Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sat with their chins pressed down against the floor. It felt just as cold as ice. Their ears lay flattened against their manes, and their tails were all tucked up between their hind legs like a pair of frightened dogs. Scores of adult eyes loomed in a complete circle around them, and they weren't of the smiling variety. Even Fluttershy was there, giving them “the stare”. This was going to be ugly.
“Alright.” Said Applejack. The word came out as a fierce exhalation, like a dragon snorting flames. “Let’s hear it.”
Rarity stepped in as well, speaking through tightly gnashed teeth. “And I suggest you make it very, very good ... Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie recoiled. This was going to be much worse than ugly.
Having always seen herself as the leader of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom summoned up all the bravery she had left in her little heart. She somehow rose onto her shaky hooves, unfurling her tail along the way. She swallowed.
“We d-don’t really have a good excuse, you guys. We sh-shoulda’ told you what Scootaloo was up to all along. We’re... sorry...”
“Please don’t beat us!” Sweetie threw her hooves over her head and flattened herself against the floor.
Rarity folded up a hoof to herself and gasped in injury. “Since when have I ever beaten you, Sweetie Belle? We don’t do things that way! Don’t say such a thing!”
“More on that later.” Applejack interjected, “I wanna know exactly what Scootaloo was up to. Out with it, or you’ll wish we did tan your hides.”
Apple Bloom swallowed for a second time. “Well... ya see. She had this uh, potion. Kinda like the one from yesterday, but not so much. Kinda opposite, and stuff.”
Sweetie nodded vigorously. “An anti-love potion!”
From the sidelines, Twilight Sparkle poked her head out between a few hooves and gasped loudly. “Anti-love potion!?”
“Uh, yeah, or something.” Continued Apple Bloom. “An’ she told us she was gonna use it to -”
Twilight smacked herself soundly across the eyes. “Oh my gosh! Ughh!”
Applejack arched an eyebrow at Twilight, who was behaving quite a bit like Rarity all of a sudden. “You know somethin’ about this, sugarcube?”
Twilight groaned with dismay. “Scootaloo came to see me today! She ...”
I know the meaning of discretion, she had told the filly. Discretion. Even now, in spite of everything, some things were still under the protection of her promise. Twilight shook her head before continuing, editing her words with better caution.
“What matters is that Scootaloo must have tried to poison Rainbow Dash’s cider, and she used one of my books to do it.”
A chorus of ponies echoed that horrible word. “Poison!?”
“Just like last time." Twilight gave the fillies a sideways glance. "You see, the only recipe I know that could be called an anti-love potion is a hate poison. Mixtures of the Mind has a recipe like that. Dash and Vain could have been at each other’s throats by now.”
Fluttershy gasped, horrified. “Oh my. How awful!”
Rarity, battling her own astonishment, turned to Vain Glorious and snagged one of his hooves between her own, hoisting it into her chest. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry about this, Vain Glorious! After I had just told that filly to mind her own business! You must... you must...”
But Vain was completely calm. He smiled in such a way that silenced the unicorn, and lightly pulled his hoof free to rest beside the other again.
“It is good to know I made such an impression that the young filly changed her mind.” He said, charitably. “I don’t much care for being slipped potions, but at least this Scootaloo did the right thing in the end.”
All the while, Rainbow wasn't looking at anything but the floor, where shards of the broken glass scattered by her hooves. She seemed to be lost in thought, until Rarity's voice addressed her.
“Dash, are you alright?"
That was the least of the pegasus' concerns. “Yeah, but... just let me get this straight. Scootaloo was trying to make sure me and Vain didn't like, fall in love or something?”
Sweetie Belle was now up on her own little legs. “Dashie, we promise we didn't know that when we helped her! We thought she was going to use it on herself!”
Rainbow stared at the filly, lips drained of color. Then she turned to the door, which was still swung wide open and splattered with the remnants of the potion. “On... herself?”
Rarity seemed to appear out of nowhere in Sweetie's vision, towering over her with a threatening gaze. “Whatever am I going to do with you, Sweetie Belle?”
Applejack appeared next to her, grinning out the corner of her mouth. “I was thinkin’ another day of apple buckin’ is in order.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle collapsed in a heap of sighs and moans. Maybe a beating wouldn’t have been quite so bad after all.
Applejack laughed triumphantly. “At this rate Big McIntosh and me will be able to retire, ain't that right Big Mac?”
“Ee-yup!”
“Now.” Rarity said, almost fully satisfied. “Where is that Scootaloo...”
Twilight Sparkle had already been looking about, but not for Scootaloo. “Actually, where’s Rainbow Dash?”
Running alongside the Braided Mane was a small outcropping of trees overlooking a placid stream. The moon cast its pale glow through the leaves of the trees, which were just sparse enough to make the stream glisten and ignite the area in a dynamic, flickering light. A team of talented landscapers (Earth Ponies of course,) had worked tirelessly to plant each tree in perfect symmetry, resulting in a truly romantic nature setting for couples to wander at the end of a magical night at the Mane. In the youth of the evening, nopony had yet arrived in this magical spot... except one.
