way! How in Tartarus do you sleep with these things!?”

I winced sympathetically. Being busty has its fair share of drawbacks and uncomfortable sleeping positions can be ones of them. At least I had time to adjust to growing up; Scootaloo was getting it all at once. “Well…” I sat up and glanced down at my own chest. “First of all, you should take your bra off.”

“Are you crazy?”

“She's right. Ain't supposed to sleep in those.”

“I know and I don't but-- but--”

Apple Bloom sighed good naturedly. “Scoots, it's the middle of the night. We won't see nothin'.”

“Close your eyes.”

“Seriously?”

“You want me to take my bra off or not!?”

I hesitated a moment. “Iiiiis this a trick question?”

“We'll close 'em. C'mon, Sweetie.”

I did as I was told. “Okay, they're closed.” I grinned and stifled a giggle at how immediate the sound of Scootaloo undressing was. It took a while before she said anything else.

“Oh, sweet Celestia, that is sooo much better.”

“See? Told you!”

“Yeah, yeah, it's not like I sleep in them at home… anymore.” By the sound of it, she was already putting her shirt back on.

“Y'all should try sleeping on yer-- Oh, right. Y'know, sometimes I'm real glad I ain't a pegasus. Pegasai never sleep on their backs, huh?”

“Only if we're laying on clouds. Lounging around on a beach chair or something is fine for a while, but if I sleep on my back all night it's gonna suck tomorrow. I've been trying to lay on my stomach but suddenly I've got giganto-boobs.”

I rolled my eyes. “They aren't THAT big. Have you tried laying on your side?”

“Yeah, and my arm is going numb.”

“Ohhhh, right, you're on the floor. I didn't think of that.” I bit my lip for a moment while I thought. Of course she was having trouble on the floor. A thick carpet and a sleeping bag aren't enough to make a floor into a real bed. It was probably the worst possible place to sleep after what'd happened to her. I looked down at my soft, white sheets and pink blanket, just barely visible in the tiny amount of moonlight getting through the blinds.

“Hey, I'm gonna turn my lamp on. Watch your eyes.”

“What for?”

“Because of the light.”

“I think she meant: what're ya turnin' on the light for?”

“Oh. So I can see where I'm going. Here it goes.” A flick of the switch on my bedside lamp and the room lit up with its soft, yellow-orange light. I scooted over, pulled my covers back, and slipped my legs over the side of the bed. “Here, Scootaloo, you can take the bed.”

Scootaloo squinted up at me from her spot on the floor, one hand up to shade her face from the light. “You serious?”

“Yep! It's all yours!”

She frowned. “Where are you gonna sleep?”

“We'll trade! I'll take your bag.”

She looked back and forth between the bed and her bag, frowning even harder than before. “But it's your bed.”

“It's Rarity's guest bed. I don't actually live here.”

“Ya might as well. You visit yer sister so often.”

I shrugged and stood up. “Either way, it's all yours, Scootaloo.”

She didn't follow suit. Instead she scrunched herself up even more, knees to her chest. “You shouldn't have to sleep on the floor.”

“Oh, but y'all're fine with me sleepin' on the floor.”

“When we sleep over at your place you take the bed. If we ever slept at mine, I'd take the bed.”

“Uh-uh! You'd take the laundry pile. I'm NOT sleeping on that floor.” I shuddered. “Have you ever cleaned that rug?”

“…How would I do that?”

I facepalmed. “That question is why we're never sleeping over at your place. EVER.”

“It's not THAT bad.”

“It's pretty bad, Scoots. Dunno how somepony so pretty comes outta someplace so messy every mornin'. Don't think yer gonna get that deposit back, neither.”

Scoots hunched up a little more and flattened her ears but I could see them flushing anyway. “You-- you think I'm pretty?”

I giggled. “Right now you're pretty tired. Come on, gimme the bag.”

“But--”

“Oh fer-- just share.”

Scootaloo's wings snapped straight out. “What!?”

“Sh-share?”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Ain't like you've never shared a bed before.”

I glanced between Scootaloo, my bed, and maybe just a quick little look at Scootaloo's bust. “Yeah, but that was when we were fillies.”

“It's only as big a deal as y'make it. Y'ain't gotta do anythin' but sleep. That thing's plenty big enough for y'all to give each other space.”

Well, it was a princess sized mattress. And I didn't want to sleep on the floor, so… “I'm okay with it if you are, Scootaloo.”

She eyed the bed warily. “Just sleeping, right? I just wanna be sure.”

“Just sleeping. I promise.” I sat back down and slid myself over to the far right side of the bed, up against the wall. “Come on.”

Scootaloo crawled out of her bag and made her way over to the bed. She tested it with a hand like she was making sure it wasn't rigged to fall through the floor. She was just lifting her leg to climb in when she paused and a little smirk played across her face.

“Hey, AB, you coming?”

“Uh-- I--” I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling. Suddenly she was a lot less confident and the expression on her face was just adorable.

“What?” Scootaloo said innocently. “It's 'just sleeping'.”

“You know…” I added slowly, “there's more than enough room for three. You can come up, too.”

Apple Bloom pulled the top of her bag up over herself a little more. “I dunno… I mean, y'all need it more'n I do, Scoots. And it's your bed, Sweetie.”

