> Potion Panic
>  by gaitiem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1 Drinks for Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was the Thursday after Hearts and Hooves Day, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were out of school and headed to the treehouse. Apple Bloom had forgotten to write her essay due that day, but Miss Cheerilee said she could finish it after class and turn it in for full credit. AB was in a bit of hot water when it came to her grades, so she told the others to go on without her.
"Are you sure?" Sweetie had asked. "You'd be walking home all by yourself. Is that safe?"
"You’re startin’ to sound just like mah sister. Quit yer worryin’! I walked home alone before I knew either a' y'all, and nothin’ bad ever happened. I'll be fine."
"Less weight for me to scoot around," Scootaloo joked. "Seriously though, don't worry about it Sweetie. The way is totally safe. See you at the treehouse, Apple Bloom!" 
“Tarnation…” Scootaloo stopped to hear what AB had to say. “I don’t know how long I’m gonna be on this, girls. If y’all get antsy, go ahead an’ crusade without me. I’ll catch up when I’m able,” Apple Bloom told them. “See y’all later, and, Sweetie Belle, don’t worry so much, okay.”
They left on that note, but as they were setting up the scooter, Scootaloo added "Though, if you’re worried about yourself, Sweetie Belle, we could always get a blanket for you to cower under on the way."
"Aw, don't tease me, Scootaloo" Sweetie said, half whining. “Just cause Apple Bloom’s not here to call you out on it...”. She looked up at Scootaloo from the red waggon that they had hitched to the end of the scooter to serve as a passenger car, and thought how it wasn’t always there. "Remember when we always went home together, before we met Apple Bloom?"
"Oh yeah," Scootaloo said, reminiscing. "We got the red waggon from her. Before, you always just stood behind me holding around..." Scootaloo realized it was awkward to say, "...my hip."
"Yeah, hehe." The awkwardness of the subject was not lost on Sweetie Belle. She wondered why it seemed so weird now. Maybe they had matured in the time they had met Apple Bloom, and were more aware of how it was and wasn't appropriate for young mares to act. Maybe having a third friend made being so close as a pair seem strange. She didn't want for things to go back to the way they were; the waggon was way safer than two people balancing on a scooter, anyways. All the same, she wondered if she could remember what it was like to be that close to another pony. Besides awkward, obviously. She was brought back to the present moment by the waggons sudden stop. They had arrived at the treehouse. 
No matter what they thought about their friendship before they knew Apple Bloom, there was no doubt they were better off now. As Crusaders, they had their own house, colors, and sense of purpose. As a team, they usually had enough filly-power to get done whatever they needed to. As friends, they always had enough plans for fun stuff to do between the three of them that the drag of crusading never wore them down. Misfits as they were, their cogs meshed together just fine.
Scootaloo opened the door for Sweetie as they made their way inside. "So how should we prank Apple Bloom when she gets back?" Scootaloo asked Sweetie, half-teasing. 
Sweetie looked around for something to rig or sabotage for comic effect. She wasn't sure she wanted to go along with pranking her friend, but she wanted to at least know that she could, and then decide not to. The treehouse was full of drawings and lists, plans for things to try and ideas for how to organize membership and represent cutie-mark-less ponies everywhere. None of that was any good, or at least not for a prank. 			“I wish we had this chance a week ago,” Sweetie said “when Hearts and Hooves Day was still coming up.”
“That’s true,” Scootaloo agreed. “We could have...” she paused, thinking, “... I don’t know, maybe wrote her a love letter from a ‘secret admirer’, and tricked her into meeting him at a certain place, but instead of her special somepony, she finds... Gummy! ‘Give me a kiiiiiiss’” she said, doing her best Gummy impression.
“Hehahaha, that would have been pretty mean, though,” Sweetie corrected her, reluctantly.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Scoots admitted. “I don’t think either of us know how to write like a love letter like a colt in the first place.”
“It wouldn’t have to be a colt,” Sweetie postulated.
“I’ve never heard of mares sending mares loveletters. What would two mares even do together if they met up?”
“I dunno. Same stuff as mares and stallions, I guess. Eat together. Spend time together.” Sweetie thought a moment. “Kiss?”
Scootaloo wanted to stay on the topic of pranking Apple Bloom. “We could always just rig a bucket of water at the door so it falls on her head.”
“I don’t know,” Sweetie disagreed, “It would be better to do something original.”
“If you have any better ideas, I’m all ears,” Scootaloo challenged her.
Sweetie looked more intently around the room. Finally, she noticed an assortment of beakers and vials on a shelf. It was Apple Blooms alchemy 	equipment.
“We could do something to her potion-making stuff,” Sweetie suggested. “Mix in the wrong ingredient so that, when she tries to use it, it ends up making a mess or doing something funny.”
“Do you know anything about sabotaging potions?” Scootaloo asked. “Cause, I don’t.”
“Hmm,” Sweetie hummed. Scootaloo was right. They couldn’t use that idea. She looked and thought harder about something they could do. 	She noticed a bag of potions hanging from a hook next to the shelf. “Maybe one of those potions will have something we can use.”
“Hitting her with her own medicine…” Scootaloo smirked. “Good eye, Sweetie. Let’s do it!”
Sweetie tried to lift the bag down, but couldn’t only move it so much with her magic. Scootaloo tried to fly up and get it, but couldn’t make it that far off the ground. Eventually, Sweetie did what she assumed Apple Bloom must have done and used a chair to get up higher. Scootaloo was still trying to fly when Sweetie started looking through the potions. “What in the…” she said, looking at one of them. Scootaloo realized her efforts were in vain and went to see what Sweetie was confused by. 
She read out loud “‘Improved Formula for Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara’? What the hay!? Why is she making potions for them instead of us?”
Sweetie Belle thought for a second. “Maybe she’s been selling them. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon do get big allowances...”
“I guess that’s true,” said Scootaloo. “Doesn’t really seem fair, though. We never even get to try her potions. What if she made one that could help my wings grow, or make your voice less squeaky?”
“My voice isn’t squeaky!” squeaked Sweetie Belle.
“Hey, why don’t we try this one!” suggested Scootaloo. “Just a little sip, just to see what it does. They won’t even notice.”
Sweetie exclaimed, “What!? But we don’t know what it is!”
“They wouldn’t be paying good money for it if it were dangerous, and Apple Bloom wouldn’t be working for them unless she was making some serious bits!” Scootaloo postulated. Sweetie Belle would take more convincing than that. “You’re not scared again, are you? Maybe we should have got that blan-” before she could finish her word, Sweetie took the potion out of her hoof and took a brief swill.
Sweetie rolled the taste around in her mouth trying to come to a consensus on the sensation. “It tastes…” she paused, confused, “how sunlight... sounds.”
Scootaloo didn’t think to question that assessment. “Feel any different?”
Sweetie looked at herself in the clubhouse mirror for any abnormalities. “Not that I can see. Maybe it doesn’t work on unicorns?” Sweetie said, unsure.
“Let me see it,” Scootaloo said, taking a sip from the vial. “Huh, yeah, sunlight. Other than that, though…” she awaited a sensation “...I’m not getting any effects. I think it might be a dud.”
“Or maybe it only works on Earth Ponies,” Sweetie said, fairly sure of herself now.
“Welp,” Scootaloo yawned, “I’m bored. Let’s go and see if Apple Bloom can’t catch up like she said she would.”
“We should leave a note saying where we’re going… where are we going?” Sweetie asked her friend in the process of leaving.
“I need to get this weird taste out of my mouth. Wanna get a smoothie?” Scootaloo proposed.
“I do! I’ll tell her we’ll be there, then.” Sweetie quickly scribbled a note while Scootaloo limbered up her little wings for the journey ahead.

Some time later, Apple Bloom arrived on the scene.

“‘Went to get smoothies ‘round half past three’” Apple Bloom read out loud. “‘Come find us if you don’t have homework or chores.’ Big if. Guess we’ll have time to crusade this weekend.” Apple Bloom was about to leave when she noticed her bag of potions on the floor. Calmly, she asked out loud “Did those fall?” 
A sense of urgency surged through the little filly and she exclaimed “Oh no, no, no! Please don’t be cracked! I borrowed those vials from Zecora. I can fix it, I can fix it-” she chanted to herself. She opened the terrible bag to find all vials intact, to her great relief, yet something was off. 		“This potion used to be filled to the highest tick. Is it leakin’?” Apple Bloom carefully examined the potion for any signs of a crack or bleed, but found nothing. The glass should not have been permeable; nothing should have been gone. “Ah, that can’t be right! I could ‘a’ sworn it was all the way to the top tick. Maybe I’m thinking of the other potion. It’s not like anypony would have uncapped it to pour some out, or drink some.” For a split second, she caught herself suspecting that her friends might have drank from her potions. 
“Nah, couldn’t be that. They wouldn’t just taste test my potions f’r no reason,” she said outloud, less sure than she meant to convey to herself. 	The thought resurfaced, this time with a friend. “Did I see my wagon outside on my way in?” She barely thought about it before now, but it seemed really odd now that she had thought about it. “Why would they take the scooter if it couldn’t both use it? If they were splitting up, it would make sense, but the note said they were going to the same place.” She left the treehouse to double check. The red waggon was indeed there, all by it’s lonesome. As she anxiously walked away from the treehouse she said to herself “Maybe I should quick stop by the smoothie shop, just to tell ‘em why I can’t join ‘em.”
“Don’t worry, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, overhearing her. She appeared out of the blue, and Apple Bloom wasn’t sure how long she had been there. “I’ll pass the message onto them on my way to Twilights. I’m sure you’re just itchin’ to get to your chores.”
“Oh, Applejack,” Apple Bloom said, surprised and worried. “You sure I couldn’t come with you? I could make myself useful to Princess Twilight.”
“Sorry, little sis,”  Applejack scolded, “but the needs of the farm must come before those of the farm-pony. I’m sure your friends will understand.” 
Apple Blooms bubble thoroughly burst, she headed for home and her family duties, while her sister trotted into town. “I’m just bein’ paranoid,” she tried to assure herself. “There’s no way they got into my stash. An’... even if they did. I can fix it. I can-” she chanted to herself in that way as she walked away. 

> 2 You Gotta Share
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The bell tower chimed seven. Pinkie must have been in charge of the bells that day, because it was actually four. Few ponies were fooled by this development, some looking outside to notice it was still light out, others rushing to finish dinner preparations, chores, or homework. A few hours lost can be a huge upset for a pony with no clear concept of time. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, however, were out and about, and knew what time it was in spite of the misinformation. “Just Pinkie being Pinkie...” Sweetie said, under her breath.
“I never got that!” Scootaloo commented. “I mean, I get that Pinkie isn’t like most ponies, but, like, how? Is she just ditzy, is she totally nuts, or is she some kind of super genius who just acts silly?”
Sweetie pulled her front hooves up from under the table to wave them in front of her in a faux spooky fashion. “Nopony know-ow-ow-ows!” Sweetie moaned, making a silly face to match. Sweetie knew almost as little about Pinkie as Scootaloo did, but she knew enough to know it wasn’t something to be worried about.
What she didn’t expect was Scootaloos laugh. Just that one little “nopony knows” killed Scoots like nothing Sweetie had said before. Sweetie didn’t really think her joke was that funny, but clearly she owed herself more credit. Feeling unusually confident, Sweetie proceeded to pick something out of the menu. “I think I’m going to get a large chocolate vanilla swirl...”
Scootaloo quickly snapped herself out of her chuckle and turned her mind to the more practical matter of what she was going to order. “Wait, Sweetie, how many bits did you bring?”
Sweeties confidence took a steep plummet. She quickly opened up her saddle bag only to be disappointed. “Oh, yeah, I think I only brought enough for the small…”
“Those small ones are a total rip off!” Scoots complained. “You get way less that half the smoothie for half the price.”
Sweetie quickly came to a conclusion. “Why don’t we just share one large one? We each pay half and get two straws.”
Scootaloo's wings perked up like the ears of a surprised cat. “Wouldn’t that be weird? Like, isn’t that what special someponies do?”
“I guess…” admitted Sweetie Belle, “...but you said yourself, most ponies don’t think about mares and mares being special someponies. We could probably get away with it,” she concluded. Looking to tease Scoots a little more, she added, “But, if you’re too scared…”
Scootaloo considered the proposal. “Alright,” she smirked, “make it a tangerine vanilla swirl and you’ve got a deal!”
“Deal!” Sweetie exclaimed. They shook hooves on it, and proceeded to flag a waiter down to take their order. The drink came, and, rather than stare into each other's eyes as they drank, they each took turns drinking out of different straws. “Yeah, this is actually way more for how much it costs! I just hope there’s enough for Apple Bloom to have some if she shows up.”
“Big if,” Scootaloo said, doubtful. “She’s really been slacking on school lately.”
“We’ll she’s had a lot of chores,” Sweetie said, defensively. “And it’s not fair when we’re always asking her to go crusading with us.” 
“Applejack is always getting pulled away to spend time with her friends, but Granny and Mac are totally fine with that.”
“Well, Applejack’s friend is the princess. They have important stuff to do.”
“More important than cutie marks!?” Scootaloo inquired.
“Point taken,” half-heartedly declared Sweetie Belle, more interested in taking another sip then continuing the argument. “You should definitely get a smoothie cutie mark for this flavor choice Scootaloo! I’ve never had it before, and it’s already my favorite!”
“Keep up the sweat talk and maybe you’ll get a smoothie cutie mark too,” Scootaloo joked. Sweetie Belle chuckled uncontrollably in response to this otherwise terrible pun which, for whatever reason, she found hilarious. Scootaloo, amused by her uncharacteristic amusement, pressed on in saying “I guess that’s why they call you Sweetie, huh.” She only noticed how silly it sounded upon hearing it reverberate from the walls of the mostly empty smoothie shop. Along with Sweetie Belle’s escalating laughter, that is. “Sheesh, Sweetie Belle, you feeling okay, it really wasn’t that-”
“Howdy, you two!” an inconvenient AJ greeted them from outside.
“Oh, hey Applejack,” Sweetie Belle saluted, forgetting what had made her laugh rather suddenly. “Do you have anything super important to do for Princess Twilight today?” she asked, remembering their previous argument.
“Welp, you never know with Twilight, but I’d reckon I’d be a poor excuse for a friend if I didn’t help either way.”
Scootaloo sort of wanted to ask whether Twilight’s summons were usually for important “fate of Equestria” type dilemmas, or just casual meet ups, but thought it would be rude to press the matter further, in spite of how it might support her argument. Instead, she simply asked “How’s Apple Bloom doing?”
“Oh, Apple Blooms mighty busy. She’s got her regular chores, and we’re havin’ a tutor help her with her studyin’. There’s more fancy mathematics than you think that goes into apple farming. Why, if I had a shiny red-delicious for every time I had just not enough seed to cover four acres in… well, you don’t wanna hear about that.”
“That’s fine,” Scootaloo said. “We didn’t really have anything specific planned for crusading today anyways.”
“Well, that’s just about the best way to fetch a cutie mark, I’d say,” AJ pontificated. “Run it by ear, and be open to new experiences. That’s the way to let your destiny find you.” Applejack paused, as if to make sure the two fillies were paying attention to her spiel. However, she seemed to notice something else that made her change tone. She concluded, “By the look of things, I’d say you two already knew that better than I thought. I’ll get out of your hair. Have fun you two!”
“Okay… you ‘have fun’ too?” Sweetie said, slightly confused. As Applejack left the shop she asked Scootaloo, “What did she mean by that last part?”
Scootaloo’s face went a paler shade of orange. Her pupils went from fully dilated to a mere speck in a sea of white. “Sweetie Belle?” she asked cautiously.
“What is it?” Sweetie asked, concerned.
“Remember when we shook hooves on splitting the large smoothie?”
“Yeah, I guess… why?”
“Did we ever let go?”
Sweetie Belle finally understood what Applejack meant. They had shaken hooves, finished their dealings, and left them, laying on the table, still interlocked, for as long as it took to finish a large smoothie and then some. Startling as this revelation was, Sweetie’s mind was immediately occupied by yet another thought. “Scootaloo?”
“Yeah, Sweetie Belle?”
“How did we get here?”

