On rare occasions, love-struck unicorns are said to dance through their morning routines, and this was just such a rare instance. Brushing her main, eating her oats, and even frantically finishing her as-yet-neglected homework was done with a comfortable rhythm that the historically clumsy little pony was unacquainted with. Her mother, noticing this behavior, decided to bake muffins. Her father, noticing his wife's behavior, decided he would spend his lunch break at home today, rather than eating out with the guys.
Apple Bloom, meanwhile, was doing everything in her power to delay the question she would inevitably have to ask Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, or the two of them together: “did either o’ y’all drink some of my potion?” What evidence did she have that they did it, besides the stuff she forgot about since yesterday, really? AB was sitting in the same old red waggon behind Scootaloo, same as yesterday, and nothing was different. Still doubt kept creeping in. What was it her sister had said about them, yesterday?
“Told ‘em you were busy, and all,” her sister had said. “They seemed to be be enjoying their time together, though.” Maybe she should have asked more about it, but it would have been difficult to explain why she would be so interested in how close her two friends were getting when she wasn’t around. Then again, maybe it wasn’t. Apple Bloom usually brought these kinds of questions to Applejack or Granny, but she wasn’t sure whether she would get in trouble, or get someone else in trouble, at this point. Then again, maybe there was no problem at all, as one has yet to surface, by this ponies estimation. That thought could hold for a minute.
When they arrived at Sweetie Belles home, she ran out and immediately embraced Scootaloo upon seeing her. While these two ponies were having a great morning, Apple Bloom was struck with horror and dread, just out of their view. Suddenly, all of her fears, the fear of having indirectly caused something to happen to her friends which altered their minds and their friendship forever, the fear of what she would have to do to undo the damage: it was all becoming very real. At the same time, she couldn’t jump to conclusions on this. She needed 100% clarification. Besides that, she had to act as though everything was normal, just in case.
“Y’all are awful friendly this mornin’,” she observed. “Where’s my hug?”
“Sorry, Apple Bloom, here,” Sweetie offered herself, “good morning hugs for everypony!”
Scootaloo began to drive the hugging ponies off to school without comment. Sweetie, having finished her hug, sat contented beside Apple Bloom, staring out at the neighborhood as it whirled by. Apple Bloom watched her friends like a hawk from her perch, starved for the truth. “So,” she tested the waters, “I happened to notice my waggon was still at the clubhouse when I stopped by there. Y’all know you’re free to use it when I ain’t around, right?”
“We didn’t take the waggon?” Sweetie wondered out loud. The relevance of this having struck her, she blushed slightly, and with a nervous chuckle answered herself “Oh, yeah, that’s right. We weren’t sure, so we figured, ‘better safe than sorry’. Isn’t that right, Scootaloo?” She asked as though she really did need confirmation on what happened not 24 hours ago.
“Yes-sir-ee,” said Scootaloo. “Thanks though, Apple Bloom. You really are a great friend to share your stuff with us like that.”
“Don’t mention it,” Apple Bloom said. “I’m sure if y’all had something very special to you, you wouldn’t hesitate to share it with me.”
Scootaloo was surprised by this.What the hay was she trying to say? Scoots thought. Did Apple Bloom know about her and Sweetie? Did she think it was some kind of big secret, and not just something she and Sweetie had to talk about before talking to other ponies about? Who did AB think she was, prying into other ponies business like that?
As Scootaloo was starting to get frustrated by these thoughts, Apple Bloom was doing some thinking herself. Why would they hide this from me? Sure, it’s their business, but I’m those two’s best friend! Do they just want me to be confused and unsure about something so serious? Do they have any idea how serious this is to begin with? Her patience was at a boil to its usual simmer, and soon she would be fuming. She had to be direct.
Sweetie, who had a sense for when her friends were about to fight, was all but shaking at this point. Nervous energy played a strange string section to the joyful beat that had accompanied her that morning. Unassuming, she simply wondered, Why are my friends mad?
“Speaking of sharing... and permission,” Apple Bloom asked, “I noticed my potions were off their hook. Y’all wouldn’t know anything about that, would ya?” She looked to Sweetie, who looked to Scootaloo in turn. Scootaloo said nothing, watching the road ahead of her in silence. “It might be a good idea if you two just gave me a catch-up on just what you too did yesterday.” Minutes passed in silence.
“Um, Scootaloo” Sweetie Belle broke the silence. “I think you just went past the school,” Scootaloo knew where she was going. Apple Bloom had to figure as well. “We don’t want to be late, right girls? Uh, Girls?” They were at least an hour early and she knew it.
Eventually, they reached a sole gazebo, far enough from the school to be private. Scootaloo took off her helmet and tossed it to Apple Bloom aggressively. Bloom caught it, but it knocks her clear out of the waggon near the steps of the gazebo. Winded, she croaked “What’s the hay is your problem you giblet head!”
