Sweet Apple Acres
Summer 5th, 1396, late afternoon
Apple Bloom and I stood in her bedroom. The picture from our last good day stood on her nightstand. Maybe the Cutie Mark Crusaders weren’t as dead as I thought. Maybe they were just on life support. “You still care about Sweetie,” I said.
“I– Maybe,” Apple Bloom said. “I wake up, and it’s nice to be reminded of the good times. Not that things are bad now. I love Life Bloom, we’re still great friends, and gen’rally, things haven’t been better. I just... the picture reminds me of all the fun we had back when it was the three of us. Keeps me from gettin’ too mad at Sweetie whenever she does something stupid, which is just about every day.”
I laughed and slumped against Apple Bloom’s wall. “Yeah, it’s – we could probably run a gossip column just about all the stuff Sweetie and her herd get up to. Not that we should.”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “No kiddin’...” We glanced away from each other, and she trotted over to the photo. “I guess you’ll be takin’ this to Manehattan with you?”
I shook my head, thinking of the letter now safely tucked away in my saddlebag. “You can keep it,” I said, smiling her. “As long as somepony’s holding on to it. That type of stuff’s important to Sweetie, and she’ll probably kill me when she gets back if I let that get thrown away.”
“You really think she’s coming back?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “I’m pretty sure New Sweetie is here to stay.”
I thought of the letter safely tucked away in my new courier’s bag, waiting for the trip to Manehattan with my mom in three days. “Smartie Belle” never said I couldn’t tell ponies about it, but it seemed personal. I didn’t want to share it with everypony. I only told Rainbow Dash because I needed somepony to help me make sense of things, and the other pony, well, she’d really needed to see it. Still… “I just have a hunch,” I said, smiling at her. Nope, if Sweetie wanted ponies to hear about the letter, she could tell them herself.
“Well, it’d be nice, that’s for sure,” Apple Bloom said.
“Come on, go with me to her play,” I said. “You know, for old times and stuff. Maybe we can get the Crusaders together one last time. I’ve got to get going to the train station, so what do you say?”
She sighed. “Fine. I guess it’ll at least be kind of fun to watch a show about a singing plant, and if somethin’ good happens with Sweetie, which I don’t think’s likely, that’s just a bonus.”
I grinned at her, summoning my best Rainbow Dash. “Come on, a night in Canterlot with the second-coolest mare in Equestria? Can you say ‘best night ever’?”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Keep talkin’ like that and I’m gonna change my mind.”
***
Ponyville Dojo
Winter 37th, 1396, daytime
Ninety-seven… ninety-eight… ninety-nine… one hundred. I collapsed onto the workout mat in Ponyville’s dojo.
“Good,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding her head. “Now give me a hundred more push-ups using your left foreleg. You have two minutes.”
I grunted and pushed myself back up with my left hoof, using my wings to help keep my balance. “So, care to tell me why you punched Bright Lights?” Rainbow Dash asked, flapping her wings a few hooves above me.
“Because she’s the worst,” I said between grunts. “Like, I’d rather hang out with Discord than her. I’d rather hang out with twenty Discords than her, that’s how bad she is.”
A weight suddenly pressed down on my back as I heard a way-too-familiar snap. “Oh, I’m so excited that you said that, I’ve just been dying for some company lately, and since you’re not up to much these days… Tea party?”
“Get off,” I yelled, struggling to keep myself from collapsing. Acts of Discord weren’t an excuse for failing a Rainbow Dash workout.
“Fine,” he said, snapping his claws and popping into existence right in front of me. “So, what do you say to Saturday? We can hang out and talk about boys and talk about how crazy Sweetie Belle’s gotten lately. Ooh! Should we start rumors about her? I heard she and Bright Lights are up to some very unchaste things, think of the scandal.”
“I’m pretty sure any rumours I could come up with would be tamer than the truth,” I said, my left foreleg beginning to burn. Seventeen. “And can we please stop talking about Sweetie? You know, for like one conversation?”
“Well, this is her story,” Discord said, hopping off my back, “We are but bit players, here to say our lines and shuffle off stage, and I think we’re supposed to be reflecting on how far Sweetie’s fallen now.”
“No,” I grunted, “I’m trying to do these push-ups like Rainbow Dash asked.”
“Yeah, so unless you’ve got something important to say, leave Scoots alone,” Rainbow Dash said, flapping between me and Discord. “She’s got enough to deal with without you here.” Twenty-five.
“Very well,” Discord said, sighing. “Here I was hoping for a pleasant talk, but it seems I’m to be sent back out into the wilderness. Whatever shall I do?” He swooned. Can stallions even do that? I thought that was just a mare thing, but like… a thirteenth-century mare thing. Or a Rarity thing. Whatever. He landed on his back and magicked a business card into my mouth. I spat it out. “If you ever want to talk more about what our dear Smartie – I mean Sweetie – Belle has been up to, just give me a call and I’ll be there in a snap.” To prove his point, Discord snapped his claws and vanished, leaving me alone again with Rainbow Dash.
“Uhmm… what were we talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked, flapping back over me.
“Me punching Bright Lights,” I said, giving another grunt. Thirty-eight. “Oh, and thanks for getting Aunt Sea Breeze to let me out of the house for our workout.”
She laughed. “Like I’m going to let you getting grounded be an excuse to get out of your training. If you’re working out with Rainbow Dash, you’ve got to stay in absolute peak condition. Anything else would make me look bad. Besides, I’ll be pushing you extra hard until you give me a good reason for punching another mare.”
“You saw what Bright Lights did to Sweetie Belle, right?” I asked. Forty-nine.
“Or Sweetie could just be going through puberty. You know, it kind of makes ponies crazy. Like, crazy enough to punch another pony,” Rainbow Dash said, effortlessly managing to hover above me. Her wings beat like drums, while mine just managed to buzz like a mosquitos.
“But I’m still me,” I said. “Maybe I’ve been a bit… moodier than usual, so has Apple Bloom, but Sweetie’s somepony completely different, and it didn’t really start until she got into Bright Lights’ hooves.” Ugh. Hadn’t I just told Discord I didn’t want to talk about Sweetie? What the hay, when did my life start revolving around her?
Rainbow Dash sighed and landed next to me. Sixty-five. “Okay, I get it. You see a bad pony, you see a pony hurting one of your friends and you want to defend your friend. That’s awesome. What’s less awesome is that the way you did it got you grounded and… has Sweetie talked to you at all since you punched Bright Lights?”
I shook my head. “Alright,” Rainbow Dash said, sighing. “So… how did this help? At all?”
“It wasn’t supposed to help, I just didn’t want her to completely get away with it. You know?” I asked, looking up at her. My whole coat was coated in sweat, and my body strained and burned with each push. Seventy-two. We weren’t even halfway done with the workout yet.
“So you just abandoned your best friend? Didn’t I already talk with you about not leaving your friends?” Dash asked. Seventy-five.
“I’m not abandoning her,” I snapped, ignoring the trembling in my foreleg. “The minute she needs me, I’ll be there for her, but I’m not going to sit around and watch her do this. I can still support a friend without supporting all the bad stuff they’re doing, right?”
Dash frowned. “I don’t know, it kind of doesn’t sound like it, but – are you sure you can’t just talk with her about it? That usually works for me.”
“Then you try talking to her, but I’m pretty sure it will just end with Sweetie screaming about how much you hate her. Not really a lot you can say to that,” I said before giving another grunt. “I...” I frowned, thinking of my letter from Ditzy. “She gave me a note. I mean, the old her gave me a note, and…” I explained how we might have accidentally made Sweetie Belle omniscient a few months ago. Omniscient. Fun word. Amazing the things you’ll learn in school.
“So, just so I have this right, Apple Bloom gave Sweetie a potion that could let her see the future, and then she wrote you a letter that told you to be in an apartment in Manehattan in three years?”