> 3 Advice from a "Grown Up"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The clock chimed Quarter-to-Five as Pinkie walked home from the job she had been fired from. How was she to have known that some ponies would really be fooled by a bell that was three hours off? All they had to do was look outside to get the joke, and she only meant it for a laugh. In spite of her disappointment, Pinkie perked herself up with thoughts of all the ponies who heard the bell, though of her, and got a smile out of it. Their day a bit less dreary, their step a bit less weary, and their path to carry on a little more... "Cleary?" she asked herself out loud. She was struggling to keep the mantra from dissolving into nonsense, but found, instead, that the silly fake word was enough to help her forget it, and chuckle softly herself in spite of it all.
On the road, she met Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who, though one was walking the other home, seemed to keep their distance, one scooting slowly behind the other. "Hey girls!" she called out to them. 
The two were uncustomarily excited to see her, exclaiming "Hey Pinkie Pie!" in unison. Pinkie was most pleased to see the little fillies so enthusiastic, and it didn't take much to start her down the path of planning out a whole day of fun for the three. 
Three? She thought. One missing!  "Where's Apple Bloom? We need her to help me bake for the cupcake eating contest!"
"Contest?" Sweetie asked, unaware of the party ponies peculiar plans.
"She's busy," Scootaloo told her, unphased. "It's just..." she found it difficult to say, "me and Sweetie today."
“That’s ‘Sweetie and I’, silly filly! I know Miss Cheerilee taught you better than that!” Pinkie corrected her before taking a concerned pause. Pinkie Pie was usually the last to notice if her exuberance was making somepony uncomfortable, but Scootaloo's disposition couldn’t be ignored. "Is there something wrong?"
"Pinkie... do you think you could give us some 'grown up' advice?" Scoots asked.
She lunged at the opportunity. "Of course! What problem can Auntie Pinkie Pie help you with? I can give you all the responsible adult perspective you need."
"About..." Sweetie paused, "...special someponies?"
Pinkie's ego immediately deflated like so many party balloons. She began to panic internally. Special someponies? I don't know anything about special someponies! I know my parents, the Cakes, Cadence and Shining Armor... but I don't have a special somepony! I don't know anything! What are they gonna ask? What am I gonna say? "Wh-what is it?" she asked timidly.
"How do two ponies become special some ponies?" Sweetie clarified. "I know it's ponies that are really close and important to one another, but what happens to good friends that makes them an item."
Pinkie was relieved to receive a question she felt she could answer confidently. "Well, there aren't any real rules on that, silly. It's just whenever both ponies decide they want to.” The two fillies looked at each other, briefly considering this new information. Pinkie wasn’t sure they got it, but, thankfully, she had an example. “Like… my mom! She wanted my dad to be her special somepony, but her dad, Grandpa Eulen, said 'no daughter o’ mine’s gonna marry some good-f’r-nothin’ miner’. But my mom loved my dad so much that she married him anyways.” Pinkie stalled for a moment checking that she was making the right impression. “That doesn’t mean you should disrespect your parents, though. For instance, my dad became a rock farmer because he really loved my mom and wanted her father to approve and come to the wedding (Grampa only thinks miners are good for nothings, not farmers). I might still not have gone though, honestly, I mean, no cake at a wedding? What were they thinking!”
Weddings side-tracked her. She went on, “Probably no decorations either. What must the music have been like? Booooooooooring. I mean, they’re my parents and I love them so-so-much and everything, but I would not have attended a major Pie family event without insisting they pick me as the party planner. Could you imagine going to a party from before you were born?” The idea sent her on an even further tangent involving time travel, during which the two Crusaders silently slipped away without her noticing. 

