Sweetie Belle nudged Scootaloo as Silver Spoon finished moving her piece. “Come on, just say it.”
“Ugh! No. We’ve been over this. Me and Diamond don’t like each other.”
Diamond Tiara cleared her throat. “Diamond and I.”
“See? She’s freakin’ conceited! Gotta have her name in front of everything.”
Silver Spoon giggled as Apple Bloom pressed the dice popper. “Actually, it’s correct. Just like if she’d answered, she would have said Scootaloo and I.”
Apple Bloom shook her head as she moved her piece. “At least Scoots has plenty o’ games. Not too terrible excitin’, but it’s better’n nothin’.”
Scootaloo face-hoofed. “Look, bottom line, it was just a freaking kiss.”
“Two, actually,” Sweetie Belle corrected with a wide grin.
“Bite me.”
Silver Spoon chuckled. “You heard her, Diamond.”
Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara glared at Silver Spoon. “Not. Happening.”
Sweetie Belle took her turn, giggling as the dice popped around their plastic bubble. “You two really would be kinda cute together.
Another shared glare and response from the step-sisters. “I don’t even like fillies like that!”
“Y’all sure coulda fooled us.”
Scootaloo and Diamond buried their faces in their hooves, though only Scootaloo responded. “You aren’t gonna drop this are you?”
Sweetie leaned over, nuzzling Scootaloo. “We will, as soon as you two admit it was more than a kiss.”
Scootaloo groaned. “What do I have to do to convince you guys it didn’t matter? Do I have to kiss each of you?”
Sweetie Belle clapped her hooves. “Ooh! Me first! Me first!” Without another word of warning, Sweetie Belle grabbed Scootaloo with her forelegs and kissed her. While this was only barely registered by Silver Spoon and Apple Bloom, who continued with their turns before waiting on Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara found herself blushing and mildly irritated at the spectacle.
Scootaloo did little to respond at first, but soon resigned and returned the kiss, albeit somewhat lazily. The kiss was short, easily less than a minute, and Sweetie Belle pulled away from it visibly puzzled.
“What?”
“Not sure. I guess it just seemed like you were more in to it with DT.”
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, she was pretty into it. I could hardly contain myself,” she said with the sarcasm most ponies had come to expect from her.
Sweetie Belle shrugged and took her turn, leaving the situation be. Apple Bloom, however, took the chance to speak up. “Before ya go an’ get any weird ideas, ah don’t want ta kiss ya. Ah believe ya alright.”
Scootaloo glanced at Silver Spoon. “No no, I believe you just fine. Just two kisses, out of the blue, neither of which meant anything whatsoever.”
Scootaloo sighed in relief and looked over to Diamond Tiara, mouthing her words. “Why’d you cover for me?”
Diamond Tiara just shrugged and shook her head. Scootaloo sighed and reached for a soda. Unfortunately, it had apparently been shaken beforehand, as the moment she opened it, it spewed like a small fountain with plenty of the flying beverage finding its way to Diamond Tiara.
“What the heck? What was that for?”
“I didn’t mean to! I got covered too, ya know?”
“Ugh! Whatever, I’m cleaning up.”
Scootaloo groaned and grabbed an old blanket of hers to clean up the spill. She then draped said blanket over her back and left behind Diamond Tiara, leaving the other three alone.
Sweetie Belle sighed, resting her head on her hoof as she pressed the popper, much less enthusiastic about the dice now, something that quickly caught Apple Bloom’s attention.
“Somethin’ wrong, Sweetie?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just expected something different.”
Silver Spoon cocked her head. “Different meaning?”
“Well, I mean, I always kinda thought Scootaloo liked me. Now it really doesn’t seem like it, you know?”
Silver Spoon and Apple Bloom looked to one another, eyes wide, completely unnoticed by Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom cleared her throat after a moment. “Uh, why ain’t ya never said nothing ‘bout it?”
“Seeing as that was technically a triple negative, I won’t say anything about it, but she’s right. You need to talk about things like that.”
“Ya said somethin jes then, though.”
“Yes, I did, but only that, technically, it was grammatically correct in getting across the desired point.”
“Still said somethin’.”
Sweetie Belle sighed as she moved her piece along the board. “I don’t know. They really are cute together, you know? I mean, yeah, you and Diamond picked on us for a while and pretty much seemed to hate us, but when she isn’t trying to be mean, she and Scoots just seem really sweet together.”
Silver Spoon frowned, looking down at the board and limply pressing on the popper just enough to make it roll. “Yeah, sorry about all that, by the way.”
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I mean, I meant it when I said they looked cute together, but I’m really sure they like each other, now.”
“An’ why’s that?”
“You can tell when somepony is kissing lazy, AB. I can tell. She wasn’t lazy when she kissed Diamond. I’m as sure of it as I am that I don’t wanna break a Pinkie Promise.”
Apple Bloom offered a smile and wrapped a foreleg around Sweetie Belle. “Well, if it helps any, ah think yer downright adorable.”
Silver Spoon rolled her eyes, smiling, before scooting closer and half-hugging Sweetie from the other side. “Yeah, you are pretty cute, especially when you squeak.”
Sweetie Belle’s cheeks lit up. “I do not squeak… much.”
Both fillies beside her shook their heads and leaned in, nuzzling Sweetie Belle until…
“I’m not sure what we missed, but if it’s as mushy as it looks, I don’t wanna find out.”
The small group looked over to see Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara just inside the room, Diamond Tiara’s mane hanging freely, completely unstyled with her tiara missing.
“Ah’m not quite sure what we missed either, how long was you two gone?”
Scootaloo looked to Diamond, who shrugged. “Not sure, had ta be at least and hour, though.”
Apple Bloom blinked. “Ah don’t even wanna know.”
“Good, then we’re agreed. This past hour never happened.”
Every pony in the room gave a nod. Sweetie Belle broke the following silence by popping the dice and giggling.