One hundred. I collapsed onto the ground and nodded at her. “And it’s been bugging me, because why the hay would she plan for this happening instead of doing literally anything else to stop it? Why not take a picture of Bright Lights and write ‘don’t trust her lies’ underneath it? That seems way simpler.” I looked at Discord’s business card and reached out to grab it. I had to get it in my bag before it got lost and somepony else wound up with the business card of a lord of chaos. Actually, why did he need a business card at all?
“That’s probably what I’d do,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding her head while I caught my breath. “But then, I’ve never been omniscient, so who knows? Maybe it’s all part of a master plan to do something epic. You know, like how Ahuizotl tricked Daring Do into getting the Stone’s Kiss for him. Something epic like that, except, you know, for good.”
“Maybe,” I said. My forelegs felt like jelly, and we still had to run laps and lift weights.
“The important thing is, do you trust Sweetie’s letter to you?” That was – I definitely didn’t trust Sweetie now, but the Sweetie back at the end of summer? Yeah, definitely, although maybe being able to see all the possible futures or whatever made her a bit crazy. Life Bloom pretty much said that, didn’t she? Nopony who’d been able to see the future had stayed sane. Maybe that’s what was causing Sweetie to be so weird, some residual crazy after seeing the future. Probably not; I still thought Bright Lights was the way likelier cause. So…
“Yeah, I guess I do,” I said, pushing myself up on my hooves and trotting over to my saddlebags to deposit the card.
“Then it sounds like you know what to do,” Rainbow Dash said, flying over to the storage closet and pulling out a bunch of white strips. I groaned. That could only mean one thing. “Now, are we here to talk, or are we here to work out? Because right now we’re doing a whole lot of talking and not a lot of suicide drills. What do you say, squirt, think you can keep pace with me?”
I turned around and grinned. Suicide drills might be the worst exercise ever, but that didn’t mean I was going to be a wimp about it. “Maybe… if I was half-asleep.”
She laughed and moved to the starting line. “Then let’s see how fast you are without that scooter of yours.”
“Faster than you are without your wings,” I said, taking my place as she blew the whistle for us to start.
***
Canterlot Theater
Summer 5th, 1396, evening
Apple Bloom and I trotted into the Canterlot Theater of the Performing Arts. The whole place was filled with the snootiest nobles you could imagine, and then in the back row of the highest levels were a collection of schoolfillies who absolutely did not fit in. It would be like Rarity joining Rainbow Dash and me for our workouts, but in reverse.
The trip to Canterlot had been pretty boring, and the two of us had spent the time talking about everything we could think of. For once, most of it wasn’t about Sweetie Belle.
“I think we’re up there,” Apple Bloom said, looking up from her ticket as we were ushered up the stairs. “Could we be any further from the stage?”
“Not really,” I said, looking around the gilded auditorium. There weren’t many places further away from the stage than the back row, which should really go without saying. I frowned. Melody and Tiara weren’t up there. I guess dating the star got you slightly better seats. Either that or they were backstage. I started looking around the auditorium for them.
“Uhmm, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said, looking between me and everypony else in the auditorium. “Do you think we’re a bit underdressed for this?” She was right; pretty much all the nobles were wearing something fancy, and I think I’d seen at least a few of those dresses on a clothes horse back at Rarity’s. I narrowed my eyes at one particular bright-blue dress with lily trim. I’d definitely seen that one before, back when Rarity’d gotten us all together for her plan to deal with Sweetie.
***
Carousel Boutique
Spring 29th, 1396, late morning
I looked between Apple Bloom, Life Bloom, and Rarity as the seconds ticked by. Rarity was looking over her speech, while Apple Bloom just looked annoyed. Twilight flipped through her book: Interventions and You: An Advanced Guide to Conflict Resolution and Intermediation. Life Bloom was as unreadable as ever. I wished I had something to fiddle with too.
I looked outside Carousel Boutique at the fresh grass, searching for any sign of Sweetie, Tiara, or Melody. They’d be here any moment, and we’d done everything we could to make sure Bright Lights wasn’t with her. We didn’t need her to fuel the fire; this was going to be tough enough already.
“Thank you, girls, for coming out and helping me,” Rarity said. “It’s been…” She shook her head. “I’m sure we don’t need to go over the past few months again. We’ll be doing that soon enough, anyway. The point is, I’m glad you’re all here with me for this.”
“It’s fine,” Apple Bloom said. “Figure if this has even a chance of getting the good Sweetie back, it’s worth a shot.” I thought back to my letter. Did this have a chance of working? Was I just making things worse by being here? Maybe if I was – I shook my head. If Sweetie knew enough to deliver a letter to me the hour I had my fight with Bright Lights, she probably knew enough to warn me against going to her intervention. Unless warned explicitly against it, I was going to do everything I could to help get Sweetie back. The letter just gave me another time to try.
The rest of us nodded. “Alright, everypony,” Twilight said, looking up from her book. “Remember, no accusations. We don’t want to make Sweetie feel like she’s on trial, we want to let her know she has ponies who care about her and want her to be happy.” I caught Apple Bloom scowling for a second. Don’t get mad. Don’t explode. Don’t make Sweetie feel like she’s on trial. We’re here for her, not against her. I closed my eyes and sighed, fighting the flash of anger in my belly. No matter what she’d done, we couldn’t get mad at her.
More seconds ticked past. I looked around the room again. Twilight had put her book away. Why did we have her doing this, instead of an actual psychologist? Hadn’t the last time we’d tried getting her to help us with something ended with Sweetie getting trapped in a time loop for a year? Nothing against Twilight, but I didn’t feel super confident about this plan.
Apple Bloom leaned in slightly closer to Life Bloom. Still trying to keep her relationship under wraps. Why? I was pretty sure Applejack was okay with fillyfooling, considering she’d been dating Rarity until a few weeks ago. Weird how the fight that finally broke them up didn’t level the entire town. Would have bet money that it would. I flicked my wings as the clock kept ticking. How much longer were we going to keep waiting? As long as it took.
I opened my mouth to say something, but the words died in my throat. The only thing that could kill this silence was the door to the Boutique opening.
There she was, trotting down the path to the Boutique, and Melody and Tiara were following along behind her, and there was no Bright Lights in sight. So far, so good. I took another deep breath as the bell over the Boutique chimed. Whatever happened, I still had the letter.
“What’s going on?” Sweetie asked as the door shut. “If you’re throwing me a party, I should really get Bright Lights here, she’d love this.”
Twilight’s horn lit up, and the lock on the door clicked. “Sweetie, we’re all here today because we love and care about you, and we’re worried about you,” Twilight said, turning to Sweetie and gesturing for her to take a seat.
“And you’re worried about me, why?” Sweetie asked. “Because of how amazingly happy I am?” She snorted and tossed her mane back. “Because I’m not the little filly you can all boss around anymore?”
“No, Sweetie, we’re worried because you keep stealing from my liquor cabinet,” Rarity said. “And I’m pretty sure you’re finding other sources of alcohol too.” She shot Diamond Tiara a quick glare, causing her to step back towards the door. For such a prissy pony, Rarity had an absolutely brutal glare. Not as bad as Fluttershy’s, but that wasn’t saying much.
“Well, if you didn’t want me stealing it, maybe you should put a better lock on it,” Sweetie said, rolling her eyes. What kind of insane Sweetie logic was that?
Rarity’s lips pressed against each other so tightly they almost disappeared. “Or, I could just pour out all my alcohol and replace it with alcohol-free equivalents. Which I did. Back when you first started drinking. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed until now.”
Twilight jumped in before either of them could say anything else. Maybe she wasn’t that bad a choice. Maybe. Hopefully. “Rarity’s just worried about you, Sweetie. A filly your age shouldn’t be drinking. We’re not trying to order you around.”