Scootaloo was on the verge of tears. “I love her, okay!?” she yelled. Sweetie felt herself swept up in Scootaloo's forelimbs as that cut into the song in head. A single voice, the only one that could ever matter: Scootaloo’s confession of love. Sweetie hardly even noticed that Scootaloo was still arguing with Apple Bloom as she was being held rhetorically. “I don’t know why you think it’s your business, but there it is! Are you happy?”
“Ugh,” AB grunted, getting back on all four hooves. “No!”
“Well, why not!?” Scootaloo demanded. “We’ve just barely got a chance to be together, and you already decided you hate us.”
Apple Bloom was about to call Scootaloo another mean name for throwing a helmet at her, but what Scoots said gave her pause. She didn’t hate them. She didn’t care about a little bit of potion, or secrets that were all spilled by now. She was angry at herself because she let this happen. “Oh, horse-feathers! Please, I’m trying to help! This is all my fault!”
“I don’t want to hear it!” Scootaloo shouted. “Come on, Sweetie, let’s go. AB can walk!”
Sweetie Belle was sad to leave her friend, but happy to spend more time with Scoots alone. “Bye, Apple Bloom. Hope you get to school okay!” She snuggled into Scootaloo’s back as the two of them began to set off.
AB could see that she was losing them. This might have been her only chance, but she could not get them to listen or be straight with her. She might have ruined the rest of her friends lives, and their friendship. Still looking for a way to vent her rage, she looked around for something to kick. Just as she was about to buck the first thing she saw, she decided to pick it up instead.
“Hey, y’all forgot something!” she cried out. They gave no response. “Alright then, just be sure not to hit your head.”
That caught Sweeties attention. Head? Mane. She could see Scootaloo’s shaggy purple mane flowing in the breeze. It was majestic and mystifying, but a sign for alarm all the same. “Scootaloo!” she cried out, “Your helmet! You threw it at Apple Bloom! She still has it!”
“Huh?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie was already halfway back to the gazebo. “Hey, where you going!” She turned the scooter around to chase her mare-friend, headed right back for Apple Bloom. AB, meanwhile, was climbing up one of the gazebos pillar towards the roof, Scootaloo’s helmet in her teeth. When they were all back in one place, Apple Bloom taunted them from the roof with Scootaloo’s property, which she had thoughtlessly used as a projectile. “Real mature, Apple Bloom!” Scoots called out. “Don’t worry, Sweetie, I have a spare back at the clubhouse. We don’t need to play her game.”
“‘At the clubhouse’?” Sweetie questioned. “What good is that to you now? I can’t let you scoot me to school without a helmet on! This isn’t a cartoon, you know!”
“Ugh,” Scootaloo sighed. “Apple Bloom! You better give my helmet back, now!”
Apple Bloom had them right where she wanted them. “Not unless y’all are willin’ to be civil and have a conversation like grown ups,” she offered, “Then I’ll stop bein’ immature.”
“Just say whatever you’re gonna say!” Scootaloo demanded.
“Y’all better listen!” Bloom demanded in turn. “Pinkie Pie Swear to it!” Each reluctantly took the silly oath. “Right then,” Apple Bloom sighed, “now here it is: about a month ago, I had an idea of a funny prank to pull on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, to get back at ‘em for some o’ the right-terrible stuff they’ve pulled. It was also a practical application o’ my work with potion makin’. I wanted to make those two fall in love, either with each other, or Snips and Snails or somethin’, as a joke. I knew Ms. Cheerilee would notice if I just used the same old love poison recipe, and I even thought I could improve it! I doubled down on the rainbows glow for attraction, cut the cloud so as it doesn’t make a pony dumb, cut with some Hearts Desire for passion, and added the tiniest little bit of Poison Joke for spontaneity.
“Fluttershy let it slip that the feline couples at her cottage were havin’ trouble with their relationships, so she was fine with my usin’ them as guinea pigs. At first, the effects were mild, and they started doin’ more couple-type stuff without realizing it, then they start full-on lovey-dovey almost as bad as Cheerilee and Big Mac were. Eventually, they get obsessive, overprotective, and start shutting everyone else out to be with each other. The only way to get them to separate, at that point, was to keep them apart for a while, but unlike with the original love poison, it took half a day to get them out of each other’s systems, not just an hour. After a little tinkerin’ with it, I figured it wasn’t worth the effort to make it weaker, so I gave up on it, and I didn’t use it on the DT or Silver Spoon on Hearts and Hooves Day like I wanted to.
“So, then, yesterday I get back to the clubhouse, and a little of my potion, the dangerous love poison hybrid stuff, is missing, and so are y’all. Mah sister tells me nothing of value, y’all avoid my line of questioning like the plague, and I’m left wonderin’ whether I caused my friends to fall in love without me bein’ around to tell them not to drink the mysterious potion marked for the bullies. So I’m gonna ask again: do y’all know what happened to my potion?”