> 4 Look at the Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The two decided to go somewhere they could speak privately; it was a hill that Scootaloo was familiar with, just a short ways outside of town along the old Matthew Trail to Canterlot. “Hardly anypony uses this thing anymore,” Scootaloo pointed out. “The Friendship Express is quicker, and safer.”
“We don’t tend to take the safe routes, do we?” Sweetie asked rhetorically. Scootaloo just smiled in reply. She was looking out into the sunset out over the town. The white clouds were tinged with pink, while the sky that was not orange was a brilliant purple. They could see most of 	Ponyville from where they sat, and had an excellent view of the bell tower. They sat there for hours, yet the hand on the clock held fast, and the sun was still only nearly set. It’s delay would not hold, as their decision stood before them. Now that they had some perspective, they knew they would have to choose, one way or the other.
Neither of them were in much of a rush. There was nothing to hold them to a label except other ponies, and they were in their own little world right now. Still, they wanted to decide whether the holding hooves, sharing smoothies, and other couple activities were things they had found themselves doing on accident, or something they wanted to do together for other reasons. And they each figured, silently, that they would have to decide before going back to civilization, or at least before they saw somepony else they knew personally.
Neither wanted to rush the other either. When it started getting dark around 5:14, Sweetie started a little fire with her horn. Scootaloo figured that Sweetie wouldn’t want to hold a spell like that for too long, so she got a candle out from her saddlebag, touched the tip of it to 		Sweetie Belles horn, and planted it between the two of them. As she did so, the two ponies faces came very close together, nearly to the point of feeling the other's breath. This warranted padding the silence out a little further, both for the awkwardness of the situation, and the personal event of a young fillies life that was almost-almost-kissing somepony. 
At 5:37, Sweetie Belle made a decision. She liked Scootaloo. She had liked Scootaloo since they were even younger, wanted to spend time with her, play with her, go through fillyhood with her. Now, though, she felt something more than those old feelings, new feeling that, more and more, were turning out to be, she thought, “mare-friend” feelings. Scootaloo might not have felt the same way, but Sweetie decided she had a right to know, either way. She dreaded her reaction more than anything, but in spite of how she imagined the worst to play out in her head, she brought out of herself a single word. Afraid she might whisper it and have to repeat herself, she overcompensated and just about yelled “Yes!” to the hilltop.
She couldn’t so much as look at Scootaloo now. The dread was too great, and her heart was racing so fast she feared it might explode. Even looking out onto the still orange horizon, she half expected an orange face to pop up with a look of confusion, disappointment, or repulsion. As she felt the roll of the dice play out in a cold, cruel universe, she asked only one thing of it: please don’t hate me, please don’t hate me, please don’t-
She was all turned around. Scootaloo had gently turned her head away from the sunset, and towards herself, with her hoof. They were face-to-face now, dimly illuminated by the sunset and the candle between them. After a deep breath, with eyes shut, Scootaloo responded, half- yelling herself: “Yes!”
Sweeties expectations were shattered in the best way possible. “Yes?” she checked.
Scootaloo confirmed with a more softly spoken “Yes.”
“Yes!” Sweetie exploded, throwing her hooves up in the air in chear. Scootaloo suppressed a chuckle in response to this. Sweetie clarified one more time, “So, we’re special someponies now?”
“If there’s nothing else we need to do… yeah!” Scootaloo responded, cautiously.
“I don’t think there is…” Sweetie said. Her tranquility was stirred by new questions. “I mean, now we’ll need to decide if we’re going to tell anypony else, and who. I hope Apple Bloom doesn’t feel left out when we start doing couple stuff together without her.”
“You don’t think she saw this coming?” Scootaloo asked, trying to bring Sweetie back to earth.
“Maybe. She does know us pretty well.” Sweetie found the rational in this, but found herself thinking further on the subject. “I have no clue what Rarity is going to think about this… or my parents. What if they hate that you’re more than my friend? What if-”
“Hey, Sweetie,” Scootaloo interrupted, “are your parents here right now?” 
Sweeties neck moved to look around, but she quickly realized the answer was an obvious. “No.”
“Then do we have to make plans for them, or Rarity, or Apple Bloom, or all of Equestria right now?” Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie Belle understood her point, and answered again, “No.” She added, “And we already made up our minds right? We said ‘yes’... it 	doesn’t matter what anypony else says.”
“That’s just what I was gonna say,” Scootaloo said, bringing Sweeties muzzle nearer hers, gently with her hoof. They were even closer now, and Sweetie could feel Scootaloos breath on her own lips. They were fully almost-kissing now, which was exactly as far as Sweetie was ready to go. “Rainbow Dash gives really good advice, though it’s not usually about… this kind of thing,” Scootaloo went on. “But something she said once went along the lines of, ‘Don’t make a decision before you have to’. We’re gonna have to figure that all out eventually, yeah, but, for right now, we’re the only ponies who need to care about whether we’re special to each other. I’m just so happy you said yes!" Her wings stood straight up from excitement.
“I feel the same way,” Sweetie Belle admitted. This weight off her shoulder was a long time coming, and between the biting late winter winds, and her total emotional reconfiguration, she couldn’t help but collapse into Scootaloo’s warm and fuzzy embrace. They held each other so long that Sweetie forgot what the world outside of them was like, and didn’t want to remember.
Eventually, though, Sweetie Belle did remember that she was supposed to be home for dinner by half past six. “Oh my gosh!” She said out loud. “I need to be home in 24 minutes!” 
“Their clock probably isn’t as good as ours,” Scootaloo commented.
“I’ve never been out past curfew. I don’t even know what’ll happen,” Sweetie admitted.
“You think I can’t get you there fast enough?” Scootaloo asked.
“I’m just sorry to cut things off so quickly,” Sweetie whined.
Scootaloo had hustled to put on her helmet and set up her wheels. "Don't feel bad. It can't be helped. And besides, we'll have other chances to spend time alone together." Her tone shifted. "Unless your parents decide to move somewhere far away!"
"But they've lived here since Rarity was born," Sweetie reasoned as she climbed on Scootaloo’s back, teetering on the scooter. "If they were going to move, they would have done it a long time ago"
"But they're always traveling!" Scootaloo argued, as they traveled. "Who's to say they haven't been looking at places in Manehattan, Canterlot, or Appleoosa? What if they take you away?"
"They're not gonna do that;" Sweetie restated, "they wouldn't just uproot our whole life on a whim like that. Rarity lives here... so do all of their friends."
"I guess you're right," Scootaloo admitted. "Ugh, I'm doing the thing I told you not to do."
"Are my parents moving away right now?" Sweetie Belle asked, teasing. "Be like Rainbow Dash, relaxed, cool, in the now."
"Now that you're my mare-friend, are you still gonna make fun of me for idolizing Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yes!" Sweetie stated bluntly. "What kind of mare-friend would I be if I didn't?"
"Heh. You're lucky you're so cute."
Sweetie took the compliment immediately to heart and it filled her belly with wavy, fiery stuff, like how her horn felt when she used magic. 		She held a little tighter to Scootaloo as they rode merrily along. It was all setting in now: "yes", "mare-friend", "cute", these words her friend had used that day. Words were nothing but signifiers, but what they meant was so real to her that the words became all silk and silver. Like cutie marks, they were so precious, not for what they were, but for what they meant. They meant that Scootaloo and her were in love.
Scootaloo stopped. They had traveled quite a ways, and it was difficult now to make out the image on the clock tower, but she managed to tell the time all the same. "Got you here nine minutes early! No need to tip me or anything," she joked.
"Oh, no," Sweetie played along as she disembarked, "I insist on it."
"What kind of mare-friend would I be if I let you do that?" Scootaloo echoed. Sweetie responded with a quick and bold peck on Scootaloo's cheek. 
"My mare-friend," Sweetie answered, softly. "So I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked, as if nothing had just happened. Scootaloo, naturally, was paralyzed. Sweetie was pleased with herself.
"Sweetie, is that you hon?" Cookie asked from inside the house. "Come inside, it's freezing out there!"
"Coming, mom!" Sweetie called back. "Bye Scootaloo!"
Scootaloo came back down from the clouds to finally respond "Uh, yeah! See you tomorrow!"
Over dinner, Cookie noticed that Sweetie was unusually chipper, and also strangely full of questions. She had to assure her daughter that she her father loved it in Ponyville and intended to stay even into their eventual retirement. She got the impression that her daughter had more questions, but wasn't sure how to phrase them, so she made a guess or two. "Are you worried Rarity is going to move away?" That wasn't it. 		"Cause you know, Rarity's a grown up professional fashion designer, and we can't go moving to Manehattan or Canterlot to keep tabs on her all the time. It's hard as a mothe', but I gotta let my chicks leave the nest eventually. If she thinks she wants to move away to the big city, I -that is, ‘we’- got no right to keep smotherin' her." This clearly wasn't what Sweetie was concerned about, but someone was certainly interested in this topic. "She's got to be her own independent lady... at least until she meets a nice fellow. She tell you she had a date with a prince once? And there's that Fancy Pants guy she's always on about. She says he's not interested in her like that, but I think she's just modest. I tell her she should tie the knot before she gets old like me, and she says 'believe me, I would if I could', but I think she's just being bashful. Or picky. Golly is she picky. Have I ever told you about trying to get her to eat baby food?"
"You have," Sweetie answered. She was clearly getting annoyed at hearing Cookie gossip about her other daughter while she was lost in her own thoughts.
Cookie realized she was getting lost on her own train of thought as well, and remembered she was trying to determine the root cause of her daughter’s attitude to begin with. Going off her previous thought, she asked "So are there any boys you like at school?"
"May I be excused?" Sweetie asked, ignoring her mother's question.
"But Sweetie, you've hardly touched your-" in fact, Sweetie Belle had finished her soup a little while ago. "Well, look at that. Yes, young lady, you're excused." Sweetie wished her mother and her father's newspaper goodnight and went directly to her room. "Honey, do you think something's wrong with Sweetie Belle?"
"Eh, I don't know, she seemed fine to me," her husband replied from behind his newspaper. "Better than usual, even."
"Wasn't all that chatty," Cookie pointed out.
"You were chatty enough for the two of you." 
"Huh, was I now?" Cookie acknowledged. "Do you think it might be boy troubles?"
"She's never had any before. I can tell you one thing, though," he said. "She better not see no Baltimare fan. Least of all when they're playing Seaddlle."
“Oh, but dear, I don’t think that foals her age are all that interested in hoofball.”
“That’s why we told her to wait ‘till she’s older, right?” he joked.
“You’re lucky you’re so cute, hon” she replied. She knew she was worrying over nothing, but it didn’t keep her from worrying. Baking, she thought, might stop it, and so she baked.
Meanwhile, Sweetie was laying in her bed, not sleepy as of yet, but so exhausted that the bed seemed like the best place for her. She estimated it had been a big day, and needed time to take things in. When she was really starting to get tired, she looked out her window to make sure her mare-friend wasn’t still there. She went to sleep with the scent of cookies in her nostrils that sent surges of happiness flowing through her little filly brain. Few ponies could boast of such pleasant rest. 
> 5 The Core of the Issue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	On rare occasions, love-struck unicorns are said to dance through their morning routines, and this was just such a rare instance. Brushing her main, eating her oats, and even frantically finishing her as-yet-neglected homework was done with a comfortable rhythm that the historically clumsy little pony was unacquainted with. Her mother, noticing this behavior, decided to bake muffins. Her father, noticing his wife's behavior, decided he would spend his lunch break at home today, rather than eating out with the guys.
Apple Bloom, meanwhile, was doing everything in her power to delay the question she would inevitably have to ask Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, or the two of them together: “did either o’ y’all drink some of my potion?” What evidence did she have that they did it, besides the stuff she forgot about since yesterday, really? AB was sitting in the same old red waggon behind Scootaloo, same as yesterday, and nothing was different. Still doubt kept creeping in. What was it her sister had said about them, yesterday?
“Told ‘em you were busy, and all,” her sister had said. “They seemed to be be enjoying their time together, though.” Maybe she should have asked more about it, but it would have been difficult to explain why she would be so interested in how close her two friends were getting when she wasn’t around. Then again, maybe it wasn’t. Apple Bloom usually brought these kinds of questions to Applejack or Granny, but she wasn’t sure whether she would get in trouble, or get someone else in trouble, at this point. Then again, maybe there was no problem at all, as one has yet to surface, by this ponies estimation. That thought could hold for a minute.
When they arrived at Sweetie Belles home, she ran out and immediately embraced Scootaloo upon seeing her. While these two ponies were having a great morning, Apple Bloom was struck with horror and dread, just out of their view. Suddenly, all of her fears, the fear of having indirectly caused something to happen to her friends which altered their minds and their friendship forever, the fear of what she would have to do to undo the damage: it was all becoming very real. At the same time, she couldn’t jump to conclusions on this. She needed 100% clarification. 	Besides that, she had to act as though everything was normal, just in case.
“Y’all are awful friendly this mornin’,” she observed. “Where’s my hug?”
“Sorry, Apple Bloom, here,” Sweetie offered herself, “good morning hugs for everypony!”
Scootaloo began to drive the hugging ponies off to school without comment. Sweetie, having finished her hug, sat contented beside Apple Bloom, staring out at the neighborhood as it whirled by. Apple Bloom watched her friends like a hawk from her perch, starved for the truth. “So,” she tested the waters, “I happened to notice my waggon was still at the clubhouse when I stopped by there. Y’all know you’re free to use it when I ain’t around, right?”
“We didn’t take the waggon?” Sweetie wondered out loud. The relevance of this having struck her, she blushed slightly, and with a nervous chuckle answered herself “Oh, yeah, that’s right. We weren’t sure, so we figured, ‘better safe than sorry’. Isn’t that right, Scootaloo?” She asked as though she really did need confirmation on what happened not 24 hours ago.
“Yes-sir-ee,” said Scootaloo. “Thanks though, Apple Bloom. You really are a great friend to share your stuff with us like that.”
“Don’t mention it,” Apple Bloom said. “I’m sure if y’all had something very special to you, you wouldn’t hesitate to share it with me.” 
Scootaloo was surprised by this.What the hay was she trying to say? Scoots thought. Did Apple Bloom know about her and Sweetie? Did she think it was some kind of big secret, and not just something she and Sweetie had to talk about before talking to other ponies about? Who did AB think she was, prying into other ponies business like that?
As Scootaloo was starting to get frustrated by these thoughts, Apple Bloom was doing some thinking herself. Why would they hide this from me? Sure, it’s their business, but I’m those two’s best friend! Do they just want me to be confused and unsure about something so serious? Do they have any idea how serious this is to begin with? Her patience was at a boil to its usual simmer, and soon she would be fuming. She had to be direct.
Sweetie, who had a sense for when her friends were about to fight, was all but shaking at this point. Nervous energy played a strange string section to the joyful beat that had accompanied her that morning. Unassuming, she simply wondered, Why are my friends mad?
“Speaking of sharing... and permission,” Apple Bloom asked, “I noticed my potions were off their hook. Y’all wouldn’t know anything about that, would ya?” She looked to Sweetie, who looked to Scootaloo in turn. Scootaloo said nothing, watching the road ahead of her in silence. “It might be a good idea if you two just gave me a catch-up on just what you too did yesterday.” Minutes passed in silence.
“Um, Scootaloo” Sweetie Belle broke the silence. “I think you just went past the school,” Scootaloo knew where she was going. Apple Bloom had to figure as well. “We don’t want to be late, right girls? Uh, Girls?” They were at least an hour early and she knew it.
Eventually, they reached a sole gazebo, far enough from the school to be private. Scootaloo took off her helmet and tossed it to Apple Bloom aggressively. Bloom caught it, but it knocks her clear out of the waggon near the steps of the gazebo. Winded, she croaked “What’s the hay is your problem you giblet head!”
Scootaloo was on the verge of tears. “I love her, okay!?” she yelled. Sweetie felt herself swept up in Scootaloo's forelimbs as that cut into the song in head. A single voice, the only one that could ever matter: Scootaloo’s confession of love. Sweetie hardly even noticed that Scootaloo was still arguing with Apple Bloom as she was being held rhetorically. “I don’t know why you think it’s your business, but there it is! Are you happy?”
“Ugh,” AB grunted, getting back on all four hooves. “No!”
“Well, why not!?” Scootaloo demanded. “We’ve just barely got a chance to be together, and you already decided you hate us.”
Apple Bloom was about to call Scootaloo another mean name for throwing a helmet at her, but what Scoots said gave her pause. She didn’t hate them. She didn’t care about a little bit of potion, or secrets that were all spilled by now. She was angry at herself because she let this happen. 		“Oh, horse-feathers! Please, I’m trying to help! This is all my fault!”
“I don’t want to hear it!” Scootaloo shouted. “Come on, Sweetie, let’s go. AB can walk!”
Sweetie Belle was sad to leave her friend, but happy to spend more time with Scoots alone. “Bye, Apple Bloom. Hope you get to school okay!” 	She snuggled into Scootaloo’s back as the two of them began to set off.
AB could see that she was losing them. This might have been her only chance, but she could not get them to listen or be straight with her. 	She might have ruined the rest of her friends lives, and their friendship. Still looking for a way to vent her rage, she looked around for something to kick. Just as she was about to buck the first thing she saw, she decided to pick it up instead.
“Hey, y’all forgot something!” she cried out. They gave no response. “Alright then, just be sure not to hit your head.”
That caught Sweeties attention. Head? Mane. She could see Scootaloo’s shaggy purple mane flowing in the breeze. It was majestic and mystifying, but a sign for alarm all the same. “Scootaloo!” she cried out, “Your helmet! You threw it at Apple Bloom! She still has it!” 
“Huh?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie was already halfway back to the gazebo. “Hey, where you going!” She turned the scooter around to chase her mare-friend, headed right back for Apple Bloom. AB, meanwhile, was climbing up one of the gazebos pillar towards the roof, Scootaloo’s helmet in her teeth. When they were all back in one place, Apple Bloom taunted them from the roof with Scootaloo’s property, which she had thoughtlessly used as a projectile. “Real mature, Apple Bloom!” Scoots called out. “Don’t worry, Sweetie, I have a spare back at the clubhouse. We don’t need to play her game.”
“‘At the clubhouse’?” Sweetie questioned. “What good is that to you now? I can’t let you scoot me to school without a helmet on! This isn’t a cartoon, you know!”
“Ugh,” Scootaloo sighed. “Apple Bloom! You better give my helmet back, now!”
Apple Bloom had them right where she wanted them. “Not unless y’all are willin’ to be civil and have a conversation like grown ups,” she 	offered, “Then I’ll stop bein’ immature.”
“Just say whatever you’re gonna say!” Scootaloo demanded.
“Y’all better listen!” Bloom demanded in turn. “Pinkie Pie Swear to it!” Each reluctantly took the silly oath. “Right then,” Apple Bloom sighed, 	“now here it is: about a month ago, I had an idea of a funny prank to pull on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, to get back at ‘em for some o’ the right-terrible stuff they’ve pulled. It was also a practical application o’ my work with potion makin’. I wanted to make those two fall in love, either with each other, or Snips and Snails or somethin’, as a joke. I knew Ms. Cheerilee would notice if I just used the same old love poison recipe, and I even thought I could improve it! I doubled down on the rainbows glow for attraction, cut the cloud so as it doesn’t make a pony dumb, cut with some Hearts Desire for passion, and added the tiniest little bit of Poison Joke for spontaneity. 
“Fluttershy let it slip that the feline couples at her cottage were havin’ trouble with their relationships, so she was fine with my usin’ them as guinea pigs. At first, the effects were mild, and they started doin’ more couple-type stuff without realizing it, then they start full-on lovey-dovey almost as bad as Cheerilee and Big Mac were. Eventually, they get obsessive, overprotective, and start shutting everyone else out to be with each other. The only way to get them to separate, at that point, was to keep them apart for a while, but unlike with the original love poison, it took half a day to get them out of each other’s systems, not just an hour. After a little tinkerin’ with it, I figured it wasn’t worth the effort to make it weaker, so I gave up on it, and I didn’t use it on the DT or Silver Spoon on Hearts and Hooves Day like I wanted to.
“So, then, yesterday I get back to the clubhouse, and a little of my potion, the dangerous love poison hybrid stuff, is missing, and so are y’all. Mah sister tells me nothing of value, y’all avoid my line of questioning like the plague, and I’m left wonderin’ whether I caused my friends to fall in love without me bein’ around to tell them not to drink the mysterious potion marked for the bullies. So I’m gonna ask again: do y’all know what happened to my potion?”
> 6 Too Young
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After school, the new lovers met up once again, silent as the grave. They were now clear on the history of what led them to this moment, but the course ahead was only half-revealed. Sweetie stared at Scootaloo, still struggling to reconcile her feelings with their origins.
She looked back to Scootaloo, and wondered what she was thinking about. Was she still as hopelessly in love as she was, as angry, or as sad? 	Before, she thought she could tell. She thought they had a connection, the kind that only special someponies have, where she could tell what each other could feel without needing to say it. She thought she could tell before, but now she was sure she must have contrived something from a look or a tone like she could otherwise.
Apple Bloom joined them shortly. She struggled to meet their eyes. Sweetie sighed, “So what do we do now.” 
“Well, now y’all gotta go without seein’ each other ‘till tomorrow,” AB said. “Did y’all come up with plans to keep y’rselves occupied? It’s not gonna be easy to get through the day if y’r just sittin’ around mopin’.”
“Before we do anything like that, we need to stop by the treehouse,” Scootaloo said.
“Why’s that?” AB asked.
“That potion is still mostly full,” Scootaloo said. “We can’t risk anypony drinking it again. We’ve gotta poor the rest of it out.”
This was sound, and nopony objected to it. Sweetie thought, immediately, that by “anypony,” she meant the two of them. It would be hard to go back to being just some filly after being Scootaloos mare-friend. At least that’s how it seemed now. Maybe Scootaloo thought that, if they looked at the potion again, they might find that Apple Bloom was wrong, and they really did drink a potion with no effect on them. It was too big a coincidence that yesterday would just happen to be the day they fell in love, and just happen to be the day they drank a mysterious potion, that much was obvious now. She could not see any hope in it, but Scootaloo might have felt differently. 
When they got there, it was just as Apple Bloom had left it yesterday. She assessed the potion again, and confirmed that it was the same love poison she had been testing, the same potion Sweetie and Scootaloo had sampled the day before. The was no questioning it now. 
They all gathered beneath the clubhouse. Apple Bloom uncapped the potion, took the neck of the flask in her throat, and cocked her head the other direction. When it seemed to be done pouring, she shook it to make sure that every last drop was spilled at the base of the tree. 
Sweetie Belle looked over to Scootaloo. She might not have known what Scootaloo was feeling at all times, but anypony could see that she was on the verge of tears now. Sweetie held her as she began to sob. Apple Bloom thought she should try to comfort her as well, but didn’t feel right about it. She knew it was an accident, but could not help but feel like it was her responsibility more than anypony else’s that they were in this situation. She timidly reminded them, “If there’s anything you wanted to say before things go back to normal… well, you know.”
“It’s not fair,” Scootaloo whimpered, fighting back the tears just to speak. 
Sweetie Belle wanted to feel the same way, but couldn’t rationalize it. She knew most ponies her age would not have the kind of relationship 	Scootaloo and her had had. It seemed fair now that they were being split up, even if she hated it. She said, “I guess we’re just too young.”
“That’s what’s not fair!” Scootaloo clarified. “I’m sick of waiting! I hate that no matter what we do, we’re always stuck in the same place: being little kids forever! I can’t stand it anymore! Why don’t I get to have a cutie mark, fly with my own wings, or fall in love with my best friend? Why is it that when I think I’m close to what the rest of my life is going to be, it slips between my hooves?”
Sweetie could not answer any of these questions. Their weight on her mind was no less than that on Scootaloo’s, but it only broke her when she realized she she had no idea how to console her would-be special-somepony. What could she say that so many ponies had not said already? It won’t last forever, it’ll happen before you know it, it can’t be rushed. These words were just dismissive before, but now they stung. The future full of possibilities was cluttered, random, as good as dark, and now she had known one that she feared would never come true again. Not only would she and Scootaloo never be special to each other again, but there was also the chance that Scootaloo would find their continued friendship awkward, and break it off. She had no future with Scootaloo, not even seasonally, and that was as good to her as having no future at all.
Are we separated right now? She thought in a moment of inspiration. No. Right now, I have her in my hooves. She held Scootaloo closer to herself, teary eyes spilling over as she did, and rested her muzzle on her mare-friends shoulder, prompting her to do the same. She held as though she feared Scootaloo would be eaten up by the ground beneath them if she ever let go. She felt her embrace perfectly reciprocated, Scootaloo’s bawling winding down as she held tighter.
Apple Bloom was unsure of how to feel, or whether she should even be watching the sweet yet concerning display. Some part of her felt that she had to watch, a part she guessed was Applejack, to make her see the course of events that came from her mistakes at the most affecting. She felt like crying herself, but tears would not come. She decided it was for the best that the two of them should get a moment to cry out loud and commiserate together, while she should cry alone, on the inside. As much as the three were under no strict time code, she knew she would have to commence the break-up eventually.
“Here’s the part where we gotta split up,” Apple Bloom said, regretfully. Her two friends reluctantly broke off and stood beside each other, attentive to Bloom’s instructions. “I don’t know how cat physiologisms compare to pony, but since y’all were still crazy for each other after a night apart, I want to play it safe and say y’all can’t see each other until this time tomorrow. Do y’all have some way to keep yourselfs busy?”
Scootaloo answered first, “Rainbow Dash was talking a couple weeks ago about taking a trip to Cloudsdale, just the two of us. It will be really far away from anywhere we could run into each other.”
“That’s a good plan, Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom said. “And you, Sweetie?”
“Honestly, I haven’t really been thinking about it. I forgot to,” Sweetie admitted.
“I kinda expected one of you to come up empty, at least,” AB said. “Well, you can go crusading with me then. It will be good to keep an eye on at least one of y’all. If I notice you quit pinin’ for Scootaloo, I’ll know Scoots is probably stopped pinnin’ too, and y’all can go back to being friends again.” She tried to end on a high note, but she met with little response from the pessimistic pair. She went on, “So, Scootaloo, once you get back from your trip, head to the treehouse, and I’ll find you there to say whether we’re in the clear yet. That way, you won’t have to find us.”
“Right,” Scootaloo acknowledged. She moved to unhitch the waggon from her Scooter. The length of the handle hit the red wall with a “thud,” and the waggon moved an inch away from the reverberations of it. She took hold of her handlebars and took a breath before calling back at last “Bye, 	Sweetie Belle. I’ll miss you!”
Sweetie couldn’t form the words. She still felt like crying again, but couldn’t. Her body betrayed her feelings, or at least clothed them modestly, and part of her was grateful for that. Another part wanted to cry out desperately for Scootaloo to stay. Between the two, all she could do was to raise her hoof, half in waving, and half in reaching out to something far beyond her grasp. 
Scootaloo realized she would have to be the one to turn her gaze first. She did it fast, like tearing off a bandage, turning her Scooter toward town in one jerk motion and scooting away on it with eyes closed. She opened them again, and she was speeding away from Sweetie Belle on the old country road that had been their daily route. 
As Scootaloo became distant, Sweetie felt a force to move her. She picked up her hooves to follow Scootaloo in a vain attempt to catch her on hoof. No sooner had she done this than Apple Bloom tackled her, anchoring her to the roots of the treehouse. Sweetie did not fight back, but went limp as the adrenaline and emotion left her little body. 
Apple Bloom felt like she was holding a sack of potatoes. She tried to prop up Sweetie into some shape that resembled a pony, but could not. 		“Hey, you’ll see her tomorrow,” she said, trying to get her friend to perk up. “You’ll hardly notice the time go by.”
“What makes you think so?” Sweetie asked, genuinely curious. 
“Cause,” AB answered, “part of it you’ll be asleep, and part of it will be you gettin’ yer cutie mark!”
Of all the days to be hopeful, Sweetie thought, today was not the one. “I don’t think I’m in the mood for discovering my special talent. If I did right now, I wouldn’t want to remember it.”
“Well,” Apple Bloom retreated, “then we can do whatever you wanna do. Anything! Even if it’s somethin’ I told ya, ‘nah’ a hundred times to… we should!”
“That’s nice of you to say Apple Bloom…” she was about to say that it was all for nothing, but she had a thought instead, “... I guess there is one thing I could do.”

