14. A Murder of One (Scootaloo)
The road to Sweet Apple Acres
Summer 5th, 1396, early afternoon
“Hey, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said, trotting next to me as we walked out of the Academy. I squinted from the late-spring sun hitting my eyes. I really do need to get a pair of shades like Rainbow Dash’s. “I’m… We’re gonna be turnin’ the old clubhouse into my alchemy lab over the summer, so if there’s anything you wanna save, you should do it now.”
That was it, then. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were officially dead, and Sweetie Belle had killed them... us... whatever, the point was that the crusade was over. “You’re not just going to throw all that stuff away, right?” I asked.
Apple Bloom scratched the bit of her mane behind her bow, and I couldn’t help glancing at the flask-shaped apple on her flank. It’d been five months since she’d gotten her cutie mark, and it still surprised me whenever I saw it. She probably felt the same way when she saw my awesome scooting cutie mark.
“Well, most of it will be, I guess. We don’t exactly have a bunch of empty space on the farm. That’s why I thought you–” That was a lie, they had tons of empty space at Sweet Apple Acres. They had at least three secret underground cellars for storing family stuff that I knew about, but I guess all that space vanished when Apple Bloom was having a fight with Sweetie Belle. Of course, everypony was having a fight with Sweetie Belle now. Except Bright Lights.
“I’ll look through it,” I said, snapping my eyes to the road and my wings tight against my barrel. I get that things between the three of us have been basically a non-stop fight lately, but there were still years of fun memories she was just going to throw away. At least she was letting me pick through the pile first.
“Hey,” Apple Bloom said after a long pause during our walk. “We’re still friends. That ain’t changing just because I’m getting rid of some stuff.”
“Please,” I said, rolling my eyes. “It’s just stuff you’re getting rid of. I’m not gonna get all sad just because you threw away our group photo.”
Apple Bloom frowned. “Yeah, Sweetie’d be the one who’d get upset about me throwing all that stuff away, and she doesn’t care about anything but herself these days.”
“She–” Something caught in my throat. “Hey, Apple Bloom... Come with me to her big show tonight. I’m taking the train to Canterlot tonight, and... it’d be cool if you went with me.” Why did I say that? There was no way in a million years that she’d lift a hoof to support Sweetie Belle. No, that ship had sailed pretty much since we got back from winter break. Since the day we got our first look at the new Sweetie.
***
Princess Luna's Academy
Winter 27th, 1396, lunchtime
Most of the group gathered around our cafeteria table to look at Apple Bloom; only Sweetie and her newest herd member were missing. Back then, I didn’t remember the name Bright Lights. That’s changed. “Congrats,” I said, giving Apple Bloom a hoof bump. “So, what’re we going to do to celebrate all the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally earning their cutie marks?”
“I’m sure Sweetie will have something planned,” Life Bloom said, causing Apple Bloom to tense up. “Assuming whatever was bothering her before our break has been resolved.” Life Bloom glanced at Tiara, who just shook her head.
“It… maybe it has, but I saw her a bit this morning and she wasn’t right,” Tiara said.
“And I wonder why that is,” Sweetie Belle said, trotting to the table with her new friend stuck to her like glue. “Maybe it’s because all my friends are talking about me behind my back.” Her eyes were sharp – like, so sharp you could cut your mane with them – and her smile was… broken, like it had all the stuff her smile normally did, but it didn’t add up right.
“Sweetie, we weren’t talking about you behind your back,” I said, stepping between her and the rest of the group. “We were worried about you because you haven’t been yourself lately.”
She laughed, and it sounded like a cheese grater rubbing against my eardrums. “I haven’t been myself lately? This is the only time I have been myself, and you all… You just left me.” Okay, so leaving Sweetie to stew for two weeks after we had a fight didn’t calm her down at all, it just made things a whole lot worse.
“Yeah, well if this is the real you, then you’re pretty rotten,” Apple Bloom said, her ears flattening against her skull. True, but telling Sweetie that wouldn’t make the situation any better. She just – I’m sure if we could find out what was really bothering her, she’d be back to her normal happy self in no time.
“We’re friends,” Sweetie half-squeaked, half-screamed. “Friends aren’t mean to friends.”
“So what’d you call telling everypony at our table that I was dating Life Bloom? Because it sure wasn’t nice,” Apple Bloom said.
Sweetie stammered. “I... Well, you deserved it. You deserved it for not accepting me, for just wanting me to put on the Happy Silly Filly mask.”
“The what now?” I asked, frowning. She wasn’t... Did she think she’d been wearing a mask the entire time we’d been friends? I looked between Diamond Tiara and Bright Lights. One of them was responsible for this, and my gut told me it wasn’t DT. We’d have to talk later.
“The mask.” Sweetie pulled her lips back all the way into a smile that looked like she wanted to eat me. “Me? Oh, I’m great, as long as you’re happy, I’m happy.” The “smile” vanished. “Well, that’s not enough anymore. You being happy isn’t enough anymore, I need to be happy too. I need to do what I want.”
Apple Bloom opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, I spoke up. My gut told me whatever AB wanted to say wouldn’t help smooth things over. “Alright,” I said. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we’ve been taking your happiness for granted or whatever, and if you have been wearing a mask the entire time we’ve known you, I get that you’d want to take it off, so… maybe this weekend we could meet the real Sweetie.”
Sweetie stared at me, her face twisting up. “You mean you’re okay with me being me?” She glanced at Bright Lights for a fraction of a second. Yeah. She was definitely involved with whatever was going on with Sweetie, then. “You don’t just want me to put on the Sweetie mask and go back to being what you want me to be?”
I shook my head before giving Apple Bloom a look that begged her to let me do the talking. “I didn’t know you felt like you were wearing a mask. We’re your friends. You can be yourself with us.”
“No judging me, then? No trying to make me feel bad?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. Ugh, this was going to be one of those things where anything even slightly negative about her would be blown up into us secretly hating her, wasn’t it? I looked at Bright Lights, who had the stupidest, meanest little smirk on her lips. If she had her way, it would be.
“Of course,” I said. “We’d be pretty bad friends if we did that, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, you would be, but at least you’re trying to make up for it.” I bit my tongue. What would Rainbow Dash do if one of her friends turned into an idiotic jerk? She wouldn’t just leave them alone, she’d do what she had to do to get them better. If she could save Rarity after Rarity completely upstaged her, I could deal with Sweetie. I definitely wasn’t going to leave her with Bright Lights.
