//------------------------------// // Chapter Two - Nurse's Office // Story: Whispered Words // by Ponyzilla //------------------------------// Whispered Words - Chapter Two "That looks pretty bad. Just remember not to overexert that hoof for a while," instructed the school nurse as she handed Sweetie Belle an ice pack. "Thanks," Sweetie Belle replied. "Well then, I'll leave you two alone now. I have to go eat my lunch. Take care!" Sweetie Belle waved to the nurse as the latter left the room. She immediately turned her attention over to Silver Spoon. "So..." she said, trying to strike up a conversation "What?" Silver Spoon demanded. "Oh, uh, nothing. I was just wondering... why you were so concerned about my hoof if you said you didn't want to be friends," she answered. Silver Spoon blushed faintly, and looked away. "It just struck my curiosity as to why you'd let somepony get away with stepping on your hoof, that's all." "Oh... well, thanks, Silver Spoon!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, shooting one of her signature smiles at her. "I knew you were a good pony!" "Excuse me?" the grey mare asked. "You barely know me and you're acting as if you've got me all figured out." Sweetie Belle giggled, much to the bully's surprise. "So you're saying you're not a good pony?" "I-I never said that!" "Then does that mean I do have figured you out?" Sweetie Belle joked. Silver Spoon glared at her. "... Not entirely," she muttered under her breath, but still loud enough for Sweetie Belle to hear. She grinned. "You know, I really think it'd be a cool idea for all of us to get along, even with Diamond Tiara," said Sweetie Belle as she hopped onto a bed in the room. Silver Spoon immediately froze as she came to a realization. She stared hard at Sweetie Belle, deeply analyzing the words that had just left her mouth. Wait a minute... I can't believe I almost let my guard down! Silver Spoon thought to herself. If I become friends with her, she'll get more information on us and then make us the laughing stocks of the school! Silver Spoon bit her lower lip, trying to figure out what to do next. "Silver Spoon?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Huh?" Silver Spoon mumbled intelligently. No, wait, she's the enemy! "What do you think?" "... About what?" "Becoming friends!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "We could have parties, sleepovers, we could do all kinds of fun stuff together..." Silver Spoon trailed off into her train of thought amidst Sweetie Belle's ramblings. Don't listen to her! You'll play right into her hooves! Relax, she's an honest pony. She wouldn't even hurt an ant! She'll only hurt you! "No!" Silver Spoon found herself shouting aloud. Sweetie Belle looked over at the grey mare in confusion. "I-I mean... I don't want to be friends. I don't want to have to repeat myself." Sweetie Belle stared at the bully for a moment before offering her a kind, yet dejected smile. Silver Spoon was taken aback by this hollow look. "... You're so silly. Of course I know you don't want to be friends. I'm just daydreaming about the fun stuff we'd be able to do if my dream were to come true," said Sweetie Belle. "Well, if you know I don't want to be friends with you, then just give up!" Silver Spoon yelled, much to her and Sweetie Belle's surprise. Sweetie Belle looked like she was about to cry, but she held her tears back with all of her effort. "If I could, I would," she admitted. "Apple Bloom and Scootaloo told me to give up too, but I think it's too early to. And besides, there's no point in giving up anyway." "And you think not giving up is any better?" Silver Spoon questioned. "You're not getting anywhere right now anyway." Sweetie Belle sat up on the bed. "Hey," she giggled. "I got my cutie mark in middle school. I must've been the oldest pony in all of Equestria history to get her cutie mark. I didn't give up then, and I'm not giving up now." "You're comparing befriending me with getting your cutie mark?" Silver Spoon asked, astonished. She knew how hard Sweetie Belle worked to find her special talent. "Sure! I fought hard for my cutie mark, and now I'm fighting for you!" Sweetie Belle replied. Silver Spoon could feel a blush coming on, so she turned and looked away. She sighed. "What do you want from me?" she asked. Sweetie Belle was confused. "What do you mean?" "Don't you want anything from