Happiness and Tears
RDcrystalheart
Chapter 10: Be My Friend?
Speedy had had enough.
He was tired of that silly village mare acting like she was something better than him. Which, of course, she was obviously not. Sure, she enjoyed having imaginary power over the colt, but that wasn't going to last much longer.
Speedy had overheard her conversing with a few of her friends the last time he was in Ponyville. She claimed to be going to Speedy's school this afternoon after school and give him a 'good talking to', which probably meant she was coming to make more fun of it.
Not on my watch, Speedy thought as he saw the orange filly crouched down by a nearby bush. He smirked, as she emerged and trotted up to him; her figure bouncing in the clouds beneath her.
She stopped suddenly in front of Speedy with wide eyes as the cream-coated colt held out his hands besides him with a smug look. Scootaloo gaped.
"Speedy? Who's this?" a mare asked from besides him, attracting the attention of a few other fillies and colts around them. Soon enough, there was a small crowd surrounding Speedy and Scootaloo. Speedy shook his head.
"This is the same girl, who I was talking about earlier," he started, earning looks from the ponies around him.
"You mean... the filly from... Ponyville?" a colt spat out, saying the town's name like it was poison on his tongue. Speedy only nodded.
"Mhm."
"Ponyville?" everypony chorused. Scootaloo furrowed her eyebrows, looking at Speedy. She demanded an explanation.
"Yep," Speedy said, crossing his hooves. There was a collective gasp around the courtyard, as the ponies around Scootaloo began touching her, and ruffling her hair in a manner that was far from affectionate.
"Ew!"
"Yuck, look at her hair!"
"So oily!"
"And her hooves!"
"So skinny!"
"No wonder she's from Ponyville-"
"I'm sure her family doesn't even feed her."
"-If she even has one!"
"Hahahaaa!"
"Yeah, that's right!"
"She must just live on the-"
"-STREETS!"
Everypony errupted into giggles and hard laughter; including Speedy. Tears begun to form around Scootaloo's eyes. She felt... horrible, at the least. She wasn't accustomed to ponies bullying her this way.
Speedy began to notice the mare's soft cries, as he silently shushed the other's around him. He lowered his eyebrows, and have her an apologetic look.
What had he done?
"They did what to you?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, looking over her younger sister with an angry look. Scootaloo nodded shyly, glancing away.
"Yeah..." she said softly, biting her lower lip. Dash facehoofed.
"And you didn't do anything?" she asked in a low voice. Scootaloo shook her head no.
"They were surrounding me, Sis! I couldn't do anything!" she said. Dash took a deep breath, trying to contain herself from bursting.
"How could you just... stand there?" she began. "Haven't I taught you anything?"
"I'm sorry, Dash but-" Scootaloo started again before being cut off with Dash's hoof slapping her face.
"What sorry?" Rainbow said, her voice getting louder with every syllable. "Around the house you act like some big grandma, telling everypony this and that, expecting nothing in return because you have nothing to give."
"Sis-"
"Rainbow Dash, maybe if you could-" Blaze cut in, slowly walking into the room.
"Dad! Please! Not now!" Dash said, not bothering to look over. "You could have told them anything back, hon, just because you're a mare from the village, doesn't mean you have any less power over those old goons."
Blaze suddenly noticed two ponies coming in the door without noticing; Soarin and Speedy. He waved out to his daughter, trying to get her to stop talking before things got out of hoof.
"Rainbow, they're right-"
"What did I say, Dad?!" Dash said again, momentarily forgetting about her father's condition. Blaze rolled his eyes, and hastily sat down on a nearby chair. Things were just getting good.
"Alright, alright. Carry on," he said with a small smile. Dash nodded over to him, before returning her gaze to her younger sister.
"You can't expect me to just sit around here and do nothing. Why, if it was me, I'd definitely have gone up to them and given them a what-for," she said, beginning to back up towards the front door. "This is my sister, for goodness sake. Those ponies hurt her!"
Scootaloo gave her a small nod, tears threatening to escape from her eyelids. Speedy and Soarin looked upon the scene in utter confusion.
"Let me just meet that goon and buffoon," Dash started again, referring to Speedy and Soarin, not knowing they were standing right behind her. She continued to step back, making generous hoof motions as she did. "He makes such big poses shmoses on covers of magazines and all that trash... the nerve of him, ugh." Dash cried out in disgust, thinking back to when she first met Soarin and embarrased herself.
"Rainbow, they're be-" Blaze tried again, still not succeeding.
"Oh just let it go, Dad. Big in money, small in heart, ponies like that never chang- WOAH!" Dash said, bumping into somepony behind her. She turned around to see Soarin standing there with a smug smile on his face.
"Very nicely said, Deary," he started, purposely using a childish nickname for the cyan-coated mare. "Did you write the lines yourself?" He had decided to take a more joking approach at the situation. Dash crossed her hooves.
"Yes," she said loudly, butting her head out to show her passion. Soarin chuckled.
