Scootaloo thanked Celestia when Sweetie finally stopped screaming at the top of her lungs, which nearly destroyed Scootaloo’s ear until the pegasus’ buzzing wings had propelled the scooter onto the dirt path leading out of town. Though Sweetie continued to squeeze Scootaloo’s chest in a snake-like vice grip, making her lungs feel like they were flattened into paste in her chest.
“Sweetie, could you at least not choke the life out of me?” Scootaloo asked in an exasperated voice, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. She felt Sweetie loosen her grip, yet they still squeezed around Scootaloo uncomfortably. Scootaloo barely heard Sweetie mutter an apology in reply, as her mind was busy somewhere else, and she liked where it was going.
All Pegasi were taught to fly the same way, but it left a lot desired for the few who loved to poke and prod the norm to create something new. No other pegasi had used their wings the way she was now, a sort of flying on the ground. Her heart pounded away, as excitement rushed through her blood, and her senses seemed acuter than ever before. No doubt about it, she was moving faster than she ever had flying in the air.
It wasn’t difficult to do once she knew how to do it. The tension-filled flaps, she had to use to stay in the air, felt like the dumber choice compared to the ease and relaxing sensation Scootaloo felt as she propelled her new scooter down the road. Maybe she could do something with this? The thought was a fledgling, but it hyped Scootaloo more than any race or idea had done before. But there was time for that later…
A signpost pointed right at a fork in the road read "Sweet Apple Acres". Ready for the turn, Scootaloo twisted the scooter's handlebars, but they shook violently. Not expecting the weight to change so drastically, she couldn't keep a firm grip. , Scootaloo thought fast, and her quick hand grabbed firmly onto the scooter as she slightly adjusted her wings to counteract the balance, and the pair swerved around the sharp turn, narrowly avoiding eating dirt.
Sweet Apple Acres majestically came into view over the smooth crest of the hill. The barn and house stood tall and welcoming, and the far off reaches of the orchard blanketed the surrounding land in all directions.
As the Apple family house came closer, Scootaloo adjusted her weight, wings, and handlebars in a more controlled way. The stomach churning fear and the overblowing excitement at what she was about to do overloaded any other thought or feeling she might have. At once, Scootaloo shifted the handlebars yet again, and the scooter slid into a drift. The sound of dirt scraping against the wood on the underside of the board filled Scootaloo's head with memories of when she had used to ride her old scooter everywhere.
Sweetie's arms squeezed harder into Scoot's ribs, but it didn't matter, because the rough pegasus had everything under control this time. She continued the drift until the scooter slowed down to a stop just short of hitting the wall of the house; the orchard just a stone's throw away.
Scootaloo stood to take in her aggressively beating heart in silence for a moment to adjust to the adrenaline rushing through her. But it didn't take long for what had just happened to catch up with her, and Scootaloo jumped off the toy, excitedly shouting to the sky with her fists clenched in joy. "That was so awesome!" Her voice was screeching out at an ear-piercing pitch like sandpaper on metal.
Sweetie Belle, her face as green as pea soup, didn't share in Scootaloo's triumph and excitement. She collapsed like a snake, planting her face into the ground to start nuzzling the dirt. "Oh sweet, unmoving earth. I will never ever leave you again."
With her arms still raised, Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow at the overdramatic unicorn. She slowly returned them to her sides while shaking her head. "You are just as dramatic as Rarity. I wasn't going that fast."
Sweetie Belle glared up at her. "I am not dramatic," She said sharply while crossing her arms and pointing her nose up. "I am... just showing appreciation for something that ponies have been taking for granted for far too long. The... the ground would probably appreciate it as well... yes. Besides, that is a moot point. If I had the wind whistling in my ears louder than you could shout - and you yell so loudly even the princesses could hear you past the hills - then yes, you were moving too fast."
Scootaloo shrugged; a proud smirk crowning her face as she proved herself right and held her head higher. "Like I said," boastfulness tarnishing her words, "dramatic. Besides, it would've been sweet if the princesses could've heard me then."