me?" Silver Spoon sounded irritated. Sweetie Belle just smiled. "No, of course not! Well, besides the fact that I want to be your friend, but nothing else, I promise!" Sweetie Belle replied. She seems pretty honest, but... Silver Spoon thought to herself again. "I better get going," said the grey mare. The grin on Sweetie Belle's face didn't disappear. The purple maned pony refused to give up, and Silver Spoon knew that. I better be careful from now on. Silver Spoon thought as she exited the room. Or else it won't be long before she wins. A few minutes after Silver Spoon left, Sweetie Belle collapsed onto the bed. The truth was, her hoof was in a lot of pain. She grasped the injured hoof, along with the ice pack. She cringed in pain, but didn't let out any noise. She could feel the tears she'd been holding in stream down her face. She really wanted to befriend Silver Spoon, and she even wanted to start their friendship off really slowly, but the bully didn't give her any significant openings. She didn't know why Silver Spoon was so hostile towards her about becoming friends either. Sweetie Belle heaved a sigh. Just as she was about to close her eyes and fall asleep, she was attacked by something-- or rather, somepony. "SURPRISE!" Sweetie Belle heard Scootaloo shout. The white mare got up once again as she saw her two fellow crusaders walk into the nurse's office. "Apple Bloom? Scootaloo? What are you girls doing here?" Sweetie Belle asked. "We're your friends, we're not letting you go anywhere without us snooping on you!" Scootaloo replied with a scoff. Apple Bloom kicked Scootaloo. "Ya weren't suppose ta tell her that!" the farm pony shouted. The orange pegasus held her leg in pain. "Hey, Sweetie Belle, make some room for me on the bed, will you?" Sweetie Belle shifted over to let Scootaloo sit. She decided to take a seat on the pillow, but she jumped up immediately afterwards. "Whoa! Why's the pillow wet? ... Unless..." she gaped at Sweetie Belle. "You--" "NONONONONONONONONO!" Sweetie Belle hollered. "NOTHING HAPPENED!" A moment of silence passed by. Each of the cutie mark crusaders were staring at each other, all with their eyes wide open. However, the peace and serenity did not last long. The three mares soon bursted out into laughter. After everypony regained their composure, Apple Bloom looked over at Sweetie Belle. "Well, if nothin' happened, which we're still not sure of, since you were so defensive, then why's the pillow wet?" Apple Bloom asked. Sweetie Belle looked away. "I guess I was crying a little bit," Sweetie Belle replied. "A LITTLE BIT? Sweetie Belle, you are like, waterworks! You can't possibly expect anypony to believe you were only crying a little bit!" Scootaloo shouted. "Sweetie Belle, I think you've got a problem with understatin'... well, everythin'! First, the steppin' on yer hoof, now the cryin' on yer pillow..." "I know, I know. I guess I just don't want anypony to worry about me." "What are ya talkin' about? We're BEST FRIENDS! It worries us that there is nothin' to worry about ya!" Apple Bloom argued. Scootaloo nodded in agreement. Sweetie Belle grinned. "You girls are the best friends ever!" she exclaimed, pulling them in for a hug. Scootaloo pretended to gag, but Apple Bloom just smacked the orange pegasus. "Sweetie Belle?" said Apple Bloom. "Yeah?" the purple maned unicorn replied. "We know you didn't do anythin', we were watchin' ya." Sweetie Belle glared at the farm pony, who simply smiled at her. After lunch came Foods and Nutritions class, the only class that Sweetie Belle was failing because of her inability to not destroy stoves or ovens. The class was assigned to bake a batch of cupcakes, and everypony got down to work. Unfortunately for Silver Spoon, Sweetie Belle was put into her cooking group. "Sweetie Belle, why are there egg shells in this?" Twist asked. "Wait, they're not supposed to be in the mixture?" Sweetie Belle responded. The entire group groaned. "Sweetie Belle, why is the stove on?" her other cooking group mate, Alula, asked. "That's the stove?! I thought that was the oven!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. Everypony shot Sweetie Belle a menacing look. "Can anypony help with our oven? We think it's broken!" a different group called out for help. Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up. "Sure, I'll--" "NO!" the other group interrupted her. "Anypony besides Sweetie Belle?" The white mare sighed, and returned to her own station, where she was assigned to sit still and do nothing. Silver Spoon stared at Sweetie Belle with a sympathetic look. She knew all the crusader wanted was to be able to help the other ponies, but nobody wanted her. Why is she even in Foods and Nutrition if she's not good at it? Silver Spoon thought to herself. "We're ready to put it into the oven!" Sweetie Belle's group announced. The purple maned pony sat aside and sighed. She obviously disliked being so useless. Silver Spoon caught a glimpse of Sweetie Belle's solemn expression. She looked at the ground for a moment, before deciding to do something she knew she'd soon regret. She approached Sweetie Belle, and handed her the metal tray carrying the batter. Everypony in the group gasped and shouted at Silver Spoon, trying to get her to rethink her actions. "Here, make yourself useful and put these in the oven," Silver Spoon instructed, trying her best to sound rude like she usually would. Sweetie Belle lightened up. She nodded like a puppy, took the tray away from Silver Spoon with her uninjured hoof, and ran towards the oven. Before anypony could say anything, Sweetie Belle quickly opened the oven without any safety mitts, and shoved the tray in. However, that didn't work out so well. Being the klutz that she was, Sweetie Belle touched the side of the oven as she was pulling her hoof out. She let out a little squeak, but nothing more. Nopony else in the group seemed to notice. They all sighed in relief after the cupcakes were placed into the oven safely. Silver Spoon, however, saw what happened, and rushed over to her side. "Sweetie Belle!" she exclaimed. Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Just drop it, don't worry about me," she said as coolly as possible, but the pain was unbearable. She dug deep into her lower lip with her teeth just to prevent herself from shrieking and bringing attention to herself. Silver Spoon grabbed Sweetie Belle's bruised hoof as gently as possible, and took her to a sink to put her burnt hoof under cold water. "The oven was on at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. I highly doubt it didn't hurt," said Silver Spoon. Sweetie Belle was cringing in pain. The cool water was helping, but the pressure of the liquid still hurt. "I never said it didn't hurt," Sweetie Belle replied. "Then why don't you want anypony to worry about you?" "Because it hurts more to see ponies put on such a sad and worrisome expression!" Sweetie Belle admitted. Silver Spoon gaped at the white mare, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything else. It just wasn't the right moment to continue their conversation. After rinsing Sweetie Belle's burnt hoof, Silver Spoon offered to take her down to the nurse's office again, but Sweetie Belle declined. The grey mare made it obvious that she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, so she dragged Sweetie Belle to the office anyway. "Back again?" the nurse chuckled as she examined the burnt hoof. "Yeah, you could say I'm a little klutzy," Sweetie Belle said casually. The nurse gave Sweetie Belle another ice pack to put on her bruised hoof. "The ice is for your bruised hoof. Just run your burnt hoof under cold water for a while and it'll be fine. Doesn't look like anything serious," said the nurse. The unicorn thanked the nurse as the latter left the room once again to give the two mares some privacy. There was a moment of silence in the room, but it didn't last for long. "Back to what you said earlier, about not wanting other ponies to worry about--" "Silver Spoon," Sweetie Belle interrupted. "Could I please be left alone? Besides, you have fourth block to catch anyway." The grey mare stood there in shock. "I thought you wanted to be my friend?" Silver Spoon asked, attempting to use it against Sweetie Belle. "But you don't want to be mine, so there's no need for you to worry about me." "But--" "And besides, this is something that not even Apple Bloom and Scootaloo know about. I'll tell you girls... when I feel like I'm ready," said Sweetie Belle. "So once again, Silver Spoon, could I please be left alone?" Silver Spoon was speechless, but obeyed the white mare. When Silver Spoon left the room, Sweetie Belle collapsed onto a bed once again, and immediately blacked out the moment her head touched the pillow.