"Right right," Soarin said before turning to the periwinkle stallion sitting back, observing the scene. Blaze looked closely at his daughter and Soarin as they looked at one another. He could tell they had met before. "Hello, Sir," Soarin said, bowing to show respect to the elder stallion. Blaze smiled, before getting up, showing the slightest amount of pain that inched through his insides while doing so. Dash gave her father a worried look, but it vanished as Blaze bowed back to the Wonderbolt.
"Hello, very nice to meet you," he said, before turning to his daughter. "Rainbow, this is their first time in our house, go get them something to eat."
Dash snorted.
"They must have already eaten before they came, they have ponies to do everything for them, right," she said, giving Soarin a look of disgust. She seemed to have forgotten everything he had done for her, though she was just much too rallied up with the current situation at hoof.
"Still, I'll get something running for them," Blaze said, beginning to limp away to the kitchen. Soarin's eyes widened.
"No no! That's quite alright! There's no need for that," he said, but Blaze shook his head.
"Nonsense! I'll get it done for you in just a second," he said, disappearing through a nearby door. Soarin looked over to Dash.
"You also... don't-" he started, before Dash stuck her nose up in the air and stomped away to the back of the room. Soarin gulped, before looking over to the cream-coated colt besides him who had stayed quiet through the entire encounter. He leaned down behind him, and placed a hoof on his shoulder.
"What's the name again?" he asked, looking over to Scootaloo. Speedy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Speedy...?" he said, clearly confused. Soarin tutted, and shook his head.
"Not you, her's," he said again. Speedy's eyes widened in realization.
"Ah! Scootaloo," he said. Soarin nodded, before slowly trotting over to the orange filly. He knelt down in front of her with a smile.
"Hi, Scootaloo," he said softly.
"Hi..." Scootaloo replied. Soarin's smile widened, as he made eye-contact with her.
"Awe... such pretty eyes!" he exclaimed in a voice just above a whisper. Dash glared as she observed the three ponies in front of her. Soarin then turned accusingly at his younger brother. "Hey, look," he started, earning Speedy's attention.
"What?"
"You should never hurt anyone's feelings. Especially not one of a beautiful girl like Scootaloo," he said. Scootaloo blushed, listening intently. "Now... say you're sorry."
Speedy looked away. Soarin frowned.
"Hm... and anyway. Asking for forgiveness is nothing... but the one who forgives, has a heart made of pure gold, am I right?" Soarin said, turning to Dash at the last part. She gave him a sweet glare, making Soarin chuckle and turn back to the younger ponies in the room. "Now come on... apologize."
"I'm... I'm sorry Scootaloo," Speedy said, looking at the orange filly. She gave him a small smile, and nodded.
"It's... it's okay," she said. Speedy grinned.
"Friends?" he asked. Scootaloo shrugged.
"Friends."
And with that, Speedy leaned in and gave Scootaloo a small peck on her cheek. Soarin's mouth instantly curled into a large smirk, and Dash gasped, clearly horrified.
"Mmf!" Dash said, as Soarin chuckled and trotted over besides her.
"Hello Ma'am," Soarin said jokingly. Dash crossed her hooves once again, and looked away.
"Hmph."
Soarin gave her a coy grin.
"You say... now that these two are friends... then us two..." he said, bumping her shoulder with his. Dash raised her eyebrows.
"Friends...?" she asked, not fully understanding. Soarin scoffed.
"Yeah. I'm just asking to be friends, nothing more," he said, putting his hooves up in the air defensively. Dash looked away.
"Hm." She bit her bottom lip. Soarin held out a hoof for her.
"Friends Ma'am?" he asked her with a smile. Dash took a deep breath, and nodded, taking his hoof.
"Friends," she said. Soarin chuckled.
"Okay Ma'am. Okay," he started. "Oh and, your father was going to get something to eat and..." he said, purposely cutting himself off. Dash's eyes widened.
"Dad is-" she said, but was cut off by Soarin. His lips met her cheek in an adorably quick way. Dash's eyes widened even more than they already were, before she let out a high pitched squeal of surprise.
"MmmmmmmMMMMM!"
"I'm telling you, AJ. Something's off about that boy," Dash said later that day as she was walking through town with Applejack. She had just finished explaining what had happened earlier, and her friend was less than surprised.
"But maybe he's-"
"You're right!" Dash cut in. "You're absolutely right, AJ."
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Right about what?"
"Oh you're a genius! Why hadn't I thought of it before?! All this closeness, this bonding, all of this... he's doing it because of that!" she said. Applejack's eyes widened. Her friend had finally caught on to what she had been trying to say for such a long time!
"Aha, finally! You get it! He's-"
"-Trying to steal my shop!" Dash finished for her. Applejack stopped where she was and gave the blue mare a confused look.
"What? No! What I've been trying to tell you is... maybe he's fallen in love with you!" she exclaimed, clapping her hooves together. Dash raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah right. No one in this town has a thing for me, and now you're telling me Soarin Skies of the Wonderbolts has fallen for me? You're funny, AJ. Real funny."
"Dash, don't you see? He's trying to get close to you... because he wants to get to know you better! He loves you!"
Dash just shook her head. "Uh huh... keep on dreaming," she said as she roamed ahead of the blonde mare.
Besides, she thought to herself. How could somepony like him ever fall for me?