//------------------------------// // Clarity // Story: Secluded Once More // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// Clarity Applebloom and Sweetie trotted down the path from the treehouse, wasting no time in making the way to their sisters. "Hey Applebloom?" Sweetie asked, slowing down slightly. "Yeah?" "Do you thing Rumble'll figure out how that thing works?" "Ah think so, he may be pretty shy, but he ain't stupid." Sweetie nodded and looked away, until Applebloom continued. "But what do ya think about 'im and Scoots?" She asked, a smirk spreading across her face. "I dunno, I didn't really think about it." "I think they like each other..." Applebloom continued, giggling. "I just hope Scoots doesn't grow distant." "Wait, that's what ya care about? I thought you'd find this hilarious!" "Yeah, but Rarity says that relationships take a lot of time, and if they're in one that means..." "But they're not, Scoots just looks like she can't figure out what to do, and I'm not sure if Rumble's the same." "How can you possibly know all that?" "Mah sister taught me ta read ponies. Says it helps with business, gotta know how to read a poker face." "Oh, okay then." They got to the road that led between Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville and waved before splitting apart. It wasn't far to the Apple family house, and she got there in only a couple minutes. Applebloom knew that Rarity probably wouldn't pose much of a problem in getting this little crusader campout together, but her sister on the other hoof, probably wouldn't take to the idea. She walked inside and looked around, before walking into the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of water, which she quickly gulped down. "Hey Applebloom, Ah see you're back already." Applejack mentioned, leaning against the doorjamb and wiping her forehead with a hoof. "Man, those apples sure are a lot of work, but Ah guess with winter so close..." She looked down at the foal, and they stared at each other for a few moments. "So..." "Sis? Can we camp out in the Crusader treehouse overnight?" She asked unable to meet her sister's eyes. "Whell Ah guess that depends, is that new crusader there?" "Yeah..." "Well Ah just don't know if Ah want a colt hanging around with my sister while she's asleep." "But sis..." "Ah'll think about it.' "But Rumble's so shy, he'd never try anything! Besides, he's already got a kinda almost existent relationship with Scoots!" "Oh really? And how much would Jason or Dash like to know about that?" "I think they do know. Scoots keeps up communication with them, I'm pretty sure they caught on." "Then why didn't they try to do anything?" She thought out loud, scratching her chin. "Cuz they know Scoots is her own pony, you know, like I am!" Applebloom shrunk back. "Sorry." "Ya better be, yellin' like that!" "What's with all the ruckus?" Big Mac asked, slowly walking into the room. "Applebloom wants to have a campout in the clubhouse with the rest of the crusaders." "So?" "Whell there's a colt in their club now." "Is he pinin' after Applebloom?" Mac asked, flicking a leaf off his shoulder. "Well, no, Ah don't think so. She thinks it's Scootaloo." "So then let 'er go, we can check up easily enough." He said slowly, emphasizing the syllables. "But-" Mac frowned, and Applejack sighed. "Fine, you win. Go ahead Applebloom. But if there's any funny business you better come get me, ya hear? And don't let Rumble try anythin' with Scootaloo." "Sure, sis." "Well then get your stuff and go have fun. Take some apple fritters for your friends, Granny Smith went crazy making them this morning." "Yeah, Ah'm jus gonna grab mah sleepin' bag and stuff." She said, trotting up the stairs to her room. ________________________________________________________ Sweetie trotted into town slowly, lost in her thoughts about Scoots. She wouldn't abandon them, would she? No, of course not. She hadn't become any more distant after Jason and Dash adopted her, and that had sucked up a lot of time. But those were parents, that was hardly a good example, especially with how short of a time they'd stuck around before being sent away. What if they acted like Cherilee had with Big Mac? She shivered at the thought. At least they were under the effect of a potion, but that didn't mean Scoots wouldn't act the same. Wait, no way. This was Scoots she was talking about, the most hardcore crusader they had. She wouldn't turn into something like that, right? Sweetie bumped into the front door of the boutique while she was still lost in her thoughts, and yelped in pain as her muzzle started to hurt. She opened the door and walked inside, looking around for her sister. "Rarity!" She yelled, becoming silent to hear her response. "Just a moment Sweetie!" Came her sister's muffled voice, with it's annoying Canterlot accent as usual. Sweetie sighed and shifted on her hooves, sticking a hoof out to touch a roll of fabric that looked particularly interesting. As her hoof made contact it started to roll off the basket it was balanced on, bouncing and unrolling as it crossed the room. She cringed