16. We'll Have Tomorrow (Scootaloo)
My head bumped against the metal wall I was resting against as the moving wagon started its descent. Four hours ago, I was in my cloud bed, and now I was headed to a town that nopony knew a thing about. Why had it even been chosen to host the Summer Sun Celebration? My house had more ponies than it did.
“You alright, champ?” Mom asked, sliding right next to me and running her hoof through my mane to look. “I could hear that bang all the way over here.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, yawning and nodding. Outside, the sky was going from black to gray. “Just… tired.”
“You can sleep once you get to Aunt Sea Swirl’s. She has a bed all set up for you, and we’ll get all your stuff unloaded,” she said before giving me a tight squeeze. “And I promise, I won’t leave without saying goodbye.”
“But you’re still going to leave,” I said, frowning.
“And you know why I have to. I’ll be back once the Summer Sun Celebration is over, and then we’ll spend a whole week together in Ponyville.” Mom sighed. “Champ, I can’t imagine how tough this is for you. You’ve just gotta be brave. Think of it as a game; go have fun, make friends, and I bet you won’t even know I’m gone.”
“Friends? Does this stupid town even have ponies my age?” I hugged Mom tight. “Come on, please, take me back to Cloudsdale, and I promise I won’t leave the house, just don’t send me away. I’ll be a good filly.”
She kissed my cheek. “You’re a great filly, Scoots, that’s not the problem. The problem is that every foal has to be enrolled in Flight School by their ninth Summer Sun Celebration.”
“It’s a dumb law,” I said, folding my forelegs over my chest and pouting. “You’re the Captain of the Wonderbolts, I bet you can convince them to give me an exemption, or–”
“Or homeschool you,” Mom finished. “We could do that, but this way, you get the chance to be a normal filly who can leave the house and have friends. Besides, we’re always just a letter away.” She tousled my mane, careful not to touch the bruise and smiled. “Promise me that you’ll at least try to make friends and have fun here?”
I mumbled something that kind of sounded like 'I promise’. “And if I hate it?” I asked.
Mom sighed. “Tell you what, champ. Give it ‘til the end of summer, and if – if – you haven’t made any friends here, and you’re still unhappy, we’ll talk about it and see what we can do. But only if you give it a real try,” she added, giving me the ‘Mom’ look. “If you just spend the whole summer moping in your room, then no deal. Fair enough?”
“Fine,” I said, another jolt thunking my head against the wagon’s wall as its wheels touched the ground. A minute later, we came to a stop, and a grey moving mare lowered the wagon’s back gate.
“We’re here,” she said, waving at me. “Welcome to your new home, Scootadude.” I tried not to laugh at the glare my Mom gave her. You don’t get to be Captain of the Wonderbolts without having a pretty wicked death glare.
***
I bounced a foam ball against the ceiling of my new room.
Bored.
Thump.
Bored.
Thump.
Boooooored.
Crunch.
Crunch? Crunch was different. My ball didn’t crunch when it hit the ceiling tile. I lifted my head and looked out my window. The streets were empty, probably because the, like, five ponies who lived in this town besides Aunt Sea Swirl and Uncle Dusty were trying to get some sleep so they could stay up all night. On a hunch, I pressed my nose against the glass and looked straight down, to find a filly lying in Aunt Sea Swirl’s flowerbed.
“Aunt Sea Swirl!” I shouted, trotting out of my room. “There’s a girl in your garden!”
No answer. I trotted downstairs.
“Aunt Sea Swirl! There’s a girl in your garden!” Still no answer. A note was on the front door:
Scootaloo,
Uncle Dusty and I are helping prepare for the Celebration, and we’ll be back later this afternoon. If you get hungry, there’s some leftover casserole in the fridge. Cheesy veggie casserole is still your favorite, right?
Love, Aunt Sea Swirl.
My stomach grumbled. I could go for some casserole, but – Filly. Garden. She could’ve been hurt or something, I could have casserole once she was okay. Maybe I’d share some with her. Not that I was making friends or anything. I was still absolutely going back to Cloudsdale once the summer was over, but if her crash was as bad as it sounded, the least I could do was share my lunch with her.
I peeked outside, and the filly was still sitting there, rubbing the side of her helmet with one hoof. I think she had a white coat, but she was covered in so much pink padding it was hard to tell. Next to her was a metal rod attached to a wooden board with two wheels on the bottom of it. “You alright?” I asked.
She whipped her head around to look at me with her pine-tree-green eyes and winced. She definitely had a white coat. “Not really,” she said. “My mom and dad got me this for the Summer Sun Celebration, and… I’m kind of awful at it.” She flashed me a smile. “How is this dumb thing even supposed to work?”
I shrugged. “I dunno, what’s it supposed to do?”
“You use it to make you go fast. I hear ponies really good at it can go as fast as some pegasuses,” she said, looking back at the medal wooden thing. Now that she mentioned it, I could kind of see how a pony could grip those v-bars and stand on the wood plank thing.
“Pegasi,” I said. “If there’s more than one of us, we’re called pegasi, and there’s no way that thing can go as fast as my mom.”
“Really?” the filly asked, finally getting up on her hooves. “Is your mom a super-fast pegasus? Does she know Rainbow Dash?”
I opened her mouth to tell her my mom was the fastest pegasus, but stopped. Back home, I was stuck as Scootaloo, Spitfire’s Daughter, but here… As long as I was here, I could be whoever I wanted to be. I could be Scootaloo, Travelling Circus Performer. Well, maybe not that last one, but… “She’s alright,” I said, shrugging. “And who’s Rainbow Dash?”
“Oh! You don’t know? Are you new here?” She narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. “I don’t remember Sea Swirl and Dusty Trails having a daughter… Let me guess, you’re an orphan taking shelter from the cold cruel world by hiding in the attics of ponies’ homes?”
I raised an eyebrow. “I just said I had a mom.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. “Alright, not an orphan, so… what’s up?”
“I was having lunch and heard somepony crash into my Aunt’s flower garden. I wanted to make sure you were okay, you were, so now it’s back to lunch. Nice meeting you,” I said, trotting back to the house and getting ready to shut the door on her. She was nice enough, I guess, but kind of dense. Not exactly the type of pony I’d spend much time with if I had a choice.
“Wait, wait, wait,” she said sticking a padded hoof through the door just as I was about to slam it shut. For a unicorn, she was pretty fast. Maybe she could be as fast as a pegasus if that thing of hers worked like she said. She smiled at me. “Hey, since you’re new here, why don’t I show you around… You know, whenever you’re done eating,” she added, her smile getting even bigger.
“You want to come in while I eat lunch?” I asked, sighing. She nodded, and the second I opened the door wide enough for her to get through, she was sitting at the kitchen counter. “So,” I said, shutting the door and trotting to the fridge. “What’s your name?”