> 7 Airborne Retreat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“That helmet is strapped on tight, right Squirt.”
“Yes, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo answered.
“Well, it’s not gonna do you much good at the altitudes we’re going, but keep it as a good luck charm if you want,” she said as she bolted off of the ground and into the sky with Scootaloo at her back. “The weather publication said Cloudsdale should be about three hours away from Ponyville right now, so we should be there in an hour. You comfortable?”
The world was whizzing by Scootaloo much faster than she could keep up with visually, but the crisp feeling of wind at her back was oddly comforting, and she called out, “Yes!”
“We’re not at max speed yet, Shortstop. You don’t have to yell.” Rainbow added, “Actually, really don’t yell! I need my sense of hearing when I fly.”
“Sor-! Uh, sorry,” Scootaloo verbally stumbled.
“It’s cool kid! In fact, it’s awesome! I’m so glad we get to go on this trip together.”
“Me too,” Scootaloo answered pensively.
“We’ve got a good breeze today!” Rainbow reported. “Maybe we will break the sound barrier after all!” Rainbow picked up the pace with her wings some, building up a cone of sonic energy around herself. “Strap on tight, kid!” she shouted. 
All at once the cone broke and an iris of light formed behind the two of them. Scootaloo felt nothing, but heard a deafening boom, and saw, looking back, the rainbow they had created. It looked like the same rainboom that Rainbow had made before from 1:30 to 10:30 o’clock, only with a fourth of it, from forty-five degrees to one hundred thirty five, colored all purple and orange near the center like a sunrise. Scootaloo was so awestruck by the sight of it, growing and dissipating through the air, that she stopped thinking of herself entirely. Her surrogate big sister trailed the color behind herself. Rainbow Dash never noticed, focused on getting to her destination in record time. Scootaloo looked back until the colors dispersed and faded into a uniform blue, like watching a sunrise fade away into the day. The sight of that, and the feeling of moving faster than she had ever before, made the time she spent getting to her destination feel even shorter than it actually was. Very soon, in record time even, the two would be on the verge of Cloudsdale, a city Scootaloo had only ever seen as a far off and distant dream.
Her mind tried to juggle these new sensations with her remembered feeling of isolation from the pony she loved. She remembered, though, that these new thoughts and feelings were  a good thing, and she should try to forget about her and Sweetie Belle being together. She should try to live in the moment, like Rainbow would tell her to do if they weren’t traveling faster than sound, the same advice that she repeated to Sweetie Belle. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what Sweetie Belle was doing without her. 
> 8 A Little Flame
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rarity had set Sweetie Belle up on an old sewing machine from her attic which was, “functional, but quite tacky looking.” She was relieved to learn that Sweetie Belle did not need help with her project, nor did she need to work in the same room with her, nor, in fact, did she want to talk to her big sister at all. This meant that Rarity could happily return to her own work and leave Sweetie to whatever it was she needed a sewing machine for. A sisterly part of her wondered if she should ask Sweetie what she needed to sow a lot of black cloth together for, but a much larger creative drive within her told her not to press her luck, and, instead, to take the opportunity to work in peace. Little did she know how much influence she would have over Sweeties creation. 
Sweetie put white thread to black cloth, listening to the empty hum of the machine. Her sister had taught her by example alone, and she knew how to sew what she was making by spending time with her at her weakest. When her sister was really breaking up, not just playing it up, she would make herself a black cloak. It was ritual for Rarity to perform, as well as a comfort for her to take wherever she went. She could hide away where it was dark and where nobody could see her. She only thought she was ever happy when she was beautiful, and it went the other way too: if she felt wrong in the inside, she must look wrong on the outside. Sweetie was not sold on that idea, but she did want the cloak. It was the first thing that came to mind that she knew she could get easily.
Outside the Carousel Boutique, Apple Bloom was waiting, somewhat nervously for her friend. She knew there was little chance that Sweetie Belle could sprout wings to chase Scootaloo across the sky (though she had seen something like it before), but having that filly out of her sights made her nervous all the same. She said she wanted to get something from her sister, but never said how long it would be to get it. She was about to dart in when a cloaked figure emerged from the shop, just Sweetie Belle’s size.
“What’s with the, uh, ‘get up,’ Sweetie?” Bloom asked hesitantly.
“Young fillies are supposed to play dress up, aren’t they? Don’t you think I look pretty in it?”
“Uh… yeah! I’d say it was your best work,” Sweetie really hadn’t made anything more impressive than that simple black cloak before that Apple Bloom could think of, so it wasn't a complete lie.
“Let’s go find something to do,” Sweetie directed them. She walked away without hesitating to see if Bloom was following her. 
“Hey, wait up!” Bloom called out. Sweetie went surprisingly fast without tripping on her cloak, and Bloom could not get far enough ahead of her to look her in the eye. “Sweetie!” she called out, and the unicorn slowed down unsubstantially. They had made it to the market by this point and were surrounded by shoppers picking out their daily produce. Apple Bloom tried to hide the fact that she was catching her breath as she asked, “So, huh, what did you have in mind?”
“I’m pretty hot and thirsty, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie half-answered. “Do you mind getting me an apple cider from the stand?”
“Oh, sure!” Bloom replied. “Just a sec.” Upon making her way through the crowd to the stand, she noticed her big brother was the one running the stand today. “Hey, Big Mac! Fancy seein’ you here.” Her brother nodded. “Applejack out solving some friendship problem?”
“Yup,” her brother responded with cautious optimism. 
Sometimes Apple Bloom thought her big brother really worried about AJ when she was out on trips with her friends. Applejack would never tell him what danger she was really in on a regular basis, but her brother was a masterful listener. He could get ponies like Rarity or Rainbow Dash to say more about themselves and their adventures than he needed to know what kind of trouble Applejack was getting herself into. Bloom could not relate, having no one smaller or more fragile than herself to worry about, but she felt bad for her doting brother all the same. “I’m sure she’s gonna be great. Anyways, you don’t mind me giving my friend one on the house, right?”
“Nope,” Mac said, absently.
“‘Nope’ as in you don’t mind, or ‘nope’ as in ‘don’t do it’?”
“Nope as in, ‘go ahead’” he said, motioning to the cider with his chin. Apple Bloom picked up the cider in her mouth and nodded a “thank you” to Mac. She went to where she last saw Sweetie Belle, but could not find her in the crowd. She looked about herself, unable to call out to her friend without dropping the beverage.
“Apple Bloom!” a shrill voice called from a spot near the hard candy stand. Apple Bloom followed the sound, discovering Pinkie Pie standing, with a balloon tied around her hoof. “Hey! Sweetie Belle told me you needed a balloon for something, so here you go!”
“What did she say the balloon was for?” Apple Bloom asked through the drink in her teeth.
“She didn’t say,” Pinkie said. “I even asked. She couldn’t say. Know why?” She looked one way, and then the other. “Cause it’s a secret.” “Secret” was said with special emphasis.
Apple Bloom was disappointed. “Where do you even get all the balloons you have, anyways?”
“That is also a secret,” she said, as if more for the crowd than for Apple Bloom herself. She then motioned toward the stand a few paces away with a shifty looking pony selling rubber horseshoes, bouncy balls, and tennis rackets. She then winked at Apple Bloom knowingly before immediately scanning back and forth to make sure only Apple Bloom saw. Convinced her secret was conveyed securely, she tied the balloon around Bloom’s hoof and slunk off and out of the crowd in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.
Apple Bloom looked a little like a lost filly at an amusement park, drink in muzzle, balloon in hoof, and a confused look on her face. She stayed there for a little while, unsure of what to do, before Sweetie finally returned. “Hey, Apple Bloom!” she greeted her casually. “Check out what I just bought from Mark Maker’s stand,” her friend held up a Lord Tirek mask. “Pretty lifelike, huh?” 
In fact, it did look almost exactly like the centaur in his weaker, though still quite fearsome, form. The only thing that broke the illusion were four numerals on the left cheek, XI XV suggesting this was the fifteenth of the eleventh series made by Mark. Other than that one intended imperfection, the nose ring, the beard, even the eyes were Tirek to a tee. “Yeah!” Apple Bloom agreed, having carefully placed the cider on the ground. “It’s really good. So, are we putting on a play then? One about our sisters and their friends beating Tirek? That’ll really get ponies in the seats (and kill a lot of time, now that I think about it). Great idea, Sweetie Belle!”
“I actually had a different idea, but I think you’ll like this one too.” Without saying anything more, Sweetie used her magic to take the balloon off of Sweeties arm and to hold it in place as she filled it with sweet, bubbly cider. The contents of the bottle fit snuggly inside the capacity of the balloon, and Sweetie Belle, with a little cognitive effort, managed to tie it shut with magic. As soon as she had done so, she hid the unstable balloon under her cloak, and motioned for Apple Bloom to follow her. 
Weaving through the crowd, they eventually came across the pair of ponies they least enjoyed encounters with: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. The two were laughing, gasping, and gossiping to each other in their usual way. Sweetie was looking at them like a tiger watches a grazing antelope, and it made Apple Bloom nervous. 
On some cue that only Sweetie herself knew, she levitated the balloon directly above the two young mares, shook it violently, and suddenly dropped it. The two were spooked at first by the pop it made, then confused by the bubbles they were wearing, and finally disgusted by how sticky it was. “Oh, gross, is this some kind of soda?” Silver Spoon responded in outrage. “This is totally going to stain our coats! Who did this?”
Their attention turned to Apple Bloom out of all the faces in the crowd. “Is this your families crummy, leftover apple cider?” Diamond Tiara asked, enraged. “Is this your idea of a joke?”
Apple Bloom was stunned, unable to say anything. She could see Sweetie plan come together, and now she saw the results. Sweetie, she thought, must have been taking revenge on her by fulfilling her original ambition of pranking DT and SS, while also throwing her under the bus. 	She looked over at Sweetie Belle, but she was already gone. Working up the courage to try and explain herself, she began. “I… I didn’t-”
“I did it!” called a voice from a nearby. Apple Bloom looked up to see Sweetie Belle, donning the Tirek mask, standing atop a stall looking down on the market dwellers. She was disguising her voice effectively, but it still sounded nothing like Lord Tirek.
It was easily enough to fool those out of the loop, though. Diamond Tiara ran and cried out, “He’s gonna take our cutie marks! I don’t want to be a blank flank!” Silver Spoon tried to follow her, but was swept up in the crowd of ponies running this way and that trying to avoid Tireks curse. It seems they easily forgot about the spilled cider, or assumed that it was somehow crucial to stealing cutie marks.
Soon, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were alone in the marketplace. Some of the stalls were tipped over, with broken porcelain vases, tangelos, and slowly unfurling rolls of wallpaper littering the streets. Like a majestic mountain goat, Sweetie lept down to the ground without hurting herself, and took of the mask to reveal her face, lit up with laughter. “Wow,” she said, “that worked way better than I expected! Everypony ran! I thought I would be lucky to spook DT and SS, but everypony else was spooked too!”
“Well, for one thing, I’m glad you showed up when you did,” Apple Bloom told her. “Were you trying to frame me for that little apple cider stunt?”
“At first, yeah, but then I found this mask and just couldn’t pass it up. Oh, brother, it was so good!”
“For another, I’ve never seen you get such a kick out of tormenting ponies.”
“Diamond and Silver are always tormenting ponies. I just gave them a little scare, is all.”
"Sweetie, you're not acting like yourself," AB commented.
"What is myself? I don't have an identity!" Sweetie protested.
"You don't have a cutie mark. That's not the same as not having an identity," AB contested.
"Who says!?" Sweetie snapped. "All my feelings are wrong and fake, why shouldn't I act however I want!" 
"I already told ya I feel terrible for that!" AB argued back, "You can't make me feel worse by acting batty."
"I'm not acting 'batty'!"
"I've seen more bats than you, Sweetie Belle; I think I would know."
"Are you making fun of me?"
"No. Seriously! Ain't I ever showed you the bats we have around the farm? Hey, that sounds fun! Come on, let's head over to the orchard and you can torment some bats!”
“I guess we can do that…” Sweetie reluctantly followed Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom no less anxious than before, but thankful that she had, without much convincing, stopped Sweetie Belle from being a threat to the town. She wondered if Rainbow was having this much trouble with Scootaloo. 

