"Come on Scootaloo, its time to get up," Holiday said as she poked her head into her niece's bedroom where she was still sleeping. "You don't want to be late for school do you?"
Scootaloo yawned a little as she wiped the sleep from her eyes, she had stayed up late the night before trying to figure out what she was going to tell Sweetie Belle. She had only recently realized she had a crush on the Unicorn filly and hadn't really figured out how to tell her and even if she would be able to tell her the truth.
"Still thinking about Sweetie Belle huh?" Holiday asked as Scootaloo got out of bed. "Do you think you're going to tell her today?"
"Maybe, I don't really know what to say though," Scootaloo admitted with a shake of her head. "You two have been friends for quite awhile, right?"
"Yeah, since she first moved to town and joined Ms. Cheerilee's class," Scootaloo said with a nod, she had met Sweetie Belle almost a year before they had met Apple Bloom at Diamond's cute-cenera. "So, we've been friends for quite awhile now, I guess its part of the reason I fell for her..."
"Well, just tell her how you feel, if Sweetie Belle is really your friend it won't matter, you two can still be friends no matter what," Holiday said as the two walked downstairs. "Is there anything else that worries you about this?"
"I don't know really, I've never really felt like this about anypony before," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "She's a really good friend, I just wish that I knew what I should say to her. I'm just a little worried, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean, you'll be fine," Holiday said as they came into the kitchen where Lofty was finishing breakfast, the Pegasus mare smiled at the two as she placed the plates on the table.
"Good morning you two, how'd you sleep Scootaloo?"
"Okay I guess," Scootaloo said as she played with a strand of her mane a bit. "I'm just trying to figure out what to do is all, with, you know."
"Take my advice, just tell her how you feel about her and speak from the heart, its never failed me with your aunt Holiday," Lofty said with a smile as she nuzzled Holiday. "I'm sure you and Sweetie will be fine, right Holiday?"
"Yep," Holiday said with a smile as she kissed Lofty gently on the lips. "You'll find somepony someday, it may be Sweetie, one can only hope."
Scootaloo thought for a long moment, Sweetie was always into music so maybe she could do something related to that... no wait, she wasn't ever really that good at playing an instrument so that was out. Maybe there was something, I mean there had to be some option for her, right?
She was more nervous than anything else really, Sweetie Belle was a good pony and they had been friends for a long time but was it possible that they could really become something more than just friends?
"Well, I'll think of something I guess," Scootaloo said with a smile. "I guess I might as well just try and talk to her after school, it wouldn't hurt to at least try."
"Good luck Scoots, you'll do just fine," Lofty said as she ruffled Scootaloo's mane. "Your first crush, its so adorable!"
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Scootaloo said with a chuckle as she sat down and started eating.
"Immensely, we're very happy for you," Holiday said. "Just promise you'll be careful, okay? I don't want you to get your little heart broken."
"I don't think she has anything to worry about," Lofty said with a light chuckle. "Besides, she's got all the charm of her dad's side of the family, she'll do fine."
"Yeah, that's what worries me, remember how nervous he was when he tried to ask out her mom?" Holiday pointed out with a chuckle. "Don't worry Scootaloo, you'll do just fine, I promise."
Scootaloo smiled a little, it certainly helped that she had her two aunts to be there for her when she needed advice. She was still a little nervous about telling Sweetie, but she had a bit more confidence than she had before, maybe there was at least a chance she'd be able to tell her the truth, and hopefully she wouldn't say no.
Scootaloo turned her attention back to her food, she wanted to get a good breakfast before it was time to get to school.
00000
"Okay students, I have a new assignment for all of you," Cheerilee said as she took out a stack of papers and started to pass them out to the foals. "I want you each to pair up in groups of two and read the lines together, okay? We'll be putting together a play over the semester for anypony who may be interested and these are lines from it."
"Hey Scootaloo, do you want to work together?" Sweetie Belle asked and Scootaloo looked up surprised at the Unicorn filly who gave her a smile.
Scootaloo blushed a little and nodded. "Sure, I'd love to," she said with a smile, she had worked with Sweetie plenty of times before, so this wasn't really all that different, it just felt weird somehow.
