//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Tempers and Secrets // Story: Scars To Her Beautiful // by flutterJackdash //------------------------------// Scootaloo stepped off the train to Canterlot Heights with her hands in her pockets and her backpack slung over one shoulder. She looked around the platform, spotting Applebloom waiting. Scootaloo smirked. Applebloom tended to look uncomfortable nearer the city. It didn’t make much difference that she’d been in and out of the city for most of her life just going to school. “Applebloom!” Scootaloo yelled out. She didn’t bother to remove her hands from her pockets as she approached her friend. “Scoots! Heya!” cried Applebloom. A look of relief seemed to wash over her face as she approached Scootaloo. “Where’s Sweetie?” asked Scootaloo as Applebloom threw her arms around her. Scootaloo made no move to return the affection or to end it. “Ah don’t know. Ain’t seen her this mornin’,” Applebloom replied. “I still can’t get ahold of her on her phone, either,” Scootaloo grunted. “Ya. Think she’s in danger er somethin’?” asked Applebloom. Scootaloo scoffed. “No,” she said. “Oh, then why the urgency?” Applebloom asked. “She’s ditching us AB! Why are you so fucking cool with that?!” Scootaloo almost screamed. Applebloom raised an eyebrow. “Ya know that ain’t true,” she objected. “No, I don’t know that ain’t true,” Scootaloo returned. “Sweetie ain’t abandonin’ us. Just ain’t happenin’,” Applebloom assured. “So where the fuck is she then?” Scootaloo demanded, almost getting into Applebloom’s face before remembering that the farm girl was her friend and, indeed, stronger than she was. Applebloom sighed, keeping her cool was never that difficult with her friends. Outsiders might think that Scootaloo pushed the envelope from time to time, but truthfully Applebloom was used to Scootaloo’s attitude. “We’re runnin’ late fer school. Ya wanna see if’n maybe she got there ahead o’ us?” Applebloom asked with amusement. “Ugh. Fine,” Scootaloo grunted The pair began to walk down the platform toward the stairs. “Ah’m worried too, Scoots. Don’t think I ain’t,” Applebloom reminded. Together, they took the first step down. “It’s okay, Diamond,” Sweetie whispered as she gazed at the pink-skinned girl lying beneath the covers of her enormous king-sized four-poster bed. Sweetie stepped back with a sigh, then located her phone. She carried it into Diamond Tiara’s bathroom. Once inside, she closed the door and set the phone on the bathroom counter as she turned it on. She searched Diamond Tiara’s belongings for a hairbrush as she listened to the phone’s start-up sequence. Looking at herself in the mirror, she sighed. Sweetie’s hair had been made a mess by the pillows she had used overnight. She frowned as she realized she didn’t have a change of clothes. Maybe I’ll stop at home before school… Oh! What time is it?! Sweetie seized her phone and noted she had missed 10 messages and 7 phone calls, most of which had come from Scootaloo. One of the calls was from her mother. She cleared the notifications and looked at the time. She was already an hour late for school. Why didn’t anyone come to get Diamond for school? After a moment’s more searching, Sweetie located a drawer full of brushes. She selected one and began to remove Diamond’s hair from it. Once that was done, she cued up her voicemails on speakerphone and began to brush her hair. Call from Cookie Crumbles-Belle (Mom) Timestamp: 6:45 PM, April 17th “Sweetie, dear, it’s your mom. I’m just wondering where you are? It’s an hour past dinner, and you haven’t called to let me or your dad know what your plans are. I called your sister, but she said you didn’t call her either. Please give me a call and let me know you’re alright. Love you!” Call from Scootaloo Dusk Timestamp: 6:53 PM, April 17th “Sweetie, damn it! Where are you? You were supposed to meet me at Sugarcube Corner! You stood me up?! Gah, call me back!” Call from Scootaloo Dusk Timestamp: 7:03 PM, April 17th “Sweetie! For fuck's sake! Turn your damn phone on!” Call from Scootaloo Dusk Timestamp: 11:22 PM, April 17th “Sweetie? What’s going on with you? I’m starting to get really scared. Call me back as soon as you get this.” Call from Scootaloo Dusk Timestamp: 12:17 AM, April 18th “Sweetie, this is not cool. You have to call me back. I don’t