Chapter 1
“Okay, Sweetie, ready?”
The girl looked at her friend, the lowering sun reflecting in the droplets of sweat that had been accumulating, under the warm sun. This wasn’t properly how she wanted to spend an afternoon, but this was how she had spent all the hours where the sun had shined. She looked at her watch, a present from her sister. While usually eccentric, her sister had given her a rather normal one, one that fit her more contained personality very well, being that to do sport, a simple digital watch was way more useful. But being Rarity it still had to be the most complete package possible.
Being a tad....well, being a girl who enjoyed her commodity, and her milkshakes, sodas, cakes and other treats, Sweetie wasn’t properly in a fit state. So now she was gasping for air as she tried, with all of her might, to regain the air she had lost while running. Even as she had, she hadn’t quite properly been able to keep up with her more tomboyish friend, who, much like her idol, was a sports fanatic.
“I don’t think....that I can run a lot longer, I’m tired.”
Scootaloo looked at her friend, who was bent in half, her hands on her belly. She rolled her eyes.
“C’mon! We’ve only run a couple of miles, that isn’t even half of what I’m used to doing!”
Sweetie looked up, the words of her friend barely registering, her legs were shivering, threatening to let her fall down onto the cold pavement below. Shivering legs and lungs that burned, almost as if on fire aside, Sweetie was still happy, how could she not be when she was with her....best friend? Best friend and nothing more. She thought, as she wiped the sweat in her brow.
“C’mon, let’s go, just a little bit more, and then you can rest. Got to take your excess belly, and make you a tad more presentable to the boys.” Scootaloo teased, an almost too brief to be perceptible look of disgust on her face. Sweetie thought she could see it. But then again, her mind could be playing tricks on her again. Funny how those things were, sometimes.
“Yeah....boys...” Sweetie focused on a point far up ahead, as she tried to make her face, that was already red from the workout (and now was even redder), turn to it’s usual pale state. A task at which she failed. Miserably.
“Yeah, so as I was saying, let’s go!” With an excited shout, Scootaloo got up from the ground, where she had sat down looking at Sweetie, and started running, not thirty seconds later, Sweetie had already lost her, as she was out of sight, having turned a curve that was ahead.
“Gosh darn it.” She said, her education stopping her from uttering a real swear, even if she was approaching adulthood, at 16. She started running again, much slower than her friend, trying to absorb as much as air as she possibly could.
A few minutes passed, until Sweetie finally arrived next to Scootaloo.
“What took you so long?” Scootaloo asked, as she taped her feet on the ground, one at a time her patience running dangerously low. She wasn’t the most patient of people in most cases, but each moment spent away from her ....friend, there was an hesitation on her mind there, was a moment she couldn’t look at her, or laugh at her jokes, or even chit chat about random topics. She even liked to hear the gossip Sweetie had heard from other sources, even if she secretly thought it was best to mind her own business.
But now her friend was there, her well brushed hair and makeup completely ruined. She was a total mess. As the sweat had made her eyeliner rush down her face. And the lipstick she was wearing had long been washed out by her body. Scootaloo felt her heart skip a beat, somehow, even when not properly taken care of, Sweetie was always so cute.
If she wasn’t careful, she’d have a heart attack just from the mere sight. “But I’m glad you’re finally here, want water?” Scootaloo took a bottle of water from her backpack, it was pretty much full, Scootaloo’s body having been used to exercise through most of her life, but Sweetie took it gladly, in 10 seconds she took a handful of gulps, and emptied out the bottle, then she sat down on the grass that bordered the pavement.
“Thanks.” She paused for a few minutes to breathe and relax her body. While Scootaloo looked at her, fascinated by the sight. It wasn’t just the body that made Sweetie so beautiful to her. It was the way she laughed, how funny she was, a million of little details she had come to notice over the last few years they were together, ever since she had been placed in the same class as her. Sweetie tried hard not to look at Scootaloo, the other girl with the name starting with an “S” being her crush ever since she didn’t even know when. Unlike Scootaloo that was bold in her approach, watching her intensively and looking her straight in the eyes, those green orbs of hers, Sweetie was much more shy, and preferred avoiding making physical contact with Scootaloo or even look at her, while that idea had given Scootaloo concerns that the other one didn’t like her, it also had made hangouts between the two, and Apple Bloom, another friend of them, pretty difficult.
Sweetie had been surprised at herself for accepting the offer to come running with her crush, both because it was a thing she hated, and because being alone with her seemed like both a dream and a nightmare come true at the same time. She feared that she’d make a fool out of herself, with her lack of athletic abilities. Scootaloo feared that Sweetie thought of her as just another dumb jock, obsessed with athletes and not much else, a fear only made worse by the fact that she was far from the best student.
“So....”
“Yeah...”
“You know what I’m saying?”
“What? You haven’t said a thing!”
Sweetie finally had the courage to look her friend in the eyes, for the first time in years, and while she gazed upwards to her taller friend, the other one looked downwards. Their eyes met, and they both blushed and avoided making eye contact.
“This is ridiculous, isn’t it? I mean, we both being unable to talk? I’ll start, how’s the weather?”
“Seriously, you want to talk about the weather? What’s wrong with you, Scoots?”
If Scootaloo could get any redder, she would, remembering the nickname she had shared with her friends, the one her mother had called her when she was little.
“Just making small talk, It’s not like I can talk about feelings, right?”
Did I just say that loud, *****! She thought, unlike sweetie her mind easily filled with swear words.
“I’d talk about my feelings, if I thought you wouldn’t hate me for them.” Sweetie said, shily.
“What, why? I’d never hate you, in fact, you’re my closest friend!” And maybe something else for me.
“Well then!” She took a pretty big gulp. “I kind of like you! In fact I like you so much that whenever I see you , I try not to look and stuff because you’re like all that great, and I all that , blew and I...”
Her rambling was stopped dead in its tracks by a kiss to the lips. As soon as they both recovered from the shock Scootaloo smiled
.
“You are certainly not a ‘blew’ girl, in fact you’re pretty much the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen”
“Why thank you!” She hugged Scootaloo, then noticed some of the sweat in her clothes had passed to her now girlfriend (did she even have to ask?).
“What do you say I take a shower, and then we go have a walk, and kiss and hug and stuff? Only, no running. Please?”
Scootaloo Smiled.
“Not a problem, not a problem”
And they both left, happily and gladly.