“Really? You’re throwing an intervention because you don’t like what I’m doing with my life, and now you’re saying you don’t want to tell me how I live my life?” she asked. Yeah. That was… Twilight could’ve phrased that better.
“Sweetie, they’re just concerned about you,” Tiara said, resting a forehoof on Sweetie’s shoulder. “Maybe… can you at least listen to them? For me?”
“Fine,” Sweetie said, sighing and turning back to look from Tiara to us. “Whatever you want to get off your chests, say it.”
“You’ve gone completely rotten,” Apple Bloom said. “You used to be my best friend, and now, I don’t even like lookin’ at you. Whenever I see you, I’m just reminded of how you – Why’d you spike the drinks at my birthday party?”
“Because I thought it would make the party better,” she said, frowning. “And you’re welcome for that, by the way. The party was way more fun than it would’ve been without me there.”
“You kissed me! Right in front of–!” Apple Bloom stopped herself and scowled. “How is that okay?”
Sweetie shrugged. “You looked cute, and I thought some kissing lessons could really spice up your birthday later. I’m sure Life Bloom appreciated it.” She gave the two of them a smile like what she’d done was the nicest thing in the world.
“Do you have to tell everypony we’re datin’? What part of keepin’ things a secret don’t you get?” Apple Bloom asked. This was starting to get out of hoof.
“Apple Bloom! Welcome and supportive,” I said, shooting her a quick glare. “We’re here to help Sweetie, not blame her.”
Sweetie laughed and turn around to stare at me. “Oh! You’re here to help me? How are you going to do that Scootaloo? Maybe punch Tiara in the face? Or… no, you two are best friends now, aren’t you? With your secret little meetings. No, you’d punch poor sweet innocent Melody in the face, wouldn’t you?” Sweetie shoved Melody in front of her. “Well, go on, do it! Or maybe you want to skip verbally attacking me and just go straight to regular attacking me?”
“Girls, if you could just calm down,” Twilight said before Rarity yelled over her. Rarity yelled.
Rarity... yelled.
Oh, horseapples.
“I raised you better than that, Sweetie! You don’t shove ponies. You don’t yell at your friends. You do not go around acting like an uncouth savage. Apologize right now!”
“That’s a good one,” Sweetie said, giving a short, harsh laugh. “You raised me? Sorry, but last time I checked, you weren’t Mom, and Mom definitely didn’t raise me. Meanwhile, you just bossed me around. Gave me orders and reasonable demands. Where were you when I needed you?”
For a second, Rarity looked like she’d been stabbed right through the heart, but then the edges of her eyes started to freeze. In fact, the whole room started to feel colder. She might be prissy and stuff, but Rarity was good at not exploding, way better than a lot of ponies, but when she blew up… We all knew how her fights with Applejack went. My gut told me we were getting close to the exploding Rarity threshold. She took a deep breath.
“Sweetie, Rarity, let’s keep things civil here,” Twilight said. “Remember, we all care about Sweetie.”
“Oh, really? So is judging me and trying to make me feel awful about myself part of ‘caring’? Because I’ve had enough of feeling bad. I’ve had enough of being–” She glare snapped onto Rarity. “Nopony’s ever going to tell me what to do again. I’m not going to let you all shackle me again.”
“Enough,” Rarity said, her voice sharp and clear. “I’ve been tolerant, I’ve tried to understand, I’ve tried to be a good role model, and I allowed you room to make your own mistakes, but obviously, that was a mistake on my part. From now on, there will be no more plays, no more performances, no more going off to be with your friends, and certainly, no more Bright Lights. When you’re not home under my supervision, you’ll be at school under the supervision of your teachers, and I shall make certain they know not to let you near Bright Lights.” A good threat, but...
Sweetie laughed. Rarity’d just made herself vulnerable, and Sweetie knew it. “Uhmm, the last time I checked, I’m fourteen, and I have my cutie mark, so you can’t tell me what to do. In fact, I don’t even have to live here anymore, so maybe it’s time we changed that.”
“You’re being impulsive,” Rarity said, doing what she could to regain her calm, but I could see how her jaw clenched. “How are you going to–?”
“Sweetie, when have we tried to control you, or whatever it is you think we’ve been doing?” I asked, trying to take her attention away from Rarity and leaving the house. Did she even have enough bits to rent an apartment? She’d been doing a few shows lately, but that couldn’t have been enough. I glanced at Tiara. It didn’t have to be.
“Uhmm… let’s see, you all lied to me about what my special talent is, always forced me to do what you wanted to get our cutie mark, punched my marefriend, and… oh! The first day we met, you forced me to give you my Summer Solstice gift.”
“You’re lying to yourself,” I said, glaring at her. “You’re taking what really happened and twisting it around to fit this idea that everypony hates you, but guess what, I–” I cringed at the next word. Not cool to say at all. “Everypony in this room loves you. We just don’t want you to completely ruin your life by the time you’re fifteen.”
“Well…” She stammered for a second, and I caught a glimpse of the old Sweetie in her eyes. “You’re going to yell at me for lying? After everything you’ve lied about? Lied to me about my special talent… You lie everytime you see Rainbow Dash because you want her to be your cool big sister. You lie and pretend that your parents haven’t completely forgotten about you. But guess what, they’re off in Cloudsdale having the time of their lives, and the only time they ever think about you is when it’s your birthday or a holiday or whatever.”
My parents wrote me a letter at least once a week, I got free tickets to all of Mom’s shows, and they always visited whenever Cloudsdale was close by. Plus… Wait, me lying to Rainbow Dash? How did she figure out who my Mom was? I hadn’t told anypony that. At least, not anypony in town.
“You can’t get mad at me for lying when you’re the biggest, nastiest liar out there. You lied to everypony you ‘cared’ about. For years, I thought you were my friend, and then it turns out... I wouldn’t have cared if you told me the truth.” Sweetie looked like she was about to sob before her face hardened. “Well guess what, I’m done. I’m not going to deal with ponies who betray me anymore.” She looked to Tiara and Melody. It would’ve been nice if they’d said something to help, but– “You didn’t know about this, did you?”
They both shook their heads as Sweetie spun towards the door and tried to open it with her magic. The lock refused to budge. “It’s timelocked,” Twilight said, looking at her. “None of us are going anywhere for the next hour.”
Sweetie raised an eyebrow. “Really? You timelocked the door? How am I ever going to escape?” She lit her horn and lifted up the window. Before Twilight could grab it with her own magic, Sweetie had jumped clear, leaving us behind to stare at each other like idiots.
“Well,” Rarity said, a minute later. “I believe that could’ve gone better.”
“Sorry,” Tiara mumbled, looking at the ground. “I was hoping you all would get through to her, but I can’t. I’ve tried, but it’s so hard saying no to her. Even if I wanted to help you, she knows just what to say to get me to back down.”
“I’m sure she’s sorry,” Melody said, briefly looking at the group. “She’s just so stressed during the week, the only time she ever really seems happy is the weekend. I bet once she calms down, she’ll apologize.” At least Tiara was honest about how terrible Sweetie was being. Melody had her head so far in the ground, she could see Neighpon.
“Well, at least she clearly cares about you two,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m sure her abandoning you is her ‘new’ way of saying ‘I love you.’”
“I’m really sorry,” Twilight said, looking up from the floor to Rarity. “I… wasn’t expecting that much hostility from Sweetie Belle. I never would’ve thought she’d be so–”
“Yes, the change is quite shocking to me, too,” Rarity said before taking another deep breath. “Just four months ago, she was this wonderful little filly, and now–” Another breath. “She’s right, of course, she’s old enough to conduct herself as she sees fit, and as she made so abundantly clear, it’s not my place to mother her. Could you take the girls home, Twilight? I have several work orders I need to catch up on, and I’m sure I’ll need to sort out all of Sweetie’s possessions sooner rather than later.” Twilight nodded and Rarity glared at Tiara. “I assume she’ll be staying with you tonight?”
