Chapter 9- Sweet and Sour
The Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse sat in a secluded part of Sweet Apple Acres, the area was so quiet around it that we could hear the giggles of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom from a mile off.
I sigh shakily before looking at Rainbow Dash. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea...”
“I’m like you kid,” Rainbow starts, “I would push every pony away, try to stop them from seeing how much I hurt. But, when I pushed them away I hurt myself even more... I hurt them too. It was stupid, and it’s what you’re doing now, squirt.”
I look up at my idol and frown slightly, what am I going to do? I can’t go up to them and ruin their lives again... Anyway, I cannot stand Cloud Chaser, I hate him.
I sigh and realise that Rainbow has now landed in front of the clubhouse. I look at her in fear.
“Can you stay here, please?” I hold onto her. “In case it all goes wrong...”
My role model smiles and nods, “But it isn’t going to go wrong, is it?”
I hear Sweetie Belle singing, her sweet voice calms me down instantly and without thinking I walk up the ramp. It's as if she's drawing me in, like a siren.
Every pony stops laughing and talking once I reach the door. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stare at me for a few moments before running over to me and hugging me.
“Scoots! We thought y’all would never come back!” Apple Bloom hugs me tighter.
“Yeah, I missed you Scoots,” Sweetie sniffles.
Tears fill my eyes as I hold them tighter. I know that I’m ruining their lives by being here but it hurts to be away from them, they’re my only family to be honest. Excluding Dash, of course.
Cloud Chaser clears his throat, “Sorry to interrupt but we were supposed to go hang-gliding...”
“Oh, we’ve already done that...” I frown in confusion.
“Yeah, but I haven’t!” Cloud Chaser argues.
Anger fills me and I immediately try to keep my cool. “There’s no point though, we aren’t going to get cutie marks from it, that’s the majority of us... Didn’t we have fishing on our list?”
“We already went fishing,” Cloud Chaser smirks.
It’s as if someone has poured a bucket of ice cold water over me. They went crusading without me? We always go crusading together, always. If one of us can’t make it then we don’t crusade for that day.
“Y-you...” I stutter, trying to find the words, “You went crusading without me?”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle awkwardly look at the ground, kicking their hoofs on the small rug which is in the middle of our clubhouse.
I look between my friends. “You should go hang-gliding, I sucked at it anyway, just come around when you’re all doing something else okay?”
Sweetie Belle steps forward. “How about I hang out with you for today since I was rubbish at hang-gliding too!”
“You have to come though, Sweetie!” Cloud Chaser frowns, “It won’t be the same without you!”
Sweetie Belle shakes her head and puts a hoof around my shoulder. “I’m sorry but I’m going to spend the day with my best friend.”
For the first time in weeks my insides feel warm and happy, I feel like I actually have a hope, that I’m actually cared about. I watch Sweetie Belle skip down the ramp happily to go and talk to Rainbow Dash, before turning to Apple Bloom.
“I take it you’re going to stay?” I ask sadly.
“Yeah, bu’ I will make sure to hang out with ya tomorrow or somethin’,” she walks over and hugs me tightly.
I can smell her sweet apple scent since her mane is in my face. I didn’t realise how much I missed my friends until now, with
Apple Bloom pulling away to look at Cloud Chaser. I can tell from the way they look at each-other, the way he puts his wing around her, that they are a little more than ‘just friends’. I guess I’ll have to ask Sweetie about that.
“Okay, catch you later, I guess.” I shrug and walk towards the two ponies waiting at the bottom of the ramp.
The cyan Pegasus smiles and hugs me.“See squirt, I told you that it’d be okay!”
I shrug and smile, “Okay Dashie, well I’m gonna hang out with Sweetie for a bit, if that’s okay with you?”
Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes and nods.“Sure, getting rid of me I see.”
I feel my cheeks heat up as they turn a deep cherry red, I try to make up for what I said, “No, no! I mean, I don’t want to get rid of you, we can go flying later if you want, I’m sorry I-“
Rainbow’s laughter cuts me off, “Jheez kid, I’m only joking, I’ll catch you later!”
I blush even more as she flies off, her laughter echoing as she travels further and further away.
“Sugar Cube Corner?” Sweetie Belle asks.
“I’ll race you!” I grin and start sprinting towards the exit.
Sweetie Belle giggles behind me as we race through the trees, finally everything is getting better.
****
A cupcake with pink butter-icing is placed down in front of me next to a chocolate milkshake.
I stare at Pinkie Pie in shock since neither I nor Sweetie asked for these.
“It’s on the house, silly filly,” she jumps up and down on the spot. “And the same for you, Sweetie!”
She places another pink iced cupcake in front of Sweetie. We look at each-other and shrug before taking a bite of the delicious cupcake.
“I’m just so glad that you’re friends again,” Pinkie blabbers on, “I mean I saw Rainbow earlier and she seemed pretty happy, which has been a rarity lately... hehe, rarity, like your sister Rarity! That’s funny! Anyway, I said ‘Hey Dashie!’ and she said ‘Hey Pinkie,’ and then I saw Twilight and-“
I block out the sound of Pinkie’s chattering before turning to Sweetie, “So, what’s been going on with Cloud Chaser and Apple Bloom?”
Sweetie Belle rolls her eyes as she takes another bite into her cupcake, getting some pink frosting on her nose, I giggle slightly before waiting to hear what she has to say.
“I don’t know, they started flirting the other day and it was really awkward,” she frowns slightly, “And then yesterday we had just finished crusading, and they kissed so I said that I was going to leave...”
I feel a pang of guilt as I see my best friends face, she must have felt so left out the past few days. She probably felt as bad as I did, maybe even worse.
“So why didn’t you guys come and get me to crusade with you?” I take a sip of the milkshake and shiver as the cold, sweet liquid trickles down my throat.
“Well the first day you were too upset, so we obviously wanted to give you a break...” She says and I nod, knowing that she did the right thing, I was a mess, “But the second day I wanted to go but Cloud Chaser said that we shouldn’t and when Apple Bloom tried to disagree he started flirting with her... So it was two against one. I’m sorry Scoots, I should have come to see you at least.”
“It’s fine, Sweetie, really,” I contemplate whether or not I should continue on with my statement, then decide that it seems like Sweetie doesn’t like ‘Chase’ either so I carry on, “But I don’t really like Cloud Chaser very much.”
Like I guessed, Sweetie Belle shakes her head; she pulls a face as if she’s had something sour.
“No, I don’t either. He’s horrible, and I think he’s using Apple Bloom too,” She mutters sadly, “And we can’t do anything about it.”
“We’ll see about that,” I smile bitter-sweetly, “Anyway, I need to go home, come around tomorrow okay?”
The white Unicorn nods and we hug before we part ways.
I run home with a smile on my face, I smile so much my cheeks hurt, I smile as if I’m never going to stop smiling, but once I step through the door I know my smile will be disappearing pretty soon...