“What? We’re the bad friends?” Apple Bloom yelled. Yeah, she wasn’t as willing to deal with Sweetie as I was. I didn’t blame her. “Do ya even know what that word–?” I shoved my hoof in her mouth.
“Can I just have a quick word with her?” I asked, turning back to look at Sweetie. She nodded. “Great, we’ll get right back to you. Don’t go anywhere!”
Sweetie grumbled something about me telling her what to do. I was glad she couldn’t see me roll my eyes.
“We… Uhmm… we’d love it if you could tell us what we can do to be better marefriends,” Melody said as AB and I trotted out of the cafeteria.
“Alright,” Apple Bloom said as soon as we were out of earshot. “Why the hay are you going along with this? Sweetie’s bein’ a complete pain in the flank, so why do we have to grovel and beg for forgiveness?”
“We don’t,” I said, looking back into the cafeteria. Everypony was various shades of pissed, except Bright Lights, who looked like the only happy pony in the group. If she wasn’t involved with whatever was going on with Sweetie, then Rainbow Dash wasn’t the coolest pony ever. “I’m not just going to do whatever she wants, but I am willing to play along until we can find out what’s bugging her and try to fix it. We owe her at least that much, right?”
Apple Bloom sighed and nodded. “We do. You think if I go out there and play nice with her she’ll actually notice me gettin’ my cutie mark?
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
***
Diamond Tiara's mansion
Spring 47th, 1396, late morning
“You’re late,” Diamond Tiara said as she opened the door to let me in. I looked at the flower beds that were just starting to bloom after Winter Wrap Up. Maybe it makes me a super girly girl, but I like spring. It means it’s almost summer and I’d be getting a few months of vacation soon. At least, it used to. Now, it meant I was about to start my new job in Manehattan, which was way less exciting. Still pretty cool though.
“I’m always late,” I said, bringing my scooter into her foyer. “We’ve literally never started one of our meetings on time.”
“And it would be nice if we could,” she said, trotting into the sitting room where two glasses of apple juice were sitting on the coffee table. “I like my drinks colder than room temperature.” She grabbed the glass on her side of the table, and raised it up. “To being a better pony.”
“To being a better pony,” I said, repeating her gesture and downing my juice before flopping onto the couch. “And boy has that been hard lately.”
DT sighed and took her seat. “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to just… smack Sweetie lately? Because it’s a lot more than I thought was possible.”
“Yeah, well, I think there’s a line for that at this point. How’s she been, anyways? More drama?”
“Most days, it’s a struggle,” Tiara said. “I know I shouldn’t do what she wants me to, but the minute I put up any resistance, she has her lips against mine and whispers in my ear about how much I’ll absolutely love it. Sooner or later, we give in.” I didn’t want to know just what Sweetie wanted Tiara to do. I’m not against sex or anything, I just don’t want to hear about my friend and Sweetie doing whatever they get up to when they’re alone. It’d be like that time I walked in on my parents back in Cloudsdale, but weirder. I’d known Sweetie since I moved here, and thinking about her doing that stuff with anypony else… Bleck.
“Well, Sweetie is persuasive,” I said, lamely. What do you even say to that? I guess ‘I’m sorry’ would work. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Tiara said, shaking her head. “I’m not being forced to stay.”
“Then why do you?” I asked, frowning and pouring another glass of apple juice for myself. “I get wanting to stay close to Sweetie in case she ever comes back to her senses, but you don’t need to make yourself miserable to do it. She’s–”
“Because it’s my fault,” Tiara said. “I’m the one who convinced her to take that first drink, I helped arrange the second party, and… I think Melody and I said something there that really messed with her. It was… She started talking about how she got sad, and worried if she got sad we’d all leave her, and we laughed. You know, it was something so unlike what she’d say, I thought it was a joke. We both did, but we’d all been drinking, and everything had been so fun, so I guess we just thought it was a bad joke. I did.”
I nodded my head. “Yeah, I can see how that would mess with her head.” I took a big breath. “Still, you didn’t know, and that’s probably the un-Sweetiest thing Sweetie could say. If I were in your place and I’d been drinking, I probably would’ve done the same thing.”
She sighed. “This… if I accidentally helped cause this, I can’t just leave her now. I have to help her.”
“And it would be easier if you could actually say no to her. I know Sweetie can’t afford that apartment on her own. Maybe her parents are helping her a little... but something tells me they aren’t,” I said, raising my eyebrow at her. If we wanted our Sweetie back, we couldn’t keep supporting ‘bad Sweetie’, right? Or would that just let Bright Lights get her hooks in deeper?
“I know,” Tiara said, sighing as she refilled her glass with more juice. “I thought the same thing, but then… Have I mentioned how persuasive she is?”
“Yeah, you have,” I said. And yeah, she was. Our one kiss had completely messed with my head for a week. Could I have lasted under an entire assault of Sweetie kisses? Probably, but not everypony could be as awesome as me. “I can’t blame you, I guess. If not you, Bright Lights probably would have supported her or something.” Although Bright Lights’ dad wasn’t literally Filthy Rich.
“Thanks,” DT said, leaning back into her seat. “You’re lying, but thanks.” She downed her drink. “Enough about Sweetie, how have you been?”
“Manehattan is still a go,” I said, my wings flicking. “Mom’s helped me get a job as a courier there, so as soon as the semester’s done, I’m out.” Courier wasn’t as cool a job as daredevil, but it let me go super fast on my scooter, so it wasn’t too bad. Plus, it kept me in the same city as Sweetie, so when it was time, I’d be there.
“Great. Daddy’s found me a few possible penthouses to stay in, so assuming Sweetie’s play is as big a career boost as Bright Lights assures her it is, we can head out. Oh! And the play’s coming along really well,” DT said, the last words steeped in sarcasm.
“Then everything’s coming up Sweetie, isn’t it?” I said, raising my glass up for a mocking toast. “Also, I thought you didn’t want to talk about her anymore.”
She shrugged. “I don’t, but I see her almost every day, and for some reason, I still want her to like me. Like, so desperately it’s not even funny. It’s terrible, but I keep thinking if I can just do this or that thing right, she’ll go back to being normal, and some days it almost works.”
“Huh,” I asked, tilting my head. “What do you mean it almost works?”