as it knocked the base of a mannequin, which started to tip, losing it's precious cargo: a dress. Rarity walked in as the dress fell over her head, causing her to stumble into a pile of fabric and spools of thread. "Sweetie!" She yelled, trying to maintain a measure of her pride. "I didn't touch anything!" She lied, taking a few quick steps away from where she had poked the fabric. Rarity extracted herself from the pile with a sigh, brushing a few threads from her face. "Where are your partners in crime?" "We were asking if we could camp out in the Cursader clubhouse!" She yelled back happily, as Rarity tried to block the sound with a hoof. "I don't see a problem with that, so long as you make sure to bring everything you need." Her face broke into a huge smile. "Don't you know a colt now?" "Yeah, Scoots brought Rumble into the group." "And are you getting a little flushed because you like him?" Rarity asked with a slight smirk playing across her face as she poked Sweetie. "No, it's between Rumble and Scoots." "And you're jealous, aww..." "No I'm not!" She paused, as her face turned more into one of longing. "I'm just worried that Scoots'll forget about us." "Oh Sweetie, she'll still be your friend, especially while you're all still Crusading." "You're sure?" "Yeah, you're one of the most important ponies to her, there's no way she'll forget about you." She jumped a little as Sweetie leaned forward and hugged her, before wrapping her arms around her sister in response. "Thanks Rarity." She said quietly, before breaking the hug and running upstairs, back to her regular happy state. Rarity smiled up after her, starting to lose herself in nostalgia. "Ah, young love. I remember the feeling." She said happily to herself, reveling in memories as she relaxed on a couch. Sweetie ran by a few seconds later with a nearly bursting saddlebag and a sleeping bag that she had barely tied to her back. She awkwardly reached for the doorknob, shifting her things around to attempt to get a better reach before Rarity opened the door for her. "Have fun Sweetie!" She yelled after the foal as she ran outside. "I will!" Sweetie yelled back, turning down the road. There was no way that Applebloom wasn't way ahead of her at this point, with how much time she'd been wasting. But as she ran out of town and got to the trail that led to their treehouse, Applebloom was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had gone on ahead? Oh well, she could wait a little bit just in case, that wouldn't be that big of a deal. But Rumble was taking that thing apart, and she really didn't want to miss anything about that... She bit her lip, before turning and setting off towards the clubhouse. "Sweetie, hold up!" Applebloom yelled as she galloped down the road from Sweet Apple Acres, equally loaded up with stuff. The other foal slowed down to a walking pace, panting as she moved alongside Sweetie. "Why did you take so long? I figured you'd be the first to get approval." "Why would ya think that? You know my sis, right?" "I also know your brother." Sweetie replied with a grin. "Okay... Well the real reason why Ah was late was because Ah was thinking about Rumble and Scoots." She said, speeding up her conversation. "And Ah thought, they're both our friends, and they're never going to do anythin' at this rate, why don't we...speed up the process a little?" "Why?" "Because, Ah want ta see if she's actually serious about this whole, likin' colts thing. Ah mean, it's kinda weird, but you know..." "No, I don't." "Well maybe it could lead to any of us gettin' cutie marks." "How would that even happen?" "We're doin' a lot of plannin', right?" "Yeah..." "Well Ah'm sure either that or the things we do will get us a step closer. And besides, what if we make Scoots happy? She's still been lookin' kinda depressed lately." "Fine, we'll help her. As friends." "And fellow crusaders." Applebloom pointed out, before they pounded a hoof against one another's and got to planning. _________________________________________________________________________________ "Hey Rumble, how's it going?" Scoots asked, looking over at the mostly taken apart bomb. Rumble scratched his head, picking up a piece and putting it back down again. "From what I can tell from the-" He rotated the cartridge, reading off some yellow lettering. "Smoke Grenade Mach II, is that I somehow managed to take it apart without setting it off, which was a miracle." "How come?" "Well this pin thingy primes it, I think, but then there's like--a thing over here that seems to keep the timer or fuse from burning or something. That's all I have, it's hard to know if I didn't build it." "Yeah, I guess. You can put it back together though, right?" "I think so, it only has a couple parts, it couldn't be that hard." "Say's the colt with powder all over his face." Rumble blushed a light red, before trying to sweep the rest of the dust from his face. "You're just smearing it around, hold still." She leaned forward and swept at the dust, coming away with a white tinged hoof. "There, see? Much better." She moved a few stray hairs from his