“Sweetie Belle!” she said, flashing me a smile that was somehow different from the smile she’d been wearing a second earlier. Something told me she really liked smiling. “Yours?”
“Scootaloo,” I said, plopping the leftover casserole onto a skillet. Apparently, that was the funniest name ever, because Sweetie immediately burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny about my name?” I asked. It wasn’t like Scootaloo was that weird a name. It wasn’t any weirder than Dusty Trails or Sea Swirl or Spitfire. Or Sweetie Belle.
“It’s not funny,” she said, wiping a tear from her eyes. “It’s just…” She laughed again. “When I crashed my scooter, I met Scootaloo. It’s like destiny. Or, it would be if I didn’t crash my scooter two more times before I met you. Still, it’s kind of like destiny, right?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really? That thing’s called a scooter? Why?”
She shrugged. “What do I look like, an etymologist?”
I raised my eyebrow even higher. “A what?”
“You know,” she said, shrugging. “A pony who knows what words mean.”
“That’s a dumb job,” I said, looking back at my frying pan. “If we didn’t know what words mean, we couldn’t use them.”
She frowned and tilted her head. “Huh. Then why would somepony make a job of just knowing what words mean?”
“I don’t know,” I said, grabbing a spatula and pushing the casserole around the frying pan. “You’re the pony who brought it up.”
She wrinkled her forehead up. “I did?” She must’ve made that etymologist word up. Had to have, also she might’ve needed a thicker helmet.
“Yes, you were telling me why a scooter was called a scooter. Or not telling, I guess.” The casserole was starting to sizzle. Time to flip it over.
“Oh yeah, I don’t know why it’s called a scooter.” Her eyes lit up. “Hey, you want to ride it? You can’t be any worse at it than me. Like… really not good. At all.”
I narrowed my eyes.”What’s it to you?” Why was she being so nice? Was she planning a prank, or... No, those eyes couldn’t be planning anything mean. It was impossible, like a cloud bunny scheming something.
“Your name’s Scootaloo? I thought it might be fun?” She frowned and looked like I’d punched her in the jaw. “I didn’t do something wrong, did I?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head and flipping the casserole. Why hadn’t I just put the thing in the oven? That would’ve probably been smarter. “Just…” I frowned. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”
She laughed again. “Of course, I do, you just told me. I’m not that dumb.”
Yeah, okay, I’d kind of walked into that one. “Silly me,” I said, shaking my head. I climbed up onto the counter and started opening up cabinets until I found the plates. One for me, one for Sweetie. I looked back at her. Was she still wearing all that padding? Did she have to wear it all the time? For safety reasons?
She nodded. “Yeah, are you alright? You might have some memory problems.” Pot. Kettle. Black.
“I’m fine,” I said, flipping the casserole onto the plate. Hopefully, she didn’t talk much while she was eating.
***
Is it possible for a pony to talk more while they’re eating food? I asked her where she lived, and she gave me her whole life story about how she moves between her parents’ and her sister’s, and then she went on about how her sister was helping plan the decorations for the Sun Celebration and that her dad was some super-important hoofball coach who had to travel all the time, and I really didn’t need to hear everything that had happened to her in the past eight years.
“So,” she said, trotting over to the scooter in the flowerbed and kicking it up with one hoof. “Want to give it a try?”
I nodded. What the hay, it could be fun. “How does it work?” I asked, trotting over to her.
“Well, you kind of got to stand on it with your back legs, but when you’re not moving, you need to keep a hoof on the ground to keep you balanced. Then you kind of have to kick the ground to make yourself go.” She mimicked the position for me before hopping off. “Standing’s not so bad, it’s making it go without crashing that’s the trick.”
I got onto the scooter, and instinctively spread my wings to keep my balance. It wasn’t that bad.
“Cheater,” Sweetie said, laughing. It didn’t sound like she was actually upset. I gave the scooter an experimental kick and pushed forward. A second later, I was flat on the ground.
“Are you alright?” Sweetie asked rushing to help me get back on my hooves. I’m sorry, I should’ve had you put on my safety pads before you tried.” She looked me up and down. “Actually, you don’t look like you have a scratch on you.”
I smiled. “Pegasus magic. It’s like Mom says, to be a great flier, you have to start as a great crasher. It’s…” I shrugged. “We can handle crashing a lot.” I looked at her and gestured to her pink suit of armor. “I’m guessing unicorns… not so much.”
She shook her head. “Not really, plus I’m kind of clumsy and useless anyways, so my sister forced me to put all this stuff on before I did any scootering.” She glanced down at the dirt. “So… do you want to try again?”
Well, it was definitely more fun than bouncing a ball in my room. “Sure,” I said, getting back on the scooter and giving it another kick. The scooter wobbled but I went forward. Another kick. The scooter wobbled again and I automatically spread my wings for balance. But… That wouldn’t work. Spreading my wings would increase drag, that would get the scooter going slower, and that would mean–
Crash!
“Alright, I think I’ve got it,” I said, hopping back to my hooves. “One more try?” She nodded, eyes completely focused on me. Scootering was about two things, balancing and going fast. I flicked my wings. They couldn’t let me fly, but maybe they could get this scooter going fast. I gave the ground another kick as my wings buzzed to life.
Back in a doctor’s office. It was a bunch of boring doctor stuff. Something about my wings. Mom said they weren’t angled right, and couldn’t generate much upward lift. They could get a ton of thrust, but weren’t strong enough to lift me off the ground. Was that right? Something like that. Mom said I was a late bloomer, that if I worked hard enough, I’d be able to do anything.
My wings had never beat harder, shooting me forward on the scooter. The wind whipped across my face. If they could get me going this fast, how come they couldn’t get me off the ground? They beat harder, buzzing like a hummingbird’s wings. How lame was that? Mom flew like a falcon, but me? Hummingbird. The uncoolest of birds. Still, my wings could beat really fast.
I twisted the handle to turn the scooter around back towards Sweetie, and my hooves brushed against something. I looked down. A bell. I rang it. Da-ding. During the two seconds I was busy looking at the bell, I’d completely passed Sweetie. Sweetie Bell. Another turn, another yank on the handle. I leaned into it as the scooter’s wheels cut grooves into the dirt road. I brought the scooter to a stop in front of Sweetie, who looked at me like I was Princess Celestia or something.
“H– Ho– Ho– How? I spent all morning trying to get that stupid thing to work, and you just– Are you sure you’ve never seen a scooter before?”
“How could I? It’d’ve fallen through the clouds,” I said, hopping off the scooter and passing it back to Sweetie.
“So… wait, Cloudsdale is literally up in the clouds? I thought… What would I do if I wanted to visit there?” she asked, staring at the scooter. “And how are you so good at that?”