know what happened to you, but you don’t usually just disappear on people. You’ve never stood me up before. Call me.” Call from Rarity Belle Timestamp: 12:30 AM, April 18th “Darling, I do hope you’re alright. Mom called, said you hadn’t showed up for dinner. Let me know if you’re okay. I assume you’ve gone off to stay at one of your friends’ homes for the night. Stay safe. Love you, dear.” Call from Scootaloo Dusk Timestamp: 1:58 AM, April 18th “FUCK YOU SWEETIE! FUCK YOU!” Sweetie sighed with each new message from Scootaloo, wincing at the last. She hadn’t meant to stand her friend up, or to hurt her like this. She made a mental note to apologize and make it up to her later on, also possibly explain everything. Once satisfied with her hair, she set the brush down. She tugged at her shirt and held her nose to it while taking a quick sniff. Smells okay, I guess. Pretty wrinkled though… Sweetie looked around the bathroom. It was so huge. Who would ever need this much bathroom? Was that a full spa? Sweetie’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t taken the time to really appreciate the luxury of the place yesterday, she had been busy… Oh, right. Sweetie looked at the full-length mirror and the floor just before it. She noted blood stains. She searched under the sink for any cleaning aids. She found a large number of hair care appliances, but no cleaning chemicals or rags. Of course not. Why would she clean for herself? Sweetie took a breath and began to unroll toilet paper instead. She turned on the hot water on the faucet and collected some water in an empty soap dish. This she spread over the blood liberally before dropping to her knees and scrubbing the daylights out of it until it was gone. She worked up a sweat, which she wiped from her brow before depositing the toilet paper in the toilet and flushing it away. She looked at the floor, and nodded. It was clean enough. No evidence left except… Sweetie carefully collected the razor from the floor, but still managed to nick herself slightly. “Ouch!” she said as she put her thumb to her lips. She located the garbage bin and carefully moved things around until she had a mostly clear path to the bottom and dropped the razor in. She followed this up by returning to the sink. The hot water was still running. She used this to wash her hands thoroughly. “Oh Diamond…,” Sweetie said as she looked in the mirror. She turned off the faucet and dried her hands on a nearby towel. She picked her phone up and shut off the voicemail line after saving Scootaloo’s and marking them all as read. Next were the text messages… Scootaloo: Sweetie, whre r u? Scootaloo: Sweetie? Scootaloo: wtf Applebloom: Scoots havin a fit, txt her Scootaloo: Sweetie, sory for whtvr I did 2 u, pls txt me Applebloom: Hope ur ok Cookie Crumbles-Belle: Stay safe, love you. Call me! Rarity Belle: Sweetie, I hope you’re okay. Please stay in touch. Let us know where you are. Love you. Scootaloo: WERE T FUK R U?! Scootaloo: SOM FUKIN FRND U R! Sweetie’s eyes watered at Scootaloo’s last 2 messages. She was so angry, so hurt. She really needed to apologize and make it up to her. But, for now, she had to get Diamond up. Last night had been rough, but it wasn’t an excuse to miss school. She was upset enough at being late. She wasnt her erly AB Applebloom grumbled as she read the message. She pocketed her phone after reading the message then continued to focus on Professor Shimmer’s lesson. The best class of the day usually involved Sunset Shimmer as a teacher. Scootaloo glared at the back of Applebloom’s head, but said nothing as she grunted and tried to focus on Sunset Shimmer. Sweetie exited the large bathroom back into Diamond’s room. After that, she approached Diamond’s enormous bed where she gently placed a hand on Diamond’s shoulder and rocked her. “Wha…um…,” Diamond yawned as she rolled over, her eyes taking a moment to focus. Then saw Sweetie standing over her. “What the hell?!” Diamond sat straight up in bed. “How are you feeling?” Sweetie asked. “No… No no no,” Diamond began, “What are you doing here?” “I’ve been with you all night… It took a little time to get you to try to sleep, but… once you got into bed, you were knocked out. I guess you were more tired than you thought?” Sweetie said. Diamond groaned as she pulled her blanket from herself and swung her legs over the side of her bed. “Why would you do that?” she asked. “I… I don’t know… I couldn’t leave you alone. You were hurting so much… You seemed scared,” Sweetie replied. “I’m not!