“Some days, it’s almost like I have the old her back, you know, like the day you three had your big cutie mark party? She has those days and she just loves me so much and everything’s wonderful, and the next day, she’s more miserable and grumpy and controlling than ever,” Tiara said. “I don’t know what I’m doing right or wrong, but it never manages to last, and even then, there’s still that… manipulativeness in her.” She frowned, and looked down at her hooves. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just crazy. I feel like it lately, you know?”
“We’re all feeling a little crazy. Maybe Apple Bloom has the right idea, just cutting all ties with Sweetie and going on with her life. Oh! She and Life Bloom are doing really well, by the way. I don’t think she’s told AJ that she’s dating Life Bloom yet, though… Probably because if she does, Applejack will start sitting in on their ‘study sessions.’”
“Right,” Tiara said, laughing. “Do they actually do any studying then?”
“Hey, it’s Life Bloom we’re talking about here. If she says they’re doing a study session, they’re studying... but there’s probably more kissing going on during those sessions than any study session I’ve ever had,” I said, smiling. It wasn’t that funny, but sweet Celestia, we both needed it.
“To Apple Bloom, Life Bloom, and healthy relationships everywhere,” I said, raising my glass.
“And to the rest of us!” Tiara added before downing her juice. “We certainly need it more.”
***
Sweet Apple Acres
Summer 5th, 1396, afternoon
I looked at the pile of stuff in the center of our old clubhouse. “You didn’t waste any time taking all this stuff down, did you?” I asked, looking at Apple Bloom.
She just shrugged. “I want this alchemy lab up as soon as possible. No point keeping a clubhouse if there’s no more club.”
“Yeah, I get it,” I said, trotting to the pile and looking over all our old stuff. Heh, for a second I felt like Sweetie Belle on the day after Nightmare Night, except instead of sorting a mountain of candy, I got to look for whatever trinkets I didn’t want to see thrown away, or... “You’re not going to throw this table away, are you?”
“It’s a bit small for me now,” she said. “It’s a filly-sized table, and I don’t know any fillies, do you?”
“Well, maybe if Applejack and Rarity were still dating…” I trailed off, trying not to laugh at the look in AB’s eyes.
“I don’t even wanna think about that,” she said, shooting a look back at the farmhouse. “Can you imagine the two of them trying to look after a filly? She’d need therapy for sure.”
“Yeah, no kidding,”I said, nodding along. “Geez, I heard them fight and make up once, and I felt like I needed therapy for it. How can they have kept going after some of the stuff they said?” Not that they were going anymore, but still, they lasted way longer than they should’ve.
“I don’t know, if ponies can put up with Sweetie, then my sister must’ve had no problem dealin’ with Rarity,” Apple Bloom said, stepping closer to me and the pile.
“Uh-huh, so, there anypony your sister has an eye on now?” I asked, pulling a couple of posters out of the pile. I rolled up the official Rainbow Dash Fan Club poster and put it in my saddlebag. Maybe if I collected enough, I could completely wallpaper my room with Rainbow Dash posters. And then I could never get a date, because the minute anypony saw my room, they’d bolt out screaming.
“Really?” Apple Bloom said, raising an eyebrow. “You need another Rainbow Dash poster? Don’t ya have enough already?”
“At this point, it’s really just a game to see how much Rainbow Dash stuff I can collect. Hopefully, it’s enough that I have to get an entire room in my apartment dedicated to her. Or maybe an entire other apartment,” I said, grinning at her.
“You’re jokin’, right?” Apple Bloom asked, frowning at me. I nodded.
“Yeah, but I’m still not gonna let this poster wind up in the trash. It’s a collector’s item,” I said, making sure it was secured in my bag before going back to the pile.
“And the only ponies who might possibly be interested in it live in Ponyville or Cloudsdale. Don’t exactly think there’s a Rainbow Dash fan club in Manehattan,” she said, joining me in looking through the pile.
“Not yet, there isn’t, but give me a few weeks there, and I’ll get it set up,” I said, tossing our official Crusader gavel in my bag.
“Hey, can I ask you somethin’?” Apple Bloom asked. “I mean, somethin’ else. Besides that.”
“Of course,” I said, throwing a few of Apple Bloom’s books out of the pile. Where was it?
“Why are you so into Rainbow Dash? I always thought... Well, I guess I’d just like to know before you left. Sweetie and I actually came up with a few theories back when she was still…” She let the thought die and pulled up a loose floorboard before pulling out a scroll. “Some of these suggestions are just a bit sillier than others, but if I guess the right one, just let me know.”
“Uhmm… I could just tell you,” I said, grabbing the scroll before she could unroll it and putting it in my saddlebags. I knew what I was reading on the train ride to Canterlot. “It’s not exactly a big secret.”
“Really?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head. “Then how come you never told me?”
“I guess because you never asked,” I said, shrugging. “Actually, I kind of thought I told you.”
“Ya didn’t,” Apple Bloom said, rolling her eyes. “So what is it? Is she secretly your long-lost sister? Sweetie thought she could be your mom, since we never actually met your parents, but–”
“No, she not my sister or my mom. She’s just awesome,” I said, nodding my head.
“Alright, so why are ya her biggest fan?”
“I just told you,” I said, taking a step away from her and looking back at the pile. “Because she’s awesome.”
“That’s it?” Apple Bloom asked, frowning. “You’re the biggest Rainbow Dash super fan ever because she’s awesome?”
I nodded. “It’s not really that big a mystery. How many times have I told you about how awesome she is?”
“A lot,” Apple Bloom said, rolling her eyes. “I’m pretty sure you talked about Rainbow Dash as much as Sweetie talked about candy, kissing, and dating combined, except she only had a few months to talk about all that junk, well, ‘cept candy. You’ve been talkin’ about Rainbow Dash since I met ya.”
“Fine,” I said, sighing and going back to sorting the pile. “There is kind of a story, if you really want to hear it. Remember the Summer Sun Celebration? You know, the one where Nightmare Moon returned?”
“Yeah, actually… didn’t we hide under the same curtain when she came back?” Apple Bloom asked. “I know there were two other ponies under there with me, but it was kind of dark, and–”
“I think we did,” I said, nodding my head. “I know I hid under there with Sweetie, and… yeah, I remember somepony next to Sweetie, and I think she had a bow. Huh, who knew? Anyways, so you remember how it was, I’d just moved to Ponyville, was completely terrified that Nightmare Moon was going to eat me, and then when she was leaving, Rainbow Dash just dashed off after her, and the next time I saw her, the sun was up.”
