//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: A Broken Bond // by Rated Ponystar //------------------------------// A Broken Bond Chapter 3 An MLP:FiM Fanfic by Rated PonyStar Edited by Midnight Shadow Disclaimer: I don't own MLP: FIM. That's Hasbro and Hub's baby. *** Being a single parent was never easy, especially when you had a job that kept you from your child most of the time. Olive arrived home around seven, tired from her long hours at the café, but she kept her mind focused on the task she had to accomplish. Her daughter had been locked in her room for nearly the entire weekend, only coming out to go to the bathroom before rushing back inside. She tried to get Scootaloo to open the door several times, but it remained shut. Since it started, Olive had been trying to figure out what could have caused her daughter to behave in such a way - until finally she learned what had happened. It wasn’t a surprise to see Scootaloo act like this. After all, the scooter had been the last thing Storm Ride gave her before they lost him. Olive tried to remember the last time she and Scootaloo had talked about Storm Ride, but she couldn’t remember a time when even his name was discussed. A part of her blamed herself for not talking about it with Scootaloo; keeping such emotions locked away was not a healthy thing to do, but now she was going to talk with her daughter one-on-one and maybe get her out of her room. Walking up the stairs, she arrived at her daughter’s door and knocked, “Scootaloo? Open the door, now.” No response. Olive knocked a few more times before she took a deep breath and shouted, “Young lady you have till the count of five to unlock this door and let me in or I will knock it down! I don’t care how much it costs to fix it! One! Two! Three! Four!” Just as she was about to reach five, a clicking noise was heard and the door creaked open. Olive opened the door to see her daughter on the bed, looking at the ground in both anger and despair. Preparing herself, Olive sat down next to her daughter and said, “We need to talk.” “…about what?” Scootaloo said. “Your behavior this weekend. All you’ve done is sit in this room since you got back from school. You never answer when I call you and you’ve barely eaten anything. Not to mention at night….I hear you crying.” Olive said with concern, “It makes me want to hold you every time I hear you cry, but I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.” “There’s nothing to talk about.” Scootaloo said turning away. Olive sighed, “Apple Bloom told me what happened….” This made Scootaloo straighten up at the mentioning of her ‘friend’. She replied in an infuriated tone, “Oh really? What did my ‘Best Friend’ tell you? How she stole from me?! How she broke something I loved!? How she betrayed my trust!?” “She feels terrible about what she did. The poor filly was nearly in tears.” Olive replied, “She looked as if she had committed a crime against Equestria itself. Scootaloo, she really is sorry.” Scootloo glared at her mother, “I don’t care if she said she’s sorry or pleading for forgiveness! I’m not speaking to her ever again!” Olive just shook her head, “Dear, she made a mistake. Ponies do that all the time. You can get the scooter fixed, or I’ll buy you a new one.” “You can’t just buy a new one like that! It’s…it’s…” “It’s something your father gave you, correct?” Olive asked, which made Scootaloo’s eyes widen as she held her breath. Neither of them spoke for a while until Olive went to her daughter and hugged her. Scootaloo soon started to cry as she embraced her mother and just let her tears fall from her eyes like rain. “It’s okay….it’s okay…” Olive whispered as she soothed her daughter, “I know that scooter meant so much to you and I know how much you miss him.” “He…he pro-omised hee-e wou-u-ld come back…th-a-at he would teach m-me…” Scootaloo spoke through the tears, “He...di-dd-n’t…” Olive felt her own tears falling as she remembered that day. How she lost the love of her life and the joy he gave her every day. It was a wound that hadn't healed in the last three years for her and her daughter. She had nobody to turn to comfort her and she always went to bed, alone. She hadn’t even thought of dating again. Storm Ride was a stallion nopony could replace. As she calmed down, Scootaloo spoke, “Every time…I rode that scooter I always felt that he was right there with me. Like I could feel him watching down on me and it made me feel happy. But now that I’ve lost it…now that it’s gone is that feeling gone too? Am I just going to forget him?” Oliva shook her head, “No, Scootaloo. He’s still there deep inside of you and he’ll always be there. I know what you’re going through and it’s not easy. You lost a father and I lost a husband. We both lost somepony we both love very much.” Scootaloo didn’t say anything. Oliva continued, “You have a right to be angry at Apple Bloom for breaking your scooter. At the same time, maybe if you told her the truth