-“ Diamond began, only to cut herself off and rest her face in her hands while her elbows rested on her knees as she sat on the edge of the bed. “I don’t get you, Sweetie… At all… No way would I be doing this for you if I were in your shoes,” Diamond said quietly. “Why not?” asks Sweetie. Diamond’s voice shudders as she talks, “I’ve been horrible to you…” “A long time ago,” Sweetie reminded her, “And that doesn’t matter.” “Why not?” “I don’t want to hold on to that stuff, Diamond… It’s over, it was a long time ago… Maybe Scootaloo doesn’t feel the same… but she’ll come around. I just know it. Me? Diamond… I forgave you a long time ago…,” Sweetie assured. Diamond swallowed, squeezing her hands into fists over her eyes before slamming them into her bed. “How can you forgive me?!” Diamond screeched. “Just… can,” Sweetie answered dumbly. Diamond huffs as Sweetie passes along a box of tissues. She withdraws two of them and wipes her eyes, then blows her nose. “What time is it?” asked Diamond. “Almost 9 AM,” Sweetie replied. “What?!* Diamond screeched. Sweetie winced at Diamond’s high pitch, “What’s wrong?” “We’re late for school! Oh my god, my attendance record! My grades! I can’t let any of that slip!” Diamond says in a panic as she rushes to get ready for school. “Whoa! Calm down!” Sweetie cries as she jumps from the bed and grabs Diamond about the shoulders, “Take it easy, what’s wrong?” Diamond slaps Sweetie’s hands away. “Why are you still here!? Get out!” she screamed. Sweetie blinked, hurt, and backed away. “I’ll… um… wait for you in the hall, I guess,” Sweetie said quietly as she turned and headed for the door to the bedroom. Scootaloo crowded Applebloom in the hallway, hanging an arm over her shoulders. “So, Sweetie’s not here…,” she began, “and she hasn’t answered a voicemail or text that I’ve sent her… Where does that leave us?” Applebloom sighed and carefully removed Scootaloo’s arm from her shoulders. “Leaves us not knowin’ where she’s at, I s’pose,” Applebloom replied. “So are you comin’ with me or not?” Scootaloo asked. “Comin’ with ya? What are ya talkin’ about?” Applebloom wondered. “Gonna cut outta here and find Sweetie, damn it,” Scootaloo spat just under her breath. “Ya wanna cut class?!” Applebloom replied, shocked. Scootaloo grunted and shook her head as she turned and started to walk away. “Uh… hold up!” Applebloom said as she raced to catch up to Scootaloo, “So where are we startin’?” “Her house,” Scootaloo said with determination as she headed toward an exit door. She looked around, scrounged up some nerve, then yanked the door open. She fled through as the emergency alarm sounded. Applebloom’s eyes widened as she chased Scootaloo through the door. It slammed back into place behind them, muffling the alarm behind them. “Jeez, Scoot… Never seen ya like this before,” Applebloom noted in astonishment. “Me? You’re… for fuck’s sake, AB, what about Sweetie? Are you not the least bit worried about her?” Scootaloo snapped. “Now hold on ’ere. Don’t go thinkin’ Ah don’t care about 'er! She juss isn’t 'ere right now, is she? Ah’m also worryin’ about the friend ah’m with at the moment.” Applebloom assured. Scootaloo grumbled as she continueed striding forward, running away from the school before the emergency door she used was investigated. “Can’t ya slow down a bit?!” Applebloom cried. “Not a chance!” Scootaloo yelled back as they ran from the school grounds onto the back street and started weaving their way to the Belle house. Diamond cracked open her door and peered out. Sweetie was leaning against the wall, humming to herself. “You’re still here?” she asked, incredulous. Sweetie jumped a little, spinning to face Diamond. “Yes, I’m still here. I told you, I don’t want to leave you alone,” Sweetie reminded. Diamond shook her head, shrugging before talking, “You want to change your clothes? You look a little um… rough?” Diamond offered. “Oh. Yes, thank you,” Sweetie said with a small smile as she walked back into Diamond’s room. Sweetie continued to speak as she walked into the room, “Are you ever going to tell me what’s wrong?” she asked, earnest concern in her voice. “Um…”