“But she didn’t stop Nightmare Moon,” Apple Bloom said. “Well, she did, but she did it with our friends.”
“I know,” I said, pulling a couple of Sweetie’s dolls out from the pile. These could go back to Rarity. “I mean, I know now, but at the time, all I saw was that everypony was scared to death, except her., She was totally willing to go hoof to hoof against a monster, and I wished I could be as brave as she was. You know, when I first moved here, I was so terrified, I made Fluttershy look like Rainbow Dash... but then, I saw a brave pony; I saw a pony I admired, so I tried to be more like her. “ I grinned at her. “And now, I’m almost as awesome as she is. Give me a few more years, and I’ll probably have my own fanclub.”
Apple Bloom laughed. “Well, you definitely got your humility from her.”
“Yeah…” I frowned back at the pile. “Hey, could you help me find something? Do you remember that photo we took the day we all celebrated getting our cutie marks?”
“I think it’s in my room somewhere. Let me go get it,” she said, trotting to the entrance.
“Cool, if you want to keep it, that’s fine, by the way, I just figured – I mean, I don’t want to see it go in the trash, you know? It was like the last good day the three of us had together.”
***
Sweet Apple Acres
Winter 34th, 1396, late morning
“Is Sweetie here, yet?” I asked, trotting into the clubhouse where Apple Bloom and Life Bloom sat, looking over a bunch of alchemy books. Well, at least they weren’t as obvious about the romantic stuff as Sweetie and her herd were. Ugh, if I was surrounded by kissy friends on all fronts, I think I might lose my mind.
“Nope,” Apple Bloom said, lifting her head up from her books. “Guess the new Sweetie doesn’t care much about bein’ on time.”
“Hey, go easy on her today, alright? We’re trying to win her back over, not push her deeper into Bright Lights’ hooves,” I said, taking a seat at the table. “I know she’s been a bit difficult to deal with, but yelling’s just gonna make things worse.” Even if I really wanted to yell.
“But she deserves to be yelled at after what she did,” Apple Bloom said, shaking her head and looking to Life Bloom.
“While I certainly agree Sweetie’s behavior has been less than satisfactory these past few weeks, I also understand the wisdom of Scootaloo’s plan. Responding with force will only serve to further radicalize both parties. Things are not so far gone that we can’t civilly voice our concerns. We are not animals – metaphorically, I mean.”
“Right,” I said, “so let’s be cool and everything will be fine. Apple Bloom, can you keep Bright Lights away from Sweetie? That way, you won’t have to deal with–”
“Hey, everypony!” Sweetie said, bouncing into the room. “Oh my goodness, I’m just so sorry for being so nasty these last few weeks, I never wanted to hurt my friends, I just wanted to be happy. That’s not bad, right?”
I shook my head. What had flipped the switch in Sweetie’s head from grumpy to happy? “No, it’s not bad, Sweetie, and if you ever felt like you couldn’t be yourself around us, that’s our fault, right, Apple Bloom?”
Apple Bloom nodded, just staring at Sweetie “Yep, so… you’re back to normal, then?”
Sweetie shook her head and laughed. “Of course, not. Why would I ever want to go back to being normal? It wasn’t fun, but this? This is fun. I feel so happy and alive, and I just want to hug you all.”
Before we could react, she’d tackled the both of us to the floor and had us locked in a huge hug. It was – I hate mushy stuff, but it was nice feeling like I had my Sweetie back, even if my gut told me whatever had been bugging her wasn’t actually gone.
“So,” she said, bouncing over to Diamond Tiara, balancing an entire pile of board games on her back. “What do we want to do first? I was thinking we could play my sister’s copy of Cards Against Equinity, but that’s kind of overdone, isn’t it?” She grabbed the box with her magic and threw it out the window. “Why’d I even bring it with me in the first place?” She doubled over laughing. “Right, because the joke would be funny, very meta, right?”
Meta? What’d that even mean? Had she been talking with Pinkie again? Ugh, probably. “So,” I said, getting back on my hooves. “What’s got you so happy today? Anything good?”
“Of course!” she said, her smile threatening to eat her face. “I’m with the best friends and marefriends in the whole wide world! How could I not be happy? How could I not be filled with joy?”
That got her a glare from Bright Lights, but Sweetie just laughed it off. “Well,” Apple Bloom said while Life Bloom helped her up, “I’m just glad to have the fun Sweetie back instead of the nasty one.”
I thought I saw Sweetie wince as she turned to focus her full attention on Apple Bloom. “Oh my goodness, Apple Bloom, you got your cutie mark and I haven’t even congratulated you for it!” She gave Apple Bloom another bone-breaking hug. “Can you ever forgive me?”
“Sure,” she choked out. “Just let me breathe…”
“Sorry,” Sweetie said, ending the hug and dropping Apple Bloom to the floor. “How is it? How do you feel? Not very different, right? Tell me all about it.”
“Alright,” Apple Bloom said, gasping as she got back to her hooves again. “Just, no more hugs, right?”
Sweetie nodded violently. “Anything you say. So come on, tell me!”
“Well, I was at the farm, Applejack and Rarity had kicked me out of the house to look around the orchard for a while, and I saw all the trees had this rot in them. They weren’t dead, but they sure were close, and I thought maybe I could whip up a potion that would take care of it. You know, somethin’ like that apple-growin’ potion I accidentally made with Miss Twilight, but it would target growth around the rotten areas and also keep the rot away in the future. I made the potion with no problem, and when I was squirtin’ every tree in the orchard with it, I guess I realized I could use my potion-makin’ to make Sweet Apple Acres even better. When I got back to the cabin, Applejack told me I’d got my cutie mark, and we spent the rest of the day celebratin’.” She glanced at Life Bloom at the last part, and I really wanted to not be thinking about how they celebrated.
Again, not a prude or whatever, I just don’t like thinking about my friends having sex. Especially Sweetie. Seeing her wearing makeup that first day, it was like... I’d never imagined my best friend doing anything at all sexual before, and seeing that – I didn’t handle the fact she was changing as well as I could’ve, that’s for sure. Wasn’t going to mess it up again now.