> 9 Head in the Clouds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“And over here, you can see the flight camp, with little fillies your age. That right there? That is the start of the race track where I got my cutie mark, and did my first Sonic Rainboom. I told you that story, right?”
“Yes,” Scootaloo answered.
“You feeling okay, Squirt?” Rainbow asked. “You sound like you’re somewhere else right now.”
“Ah, sorry Rainbow Dash. I’ve wanted to come see Cloudsdale with you for so long… I promise I won’t be distracted from now on.”
“Yeah, you talk a big game,” Rainbow commented “but you’ve got to be distracted by something pretty good to be spacing out in Cloudsdale, of all places. Do you feel weird so far away from the ground?”
“No,” Scootaloo answered. After some deliberation, she concluded, “Just somepony I couldn’t bring with me.”
“You miss your friends already?” Dash asked.
“Not just my friend…” Scoots began to trail off before catching herself. “Can you keep a secret?” 
“What’s an awesome big sister for?” Rainbow replied. Scootaloo proceeded to tell Rainbow Dash what had happened the day before, about her and Sweetie Belle falling in love due to a potion that was still working its way out of her system as she spoke.
When she was finished she asked Rainbow, “Has anything like that ever happened to you?”
Dash struggled to think of something comparable, and finally settled on “Tank: he’s always hibernating, and it’s hard because I hate being separated from him. I took it really hard our first winter together, but I’ve gotten used to it.”
“Well, yeah, not seeing her is hard,” Scootaloo rebuttled, “but the main thing is that the spell is going to wear off by the time we see each other again. How will I feel when I don’t love her? What if I still love her, but she doesn’t love me?”
“Why do you think you will still love her if the spell is going to wear off?”
“I don’t know, it just feels so real. I don’t see how you could make a potion that makes you feel this much.”
“You really can’t tell the difference?” Dash asked.
“How would I? I mean, I haven’t been in love before,” Scoots said. “I don’t have anything to compare it to.”
“Being ‘in love’ I can’t comment on,” Dash said, “but I think we’ve both loved ponies before, and you have to know what that feels like. Can you name someone?”
“Well, for starters, I love you, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo confessed. “You’re so cool, you’re the best flyer ever, and you’re the best big sister I’ve ever had.”
“Okay,” Rainbow fought against her ego to direct the subject, “but that’s just me. Do I and Sweetie Belle have anything in common that you like about both of us?”
After a short pause, Scootaloo concluded, “Not really, no.”
“Okay,” Rainbow tried again, “but do Sweetie and I make you feel the same way?”
“Well,” Scoots replied with some thought. “You both make me feel special, like I really matter. I feel comfortable being close and spending time with you. When I’m not with you, I think about you and wonder how you are. I think about helping you when you’re sick or hurt.” She paused, as though she had run out of things to say. “Oh, but you both have really cute voices.”
“We’re past that part,” Rainbow interrupted. She had started smiling uncontrollably as Scootaloo had been saying all of this. “You really feel all that stuff about me?” she asked.
“Yeah. So do you think that that’s love?” Scoots asked.
“Well, it felt like being told ‘I love you’- to me, at least. Let’s try it on you.” She took Scootaloo under her wing and held her close as she said, “Scootaloo, you make me feel special, like I really matter. I feel comfortable being close and spending time with you. When I’m not with you, I think about you and wonder how you are. I think about helping you when you’re sick or hurt.” She began to give Scootaloo a noogie to break the tension. “And you have a cute little voice too, but don’t get a big head about it or anything.”
“Hey, cut it out,” Scootaloo tried to object through the uncontrollable smile on her face. Scootaloo couldn’t shake the impression that 	Rainbow Dash had just said “I love you” without saying those words exactly. She had to be quite sure now: she loved Sweetie Belle as much as she loved Rainbow Dash, though not in the same way. 
Rainbow stopped noogying after a moment, distracted by the start of a race taking place on the track, and the loud rush of wind that accompanied it. They watched the race together, finally cheering for the victor when she crossed the finish line. 
“I hope Sweetie is doing okay,” Scootaloo said, as if to no one. Rainbow turned to hear her, and she turned back saying, “I’m really glad I get to be here with someone I love right now, even if it can’t be Sweetie Belle. I just hope she’s spending time with someone who loves her too, or else…” She trailed off a moment as the second and third place racers started pouring in. “I just hope that she’s taking it alright.”
> 10 A World on Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Hey, here’s a real fat one! You been eatin’ one too many Red Delicious-us-es, ain’t ya?” Apple Bloom observed. The bat was red, hanging upside down in a state of rest and trying to ignore the fillies trampling all over the south fields and disturbing it’s friends and neighbors. “You find any of the rainbow one’s yet? There ain’t many, but Granny says finding one is good luck.”
“No,” Sweetie said bluntly. 
“They get that way eating the zap-apples. I think that’s why they’re a li’l magic. You can find more of them in zap-apple season, especially if there’s a good yield, but there’s always one or two around if you look for ‘em.”
Sweetie played along silently, scanning the infested trees as they passed them by. She stopped, confused, and asked, “Aren’t these supposed to all be rainbow colors?”
“Yeah,” AB answered, “why?”
“This one is brown,” Sweetie pointed out, “with a gray cowl. Also, it has one blue wing, and one purple.”
“Very observant!” the bat responded. With a snap of its tiny bat fingers, the bat revealed itself to be nothing less than Discord, the spirit of chaos!
“What the hay are you doin’ in our field Discord?” Apple Boom demanded of him.
With another snap of his eagle claw, Apple Bloom was gone, leaving him and Sweetie Belle alone. “Now, young mare,” he addressed her, “you have some explaining to do.”
Anger momentarily won out over fear as Sweetie rashly responded “Oh, do I!? For what!?”
“Oooh, look at you!” Discord cooed. “So agressive for such a little pony. Thouh I think we both know what I mean.” He became a little more serious. “I was called because someone claimed to have seen Lord Tirek terrorizing ponyville again, and I’m the only tool in Celestia’s little bag of tricks that can track him. The only problem was, he’s still in Tartarus. I checked myself. So I had to do some petty detective work, ask around Ponyville, get to the bottom of who this pretender really was. Who would have guessed that the big, bad, conqueror of Equestria, back for revenge, was just a tiny little unicorn.”
“So you found me,” Sweetie interrupted. “What are you gonna do? Send me to Tartarus forever?” She was half daring him, half dreading the thought to herself.
“Let’s not lose our heads, now,” Discord said, removing his head to demonstrate. “All you did was make a little fuss and waste a little of my time, of which I have an endless supply. I suppose I’m expected to do something to keep you from acting out again and creating more havoc.” Discord seemed to cringe at the idea. However, as he summoned a coach for Sweetie, an arm chair for himself, and a pipe for symbolism, he took pleasure in assuming the role of a shrink. “So, then, let’s try to get to the source of these outbursts!”
Sweetie aquested, “If you insist...”

Apple Bloom, meanwhile, found herself with Princess Cadance in the Crystal Empire. “Oh, hello,” Princess Cadance greeted her politely. “How did you get in here?”
“Discord!” Apple Bloom fumed.

“Love poison!” Discord gasped, “Not even I would mess around with that stuff. Sure, I’m all about chaos, but I do have standards.”
“So, do you know any cures or anything?” Sweetie asked. “Something that can make all the lonely feelings go away?”
“You ask just a little too much of me. All I can do to ponies hearts is shuffle them around a little, usually to bring out the nastier side of themselves they don’t want to deal with. I can’t simply make a feeling go away. I’m not a shrink you know.” Suddenly the arm chair, the cigar, and the couch disappeared, and Sweetie fell flat on her back. 
“There has to be something I can do to feel better,” Sweetie said.
“Well,” Discord began, “if you want advice, it’s a different story. You can control your own emotions, even under the effects of a spell. The best way I’ve always found to vent my feelings was to express myself through something constructive. When that doesn’t work, and, let’s be honest, it never does, I turn to the obviously better mode of expression: destructive!”
“You mean, if I destroy stuff, I’ll feel better?” Sweetie asked innocently.
“I know it can be hard, Sweetie, feeling like you can’t put out that great big flame down in your heart. So the only thing you can do with that flame, to make it feel small,-” he paused in the middle of his sentence to tap Sweetie Belle’s horn with his paw, “ -is set the world on fire!”
Sweetie’s horn began to glow a brilliant red, its aura encircling much more than the area of her horn. “It did feel good to trick all those ponies with the Tirek mask,” Sweetie admitted. Curious, Sweetie cast the spell at a nearby apple tree. From the roots to the crown, the tree lit up spectacularly with roaring flames. At first, Sweetie was happy to see that she could cast such powerful magic. Her mood quickly changed when she noticed that the flames were spreading into occupied trees, and the fruit bats were all beginning to fly away in fear of the forest fire she had started. “Oh no! Sweet Apple Acres…! How could-” when she turned back to see Discord, he was nowhere to be found. She was alone. A burning limb of a tree fell right next to Sweetie Belle and spooked her. Some of the charred remains had gotten on her cloak, so she threw it off quickly and stomped it out. She started to gallop through the orchard, hoping she could outrun the fire and find her way out safely. The flames couldn’t keep up with her, but when she looked back, she could see the smoke rising up above the orchard growing larger and larger, darker and darker. She was sure somepony would call the pegasus fire brigade soon at this point, so her main concern was making it out alive before they could show up. 
Just as she was looking back at how bad the situation had become, she ran straight into a tree in front of her. When she finally got her bearings back, she saw flying figures in the sky and feared that she had been caught. In her confusion, she ran back the way she had come. Before long, she was right in the path of the flames she had started. Looking back, she discovered that it was simply fruit bats which she had seen flying above her, not pegasus fire-fighters. Feeling dumb, Sweetie set out again to run away from the flames, only for a much larger branch to fall directly on her, pinning her to the ground. 
As the fires raged all around her, Sweetie realized that she might be thinking the very last conscious thoughts of her life, so she had to make them count. She thought about her parents, her friends, and the prospect of a pony afterlife. Finally, though her remaining time appeared scarce, Sweetie couldn’t help but wonder whether Scootaloo could see the smoke from up in Cloudsdale. 
> 11 A View from Above
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“So, Squirt, we have the cloud factory, the cloud observatory, or the cloud fortress. Which do you wanna go to next?”
“That all sounds fun, Rainbow, but could we do something that doesn’t involve clouds?”
“Kid, you’re in Cloudsdale!” Rainbow Dash reminded her. “Literally everything here is made of clouds, made for making clouds, or both!”
“It just kind of reminds me of Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo confessed.
“How?” Rainbow asked.
“Her hair is swirly and pink, like clouds at sunset.”
“Aw! I didn’t know you could come up with stuff that sappy! You should write poems.”
“I’d have to get a new mentor for that,” Scootaloo joked. “Do you know any ponies that write poetry, and not just novels.”
“Uh, I could introduce you to Pinkie’s sister Maud,” Rainbow joked back, “but she’d probably just tell you to write more about rocks.”
“Hehehe. Pinkie’s so weird,” Scootaloo said out loud. Catching herself, she immediately apologized. 
“Don’t sweat it, kid. I think she would agree with you. I sure do.” Rainbow tried to remember what they had been talking about and tie it back into the conversation. “You know, this is why I wanted to go check out cloud stuff, so we wouldn’t sit here gossiping like the school fillies we are.”
“Hehe, alright, cool, let’s check out the cloud for-”
Scootaloo was cut off by the sound of hoof-cranked sirens filling the air. Rainbow Dash crouched down to the ground, and Scoots followed her lead. After they did so, pegasi dressed in red were flying overhead, carrying tiny black clouds in spacious, sail-sized slings. After them were a legion of pegasi, all pulling one truly massive black cloud in the same direction as the smaller ones. 
“Wow!” Rainbow Dash said as the last of them passed. “That was the pegasi fire brigade!”
“Cloudsdale has a fire brigade?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yeah!” Rainbow said, excited to teach Scoots something. “I know it seems weird for this city, cause everything’s made out clouds that can never catch fire, but, since we have so much water here, you know, clouds, other parts of Equestria depend on the Pegasi Fire Brigade to deal with really big fires, like forest fires that the local fire departments can’t take out in time.”
“Wow!” Scootaloo said, now sharing Rainbow’s enthusiasm. “So they might be going anywhere in Equestria right now?”
“That’s right!” An idea came to Rainbow. “In fact, why don’t I take you to the observatory and we can see ourselves.”
“Wait, the observatory sees fires?”
“Yeah! There’s smaller observatories in all the big cities of Equestira, and they catalog local events, like fires, and send them to the central observatory through lasers!”
“How do the lasers work?”
“Heck if I know. You can ask a technician when we get there.”