“If you wanted to visit Cloudsdale, I guess you could grow wings or something, and…” I looked at the scooter and shrugged. “It’s really just about keeping your balance and going fast.”
She took a deep breath and eased onto her scooter. “Keep my balance and go fast. Keep my balance and go fast. I can do that.” I nodded and gave her a smile that I thought was kind of encouraging. If I could figure it out in three tries, she could probably get it eventually. She kicked herself off as fast as she could. Thirty hooves later, she and her scooter keeled over onto the dirt. Or maybe not.
***
“I give up,” Sweetie said, tossing her scooter aside. “You make it look so easy, and I can’t even go down the street without my scooter crashing.”
“Uhmm… I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it,” I said, frowning. “It just takes time.”
“Not for you,” she said before trailing off at some thought. “You know what, you’re really good at scootering, and since I’m not that into crashing… Would you like my scooter?”
“Are you sure?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, it’s your Summer Sun gift, and… You don’t need to give me your scooter.”
“But you’re way better at it than me, and this way, at least somepony gets to have fun using it.” She sat down on the porch of my house and rubbed her shoulder. “Plus, I don’t think I can take many more falls.”
“Well…” Scootering was really fun, but at the same time, I couldn’t just take the scooter of a pony I just met. “What if I just hold on to it for you, and if you want to use it or take it back, that’ll totally be fine.”
“That could work,” she said, nodding. “Now come on, Scootaloo, I want to show you the greatest town in all of Equestria!” Since she’d just given me her scooter, I figured I probably shouldn’t tell her that basically any other town in Equestria was better than this one. Ponyville didn’t even have a real sports team or anything.
***
There was actually more to Ponyville than I expected. They had a school and a town hall. And a bakery. Sweetie spent a lot of time ordering stuff there. “Thanks again, Mr. Cake,” Sweetie said as the yellow stallion brought our shakes and Sweetie’s cupcakes Thankfully she’d taken off her pink armor before she started our tour. I don’t think I could’ve taken her seriously otherwise. Not that I could take her that seriously now. “Hey, where’s Pinkie?”
He shook his head. “She’s been at the library all day, planning one of her surprise parties. If you see a lavender unicorn with a dragon trotting around town, try not to tell her anything.”
Sweetie nodded and took a bite of her first cupcake. “Don’t tell lavender unicorns anything, got it.”
“So, Sweetie,” I said, grabbing my chocolate shake while Mr. Cake trotted back behind the counter. “What do you do for fun around here?”
“Uhmm… Normally, I just– do you want to see my doll collection?” she asked. “It’s really great, I think I have a pony for everyone I know. I have Rarity, my parents… some fillies at school I used to hang out with until they saw my doll collection.” She winced. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that.”
It was definitely a strike against her, but… on the other hoof, she was nice and she’d let me borrow her scooter. I guess I could live with her having some weird crazy doll collection. I leaned in and smiled at her. “I’ll pass on the doll stuff, but what else do you do?”
“I… Sometimes my sister lets me help carry gems for her,” she said. “Also, I come to Sugarcube Corner.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?” I frowned. “You don’t have any other friends to hang out with?”
She shook her head. “I have… Dolls don’t count, right?”
“Please stop mentioning your dolls,” I said. “Like, the less you mention your dolls, the better.”
“Alright,” she said, frowning and taking the last bite of cupcake number one. “So… Is it that bad? Having a doll collection, I mean.”
“Nothing wrong with having dolls, I guess,” I said, shrugging. “It’s a bit girly, but whatever. I think the weird thing is you have dolls for ponies you know. You don’t use them to cast curses, do you?”
She almost spat out her cupcake at the word curses. “What! No, I’d never hurt somepony, I just like having them kiss. It’s fun.” Not actually better.
“Okay,” I said. “So, do you have any friends in town?”
“There’s my sister,” she said, smiling. “She’s totally the bestest big sister in the world.”
“Sisters don’t count,” I said, rolling my eyes. “That’s like counting your mom as your best friend.”
“Alright,” she said, pouting at me. She had a mean pout. “So, who’s your best friend?”
My mom. Not being able to fly in Cloudsdale was like a license to be bullied. My mom being Captain probably didn’t help out. Either they made fun of me more, or tried to suck up to me. Either way, it didn’t make them ‘friends.’ “Well, since I just moved to this town, I guess you are.”
Her eyes went wide, and the next second, her forehooves were wrapped around my neck while our desserts scattered across the room. “Oh my gosh, I’m your best friend. That–!” She hugged me tighter. “I’ve never had somepony call me their best friend before, we should – what should we do next?”
“You could let me breathe,” I choked out.
“Sorry,” she said, breaking the hug and crawling back to her side of the table. “I guess I got a bit carried away.” Yeah, and the sky was a bit blue. How crazy was this filly?
“Are you alright?” I asked, frowning at her. “You’re kind of high-energy.”
She shrank into her sweet and looked up at me with impossibly big eyes. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just… nopony’s ever called me their best friend before, they mostly just put up with me. We’re still friends, right?”
I nodded. Doing anything else would’ve been like kicking a puppy. “Sure – but you can be cool, right? Maybe cut out all the girly stuff while we’re hanging out?”
“Yup,” she said, dropping her voice as low as she could get it. “Just call me Sweetie Dude, that’s how ungirly I’ll be.”
Apparently, she didn’t get the idea of restraint that well. If she did something, she did it all the way. “You… you don’t have to act like that, just... less squealing, maybe? More chill?”
“I’ll try,” she said, frowning. “So… chill? What do chill ponies do? Ooh! I can watch you ride on your scooter some! Is that okay? Can best friends do that? You’re just so good at it, and–”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head. “We can do that. I probably need to let Aunt and Uncle know where I am, anyways. Probably should’ve left them a note before I headed out.”
***
I laid on my back stared at the growing twilight, coat matted with sweat after a hard workout, while Sweetie lay next to me. I didn’t know my wings could ache that much, but that was good, right? It meant they were getting stronger. I’d probably be able to fly any day now.
“How do you have so much energy?” Sweetie asked from her spot next to me. Really? She thought I had a lot of energy? She was basically a ball of hyperactive sugar.
“You’ve got way more than me,” I said, stretching and bumping a forehoof on the tree we were under. “You were cheering me on the entire time I was on the scooter, plus… have you met you? You’re kind of hyper.”
She laughed. “Maybe I’m a little hyper, but I can’t scooter or work out like you can. I do a few laps for gym and I’m done. You must work out, like, everyday.”
“I don’t, actually, but… you know, when I got on that scooter, it felt like something kind of clicked. It felt right, you know?”
“Ooh, do you think you’ll get a cutie mark for scootering? That’d be kind of cool.”