Scootaloo crossed her arms. “Didn't we just have that conversation? Come on, AB. It's gotta be better than the floor.”

“I, uh--”

“It's not like we've never shared a bed before.” Scootaloo and I giggled a little. The embarrassed look on Apple Bloom's face slipping past adorable and into uncomfortable made us stop pretty quick though. “Hey, it's cool. You don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with, remember?”

I nodded. “Yeah, we're just joking around. You can stay on the floor.”

“It ain't like I don't wanna. I just--” She twisted a bit of hair between her fingers. “We're just gonna sleep, right? I mean, I know y'all said that already but the way this weekend's been goin'? Reckon I can't be too sure.”

“Just sleeping. I promise.”

She heaved a long sigh. “Alright then.”

It was dark enough that it was probably still the middle of the night when I jerked awake. The moon had shifted far enough across the sky that a lot more light filtered in through the blinds, but it must have still been pretty high. I could make out the curves of Sweetie's hip and waist under the covers. She must've rolled over at some point because she was facing me, her face half in the light, half in the shadows. Far as I could tell she was out like a light. Scoots on the other hand…

When we'd settled down for the night, Sweetie had gone down quick. Scoots couldn't seem to keep still for even a minute. She'd sure seemed to be trying to keep it gentle and quiet, but she'd kept squirming around. One minute on her side, then on her stomach, then to her other side, then right on back to the first side. Every so often she'd simmer down and I'd feel myself finally starting to drift off… then she'd move again. I must've finally nodded off for a while because now she was sitting up on the edge of the bed, facing away from me. Her wings were slack, her head hanging low and… I could just hear a sniff.

“Scootaloo?”

It was barely a whisper but she went ramrod straight like I'd shouted at her. She frantically wiped at her face before looking over her shoulder. “Y-yeah?” she whispered back.

I gingerly scooted myself over as smooth and easy as I could until I was sitting next to her on her right. “Still can't sleep?”

“I'm good. Just-- thought I might get a glass of water.”

I might almost have believed her if her voice wasn't shaking so much. Made my heart ache just hearing it. Only Scootaloo would be sitting up crying in the middle of the night and still try to keep up her image. I just wanted to-- Well, I knew what I wanted to do but would it be too much? Would it be crossing a line? Would it make her uncomfortable? Were we already way past that point already what with all the kissing and grabbing that'd already happened over the last couple of days?

Aw, the hay with it.

I slipped my arm around her waist gently but securely. “Come 'n lay down with me.”

Her right wing brushed against me when she flared out hard. “With you?”

“I don't bite. Little chilly tonight anyhow.” I gave her waist a soft tug. “C'mon.”

I reached my free hand out to grab the edge of the covers so I could guide us both back under but a glittering, green light beat me to it. The whole room lit up in the pale glow of Sweetie's magic rippling around the sheet, blanket, and her horn. She was posed like a model of some kind, stretched out on her side, one leg crossed over the other, right arm draped over her hip, left arm propping up her head. That pink, silky nightie clung to her figure in all the right ways. It rode up just a little on her thigh, slipped just off her shoulder, plunged just enough in the front to tease how it hugged the curves of her chest in a way that pulled at my eyes like a magnet. All of this was framed by the sheet she was holding up like an invitation. And that smile. The way it flickered in her eyes like a smoldering campfire kept my attention in a tug-o-war between her face and her everything else.

“I was gonna suggest the same thing.”

I just stared, slack-jawed, like a dragon stumbling on a heap of gold. She'd always gotten a little loopy when she's sleepy before, but this? This was new. It was like I'd never seen her before. The moment stretched out like an eternity while I just stared until she shifted a little uncomfortably. Her smile faded and her ears drooped.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“Wha--? No! No, yer fine. Really fine. Er, I mean, uh-- just didn't know y'all were awake.”

“I wasn't until someponies woke me up! I was having a really nice dream…” she added with an impossibly cute pout.

I shook my head hard. “Sorry 'bout that. Scoots' just havin' a hard time sleepin' still.”

The covers wafted like they were beckoning. “I heard. Come on already. We've really gotta sleep so, if we're gonna cuddle Scootaloo to sleep, lets get started.”

“Bwah?” Scoots shook her own head like she was in a daze. Honestly, it felt a little better to know that I'm wasn't the only one Sweetie got to. “Cuddle?”

“Hrm. Reckon ya should still be on the outside. Don't wanna pin yer wings between us.”

“Aww… I suppose you're right,” Sweetie sighed. “Can I cuddle you anyway?” The half-lidded look she gave me made my stomach do a little flip.

“Uh, sure? Let's, uh, let's just get situated here.”

I slipped back into the middle of the bed. Without a moments hesitation, Sweetie slid right in against me. I felt her breasts pressing in on my arm as she snuggled up close and slipped her arm over my waist. The covers closed in a little but stayed open enough to keep inviting Scoots to join us, which was as good an excuse as any to stop thinking about how much of Sweetie was squished up against me.

“C'mon, Scoots.”

“I, uh--” Her eyes darted between our faces and, well, a couple other parts of us.

“We're still just gonna sleep. Trust me, I'm waaay too tired ta do much else.”