Tiara mumbled something incomprehensible, but it sounded like she was agreeing with Rarity.
“Wonderful, at least I’ll have the small comfort of knowing she won’t be sleeping on the street,” Rarity said. She didn’t sound comforted, she sounded like she needed –
The letter. It wasn’t much, but maybe it could help her out a little bit. Like… I don’t know, but if I was her, I’d want to know.
Twilight fiddled with the doorlock, her horn igniting and wrapping the lock with her magic. I guess you could bypass a timelock if you knew the code. Kind of made sense, you’d have to have some sort of back-up plan in case you absolutely needed to get out of a building before the lock expired. Like, if a timelocked building caught on fire, you’d need something unless you wanted a roomful of burned up ponies.
Not that it helped us.
“Alright, girls,” Twilight said, popping the door open. “Come with me.”
***
An hour after the spectacularly-failed intervention, I was knocking on Rarity’s door. No response, and the shades were pulled shut. That was never a good sign. I knocked again and rang the doorbell for good measure. “Go away!” she said, her voice hoarse.
“Rarity, it’s me,” I shouted back. “Scootaloo.” Maybe my voice wasn’t that distinct. She could’ve thought it was Rainbow Dash. Somepony had said we sounded similar, so… it was possible.
There was a pause and then a click came from the door. “I’m sorry, Scootaloo, please come in. I’m sure today hasn’t been particularly enjoyable for you either,” she said as I stepped into the dark boutique. There was a faint light in the dark as the door clicked back shut.
“I don’t think it was easy for a lot of ponies,” I said. If I strained, I could kind of make out Rarity’s outline in the darkness. Geeze, did she have some sort of anti-light spell in here to completely shut out the sun?
“No, I suppose not, but the two of you… You’ve always been close. When the two of you were together, I always knew somepony would keep an eye on my Sweetie.” Well, that didn’t make me feel terrible.
She was right though, wasn’t she? It had always been me and Sweetie, and I’d kept her from going completely crazy or overdosing on sugar. Then I went away for two weeks, and… Was this my fault?
“Don’t think that,” Rarity said, either reading my mind or facial expression. How could she see my face in this darkness? “You did what you could, and I don’t think anypony could’ve predicted this.”
That was an opening if there ever was one. “Actually, I think somepony did,” I said, trying to pick the piece of paper out of my saddlebag. “Do you think you could turn the light up? I have a letter I’d like to show you.”
The lights to the room flipped back on, and I took a step back. Rarity looked like – she looked like the opposite of usual. Her eyes were red and her face was covered with that black stuff she put under her eyes. Behind her was a graveyard of ice cream cartons. I decided not to call her out on saying she had dresses to work on when she kicked us out. Sweetie was right, I didn’t really have room to talk there.
“I… apologize for the state of things,” she said, frowning and floating a brush to her mane. It was kind of messy, but compared to the rest of her, it looked totally fine. “You understand, I hope.”
I nodded, pulling the letter out of my bags. “Maybe you should look at this.”
She took the letter with her magic and stared at it for two seconds, scrunching her face up as she read. “Perhaps some context would be useful here,” she said.
“Right,” I said, looking at her. Amazing how we were at eye level now. Or… maybe not, but it was still weird. One day you wake up and you look like an adult, but you still feel like a filly. Like, I was a few months away from starting an actual job, but I was still looking forward to a summer spent playing with my friends. “So, remember when we were looking for Sweetie back on the first day of school?”
***
Rarity sat in silence after I finished the story. “Well,” she said. “I don’t know what I should be more upset about, the fact that Sweetie was used as a guinea pig – amazing she didn’t mention that when she was listing the litany of our failings – or the fact that Sweetie apparently saw this coming and instead of stopping it, just sent you a letter.”
“Yeah,” I said, frowning and folding the letter back up. “But at least there’s kind of a plan. That’s got to count for something.”
She sighed and closed her eyes. “I suppose it does, yes... I just don’t like the idea of sitting on my flank for the next three years. Longer, since she didn’t ask me to save her.”
“Well, I’m sure she had a reason for it, I mean… Yeah, I’m not sold on it either, but maybe Smartie Belle had a reason for it. You’d probably act weird too, if you could see the future.”
“Yes, I suppose I would,” Rarity said, slowly. “Well, let’s hope Sweetie’s judgment half-a-year ago is better than it currently is.”
I gave her a tiny smile. “I think it kind of has to be.”
She chuckled. “Very true, and thank you for coming by, Scootaloo, I was so terrified I’d completely lost Sweetie Belle, and now… there’s hope. It’s certainly not ideal, but considering my last attempt at remedying the situation did exactly the opposite, I can put my faith in this letter of yours. There are worse things I could trust.”
“Like Bright Lights,” I mumbled.
“Indeed,” Rarity said, nodding. “What Sweetie sees in that mare, I have no idea, but what mare hasn’t erred gravely? One day, perhaps Sweetie and I will sit across from each other and share our battle scars. You’d be welcome to join us in this scenario, you’d have earned it.”
“Thanks,” I said, turning around and heading to the door. I heard the lock click shut followed immediately by the locks in the window. She’d learned. Great.
“Now, would you care to tell me what Sweetie was talking about when she accused you of lying to everypony?” She looked at me. It wasn’t an angry glare – it was worse. It was the look ponies gave me when they found out about my wings.
“Not really,” I said, rubbing the back of my head as my wings twitched. Fight or flight was kicking in, but I couldn’t fly and I didn’t want to fight Rarity. “You know, it’s not really that interesting anyways, and it’s not like I lied, I just–”
“Scootaloo,” she said, taking a step forward, “I hope you can trust me. I’m not about to share a pony’s deepest, darkest secret with the whole town, especially when that pony is Sweetie’s truest friend. Consider this me repaying the kindness you showed me with this letter. Generosity cannot go unrewarded.”
“Uhmm… isn’t that the whole point of generosity?” I asked, cocking my head.
Rarity laughed. “I suppose you could make that argument, but for me, I think it’s about the intent. You shared this letter with me not out of some desire for future recompense, but because you thought I needed to see it. It was a selfless gesture, and that’s what makes it generous. The fact I’m rewarding you for it doesn’t undercut that at all.”
That made sense. I guess. And it’s not like I was going to argue about the definition of generosity with the freaking Bearer of Generosity. There’s dumb, and then there’s that. I sighed. “You know, I’d really prefer to just… keep this whole thing secret. You know? Nothing against you, I just don’t want anypony to treat me different.”
“And I promise I won’t. You were – are – Sweetie’s most loyal friend, and that means you’re my friend. I’d never violate a friend’s trust.” She took a deep breath and sighed dramatically. Of course it was dramatically. “But if you’d rather keep your secret, I’m not going to force it out of you, I just want to help you in what small way I can.”
“Fine,” I said. “But this never leaves the room, alright? No mentioning it to any of your friends, and definitely not Rainbow Dash. Plus, I want–” I paused to remember the word. Something Rainbow Dash had to have a lot of because of all the buildings she accidentally wrecked. “Insurance. A secret of yours I can have in case you break your word.”
The twinkling light left Rarity’s eyes. “And I assume only my deepest darkest secret will suffice?”
I nodded, and Rarity got to her hooves and trotted upstairs. A minute later, she came down with a key floating beside her. “Safety Deposit Box 287 at the First Ponyville Bank. The documents in there are enough to completely ruin me, so I implore you not to unlock the box unless I break my end of the bargain.”
“Alright,” I said, reaching out and snatching the key. “And you’re not just going to empty the box out the minute I leave here?”