Scootaloo lay curled into a ball at the edge of the water, her tears joining the current. Though young, she felt that her entire life had been destroyed in a single evening. Part of her realized how silly that would sound to the rest of the world, but none of that mattered right now. Nothing mattered. She had just tried to poison the mare of her dreams, and for what? Jealousy. How could she? How would she face this town ever again?
Maybe it was time to leave. Maybe she could find herself in Manehatten, or even Canterlot. Would they even come for her if she ran away?
As if to answer, a shadowed figure approached her from between the trees. It moved slowly, cautiously. “That you, kid?” It whispered, its voice gentle and raspy.
Scootaloo pulled her tail tightly against her chest and wiped her tears in it. Even now, she didn't want Rainbow Dash to see her crying. “Yeah... its me.” She said. “The dumb kid.”
Dash walked over to Scootaloo as gingerly as she ever had, which is to say that she crushed every twig between herself and the filly.
“You’re not dumb, Scootaloo... which is why I wanna know what made you try and slip me a potion. That’s a pretty dumb thing for a smart filly to do.”
Scootaloo sniffed. “Guess the others told you.”
“Well, yeah... they kinda had to.”
“I wish I could take it all back.” Scootaloo was still staring ahead, looking into the waters at her own pathetic self. “I didn't know Vain Glorious would be so perfect for you.”
Dash actually had to stifle a chuckle at such a remark. “Heh. Look, kid, I appreciate you trying to protect me and all, but -”
Scootaloo slammed a hoof down against the soil beside herself. “Protect you!? Pshh! I wasn’t trying to protect you. I was being selfish! Don’t you get it? I was jealous!”
A long pause followed. The two still hadn’t made eye contact, but Rainbow was slowly making her way to the younger pony, frowning deeply as she sounded out that last word: “J...eal...ous?”
Scootaloo still couldn’t face Dash. She buried her eyes into an arm and let her feelings spill. “I would be perfect for you, if I was a stallion like Vain Glorious. But I’m not. I’m a filly, and not just any filly, but a stupid, stupid kid.”
Rainbow Dash stared in silence, her heart briefly stopping.
"That’s right.” Scootaloo continued, in an act of self-abuse. “‘Squirt’ is in love with a mare. Now you know how dumb I am.”
“Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash shook off her initial reaction and walked even closer. But the filly curled up even tighter and even scooted slightly away.
“Forget it." she whined. "I don’t know what I was thinking tonight. I... I’m just so confused!”
What Scootaloo didn’t realize in that moment, is how deeply her confusion hit home with the other pony. Rainbow Dash looked away for a second, mulling over her own childhood. She recalled Scootaloo's current phase, which wasn't quite childhood anymore... more like, the death throes of it. Rainbow sighed deeply, paced around the filly, and flopped down directly in front of her. She gently patted a smaller wing with her own, stroking in a lazy circle.
For the first time in her life, Rainbow Dash spoke as an adult. A real adult, who knew what it meant to grow up.
“Listen to me, Scootaloo.” She said, “You’re way more mature than most fillies your age, and you’re so not dumb. But I think you may have missed something. I’m not interested in Vain Glorious that way at all.”
Scootaloo sniffed, barely hiding her eyes. “But I heard everything. You two have so much in common. Getting in trouble, loving the Wonderbolts... you’re perfect for each other.”
“Well sure, as friends! Look, just because I’m a mare and he’s a stallion, that doesn't mean we can’t be buddies and nothing else. In fact...” Here, Rainbow Dash bit her lip to the point of pain. This was as personal as she had ever been before. “Well... it uh... it’d be sorta a problem. Him being a stallion I mean. You know?”
Scootaloo wiped her eyes. “Y... you mean?”
“Yup. Same as you, Scoots.” Dash let out a long exhale of relief; it felt good to open up about this for once. “Except, well, you’re still a kid. I know you don’t want to be, but no one gets to just zoom past it. Not even super-fast fliers like me! And the thing is, no matter how big you are for your age... and you’re waaaay ahead, kiddo... you still got a lot to learn about the world before you have a real special somepony.“
The two finally made eye contact. They looked at one another across time and space, communicating almost telepathically. Scootaloo felt a sudden realization inside her, which was both frightening and satisfying. Above all, it motivated her. Her heart began to beat in a way it never had before, and in that moment - though her form gave no indication of it - she grew.
“Heck...” Dash continued, “a pretty girl like you could easily find another filly to date, someone closer to -”
“No. I don’t want anypony but you, Rainbow Dash. “
Scootaloo rose onto all her hooves and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.
“And,” she continued, “I can wait for you, until I’m all grown up, so that you’ll see what I mean. If you'll just wait for me, too... I promise I’ll become up into the perfect mare for you. I’m not that far away.”
Dash stared at the filly, but closed her eyes and shook her head. “I know you’re not, but you I can’t promise... anything can happen in just a few years...”
“Then I know what I need to do next.” Said Scootaloo, as she turned and began to walk away.
Rainbow Dash blinked and watched her with her head at an angle. “Uh... what? Where are you going?”