“That’s great!” Sweetie said, still smiling. “I always knew you’d figure out your special talent sooner or later, and the way you got it is just so great. You probably saved that entire orchard. The apples must think you’re a hero!” Did she mean Apples, like the family, or apples, like the fruit? Even for Sweetie, this was pretty hyper. Even Pinkie would probably tell her to take a chill pill.
“Thanks,” Apple Bloom said, nodding her head. “I was kind of worried you didn’t care about me gettin’ my cutie mark. It’s been all you lately, and I thought you just didn’t care about the rest of us anymore.”
Sweetie smiled and gave Apple Bloom a hug that didn’t look like it could break bones. “Of course it’s been all about me lately, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Your potions are probably going to be so great there’s going to be a huge line of ponies wanting your help.”
Diamond Tiara finished setting down all the board games and walked over to stroke Sweetie’s mane. “Are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been so up today… you haven’t gone on another sugar binge, have you?”
She laughed and shook her head. “I swear, I haven’t even touched it today. I haven’t eaten anything!”
“And you haven’t drunk anything either, right?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow. Right, because alcohol totally made you into a hyperactive marshmallow blur.
“Nope,” Sweetie said, shaking her head. “I mean, I had some water this morning, but that’s it. Anyways…” Sweetie looked around the room. “Where are the snacks at? I would kill for some punch or water, don’t know why I’m so thirsty.”
“Socket’s bringing the drinks,” I said, looking out the window for my friend. He normally wasn’t this late, but then, neither was Sweetie. Finally, I saw a brown speck on the horizon with something big and gray following after him. Please tell me he wasn’t going to –
“What’s that?” Sweetie asked, sticking her head out the same window and bumping her flank against mine. Whatever she’d washed herself with left my flank tingling for minutes after we’d touched, and – I didn’t have a crush on Sweetie, but if I did, could you blame me? She was – deep down – she was the best friend you could ever hope to have. Heck, she’d been nice enough to give Diamond Tiara a second chance. I don’t even think Princess Celestia would do that, although I guess I’d eventually given her a second chance, and she was pretty great when she wasn’t being terrible.
“I think it’s–” I looked closer and sighed. He actually had his robot working, and it was pulling a wagon full of drinks. Geeze, there were only going to be eight of us at this party, we didn’t need enough drinks to fill up a lake. Plus, why did he have his robot out? The last time he’d shown it to me, it’d taken five steps and fallen over, although I guess that problem had been fixed since it was now lugging the drink wagon.
“When did Socket get a robot?” Sweetie asked. Huh. Apparently the news that he had a robot wasn’t as big a deal to her as I’d imagined.
“He’s had it for a while, he’s just been struggling to get it to walk right. Guess that’s fixed now, though,” I said, shrugging and back away from Sweetie. Socket probably was going to need some help unpacking all those drinks, and I didn’t trust his robot to handle the ramp leading up to our clubhouse.
“Cool,” Sweetie said, bolting down the ramp and jumping up on the robot before I could think to do anything. “Hi, Mr. Robot, did you know you’re the first robot I’ve ever met? How cool is that?”
It didn’t say anything. It was a robot.
“Hey, Socket, how come your robot isn’t talking with me, yet? Did I upset it?” Sweetie asked, looking back at him.
“No, he – it – can’t talk. It’s a robot. It knows how to follow this medallion, and that’s it. It tries to stay within a ten-foot radius of the control medallion at all times. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn’t even know enough to avoid trees.” He looked up at the clubhouse towards Apple Bloom while I trotted over to the drink wagon and unhitched it from the robot. “Oh, and sorry about that, AB.”
Apple Bloom sighed. “It’s fine, just show me the trees he walked through and I’ll whip up a potion to fix ‘em. Although can’t you do something so it avoids other objects? You know, so it doesn’t trample over ponies?”
“Probably,” Socket said, nodding his head. “Yeah, that shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Great,” I said, holding a gallon of juice with my teeth. “Ca’ ‘o ‘elp me out a li’l bit?”
“Right,” Socket said, trotting over to me and flipping a switch on the side of his robot. “Hey, Sweetie, can you make with the magic or will we be using old-fashioned horsepower to get these drinks up to the club house?”
Sweetie tried to light her horn up before collapsing into a fit of laughter. “Horsepower, that’s great,” she choked out between gasps of laughter. Great, it would probably be at least a couple of minutes before she calmed down enough to help us out. Life Bloom stuck her head out of the clubhouse window and lit her horn up, wrapping all the drinks in her cinnamon-colored magic.
“Thanks, LB,” Socket called out before pulling a camera out of his wagon. “I thought maybe the three of you could take a picture to celebrate you all getting your cutie marks,” he said.
“That sounds great,” I said, grabbing the camera strap and hanging it from my neck. “Uhmm… You know how to work it, right?”
He rolled his eyes. “I can build a robot. I think I can handle pushing a button on a camera.”
“Right, dumb question,” I said, glancing at Sweetie who was still rolling around in the snow and laughing at the robot. What had gotten into her?
“You’re worried, I get it,” he said, following my gaze. “If I were you, I’d be worried too, although she doesn’t seem as bad today as she was this last week.” No kidding, she’d been pretty close to unbearable since we’d gotten back from break.
“Come on,” Sweetie,” I said, heading towards the clubhouse. “Let’s get you out of the snow.”
“But it’s so fluffy!” she said, laughing and throwing the snow up into air. “Snow, it’s… how do they even make it?”
“In a factory,” I said. “Come up to Cloudsdale some time, and I’ll give you the tour. You know, just be sure to cast a cloudwalking spell first.”
“Could I actually get to feel a cloud?” she asked, getting up on her hooves and trotting with me. “Is it as soft and fluffy as it looks?”
“It’s pretty awesome,” I said, nodding my head. “Once you go on a cloudbed, other beds feel like rocks. I had to ask Mom to get me a cloudbed for my room when I was having my growth spurt because on top of being ridiculously uncomfy, my hooves were dangling off the edge. You don’t have that problem on a cloudbed that folds around and contours itself to you.”
“Sounds great,” Sweetie said, a glassy look entering into her eyes. How long had her eyes been unfocused? “Do you think I could try it out with you?”
I laughed and suddenly found it really difficult to look at Sweetie’s glazed-over eyes. “You know, I’m sure it’d be fine for you to try it if you had a cloudwalking spell cast on you, but I don’t think it’s big enough for the two of us.”