“I think you mean lame,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Hey, my name’s Scootaloo, my special talent is that I can ride a scooter really well. Ugh, no thanks.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Sweetie asked. I heard the sound of grass rustling and imagined her tilting her head to look at me. “If you’re good at something, what’s wrong with having it as your special talent?”
“Besides it being really obvious?” I asked, looking over to her. Our eyes met. “Well, let’s see, basically anypony can ride a scooter.”
“Hey,” she squeaked.
“If you spent enough time on it, you could probably figure out how to ride a scooter too. You’d just… probably have to spend more time on it than most ponies,” I said, frowning. “The point is, who wants a cutie mark in something so boring when you can get one in something awesome that nopony else can do?”
She nodded. “I guess that makes sense, but what would getting a cutie mark for something nopony else can even do look like?”
I stuck my tongue out at her. “Guess you’ll have to get one to find out.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t little Sweetie Fail,” a voice called out. I lifted my head up to see a pink filly staring at us. “You finally found somepony else to tolerate you?” the filly smirked. “I bet she doesn’t know how crazy you really are.” She looked at me. “What do you think, Sweetie, should I tell her?”
“Why do you even care, Diamond Tiara?” Sweetie asked, scrambling up onto her hooves. “I was just sitting here, not bugging anypony, and you had to come over and... What’d I ever do to you?”
She shrugged. “Does it matter? I’m just letting the new filly know how crazy you are. It’s a public service.”
“I’m not crazy!” Sweetie yelled. “I’m fine, just…” She nibbled her lower lip. “I’m not crazy,” she whispered.
“Said the crazy filly,” Tiara looked at me. “So, do you want to keep spending time with her, or do you want to hang out with me?” She looked me up and down. “You look like you might be kind of cool.”
I looked between a smirking Tiara and a Sweetie who looked like she was on the verge of tears. Was I really going to do this? I’d spent half the day thinking about how weird Sweetie was, and now… I got to my hooves. “You know, maybe Sweetie did some crazy stuff before, I don’t know, I wasn’t here.” Sweetie’s eyes watered up more. “But I do know that since I met her today, she’s been nothing but nice. I think it’d be kind of scummy of me to just abandon her because of what somepony else said. I’ll tell you what, if Sweetie does turn out to be some kind of crazy, maybe I’ll take you up on your offer, but until then...” I wrapped a wing over her barrel and drew her close. “She’s my friend, and I’m not just going to abandon her just because somepony I barely know says I should.”
Sweetie’s smile was brighter than Celestia’s sun. I took a step towards her bully. “And honestly, if I had to choose, I’d rather have somepony super sweet and kind of crazy as a friend than a super-sane bully, so… thanks but no thanks, DT.”
Tiara huffed and trotted off. “Well done, Sweetie, it looks like you managed to find somepony in town lame enough and dumb enough to be your friend.”
My wings flared at that. “I’m not lame!” I shouted after her.
Great, I’d probably just burned a bridge with the cool kids all because of some filly I hadn’t even known for twelve hours. Maybe I was kind of crazy too. Oh well, at least Sweetie would probably keep things kind of interesting. A second after Tiara left, I felt a familiar pair of forelegs wrapping around my neck. How many times had she hugged me today?
“Oh my gosh, you’re, like, the best friend ever, Scootaloo. Tiara was all like ‘Grr. Lame,’ but you were like ‘I’m awesome, and Sweetie’s okay,’ and then Tiara was like–”
I pulled her off me. “Breathe, Sweetie. Just take a few deep breaths and calm down. Also, you don’t need to tell me about something I just saw. I was kind of there.”
“Oh, right,” she said, nodding after taking a big gulp of air. “So… What do we do now?”
“I don’t know,” I said, leaning back against the tree. “My wings are still pretty sore, so maybe we could just… be chill for a few hours before we go to the sun-raising party?” I yawned. “Or maybe take a nap? I kind of had a long day.”
She nodded. “Sure, I guess we could do that, or I can get some bits from my mom and see how much sugar we can eat.”
Well,, if she was paying. “Yeah, alright.”
***
The scooter raced down the streets of Ponyville. After eating her body weight in sugar, she’d gotten the idea to hook her wagon up to the scooter so she didn’t have to walk to town hall.
“Hey, Sweetie,” I yelled, spotting an abandoned cart on the road. “What do you say I use that cart as a ramp?”
She just groaned. Was she going to go crazy every time she had access to as many sweets as she could eat? I angled the scooter towards the cart, and buzzed my wings as hard as I could. “So that’s a yes, then?”
Even louder groaning from behind me. I turned my head back and flashed her a grin. “Glad you’re on board.” The scooter shot off the ramp, and Sweetie gave a slow miserable groan as we flew. We flew. It was only a few seconds, but we must’ve at least gone fifty hooves before we crashed back into the ground and Sweetie gagged.
“All right!” I said, bringing the scooter to a halt outside the building she’d pointed out as the town hall during our tour earlier. “Come on, let’s get going. You don’t want to miss Celestia raising the sun, do you?”
“Don’t care,” Sweetie said. “Just give me a bucket and hide me behind some bushes. I can watch the sunrise from there.”
Actually, why was Celestia raising the sun indoors? That didn’t seem like the best idea. Maybe we were all going to go out once she arrived to watch the sun go up? I sighed and hooked my forelegs under Sweetie’s so I could drag her inside. “You’re just being overdramatic,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll be fine once we get some water in you.” Maybe. Or maybe adding anything to her was a kind of bad idea.
“Noooooo… Why did you have to hit that stupid cart?” Her stomach grumbled. Yeah, getting her another drink definitely wasn’t a good idea, unless it was one of those disgusting garlic drinks Dad got me when my stomach was upset. Garlic? That didn’t sound right.
“‘Cause I thought it would be fun, and I wanted to see how far I could go. Turns out the answer was pretty freaking far. Besides, it’s kind of your fault for drinking all those shakes,” I said, dragging her into the hall. There were only, like, seven ponies there. Was everypony in town suddenly sick? Seriously, there had to be more ponies in this town than that. Either that or everypony in town owned multiple buildings. I looked around the room. Where were my aunt and uncle at?
“You’re mean,” she pouted, right before I dropped her next to one of the many empty tables at the town hall. “You’re the meanest pony to ever mean.”
I rolled my eyes and took a seat next to her. “I thought I was your best friend.”
There was a long pause before she sighed. “That too.”
I smiled at her. “Hey, at least we got a good seat.”
***
An hour later, Sweetie was back to normal – or at least, back to her normal, which was still pretty weird. Good weird, though. “When are they gonna raise the sun?” she asked, looking around the now packed town hall. I’m pretty sure there was supposed to be more ceremony to it than this. Back in Cloudsdale, we would have had at least five different speeches by now, and we never hosted the Princess. I scanned the room and finally found Aunt Sea Swirl. I waved a hoof over for her.