“I offered to listen to your secret and gave you the means to unmake me if I broke your trust. If that doesn’t suffice, then perhaps you shouldn’t be trusting me with your secret,” she said, her voice having the same stoniness it had when she was lecturing Sweetie. It didn’t really leave room for more talking. Do or do not, there is no arguing.
I took a deep breath. I could do this. “What do you know about my parents?”
“Nothing, honestly. If not for the fact you visited them over the holidays, I would have assumed them deceased,” Rarity said, frowning slightly. “You know, I think I’m better equipped than most ponies to understand the heartache of negligent parents.”
“But they aren’t,” I said, shaking my head. “The only reason they sent me down to Ponyville is because every pegasus has to enroll in flight camp, and…” I trailed off, wings buzzing in irritation. “The point is, I couldn’t really go to school in Cloudsdale, so they sent me down here. They figured that was the best chance for me having a normal childhood, and… yeah, it worked pretty well. Better than falling off cloud during a windstorm, at least.”
“I see,” Rarity said, nodding her head. “I’m not sure why you felt the need to keep all that a secret, but–”
“I’m not finished,” I said. “No, the big secret is...” My jaw clenched. “Do you remember your trip to Cloudsdale? You know, the first one?”
She nodded. “It’s not a memory I like to dwell on, but yes, it’s hard to forget almost falling to my death.”
“Well, you met my Mom during that trip. Actually, you knocked her out. She spent, like, the next three months fuming about a flailing unicorn one-hit KOing her. I don’t think Dad and I are ever going to let her forget it.”
Rarity tilted her head, staring at me for a really long couple of seconds. “Spitfire,” she finally said.
I nodded.
“Your mother is the captain of the Wonderbolts, the same group your idol desperately wants to join. I’m starting to see why you wanted to keep that information to yourself,” she said, thoughtfully chewing on the side of a cheek.
Really? Just like that? I thought for sure I was going to have to explain that I didn’t want Rainbow Dash to find out because she might start treating me differently to get in good with Spitfire, and then I’d go from being Scootaloo to Spitfire’s Daughter. Not just being Spitfire’s Handicapped Daughter was probably one of the best things about Ponyville. Everypony who knew in Cloudsdale treated me with this weird mix of deference and pity, and as much as being teased about it by bullies like – well, like Diamond Tiara used to be – hurt sometimes, being pitied was worse. Way worse.
“I promise I won’t tell anypony, Scootaloo, but I think you should. Rainbow Dash will understand,” she said. “Believe me, I know there are some secrets that can never be allowed to see the light of day, but this isn’t one of them. I think if you tell her the truth, your relationship will be all the stronger for it.” A harsh laugh burst from her throat. “But then, what do I know about the bonds of sisterhood?”
“But what if she starts treating me different because of who my mom is?” I asked. “I don’t want to be her friend just because of who my mom is.”
“Do you think your relationship will change that drastically? She didn’t choose to become your… honorary big sister, I think is the term you used, because of your parentage. You earned that, Scootaloo, all by yourself, and nothing will ever take that away. Besides, if Rainbow Dash starts treating you differently, just let me know and I’ll try to pound some sense into that thick skull of hers.”
I smiled and got to my hooves. “Thanks, Rarity. You know, I used to think you were way too prissy and girly to be awesome, but… you’re actually pretty cool. Not Rainbow Dash cool, but close. You know, in a prissy girly kind of way.”
She smiled. “I’ll wear that compliment as a badge of honor, Scootaloo. If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me.”
“Alright,” I said, unlocking the door. “I’ll catch you around.”
“And, Scootaloo,” Rarity said as I trotted back out into the sunlight. “Keep that key safe.”
***
Scootaloo’s house
Spring 33rd, 1396, afternoon
I paced in my room. Rainbow Dash was going to be here any minute for our workout session, and what was I even thinking? This was a dumb idea. Why did I ever think something Rarity said would work? Rainbow Dash was either going to yell at me for lying to her, or start treating me weird. None of those options sounded really good at the moment.
You can do this. Rarity was right, and if she wasn’t, I can just go to that safety deposit box and get back at her. Even if – no, if she kept my secret, I’d keep hers. If I did something dumb, that was my fault, not hers. Besides, if her secret was so bad it required its own safety deposit box, it would be pretty scummy of me to share it.
Rainbow Dash was going to be here any minute, and here I was pacing like a filly, because… I shook my head. This was so dumb. I wish I had Sweetie Belle around to help me out. She’d know exactly how to cheer me up. At least, the good Sweetie Belle would. The current Sweetie Belle would probably just try to make out with me. Or punch me.
Rarity’s key sat at the bottom of my saddlebags with Sweetie Belle’s letter and Discord’s business card. Why did I still have that business card? I’m pretty sure I didn’t need it to summon Discord, and for all I knew, he could just make the card disappear whenever he wanted. What else was in my saddlebags? I needed to clean them out soon. I hadn’t completely emptied them since I moved to Ponyville. Actually, maybe I should just get a new saddlebag, or a courier’s bag. Courier’s bag would probably work best since I was going to be one in… Wow, was it really just a month now? Yeah, I should definitely get a courier’s bag, although I’d have to make sure it wouldn’t interfere with my wing mobility.
A knock came from the door and I jumped from the floor to the top of my cloud bed in one jump. Hah, who said I couldn’t fly? “Come in!” I shouted, hopping back off the bed and running a hoof through my mane.
“What’s up, squirt?” Rainbow Dash asked as she opened the door. “Any reason we’re meeting in your room instead of the track field?”
“I… wanted to talk to you about something, and I didn’t want anypony else to overhear,” I said, looking from her to the floor. What the hay was I doing? If I was going to tell her the truth, and I was kind of committed to that now, I wasn’t going to act like a filly about it. I was Scootaloo, second-coolest pony in Ponyville.
Rainbow Dash nodded and kicked the door shut with her back leg. “Got it,” she said. “This about Sweetie?”
“Not everything in my life’s about Sweetie Belle,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I have my own stuff going on.”
“Alright,” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging and taking a seat next to my cloud bed. “I just heard how she got suspended for starting some rumors or whatever, so I thought maybe that had something to do with it. Got to say, I kind of lucked out picking you as my honorary little sister. I don’t think I could handle all the drama Rarity’s going through. Actually, I don’t think Rarity can handle all the drama she’s going through, and she’s pretty good with drama.”
I laughed, focusing on her hooves. “Well, it’s not like you’d have to stay my big sister if I did something bad, it’s just a title.”
“Yeah… no,” Rainbow Dash said, putting her hoof under my chin and lifting my head up to meet her eyes. “When I made you my honorary little sister, I meant it, and that means no backsies. You could start some crazy cult in the mountains, and you’d still be my honorary little sister. ‘Course, I’d kick your flank, but as soon as I was done, I’d try to get you back to being better. That’s what family does. So, what’d you want to talk about?”
“Well, it’s about my mom,” I said, keeping my eyes on hers. This was way less bad than me starting a cult, so I’d be fine. Probably.
“Oh,” she said, nodding her head and letting go of my chin. “So you’re finally going to tell me your mom is actually Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts?” My jaw actually dropped. It didn’t hit the floor or anything, but still, I thought it was just a figure of speech.
“Y- Y- Y- You knew?” I stammered. “Why didn’t you… How?”
“Uhmmm…. I’m like the biggest Wonderbolts fanfilly ever, and I might’ve, kind of, sorta stalked your mom a little back when I lived in Cloudsdale,” she said with a sheepish grin. “I knew who you were the moment I saw you in Ponyville,” she added, like it was the most obvious thing in Equestria. Actually, when she said it, it kind of sounded like it was.
“So… all this time, why didn’t you say anything?” I asked, before quickly closing my mouth. I wasn’t going to stare at her all slackjawed.