A moment or two of hemming and hawing later, she finally crawled across the bed. I lifted up my arm and let her settle right on in against my side. My arm ended up around her shoulder and half under her wing while hers found a place right next to Sweetie's.

“Oh, that looks better. Let me…” Sweetie pulled away and nudged my arm up. I obliged and soon enough I felt her slide into place. And she did slide, coming in a little low and sliding herself up and in, so that she ran her body against me a good long way before she settled her head on my shoulder. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, was she doing this all on purpose!?

The sheet finished tucking in around us, followed by the blanket draping over top, and the light of Sweetie's magic finally winking out. Scoots wriggled around a little, trying to get comfortable I suppose. I let her carry on a moment or two before I tightened my hold on her.

“Scoots, I'm gonna be honest with ya: you're not gonna get comfortable. Y'all've changed too much too fast so I reckon nuthin's gonna feel right for a while.”

“I know, but--”

“Just think about sumthin' else. Like… like how yer sharin' a bed with a couple'a pretty mares.”

Scootaloo's wing ruffled against my arm while Sweetie giggled. “How is THAT supposed to help me sleep?”

“Beats worryin' about yer boobs, don't it?”

“Yeah! You can worry about our boobs instead!”

“Uh, that ain't quite what I--”

“Booooooobs!”

“Okay, no, you know what? I'm gonna sleep now,” Scoots declared.

“Sorry,” Sweetie giggled.

“G'night, both of y'all.” I jostled Sweetie a little. “'Specially you.”

She nuzzled a little deeper against me. “G'night.”

“Night,” Scoots said, a little grudgingly.

I let my eyes close again and this time I hoped I'd get to let them stay that way for a few hours. There was nothing to do now but listen to their breathing get slower and steadier. That, and to feel the weight of their bodies leaning into me, their arms draping over me, the silky smooth texture of Sweetie's nightie under my hand, the cool touch of Scootaloo's skin though the wing hole of her shirt, and the gentle brush of her feathers. We'd shared a bed before but never like this. Sweetie had never rubbed herself all over me before. Scootaloo had never sneaked her leg up over mine. I'd never wanted to hold them both as close as I could all night long, just savoring their warmth and scents and the sounds of their breathing.

I could see so many problems coming our way because of it if anypony found out. I could see problems coming even if nopony ever did. But even with all that, even with it being new and different and a little bit frightening, it also felt right. Like it'd been a long time coming and just waiting around the corner for us to catch up. Like I belonged there, sandwiched between them, warm and secure and… together. There was no way I was gonna give this up without a fight. They were worth it.

We were worth it.

…Even if I was pretty sure that Sweetie was drooling in her sleep.

Ah well, we'd make it work.

Author's Note

The End. More or less.

First, I'd like to thank all who read this far for taking the time to give this story a chance. Plus, I'd like to thank everyone who commented for their kind words, it means a lot.

I started this story because I wanted to challenge myself into writing something with topics and themes unlike anything I've written for other fandoms or my own personal stories. However, it seems I may have ended up going a bit niche for my audience. Funnily enough, I suspect I'd have had caught more attention if I'd pushed myself further and went full M rating. Or I'd have been completely buried in the M rated crowd, it's hard to say.

I confess, I have more written (to the tune of a dozen or so more not-entirely-sequential chapters) but this was the closest thing I could find to a place to end a story. The longer it gets, the bigger a commitment I ask a new reader to make for what is such a niche story. I also don't want to string along those of you who have been following the whole thing into an endless future of uncertain updates, possibly to end up cancelled or on an indefinite hiatus right in the middle of a dramatic moment. So I leave it here in a moment of peace and quiet.

Thank you again for reading, I hope you had fun, and I hope the ending isn't too abrupt and unsatisfying. Don't hesitate to let me know what you thought be it good or bad, narrative or technical, casual or detailed. Goodbye for now.

Chapter 1 - Sweetie's Hands

I never know what to do with my hands when I'm using my magic.

My sister always makes her levitating spells look so effortlessly casual. It doesn't matter if she's hard at work sewing or “fainting” dramatically on her fainting couch and floating over her third tub of ice cream, Rarity's magic looks natural. I have no idea how she does it. Even if all she's doing is making a feather duster flick its away across her coffee table she somehow makes it look elegant. Maybe it's the way she stands, or how she angles her horn. Or maybe it's the gorgeous white-but-just-faintly-blue blouse and elegant royal purple skirt combo that makes her signature look together with her hair and tail styles, I don't know. All I could do was sit on her sofa and fiddle with the hem of my own much lighter pastel purple skirt while I watched and, reluctantly, listened.

“Now, Sweetie Belle,” she said in that stern-but-still-friendly tone she uses whenever she's trying to get me to do something, “I expect the boutique to be in one piece when I get back.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Rarity…”

“I do NOT want to find my stock ruined. Or that you've managed to destroy all of my windows again. Nor do I want a tree growing out of my sink, again.”

I picked at a loose thread that'd started to come unraveled right at the edge of one of my skirt's pleats. “Apple Bloom said she was sorry about that. We thought since the potion was so old it wouldn't work anymore so we threw it out. It's not our fault there was a seed stuck in your drain!”