then she would have understood your feelings more and all of this could have been avoided.” “She still shouldn’t have done it!” Scootaloo replied angrily. “I know. It was wrong that she did that, but she regrets it. I can see it in her eyes.” “I don’t care…I won’t forgive her!” Scootaloo shouted, “She can plead and say how sorry she is, but it won’t make any difference!” Oliva shook her head, “I can’t tell you be friends with Apple Bloom, that’s your decision. I only ask that you try to remember all the good times you, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle have had and ask yourself…is it really worth it to throw away all that?” Scootaloo looked down at the floor as her mother kissed her on the forehead and said, “Just think about what I’ve said? Please?” She said goodnight and left the room, closing the door behind her. Scootaloo stood still for a few minutes before she went over to her dresser and took two photos into her hooves. One showed her family, including her father. The other showed the Cutie Mark Crusaders at their club house. She took both of them and hugged them close to her chest. *** Sweetie Belle was nervous. The first bell was going to ring and neither Apple Bloom nor Scootaloo had shown up. Ever since Friday, she’d had a bad feeling inside that worried her to no end. Seeing Scootaloo in tears and shouting how much she hated Apple Bloom who walked away crying in silence with pieces of Scootaloo’s broken scooter on her back...she hadn’t known what to do. Sweetie Belle wished she could have talked to one of them at least, but who should she have gone to? Should she have gone to Scootaloo because she was upset or Apple Bloom who looked guilty for what she did? In the end, she didn’t do anything and was left to worry for her best friends all weekend. This time, however, she resolved to talk to them today. She would make them forgive each other and everything would go back to normal. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a familiar yet weary voice cry out her name, “Mornin’ Sweetie Belle.” The unicorn filly turned to say hello only to gasp, “What happened to you? You look terrible.” Apple Bloom was covered in dirt and had some mud on her hooves, not to mention she smelled like pigs. Her eyes looked like they were about to close and fall asleep any second, but she was struggling to keep them open. Both her mane and tail looked like a tornado went through it and she winced at the slightest movement of her muscles. “Ah had to do mornin’ chores…feed the pigs, take out the trash, wash the cows, and other stuff.” Apple Bloom said with a yawn. “But you told me that your sister does all the morning chores. Why are you doing them?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Ah asked for them. Applejack and Big Macintosh promised to raise my allowance if ah did more chores.” Sweetie Belle was shocked, “But you hate doing chores. Why ask for more? What’s going on?” Before Apple Bloom could answer she froze and stared behind Sweetie Belle. Turning around the unicorn gasped at the sight of Scootaloo heading towards them from the opposite road. Her face was still like a statue as she looked at the two of them and then glared at Apple Bloom. “Scootaloo…ah….” Apple Bloom tried to speak, but Scootaloo just ignored her and went into the school without saying anything. Once she was gone, Apple Bloom let out a depressing sigh and followed Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle could only feel the concern in her chest grow as she entered the school too. It was going to be a long day. *** For the first few periods, no interaction between the three occurred as they focused on Miss. Cheerilee’s lessons. It was soon time for art as the class began to bring out their supplies whilst their teacher gave instructions, “Okay class! Now we’re going to pair up into groups of three for today’s art lesson! Let’s see, we’ll have Rainy Feather, Peachy Pie, and Tootsie Flute in one group. Dinky Doo, Little Hoof, and Coronet in another one. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell are in a group as usual. So then…” Scootaloo raised her hoof and said, “Excuse me, Miss. Cheerliee? I want to be in a different group.” Needless to say, the request shocked everypony in the room. It was well known that the Cutie Mark Crusaders did everything together and it was a surprise to see one of them wishing to be separate from the others. Apple Bloom was more than just shocked though; she was heartbroken that Scootaloo even said such a thing and knew that this was directed at her. “Oh…well….okay.” a surprised Cheeriee said as she looked around, “How about you switch with Dinky? Is that alright?” Nodding, Scootaloo went to join her new partners while Dinky Doo walked over to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Dinky looked at the two with uncertainty and asked, “Ummm…is something wrong?” Neither of them answered. *** During lunch