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings to hover in front of me. “Let’s see, for starters, I figured it wasn’t any of my business; and second, I want to become a Wonderbolt because I’m the best flyer in Equestria, not because I’m friends with the captain’s daughter. There’s a reason I waited until I’d submitted my application to the Wonderbolt Academy before taking you under my wing. Oh, and by the way, the fact that you wanted to impress me without mentioning who your mom is, well, that’s one of the reasons I figured you were cool enough to be trained by me.”
She smiled and drew me close with a wing. The fit was a lot snugger than when I was a filly. “Now come on, are we going to keep talking about stuff that doesn’t matter. or are we going to make our muscles burn?”
“Definitely that last thing,” I said, smiling at her as we trotted out of my bedroom.
“So, hey,” Rainbow Dash said, returning her wings to her side. “What finally convinced you to tell me the truth?”
My smile vanished as I thought of Rarity and the key sitting in my saddlebags. “A friend gave me some good advice, I guess.”
She tilted her head and shrugged. “Alright, well, glad it’s out in the open. I’ve never been that great at keeping secrets. Not Applejack bad, but not great. Now, Rarity, she can keep a secret like nopony’s business. Maybe I can see if Applejack found out anything juicy while they were dating.” Her body tensed up. “Not that I’d ever use it against her, Rarity’s way cool, I’d just like to figure out what secrets she has buried in her closet. You have any idea?”
I shook my head and smiled up at my idol. “Nope, none at all. When would I even spend time with her? She’s all girly and stuff.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at me and waved a foreleg at my aunt as we trotted out of the house. “Right, well… Wait? How can you complain about somepony being girly? Your best friend is Sweetie Belle, girliest of girls.”
I grimaced. Of course she got back into this. Not that I was mad, she just seemed to keep popping up, even when I wasn’t trying to think about her. “Yeah, well, Sweetie’s special, and even then, she’s still a total pain in my flank.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “Also, I don’t think she’d consider me her best friend right now.”
“So?” Rainbow Dash asked, shrugging her shoulders. “We went over this, Scootaloo.”
“I know,” I said before she could give me the lecture on not abandoning my friends again. “And I’m not leaving her, I’m just saying I don’t think she’d think of me as a friend right now.” I returned the raised eyebrow. “And can you say she isn’t a complete pain in the flank right now?”
Rainbow Dash laughed. “Well, you got me there, I guess.” She rubbed the back of her head. “I know I couldn’t deal with her right now.”
We reached the track field, where a few other ponies were jogging. Rainbow Dash moved from trotting to her pre-sprint stretches in one movement. Our conversation died off as we both went through our stretches, and the next time we talked, it was our usual banter.
Later that night, I snuck out of the house and slid an envelope containing the key to Safety Deposit Box 287 under the door to Carousel Boutique, a “thank you” scrawled across the front.
***
Canterlot Theater
Summer 5th, 1396, late evening
Sweetie and the rest of the cast danced around stage dressed up like plants, and they sang in unison:
”Something’s coming to eat the world whole,
hold your hat and hang onto your soul.
If we fight it, we’ve still got a chance,
“but whatever they offer you,
though they’re slopping the trough for you,
please whatever they offer you, don’t feed the plants.”
Sweetie Belle cut in with a line of her own.
”We’ll have tomorrow!”
And the rest of the cast echoed back.
”Don’t. Feed. The plaaaaa-aaaa-aaaants!”
The last note fell and everypony got up and stomped their hooves. As much as I hated to say it, it was a pretty awesome musical. The singing was more rock and less boring, and it was about a plant that ate ponies. Plus, Sweetie was a really good actress. Guess Bright Lights had done one thing right. The applause continued, and I caught a few noble-looking ponies creeping towards the side exit. The cast took another bow and the curtain fell.
“Well, what did you think?” I asked, looking at Apple Bloom.
She shook her head. “It was kinda silly. There are three plants that eat ponies, and none of ‘em talk. If somethin’ like that actually existed in the Amarezonian rainforest, we’d know about it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, and ponies don’t go around bursting into song. It’s a show. I don’t think every last detail has to be right.”
Apple Bloom laughed. “You say that, but I recall somepony talkin’ at length ‘bout how the physics in that racin’ movie were completely unrealistic.”
“That was different, there’s no way somepony could survive a crash that bad. Their train fell off a mountain, flipped over I-don’t-know-how-many times, and then Buck just walked out without a scratch,” I said, flicking my wings. I’m all for cool stunts, but that wasn’t a stunt, that was just cheating.
“But it’s just a movie, I don’t think every last detail has to be right,” Apple Bloom said, grinning at me.
“It’s different,” I said as we started shuffling towards the exit. “I wasn’t upset that the stunt was unrealistic, I was upset that they just made up something like that when they could have had an awesome real stunt pony do something awesome for that scene. Like, what if they had some daredevil ride her scooter down the mountain?”
We both snorted in laughter. “Hey, it’s still not as bad as that time Sweetie threw her soda at the movie screen because they dubbed over the singer,” I said, smiling as I looked around the auditorium again. Still no sign of DT or Mels.
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, “she always did have that little temper, didn’t she? Like a firecracker, real loud for a second, and then done.” She shook her head. “Anyways, what did you think of the play? Besides the fact the plant was completely unrealistic, I thought it was alright.”
I nodded. “I liked it. Way more than I thought I would, actually. Didn’t know musicals could have ponies getting eaten in them. Do you think there are any other ones like that? You know, lots of singing and murder and stuff?”
Apple Bloom shrugged. “You’re askin’ the wrong pony, Scootaloo, although Rarity did take AJ to see this opera about a barber, and Applejack wouldn’t stop complainin’ about how bloody it was.”
“Got it,” I said, as we managed to take another step towards the exit. We were going to be here for a while. “Anyways, yeah, I liked it, although the ending, it was kind of on the nose, wasn’t it? Like, I get it, feeding Songbird II was a really bad idea, I didn’t need a whole extra song about it. Even if it was a cool scene.”
“I think it was one o’ them fancy literary things,” Apple Bloom said, waving a hoof in the air as she thought. “A metaphor, you know, they weren’t actually talking about feeding the plants, it was about somethin’ else.”
“No kidding,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I got that, I’m just saying they didn’t have to make it so obvious. How lame would it be if every adventure in our lives ended with us saying what we learned?”
“I don’t know,” Apple Bloom said, half a step behind me. “I liked it, and anyways, haven’t a few of our adventures actually ended with us writing a letter about what we learned?”
Huh. That was… Huh.
“Besides, I don’t like how many stories these days are grey and subtle and stuff. Sometimes, you just want a story that’s big and overdone and fun,” Apple Bloom finished.
“Right, nice fun stories where everypony gets eaten at the end,” I said, as somepony up ahead slowed down the line. I caught sight of Dazzler’s familiar oranges and yellows way up ahead. She was looking for something.
“Well, maybe not fun, but… I don’t know, I like musicals, they got this bigness to them that other mediums don’t have,” Apple Bloom shook her head. “Maybe I should’ve paid more attention to Miss Octavia’s literature class, then maybe I’d know how to say what I want to say without soundin’ dumb.”
I laughed. “Well, you’re the only pony here who’s gonna be going back to the Academy next year, so maybe you can take one of those Equestrian Literature classes in between all your alchemy and biology courses.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Apple Bloom said, smiling. Dazzler’s eyes met mine and she started trotting right towards us. Great. At least Sweetie wasn’t here to throw a fit.
“You still came to her show,” Dazzler said as she reached us. “I don’t understand your loyalty to that mare. She has been nothing but terrible. Surely, she’s burned through whatever goodwill she’s accumulated.”
I shrugged. “She’s not exactly my favorite pony at the moment, but she’s still my friend. I’m not just going to throw her to the wolves.”
