Trotting at a rather quick pace, Scootaloo gazed into the sky, watching the Pegasi hurry back and forth as they added more and more clouds to the great, looming mass above. The warm orange of the sun was blocked by the jagged peaks of moisture and the thin sheets of fog which blanketed the skies, growing lower by the second. The air grew heavier and damper as she neared Ponyville, instilling even more urgency within her. She sped up to a near gallop.
The rumblings of thunder, along with the muffled commands and responding yells of the pegasi, rung through her ears as she neared the storms epicenter. Making her way through the town streets, she noticed the bright, but what she assumed to be judging eyes of a group of passersby. She slowed her pace to a hurried walk, not wanting to appear frightened.
She couldn’t help but shiver at the increasingly cool air as she continued forth. The only thought that filled her mind was that of the warm and safe confides of her home and her room. Concentrating on the task at hoof, she barely even noticed the high pitched, almost shrill calls of her name from behind.
Her ears finally intercepted the sounds and perked up to receive them better. “Scootaloo! Scootaloo! Can you wait up for a second…please?”
The pegasus whipped around, realizing it was the familiar voice of Sweetie Belle. “Oh, hey Sweetie Belle, what’s up?” she yelled, using a hoof to motion for her to come closer.
“How was the meeting?” the small white unicorn asked as she came to a stop before her.
“…Well, we really didn’t have one…” Scootaloo mumbled, giving her friend a rather simple shrug.
“Oh, it’s okay. We can always do it some other time, I guess.”
“And how was the, uh, thing you were doing with Rarity?” Scootaloo questioned.
She responded with an eager nod. “It was good. Probably one of the most serious talks I’ve ever had with her.”
“Serious? What were you talking about?”
“Uh…well…” Sweetie Belle mumbled out in almost inaudible squeaks, then gulped. “We were talking about colts and fillies…and love…there’s something I need to tell you.” Her white cheeks grew red as she gulped once again, this time much more loudly.
“Oh yeah? Is there a colt you like?” the pegasus blurted out in excitement. “There’s something I wanna tell you too! …But you can go first.”
“Well, you see, it’s not really a colt that I’m interested in. It’s-”
“A filly?” Scootaloo interrupted, her excited wings lifting her hooves just slightly off of the trodden dirt path below, before quickly making contact with it again.
A joyous and hope filled grin appeared on Sweetie Belle’s face which grew an even deeper red. This caused her friend to tilt a curious head, wondering what it was that she had said which caused the response. “Oh Scootaloo!” she exclaimed, pouncing forward and wrapping her hooves tightly around the filly’s neck. “Why didn’t I tell you sooner? Ugh! I’m so stupid sometimes…I just never knew that you liked me too!”
Scootaloo’s entire body froze with a sudden jolt, her heart raced, and her mind clouded with confusion, surprise, and angst. Her mouth fell slightly open as her friend nuzzled at her neck with adoration. “Uh...”
“I was really hoping you’d say yes. That’s what I was talking to Rarity about! …Well, she didn’t know it was you specifically; but she told me about dates and how to plan a good one. At first she said I was too young and that the colt should do all the planning…but then mumbled something about times changing and told me!” Sweetie blurted out excitedly. “What were you going to tell me? Were you going to say you liked me too? That’s so sweet!”
Scootaloo was struck with a horrid bout of silence, interrupted by the occasional unformed mutter trailing out of her mouth as she contemplated the situation. With the lack of noise, she heard the soft, un-rhythmic patter of a light rain as drops began to plummet down and crash into the roofs of houses and the earth below. She then felt a cold sting as a few drops of the frigid liquid soaked through her fur and settled upon her skin. “Uh!” she repeated in a more panicked tone. This didn’t cue Sweetie Belle in on her dire situation though, but instead provided her with an assumption.
“It’s okay, I’m really nervous too…but I didn’t think a pony like you would be…oh well!” the overjoyed filly burst out with utter excitement.
Scootaloo was hopeless and still in the midst of recovering from the sudden realization. She had no way or idea of how to respond. Sweetie Belle’s hopes had been driven so high, to the point of belief, that she couldn’t bring them crashing down now. She though, was pulled down lower than ever before by this. The ecstatic high of love she had been traveling on earlier was seemingly unreachable now. But yet, at the same time, the soft fluttering within her was returning and growing stronger by the second. Not hurting her friend’s high spirits wasn’t the only excuse for her absence of speech. Having the same feelings return only made things more confusing and strange for the poor filly. If she loved Apple Bloom, then why was the same sensation, of what she assumed to be love, tingling through her core and hooves once more?
“…Y-yeah…that’s exactly what I was going to say!” the pegasus finally spat out in excitement, some true, some false. She immediately regretted her words, but at the same time, they gave her joy.