“Whenever Princess Celestia’s ready,” I said, shrugging as Aunt Sea Swirl trotted up to the opposite side of the table.
“Scootaloo,” my aunt said, smiling at me. “I’m so glad to see you’re making friends. I was worried I’d have to start pulling teeth to get you to go outside.”
“Yeah, well, Sweetie’s pretty cool, I guess,” I said, trying not to laugh as another giant smile formed on Sweetie’s face. Something about them was contagious. Like, when she was happy, I kind of wanted to be happy too.
“Well, if you two ever want to have a sleepover, I’ll be happy to loan you the living room,” she said, causing Sweetie to gasp.
“Really? You’d do that for me? But you don’t even know me. What if I’m secretly really bad?” Sweetie asked.
“Are you secretly really bad?” Aunt Sea Swirl asked, mock frowning at Sweetie.
Sweetie shook her head. “I don’t think I am, but what if I’m, like, a secret sleeper bad pony, like the Marechurian Candidate? One day, somepony will say the right code word, and suddenly, bam!” She slammed a hoof on the table. “Bad filly.”
“And who let you see The Marechurian Candidate?” Aunt Sea Breeze asked before shaking her head. “Never mind, I think I know. Your parents brought you along for one of their evenings out?”
She nodded, and Aunt Sea Breeze gave another sigh. “The next time they have one of their date nights, let me know, and I’ll see about having a sleepover for you and Scootaloo, assuming Scootaloo’s okay with it, of course.” And assuming I was still here, although something told me I would be. Ponyville wasn’t that bad.
Offering to host a sleepover was enough to cause Sweetie to leap over the table and give Aunt Sea Swirl one of her death hugs. It didn’t take much to earn one of those, though. “Well, alright,” Aunt Sea Swirl said when the hug finally ended. “If you two need me, I’ll just be over with Uncle Dusty, alright, Scootaloo?”
I nodded at her.
As she trotted off, a chorus of birds started singing. Huh, I didn’t know this town had an animal whisperer. She was a pegasus, so she should be from Cloudsdale, but… why would somepony come from Cloudsdale to Ponyville? Besides me, I guess.
Some boring politician-looking mare took the stage and started through the usual “Blah, blah, blah, welcome” stuff. At least Ponyville kept things short. “... Princess Celestia,” boring politician mare finished.
“That’s my sister,” Sweetie whispered, pointing to a white unicorn pulling a stage cord with her teeth. Couldn’t she have just used her magic? If I had magic, I’d never not use it.
Nopony was behind the curtain, and I struggled not to bust out laughing. How amateur hour was this? Their politician lady only spoke for like ten seconds, and they didn’t even bother to make sure Princess Celestia was there before they started the ceremony.
Or maybe they had, and she just vanished. I shivered at the thought, and looked to Sweetie who was full-on shaking. I draped my wing over her to calm her down. Hopefully, she didn’t know that was something pegasi usually did with their special someponies or their kids. I just thought it would calm her down.
“She’s gone!” Sweetie’s sister said, causing most of the audience to start murmuring. So she was there, but now she wasn’t. Guess it wasn’t completely amateur hour. Still needed a longer speech. It wasn’t a ceremony without a long speech.
“What’s going on?” Sweetie whispered in my ear.
“Nothing, I’m sure it’s just a little mix-up,” I said, giving her barrel a squeeze. My wings weren’t big enough to completely drape over her, but they were good enough, I guess. She wasn’t shaking as much now, at least.
Somepony screamed, and my eyes went to the starry fog forming on stage. Probably not a mix up. The fog formed into a solid black alicorn, her mane and tail the only traces of the fog that’d formed her. Sweetie bolted for a nearby curtain, and I followed after. To keep her safe. I wasn’t scared. “Oh, my beloved subjects,” the nightmarish black alicorn called, her voice filling the hall, “it’s been so long since I’ve seen your precious, little, sun-loving faces.” Her words pounded a drum in my head. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom.
“What’d you do with our Princess?” A blue mare with rainbow mane flew up into the sky as somepony else bit her tail to hold her back. She was willing to fight an evil alicorn to keep this town safe. Even the guards were holding back. I could’ve been out there backing her up and being totally awesome, but instead I was hiding with my friend. Mom wouldn’t take this.
“Who is that?” I whispered to Sweetie Belle.
“I- I- I- I don’t know,” she said. “She looks like an evil Princess Celestia.”
“No, not her,” I said, scooting an inch closer to her. So she’d have somepony to lean on for comfort. “I’m asking who the pegasus is.”
“Rainbow Dash,” she said, her shaking slowing as she leaned into me.
“Could ya two be quiet?” a voice next to us asked. “Ain’t much good hiding if you’re gonna be talkin’ the whole time.”
“Sorry,” Sweetie and I both mumbled, ducking low to the carpet. Why was I still here? I could be out there helping Rainbow Dash, but instead... I tried to move my foreleg, but it completely refused. Why was I so lame? What self-respecting pegasus would just hide like that? Actually, there were a lot of pegasi here, and all but one were–
“... And I know who you are, you’re the Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon!” a purple unicorn said as everypony else gasped.
“Nightmare Moon?” Sweetie whimpered. Her haunches tensed up, and I used a wing to keep her close. If she ran now, that’d just draw her attention. Besides, if she could move, and I couldn’t, then that’d mean Sweetie was braver than me. Sweetie couldn’t be braver than me.
“We’re safe here,” I whispered. Just to calm her down, I was fine.
“... The night shall last forever!” Nightmare Moon said, bursting into villainous laughter. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom.
A blast of lightning filled the auditorium, and when it vanished, Sweetie was gone. I saw her sneaking out the back door to the town hall and immediately chased off after her while Nightmare Moon continued her villainous cackling. At least Sweetie waited to run off while Nightmare Moon was distracted.
My hooves clunked against the tile as I pushed myself forward as fast as I could. If Sweetie got away, there was absolutely a 100% chance she’d do something stupid. I had to follow her.
I caught Sweetie diving beneath some bushes just outside town hall and dove in after her.
“Do you think we’re safe?” she asked as I landed next to her.
I nodded. We were all going to die. “Sure, I bet everything will be back to normal in no time.” As I said that, the midnight cloud raced out of the town hall in the opposite of direction with a rainbow blur chasing after it. “See, I bet Rainbow Dash is totally gonna handle it. Did you see how awesome she was? She wanted to take on Nightmare Moon the second she appeared. Nightmare Moon will probably be calling uncle in no time.”
“Why would she be calling for her uncle?” Sweetie asked, her ears perking up. Apparently, now that she wasn’t in immediate danger, she was shifting back to her usual cheer. Meanwhile, my heart was pounding in my throat to the sound of doom. Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom.
“It’s–” I shook my head. “It’s a saying, right? You’ve never heard it before?” Maybe it was a pegasus thing. Or maybe Sweetie just didn’t deal with that many fights.