brow and continued to look into his eyes, unable to turn herself away. Rumble blushed and looked at the floor, breaking her stare. "Hey Rumble?" She asked. "Yeah?" "Do you have your stuff?" "No, I kinda don't own a sleeping bag." Scoots furrowed her brow. Who didn't own a sleeping bag? "Okay, that's fine. I have two, you can just use the one I have at Dash's house." "Where's the other one?" He asked, looking around. Scoots giggled, before jumping and grabbing a string that was hanging from the ceiling. The hatch came down, as did a sleeping bag and a pillow. "Any more questions?" "No I'm good." "Okay, I'll be back in a minute." She said, before trotting over to the door and taking off. Rumble watched her gain speed before she banked and started on her way. She really was a cute filly, and it would have been nice if his cheeks didn't make that so obvious all the time. He sighed, shaking his head as he tried to concentrate on the task at hoof. It was a nice fantasy, at least, but she was way out of his league, to use a term his brother had said a lot. Somepony like her though? He felt kinda depressed that she almost showed a restrained interest in him, if anything at all. Not like he'd had enough of a backbone to ask her anything outright, or that he wanted to, it'd just be a disappointment for him. What a fantasy though, a filly like her, and they had so much in common... "Scoots? Rumble?" Rumble jumped and tried to work through the sight stiffness in his wings, which only made him more embarrassed. Flitter sometimes got like that around his brother, and she sometimes just left in disgrace after that. What would they think of him if he was like that? Would they call him a mare, kick him out? He folded up his wings just as Applebloom walked in, sighing gratefully that he had kept from showing off his wings like that. "Jeez, ya look like ya committed murder." Applebloom's giggle caught as she looked around. "Where's Scoots?" "She's getting a sleeping bag from her house for me, I don't actually have my own." "Oh, okay." A smirk broke onto her face. "Say, what's your opinion on Scoots?" "U-uh, she's pretty cool." "Is that it?" "Uh-" "Hey guys, I'm back!" Scoots yelled from outside as the three cleared from the door. She landed and started to unload, stacking another pillow and sleeping bag in the corner. "So with this plan, I was kinda thinking that if we just use the smoke to do something, that could be just as funny." "Oh, like do a prank that we couldn't do in plain sight?" Applebloom grinned. "Ah like it." "Wait." Rumble started. "We don't need to be creative at this point, all we need is to set up a bunch of small pranks and let Cherilee set them off. That way we could have laughs through the entire day, as long as she doesn't notice too many of them." "Oh man, I can see it now." Sweetie said with a laugh. "You still got all that prank stuff Scoots?" "Yeah, hold on." She jumped into the air, floating through the same hatch and into the small space they called an attic. "I got everything here." Scoots packed the supplies into a bag, before lowering them down to Rumble. Applebloom nonchalantly kicked Scoots' old sleeping bag backwards, turning to watch it roll down the ramp and disappear over a slight slope. "Phase one completed." She whispered to Sweetie, before they both shared a giggle. "What's so funny?" Scootaloo asked as she hopped down, giving her wings a heavy flutter to slow her descent. "Just, uh, what we're going to do to Cherilee." "Oh yeah, I can see it now. But listen, these things don't last that long, we're going to have to get our paths totally planned." "Yeah, I know." Applebloom replied, reaching backwards into her saddlebag to pull out a large folded piece of paper. "That's wha I brought this." She said proudly, spreading out the giant square on the floor. "Where'd you get paper this big?" Sweetie asked. "Pinkie had some, don't ask me why." "Like there'd be an answer." Scoots pointed out with a chuckle. "It'd be nice if we could get that mare to help us though." Rumble pointed out with a sigh. "We wouldn't even need to plan this." He looked at the paper, where there was a fairly nice drawing of the classroom. "You drew this?" "Yeah, I did a while ago actually. It was for a project with Sweetie, but we ended up doing somethin' different." "What project?" He asked. Applebloom scratched her head. "Ah don't really remember. But hey, we have it now, right?" "Yeah, I guess so." Rumble replied, pulling a cup of pencils from the shelf next to the pet rock. "I guess we better get started then, huh?" Sweetie asked, a rather out of character smirk playing across her face. "I guess so." Scoots confirmed, setting to work. _________________________________________________________________ "Scoots. We should probably...go to sleep." Sweetie said with a yawn, stumbling over to the window. "The moon's all the way up there, it's late." "I'm almost done." She pointed something out to Rumble, who facehoofed and fixed his own mistake, before she drew in a last line. "Alright, we'll finish this in the morning." She said triumphantly. "Hey, where's