“Wonderful!” Sweetie exclaimed with a happy shriek, giving her an uncomfortably tight squeeze. Just as the pain from the constriction shot through Scootaloo’s body, a blinding, purple flash of lightning, followed by an ear shattering clap of thunder, quickly reminded both the fillies of the storm. It was not only a reminder, but a harbinger of its true intentions as well. As the thunderous sound rumbled to a close, a soaking torrent of water burst from the dark skies above. “Meet me tomorrow morning, early. We’re going to spend the entire day together!” she squeaked, her mane, weighed down by the moisture, nearly covering her eyes. “I have a whole date planned out.”
The small unicorn quickly turned for home in an attempt to escape the downpour sooner rather than later, even though her fur was already entirely soaked through. She was stopped however, as she felt the small hoof of Scootaloo press down upon her back. She turned around quizzically.
“Huh? What is it?” she asked, giving her body a shake to expel, at least, a small amount of water from her now heavy coat. Scootaloo gave the pony a smile, so filled with confidence that it was almost smug, and then leaned forward, her lips puckered. Sweetie Belle’s cheeks lit up with a burning blush, realizing what was coming. She barely had time to let her eyes fall shut before the filly’s ever so slightly roughened lips pressed down deeply upon her own.
Scootaloo smiled into the kiss as she felt her lovers smooth lips begin to press back after recovering from the initial shock. The coldness of the rain seemed to dissipate, taken over by the warmth from the passionate kiss. Every now and again she felt small trickles of rain travel across her eyelids or snake down her muzzle, but that was all she experienced of the storm; even though her undercarriage was now dripping with rain. Finally she broke away, her body shuddering from the deep cold soon after.
“You just made my day!” Sweetie Belle squealed, jumping up and down to emphasize her point. “Or…I guess you already did when you said that you liked me…but you made my day even more now!”
The confident smile returned to Scootaloo’s face, but not a word came out of her mouth as the bouncing filly turned and galloped towards home. She turned as well, her air of confidence easily transforming into that of self-hatred and despair. She trudged towards home, her thoughts bothering her much more than the chaos of the storm around her. She wondered what she had just done. Even more so, why she had done it. Her actions were rather idiotic, she thought. She had gotten herself into a problem, a large problem at that, when all could have been resolved if she had told the truth about her and Apple Bloom. Instead, she lied. She felt utterly ashamed that she had somehow developed feelings for both of her closest friends in such a short amount of time. It would only cause more problems if she told them both the truth, but in the end, it would actually make things better. Or did she have to tell them at all? It may be difficult, but she could retain her relationships with both of them and keep it a secret. Things would be better that way, or so she thought.
These pestering thoughts were soon driven from her mind when she heard a loud, rasping voice calling out to her over the now tumultuous winds. “Scootaloo! Hey kid, what the hay are you doing out here?” The voice was muffled by the buffeting and ominous whistles of the fast moving air.
“Oh, hey, Rainbow Dash,” she greeted as turned, seeing the pegasus land beside her with brash elegance.
Being brash and elegant at the same time seemed rather contradictory, but it was how the mare always was, even more so around her protégé. She stood tall, proud, and confident beside Scootaloo; the chaotic storm and dowsing rain bothering her just as little as it did the filly. She could tell though, that something was in fact bothering the young pegasus by the noticeably grim look upon her face.
“First off, why the hay are you out here?” Dash flicked her wet mane to the side of her face as if to better reveal her fierce and questioning eyes. “Second, is something wrong?” Her tone became slightly more comforting as she asked.
Scootaloo quickly straightened her body, making sure there were no slumps, and attempted to give the interrogative mare the greatest of smiles. “Nope…nothing wrong here,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I…just sort of…got caught in the rainstorm before I could make it home.” She gazed up at Rainbow Dash, hoping the cracks of her wavering excuse and fake joy wouldn’t cause her motive to fall through. Her idol paused a moment in study. As she gazed back in her fake air of happiness; she realized that even though the pegasus’ bright colors were slightly darkened by the rain, they were seemingly just as vivid.
Finally Rainbow let out in exasperated huff. “Yeah, right, that’s like, the fakest smile I’ve ever seen, kid.” Scootaloo quickly averted her eyes to the puddled water at her hooves in shame. “You know you can tell me anything, right? We’re ‘sisters’ after all.” A warm smile appeared on her face as she finished the sentence, warm enough to take the harshness out of the cold, wet air. The filly barely even noticed this, lost in her thoughts.
Scootaloo knew she could tell Rainbow Dash anything, but something like that not only seemed too personal, but too degrading as well. If Rainbow knew about the completely brainless decision she had made, she was sure their ‘sisterhood’ would be over. Nopony, especially Rainbow Dash, would make a mistake like that. Besides, there had to be some way to figure it all out herself. She sighed as she gazed down at her rather glum looking reflection in the dark puddle. Dash already knew she was lying and she wasn’t the best at forming excuses out of thin air. She had to tell the truth somehow, but in a way which wouldn’t affect her standing.
