It was the alarm that broke Scootaloo out of her nightmares. The nightmares had consisted only of disembodied thoughts born from her recurring depression. This time, the depression was worse because it was laced sharply with defeat.
Defeat. What an unattractive word. Defeat was what one felt when they were a failure.
Defeat was what everypony in the CMC group would feel when, come five years, Scootaloo would still not be able to fly.
Scootaloo wound up trudging through the day like a zombie, and wishing she could just disappear.
While she moped around, the other three ponies grew concerned about the well-being of their friend.
As Applebloom, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon surrounded Scootaloo with questions, she told them she wasn’t feeling well, and couldn’t explain just yet, but would probably feel fine once it passed. This did little to ease the concern of her friends but nevertheless, they left her alone.
While this happened, Sweetie Belle - the one pony who knew what was going on in Scootaloo’s head - could do was watch from a distance, unsure of what was to happen next.
Today was the day for lessons with Rainbow Dash. As always, everypony waited in the hot air balloon near the clubhouse for their friend to arrive.
Sweetie Belle, for the sake of keeping things secret to avoid conflict, masked her conflicted emotions from her friends as she attempted to make normal conversation. “So… are you three going to tell me what you discussed last night?”
A look of mock horror crossed Silver Spoon’s face. “Sweetie Belle! Like, how could you be so nosy?” But she was only teasing. Both ponies knew that Sweetie Belle had the right to know what was going on.
Diamond Tiara grinned proudly. “It’s a surprise. We will tell you after Scootaloo’s flying lessons.” She paused. “You and Scootaloo. Together.”
The remark only spiked Sweetie Belle’s curiosity. Despite the defeat and guilt she had been feeling all day, she couldn’t help but wonder what could be so secret.
Her heart leaped in her chest when Applebloom spoke: “Oh, speak of the devil. There’s Scootaloo comin’ our way right now!”
But Scootaloo looked far from eager to be there. As she grew closer, everypony could tell that whatever was going on inside of her had only progressed, and was getting to show even more now than earlier.
Applebloom took Sweetie Belle aside, and whispered: “Sweetie Belle, you were with Scootaloo yesterday… did somethin’ happen that you know of?”
Sweetie Belle remained silent, for she could not find the right words to say in such a situation.
The silence told Applebloom everything; it was as though she, being related to the element of honesty, had a way of knowing the truth.
“Sweetie Belle, there’s something’ yer not tellin’ me, is there.”
Sweetie Belle closed her eyes, and sighed loudly. She felt tears beginning to well up behind her eyelids.
Applebloom turned toward the other two ponies. “There’s somethin’ off here. I think we should call off the lessons fer today, and have a talk.”
Her grim expression got Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to look at each other with concern. They, unable to tell what was going on, began to worry that they had done something wrong by confiding in Diamond Tiara’s ideas.
Safe to say, DIamond Tiara and SIlver Spoon weren’t the ones at fault.
They figured out who was at fault the second they all got into the treehouse with Scootaloo sulking behind them, lost in her thoughts. Applebloom came up to Sweetie Belle, and said:
“You used magic, didn’t ya?”
The expression on Applebloom’s face was uncommon from her normal cheery expression. It was an expression of anger, one which filled the room with negative energy.
Sweetie Belle spoke softly… “While you were gone yesterday… yes.”
“But how did you know?”
The two ponies looked to see Scootaloo finally talking. She spoke again, with a serious expression in her eyes. “How did you guess that Sweetie Belle used her magic? Nothing has changed, see?” Scootaloo turned around to show Applebloom her small wings, which hadn’t grown at all.
“Because,” said Applebloom pompously, “If there’s one thing that I’m good at, it’s being able to guess what the outcome of a situation will be, emotion-wise. More specifically…” She came closer to Sweetie Belle, her eyes narrowing; “I knew that if ya tried ta use magic on Scootaloo, and it didn’t work, she’d be even more disappointed than before. And look.” Applebloom motioned at Scootaloo, who was staring at the argument with shock. “She feels even worse, because you tried to do an unrealistic scenario, and got her hopes too high. Why did ya go ahead with this, without telling me?” Applebloom spoke in a stern, sincere voice, but it felt like she was shouting.
To the two ponies’ surprise, Scootaloo stepped in. “Look. Applebloom, don’t be mad. Sweetie Belle wanted to help me, okay? She felt bad for me, and she wanted to use her magic because, well,” her eyes narrowed, and began to cloud over. “...we both thought it would work.” Scootaloo was all of a sudden very soft spoken, as the memories of yesterday - a day that felt like weeks ago within the fog of her mind - came hurtling back towards her. “...but it didn’t.” As the emotions threatened to tear Scootaloo apart once again, her biggest mission at the moment was to not let these ponies see her cry.
Especially Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon; what if they make fun of me again-
Scootaloo shook the thought out of her mind. Wasn’t she done being hurt by those two ponies already? Wasn’t she past all of that?
While Scootaloo argued within herself, Sweetie Belle began to get teary eyed - and she, unashamed, let it show. “I… felt bad for Scootaloo… for being unable to fly, a-and I thought… magic would help.”
“But dontcha remember what I said? About magic bein’ cheatin’?
“Yeah, but-”
“And who is ta say only you can help, because yer a unicorn? I’ll have ya know that I had a talk with Diamond Tiara and SIlver Spoon about researching food to give Scootaloo to help her wings grow, and-”
“So the meeting was about the mission! Well! So much for leaving ponies out.” Sweetie Belle huffed dramatically. “Looks like I’m not the only one who should be ashamed.”
As the fighting went on, all Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon could do was sit by the sidelines… and watch.
Watch. That was all they could do. Because what could they do to help?
Silver Spoon whispered to Diamond Tiara: “Listen… you told me before why you wanted to help the CMCs with this mission. Don’t you think that now is a good time to, well, explain?”
Diamond Tiara looked lost in thought. There was, in fact, a reason why she had joined the CMC mission - a reason which she had been secretive about, and had never considered sharing to the CMCs. She didn’t even tell Silver Spoon until a few days after they joined.
Silver Spoon looked at Diamond Tiara sincerely. She had become much more sincere and soft around her friend since she gave up her evil ways, and since Silver Spoon started feeling less like a hench pony.
“Diamond Tiara, let me say this to you, as your friend. I think now is the time to be honest.”
Just around the time that Silver Spoon was talking to Diamond Tiara, Applebloom said something unthinkable - an unthinkable sentence that would get all ponies to stop in their tracks: “Listen, if we’re gonna be fightin’ like this, ai don’t think this mission is worth it. I mean, we’re all mad at each other an’-”
“What? No!” To everypony’s surprise, Diamond Tiara came rushing toward the CMCs. “Listen. You know why I came to help out with this mission? And this is going to sound completely ridiculous but…” Diamond Tiara closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. “One night, I got a visit from Princess Luna, and she told me that in order for me to get over my past and accept who I am, I need to help you achieve a mission.”