Sweetie's lower lip jutted out, her eyes seeming to grow even bigger, and her black pupils swallowed most of her glassy irises. A small whimper slid from her mouth like a little dog. Scootaloo tried to turn her head away, but couldn't help but look back at Sweetie as her features became more and more pronounced beyond what should've been possible.
Finally, Scootaloo groaned, hunching her back in defeat. "Okay. Fine. I was going a little fast." Straightening herself out, she held her hands out, palms up. "But give me some credit. I haven't done something like that since I lived in Cloudsdale. It just felt so right. I'm afr..." She stopped herself just in time. "Flying doesn't feel as good as I thought it would."
"But I would've gotten hurt if I had fallen off." Sweetie Belle never let up on her powerful pout.
Scootaloo forced a smile to stretch her cheeks, but her lip twitched uncontrollably. Feeling that she was failing at comforting, she lightly patted Sweetie Belle on the back. "You would've been fine it that had happened... but it wouldn't, because I was there."
Sweetie Belle lowered her head to the ground. "And how would you know that?" She asked with barely any force on her breath.
"Because I fell off my old scooter countless times, you know that. The worse thing that ever happened was a couple of small scratches and a big red plot." The right side of her lips rose in a lazy smile.
Sweetie Belle brushed the dust and dirt from her coat as she stood up, stabbing Scootaloo with an evil eye. Her hands cupped the music note decorated mask cutie marks that adorned her flanks as she lowered her voice. "What did you mean by 'big red plot'? Are you saying my plot is big?"
"What? No!" Scootaloo's arms jerked in random directions as her eyes hardened to match Sweetie's with a glare of her own. "I wasn't saying that at all."
"Then what did you mean by me having a big red plot?" Sweetie asked, hard as stone as she glared at Scootaloo. But then the stone cracked and her eyes went wide with terror. Sweetie giggled awkwardly before quickly recovering. She cleared her throat politely, saying: "Oh, it's okay, I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it. Just a slip of the tongue. Oh look, Applejack is over there. Maybe Applebloom is with her. You two can talk about... whatever it is you need to speak about."
Scootaloo looked worriedly at her friend. "Um, Sweetie, are you feeling okay? You just did a complete switch there."
"Y-Yeah." Sweetie's voice wavered. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
"Okay, if you're sure." Scootaloo said as she turned around and started across the front yard. "Man, I can't believe Applejack didn't hear us coming in."
Sweetie Belle sighed and rubbed her right temple. She shook her head, then followed Scootaloo over to Applejack.
Big Mac was kneeling in front of the barn doors, looking down at something with that same blank stare of his. The only indication of any emotion was him shaking his head back and forth. Applejack was pacing back and forth with her hands pressed on her hips. Her face drooped with a scowl. Her mouth was moving, but no words could be heard.
When she noticed Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, her eyes widened, but she forced some cheer into her expression. "Well now, I should've known you'd be showin' up sometime." The surprise on her face turned into a grin. She held out her arms and wrapped them around Scootaloo, who returned the embrace immediately. "It's so good ta see ya again."
Scootaloo tried to hide a smile, but one slowly crept up her cheeks until it shone in the sunlight. "How have you been, AJ? The farm still treating you okay?"
Applejack slowly let Scootaloo out of the embrace to cross them over her chest. Her jaw became hard, like a ridge of leather. "It was. Ah wish it was right now, but that stubborn mule of a sister of mine is being more than a tad difficult right now."
"That's the whole reason I'm here, AJ. I met Applebloom at the race earlier today, when she tried to run onto the track in the middle of the running. She was just flat out mad, and even Rainbow Dash was acting like that too." Scootaloo explained.
"Hold yer horses a sec. Applebloom never told me that. All she said was something was botherin' her." Applejack roughly rubbed her forehead in irritation. "Oh Applebloom, what am I gonna do with you?"
"I'm going to go talk to her." Scootaloo made it sound like she was done with the conversation. "Where is she anyway?"
"She ran toward the house." Applejack said. "So I'm guessing she ran up to her room." Disgust sucked any respect from her voice. "An Apple doesn't run away from their problems. It's better to be honest and just face the facts head on to get through this world."