“How do the lasers work?” she asked the technician.
“Don’t talk to me. I’m doing my job,” he replied.
Scootaloo was disappointed, and it soured her desire to see whatever fire was going on at the time and how the Pegasi were going to put it out. That, along with the large, noisy crowd, and the fact that they had back-row seats. She leaned over to Rainbow Dash, so she could be heard against the audience around them, and said, “Hey, if you get bored or whatever, we can always go to the cloud fortress.”
An observatory staff worker at the front of the auditorium called out. “We’re getting the first laser ported images from the Sweet Apple Acres Wildfire in now!”
Scootaloo and Rainbow looked at each other at the same moment, stupefied. Rainbow quickly looked back to assess what was happening in the image feed, but Scootaloo was too afraid to look back. With a childlike instinct, she clutched at Rainbow Dash for comfort. Rainbow’s immediate reaction was to struggle out of the light hold, but, realizing her mistake, she immediately took Scootaloo in her lap, holding her in a position so they could both face the screen.
The woman at the front, a scientist by her attire, began to make observations based on the images, most of which were distant, poorly colored, and a bit blurry, but a few of which were highly useable. “It’s not clear from the pattern of the fire whether this was started by nature, or by unnatural interference. Possibly it was a stray stormcloud that gave a little spark to set this off. Possibly, it was some young prankster, in over their head with the consequence of their actions. Possibly, it was started for a practical purpose, and was left to negligence. Let this be a lesson, one we’ve all heard a thousand times, not to play with fire.” Some of the crowd seemed to get a laugh out of this, likely because they were native to Cloudsdale and never had to deal with fire. It made Scootaloo livid.
“Easy there, Tiger,” Rainbow Dash whispered. Scootaloo had unconsciously been gripping Rainbow’s hooves to the point of causing her pain.
“Sorry,” She whispered back, letting go of Rainbow’s hooves altogether. 
From then on, the scientist pony made many observations and conclusions about the fire, some of which were difficult for a lay-pony to understand, and most of which were jotted down by journalists, researchers, and students. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were left feeling no less secure for their friends, the Apples, or all of Ponyville, as the slow lumbering minutes went by. Finally, after half an hour had passed, a police pony nearly burst down the door. He shouted, “I’m rounding up volunteers! This Ponyville fire isn’t going to go anywhere with the force we have on it! Is there anyone who can help us put this thing out?”
Rainbow Dash nudged Scootaloo, who immediately rose from her place and let Rainbow get out of her seat. “Looks like we’ve got to head home early, Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo said nothing, but silently hoped that her home would not be missing any ponies. Especially not the one pony she had been thinking about all day.

> 12 The Goal I'm Dreaming Of
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Welcome!” Death proclaimed. Sweetie Belle found herself entering into her dark cosmic limbo. The obscured image of death had a proper and feminine manner of speaking that was, none the less, loud and commanding as the death bell. “Please, sit, and partake of the tea.” 
“Thank you,” Sweetie said, resigned. With a slight bow, she took her seat at the table. “So,” she asked, “is it all over for me?”
“Well,” the dark hooded figure answered her, “we won’t know that for a little while.”
“I see,” Sweetie responded, “so I’m stuck in limbo until then.”
“Oh, it’s not so bad,” her companion told her, before taking a sip from her tea cup. “You get to spend your uncertain time here with me. Not to mention, from here, we can see just about anything.”
“You don’t say...” Sweetie pondered the implications. “Could we see where Scootaloo is right now?”
“As you will it…” the mysterious voice trailed off, as her dark cloak became a window into the living world. Through it, Sweetie saw Scootaloo sitting beside Fluttershy in her cottage. 
“What is she doing there? I thought she was on vacation with Rainbow Dash.” The cloaked figure was deathly silent. Sweetie thought of something else to ask. “Can- or- May I see Rainbow Dash?”
“...So shall it be.” Sweetie’s vision changed to one of Rainbow Dash, commanding and leading the weather pegasi of Ponyville to provide favorable wind currents to assist the Fire Brigade. 
“Oh, I get it,” Sweetie said with a disappointed aspect. “Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash had to call off their vacation, the one they had been planning for weeks, because of this fire.” She was starting to come to a realization. “Because of…”
“Yes?” The cloaked figure baited her.
“Because of me!” Sweetie confessed.
“How could this be because of you?” 
“Everything has been my fault. Everything! Apple Bloom made that potion, but I’m the one who drank it without permission. Diamond and Silver were always mean to us, but I made the decision to be mean back. Discord made that fire spell, but I’m the one who cast it on that tree. I’ve been blaming everypony else for the things that I do, when it’s really my fault.” She went from very sad to a little stoic. “So this is it. This is my karmic reward. I’m stuck in limbo watching how all of my bad decisions play out before I can pass on. Is that it?”
“Not quite, little one,” the figure answered mysteriously. “Though, I must say, you’ve figured out quite a lot more on your own than I would have given you credit for. Cheers!” The hooded figure took another sip, but Sweetie didn’t touch her saucer.
“Can I see where Apple Bloom is right now?” 
“As you will it…” An image of Apple Bloom appeared to her. She was boarding a train back to Ponyville with a look of manic distress.
“I’ve been so much trouble today, and for what?” Sweetie looked at the cloaked figure for an answer, but she was shy about giving one away. “One last place to look, I guess. Let’s see how the fire is doing.” 
“...So shall it be!” The dark coat lit up in the image of flames. Sweetie could observe the whole of the west orchard through the smoke and the clouds just being delivered.
“All this destruction… I let my feelings get this out of hoof. So you say that I’m not paying for this?” Sweetie heard nothing to confirm or deny from the mysterious mare. “It must be my friends who have to pay. I’ve caused them all of this trouble.”
“Trouble?” Death inquired.
“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle answered as though it had been obvious. “If I had just been a little more patient or a little more understanding, Apple Bloom would be home, her orchard would be fine, and Scootaloo would be having the time of her life in a city of clouds!”
“Do you really believe they are sad about any of that?” 
Sweetie was starting to think that Death might have been a little out of the loop of what made ponies lives important and worthwhile. “Yes! Of course they are! They’re all out of place, and it’s all my fault!”
“You have it half right, little one. Look again, and try as you might to hear their lamentations.” There was a pause. “You hear nothing, for you cannot know them. This is the one thing that I shall tell you, which I could not expect you to know yourself: your friends are not upset about a trip gone awry, or a few infested fields in flames. You, and you alone, are the source of their worry and their strife. Have you forgotten that they are your friends?”
“With all I’ve done to them, they still care about me?” Sweetie asked for clarification.
“Everypony makes bad decisions, Sweetie Belle. The important thing is that you see those decisions for what they are, learn from them, and change the way you behave to channel love instead of sorrow.”
“I thought it might have been you behind that hood, Princess Luna.”
“My apologies if that was unclear,” the Princess said, removing her hood. “My understanding was that this style was all the rage with the young fillies.”
“So I’ve been unconscious and dreaming this entire time?” Sweetie asked.
“Trade secret:” Luna said, in a hushed voice, “Pony Limbo isn’t real.”
“I won’t tell,” Sweetie said. “So does this mean that you can let me wake back up at any time then?”
“It is as I have been trying to convey to you, little unicorn,” Princess Luna lectured. “As you will it, so shall it be. Never forget, no matter the circumstances, that you control your destiny, what you shall be, who you shall love, and whether or not you accept,” Luna lifted the tea tray over to Sweetie Belle, “what life has to offer you.”
Sweetie Belle quickly understood the message and drank the tea to the last drop. She could feel herself fading away from the dream and her waking self begin to stir. Quickly, for politeness sake, she called out “Bye Princess Luna, and thank you!”
“Don’t mention it, little one,” Luna said as Sweetie faded out of her realm. “Don’t go forgetting it, either. Next time, the tea won’t stay as hot for as long.”