“Even better,” Sweetie said, trying to give me her best come-hither look. I really wish I had a spray bottle when she got like this. Bad Sweetie, no flirting with everypony you meet.
I coughed as my wings popped open at the thought. Sweetie took the opportunity to take a step closer to me. I could smell the perfume wafting from her. Really? She was either using way too much perfume or she was getting really close to me. I felt the heat of her breath against my muzzle. That second thing, then.
“Stop acting like you have a crush on me,” I said, pushing her away. A second later, she was back in my face. “What will Melody or Tiara say if they catch you?” Or Bright Lights, but –
She laughed. “It’s an open relationship, Scootaloo, there’s room in my herd for you.” I couldn’t stop looking at the makeup on her eyelids, but to be fair, she was so close, they were pretty much the only things I could see. Yeah, that was… I’d kind of walked into that one.
“I see how you look at me,” Sweetie said, leaning in and whispering into my ear. “And I want you to know, I feel the same way. We’re best friends, we do everything together, and I want to show you a whole new world of things we can do. Besides, it would be fun having someone as athletic as you in the herd.”
I – This wasn’t – She wasn’t right, she was sick. Maybe not physically, but she was sick. I couldn’t take advantage of that. If I did, I was just as sick as her.
“Get back,” I said, glaring at her. “I don’t have a crush on you, so… just stop.”
She laughed and turned around. “Whatever you say, but if you change your mind, I’ll be right here for you.” As she trotted off, she twisted the tip of her tail against my muzzle. Oh Celestia, it smelled fantastic. No, had to keep focused. I couldn’t do what she wanted me to, even if it would probably be fun in the short-term, and don’t think about that, think about something else. How fast could I get to the Crystal Empire on my scooter? Could I do it faster on Socket’s scooter than I could on a regular scooter? How much faster? “Don’t keep me waiting.” Yep. I could get there two hours faster going full-speed on Socket’s scooter. That was pretty great.
I blinked. Sweetie was gone, back closer to the clubhouse, making out with Bright Lights. Great. Where was Melody at? Wasn’t she bringing the snacks? “Hey, Socket,” I called as I trotted up the ramp to the clubhouse, leaving Sweetie and Bright Lights behind. “Did you see Melody on your way over?”
“Nope!” he said, pouring a cup of juice for himself. “Hope she gets here soon though, bringing all those drinks sure worked up an appetite."
“You had the robot do all the heavy stuff,” I said, rolling my eyes as my wings finally settled back down. “He’s the one who should be complaining, not you.”
“I had to load them onto his wagon,” Socket said. “That took some work. Plus, I had to, y’know, build a robot, and–” He peeked out the window. “Good, it’s still there. Sometimes, I think it moves when nopony’s looking. Have to keep him locked up in the workshop most of the time so he doesn’t go exploring on his own.”
“You’re joking, right?” I asked, wrinkling my forehead. I didn’t know a lot about golems and robots, but them doing stuff they weren’t ordered to do seemed like a pretty big problem.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, nodding his head and looking away from the robot. “Of course I am, I just keep him locked up in the workshop so nopony steals him. You know, a lot of mana crystals are powering him. Can’t believe the school let me use that many, actually.”
“Do they know you’ve got–?”
Sweetie screamed below us and my ears rang. “You! What are you here for? To make fun of me some more?” I looked out the window. She and Dazzler were staring each other down, Dazzler’s wings spread flat so she could balance as many snacks as she could on them, while Melody stood between them, looking like I did those few times Mom and Dad got into a fight. Bright Lights just looked satisfied. I really wanted to punch her in the face sometimes. What did Sweetie see in her?
“This is going to be bad,” Diamond Tiara said, whispering in my ear. No kidding.
“I’m here to help Melody,” Dazzler said, matching Sweetie’s death glare. “I know this is a foreign concept to you, Sweetie, but when you care about another pony, you help them even when it’s inconvenient to you. For instance, I would much rather spend my Saturday reading the bard instead of having to make even a second of conversation with the worst pony in the world.”
“Then don’t talk to yourself,” Sweetie said. That was… It was actually kind of funny. Her horn ignited and she lifted the snacks off Dazzler’s back. “And I totally know what it’s like to help a pony even when it’s inconvenient for you. My friends do it for me all the time.” And Sweetie used to return the favor. Not so much, anymore.
Dazzler just glared at Sweetie, like a thousand insults were trying to fight their way out of her mouth or something. She looked from Sweetie to Melody, and whatever she wanted to say withered. “I’ll see you later tonight, Melody.”
“Uhmm… alright,” Melody said, earning a glare from the pony who’d once managed to forgive and reform Diamond Tiara. “I… I’ll see you later, Dazzler.” Sweetie leaned in and whispered something in Melody’s ear as Dazzler walked off. Whatever it was seemed to calm Melody down some.
Sweetie carried the snacks up to the clubhouse, a huge dumb smile on her face. “Sorry about that,” she said, giving us a little laugh. “Anyways, we’ve got the chips.”
We all just stared at her. “You seemed rather antagonistic towards Dazzler,” Life Bloom said. Yeah, that was an understatement, up there with ‘I’m kind of fast on my scooter.’
“So what?” Sweetie said, shrugging as she floated the snacks onto a table. “You saw how mean she was to me. She deserves it.” Everypony just looked between her and the floor, not wanting to say anything. “Look, it’s not like I’d ever be that nasty to you girls, you’re my best friends.” She smiled at us. “Now can we please have some fun?”
***
Fun was actually really easy to have. Board games, juice, and chips were more than enough to distract us from Sweetie’s earlier outburst, and she was doing her best to be friendly. If this was the new Sweetie, then maybe it wasn’t that bad? Sure, I’d like it if she’d stop trying to kiss me, but at least she wasn’t being mean all the time.
“You sunk my cloudship!” Sweetie squealed, breaking out into peals of laughter. She collapsed onto the floor, giggling and laughing the whole time. Her back leg kicked and she knocked over my game board. Smooth.
“Okay, it’s not that funny,” I said, trying to reset my game board. Not that it mattered, all of Sweetie’s pieces were on the floor, and I didn’t think she could remember where they used to be.
“Kind of is,” Sweetie said, still giggling. “Everything’s funny if you see it the right way. With enough joy, the world becomes the greatest funniest thing ever.” Bright Lights whispered in Sweetie’s ears, and her laughter vanished. “Sorry,” she said, getting to her hooves. “I’ve got to go outside for a few minutes, I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll go with you,” I said, getting on my hooves and following her to the door.