Scootaloo made ready to run to the house, but Sweetie Belle jumped in the mare's way. "Stop! Running in without knowing exactly what is wrong could make things worse. Let's just think things through for a bit."
"We just tried that, Sweetie." Applejack was no nonsense. "I told her the truth and she didn't accept it."
"What if you were wrong, or maybe you were too harsh? Applejack, it's not always the best to be blunt; sometimes you need tact."
"I don't even know what that word means." The farmer shook her head in confusion. "But, ya can't continue to lie to yerself if ya wanna be happy, and it looks ta me, Applebloom's one of the most unhappy mares out there. What does that tell ya? That she was lying to herself fer far too long. Simple as that."
Sweetie Belle calmly cleared her throat, taking care to keep her opinion on that to herself. "I don't know Applejack. I never imagined that Applebloom was having so many problems. Sure, she could act "unladylike", is the best way I could put it, but I can't think of anything..." She paused, but only for a minute, as her mind cleared the fog from her thoughts. "Wait, last night; remember, Applejack, when she ran out of the bar?"
"How messed up are things with her?" Scootaloo asked, getting even more worried as more of the story of what had happened while she had been gone was revealed.
Applejack's face was stone hard with no sign of letting up. Her stubbornness took away the feeling in her words, making them sound dead and lifeless. "As far as I'm learnin' right now, it's much worse. She got angry at you, Scootaloo, when we brought up yer return ta Ponyville fer the festival."
Scootaloo shook her head, trying to wrap her head around this information. A single thought managed to pop up in her mind, that maybe helping Applebloom wasn't such a good idea. "Hold on, Applebloom's pissed off at me because I was mentioned? I know we didn't say goodbye in the best way, but I figured she would've gotten over it by now."
"Well, she didn't." She paused on her breath, her eyes unblinking before life returned to her features. "Applejack, I think I need to apologize to Applebloom about how I acted last night, I knew she wasn't happy with Scootaloo and I was just pushing her buttons for a laugh."
"Sweetie Belle, even I wouldn't laugh at somepony else's problems like that." Scootaloo pointed out to the unicorn.
"I know I was wrong, and I admit that. And yes you would make fun of somepony else's misfortunes!" Sweetie's voice shot up into a higher register that squeaked like metal on metal right next to Scootaloo's ear. The pegasus rubbed her earlobe, trying to get rid of the sharp ringing.
Applejack stood still, her face was twisted with confusion. "Why would she say that owning the bar and being away from her family had upset her?"
"She was lying to herself. Not another way to explain it." Big Mac simply spoke with his face as stoic as always.
"She always did look up to me fer my bluntness and honesty, she said." Applejack lamented unevenly for a moment before coming back to herself. "Right."
Sweetie suddenly gasped loudly, easily putting Pinkie Pie to shame. "IDEA!" She giggled into her hand, drawing a smile out from behind it. "You all think that I'm too much of a high class airhead to think of these things. I absolutely love whenever I get the chance to show you wrong."
Scootaloo was actually offended by that accusation. "Hey, I never said you were an airhead. I just called you a dictionary, and that's more of a compliment than anything."
Sweetie frowned, looking at her like a mysterious painting on the wall. "It never sounded like a compliment. I hated it when you called me a dictionary."
"Okay, okay. Moving on." Applejack continued.
"Oh yeah, sorry." She lightly rubbed her temple for a second before continuing with enthusiasm: "Applejack, when did Applebloom say that her problems started?"
"When she opened the bar, why?" Applejack asked.
"One second." Sweetie cut her off excitedly. "How old was she when this happened?"
"The same age Ah was when Ah took over the main part of the farm. She'd just turned seventeen." The farm mare said.
Sweetie smiled wider, showing more perfectly white teeth. "Just as I thought, although I might be wrong on this too. Applebloom is lying to herself. She opened the bar just after Scootaloo left Ponyville, so she must've still been bitter about it. Now, she has the bar and the responsibility of that on her shoulders to add to that bitterness. A recipe for disaster if I've ever seen one from living with my parents, the klutzes they were, but I digress. She couldn't handle it anymore, and fell into depression."