Scootaloo turned with a smile. “To face my punishment. To apologize to my friends for all the pain I just put them through. And then, to keep looking for my cutie mark. I just realized how I can get you to wait for me.”
Dash blinked with surprise. “Scootaloo, you can’t make -”
“No, I can’t choose anything for anypony but me. What I can do is grow up a little more every day, knowing that you’ll be right there, watching and remembering my promises. You will watch, won’t you?”
The two stared at each other silently for many long moments. Although she was at a loss for words, Rainbow Dash managed a nod.
"You’ll see.” Whispered Scootaloo, before she scampered off into the darkness.
After several seconds of silence, Rainbow was startled by the voice of Twilight Sparkle, who appeared quite stealthily beside her. “Well... that was... something.”
“Twilight! How long...?”
“Most of it." Twilight giggled mischieviously. "And you handled that beautifully, Rainbow Dash. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you act so mature.” Twilight patted her friend encouragingly on a wing.
Dash looked after the filly that had vanished from sight. “That goes for Scootaloo, too. Geez! it’s like she’s a mare already. Where are the days going all of a sudden, Twilight?”
“Precocious, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, and way ahead of her age too.”
Twilight grinned and shook her head, letting it go.
Dash sighed. “But she still gets into trouble like a filly... then again, heh... so do I. Hey, you wanna hear something like... totally crazy, Twilight?”
Twilight nearly laughed. “Try me. I still think you’re all insane.”
Dash smirked. “I think you may be right. 'Cause I have this funny feeling. In the back of my heart.” She raised a hoof and tapped it pointedly against her chest, which beat back at her soundly. “It's like a voice that says, 'good things are worth waiting for'."
Twilight Sparkle stared at her neutrally and said nothing.
“I... you don’t think she slipped me some other kind of potion, do you?
A gentle smile appeared on the unicorn’s face as she shook her head. “No. I think some other kind of magic is at work.”
“Hmm...”
“Come on.” Twilight said, tugging at her friend by the leg. “Let’s get back to the party. The other fillies are headed back to the farm. They’ll be dealt with later on.”
As Twilight turned to go, Rainbow followed with her face turned. She watched the trees carefully, as if expecting little … or maybe big Scootaloo to come running back.
“So...” Dash muttered, as the lights of the Braided Mane came back into view, “Uh, about my other little... confession. You know, about mares and stuff...”
“Oh, Dash. Everypony already figured that out.”
“What...?! Hey! What do you mean, figured it out? Twilight!”
Twilight simply burst into laughter and doubled her pace.
It truly was a lovely night. Twilight knew it had been Luna’s wish, but never had she expected the sky to look so crystal clear, or the stars to shine so bright. Laying on her back in her own bed with the soft glow of the sky falling across her sheets made her feel so at peace with all the universe. Beside her, in a much smaller bed, Spike lay back with his legs propped up, holding the usual parchment at an angle as he twirled his pen expectantly.
“Ahum.” The baby dragon grunted conspicuously , tapping the dry end against the page a few times.
“Alright, Spike.” Twilight giggled, as she squirmed into a comfortable position. “Hope I don’t give you a claw cramp with this one. So... dear princess Celestia,
“You might be receiving quite a few letters tonight. You see, my friends and I all learned a very important lesson in friendship: sometimes your friends know you even better than yourself. It turns out that Rarity picked just the right date for each of my friends. Even though everypony doubted her at first, she knew exactly how to weave her magic into the evening.”
Spike paused and looked up. “Wait... what about...?”
“Keep writing...” Twilight whispered ...
“There are things that are not right to share in this letter. But I think another, more important lesson was learned tonight. Not about friendship exactly, but... well, love. When it comes to the way two ponies feel about each other, the greatest obstacle can sometimes be time. Time does have a way of passing, but it does it at its own pace. We can’t force others to change how they feel or when they’re ready, but we can do our best to become worthy of that special somepony we long for.
“I’m starting to think that believing in friendship and believing in love are something like the same thing... types of magic. Do you remember the time I learned that I was destined to meet my friends all along? I may be just a naive little filly myself for saying this, but … maybe true love works the same way. It seems like things tend to turn out exactly as they should in the end, as long as they are left to the natural flow of time.
“No... it’s not me I’m talking about. But maybe I need to start thinking about that kind of thing. One thing’s for sure, it isn't something anypony can rush. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
Spike rose to his feet, lifted the rolled parchment, and sent it sailing into the night sky with a breath of magical flame. He could already hear Twilight lightly snoring as he went to shut the panes.
Scootaloo lay quietly on a large tree trunk in the middle of Apple Acres, breathing deeply in the comfort of her slumber. This time, the others had passed out around the fire - tomorrow would be a full work day, so it was time to rest their young hooves. Scootaloo only lay apart because she wanted a higher vantage, and had fallen asleep staring up at the same sky Twilight had been enjoying. For different reasons.
In a cloud high above, off the edges of Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash was vaguely awake and staring right back down at the small figure far below. They had exchanged a single smile across the distance. Dash could just make out that the filly was holding a pillow to herself, cuddling it like a teddy bear. Without meaning to, Dash clutched her cloud in much the same way, and drifted off into very similar dreams about the future.