“Actually,” Bright Lights said, tapping me on the back of the shoulder. “I was hoping the two of us could have some time to talk. We haven’t really had much opportunity to talk one-on-one, and a friend of Sweetie’s is a friend of mine.” Somehow, I doubted that.
“Fine,” I said, turning around to look at her while Sweetie slid out the door. “What do you want to talk about?” Everypony else was playing a game of Mareopoly that somehow hadn’t ended in a hoof-fight yet.
“Why, I wanted to talk about you, of course. You’re so dear to Sweetie, I feel the need to meet the mare behind the myth.” What was up with the way she spoke? It was like she was trying to lull me to sleep with her words. Like a bad hypnotist. ‘You are getting sleepy, very sleepy.’ Ugh, no thanks.
“Yeah, what about you, instead?” I asked, glaring at her. “Ever since she’s started hanging out with you, Sweetie’s been acting really weird. You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you?”
She sat down and put her hooves against her chest. “Me? Never. I encourage virtue wherever I find it. I’m afraid what’s gotten into Sweetie is simply a case of unrequited adoration.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying not to roll my eyes. Sweetie had more than enough affection and adoration headed her way.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Bright Lights asked. “The mare is obviously smitten with you, and you just rebuff her every advance. Can you tell me you don’t have similar feelings?”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said, shaking my head. “Sweetie’s not in a good place right now, and me joining her herd wouldn’t help things out any. I want what’s best for her, and enabling her delusions isn’t that.”
Bright Lights sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Are you that dense? The only reason she’s behaving so… poorly, is because she loves you. If she had you next to her, I’m sure her behavior would improve dramatically. Love has a way of curing all ailments, it’s said.” Like she’d know. “I know the sensation of Sweetie’s lips against me has done absolute wonders for my disposition. You should try it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. What the heck was going on here, anyway? She had to be trying to tick me off... right? She was either trying to push Sweetie away from me, or get me to march to the beat of Sweetie’s tune, so she could...
That was it, wasn’t it. That was exactly what she was trying to do. We made a huge mistake leaving Sweetie alone with Bright Lights over winter break like that. Sweetie couldn't have lasted all of five seconds against that level of cunning. Well, I wouldn’t give Bright Lights what she wanted.
“I see,” Bright Lights said, giving me a slow smile. “Well, for the sake of your friendship, I hope Sweetie never hears that you consider her infatuation with you ‘delusional.’ You know how volatile she can be lately. One minute, she’s your best friend, and the next, she’s completely disowned you.” Oh, crap. Could I have maybe figured out Bright Lights before I called Sweetie delusional? That would’ve been – Ugh, why was I such an idiot?
“What do you want?” I asked, wings twitching. For a pegasus, it’s less ‘flight or fight’, and more flight and fight. Not that it helped me much. Sometimes, having super-twisted wings can really stink.
Bright Lights tilted her head. “Why, I just want my beloved to be happy. I’d never threaten to blackmail one of Sweetie’s dear friends for my own advancement. What type of monster do you take me for?” A sharp one. If Diamond Tiara was the bullying equivalent of a sledgehammer, Bright Lights was a poisoned dagger. One cut could kill you.
I gritted my teeth. “And besides going out with Sweetie, what can I do to make her happy?”
“Well, that would, of course, be the ideal thing, but I suppose everypony can’t be as generous and loving as I. No, if you’re intent on being selfish, I suppose there’s just no helping it.”
My eye twitched. “Socket!”
“Yeah,” he said, looking up from the Mareopoly game. Apple Bloom and Melody looked like they were about to start yelling at each other. I don’t even want to know how the board game got Melody that upset, but that’s the power of Mareopoly, I guess.
“Let’s do that photo as soon as Sweetie gets back,” I said, getting to my hooves and trotting over to Apple Bloom. As if on cue, Sweetie bounced back into the room. Seriously, Ponyville has some weird timing thing that Cloudsdale completely lacks.
“Ooh! We’re doing the photo?” she said, still bouncing. What did she do to get herself so pumped up outside? Did she have a drink stashed out there? No, that usually made Mom and Dad kind of sleepy. That’s why they went to bed so much earlier when they had drinks.
“Yep,” I said, smiling at her as the rest of our friends cleared away. The three of us struggled to find some way we could position ourselves to show off our cutie marks. We eventually settled on a staggered formation, so our flanks and heads were visible at the cost of our torsos being covered up by the flank of the pony in front of us. Sweetie insisted on being first.
“Say cheese,” Socket said, holding his camera up. I did my best to give him a smile.
“Cheese!” the three of us said in unison as the flashbulb went off.
“Alright,” I said, blinking the flash out of my eyes and turning to Sweetie, who was waving a hoof in front of her eyes. “Sweetie, I want you to remember this when the light stops blinding you: You’re a great pony. You are. No matter what you do, you’ll always have ponies who care about you, who want you to be happy, and want you to be happy with yourself. Whenever the bright lights fade, and they will fade, we’ll be here for you. Got it?”
Her forehead scrunched up. “Kind of, but… I know I have ponies that care about me no matter what I do, Bright Lights told me that over break.”
I took a deep breath. That was it, then. Once the party ended, Bright Lights was going to whisper the right words to turn Sweetie against me in her ear. If I gave in and went with her plan, maybe... If I gave in, I wouldn’t be able to help Sweetie when the time came. I gave Sweetie one last smile. If I was going out, I might as well go out with style.
“Bright Lights,” I said, keeping my smile up as I trotted to her. “You’ve changed Sweetie so much since you met her, it’s completely night and day. So I just wanted to say, for all you’ve done for her…” Bright Lights tilted her head, struggling to figure out where I was going. It was nice seeing her lose that look of smug satisfaction. What was going to happen next would be even nicer, though. “You can go straight to Tartarus.”
Her eyes went wide as my foreleg barreled forwards. An instant later, my forehoof crunched against her muzzle and Bright Lights’ head snapped back with a crack. I winced as I put my weight back on my forehoof. Punching a pony in the face hurts. They never mention that in the Daring Do books. I looked around. Everypony but Sweetie’s herd looked completely shocked. Diamond Tiara was struggling to keep herself from smiling, Melody was sprinting over to Bright Lights’’s side, and Sweetie seemed to have no idea what just happened. “I’ll see you later, Apple Bloom,” I said as I left the clubhouse.