> 13 Sleeping Cupid
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	By the time that Apple Bloom deboarded the train, it was already dark. She had been shaking all over and internally panicking, but a stewardess seemed to notice and gave her a cup of hot chocolate on the house. She still had a lot to worry about, but the kindness made her feel a little better.
When she arrived at the station. She was surprised to see a brown cowpony hat hovering along the plane of her vision through the train windows. She gasped, then promptly sighed, tired of being surprised after a long day. She considered trying to sneak out of the train car, in case she was in trouble, but decided that it would be better to take it like a pony.
As she disembarked, Applejack took her up in her hooves and held her tight. “You’re okay!” she exclaimed. It occurred to Apple Bloom that maybe Applejack was more worried than upset. “What Sweetie said was true!”
“Sweetie’s okay?” Apple Bloom asked. “What did she say?”
“After the fire brigade heard her callin’ from in that big ol’ fire she caused, she came and told me how she started it,” Apple Bloom was recoiling to hear what Applejack had heard. “She said that you took her out into the field cause she had some kind of, uh, feelin’s she had to work out.” That, so far, was true. “She said it didn’t help much, and she got so out of control that the magic in her horn went all willy nilly, teleportin’ you away and startin’ a fire.” That sounded like Sweetie Belle was leaving Discord out. 
Apple Bloom was not sure why Sweetie Belle would try to cover for Discord like that, but she certainly did not want to rock the boat. “Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, “that’s pretty much how it went down. I mean, I didn’t see her start the fire, but I guessed from where I was that she must have done it, on account of the smoke.” Applejack put Apple Bloom on her back and gave her a little nuzzle before beginning to walk home. Suddenly a very important question popped into Apple Bloom’s mind. “Is the orchard okay!?”
“Mostly,” Applejack said, “besides the parts that the fruit bats were already infectin’. Only time will tell if they decide to move in to the East Orchard. Right now, they’re all hold up in Fluttershy’s cottage. I guess nobody ever burnt that down on them before, huh?”
“Ha ha, yeah,” Apple Bloom said, beginning to let her guard down. She just needed to ask one more time for clarification “Sweetie Belle is okay right? And where is she.”
“She’s safe at home with her momma and daddy,” Applejack said. “I took her there myself after the fire ponies saved her.”
The next question was awkward. “We’re not pressing charges, are we?”
“No need to get lawyers involved in this, Sugarcube,” Applejack chuckled. “Those trees weren’t doin’ us no good anyhow, and a little forest fire is good for the soil. We didn’t lose anything important, thank Celestia.” Applejack just about started to tear up. “You know, until I saw you at the train station just now, I thought Sweetie was coverin’ her tracks sayin’ she just ‘sent you away’ and you didn’t just… well, you know.”
It took Apple Bloom a minute to understand the implication. “Huh, sorry if I scared you sis.” She began to hold tighter to her sister as they moved back home. “I hope you don’t end up worryin’ about me the way Big Mac does about you.” 
“He doesn’t worry about me,” Applejack said with quivering uncertainty. The two of them went home, where there would not be as many apples as there had once been awaiting them, but, by their lucky stars, there would be enough to get by.
Apple Bloom was laid in her bed gently by her strong sister, who left the room, only to re-enter and keep tabs every so often throughout the night. Though at a glance it seemed that Apple Bloom was sleeping soundly, her dreams would be frantic, though methodical. She knew from the beginning, when she told her two friends that they would not be able to see each other for the rest of the day and overnight, that the overnight part would be just as much of a challenge as the day. Normally, ponies could not travel between each others dreams. Thanks to a friend of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, however, they had been allowed to meet in their dreams in the past.
“Luna!” Apple Bloom called out consciously to the dreamscape. “Princess!” she called again.
“Princess Luna!” rang a call from the distance. “Oh, hi Apple Bloom!” It was Sweetie Belle!
“Sweetie!” Apple Bloom called out. “It’s good to see ya. Applejack told me you made it out alright.”
“Yup. My mane got a little singe to it, but mostly I’m fine.” The evidence was present on the projection of herself in the dreamscape: the ends of her mane and a strip of her tail was black as cinders. 
“Looks alright on ya, actually. Anyways, since we’re meeting, I guess it must mean Luna is gonna show up at some point. Hopefully Scootaloo hasn’t started dreamin’ yet. We gotta make sure you two don’t see each other here either, or this will all have been for nothin’.”
“You think seeing each other in a dream will be the same as in real life?” Sweetie asked.
“Based on my research with test animals, I have no earthly idea. Better safe than sorry, though.”
“Don’t worry about it too much, Apple Bloom. If we have to try it again tomorrow, I promise I won’t summon Discord and burn down your orchard again. Pinkie Promise!” 
“Well, that’s a relief.” Apple Bloom said. “It will all be for nothing anyways if you guys see each other in the night and not the day. Better to nip it in the bud right now. I got a feelin’ that-” As she was saying it, she heard a voice from inside the dream. “Did you hear that?” Both were silent for a while, trying to catch the voice a second time. “It might be Luna, or it might be Scootaloo. Quick, dream something up to hide yourself in!”
Sweetie Belle thought a moment. “My cloak!” she exclaimed. “Finally, it will come in useful.” Like the Phoenix, Sweetie Belle’s black cloak rose from the ashes, larger and better for hiding a pony's face behind. She quickly put it on, just as the sound of a distant voice became clearer through the misty mind-work. 
“Look what though little ponies hath done to me!” Luna’s voice bellowed out. “You have made me believe that the black cloak hath gone out of style, when it is quite to the contrary.”
“Luna!” Sweetie called out. “I don’t know if you heard me earlier, but thanks so much for your help!”
“You have yourself to thank, and to blame. The same could be said of your friend.”
“Apple Bloom?” Sweetie asked. Her friend was standing steadfast as psychic bars were forming around her.
“I’m sorry it has to come to this, Apple Bloom, but I am not just your friend and guide. In the night, I am the law, and I need to behave as such. You tampered with a dangerous love poison formula, created powerful magics without a licence, and performed undocumented testing on house pets. You will need to see justice for this.”
“If you’re gonna try to make me confess,” Apple Bloom said, straight to the point. “I have conditions!”
“It seems you were expecting this,” Luna observed. “Praytell, what are these demands.”
“First, you can’t cause Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to see or hear each other in their dreams.” 
“Certainly, I shall not. Anything further?”
This was the most important feature, but sensing that she wasn’t asking for enough, Apple Bloom tried to weigh the odds in her favor. “I get to pick what judge I want.”
“They must necessarily be a valid choice, but I will hear it.”
“Twilight Sparkle.”
“I see your game. Very well, but I have conditions of my own before we formalize this deal,” Luna said in a playful manner.
“Name it.”
“Your trial shall occur tonight, in Twilight Sparkles world of dreams. We must expedite the process of law, you understand.”
“Alright, I’ll take it,” Apple Bloom agreed.
“Not so fast,” Luna exclaimed, “this condition is steep: The court shall not be required to provide you with witnesses. You and Twilight shall be the only ponies summoned to attend.”
This was harder to agree to. She thought she could renegotiate, but she was still getting the better end of the deal, and so finally, she said, “I’ll agree to that.”
Luna’s eyes lit up to a blinding radiance as the cage began to fade into the floor, taking Apple Bloom with it. “Then the deal is struck, the dice are cast, and your fate hangs in the balance.”
“Oh no,” Sweetie cried out, too slow to catch the cage as it fell. She turned to Luna with a fire in her eyes. “Apple Bloom has been spending all day, dealing with all kinds of stuff, because I drank her potion, and you think she needs to go to prison for it?”
“I’m sorry, little one, but the law is as it is. I sincerely doubt she will be incarcerated. It was quite clever of her to choose a valid judge she knew personally. Princess Twilight will likely consider this an intellectual curiosity or a teachable moment first or foremost, and a sentencing hearing only as an afterthought. With the stakes that low, I had to ensure that she had a very low chance of success, for balance you see. Honestly, I would have let her off far easier if she hadn’t posed such a clever contest...”
“So that’s why you said she isn’t allowed to have witnesses? So she would lose?” asked Sweetie.
“Half correct again, as it were,” Luna said with a smirk. “Yes, it is true that, with a confession and no witnesses, Apple Bloom is quite guaranteed to fail. However, I did not say she could have no witnesses, only that none could be summoned.” She was looking as Sweetie expectantly, but Sweetie could not yet understand. “If a couple of ponies, at least two, who were personally affected by the actions of the defendant, just so happened to show up, they could testify to the defendant’s innocence freely.” Finally, Sweetie understood what Luna meant. 
“I could testify, and so could Scootaloo. But if we both go looking for the right door, we’ll end up meeting, and what Apple Bloom was trying to do will be all for nothing.”
“If there were another way to do it would you want to testify for your friend?”
“Of course I would,” Sweetie answered. “If there’s even a chance that Dream Twilight is meaner than Awake Twilight, I have to do something to help. I can’t watch my friend be punished when she tried so hard to fix her mistakes.”
“You still have that black cloak don’t you?” Luna asked.
“I could walk around blind, I guess,” Sweetie said, missing the point by a certain margin. “It would be really hard to find the right door to Twilight’s dreams, though.”
“Just keep yourself cloaked all over, unseeing, and mute. I’ll be back in just a moment.” Sweetie immediately regretted suggesting the plan. She hated being blind, especially in the context of a dream, because it usually meant that something horrible is waiting when she finally has her sight back. More than one nightmare has involved her hiding behind a couch or some other cover, only to take a quick peak that gives her location away to whatever scary pony or monster she was trying to avoid to begin with. 
“I have returned,” Luna said. “I have the other witness with me, and they are going to guide you through the realm of dreams. You only have until the end of the hearing to find Twilight’s room among the many doors to many dreams. If you wish to succeed, you must keep close to each other and be persistent, but don’t say a word or look beyond the veil.”
Without another word said by anyone, Sweetie Belle felt herself being pulled away from her standing position. As she tried to synch up the speed of her hooves with her guide, she wondered who it was. The most obvious “other witness” for her to get would have been Scootaloo, but who was to say. Deaf, dumb, and blind, Sweetie couldn’t tell one hoof from another. With so little stimuli, her mind began to wander.
She began to wonder whether it was Scootaloo who was dragging her around, or somepony else. Luna did promise not to reveal the two to each other. How could she justify joining them together, even under these circumstances, if she meant to keep that promise?
Maybe she didn’t mean to. Maybe she wanted Sweetie Belle to peak out, to see whether it was really Scootaloo, so that her deal with Apple Bloom would be broken. Apple Bloom would be free, and they could all find another solution, like just staying up all night. Perhaps that was really the plan afterall. She put her free hoof to the veil, and she wondered whether she should hold it firm or remove it outright.
Either way, they were certainly exploiting a loophole of some kind. They were witnesses, even if they weren’t being summoned, and that seemed to break the spirit of the agreement. Luna could know that Twilight would not accept the wording as valid, and we would be breaking Apple Bloom's end of the deal as well. What does Luna got out of persecuting ponies, anyways, and why could she not have let Apple Bloom off with a warning?
If she had really intended for Apple Bloom to be punished for what she did, why would she help them at all? She then thought that it may have been Luna who was leading her all this way herself, only claiming to have brought another witness. She could be leading little Sweetie Belle around to nowhere, or to the place that dreams go to be forgotten. Was she simply being taken out of the way, or lead endlessly on by some mere phantom, dream apparition of a hoof without an arm to guide it?
If the hoof she felt could be nothing but a dream, then who is to say that it was not her own dream? Perhaps, if she lifted the veil, all she would see would be one of those horrors from her nightmares, leading her to some dark part of her own mind. Alternatively, it might be Scootaloo as she would see in a dream, leading her to some romantic fantasy which she could not afford to experience at the moment.
The darkness progressively made each new thought and fantasy feel more real as time went on. She wondered whether she had been with Scootaloo when she began her journey, which by this point felt as though it had been an hour in length, but had been swept away by some resident of the unconscious mid way through. With her dreamlike perception of sensation and memory, she could not decide whether she had felt her hoof slide out of her guides at some point, only to be taken quickly by some other hand. She began to feel intensely with her projected hoof to better examine what incorporeal thing she was “holding” with it. What had felt like Scootaloo’s little hoof began to feel at times like the larger hoof of the princess, then like the claw of a dragon or the hand of a centaur, then like a hand more false and ghostly than she expected out of another visitor to the false and ghostly world. 
Her hoofing became unsteady with the unsavory feeling of holding a tentacle, such had she convinced herself that it was. She nearly tripped over herself, and found that she would quite like to have fallen, if only to feel how her guide, whoever it might have been, would lift her up, and to distinguish if it was Scootaloo after all. Her hoof became uneasy on her head as she began to lift the cloth that blinded her little by little. 
The anticipation was too much for her. Doubting the senses she had retained, she wanted only to see with her eyes and hear with her ears that she was safe in this unfamiliar land with her ill-begotten special somepony, whether it would doom them or not. Part of her held firm, trusting that her friend Luna had put her on the right path and would not have let her stray, but these thoughts became further and further from her mind as time went on. Her veil was all the way above her head now, and all she had to do was open her eyes to see who is was guiding her through this nightmare, darkly.
“Thud thud thud!” came a rapping at the door. Sweetie quickly repositioned her blinder. The sound had come not a moment too soon.
“Come in!” chimed the familiar voice of Twilight Sparkle. Sweetie had to contain herself so as not to call out in relief, or even sigh too loudly, at this development. 
As the two ponies crossed the threshold into another dream, they heard their friend call out to them from inside “Scootaloo! Is that Sweetie? You guys haven’t seen or heard each other, have you? Wait, don’t answer!” Apple Bloom shifted her attention to Twilight. “Judge Twilight, can we maybe see these two one at a time?”
“Sorry, Apple Bloom,” Twilight answered, “but we can’t just take a break right in the middle of your sentencing to talk to friends. Unless they have some important information about your crime-”
Apple Bloom interrupted her, “They do! But they can’t see or hear each other ‘till morning.”
“Ah,” Twilight postulated, “because you’re trying to wear off the spells effects. Fine, I’ll have to interview the both of you in separate rooms.” She paused a moment. “Actually, under the circumstances, I might as well make it different cities.”
Sweetie heard a magical crackle and hiss as her body was teleported into another place, or, rather, setting in the mind of Princess Twilight Sparkle. “You can take off the get-up now.” Trusting Twilight, Sweetie removed her black robe and cast it to the floor of The Crystal Capitol. Having only been to the Crystal Empire a few times, she was still somewhat mystified by the architecture of its central feature. As she was surveying the crystal work, she noticed Shining Armor show up with a tray of cakes and tea. “Well,” Twilight Sparkle began, “now that we can speak freely, let me ask you: do you want to testify to the innocence of Apple Bloom?” 
Sweetie answered very directly, “I do.”
“What makes Apple Bloom’s crime, which she has confessed to, unworthy of punishment, in your mind,” Twilight asked bookishly.
“Yeah, she made the potions, but she was really careful and responsible with them,” Sweetie Belle testified. “She could have let me and Scootaloo think that everything was normal and we weren’t under the effects of anything, and we would have believed it, but she did everything she could to let us know and get us better. If she wasn’t so responsible, or didn’t care about us, she wouldn’t be on trial, and that’s just not fair.”
“Are you saying she should be rewarded for how she handled the situation?” Twilight asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far…” Sweetie admitted. “The point is, she made a mistake and she fixed it. Nobody should have to go to jail for that. No harm no foul, right?”
Twilight took a deep sip of her tea. “Well said, my little pony. You may now awaken. Just drink the tea in front of you and-” Twilight was interrupted as Sweetie Belle slurped down the tea in front of her, unphased by the illusion of steam emanating from it. 
“Bye Princess Twilight,” Sweetie said, dissolving. “See you later.”
“Huh, weird,” Twilight observed, “She must have done this before.”
Waving goodbye to her imaginary big brother, Twilight teleported the tray, cups, kettle, and herself to the center of an Appleoosa horse race where Scootaloo was waiting for her, watching the action go down. “I see you’re enjoying yourself,” she observed.
“You’ve got a pretty active imagination, Twilight Sparkle,” Scootaloo replied.
“I’m sure we’ll have a great time, but what fun is watching a race without tea.” She levitated the kettle to pour another cup full of tea in the cup opposite her own.
“I don’t see what good tea is in a dream,” Scootaloo remarked ignorantly. Twilight was amused by the difference between these two fillies.
“I’m sure it will add to the atmosphere. More importantly, do you want to testify in favor of Apple Bloom?”
“I do,” Scootaloo responded while attempting to balance the cup of tea in the middle of her left hoof with her right hoof. 
“I have to say, Scootaloo,” Twilight said, dropping a level of formality as she bit into a tiny cake, “You’re awfully forgiving for somepony who has been, I’m just gonna say it, mind controlled by a potion. I know a lot of ponies who would be more hung up about something like that.”
“I don’t really feel like I’ve been mind controlled,” Scootaloo confessed, eyeing the sweets and realizing that, trying to hold the drink, she would be completely unable to grab them.
“Well, that’s the sign of a job well done, to some,” Twilight said.
“I know it doesn’t mean much,” Scootaloo admitted, “but I feel like I’ve always felt this way about Sweetie Belle. She was only my marefriend for half a day, but even before then I remember feeling like she was more than just a friend to me. I…” It was difficult for Scootaloo to say, “I don’t think she would have fallen for me without the potion, but I think I would have for her.”
“She didn’t behave affectionately before the potion?” Twilight asked.
“Sure she did,” Scootaloo responded, “but that’s how she is. It’s in her name, ‘Sweetie’. She’s trusting, caring… she would act the same way to an Ursa Minor if she met one.”
“You don’t think she sees anything in you like you do in her?”
“I don’t see why she would,” Scoots said. “She trusts me, and all I do is take her out of her comfort zone. I mean, I’m the one that teased her so bad she decided to drink the potion in the first place. I never know when to stop, and it always gets us in trouble. She’ll probably hate me once she isn’t under its spell.”
“You teased her into drinking it?” Twilight asked.
Scootaloo remembered why she was there. “Yeah, that’s right!” she confirmed, “I’m responsible for what happened, not Apple Bloom. Heck, we wouldn’t have even been messing with her stuff if it wasn’t for me trying to prank her, and corrupting poor innocent Sweetie to do it with me. If anypony deserves to be on trial, it’s me! I’m the criminal! Put me on the stand!”
“I don’t think that’s going to be necessary,” Twilight said assuredly. “You may go. Have you finished your tea?”
Scootaloo looked down on the steaming liquid and gave it a sip. Noticing it wasn’t hot, and, in fact, was not real tea with real tea flavor, she drank it down quickly. “Alright, I finished my tea, what happens n-” as she was saying it, she faded out of Twilight’s vision. 
“Very interesting,” Twilight said, contemplating the witnesses testimony.
With a flash of light, Twilight appeared back in her balloon above Ponyville, where she had been engaging the trial of Apple Bloom. Spike was there, in his fully adult dragon glory, holding a chalkboard on which she had written down all the particulars of Apple Bloom’s love poison recipe. Apple Bloom was in the balloon itself, or, rather, in a cage inside the balloon. Besides this, there was a magical floating door and hovering carpet that the two witnesses had entered from.
“Well,” Twilight addressed Apple Bloom, “I just had a very interesting discussion with your two friends, and I’ve come to a conclusion on your punishment.” Apple Bloom attempted to remain steadfast in the face of potential doom, but couldn’t help but think to herself please not banishment to the moon, please not banishment to the moon, please not… “I’ve decided,” Twilight went on, “to wave all punishments.”
“What!?” Apple Bloom called out, “Really?”
“Yes, really,” Twilight said, “because, as Sweetie Belle put it, ‘no harm, no foul’. Just the fact that they were both willing to show up to defend you should be evidence enough that you did nothing wrong, or, at least, nothing you haven’t made up for. That is, as long as they’re the only ponies that have been exposed to your little experiment…”
“The rest of the potion we poured out onto the soil,” Apple Bloom clarified. “Sorry I didn’t mention that earlier.”
“Well then, I think I can justify letting you off with a warning,” Twilight Sparkle said securely. “At the same time, I was curious about something that Scootaloo had said. Are you one-hundred percent sure that this is the exact formula that you used when you were making your potion?”
“The imperial to metric conversion might be off a little, but otherwise it’s just what I did,” Apple Bloom said.
“Interesting. I’m going to ask that you come and see me in the afternoon once I’ve had time to run the math and a few projections,” Twilight said. “Otherwise, you’re free to go.” The cage around Apple Bloom puffed into a cloud of vapor upon her saying so. “Unfortunately, we’re out of tea, so you’re going to have to jump out of the balloon in order to wake yourself up.” 
Apple Bloom looked down on Ponyville and felt dizzy from the height. Looking away, she jumped down out of the balloon, looking up at it as she fell down and out of her rest. “Wait, Apple Bloom!” Twilight called from above. “I was joking! Oh well.”