time, both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were sitting on one of the schools benches watching Scootaloo from across the playground. She was under a tree all alone, eating a daisy sandwich while occasionally glancing at the two of them. “She hates me…” Apple Bloom said in a depressed voice, “She doesn’t want me as her friend no more.” Sweetie Belle put her hoof over Apple Blooms back and said, “I’m sure Scootaloo’s just angry. Things will get better. Maybe if you patch things up…” “But ah am!” Apple Bloom said, “Ah’m tryin’ to get enough money to get this unicorn to fix the scooter back to the way it was. It’s gonna cost me two hundred bits to do this though so ah gotta work as hard as ah can.” “Is that why you came to school all dirty and tired?” Sweetie Belle asked to which Apple Bloom nodded, “Well…why not try to fix things now? Maybe give her one of your apple cookies to start?” “Ya think that will work?” “It’s worth a shot.” Apple Bloom thought about it for a moment and nodded. Handing Sweetie Belle her cookie bag from her lunch box, she asked, “Can ya deliver it to her? Ah don’t think she’ll take it from me if ah present it.” Sweetie Belle nodded, hoping that this would help bring her friends back together as she headed towards the other side of the playground. When she arrived, Scootaloo looked up and saw Sweetie Belle carrying the bag before asking, “What is it?” “Apple Bloom sent me saying she wants you to have some of her cookies.” Sweetie Belle said as she laid the bag on the ground. Scootaloo looked at the bag before rolling her eyes, “Tell her I don’t want them.” “But…” “Tell her.” With a heavy sigh, Sweetie Belle took the bag in her mouth and walked back to Apple Bloom, giving Scootaloo’s response to her. “Well, tell her that she can have as many as she wants.” So she went back to Scootaloo again and gave her Apple Bloom’s new message. “Tell her she can have them.” And again. “Tell her she can have them all!” And again. “Tell her that I’m not in the mood!” It went like this for the entire lunch period. Sweetie Belle would tell one message to one pony who told her to deliver another message to that same pony. Finally, it became too much for her and she collapse in front of Apple Bloom. “Can’t...walk…anymore…so…hungry.” Sweetie Belle replied as she took in deep breaths. Apple Bloom, depressed that the plan failed, walked back to school with her head down as Sweetie Belle slowly got up and asked, “What about the cookies?” “Ya’ll can have them.” Apple Bloom replied as she walked away as Sweetie Belle looked at her with pity. She then took one of the cookies and ate it, but even the taste couldn’t cheer her up at the thought that she and her friends were now drifting further away from each other. *** At last, the school hours ended and everypony was allowed to go home. Sweetie Belle stood by the entrance, hoping that her friends would meet her so they could prepare the next crusade to get their cutie marks. Apple Bloom arrived first, but quickly told Sweetie Belle that she was needed on the farm. “It’s okay. I’ll see you tomorrow?” “Yeah, definitely.” Apple Bloom said as left for home. Sweetie Belle waved goodbye as she then spotted Scootaloo coming out of the door and called her out, “Hey! Scootaloo! Want to head to the club house and plan the next crusade?” Scootaloo shook her head, “Sorry, Sweetie Belle. I’m not in the mood.” “But…” “Please…I just want to be alone.” Scootaloo said as she walked away. Sweetie Belle finally couldn’t take it anymore and dashed in front of Scootaloo, “Look here! I know that you’re angry, but can’t you see how sorry she is!?” “You wouldn’t understand.” Scootaloo replied, “It’s none of your business.” “It’s my business when my friends start hating each other and ignore their existence!” Sweetie Belle shouted, “The three of us have been best friends for a long time Scootaloo! You can’t just want this one fight to bring all that to an end! I know Apple Bloom made a mistake, but can’t you forgive her?” “Why does everypony keep telling me that!?” yelled Scootaloo shocking Sweetie Belle, “Both you and my mom don’t understand! That wasn’t just a scooter! It’s more than that! My dad gave it to me before he died and it was all I had left of him! Now that it’s gone what am I supposed to do?! It was the one thing that always made me remember him and feel happy! Now all I got left is that day….that one day I heard that my dad died and left me and mom all alone!” “Your…your dad? I didn’t…I didn’t know…” Sweetie Belle said surprised upon hearing Scootaloo’s outburst. “That’s right you don’t know! You have your parents, even if you don’t see them often because they travel a lot! I don’t have a dad and my mom works all the time just to support us so she’s barley even there for me! Nopony I know understands what it’s like to lose a loved one and feel alone!” cried out Scootaloo in despair Sweetie Belle didn’t know what to say until she remembered something, “But…didn’t Apple Bloom lose her