“Never the less, I must insist that you not bring any potions onto the premises. Or any enchanted artifacts. Or any animals.” She turned and jabbed the duster at me. “And under NO circumstances are you to bring any colts over!”

I felt my face heat up with a light blush. “Rarity!”

“I mean it, Sweetie!” she said with a menacing wave of the poofy duster. “It's perfectly natural for a young mare to be… 'interested' but I know for a fact that you don't have a boyfriend. I'll not have you jumping into one night stands at your age.”

I crossed my arms and glared at my older sister with my ears laid back. “I'm eighteen, you know.”

Rarity set her lips into a thin, hard line. “For all of two days, yes, Sweetie, I know. If you ask me you're still much too young to be getting involved in such things. I recognize that the law has to draw the line for everypony somewhere--”

“I wasn't even going to invite over any colts but you don't have to tell me why it's a dumb idea, you know. I'm not a filly anymore!”

It was Rarity's turn to roll her eyes. “Sweetie, darling, that much is obvious to anypony with eyes. That is rather why I'm concerned. A young lady as lovely as yourself is going to attract a lot of attention and not all of it should be accepted.”

I tightened the cross of my arms over my chest a little self consciously. When I was a filly I'd held onto a bit of my 'baby fat' a lot longer than my classmates. Once I'd hit puberty I hadn't so much lost it as moved it around. I went through a LOT of bras before I finally stopped growing (as far as I could tell), not to mention keeping up with my hips and rump. I didn't have quite as much going on there as Apple Bloom but after a while I gave up pants completely because at least a generously cut skirt wouldn't get too tight in a few months and Rarity wouldn't be caught dead letting me wear anything as baggy as Apple Bloom's hand-me-down overalls. I probably could have gotten more time out of my last pair of pants but Rarity said they were “scandalous”.

I could only wish somepony would have told Scootaloo that at some point. Darn her and those darned shorts to Tartarus.

“I don't know about that,” I mumbled. “I don't think anypony is interested in me at all.”

“Trust me, Sweetie, they're interested. It's simply that you'll not find any stallion making a pass at a young mare that's still in school here in Ponyville. Not right under the nose of a Princess, certainly. As for the colts your age, well…” Rarity turned back to the shelf and picked up her dusting where she left off. “I'm afraid most of them probably think that you're a little out of their league.”

“I'm not that pretty.”

“You most certainly are!” she scoffed. “And don't play innocent with me, darling. You're not wearing those stockings with that skirt because your legs get cold.”

I flattened my ears back again in embarrassment. “Yes I am!”

“And the undone buttons on your blouse?”

“Er,” I made a few self-conscious adjustments to smooth my blouse over my chest a little, “it's laundry day and this shirt is a year or two old. It kind of strains if I do all the buttons.”

Rarity cast me a deadpan look over her shoulder. “Gracious, now why ever could that be?”

My already warm face got a little bit warmer. “Apple Bloom's almost as, um, y'know… She's got-- Um--”

“They're called breasts, Sweetie,” Rarity said in a matter-of-fact tone as though she wasn't being super embarrassing. “If you want to treated as an adult you really mustn't get so flustered by this sort of talk. Especially if you're going to be keeping your current look for a while. And yes, your friend does have a rather divine figure as well. If she ever wore something a little more flattering than those,” she pulled a face like she'd bitten into an unpeeled lemon, “hand-me-downs, I assure you that she'd get just as many stares as you do.”

I scrunched up my face in a confused scowl. “Wait, so Apple Bloom needs to wear better looking clothes but my pants were a crime?”

Rarity heaved a long suffering sigh. “There are worlds of difference between 'flattering' and 'provocative'.” A final flick of her duster got rid of some lingering microscopic bit of dust that only she could see and she turned away from the photo shelves to face me with her arms crossed. “Those pants of yours were the latter. Far too much so for a sixteen-year-old filly to go gallivanting about in. I'm certain overalls are perfectly practical wear for life on a farm. Why she feels a need to wear them everywhere is beyond me. I do keep telling Applejack that it would be my pleasure to put a little something together but she will insist on being stubborn. Hmph! 'Charity' indeed! As though charity is some dreadful crime! She is perfectly capable of affording some new clothing for her sister. That she chooses not to purchase any is entirely--”

I groaned softly and slumped further back into the couch. This was going to take a while. She wasn't wrong about Apple Bloom, though. A pony might think that a hard working farm filly would be all muscle and no curves, but Apple Bloom? She has some muscle alright but she's also the second most busty of us three Crusaders after me, has hips that won't quit, plus the full, round rump to go with them. But ever since she got old enough to take on the harder work at the farm she'd started to stick with hard-wearing flannel shirts and loose fitting overalls pretty much all the time. One exception was the beach last summer, where her swimsuit came out in all its figure-hugging glory. And Apple Bloom has one hay of a figure to hug.