Dazzler clucked her tongue. “What that mare did to inspire such loyalty, I know not, but… perhaps you can be of use to me.”
“Great,” I said. “I’d love to be a part of another one of your schemes to get at Sweetie Belle. They always go over so well.”
Dazzler frowned. “Sarcasm is a tool of the cowardly. I thought you better than that.”
“It’s not cowardly,” I said, laughing. “I just like making fun of dumb ideas, and me joining whatever plan you have sounds like a dumb idea.”
The glare in her eyes slowly melted. “If my plan works, it’s going to hurt her. Bright Lights will almost assuredly be busy working the nobility, so it gives you the chance to comfort Sweetie and perhaps get her outside of Bright Lights’ influence. If that doesn’t interest you, then stay here.”
I looked at Apple Bloom. She nodded. “Alright,” I said, “but just so we’re clear, we’re doing this for Sweetie, not you.”
She just shook her head and trotted off, trusting us to follow her. What did she really want us for?
We followed Dazzler down the stairs and into the backstage area. She pulled a curtain back, revealing Diamond Tiara and Melody. “Hide with them, I’ll fetch your ‘friend.’”
We trotted into the tiny space, and she let the curtain fall, concealing the four of us and throwing us into darkness. “So,” I said, looking around for any light. “How have you two been?”
“Great,” Tiara said, and I could practically hear her rolling her eyes. “Sweetie’s just been so great lately, what could I complain about?”
“Ya know, you don’t have to keep dating her,” Apple Bloom said.
There was a long pause while Tiara thought. “I really do,” Tiara finally said. “Melody and I are the only ponies keeping her from being completely in Bright Lights’ hooves. Once that happens… I don’t think we’ll have a chance at saving her.”
“And… I’m sure she’s just stressed about the play,” Melody said. “Once tonight’s over, she’ll probably be back to her normal happy self, she’s just… She’s still good, just having a bad time.” At least one of them wasn’t completely delusional. Although – no, Sweetie was still good, or at least, she could be. She wouldn’t have sent me the letter otherwise.
“Ya know,” Apple Bloom said, “considerin’ we’re supposed to be eavesdroppin’ on Sweetie, maybe we should spend just a bit less time talkin’ and a little more listenin’.”
We went to waiting in silence, The seconds passed, and we did our best not to bump into each other. We failed pretty badly at that. Finally, I heard the squeak of a metal door opening.
“Alright, what’s so important that I had to get dragged away from my debut?” I heard Sweetie ask as the door clicked shut. “Every noble in Canterlot’s out there waiting for me, so just what’s so important?”
“I wanted to… apologize for my less than friendly behavior. I… understand it was rude of me to so casually dismiss your first offer of friendship, but don’t you think we can–”
Sweetie cut her off with a barking laugh. “Think we can what? Start over? For Melody’s sake? So she’s not caught between our fighting? You think I’m just going to forgive you after you started that nickname? After you tried to get me kicked out of the play?”
Dazzler growled. “I didn’t start that stupid nickname, and the only reason you almost got kicked out of the play is because you broke the school’s conduct policy. Don’t blame everypony else for your failures. There aren’t enough... Can we please try being friends? I want to spend time with my friend again.”
For a second, the room was so quiet, I could hear myself breathing. “Too bad,” Sweetie said. “I won, Dazzler. She loves me, and once she comes with me to Manehattan, she’s never going to see you again. You’ve lost, so… just stop trying, it’s kind of pathetic at this point.” Next to me, I could feel every muscle in Melody’s body clench up. Something told me she’d just hit a hard limit for how much of Sweetie’s bad behavior she was willing to excuse.
“You know, you were wrong,” Dazzler said, her voice was coming closer to us. “Despite everything, you still couldn’t make her hate me. I know you tried. I know you told her all sorts of lies, but I bet she wasn’t willing to believe any of them until she could hear them with her own ears. She said the same thing when I tried to tell her the truth about you.”
“Give me time,” Sweetie said, before twisting her voice into a sob. “Oh, Melody, she was just – She was just so awful! How could she say that? Said she hated you and just wanted to get you away from me to hurt me.” Holy horseapples. That was… Okay, it was unbelievable, but it was also straight-up evil.
Dazzler laughed. “Come on, Sweetie, you know Melody, she won’t believe anything bad you have to say about me, unless…” There was a pause as the curtain ripped away, bringing us out of the dark. “She hears it herself.”
All four of us looked kind of shocked, but Melody, she looked like she could kill somepony. More specifically, she looked like she could kill Sweetie. “You,” she said, taking a step towards Sweetie Belle. “I… I loved you. I thought you were a good pony, the type of pony who cared about others. I stood by you this last semester, because I thought...” She shook her head. “I don’t know what I was thinking, but clearly it was a mistake.” She looked at Dazzler. “I’m sorry for not believing you, I just… I couldn’t believe my marefriend was that terrible a pony. I thought you were better than that, Sweetie.”
“Better than what?” Sweetie asked, twisting her face up in a rage. If you looked hard enough, you could almost see the hurt in her eyes. “Better than being some groveling mare who lives and dies because of what everypony else thinks about her? Because I am. I’m free. I’m happy, I don’t have to worry about not living up to everypony else’s dumb impossible standards.”
“My standards? Is expecting basic equine decency too much?” Melody snorted. Apple Bloom, Tiara, and I exchanged looks and telepathically agreed that we really didn’t need to add anything to the conversation right now. “You – you rant and rave about what everypony else is forcing you to do, but do you have even the faintest concern about what you’re twisting everypony else into doing? We either do exactly what you want, or you accuse us of hating you.”
She gestured to Apple Bloom and me. “They were your two best friends, and you threw them away because… because they couldn’t sit idly by and watch you destroy yourself.” Melody paused for a second and let the words sit in the air. “And that’s... that’s exactly what you’re doing.” She shuddered and choked down a sob.
“You’re losing everything, and you’re so blinded, you can’t even see it. You’ve lost your friends, you’ve lost your sister, and you’re losing me, so… is it worth it? Do the drinking and your–” She gagged on the next word. “Games make up for everything you’ve lost?” Games? Something told me I wouldn’t find them in any of Pinkie’s parties. She sighed and staggered to the door, her anger spent. “Goodbye, Sweetie Belle.” Dazzler trotted away and followed Melody to the door. She turned and looked back at Sweetie.
“You know, when I offered you friendship, I meant it. I thought if Melody could see something redeeming in you that perhaps I was wrong.” She ducked out the door just in time to miss a glass vase Sweetie’d hurled at her. Shards of glass rained down on the floor.
Sweetie turned to glare at us, panting and heaving like a wild animal in the Everfree. “And what do you want? Huh? To make fun of me some more? To try and make me feel terrible again?” She narrowed her eyes at Tiara. “You’re going to leave me now too, aren’t you? Just like everypony else who pretended to be my friend.”
Tiara opened her mouth. “I–”
“Well, you can’t,” Sweetie said, slamming her hooves on the ground. “You can’t… This is what you wanted me to be. You told me I deserved to be happy, told me to stop worrying about everypony else. Well, I did!” She floated a flask out of a bag against the wall and brought it over to her. She unscrewed the cap and poured the entire thing down her throat. “I did everything you and Bright Lights told me to. You said I’d be happier, butwhy is it so much harder to be happy now? I’m literally doing whatever I want, but…” She looked at us with red-ringed eyes. “Why did you all have to leave me? You were my best friends and you just threw me away the second I got inconvenient.”
“We didn’t throw you away, Sweetie,” I said, taking a step closer to her. “We just didn’t think drinking and… whatever else Bright Lights has you doing would make you really happy.”
“Yes, you did,” she sobbed. “I loved you, and you abandoned me. You just... I would’ve done anything for you, you know.”
