Love is a blessing
Love is a curse
Love can brighten up the darkest days
Or make everything worse
Scootaloo could still hear the shouts of Cheerilee echoing throughout the the streets. She was beginning to get dangerously close to the alley Scootaloo was hidden in. Scootaloo held her breath to suppress the small whimpering, hoping she could avoid blowing her cover. She sank further into the dark corner of the alleyway, whilst curling into a tight, orange ball. Scootaloo let the tears flow freely from her eyes. After five minutes of attempting to hold them back, she could see no point in trying to suppress her feelings anymore.
When Cheerilee’s constant shouting came to a stop, Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief. She quickly sucked her breath back in when she heard hoofsteps entering the alley.
“Scootaloo? Are you in there?” Cheerilee’s voice echoed through the slim opening as her hoofsteps got closer. Each step Cheerilee took in the alley loudly filled the opening. Scootaloo’s face was starting to turn a faint shade of purple as she continued to hold her breath. Time seemed to slow as Cheerilee got closer. Scootaloo did her best to stay as quiet as possible. Eventually the hoofsteps started to clop in the other direction. Scootaloo let her breath loose in tiny gasps, just enough to keep her from making any noise.
She felt an unwelcome sensation tickle her nose. To her horror, it started to build rapidly until…
“Achoo!” The hoofsteps stopped and Scootaloo’s pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks. The loud -clop- of hooves hitting concrete started their way back towards Scootaloo, faster this time. Scootaloo knew she was caught, but she did her best to curl into a ball and hide, as if Cheerilee was colorblind. Scootaloo peeked through the cracks above her forelegs to see Cheerilee staring down at her. Surprisingly, she didn’t look mad. She had a small smile on her face, but her eyes showed great sympathy for the young pegasus.
Scootaloo raised her head over her forelegs to look at her teacher who had now lowered herself on one knee to be eye level with her. Scootaloo wanted to tell Cheerilee everything that happened right then and there, but no matter how much she wanted, she could never bring herself to talk about her secret crush. Or the fact she just found out she was bisexual. The constant bullying she would endure from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the disapproval of her father and worst of all, the rejection of Sweetie Belle—all these thoughts flashed through her mind. She was brought back to reality by the sound of Cheerilee’s voice:
“Scootaloo, please tell me what’s wrong. If you don’t tell me what’s wrong I can’t help you.” Scootaloo stared at the concrete, looking at nothing in particular. A cold sweat broke out onto her forehead as she started to panic. The pressure was too much for the poor filly; even though Cheerilee was trying to help, Scootaloo felt like she was being cornered by some bully like Diamond Tiara. She began to shake violently as she broke into another fit of sobs.
Scootaloo only wanted to talk to one pony. She wanted the white filly to stroke her mane as she sang her a song. She wanted to hug Sweetie Belle and never let go. She wanted to feel Sweetie’s soft lips press against hers. Cheerilee was only making it harder. Scootaloo could hear Cheerilee talking, but she couldn’t make out the words. She felt a hoof rub softly against her mane. This comforted her, but not very much. She stopped shaking, but was still sobbing rather loudly. Through the loud sniffles and saddened moans, she could make out one sentence Cheerilee was saying.
“Shh, shh. It’s okay. Do you need anything? Do you want me to get your friends?” Scootaloo lowered the volume on her excessive crying and glanced into Cheerilee’s worried eyes.
“Sweetie.” She paused to let out a couple more sobs. “I-I want t-to see Sweetie.”
The whole class was talking, mostly about Scootaloo:
“Why did she run out like that?”
“What is her problem?”
Diamond Tiara had already began spreading ridiculous rumors. Silver Spoon stood silently by her friend, wearing a smug smile as Diamond announced her bogus lies to the class. While Applebloom was in a heated argument with Diamond Tiara, trying to defend her friend’s honor, Sweetie Belle was lost in thought. She was not one to speculate, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something must have happened, something bad. Scootaloo always played the ‘cool pony’ act, always yearning for attention. Part of the reason she was so loveable. She would never just run away like that—she loved attention, but she preferred it to be positive. Instinctively, Sweetie ran the worst possible scenarios through her head.
Applebloom sat back down in her seat, a scowl aligning her face. Sweetie Belle leaned to the left, her muzzle only mere inches from Applebloom’s ear. She whispered to her friend, wanting to keep their conversation private.