Applejack nodded before her face fell, chewing her lip. "Something needs to be cleared up now. I didn't force her to take the job at the bar. I asked her and she said yes immediately. Though, she did seem upset for a while when she first started, but that cleared up quickly."
"Maybe she was trying to impress you, Applejack by taking responsibility for something." Sweetie Belle said.
"But she doesn't need to impress me. I'll love her anyway." Applejack shook her head sadly.
Sweetie continued: "I think that's where the problem really started. Her depression turned into anger. Not wanting to point at the family she loved so much, she turned it onto somepony that she felt had wronged her, somepony that she thought had betrayed her, and that was Scootaloo."
Scootaloo stood as still as a statue, her face pale against the orange of her coat, making her look like an old orange fading to a rotten pulp. She tried, but failed, to find the confidence she needed to hear anymore of Sweetie's theory; it sounded like too big of a pill to swallow. She never thought for a second when this had started a short hour ago, that she maybe had a huge part to play in pushing Applebloom over the edge and into a deep pit of self-doubt and hatred. Scootaloo swallowed, stilling the fire in her gut that made her want to run away, because she needed to know, she needed to help her friend. "What did I do to her?"
"To us, nothing, but to Applebloom, if I'm right, you broke something that meant something to her. We all made a promise when we were the CMC, do you remember it?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Scootaloo thought about it for a second, trying as hard as she could to picture where she could've gone wrong, but nothing came to mind. "Nothing."
Sweetie Belle nodded sadly. "We promised that we would stick together forever, on the honor of our friendship and our membership in the CMC, though not in those exact words. Because she always admired Applejack's honesty, she thought that when you "broke your promise" to her," adding quotes in with two fingers on each hand, "as a betrayal on your part."
Applejack suddenly groaned and smacked her forehead. "She picked that one up from me. Ah would always say that honesty was the most important thing in friendship."
"Wait, let me get this straight. Applebloom is upset with me because she thinks that I broke a promise we made when we were kids by moving away to Cloudsdale?" Scootaloo asked, her eyes narrowed as she looked at every pony there to see if what she was hearing was true or not.
Sweetie Belle nodded her head sadly, barely able to look Scootaloo in the eye. The pegasus paced back and forth, picking her feet up and slamming them down into the dirt like she was marching off to war. Things were obviously a lot worse than she had thought, but the drive to continue to fight for her friend still rang strong. Sure, Applebloom had a problem with her, but that could easily be addressed when she talked to Applebloom.
After a few tense moments, Scootaloo turned back to the group, her face a stone against the wind, unmoving and full of confidence. "Looks like I won't be returning to Cloudsdale tonight." She spoke with ease, yet such power came from those words.
Sweetie Belle's face rose in excitement as she smiled childishly. "Scootaloo?" She asked hopefully.
"My friend needs help, and I'm not gonna just stand here and watch her get hurt. I'm gonna go talk to her, and I'm gonna do something about all of this. I should've come back to Ponyville sooner, but I'm here now." Scootaloo continued.
With that being said, Scootaloo turned and began her trip back across the yard to the house on the other side. There was no more need for words, and no other sound, save for her steps over the gravel.
Scootaloo hadn't gotten a quarter of the way before Applejack was right next to her, a confident grin that wasn't much different from what Scoot's had been before on her face. "Applebloom's my sis, and I need to be there fer her."
"Aren't ya sure ya don't wanna do somethin' like apologize?" Big Mac chided his younger sister. The words themselves were playful in nature, but the serious tone he used said otherwise.
Applejack glared at her older brother, a sting that even Scootaloo felt from seeing it on the side. "Ah didn't do anything wrong, Big Mac, and it would do ya a lick of good ta keep the smarty comments ta yerself. Ah still stand by what I said, but she's still an Apple and I'll always be there for her."
Scootaloo skirted out of the way when Applejack turned around to stomp back to the house, and silently followed her from behind. She heard more footsteps, quickly running beside them like a child. Scootaloo turned towards Sweetie Belle who smiled her charming, yet innocent smile.
"I did say I had to apologize to Applebloom for last night, did I not?" She turned back to Big Mac, "Anything you want to apologize for?"
"I wasn't the best brother I could be." He simply stated, before following them into the house.