She shook her head. “Nope, why would somepony say that, though? What does calling for your uncle have to do with a fight?”
A tiny smile formed on my lips as the pounding doom faded. “What do I look like, an etymologist?” I asked.
Sweetie sighed. “Ugh, that’s such a dumb word. What does it even mean?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “You were the pony who mentioned it. I just threw it back in your face.”
“Which–” She yawned. “Makes you a really great friend.” She paused and shook her head. “I mean that, though. I was so scared when Nightmare Moon appeared, but you were right next to me the whole time. You made me feel like everything was going to be okay.” She looked up at the unnaturally dark sky. “Everything will be okay, right?”
I nodded and had a yawn of my own. “Of course, I’m sure Rainbow Dash will handle it, she was so brave and awesome.” I frowned. She wasn’t the pony hiding behind a curtain.
“Yeah,” Sweetie nodded, her eyes lighting up a bit more. Maybe if Rainbow Dash couldn’t get the sun up, we could just have Sweetie smile all the time. “And that purple unicorn seemed to know something. I bet the two of them will team up and kick Nightmare Moon’s flank. Ooh! They’re probably going to be absolute best friends. Rainbow Dash and Purple Unicorn.”
“Probably,” I said as ponies started coming out of the town hall. I kept an eye peeled for my aunt and uncle. “I bet if we take a nap, the sun’ll be back by the time we wake up.”
She yawned. “A nap does sound good.” she said, wobbling on to her hooves. “Do you think… Maybe we could have a sleepover while we wait for the sun to come back?”
“Don’t you want to be with your family?” I asked. “We’ll have plenty of time to hang out once the sun comes back.”
She frowned and got to her hooves. “They’ll be fine, I bet they won’t even notice I’m gone.” She gestured to the crowd. “My sister just ran off with some ponies, and my parents are probably don’t even know Nightmare Moon’s returned. ‘Oh, Sweetie, I have an awful headache, can’t you just go play in your room?’”
Her jaw clamped shut. “They love me, they’re just busy and I always get in the way and mess things up. It’s... Sleepover?”
I nodded and trotted over to my Aunt. “Hey, can Sweetie stay with us for a bit?” I asked. I almost asked if she could stay the night, but that could’ve been a very long time. “You know, just until Celestia comes back.”
My aunt nodded. “I suppose… If that’s what she wants, that’s fine.” She looked up at the now faceless moon. “Yes, I’ll let her parents know she’s staying with us.”
“Cool,” I said, trotting towards where I’d left the scooter. “So, Sweetie, anything you want to do?”
She yawned. “Sleep.”
***
I stared up at the ceiling from my sleeping bag. I couldn’t sleep.
“Hey, Scootaloo,” Sweetie said from the couch-bed. I guess I wasn’t the only pony who couldn’t sleep. “You like me, right? You don’t just put up with me?”
“Of course,” I said, keeping my voice low so I didn’t wake up my aunt and uncle. “You’re my friend. I’m pretty sure friends like each other.”
“Okay…” There was a long pause where the only sound was us breathing. In the distance, somepony screamed.
“Yes! Bon-Bon! Oh, Celestia! Don’t stop!”
“What was that?!” Sweetie asked, bolting up in her bed.
“Use those fingers, Lyra!”
“I don’t know,” I said, turning to my side. “Do you know what fingers are? And if you say the word etymologist, I’m going to shove my hoof down your throat.”
“Then I don’t know,” she said, laying back in bed.
“Maybe we can ask Aunt and Uncle about it in the morning,” I said. I really did want to get some sleep.
“Alright,” Sweetie said after a yawn. There was another pause as we both tried to sleep.
“Scootaloo, why do you like me?”
“I don’t know,” I said, tossing onto my other side. “You’re always happy. It’s nice. Being near you makes me feel good.”
“Always happy,” she mumbled. Well, since we were asking each other stupid questions, I guess I could take a turn.
“Sweetie, do you think I’m brave?”
“Of course,” she said. I heard her get out of bed, and a second later, she was laying on the ground next to me. “You were totally there for me tonight when I needed somepony. You told me everything was going to be okay.” That just made me a liar.
“But I was hiding with you. That doesn’t make me brave. Not like Rainbow Dash,” I said, turning over to face her and readjusting my wings.
“So? I was scared, and you were with me the whole way, saying everything was going to be fine. You even chased after me when it got all super-scary just to make sure I was alright. That’s pretty brave.”
“But I was terrified.” No, I wasn’t. Maybe I was a little scared. Maybe. “I was just as scared as you were.”
“So?” Sweetie said. “It’s like that book my sister read me: ‘The only time you can be brave is when you’re scared,’ and today – or tonight – you were completely brave. It doesn’t matter that you were scared, because I know that if anything’d happened, you’d be right there to help me.”
Well, I was there the whole time trying to keep her calm. That was kind of brave. I smiled and laughed. “Yeah, I guess I was kind of cool.”
She smiled. “And I’m sure one day, you’ll be so brave and awesome, everypony in Equestria will know it. Promise.” One day I’d be just as good as Rainbow Dash or Mom. Just as brave and awesome.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m glad you crashed into my flowerbed.”
She laughed. “Me too.”
We both yawned, and my eyes suddenly got heavy. Huh, all that sleep I wasn’t getting finally caught up with me. Yay.
“Hey… Scootaloo,” Sweetie said, words coming out like syrup. “Can I say something silly?”
I nodded my head, eyes barely open.
“I’m… happy. Happy… I know we just met, but… my best friend, and…” She yawned. “I feel… No matter what… All the crazy stuff that happens when ponies grow up… Nothing’s gonna change that. We’re… friendship. Some things… No matter what stuff happens between us and changes… Friendship won’t.”
Outside, the darkness disappeared and sunlight came pouring through the window, lighting up Sweetie Belle’s sleeping face. My eyes closed, and her promise echoed in my head: Friendship won’t.
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Awesome; can't wait for the sequel. You're very good at making these characters seem real. In a lot of other stories, even the really good ones, I have trouble fully immersing myself and believing what's going on in the text is really happening, you know?
For the sequel I'd really like to see more Socket; he kind of felt left out near the end there. Another wish would be to see what ever happened to Silver Spoon after she left Diamond. It isn't a big deal but it'd be nice to see how things are going for her.
That was probably one of the sweetest origin stories I've read for Scoots and Sweetie meeting up. It felt very plausible. Especially what with how Scoots fawns over RD and not Spitfire. :P
I have to say, it's been terribly long since I read a fic that ended in what felt like the final moments. But now I'm curious, that letter said three months but now it's three years? I'll probably have to double-check. But yeah, big sad to see it end here. But the whole ending it where it began sort of somewhat makes up for it. Nice season finale, ala Dan VS, sort of.