The small filly finally turned her head upward and met the gaze of Rainbow’s large, pink eyes. “Well…I was…I was helping some ponies out with their, well, their relationship. One of them made a really big mistake and doesn’t know how to fix it-”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up…why are you helping out with relationships? Is that really any of your business? You’re kinda young to be some kind of therapist or something.”
“Uh…well,” Scootaloo mumbled, scratching a hoof at the back of her soggy mane. “Cutie mark…yeah, trying to get my cutie mark.”
Rainbow couldn’t help but smirk ever so slightly. “Your cutie mark, huh? Clever…trying out the whole relationship aid thing, I mean. But why’s that got ya so down in the dumps?”
“I just don’t know what to do…for them,” she said, the end of the helpless statement added as a quick after thought.
“Well, what’s the problem?”
“One of the ponies was, sort of, told by another pony that she liked her and didn’t really know the other two were dating. She didn’t want to hurt the pony’s feelings by saying no…but actually in a way, sort of, loved her too?” Scootaloo inadvertently ended the question as a sentence, still rather confused by the situation she had successfully bound herself into, and by her actions and thoughts upon it.
“So it’s three fillies we’re talking about here?” Scootaloo’s heart jumped at the question, but she quickly assured herself that she could be talking about any three fillies. She did revert to ‘her’ and ‘she’ in her sentence rather than ‘they,’ after all. “I’m guessing they’re your age, right?”
The small pegasus nodded in agreement before she spoke. “So…uh, got any ideas?”
“First off, I don’t even think fillies or colts your age should even be into that stuff yet. Hay, it may sound fun,” she emphasized the statement with a shrug, “but that stuff’s complicated. You shouldn’t be worrying and have all that stress until you’re older. It can kinda be too much to handle if it goes bad…even for grown-ups like me.” She gave herself a quick shake which caused miniature beads of water to fly away from her fur in a mist. “Anyways, tell her that she’s gotta make a choice. Loving two ponies is just going to cause problems. Then, she’s gotta figure out a way to tell the one she ends up not choosing...and probably the one she does too. Lies aren’t all that good for relationships. My advice, let one down lightly and be as nice as possible to the other when explaining. But I guess I don’t really know these ponies. It all depends on personality. That’s all I got for now, kid, sorry.”
Scootaloo was rather angered by the suggestion, or at least frustrated with it. She knew she was young, but she was sure she could handle it. It was as if Rainbow had absolutely no trust or confidence within her; even if she wasn’t the actual subject of the speech. Although she had already known it would be the final outcome of the situation, she now had to choose between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. She was completely clueless on how to reach such a conclusion. “Um…thanks…yeah, I guess that’ll work,” she muttered out, barely audible over the continuous spraying of rain and gusting of wind.
“Now get home, would ya!” Dash commanded sternly as her wings shot out from her sides. “Don’t wanna be feeling under the weather, right? Especially on the weekend…need a ride?” she asked, motioning for the pony to climb onto her back.
“Nah…It’s cool. I can walk.” With that, the agile pegasus gave a farewell nod, lifted herself into the air, and sped off through the drenching skies. Scootaloo was left to her thoughts once more, although she had never really escaped them in the first place. She trudged home, attempting to form a plan, but nothing too ingenious entered her mind.
***
Scootaloo pulled her blanket to her chin as she gazed up at the dark ceiling above. Although her fur had thoroughly dried from her previous outing and she now lay in the warm embrace of her bed, she still felt cold. It was a cold which seemed to be coming from deep within her body rather than its exterior. The sound of the rain pattering loudly against the pane of her window was the only cue that the storm still raged outside, the engulfing blackness of night making it too obscure to witness with her eyes.
The almost calming sound would have easily lulled her to sleep if it weren’t for the thoughts still racing through her mind. She attempted to ignore them, but to no avail. As they once again pushed to the forefront of her mind, her body grew warm, almost feverish. She felt a drip of sweat tickle at her forehead and quickly threw away the blanket. She felt sick, although she was certain she had not caught some form of illness from being out in the storm, but rather it was just a side effect of her extreme worry.
Scootaloo assumed she should choose Apple Bloom since she rightfully asked first, but yet she somehow already loved Sweetie Belle just as much. She attempted to form a list of pros and cons about both of the fillies in her mind, but all she could think about was how amazing the two of them were. Against all odds, she smiled as thoughts of the sassy, stubborn, and occasionally sensitive Apple Bloom filled her mind. Those thoughts quickly dissipated when her head was flooded with times spent with the excitable, sweet, squeaky, and adorable Sweetie Belle.
Her disgruntled frown quickly returned. Even if she somehow managed to choose, she had no clue how she’d let the other down. They were both her best friends and she couldn’t bear to even picture hurting them in such a way. At this point, she began to believe in Rainbow’s words. Maybe she was unable to handle this, maybe she was too young. She gave herself a harsh shake in an attempt to expel the thoughts. It was her actions which created the disaster she was now in, and it would too be her actions that would get her out.