Everything wasn't quiet and peaceful as it usually was in the Apple household. When Scootaloo walked in behind Applejack and Sweetie Belle, all she could hear was Granny Smith's sour sounding voice scratching its way up the stairs from the old pony at the bottom. "Applebloom!" The smell of something burning invaded her nostrils. Big Mac ran into the kitchen.
Granny Smith watched Big Mac rush into the next room and turned back to see the group coming in. She pressed hard into Applejack space, a needle to a balloon. "Applejack, dear, as much as I love ya, only you could manage to smash holes in somethin' like this. Applebloom came a-chargin' in here like a rampagin' bull in a rodeo, cryin' herself a river, and runnin' upstairs. I had never seen her so upset before. I'm not lettin' ya mess this up too, so tell me…" She stretched her neck out to get up into the much taller Applejack's face. "What did ya do?"
"Whoa, Granny." Applejack held up her arms in self-defense. "I didn't do nothing wrong. All I did was tell her the truth, because she was lying to herself to make herself feel better. I hadn't, she would've stayed angry at everypony.
Granny Smith obviously wasn't buying it, Scootaloo could tell. "Young mare, ya know I can read ya like an open book, and I see you are hiding something, and I can guess you had a motive."
"Of course you would immediately jump on me if anything happens around the farm, you always do that ta me." Applejack said, irritated.
Granny Smith held her ground. "Ya watch yer big mouth there, missy. Ah may be old, and hate ta even lay a hand on ya, but that won't stop me from bendin' ya over my knee fer a good swift paddlin'." Her eyes softened, her voice becoming calmer and warmer. "Now, I wasn't blamin' ya, Celestia knows maybe ya had a good reason ta upset her..." But then it turned back to threatening again. Her eyes gleamed like iron to a glimmer of light. "But I don't wanna hear or find out ya had a stinky motive behind it all along. Ya hear me loud and clear there?"
Applejack could have been easily mistaken for a wooden carving. Her lifeless expression as she looked back at Granny Smith. She didn't say anything for a few seconds, but the awkwardness in the atmosphere made Scootaloo tense up anyway. "Yes, Granny."
Granny Smith chewed her lip, her jaw cracking and popping. It wasn't until now that Scootaloo noticed how much skin was hanging from the old mare's face. "Alrighty then, care to explain what happened out there?"
Scootaloo heard that and leapt between Applejack and Sweetie Belle's shoulders as they were about to follow the elderly mare away. "Hold up, hold up. Granny, not to be rude or anything, but we're trying to talk to Applebloom."
Granny Smith's head cocked to the side downward, yet her features stayed relatively the same. "I see how talkin' has helped with whatever's happinin', but I'm putting my foot down on it 'til we know what needs to be done." She looked up the stairs with worry painted in deep brushstrokes over her face. "I doubt she'd want ta talk anyway. We'll let her be fer a bit. And ya'll tell everything over dinner."
"What!" Scootaloo was shocked at that offer. "No! Applebloom is up there right now and you guys just want to eat!? What is wrong with you?"
Granny's looked just as calm as ever. "Thinkin' things through. No need ta be doin' somethin' stupid that'd be makin' things worse again."
Scootaloo stood still. Anger wilted the youthfulness from her face. Lines that shouldn't be there were prevalent on her skin, making her look a lot more like Granny Smith than she should have. She didn't notice Sweetie Belle walking up behind her until she wrapped her arms around her waist, much like before on the scooter but much more gentle… like a hug.
"I want to help Applebloom as much as you do, but Mrs. Smith is right. We need to think this through. I envy how much you want to help our friend, and as soon as possible, but we can't just go into this without a plan."
"I don't know. Sometimes, just talking can be worse 'cause we have a chance to act." Scootaloo argued. "It would be better to go with how you feel."
"Ah'm sure that plan'll roll over just fine. How are ya feelin' now youngin'? Are ya angry, 'cause yer showin' it. What da ya think you'd say?" Granny Smith asked, smiling confidently.
She was right.