Best of luck graduating! This was, at least imo, a crazy but enjoyable ride. Dazzler pretty much pulled what I could only thing a Dazzler would do. Nice scene. Going to be weird here on out, does Sweetie force Tiara to keep paying, does Bright Lights just turn Sweetie into seducing stallions or something for their money? Seems like the only thing Brights hasn't done yet, whoring our Sweetie...
Sort of felt like we only had one or two chapters left to go before this finished but now looking back at it, I can see so many branching paths. And here I almost thought Brights was some sort of succubus or siren, but she seems worst than all those combined. In retrospect, I may be disappointed we couldn't see a resolution in this story, that Beginnings chapter was a smart way to end the 'season' on.
See you next time on, Ponies Of Our Lives.
5902766 That's probably because I'm kind of a terrible writer who let's character interaction get in the way of plot.
5903328
I guess I always think of winter as the end of the year. Spring is when things come back to life and everything starts. Winter is the winding down and the sleep before the new day...
Too many feels! I... cannot... contain them!
*[Program: Author "The IDA Official", has ceased function due to overabundance of feels. A necessary reboot of being hit with a wrench is required]*
But in all seriousness, this has been one of the most conflicting stories, both emotionally and mentally, that I've ever read, and I loved every second of it. All I can say is, keep up the amazing work.
Noooo. Need more right now!
It's probably the worst way to end this, not that it's bad, it's just.... we need more! (I need to know Rarity secret)
Concerning the whole story it's the bit sad we don't get more of the Luna's academy. And it's kinda weird most of the filly spend only a year but at the beginning Sweetie Belle went to academy and force her friends to come just because it could be fun.
Reading your blog post, I agree that most of the CMC are kind of spoiled brat, they don't like when something does not like in her way, even if they are not "evil".
Well.
Damn, man.
I [REDACTED] love this fic. You are a [REDACTED] amazing writer. I can't [REDACTED] wait for the sequel.
Keep [REDACTED] doin' what you do, man.
5905639 Right now, what I'm doing is mostly reading for school and having a massive anxiety attack. I mean... Yep, there's totally more writing I'm working on right now.
5909128 Well, it can be interesting, but only at first. After awhile your eyes would tire at looking at the twisted glass and people would look away.
I liked how it ended though, nice little tie off. Builds up to and makes people excited for the sequel.
5909125 It better be on my hypothetical desk by next month, or I'm going Daring Don't on your ass.
Ah, much more to this than when I first looked at it. But it turned out great! I do honestly still believe that Bright Lights is a devil in disguise, though chances are the 'magic' holding Scoots back was just herself :P
Looking forward to the other stuff~
Personally I didn't like the ending because the loose ends aren't all tired up, mainly What purpose do the journals serve?
I feel like they'll be important to the sequel, I can only hope so.
5912034 Well, yeah, according to... the project, Rarity breaks up with AJ before she finds out about the note, while Sweetie's still living with her, so it kind of had to be that chapter.
As for the other stuff, Bright Lights is pretty damned deplorable, but she's not special, just your ordinary abusive jerk. Now to take some time off, finish school, and maybe do some outlining for the next few stories.
5912114 We've got a use for the journals, but they won't be firing for a long time.
Nooooo That ending was really sad!!! THE FEELS
Also:
It's Aunt Sea Swirl, right?
5911918
Well, remember, these last two chapters time-skip around quite a bit, so when Applebloom and Scootaloo are having that particular conversation, it's nearly half a year (in-story time) later than the Hearth's Warming and winter break in chapter 13. It's also not really specified exactly when Rarity and Applejack broke up during that time, so...
5950097 Couldn't have said it better myself. Sweetie's transformation really was executed masterfully. All the right feels at the right time.
To the author, very well done and thank you! Also, that little number about Sweetie's doll collection in the last chapter cracked me up something fierce
5969044
5950097
Thanks, you two. I do really try to make sure my characterization follows a reasonable course and is believable, it's one of the things I think I do well-ish as a writer, so hearing you two both praise it independently of each other really kind of made my day. Also, expect a very inebriated blogpost later today where I celebrate 200 followers and finishing off college and talk about what's coming next for Sweetie. Hopefully, I'll see you there.
5969290 Glad to hear there is a continuation planned!
Also, one more thing I forgot in my original comment. Just a suggestion, though... maybe... if it's ok with you?
Some chapters struck me as a little too long, mainly because I usually only have time to read while commuting and before bed. The long chapters force me to stop reading somewhere halfway through, breaking the flow and stuff and I generally hate leaving things unfinished
Chapters at around 10k words make up for a 45 minute read which is just the right amount of time for those "oh, I have a spare moment, I'll read the next chapter" moments. I realize it might be difficult to find a breaking point when you have a chapter outlined and as I said, this is just a personal preference, so... I just thought I'd mention it
Wow this fics got me and hard, i was in a dark place on my life
a few years ago, and this fic make me remember that. It`s my hope that liek me she chooses the better path 
. Thas always the HARDEST part!
LOVELY FIC, KEEP THE EXCELENT AWSOME JOB!
6051230 I didn't want to be explicit, but it might benefit you to look through the first few chapters and notice the absence of her parents. They're gone literally all semester and then decide not to come back to spend the holidays with her.
6122625
6122632 Only two chapters left before the rough draft's finished, and I'm expecting you to comment on each chapter.
6122974
pre13.deviantart.net/930d/th/pre/i/2011/117/8/c/saluting_rainbow_dash_by_markfrompoland-d3eytqo.png
6187676 I finished and am still upset but my track record still stands. I have been able to get through every story I have read
6187865 Out of curiosity, was it good upsetting or bad upsetting? Does that even make sense? Did the story still work even if the last few chapters were ultra depressing?
6187875 I guess good upsetting and it still worked well it is just out of the all the fillies sweetie Belle is probably my favorite and to see her like that is sad
6187887 Hey, she's my favorite too. Actually, she's quite possibly my favorite pony in the show, but when I started writing the story, I saw this kind of broken mare, and I followed the breaks to see how she fractured. Now, I have the fun of putting her back together again.
Comment Records: 1st story started on fimfiction.net
6189436 Wow, that's really cool. Out of curiosity, what prompted you to make this your first story? Also, did you enjoy it?
6190305
I'm still early in the story (Ch.4). I'll be a little slow because of how busy I am most days.
Anyway, I chose this story because of the title and opening description. I was reading through /r/mylittlefanfic and noticed a lot of stories were on here, so I made an account. I checked out a couple on each page, but nothing really struck me when I glanced over the description in most of them. Since I don't have much time, I wanted to pick one that I would enjoy the most when I do have time to read.
Eventually I came across this one on the subreddit, and thought the title looked interesting. I read the description and decided that it both sounded interesting and it seemed as though it'd be well penned.