I looked around. Ugh, other ponies were going to hear what I had to say next. Still, it’s not like I had any other choice. “I love you too, Sweetie. You’re my best friend. You have been since the day we met. You know, I still have my first scooter, or… I have some parts of it, at least.
She looked up at me, a tiny smile on her lips. “Really? But you broke it, like, a week after you got it when you tried to jump Ghastly Gorge.”
“I did jump Ghastly Gorge, the scooter just couldn’t handle the awesomeness of my landing,” I said, taking a step closer to her.
She giggled faintly. “Neither could your legs.”
I winced at that bit of the memory. “Yeah, you had to pull me in that wagon back to the hospital. At least I had you to cheer me up while I was stuck in that cast.” Ugh, Apple Bloom and Tiara were hearing all this mushy stuff. If they let it spill, well, it’s not like I was going to be spending that much more time in Ponyville, anyways. For Sweetie, I could wreck my reputation.
“Come on, Sweetie, can you honestly tell me you’re happier now than you were then?” I asked, bringing my hoof to her cheek.
Sweetie chewed her lip. I almost had her back, and I was doing it three years earlier than that stupid note said I would. How awesome was that? I got to get my best friend back three years ahead of schedule.
“Of course she can,” Bright Lights said, trotting into the room.
Fuck.
“Sweetie, your name is on everypony’s lips tonight. There are at least three Bridleway producers out there who want you for their plays. Everything you could possibly want is at your hooftips. Everything I promised is coming true. Are you really going to give that up for a mare who abandoned you?” Bright Lights said, taking her place at Sweetie’s side. “We worked so hard for this, can you really just… throw it all away?”
My friend looked between me and Bright Lights like we were both coming at her with daggers. What was she seeing right now? “Is it worth it, Sweetie?” I asked; maybe I could still reach her. “What good is having all that stuff she promised you if it doesn’t mean anything? What’s better, all the money in Equestria or friendship?”
Bright Lights sneered at me. “See how she tries to make you choose, twists the truth into convoluted plots. You can have fame and friendship, and I don’t know what type of friend would force you to choose. Certainly, I’d never begrudge you your success. I’ll be right there with you to celebrate it.”
Sweetie looked up at me, a flint of suspicion in her eyes. I had to kill that thought right now. “I don’t care if you’re a Bridleway star, I just hate seeing what Bright Lights is trying to twist you into. Sweetie, you’re way better than that. You want to celebrate tonight, alright, that’s cool, you deserve it, but… remember all the times we used to hang out?”
She nodded slowly. “You didn’t need to drink to have fun then, so why is it so important to you now? Come on, the four of us can have a night in Canterlot, we’ll go to Pony Joe’s... and hey, Rainbow Dash pulled it so I have a room in the castle; maybe we can convince Celestia to let us in the Royal Bakery.”
Bright Lights shook her head. “You see how she tries to tell you what you can and can’t do? She wants to put you back in shackles. When have I ever inhibited your freedom?”
Sweetie frowned and looked over to Bright Lights. “But… Scootaloo’s right, I was happy back then. Maybe… maybe there’s more to being happy than just doing what I want all the time.”
“That thinking is beneath you, Sweetie. Can you really go back to the shackles after the liberation of the last few months?” Bright Lights asked, her eyes narrowing. “I gave you everything I had. I gave you my knowledge, I gave you joy, I did everything I could to see you happy, and now you’d… abandon me? Abandon everything we worked for, for a mare who just wants to order you around? To tell you how to feel and act? Can you go back to that?”
“I – I don’t know,” Sweetie said, shaking her head as tears formed in her eyes. “Why is it so hard to have fun? All I want is to be happy.”
Bright Lights clenched her jaw. “Then let me make this easier for you. You stay with me, and I’ll give you all the joy you could ever dream of. Everypony in Equestria will adore you, fillies will dream of growing up to be like you. You will want for nothing. Do you honestly think Scootaloo can bring you the same happiness? The same joy?”
Sweetie’s eyes contracted to pinpricks and she shook her head. What did that mean? I’d almost gotten her to admit she’d been happier with me, and now... Something was very wrong here. “If Scootaloo’s really your friend, she’ll understand why you have to go with me. If not… Well, either way, you’ll do what’s best for you.”
“Don’t go with her,” Tiara said, trotting to stand next to me. “If you do, I can’t follow.” She frowned. “Scootaloo, she’ll… she wants what’s best for you, Sweetie. We both want you to be happy. We do. Bright Lights just wants to make you think you’re happy.”
Bright Lights smirked and stroked Sweetie’s mane, while Sweetie just stared at the ground. “See how they all turn on you, dear. False friends will rot away at your soul, and take away what’s best about you. In the end, they’ll destroy you.” Wow, how in Equestria could Sweetie fall for that? Could Bright Lights make it any more obvious she was talking about herself?
“Allow me to make a deal with you, Sweetie. Give me tonight. Give me an evening filled with love and drink and pleasure and joy. Give me the evening you deserve after working so hard on this play. One evening is all I ask – and if, in the morning, you regret all I’ve given you, you can go back to living your mundane life in Ponyville, and we’ll simply part ways. If not, if I’m right, like I always am… What is one small friendship in comparison to the adoration of an entire nation? Agreeable?”
No. Absolutely not. If Sweetie trotted out that door – My mouth wouldn’t open. I felt the tingle of magic around my throat and legs. Bright Lights smirked. How could she cast without having that glow around her horn? Stage magic? Was that a thing? Stay. Stay. Stay.
“Scootaloo?” Sweetie looked from the floor up at me. I strained my forelegs against the magic. Tried to open my mouth or make any type of noise. Just stay. Don’t go with her. I struggled against BL’s magic grip. Why wasn’t anypony else doing something? Why couldn’t I just swing my hoof and hit Bright Lights in the face again? And again. And again. And again. And then run her over with a scooter.
This had to be illegal, right? Unicorns couldn’t just magically imprison another pony, but how could I prove it? How could I get free so I could pounce on top of Bright Lights? I needed to– Agh! How could somepony be this twisted and evil? What did Sweetie ever do to her?
“See,” Bright Lights said. “Scootaloo even agrees with my proposal. If you don’t enjoy yourself tonight, you can go back to Ponyville tomorrow, I promise.” Of course she would, because she knew just what to do to twist Sweetie’s head around her hooves. A night of liquor and whatever the hay else Sweetie was into these days, and she’d– Would she go back to hating me again, or would she just stop caring? How much more could Sweetie take? I threw my will against the magic cage again. I was Scootaloo, I could run just as fast as Rainbow Dash could, but Bright Lights had me completely stuck.
“Scootaloo, please… say something,” Sweetie said, evergreen eyes watering. No no no no. No. Don’t cry. Don’t let her see me cry. Don’t let me– Kick Bright Lights right in the side. Why would she even do this? I could get wanting to take over the world or something, but this, just ruining one of the nicest mares in Equestria? Why? Punch! My face twisted into a death glare, if I ever got my hooves on her again, that punch would– Hey, I could change my face. Maybe–
“Scootaloo…?”
No. No, Sweetie, that look wasn’t for you. It was for your crazy evil marefriend! Sweetie’s head lowered and a light faded out of her eyes. I tried to change my expression again, but it was stuck now. Stuck like Bright Lights will be whenever I see her again. How could I fight against magic, though?
Sweetie turned and followed Bright Lights to the backstage door leading out into Canterlot. Don’t go, Sweetie. Please, just… stay. Bright Lights can’t keep this spell up forever. Stay! I screamed after her. Bright Lights pushed the door open, careful not to use her horn. Sweetie, just… whatever you do, don’t go. The two of them trotted to the threshold. Please don’t go.
I love you.
I...
I watched as Sweetie followed Bright Lights out into the darkness of a Canterlot night.