“--always so stubborn! At least she's not as bad as Rainbow Dash. The lengths I have to go to get her to take even the slightest interest in her looks… Applejack at least understands the value of taking care of ones appearance, even if she usually doesn't partake for the sake of practicality. And, yes, I suppose pegasai can have some trouble maintaining an elaborate hairstyle when they fly at high speeds. Not to mention the impact of heavy and restrictive clothing on flight. And that's all to say nothing of their appalling standards for a mare's physique. I'm not blind to the challenges, Sweetie, but to not care in the slightest? I simply cannot imagine such a mindset. And the influence she's had on Scootaloo! Alas, what could have been if only she'd had an idol with an appreciation for--”

Scootaloo. When it comes to looks, Scootaloo is Apple Bloom's complete opposite. Apple Bloom is tall, Scootaloo is short. Apple Bloom is curvy, Scootaloo is skinny. Apple Bloom wears her hair long and puts a bow in it, Scootaloo keeps hers short and I'm not sure she even puts conditioner in it. Apple Bloom dresses baggy, I don't think Scootaloo knows the meaning of the word anymore.

Ever since she started flying it has been nothing but shorts and tank-tops with her outside of winter. “Low drag” she calls it. She kinda grew up last out of the three of us and also kinda grew up the least. She's in great shape but she's really skinny. She's the flattest mare our age and her hips look like the bones rounded out but there wasn't enough Scootaloo left to put on them. Just about the only part of her with any sort of curves to it is that tight little rump of hers that she always fits into those snug, snug shorts that hug that rump like their life depends on it. Getting a good look at Apple Bloom is a rare treat. Getting an eyeful of Scootaloo is my daily torture and I swear she knows it.

“Oh, I dropped something! Let me bend waaay over to pick it up. Now I think I'll hover juuuust high enough to put my rump right at eye level. Here, let me move my tail out of the way for you while I adjust my shorts. And remember, it's important to stretch before you work out so check out how far I can bend backwards! Cool, right? Also, it's toootally cool if I throw my arm around your shoulders and just… bump up against your chest, right? I think I'll just stay here for a while, maybe move around a little so that we sorta rub against each other. Now, watch while I go do it to Apple Bloom. Wow, is it hot in here or is it just us?”

Okay, she's never actually said all of that out loud but I swear that's what it's like with her sometimes. The thing is, I don't even get why she bothers me so much! I know enough about what I, well, “like” to know that Scootaloo shouldn't be it. When it comes to mares it's always curvy ones like Apple Bloom who catch my attention, not skinny, athletic types like Scootaloo. Scootaloo wasn't my type. Shouldn't be my type. Was almost the complete opposite of my type. But every time she touched me I felt like my heart was gonna burst right out of my chest.

“Wouldn't you agree?”

“Huh?” I looked up to see that Rarity was looking at me from across the room, one eyebrow raised and her hands on her hips.

“You didn't hear a word I said, did you?”

“Uhh… Your friends need to let you give them makeovers?”

She frowned and started to say something but paused. “Er, I, well, that is-- lucky guess! I can tell you weren't listening!”

I sighed and slumped a little further into the couch cushions. “Sorry.”

“Sweetie Belle, is something the matter?”

I turned my head a little bit off to the side and mumbled out a “No.” I must not have sold it very well because she floated the duster off onto the coffee table and sat down on the other end of the couch.

“Is there something you need to talk about? If you don't mind me saying so, you've been a touch… out of sorts recently. Even Mother and Father noticed and you know how oblivious they can be.” She said that last part like it was a joke but it hit just a little too close to home and so I just recrossed my arms and stared at the arm of the sofa. She changed tactics.

“Sweetie, I know that I am not always, shall we say, the best at being a supportive sister, but I truly do wish to help. It wasn't so very long ago that I was your age, after all. You'd be surprised at how much it can help to simply get things off your chest.”

“I dunno…” …What I'm doing. “It's just that--” Colts aren't the only ones you should worry about. “I mean--” I keep dreaming about my friends. “Um, last night I was--” Thinking about Apple Bloom while I was in the shower and I couldn't help myself. “The other day--” Scootaloo did one of those stupid one-armed-bump hugs and I was THIS close to just grabbing her head and shoving her face into my--

I felt Rarity's hand gently squeeze my shoulder and glanced over. She had concern written all over her face. “Sweetie?”

“I guess I'm just… Worried about what I'm going to do after graduation.” Rarity fixed me with a long, piercing look. She wasn't buying it. Truthfully, this actually had been bothering me on top of all the other stuff. Maybe if I just explained it she'd buy it? “I mean, I don't know what job I'm gonna get. Our special talent is great and I wouldn't trade it for anything but it's not really steady work. Everypony will find their talents eventually with or without us just like they always have and most ponies know exactly how to use theirs already.” I sighed and slumped over with my elbows on my knees. “What if we can't make enough bits? Where am I going to live?”

Rarity sat back, legs crossed and arms folded in thought. “Hmm… perhaps you do have a point there, it is a rather narrow niche you've carved out. Never the less, there's nothing to fret over. I'm certain we can find you some way to make ends meet. It's not as though we'll all just throw you out in the cold the moment you graduate. You know full well I will not stand for anypony in Ponyville languishing in a financial abyss.”

“I know. I just wish I had some idea of what to do with my life.”

Rarity's expression went stern. “Sweetie, a pony's life is so much more than her job, you know that! For ponies with more esoteric talents a job may simply be about putting food on the table and carry no more significance than that. Just look at Scootaloo!”