***
My right hoof ached as it grasped my scooter’s handle. It was a good ache. The type of pain that came after one of Rainbow Dash’s total-body workout sessions, but better. I winced. I was going to have to pay for that punch, though. Aunt Sea Breeze would hear about it, and then I’d get grounded because fighting isn’t ‘ladylike’ (although does that mean a colt could fight? That doesn’t seem fair. I’ve been training with Rainbow Dash, so I could probably take on half the colts at school with my foreleg tied behind my back). Still, the punishment was going to be worth it.
Yes, it sucked that Sweetie was probably going to be pissed at me forever now, but Bright Lights was going to get her mad at me anyways. This way, I at least got to go out on my terms. And one day, Sweetie was going to come back to her senses, and everything would be fine. Maybe she could join me and Diamond Tiara’s club.
“Hey, Scootaloo!” a voice called and I put on the brakes, barely swerving out of the way of the gray mailmare – Ditzy Doo – standing right in front of me. “I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t make it and I’d have to burn up this letter for you. It’s for you.”
“Huh?” I asked, scrunching up my face. Why was she waiting here to –
“Well, way back at the end of summer, I got a letter for you, and it had a note attached saying I needed to deliver it to you at this time and this place, and if you didn’t show up, I had to burn it. I’d never intentionally destroy somepony’s mail, but at the same time, I do try to follow all of our customer’s requests, so I’m really glad you showed up,” she said, one of her eyes doing a complete rotation in its socket. How could she fly with such bad vision? At least I could see where I wasn’t flying.
“Uhmm… okay,” I said, taking the letter from her hoof and biting it open. Who the hay thought envelopes were a good idea? Unless you had magic, you had to get all bitey to open any mail. I guess you could use a knife, but that was only a little easier.
I unfolded the letter.
Scootaloo,
Spring 13, 1399. 2:47 PM
Easton Heights Penthouse Suite, ManehattanSave me.
Love, Smartie Belle.
P.S. I’m really sorry about how terrible I’m going to be for the next few months. I promise, I’ll do everything I can to make it up to you.
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AHHHH THIS IS REALLY BAD!!
Best. Cliffhanger. EVER!
Strap yourselves in, folks, the horseapples are hitting the fan and it's gonna be a bumpy ride... (like it hasn't been up 'til now.
)
Found a few typos:
)
(which have since been fixed
5874589
Yes. Yes it is.
5874775 Fixed all of that stuff you pointed out. Don't know how it got through, I must've tinkered with a few lines and had some translation errors when I was copying it from the master document to the smaller document to fimfic. Thanks for editing my stuff twice.
I like the Scootaloo you wrote, really a nice change to have a sane pony.
But it still feel the adults don't really care about Sweetie Belle. She is clearly on drug at the party.
5875082 The good news is that the next chapter gives us a better look at what Rarity is going through. The better news is that the next chapter us already written and edited. Just giving my readers a few days to get through this one.
That punch was so satisfying, can't imagine how good it felt for Scoots
. Oh and nice Back to The Future reference.
5875082
The adults probably didn't know, at the time. Remember, the cutie-mark party in this chapter only takes place a few days after the end of Winter Break, which means it's only been a couple of weeks, at most, since Bright Lights first introduced Sweetie Belle to the wonders of Joy (of the "happy pill" variety)... and Bright Lights undoubtedly warned Sweetie about what might happen if anypony finds out she's using it (twisting those "warnings" around to fit her own agenda, of course), so she's probably been careful not to use it at home where Rarity might notice.
But, yeah... she's definitely high as a kite, and without a cloudwalking spell even.
There's a reason why I suggested the Styx song "Snowblind" as a title for the prior chapter...
5875321 It wasn't a Back to the Future reference, I swear. I haven't seen the movie in over a decade, and just thought it was a clever thing for Smarties to do. Between this and the unintentional Personal reference in RPO, I'm starting to get bummed out that the only references anyone ever comments on are the unintentional ones.
5875552 Unintentional or not it was still a cool reference.
Nice to see Scootaloo's point of view on things. Also nice to see her and Diamond Tiara being friends. Fimfiction didn't tell me this story had been updated; luckily EQD used this story's pic as the header of their updated fics post or else I would've never known.
Scootaloo POV! Yeah!
THIS
Go Scootaloo!
This was probably my favorite chapter
Glad for the change of pace and of POV. Was seriously getting ticked off at Sweetie Belle by this point and was just about to give up on the story (because I can't stand how she is acting). But glad to see the change. Hopefully something will come from it.
5906477 Yeah, one of my brilliant editors pointed out that spending a hundred thousand words in the head of a mare having a mental breakdown wasn't going to be super fun for the reader, so I thought we could see it from the outside instead.
Dang, you've already broken AJ and Rarity up in this chapter? I hadn't expected that. Does make an interesting conversation for the two. "How did they last this long?!"
5911918 Was just looking through this chapter to get some dates for my other story, and speaking of breaking up Rarity and AJ, I might have something coming down the pipe you'll like.
Oh man, by the time Scoots gets back to Sweetie Belle 3 years later, Scoots'd probably find a Jenny (Forrest Gump) standing on the edge of a high-rise balcony.
6312774 Having written that scene already... Well, you're interpretation of events is somewhere between completely right and completely wrong, and I won't say which side it leans closer to.
Regarding Bright Lights, I never intended for her to be a changeling, and I started with the idea that sometimes the worst monsters in the world are normal humans (or equines). In a world of chaos gods and overambitious centaurs, I wanted to show a normal pony who could grow to be just as despicable than them. BL doesn't want to take over the world, she just wants a successful career in acting/directing and Sweetie Belle, and she has no qualms about doing whatever it takes to get what she wants.
Yeah, the time loop really started cracking Sweetie Belle, sure the structural weakness were already there, but this is what really started her fall. Beyond the reason you mentioned, she got her cutie mark for literally giving all her friends a perfect day and entertaining the town with her songs, and nopony but her and Life Bloom remember it. That divide between her and her friends, didn't help her insecurity about her friends abandoning her at all.
A spray bottle or perhaps a rolled up newspaper?
6401541 You should see this one.
...
Also, you wait till fucking now to use the feel hammer?!?!?! Damn you! (And woot, i can follow this forshadowing)