Sweetie smiled and scooted her desk closer to her Pegasus friend, Apple Bloom smiled a little and went to go find her own partner while Cheerilee started to pass out the papers.
"This should be interesting, we haven't really done anything like this in awhile," Sweetie commented. "What do you think Scootaloo?"
"Yeah, it might be fun," Scootaloo said with a smile, she just was happy to get a chance to spend time with Sweetie Belle, though it made things a little awkward.
Then again it couldn't be that bad right? It wasn't like they were going to have to read mushy romantic lines or something, at least she hoped they wouldn't.
"Here you two are, you'll be reading a scene between the characters Uplift and Chrysanthemum," Cheerilee said as she placed down two stacks of papers in front of the fillies. "They're two ponies living in the town that play a fairly major role in the play and you're madly in love with each other but you don't want to admit it."
Scootaloo's face turned red at that, did Cheerilee know or was this just one really weird coincidence? She looked over at Sweetie and realized the Unicorn was blushing too, so at least it wasn't just her.
"Umm, is there any way we could have different roles?" Sweetie asked as she tried not to blush more.
"Don't worry about it, you two will do just fine, its just a play you don't have to worry about it," Cheerilee said as she went to give the next scripts to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
Scootaloo looked down at the papers, the scene looked like it was when Uplift and Chrysanthemum were finally going to admit their feelings for one another, which just made here more flustered. She couldn't believe it, of all the things they could've had to read together we were having to read a love scene, it was like some higher power was doing this to make her life difficult.
"So, what are we going to do?" I asked as I looked over at Sweetie.
"Well, I guess we don't really have much of a choice," Sweetie said as she looked over the lines. "Its pretty mushy stuff, are you okay with this?"
Scootaloo blushed a little as she looked over the lines, it felt almost like what she wanted to tell to Sweetie Belle. Uplift was a Pegasus mare that worked as part of the town guard while Chrysanthemum was a Unicorn mare (she paused a moment at that, but it wasn't that unusual in Equestria at least who ran a local flower shop.
The two had been friends for a long time, she could tell that much, but it felt like they wanted something more without really knowing that the other felt that way. It was weird how much that reflected Scootaloo's own feelings about Sweetie, and she wasn't sure what to really think about it.
"No, its fine," she finally said with a smile, she could at least give this a try. "What about you?"
"Sure, I'm fine with it, I just, you know, am a little nervous is all," Sweetie said with a smile as she picked up her lines and looked at them. "So, how are we going to do this, should we read our stage directions, or what?"
"Yeah, lets do that," Scootaloo said as she looked at her own lines and nodded. "Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Sweetie said with a smile. "I think you're up first."
"Uplift crosses from stage right to where Chrysanthemum is preparing her flower arrangements," Scootaloo read out loud from her script as she tried not to look at Sweetie Belle. "Hey Chrys, how's it going today?"
"Chrysanthemum smiles at Uplift as she puts away a bouquet of flowers," Sweetie read. "Hello Uplift, things are going well, I was just making sure that I have everything ready for the festival."
"I look forward to that, your flowers are always the best part," Scootaloo read as she looked over at Sweetie Belle a little. "They always brighten up the town and make everypony happy."
"Aww, thanks Uplift, I try my best," Sweetie said as she gave Scootaloo a smile. "So, do you have a date for the festival dance yet?"
"No, not yet, I've been interested in this one pony but I don't really know if they would be interested in going with me," Scootaloo read, she tried not to blush as she said this, she knew that what was coming next would probably be even more embarrassing to read than that, but she knew she wanted to say it. "What about you, have any stallions asked you to go to the dance?"
"A few, but nopony has really interested me, there is this one pony though that I wish would ask me," Sweetie said as she looked over at Scootaloo, her green eyes sparkled with happiness as she looked at the Pegasus filly. "They're an amazing pony who I've felt this way about for a long time, but I've never been sure how to tell them just the way I feel."
"I know what you mean," Scootaloo said. "What should we do?"
"Maybe we should just confess our feelings to the ponies we love most," Sweetie read, she reached over and placed her hoof on Scootaloo's.