> 14 Castle in the Air
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Apple Bloom awoke with a fright from her bed, feeling as though she had just fallen into it from a balloon. She looked up to see her roof in tact, and it reassured her that she had successfully waken up from a dream. She was no worse for it in a circadian sense, as she heard the rooster crow just a moment later. She had her morning chores to get through, and after that, she could see if their efforts in the last 24 hours had turned up results. She was relieved to have gotten through the most unpredictable and dangerous segment of it, and, for the first time in a little while, she looked forward to her morning chores.
As she was helping Applejack plant new seeds in the dead part of the orchard, however, she remembered the obligation she still had. “Applejack!” she asked her big sister. “Can I cut out for a little while? I promised my friends I would meet them at the treehouse around three.”
“How come this is the first I’ve heard of it?” Applejack asked.
“I fell asleep on your back before I could mention it.” Applejack was unsatisfied by this answer, but there was no time to debate. “Sorry, I really gotta go, I’ll cover for you in the evenin’ to make up for it.” 
Applejack wanted to stop her sister and talk more about it, but she was tied down by the seed cart. Frustrated, she called out, “You really expect me to seed this all by myself!” before planting a mouthful of seeds in the hole in front of her. “Nuts to this, I’ll let her do her half of the work in the evening.” She left the other direction, leaving the field half seeded. 
When Apple Bloom arrived at the treehouse, she was relieved to discover that she was the first and only one there. She climbed to the lookout perch above the main clubhouse, and saw Sweetie Belle making her way to her location. She ran down stairs and called out, “Hey, Sweetie! How you feelin’ today? You better.”
“I feel pretty okay, Apple Bloom!” Sweetie called down from the ground. “Can’t really speak for Scootaloo though.”
“I like the sound of that,” Apple Bloom called out, “but I think we should bunker in here just in case.”
Sweetie began ascending the retractable entry ramp. “You know a treehouse is basically the opposite of a bunker right.”
Apple Bloom hit the top part of the ramp, causing the bottom to fall off and the top to bounce back into an erect position. “I know that. Now, are you sure you’re not still feelin’ feelin’s?”
“I’m not a robopony, if that’s what you’re asking,” Sweetie responded.
“I mean do you still love Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked severely.
“Yes,” Sweetie answered on reflex.
“Dang it,” Apple Bloom said. “We must need more time. You didn’t see or hear her in the dream, right?”
“Was it really her that was there?”
“I’ll take that as a 'no"” Apple Bloom said. “How long do I have to separate y’all?”
“Maybe we’re too different from cats,” Sweetie suggested. “I mean, ponies have special someponies and get married, but cats really don’t. Opal's mom and dad were never together…”
“What are you sayin’?” Apple Bloom asked frantically. “Do you mean you think it might be permanent?”
“Maybe,” Sweetie answered. “Or maybe it will just take a little longer.”
“How can you be so calm about this?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I don’t really mind it this way,” Sweetie admitted. “I’ve always liked Scootaloo. She was my only friend before I met you. When I was shy and afraid of trying new things, she got me to come out of my shell. I’ve always admired her. I thought about it, and I think that I’ve always wanted to fall in love with her. The potion just made it easy.”
“I think the effects are gettin’ worse!” Apple Bloom said dismissively. “Are you tryin’ to tell me, after all that, you really don’t want to get rid of the spell?”
“I do!” Sweetie insisted. “I don’t want Scootaloo to be brain washed forever if we can help it. If we can cure it, I still want to, I’m just saying I can deal with it until we do.”
“Well, before we try a longer span of time, we better talk to somepony who knows potions. I didn’t wanna bring Twilight into this, but I guessed we might have to no matter what. That’s why I picked her for my judge. I gave her the formulas to figure out a cure, and to distract her from actually punishin’ me.”
“Luna said she thought you were clever,” Sweetie recalled. “How did you ever come up with that plan?”
“Oh, that part wasn’t planned,” Apple Bloom admitted. “The whole plan was that I would confess, get the blame, and accept the consequences so that you guys would be guaranteed of not seein’ each other. The Twilight part was lucky thinkin’. ‘Specially since it seem like not seein’ each other did nothin’ for ya, so the first part was a waste anyways.”
“So,” Sweetie Belle asked, “do you want me to ‘lower the draw-bridge’ for when Scootaloo get’s here?”
“Might as well,” Apple Bloom answered, disappointed. She wanted to stay positive, so she postulated further that, “Maybe Scootaloo is better already, and only you’re gonna take some extra time.”
“Maybe…” Sweetie replied. She was reluctant to support it, even though, by all accounts, it was the best that they could hope for.
“Hello!” a raspy voice called down from below.
Sweetie rushed to discover who it was, but, to her disappointment, it was just Spike. “Hey, Spike,” she called out, “what do you need?”
“Twilight sent me here!” he said. “She says she met you three in a dream, and that you agreed to meet today. I told her she’s crazy, but she insisted I go and escort you fillies to the castle.”
“We’d love to go,” Apple Bloom called down from above, “but we’re still short a Crusader. Could you come back in an hour?”
“Sorry girls, but no matter how I feel about it, I have to do what Twilight says. It’s part of my dragon code. I’m just gonna stand here until you’re ready for me to take you there.” True to his word, Spike stood firm in his place. As he did so, though, the two ponies above noticed that Scootaloo was closing in on their location, and Spike was standing just in the mote that the scooter dug through its most tread path.
“Uh, Spike,” Apple Bloom pointed out, “I really do think you best to not stand there.”
“I told you, I have to. It’s my job as a dragon.” Spike insisted.
Sweetie Belle said, “Spike, you really don’t want to be standing there right now!”
“Guys, I’m fine standing here, what are you-” In the middle of his sentence, the little dragon was stuck from behind by a speeding scooter. He went flying into the tree the treehouse was built in, face first, causing the more ripe apples to wobble and detach.
“Sorry, Spike!” Scootaloo said quickly. “I was lost in my thoughts. I totally didn’t see-” An apple fell onto her helmet, causing a “clang” sound and disorienting her.
“Scootaloo!” Sweetie cried out, carefully climbing down the side of the clubhouse. “Are you okay!?”
“Force is equal to mass times..." after a brief moment of this incomprehensible rambling, she concluded, "Yeah, I’m fine.”
“I’m fine too, by the way.” Spike said as Sweetie Belle ran toward Scootaloo and Apple Bloom began to climb down.
“We can ride off in just a second then, Spike,” Apple Bloom answered him. “Say, Scootaloo, how are you feelin’ today?”
“Your hair!” Scootaloo cried out, ignoring Apple Bloom and Spike entirely. “It’s all burnt up! Were you in that fire?”
“Oh, yeah,” Sweetie Belle said, remembering her scorched locks. “Does it look bad?”
“You were in that fire and I wasn’t there to help you!” Scootaloo lamented. “Oh, my poor, sad, sweet, little raincloud!”
“I’m gonna go ahead and chalk you up as still nuts,” Apple Bloom remarked. “I’m gonna go get the waggon and you’ll ride us all to the castle on your trusty scooter, arlight?”
“Right,” Scootaloo answered. It occurred to Scootaloo that Sweetie might not still be feeling as fondly to her as she was yesterday, so she worried she might have betrayed herself. 
To her surprise, though, she saw Sweetie smiling back at her, asking “Am I really your ‘sweet little raincloud’?” 
“Um, yes?” Sweetie Belle said, unsure of whether Sweetie Belle would take that as endearing or embarrassing.
“That’s so sweet!” Sweetie said, hugging her.
“Guys!” Apple Bloom called out to them. “Can we please get a mozy on!” She and Spike had already taken their seat in the red waggon. The couple complied with haste, Scootaloo mounting her scooter and guiding Sweetie Belle to a position behind her.
Shortly, they came to Twilight’s castle. “Good afternoon, my little ponies!” Twilight greeted them from the door. “These girls didn’t give you much trouble, did they Spike?”
“Yeah, not much more than a few bruises,” Spike said under his breath.
“You fillies can follow me into the parlor, and we can discuss my findings!” The three followed Twilight as she requested. Each took a seat at a prepared chair facing a very busy blackboard, which they gauged was Twilight’s handiwork. “I’ve missed this,” Twilight admitted. “Ever since I’ve become an alicorn, most of the magic that had been troubling me has just come so easy. It’s nice having a lot of spells at my disposal and everything, but studying all of this biology, alchemy, and formulas… I just love solving long-form magical problems!”
“Yeah, who doesn’t?” Scootaloo said, directed as a joke to Sweetie. Sweetie giggled, but that was not going to distract Twilight at this point.
“What I found is very interesting. I actually had to borrow a book from Fluttershy about animal biology to understand the full extent of the difference between equine and feline when it comes to paranormal infatuation detoxification.” She could see she was losing them. “That is, how long the poison takes to stop having effects on the body and mind. You would think that, with cats, it would be longer, because an equivalent amount would be more compared to body weight. However, it seems this spell actually effects ponies much more powerfully because of the way it binds to receptors in the ponies larger brain! Bigger the cranium, bigger the impact, the harder it is to get your special somepony out of your head. Fascinating, isn’t it!?”
“So how long are we gonna need to spend apart, Princess Twilight?” Sweetie asked her.
“Weren’t you already doing since yesterday? I mean, with the cloak and all?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom answered, “but it didn’t work! I kept them apart a whole day, and they even kept from seeing or talking to each other inside a dream, but they’re still crushin’ on each other same as before!”
“Twenty-four hours is probably excessive.” Twilight said in an analytical tone. “A filly your age has a brain about fifty percent larger than a cats, so it should only take eighteen hours compared to twelve.”
“Twilight, are you listening,” Scootaloo said, impatiently, “it’s been way more than eighteen hours since Sweetie and I saw each other, but we still have feeling for each other.”
“As much as I appreciate the case you’ve provided,” Twilight replied smugly, “I’m afraid the numbers simply do not fib. Neither does my ‘detect magic’ spell!” Twilight cast something with her horn which caused all of the ponies in the room to glow red. “You see, it’s red. That means negative. So there’s no more magic going on here. Here I’ll show you.” Twilight cast a mustache spell on Spike, then cast the detection spell again. Spike glowed blue, indicating that he was magically charged. The CMC looked at each other, confused. “You’re clean, girls.”
“Then,” Sweetie Belle asked, “why do I still love Scootaloo?”
“Well,” Twilight answered, “it’s not like the last couple of days didn’t happen. You still remember it, maybe also learned from it. You probably enjoyed being synthetic marefriends with each other so much that now you want to be real marefriends.” She tried to form an analogy. “Kind of like my first day in Ponyville. I met all of my friends, Pinkie, Fluttershy, your sisters, because I was obligated to, not because I wanted to. Even though it started out that way, it was how I came to know the best friends I’ve ever had. They’ve made me the pony I am today because I chose to continue my studies here with them.” She attempted to sum up with a general moral, “Obviously it feels bad to be out of control of your destiny, but when things happen to you that are out of your control, it can present opportunities you might never have thought about, if you make the choice to take advantage of them.”
“Accepting what life has to offer you… I get it!” Sweetie Belle said.
“So y’all really ain’t poisoned anymore!” Apple Bloom said. 
In relief and joy, her two friends hugged each other and jumped up and down, cheering “We aren’t poisoned! We aren’t poisoned!” in unison. “Thank you, Twilight Sparkle!” they said, excitedly prancing out of the castle. 
“You’re welcome girls!” She called to them. “Have a great day!” As she did, though, she couldn’t help but notice Apple Bloom still sitting in the same position, not joining her two friends in their frivolity. “Aren’t you happy, Apple Bloom? You don’t have to worry about poisoning your friends anymore.”
“I know,” she said. “It’s just, I hadn’t thought about how it would be if Scoots and Sweetie really did like each other. Will they still want to do the same things we used to? Will they still want me to hang out with them? Will I just get in the way?”
“I remember the day you met the two of them,” Twilight reminisced. “You had something in common with them that made you fast friends. That hasn’t changed yet, has it?”
“No,” Apple Bloom answered. “I guess it hasn’t. Thanks Princess Twilight,” she added, “for reminding me.”
“Don’t mention it,” Twilight replied as Apple Bloom left to rejoin her friends. She thought once more about the bond she made with her own friends, and thought that maybe what bound them together wasn’t so different. She said to herself, “Even if it changes, that doesn’t mean it’s gone…”
> Bonus: Scoots wrote a poem!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

10

You were my closest friend when we each found
A certain longing hid beneath our looks.
Our burning for each other did abound
Like romance tales in Golden Oaks lost books.

You were my cloud at dusk, when we parted.
You were so far away, through tears and dark. 
Just like a storm, my long sorrows started.
I desired your complexion, white and stark.

You were my marble Venus: evening star,
But Twilight's mercy is this proved way:
That what at start of night seems all too far,
Is within loving grasp in blessed day.

Though now the spell on us is overthrown,
I shall be bound to you by love alone.

-Scootaloo