The bell tower chimed seven. Pinkie must have been in charge of the bells that day, because it was actually four. Few ponies were fooled by this development, some looking outside to notice it was still light out, others rushing to finish dinner preparations, chores, or homework. A few hours lost can be a huge upset for a pony with no clear concept of time. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, however, were out and about, and knew what time it was in spite of the misinformation. “Just Pinkie being Pinkie...” Sweetie said, under her breath.
“I never got that!” Scootaloo commented. “I mean, I get that Pinkie isn’t like most ponies, but, like, how? Is she just ditzy, is she totally nuts, or is she some kind of super genius who just acts silly?”
Sweetie pulled her front hooves up from under the table to wave them in front of her in a faux spooky fashion. “Nopony know-ow-ow-ows!” Sweetie moaned, making a silly face to match. Sweetie knew almost as little about Pinkie as Scootaloo did, but she knew enough to know it wasn’t something to be worried about.
What she didn’t expect was Scootaloos laugh. Just that one little “nopony knows” killed Scoots like nothing Sweetie had said before. Sweetie didn’t really think her joke was that funny, but clearly she owed herself more credit. Feeling unusually confident, Sweetie proceeded to pick something out of the menu. “I think I’m going to get a large chocolate vanilla swirl...”
Scootaloo quickly snapped herself out of her chuckle and turned her mind to the more practical matter of what she was going to order. “Wait, Sweetie, how many bits did you bring?”
Sweeties confidence took a steep plummet. She quickly opened up her saddle bag only to be disappointed. “Oh, yeah, I think I only brought enough for the small…”
“Those small ones are a total rip off!” Scoots complained. “You get way less that half the smoothie for half the price.”
Sweetie quickly came to a conclusion. “Why don’t we just share one large one? We each pay half and get two straws.”
Scootaloo's wings perked up like the ears of a surprised cat. “Wouldn’t that be weird? Like, isn’t that what special someponies do?”
“I guess…” admitted Sweetie Belle, “...but you said yourself, most ponies don’t think about mares and mares being special someponies. We could probably get away with it,” she concluded. Looking to tease Scoots a little more, she added, “But, if you’re too scared…”
Scootaloo considered the proposal. “Alright,” she smirked, “make it a tangerine vanilla swirl and you’ve got a deal!”
“Deal!” Sweetie exclaimed. They shook hooves on it, and proceeded to flag a waiter down to take their order. The drink came, and, rather than stare into each other's eyes as they drank, they each took turns drinking out of different straws. “Yeah, this is actually way more for how much it costs! I just hope there’s enough for Apple Bloom to have some if she shows up.”
“Big if,” Scootaloo said, doubtful. “She’s really been slacking on school lately.”
“We’ll she’s had a lot of chores,” Sweetie said, defensively. “And it’s not fair when we’re always asking her to go crusading with us.”
“Applejack is always getting pulled away to spend time with her friends, but Granny and Mac are totally fine with that.”
“Well, Applejack’s friend is the princess. They have important stuff to do.”
“More important than cutie marks!?” Scootaloo inquired.
“Point taken,” half-heartedly declared Sweetie Belle, more interested in taking another sip then continuing the argument. “You should definitely get a smoothie cutie mark for this flavor choice Scootaloo! I’ve never had it before, and it’s already my favorite!”
“Keep up the sweat talk and maybe you’ll get a smoothie cutie mark too,” Scootaloo joked. Sweetie Belle chuckled uncontrollably in response to this otherwise terrible pun which, for whatever reason, she found hilarious. Scootaloo, amused by her uncharacteristic amusement, pressed on in saying “I guess that’s why they call you Sweetie, huh.” She only noticed how silly it sounded upon hearing it reverberate from the walls of the mostly empty smoothie shop. Along with Sweetie Belle’s escalating laughter, that is. “Sheesh, Sweetie Belle, you feeling okay, it really wasn’t that-”
“Howdy, you two!” an inconvenient AJ greeted them from outside.
“Oh, hey Applejack,” Sweetie Belle saluted, forgetting what had made her laugh rather suddenly. “Do you have anything super important to do for Princess Twilight today?” she asked, remembering their previous argument.
“Welp, you never know with Twilight, but I’d reckon I’d be a poor excuse for a friend if I didn’t help either way.”
Scootaloo sort of wanted to ask whether Twilight’s summons were usually for important “fate of Equestria” type dilemmas, or just casual meet ups, but thought it would be rude to press the matter further, in spite of how it might support her argument. Instead, she simply asked “How’s Apple Bloom doing?”
“Oh, Apple Blooms mighty busy. She’s got her regular chores, and we’re havin’ a tutor help her with her studyin’. There’s more fancy mathematics than you think that goes into apple farming. Why, if I had a shiny red-delicious for every time I had just not enough seed to cover four acres in… well, you don’t wanna hear about that.”
“That’s fine,” Scootaloo said. “We didn’t really have anything specific planned for crusading today anyways.”
“Well, that’s just about the best way to fetch a cutie mark, I’d say,” AJ pontificated. “Run it by ear, and be open to new experiences. That’s the way to let your destiny find you.” Applejack paused, as if to make sure the two fillies were paying attention to her spiel. However, she seemed to notice something else that made her change tone. She concluded, “By the look of things, I’d say you two already knew that better than I thought. I’ll get out of your hair. Have fun you two!”
“Okay… you ‘have fun’ too?” Sweetie said, slightly confused. As Applejack left the shop she asked Scootaloo, “What did she mean by that last part?”
Scootaloo’s face went a paler shade of orange. Her pupils went from fully dilated to a mere speck in a sea of white. “Sweetie Belle?” she asked cautiously.
“What is it?” Sweetie asked, concerned.
“Remember when we shook hooves on splitting the large smoothie?”
“Yeah, I guess… why?”
“Did we ever let go?”
Sweetie Belle finally understood what Applejack meant. They had shaken hooves, finished their dealings, and left them, laying on the table, still interlocked, for as long as it took to finish a large smoothie and then some. Startling as this revelation was, Sweetie’s mind was immediately occupied by yet another thought. “Scootaloo?”
“Yeah, Sweetie Belle?”
“How did we get here?”