The Apple Family dinner table was covered in an assortment of vegetables and fruit based foods. As everypony was getting ready to sit down and eat, Big Mac walked into the room with a chair in each hand. "Sorry, but the pasta burnt. All the water had boiled away." He set the chairs down at one end of the table next to where Granny Smith was getting ready to sit.
Sweetie Belle reeled back on her haunches, surprise plastered on her face. "You want us to eat here with you ponies?"
Granny's wheezing cough laugh choked in her throat. The old mare hacked a glob of lung before swallowing it back down. She tapped the empty chair beside her on the left, closest to Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo kept to the corner of the cupboard, standing against the wall, keeping silent and watching her friend. "What about my sister"? Sweetie asked worriedly as she looked out the window that opened into the direction of Ponyville. "She might be worried if I stay for too long." Sweetie rubbed at the side of her head on her right temple as she returned her confused gaze back to the offered chair.
Applejack sat down on the opposite side of the table, closest to the window at the corner of Scootaloo's vision. Scootaloo turned her eyes to her as she smiled a warm, Apple Family smile at Sweetie Belle. "Rarity would be okay with ya staying over for a lil bit longer. She worries, but not that much." Scootaloo ground her teeth behind her shut lips.
Sweetie was also pulverizing her own teeth, her jaw locking in place, and the sides of her skull bulging out from the pressure. She said uneasily: "I don't think you know Rarity as well as you may believe you do, pardon. She'll burn my tail hair if I'm not home in time."
Scootaloo silently sat in the chair, but the furniture only groaned as it was scraped across the floor untill the table was up against her chest. She tried so hard to bottle up her impatience, which tasted as sour as vinegar. Scootaloo grabbed and squeezed her wrist until the tingling numbness took all feeling away for a moment. She saw Sweetie Belle sit in her chair as well, respectfully, at the other side of Granny Smith, but she still looked down at the empty plate in front of her with fear. Applejack and Big Mac sat on the other end of the table. A seat was between them, but no plate was set out before it.
This was stupid. Scootaloo squeezed her wrist harder, and bit the inside of her mouth just enough to give her pain. But it wasn't enough with how slow everything was going. On her scooter, her senses were quickened slightly, but here, it just made everything slow down to a crawl. A wet twinge pierced the inside of her cheek and Scootaloo jerked slightly. She raised a hand to her stuck out tongue and looked down to see her finger was red with blood. "We should be doing something about Applebloom." She lamented irritably, ignoring the self-inflicted wound.
The pegasus saw Applejack shrug her shoulders; she noted that the earth pony kept glancing at Granny Smith every few seconds. "I'd keep yer mouth shut if I was ya Scoots."
Scootaloo was about to talk back at the pony, her lungs filled with the air of an all-out rant, but Granny tugged on Applejack's leash before she could do anything about it. "Yer not outta the woods either li'l missy. Ah know ya had somethin' ta do with this. I'm callin' a family gatherin' here now." Granny turned to Sweetie and back to Scootaloo. When the old mare's eyes looked into Scootaloo's, she couldn't see any anger or rage, only a calm bright love that was reinforced with irritation.
Scootaloo shot up out of her seat. All this talking wasn't going anywhere, and she didn't like it. She swung around the table towards Applejack's seat, but even through the surprise, the mare still was able to react fast enough to try and catch Scootaloo. Using her agility, Scootaloo hopped out of the way of the outstretched arm and ran to the stairs. Over skidding of the chairs behind her, she heard Applejack call out, but she didn't hear a word that was said. The staircase loomed like a giant to Scootaloo. Only a second glance proved both Applejack and Sweetie Belle were chasing after her, Applejack's hand was dangerously close to catching her again. With a frantic flap of her wings and threw her lifted self to the steps. Not even halfway, Scootaloo's foot caught a step and her tumbled down the flight, meeting the furious face of Applejack with the scared one of Sweetie Belle behind her. Like a dog, Scootaloo flipped around and got her momentum going up the steps till she stood up and continued up.
The small hallway greeted her, but it was Applebloom's door that Scootaloo was shooting for. It was the one on the left. She grabbed the doorknob just as she felt the fingertips of Applejack touch her arm. She hauled herself inside and slammed the door in Applejack's face.