Applebloom?" "She's already asleep, I think." Sweetie yawned again. "Come on." "Okay, I just- where's my sleeping bag?" "I thought you put it right here." Rumble said, pointing to an empty patch of floor. "Yeah, so did I." She walked over towards the door. "Do you know what happened, Sweetie Belle?" "No!" She said, a little too defensively. "Alright..." Scoots sighed and walked out the door, skidding slightly on the ramp in her tired state. "You want to help me look, Rumble? You're the only other one here with wings." "I'll give it a shot." He replied, before jumping off the ramp and gliding into the air. "What's it look like?" He asked Scoots, who was testing her wings out before trying to fly. Probably a good call since they were so tired, better than what he'd tried. His wing rhythm stalled and he dropped a few feet before catching himself, letting out a yelp of surprise. "Don't kill yourself Rumble." Scoots said, looking up at him with a smirk. She held his gaze for long enough to make him blush a light red, and she looked away with the same embarrassed expression. All this time and she still couldn't get her feelings straight. Even if- Even if she did like Rumble, and he liked her back... Well then what was the problem? Her mind tried to think that one over. If he liked her, and she worked through the wad of emotions she kept feeling, well then maybe she would start something. But didn't stallions start these things? Urg... Her foot fell in water and she jumped, running an elbow into Rumble's muzzle as he landed. He grunted and fell backwards, holding a hoof over his face as it started to darken, presumably bleeding, although it was hard to tell in the moonlight. "Oh my god, are you okay?" She asked, crouching down next to him and putting a hoof behind his head. She didn't know why she'd done this with his head, but it just seemed like the right thing to do. "Yeah, it's not a big deal." He said, wiping away a rather large amount of blood. "But- you're bleeding pretty badly, I mean-" "Ah, this happens even without getting hurt, it's fine." He said, smiling up at her. Scoots felt a slight wave of relief wash over herself before pulling the colt into a hug. Part of her brain was screaming at her to stop, whether it was because of the blood or that it was a boy or whatever, and yet for the first time the other half had won out. She held him a few more moments before he shakily returned the hug, wrapping his soft hooves over her back. "I'm glad you're okay." She said, hesitating a moment before nuzzling into his mane and letting him go. "Uh." He said, his face even darker than before, although graced with a slight smile. "Before we landed, I found your sleeping bag, but it was kinda in the pond here." He pointed over, and sure enough, her sleeping bag was partially submerged at the edge of the water. "Oh no! I loved that sleeping bag!" She reached out and grabbed it, rolling the sodden fabric onto the dirt. "No, come on, you're okay little guy..." "It's just a sleeping bag, Scoots. It's not the end of the world." He put a hoof on her shoulder, but she shook him off. "It's not just a sleeping bag, it's the only thing that kept me warm at night when I was alone. I kept it because..." Tears started to well up in her eyes. "Because it always made me feel safe and warm, and nopony had ever been able to do that before." She put her head in her hooves as a few tears fell, glinting in the moonlight as they fell. Hooves went around her shoulders and Scoots jumped, before leaning into Rumble as he sat by her side. "You don't need to feel so alone anymore, you've got friends, parents..." "But they're gone, and I'm only around friends so much in a day! It's just- it's not enough to cover up how lonely I feel when all of you aren't around." Rumble didn't respond, besides to put his hoof more tightly around her back as she quietly wept, tapping a hoof on her sleeping bag to make sure that it was still there. "Let's just get back Rumble." She said. "You're not supposed to see me like this." "It's not a big deal, it just show's that you have feelings. It's not like I'd be in better shape in your situation." He replied, still holding her. "And the sleeping bag'll be fine, we can just dry it off." Scoots smiled shakily up at him, and he returned the notion. "Fine, you win." She got up and let him go before sticking a few rocks under the sleeping bag to keep it from rolling back. They'd never get that into the treehouse with how heavy it was right now. The pair stumbled inside and stared at the last remaining sleeping bag as Sweetie lightly snored in hers. "I can sleep on the floor." Rumble said, moving over to the corner. "No, that's not fair, you take the sleeping bag." She responded, kicking it across the floor towards him with a blush. "It's your sleeping bag, you choose." He kicked it back, and she stared, before unrolling the bag and wiping her face. Her hoof came off with a bit of blood, probably from Rumble. And for some reason that didn't disgust her. She stared at the sleeping bag again. What if they could both... No. Wait, why not? She