"Yeah, maybe," Scootaloo said, it was weird it was almost like this play was speaking to her, she took a deep breath, now was the time for her monologue. "Chrysanthemum, you're one of the most amazing ponies I've ever met. When we first met as fillies, I knew I wanted to be your friend for the rest of my life. We had fun, we had our adventures together, and we've had a lot of both good times and bad. All through it, you've been there for me when I need you, and I've never felt closer to anypony than I do to you. Would you do me the honor of being my date to the Autumn Festival Dance?"
Sweetie paused a long moment, she was surprised at how much passion Scootaloo had put into that line, it was almost as if she meant what she was saying to be more than just acting. She shook her head, it was probably nothing, Scootaloo wasn't exactly one for such mushy things so she was probably just really good at acting.
"I'd love to go to the dance with you Uplift, I've felt the same way about you ever since we were just fillies. I love everything about you from your grace to your strong will, I'd love nothing more than to be with you," Sweetie said with a smile. "Uplift takes Chrysanthemum in her forehooves and kisses her on the lips."
Scootaloo blushed a little, she was almost tempted to do more than just say the lines, she almost wanted to actually sweep Sweetie Belle off her hooves and tell her how she felt. She blushed a little, she was in the middle of class right now and she doubted that kind of thing would really go over well.
"Wow, that was, really good Scootaloo," Sweetie said with a smile as she finally broke character. "I didn't know you were that good an actress."
"Well, you know, you pick up things here and there," Scootaloo said with a smile, in truth she hadn't been acting at all but she wasn't ready to admit that just yet. "You did really good yourself."
Sweetie just smiled, they went over the lines a few more times before the bell rang signifying the end of the school day.
Scootaloo smiled a little as they headed out with Apple Bloom, that had given her the confidence boosts he really needed in order to tell Sweetie Belle, she just needed to get the right chance.
00000
The three fillies headed to their clubhouse, there wasn't a lot going on right now as they were getting ready for another cutie mark session. There were still lots of ponies who needed help figuring out their talents or what their cutie marks might mean.
"Hey, Sweetie, can I talk to you about something?" Scootaloo asked as they reached the clubhouse.
"Sure, what's up?"
"Something, alone..." Scootaloo said with a blush and Apple Bloom nodded and headed up into the clubhouse.
"Is everything okay Scootaloo? Is something wrong?" Sweetie asked as she looked back at Scootaloo who was still a little nervous. "Why didn't you want Apple Bloom here?"
"Its, something personal," Scootaloo said and trotted over to her friend, she blushed a little and took Sweetie Belle's forehooves in her own. "Sweetie, there's, something I want to tell you, I've been wanting to tell you for a little while now but I haven't ever figured out the right words."
"What is it Scoots?"
"Its, hard to explain but recently I've been having, feelings for you," Scootaloo admitted with a deep blush. "I was wondering if you wanted to... umm..."
She froze a little, she was too nervous to even continue as she looked in Sweetie Belle's green eyes. The Unicorn filly looked at her curiously, she wasn't really sure what to make of what was going on here, she had an idea of what Scootaloo was trying to say, but she wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Are you trying to say you... like, like me?" Sweetie asked and Scootaloo nodded slowly. "You mean you have a crush on me?"
"Yeah, I know its a bit silly isn't it, but I've felt this way for awhile now," Scootaloo said softly. "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, you know... go out sometime? I mean I know we've been friends for awhile, and I don't want to ruin that but, what do you say?"
Sweetie paused as she looked the Pegasus filly in the eye. Honestly she wasn't sure what to say, she had no idea that Scootaloo was going to confess this to her and she had no idea what she really wanted to do.
"Scootaloo, I... honestly don't know what to say," Sweetie admitted as she looked at Scootaloo. "You're a really good friend and all, but I'm not sure how I feel about you just yet. Let me think about it a little bit before I give you an answer, okay?"
"Okay, I understand..." Scootaloo said as her ears drooped, she had hoped that she'd get more of an answer, but she understood why Sweetie wanted to wait.
"Hey, its not a no, I just need some time is all," Sweetie said with a smile as she gave Scootaloo a hug. "Come on, lets go help Apple Bloom."
Scootaloo smiled and nodded as they headed up into the clubhouse.