I let my ears droop. “Yeah, but she at least has something. She knows what she's doing.”

“Speaking of which, have you talked to her and Apple Bloom about this?”

I shrugged. “A little. We were maybe talking about expanding the clubhouse into a real building so we'd have a bit more space to do consulting. It's sorta just a kid's tree house and, honestly, most of our clients who really need the most hands-on help are adults. It's kinda weird inviting a thirty-year-old business stallion into a little filly's tree house to talk about why he doesn't enjoy using his accounting talent anymore.”

Rarity pulled a wry face while she imagined that. “Hmm, yes, I can imagine. I might have a little chat with some of the girls about that. I'm certain there's somewhere in town we could fix up into a more professional office space for you.”

“Thanks, Rarity.”

“You're quite welcome. Now,” she rose from her seat and smoothed out her skirt with her hands. “I really must get back to packing. Remember, I'm back Monday afternoon so you and your friends will have the place to yourself for your little party for the whole weekend. But, so help me, if there are ANY damages then, sister or not, I will make certain that your job after graduation is cleaning out Applejack's pig pen by hand. Do not test me on this, Sweetie Belle.”

I cringed under the withering glare she gave me while she said all that. “Yes, Rarity,” I mumbled. “I already Pinkie Promised…”

“And I'm holding you to it. Now, I'm stepping out for a few minutes to take care of one or two last minute errands. Feel free to stay a while and get your room set up for the weekend before you head back to Mother and Father's.” She swept past me towards the store area of her house. “Be sure to lock the door behind you!”

I sighed then slid off the sofa and slumped my way over to the stairs. Another perfect chance to tell her and I blew it, just like the last time. And the time before that. And the time before that…

Being eighteen stinks.

Chapter 14 - A Broken Promise, and a Simple Question

I trudged out of Fluttershy's cottage feeling heavier than a ton of bricks.

“Stupid body growing stupid things I don't want. Stupid Pinkie Promise.”

I kicked a stray stone along the dirt road that lead back to town. I could have flown all the way home, but that would mean giving up kicking things and that was too high a price to pay until I really needed to dodge anypony seeing me. Of course Fluttershy wouldn't have a new binder waiting for me. Why would she? She wasn't running a store. I was lucky Fluttershy had agreed to help at all after I broke my promise to get a new binder when I outgrew the old ones. She'd been very quiet (even by her standards) all through the measuring. When she did say something, she'd almost been sharp with me about waiting so long to come back. The looks she'd given me…

“My my my, aren't you in sour mood today?”

I almost jumped out of my skin. The voice came from everywhere at once, echoing like the inside of Twilight's castle but without anything to echo off of. I recognized it quickly enough once the shock wore off. Of course HE would wait until after I was far enough from Fluttershy's place before he butted in. I hunched my shoulders and kept walking.

The voice chuckled. “What? No time to stop and chat to a dear and, frankly, amazing friend?”

I gritted my teeth and kept walking. “I'm not in the mood, Discord.”

A shrub beside the road rustled and burst into bloom, red, yellow, gray, and blue flowers sprouting in the rough shape of Discord's long face. “And here I came to offer my assistance. Why, if this is how you treat your friends, it's a wonder you managed to land yourself in this little love triangle.”

Blood rushed to my face and I whirled around to shout at him. “It is NOT a love triangle!”

Discord rolled his daisy eyes. “Would you prefer 'circle of affection'? 'Rhombus of passion'? 'Parabola of romance'?” I swatted at the flowers, tearing most of them off and scattering them to the wind.

“You've been spying on us!”

“Hardly,” Discord scoffed from a puddle that had no business being on the road when it hadn't rained all week. I stomped right to the edge of it and glared down into the impossible reflection of Discord's face within.

Discord looks weird. He's like a young stallion who's also really old, and I don't know how that works. He almost looks like he's in his late twenties or early thirties, except for the lines under his eyes, and the fact that his eyebrows and beard are snow white. At the same time, his short, slightly messy hair is all shiny black, not even any white streaks. His long ears sit a bit too low and never stand up evenly, and the weird blue horn and antler just make his face look even longer than it is. The red and yellow eyes are just creepy as far as I'm concerned, and his teeth? I don't know half of the things he gets his teeth from but I know for a fact that most of those things don't belong in the same mouth. Especially not the fang.

“Oh yeah? Then how would you know about a--” I gagged on the words, “love triangle?”

He leaned against the edge of the puddle and started filing his eagle talons with an ear of corn. “Well, there I was, disorganizing Twilight's library as my little way of saying 'I care', when I felt a magical disturbance over in Rarity's shop. Quite the disturbance indeed, and with Sweetie Belle's signature no less! Now, being the fantastic friend that I am, I was well aware of your little party this weekend, and so I popped on over to investigate--”

“Why?”

Discord wiped off his smirk off with a handkerchief and plastered on a wounded expression in its place, smoothing it on with the scaly, yellow fingers of his left hand before answering. “I assure you that I had nothing but the best of intentions! Sweetie Belle isn't the sort of pony to go around firing off combat spells on a whim. I assumed she was in danger.”

I folded my arms and scowled all the harder. “You never help out when anypony is in danger.”