parents too?” This made Scootaloo stare at her as she continued, “Remember? She told us that her dad died from a sickness and her mom died giving birth to her. We asked her where she got her bow. She said it was her mother's when she was a filly like us and it was passed down to her. Did you forget?” The truth was Scootaloo did, now that Sweetie Belle mentioned it, and remembered that time when the three of them hugged after hearing such a sad story. “And I know what it’s like to be alone. Before I met both of you I didn’t have anypony, but my sister. Mom and dad traveled a lot so I had to live with Rarity who was always busy with her clients. Sometimes she would play with me, but those times were few in between and I was left alone by myself until I met you girls.” Scootaloo knew that feeling too. After her dad died, her mom had to work all the time and she started school. Before her, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle became friends, she just stood apart from the other children and was all alone. “We said we would always be there for each other forever so that none of us ever felt alone again and we would find our special talents in order to discover who we really are. That’s why we became the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Sweetie Belle said with a small smile. Scootaloo tried to say something, but Sweetie Belle’s words made her remember what her mother told her last night. Was she really willing to let her anger get the best of her and forget all the moments she had with her friends? “I…I need to go home.” Scootaloo said as she walked past Sweetie Belle, her feelings mixed inside. Sweetie Belle just watched her walk away and hoped that, somehow, this would help fix the broken bond her friends were now facing. *** Apple Bloom walked into town looking sadder than seeing Fluttershy when one of her animal friends died. All day long Scootaloo made an effort not only to ignore her out right, but also show that she didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. All because she decided to be a stubborn idiot and break not only her friend’s most prized possession, but also her trust. She was beginning to doubt that even fixing the scooter would solve everything, but she had to try either way as there was no other option left. Even if she never forgave her, Apple Bloom still wanted to fix her mistake no matter how long it took. But even with the extra chores and additional pay it would take a long time for her to reach two hundred bits. If only there was some way to earn money faster… Apple Bloom was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn’t notice Twilight Sparkle in front of her and bumped right into her, “Wha’? Oh, sorry Twilight.” “Oh it’s no problem, Apple Bloom. You okay? You were zoning out.” Twilight asked. “No, just…thinkin’ about stuff.” Apple Bloom said as she saw Twilight post fliers on a wooden message board which was filled with other fliers, “What’s on the poster?” “It’s a request for some pony to help me with some work tomorrow. Stuff like book sorting, cleaning the floor, and minor stuff like that. Spike normally does that, but he’s heading to Canterlot tomorrow to help Princess Celestia with some errands. Since Owlowiscious sleeps during the day, I’m looking for a temporary assistance for only tomorrow.” Twilight answered. A thought came to Apple Bloom as she eagerly asked, “Are ya payin’ them to help you? Like a job?” Nodding, Twilight said, “Of course, I wouldn’t want just anypony coming over and help me without some sort of reward. I’m giving them seven bits since all I need is an hour or two of help anyway.” “Then can ah do it!? Ah promise ah’ll do really well and ah won’t screw up or anythin’!” Apple Bloom said quickly. Twilight was a bit hesitant as she remembered the other times she and the Cutie Mark Crusaders tried ‘helping’ her out, “I don’ t know…” “Please please please! Twilight ah really need the money! Just give me a chance!” Apple Bloom begged, her eyes wide open. Twilight thought about it for a bit and nodded, “Okay. Come by my place after school. I’ll make sure I don’t hold you too late so you can have fun with your friends.” “Yeah…with my friends.” Apple Bloom said softly before thanking Twilight as she left. Turning back to the board, Apple Bloom saw dozens of jobs that ponies all over town were asking from walking pets to helping them move goods from one place to another. Apple Bloom saw each of them as a way to earn money quicker. Some of the jobs looked physically grueling while others looked like they were going to take a long time to complete. Between school and her chores it looked like she was going to have her hooves full. She quickly took a few of flyers down and made her way to speak to the ponies who posted them while also planning what time to do each job. Even if it took her to the brink of exhaustion, it would all be worth it just to fix Scootaloo’s scooter. She just hoped she could do it all.