So far I'm content. Aside from the occasional comma splice, it is fairly error free.
6197592 Thanks, I'm sorry, I do try to clean up most of the grammatical errors (believe me, you should see some of the earlier drafts), and I have some great editors, but little things still slip through the cracks. Hopefully, it's still kind of enjoyable. Just make sure to read all the tags on the story.
6197592
As one of 6198371's editors, I should say that I've been letting the occasional comma splice pass unchanged in the narrative because, while it's true that those are generally frowned upon in English, it's also true that the rules are a bit looser on that kind of thing when you're dealing with dialogue, or first-person narrative, since people do tend to talk and think like that — especially when the narrator is a slightly-hyper filly whose thoughts tend to skip from one groove to another fairly easily.
BUT... But... It just ends that like? A cliff hanger? Distaff you <Word deemed too harsh by Princess of Friendship!
>!!!
Joking aside, is this really how it ends? I'm going to read "The Diamond in the Stars" but considering it appears focused on Twilight and Rarity, I doubt it'll have anything about the Sweetie Belle incident other than detailing the impact on Rarity.
Ah well, too bad. Great read, anyway! (Although the long chapters became painful after a little while, and seemed a little odd when you had little breaks in each chapter anyway.)
- TSB
6264050 Yep, Sweetie doesn't appear at all in the next story, and is instead a metaphorical ghost haunting Rarity.
Also, it's not a cliffhanger, it's an act break between Acts I and II, making Diamond an intermission of sorts. Glad you enjoyed the story. Hope to see your comments in future works.
6264511 I've enjoyed essentially every single literature you've written, you've got quite the talent for writing out likable and believable characters. Plus I guess the slight sadistic side of me enjoys reading the amount of cruelty you can put some of my favorite characters through.
Ah, I see, so I presume you'll be working on Act II after Diamond? It's a cliff hanger until then, and honestly I really like that, it's just making the next act a much more exciting story to wait for.
Stay safe!
- TSB
6265096 Well, see, I think we have different definitions of a cliffhanger. To me, an ending is a cliffhanger if a character's fate is uncertain and has no sense of narrative closure. To use a television example that's been stuck in my head, the latest season of NCIS ends with a main character shot and bleeding out in an alley, as the whole world goes pear-shaped.
It offers no closure and demands continuation. The narrative has no sense of completeness.
On the other hand, in The Unbearache Lightness , Sweetie's fate isn't really in question. We know she's going to Manehattan to dance to Bright Light's tune as the last ponies who genuinely care for have been exiled from her life. Her fear of abandonment twisted over the course of the story into this spirit-destroying hedonism. It's not a happy fate, but it has a completion in the arc that I feel disqualifies the ending from being a cliffhanger.
Act II is currently being written. I want to have the first four chapters and a general outline completed before I start posting, though. Luckily, there are still nine whole chapters of Diamond waiting to be published, so I think I have some time left to get all that done.
Also, I resent this idea that I put my characters through hell just because I like seeing them suffer. I do it because I like exploring their flaws and seeing just what it takes to break and reconstitute them. Besides, in the Orchestra-verse, they always wind up better for their troubles.
6312753 Actually, I meant a Siren... you know, like Adagio Dazzle. A conflict-eater, basically.
6265456
Oh man, this story ends on a cliffhanger? Now I'm glad I waited before reading this story. Hopefully it means I don't have to wait as long for the sequel.
6314042 Well, The Diamond in the Stars is kind of a sequel. It focuses on Rarity and Twilight, but it takes place in the timeskip between this story and Spring 13. Also, I do technically have the first few chapters of the actual sequel written out, but I want to make sure I have a somewhat reasonable looking outline before I really start uploading. Right now, I have a bunch of scenes with only a vague sense of how they fit together. Seriously, my outline looks like somebody's schizophrenic ramblings. At least, to me it does. Either way! The Diamond in the Stars, if you want a nice palette cleanser before the gut punch that is the first chapter of the sequel, you should read that.
You certainly got the 'Unbearable' portion right.
There was so much build up that I could see Sweetie Building the mask, and knew it wouldn't end well. So many well meaning, gentle nudges pushed her far too close to 'perfect putty' the moment she hit Bright Lights
I love how you describe her romance with BL, its hot, intense, heady, and obviously bad for you. But like any hard drug, there's never a thought of giving it up.
I'm terrified to see how deep of a hole SB digs herself. (I also hope Medly and DT become a couple. Their shared pain could either be a terrible reminder, or a perfect bonding experience. Plus they would be kind of cute and soften each others faults.)
Eagerly awaiting a sequel that I just can't put down.
6317249 Well, there is a sequel currently being published, but it's about Rarity. I like to think of it as a kind of interlude, clearing the taste buds before we hop back into Sweetie's mind.
Took me a bit but I finally started reading this again. The focus on Sweetie Belle's spiral kind of put me off until I figured out why it was happening. Then the Smartie Belle note got my attention. And I powered through it. Next the Rarity-centric story.
6335796 To be fair, the whole story is the story of Sweetie's descent, the last few chapters are just when it becomes obvious and we see where her arc is headed.
6336235 Yes, I honestly thought it was more of a school-centric story and then it went off into the Sweetie bit. The focus changing did put me off and the story went into the back burner but I as always got back to it. I am looking forward to seeing the eventual redemption of Sweetie Belle though. It will probably be at the cost of a lot of friendships and far too much time of her life wasted.
6336430
You'll seeeeee!
6401541 You shouldn't see this response.
6401770 This is me testing by replying to the one made from the main page
Don't mind us, ponies, we're testing out a possible fail of the commenting system
I finished reading this some time ago, the day the last chapter was published, actually, and I just realized I never commented on it. That doesn't seem right, given how much I thoroughly enjoyed this story, so here is the much belated comment.
This was certainly not where I expected to be when I started reading "Princess Luna's Academy of Arts and Sciences" (if I'm remembering the name correctly). As I recall, I found this story because I was off looking for a cute ScootaBelle fic. That is not what I got at all. At. All. I tore through this until, I believe, 'Mare in the Mirror', which was the most recent chapter at the time.
The progression of Sweetie Belle is very believable, and very cohesive. There weren't any moments where I was left wondering why she had started acting as she did, which is very impressive on your part, given the range of changes we see in this story.
So yes, I've rambled on long enough, but I thought it was worth mentioning to you that I really enjoyed this story, even though it was nothing like I thought it might be when I started. I'll have to keep an eye out for sneaky tragedy tags like this in the future.
6410491 If it makes you feel any better, the first few chapters were definitely a cute Sweetie fic, so you got a bit of that itch scratched. Things just... progressed from there. If you want something lighter, there is The Diamond in the Stars, and ad soon as that's finished, I'll start uploading our sequel.