Discord's mouth twisted into a crooked smile. “Don't I? It's not every trio of fillies that walks away from plunge after crash after fire without so much as a scrape, you know.”

Now that I thought about it, it did seem sort of lucky how much we got away with… I shook my head violently. Discord is a professional liar. He probably invented lying. Like, actually invented it.

“Why should I believe that?”

“Because it's rude to assume the worst of others,” he said airily. “Also, because in about five seconds,” a loud ticking started up from… somewhere? “…you're going to realize that you're missing the point.”

“The point is that you were spying on Sweetie and-- Wait, combat spell?” Something dinged. I dropped to my knees and plunged my hand into the puddle to grab at Discord's collar. I don't know how, but I actually got a hold of it and pulled his head up and out of the puddle so we were face to face.

“What happened!? Is she okay!? Tell me!”

Discord's renewed smile didn't so much as twitch. “Oh, merely a lovers spat. From what she was sobbing into Apple Bloom's shoulder, I'd say that somepony broke her heart. Powerful feelings do wonders for your magic, you know. She sent Apple Bloom halfway down the hallway with that one! Hoo-hoo~! The look on her face--!”

I yanked him in closer, glaring right into his weird, misty red pupils. “Not. Funny.”

Discord blew a tiny puff of air in my face that hit like a gale. I lost my grip on his collar and landed hard on my rump a half dozen steps away. He lifted himself part way out of the puddle, left elbow on the ground and chin resting on his yellow palm. As usual, he was wearing his mismatched brown coat that was like five different brown coats cut and stitched together. The left sleeve isn't even a sleeve, it's some kind of weird cape thing that drapes over the old-fashioned shirt he wears with the sleeve rolled up to show off his wiry, griffon-ish arm.

“You, my young, love-struck pegasus friend, are in trouble. Stuck not just between two mares, but your best friends. The very ponies you're bound to by that charmingly unusual trio of marks you share. Who to choose? Whose heart do you break?”

“Shut up!”

Discord leaned in, grinning wider than ever. “Oh, but it's just too entertaining! I couldn't have come up with a better trap myself!”

I got to my feet and dusted myself off, glaring at him all the while. “What do you want, Discord?”

“Moi? I just want to ask you a question. That's all.” He held up a taunting finger that waggled its own taunting finger at me. “Just a single, simple question.”

I narrowed my eyes. Nothing is EVER simple with Discord. “What's the catch?”

“You have to listen.” I froze. Discord's voice, and face, had just gotten a lot more serious. “What I'm about to ask you is very important, and I'm quite certain that nopony else in this neat and tidy little town is going to ask it. You're in a tight spot and faced with a difficult choice. At least, that's what everypony is going to tell you. One… or the other. Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom. My question for you is this--” A hand landed on my right shoulder just as his voice whispered into my ear, smooth as venomous silk.

“Why not both?”

Before I answer, before I could even finish flinching, there was a flash of light, and then both of him were gone.

I got home about three hours after my run in with Discord, thanks to deciding to do a few dozen laps around the sky over Ponyville to try (and fail) to clear my head. The first thing I did was drag myself into the kitchen in search of anything in that sweet spot of actual food that doesn't need cooking. I settled for canned beets straight from the can and reminding myself that if I'd just kept my stupid problems to myself I'd be having actual food with my best friends instead of stabbing beets out of a can with a fork while trying to forget what Discord said.

Why not both?

Because it'd never work. Ever. It'd make me too happy. It would mean I didn't have to hurt anypony. An instant “get out of Tartarus free” card. A way to keep my friends with me, and get to be more than just friends them, and not have anypony left out? That was waaay too good to be true. Plus, Apple Bloom was still saying she doesn't like mares even after we almost went all the way past second base right there in the orchard. Sweetie was totally into mares but… I couldn't help but wonder if she would still be interested in me after the whole “running away” thing.

Oh, and everypony else would probably freak out about it. There's that, too.

I was just on my way back to my room to finish my “dinner” when I heard the worlds most feeble knock at my front door. If there had been so much as a bird chirping outside I wouldn't have heard it, which meant it basically had to be Fluttershy.

Back out of my room I went, setting my half-eaten can of beets on the kitchen counter along the way, before opening my inner door and going down the stairs to the outside door. My apartment is on the second floor of the house I live in, and the only way in (aside from the windows) is a closed-in staircase hugging the side of the house that goes straight up to the second floor. It's an addition or something that got built on years after the lower floor was built, and the owner rents it out. It's kinda small and I have to be quiet at night, but the rent is cheap.

When I unlocked the door, the expected yellow pegasus was waiting for me, in her flowing, peach colored blouse and pale green pants.

“Hey, Flutt--” She cut me off by thrusting the shopping bag she was carrying into my arms.

“I picked out a couple of choices for you with your new measurements to try on,” she said, sharply. “There's also another healing potion from Zecora to help with the pain and all the damage that you've done to yourself.” She turned on her heel and started to walk away.

I looked into the bag. The potion was there alright but-- “Hey, these are regular bras. I mean, regular sports bras. I asked for--”

“No.”

I looked up, Fluttershy was stopped still a few paces away, facing away from me. “But-- I can't go out in these! I need a--” I looked up and down the (thankfully empty) street and lowered my voice to a hiss, “a binder.”