“Do you think shes okay? I’m really worried.” Applebloom sighed and leaned towards the other fillies ear, whispering in return.
“Ah don’t know, Scoots is one tough filly, so Ah think she should be fine. But Ah’m still a bit scared somethin’ bad happened. She ain’t never really done anythin’ like that.” Sweetie nodded and decided to catch up on some school work, mostly to help her rid the bad thoughts from her head. The class continued talking for another couple minutes whilst Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stayed silent. The door to the schoolhouse opened; the students quickly hushed.
Cheerilee entered the schoolhouse with a distraught look plastered on her face, but when she spoke, her voice had a stern tone to it.
“Sweetie Belle, can I talk to you for a minute?” Sweetie quickly nodded, rushing to the front of the classroom faster than she intended. Cheerilee ushered her to a corner of the classroom, where she lowered her voice so only Sweetie could hear. “Sweetie,” Cheerilee sighed sadly, “Scootaloo is very upset. I couldn't get her to really come around.” Sweetie nodded, her gaze trailed to the floor sadly.
“Okay,” Sweetie replied, “but why do you need me?” Sweetie’s tone was full of concern, reflecting the sad, innocent expression on her face.
“She wants to talk to you, but be careful, she’s a bit worse for wear.” Sweetie sighed in relief—she would be able to see her friend now. “She’s just outside, don’t keep her waiting.” Cheerilee gestured her towards the door of the schoolhouse. Sweetie rushed outside, fast as her tiny legs could carry her. She stood on the steps of the schoolhouse, scanning her surroundings for her orange friend. In the corner of her eye, she spotted a small, furry ball at the far end of the schoolhouse. She sped towards it, hearing the quiet sobbing as she closed in on her fellow crusader.
“Scootaloo!” Sweetie quickly embraced her sobbing friend. “What happened? Are you okay?” Sweetie said in a worried tone. She had never seen Scootaloo cry. Oh no! What could have happened!? Did Diamond say something to her? No she wouldn’t cry because of that, Sweetie thought. With a thousand thoughts running through her head, they came to a halt when Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs around Sweetie’s lower back, resulting in a blush from the unicorn. Scootaloo’s hooves were dangerously close to her flank, but Sweetie shook the dirty thoughts from her head when Scootaloo obviously didn’t mean to get so close to her no-no place. Sweetie tightened her embrace around the distraught pegasus, stroking her mane in an attempt to comfort the orange filly. Scootaloo’s sobs started to lose frequency, but still she kept her tight embrace around Sweetie.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay.” Sweetie brushed Scootaloo’s mane with her hoof. Scootaloo’s sobs quieted to tiny squeaks and hiccups. “Now tell me what happened.” Sweetie put a hoof on Scootaloo’s cheek and brought her up to eye level. She stared at the wet violet eyes for a moment before regaining her senses. Sweetie smiled warmly at the pegasus, still stroking her mane.
“I-I can’t t-tell you.” Scootaloo stuttered. Oh my god, Sweetie stop staring at me like that! It is so cute it hurts! Scootaloo thought. She was using every bit of willpower to not jump on Sweetie and make out with her right here. Those massive green eyes made Scootaloo’s heart melt.
What could have happened that was so terrible!? I’ve never seen her in this rough of shape, Sweetie thought to herself. Her pegasus friend stared at the ground, avoiding Sweetie’s mesmerizing gaze. Sweetie scooted closer to her friend and put an arm around her, resulting in a visible blush from the other filly. Then Sweetie did the unthinkable in Scootaloo’s mind—she brought a hoof to Scootaloo’s face and pulled her close, only a few inches separating their muzzles.
That was it. Scootaloo lost it. She stared into Sweetie’s adorable eyes and her mind went blank and her body took over.
“Listen Scoo-MMMPH!” Sweetie’s eyes widened, her heart started to pound in her chest. She pushed the pegasus away from her in shock and disgust.
Scootaloo just kissed her.
“Scootaloo!?” The white filly screamed. Stupid stupid stupid! Now she’ll never like you! Scootaloo thought. She got back to her hooves, tears started to flow freely once again. Scootaloo started to approach her but Sweetie Belle backed away two steps every one step the pegasus took.
“Sweetie, please! I wasn’t thinking! I’m sorry!” Scootaloo pleaded. Sweetie let a single tear fall from her eye before turning around and galloping away, leaving Scootaloo all alone. Scootaloo’s hiccups turned to tears and she sobbed again.
She blew it.