quite liked the idea of having a warm body next to her at night, it reminded her of that time she'd confessed to a bad dream and ended up sandwiched between Dash and Jason. What was so bad about that? "We could...share?" She asked, her face feeling hot as blood pounded in her ears. Why was she so nervous, this wasn't an attempt to be more than friends, was it? Worry started to manifest itself in her mind, before Rumble's voice broke through. "Sure." His face was just as red. "But only if you're positive." No backing out now... "Yeah." She walked over to the sleeping bag and placed herself inside, waiting for Rumble to follow. He did after a little hesitation, and she put her arms around him in a hug. "Thanks for being there, Rumble." She said. "It's not a problem, Scoots." He said, swiping some hair out of her eyes. She smiled and put her head into his shoulder, trying to slightly mimic how Dash and Jason slept. She wasn't disappointed, as her hooves warmed up and a soft heat started to make it's way into her chest, reminding her of how she felt the first few days with Rumble. But as she closed her eyes she knew she couldn't deny it anymore, she liked Rumble. And for the first time, the idea made her feel the opposite of sickened, as her heart started to soar and her mind drifted off. ________________________________________________________________________ "Scoots, Rumble, ya ready?" Applebloom asked, shaking her saddlebag slightly as they waited outside the classroom. "Yeah," Scoots started. "I got the bomb, the prank stuff, I got it all." "Good, you too?" She asked Rumble. "Yup." Applebloom looked between them with a smirk. Finding them asleep together this morning had really been telling, especially after all of Scoots' talk of not being interested. But she'd been right, and even though she hasn't received her cutie mark, well, she still felt happy for her friend. "So Scoots, are you and Rumble going steady?" Sweetie asked with a smirk. "No..." Not yet... Rumble had turned fairly red, although she didn't know if he was disappointed or just embarrassed. He sighed as they walked in, getting a bored looking demeanor on his face before they took their seats. Scootaloo sat down and pulled out the smoke grenade, holding it gingerly under the desk. "Okay class," Cherilee started as she got out of her seat. "I'm handing back the homework from yesterday. Some of you did well, but some others..." She looked at Snails, frowning. "Anyway, we-" POP! Smoke quickly filled the room and enveloped Cherilee as the smoke bomb went off and several of the students spluttered and coughed. The four immediately got to work, installing a thing here, unscrewing another thing there... Cherilee stumbled backwards until she bumped into the wall, as the foals brushed by, being as silent as they could. Rumble tripped and almost hit her, until Scoots dove into him and pushed him out of the way before he could blow their cover, and pulled him out of the way as the smoke started to die off. They slid back into their desks and resumed neutral expressions as the room started to clear, wisps of gray wrapping around their ankles as the remaining smoke circulated. "Children! Who was that?" Sweetie shrugged as the rest of them watched and a few giggled. Cherilee put a hoof to her forehead. "This isn't a laughing matter, somepony could've been hurt by that." She stared over the foals for a good minute, meeting Scootaloo's eyes enough to make her think Cherilee knew. But eventually she went to sit down, moving her swivel chair slightly as she kept her gaze. She sat down and the sounds of a whoopee cushion rang out, causing the room to erupt into laughter. Cherilee frowned and stood back up, kicking her swivel chair across towards the door. Its wheels fell off in close succession, rolling all over the room. One rolled into a tripwire, spraying ping pong balls across the room and all over Cherilee's desk, setting off a mouse trap under a stack of her papers and sending them flying all over. Cherilee watched the papers fall, before turning her head to look at Scootaloo again. The filly was too busy to notice, rocking on her seat in laughter like most of the others. She wasn't supposed to set off everything within a minute, it was supposed to be a day or two of laughs, not a minute of side splitting, almost painful laughter. "This has Crusaders written all over it." She said, and Scoots' laughter started to slow. "You've got detention for the rest of the week, all four of you." Cherilee's expression softened. "Credit where it's due though, that was pretty well done. I'll cut off twenty minutes of detention each day, at least you've learned something, whether it's from me or someone else." Scootaloo giggled a few more times, grabbing a ping pong ball from under her desk, looking at the other three who all seemed to have no regrets. But as she looked at Rumble, his cheeks flushed with a few tears of laughter running down his face, she found, well... She wasn't sure how much she minded spending a little extra time with him. In fact, she got a little excited just thinking about it.