“Buy one yourself.”

“Hey, I paid for these. I just needed you to--”

“I said NO!”

Everypony who knew Fluttershy long enough heard about “The Stare” sooner or later. Rainbow Dash told me about a time when she'd used it on a fully grown dragon and made him cry. When I was little I saw Fluttershy Stare down a cockatrice while being turned to stone. Sure, I also heard it didn't work on Discord but, come on, it's Discord. I'd never actually been on the business end of The Stare though.

Not until now.

“Did you even THINK about what you were doing?”

She'd been halfway to the road. She couldn't have gotten back to the door that fast. She just couldn't!

“You promised me that you'd do it right this time! You promised me that you'd let me know when you needed a new one!”

Her eyes bored into mine like drills. Fluttershy was only a tiny bit taller than me but I could swear she was towering over me like a dragon made of guilt.

“You Pinkie Promised me and you BROKE that promise! I was trying to help you and you used me to keep hurting yourself. Did you even think about how that would make me feel!? I can't believe you could be so selfish! I have half a mind to tell Rainbow Dash about this!”

My stomach turned to an icy pit of dread. “But I--”

“But NOTHING, young lady! You came to me for help and I'm giving it, but I will NOT help you hurt yourself anymore! Now, what do you have to say for yourself!?”

I could see myself reflected in her eyes. It was like seeing myself chained in the lowest depths of Tartarus, tormented by all my sins forever. Every broken promise, every cruel word and lie, every single mistake, all turned around and poured into my eyes.

Then it was gone.

“Scootaloo? Oh dear, did I--?”

I bolted.

I dropped the bag and I just ran. I took the stairs two at a time, skidded around the corner into my apartment, and sprinted into my bedroom like a pack of Timberwolves was at my heels. I slammed the door shut behind me and fumbled with the latch until it finally clicked. Then I wedged a chair under the knob. And pushed my dresser in front of it. It was just quick flap across the room to latch the window and draw the curtains, and then I dove onto my bed and pulled the sheet up over my head.

Discord had stood up to that!? Rainbow Dash was friends with THAT!? She was evil! She'd come straight from the depths of Tartarus! Her voice! Her eyes! Sweet Celestia, her eyes! I could still see them. I could still see them.

*Rap tap tap*

“Scootaloo?”

My blood temperature dove right down to forty below. She was outside my room. Why hadn't I locked the front door!?

“Um, are you, um, okay?”

I pulled my sheet tighter around my shivering body and went full fetal position. She couldn't get inside. I was safe. …Was that a sniffle?

“I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to use The Stare! It just happened! I really can't control it. Sometimes I just get so angry and it comes out and th-then--” My shivering calmed down. It was hard to believe that was the same voice from a minute ago. She sounded so frightened and upset, but not like angry upset. Like 'I accidentally hurt a puppy' upset. “Are you okay? Scootaloo?”

Slowly I sat up. “…Yeah?” I called back. Celestia, I sounded like a scared little filly!

“Oh thank goodness! I'm so sorry about that. Um, I mean, I am upset with you, but I didn't mean to use The Stare.”

“That was an accident?” I said weakly. “What the hay happens if you mean to do it?”

“Actually, it, um, doesn't work as well.” We were both quiet for a moment before Fluttershy went on. “Are you okay? It's just… you seemed a little down before, now that I think about it.”

I hugged my knees to my chest and winced at the pain that set off. “I'm okay.”

“Are you sure? If you need to talk about anything...”

I sighed. She wasn't gonna give up unless I told her something. Fluttershy is just too darn nice to leave somepony alone if they were hurting. When she's not being crazy, anyway.

“I had a fight with my friends. We already started patching things up though, so you don't have to worry. Just a few things to work out, you know? We're talking tomorrow.”

“Oh dear. I know you girls fight a lot but you've always been so close.”

I stifled a snort. She had noooo idea. “It's cool. We're still friends. You can just leave that bag wherever it is. I'll grab it later.”

“Oh! Yes, of course. Well… if you change your mind about talking, you know where to find me, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” I bit my lip a little when I heard the floorboard outside creak a little. She's a good listener. Maybe she'd know what I should do? “Hey, Fluttershy!”

The board creaked again. “Yes?” she called hopefully.

“Er--” And, just like that, I chickened out. “Uh-- Sorry I lied to you!” I cringed. Sure, it was true but what if I'd just reminded her of how angry I'd made her?

“I forgive you.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Of course!” Her voice was all rainbows and butterflies like she hadn't just chewed me out three minutes ago. “As long as you're sorry and understand why what you did was wrong, why wouldn't I forgive you? You're not a bad pony, Scootaloo, you just made a bad choice. I'm, um, still not buying you a binder, though.”

“Okay, I get it, I'll buy it on my own.”

I heard her shuffle around a little outside but she didn't push it. “I, um, guess I'll be going now. Don't forget the potion. It's the same as last time. Zecora suggested letting it work overnight, okay?”

“Sure. Thanks, Fluttershy.”

The board creaked again. A few tense moments later I heard the front door shut. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and slumped over double.

“Ugh, that could have gone better.”