Childhood Sweethearts

by Ribe_FireRain

Sugarcube Corner

Author's Note:

Ribe's quote of the day - ''It does exactly what it says on the tin - ''It fucks your house completely!''

This chapter may be changed in future at some point. Can't guarantee it, but we'll see. This one was kinda rushed inbetween college and free time, but I released this early so you could at least have an update! Let me know what you think!

Over at Sugarcube Corner, you and your friends sat around one of the many vacant tables within the shop. Scootaloo sat beside you on her chair and across from you was Halo and Archer with Rumble squeezed in on the end next to Scootaloo and Archer.

You were all eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom so that you could finally sort things out between the unexpected conflict that came between you.

Scootaloo looked beside her towards Rumble, seeing that he had his head hanging down and his ears were drooped over the back of his head. With a hoof, she nudged his shoulder lightly and he slowly raised his head to meet his glassy purple eyes with Scootaloo's. She motioned for him to lean closer and when he did, she whispered to him. ''Hey, what's up?'' Rumble didn't respond. He only motioned briefly with his eyes towards Cerulean whom was in a conversation with Halo and then back to Scootaloo before resuming to hang his head.

Scootaloo frowned. She knew Rumble has had a crush on her for as long as she has known him and she understood what he must be feeling like. Even if she was with Cerulean, it didn't mean that she and him wouldn't remain friends. They have been close since the day they met and it wasn't like this new relationship with Cerulean was going to drive a wedge between them, right?

Not a moment too soon, the door to the shop opened and when you turned to see, you noticed that it was Sweetie Belle, an ashamed looking Apple Bloom beside her.

Neither one of them made a sound as they made their way towards your table and took a seat each, Apple Bloom keeping her head down all the while as she took her place beside you and Sweetie between Halo and Archer.

From your position next to Apple Bloom, you could feel the cold radiating from her. You wasn't sure whether to be worried or concerned about it, yet either way, you felt bad for her.

''Apple Bloom?'' You asked in an attempt to get her attention or at least to make her look up. Looking down towards her face, you could see what looked like a crystal clear tear emerge from her tear duct and slide down her muzzle before hanging off and dropping to the floor with an audible 'plop' in the silence of the shop.

''It's no use, Cerulean. She's been like this since yesterday.'' Sweetie explained, looking equally as worried as the rest of the group. No matter how fruitless it may have been to try and get an answer from Apple Bloom or even the slightest acknowledgement, you wasn't about to give up on her.

Momentarily looking towards Scootaloo, you motioned with your eyes towards her friend in despair and taking the hint, she rose from her seat and slowly made her way next to her. She slowly looked her friend over, trying to find the best way to get her to say something but upon failing to do so, did things the casual way and gently prodded her shoulder a single time, getting no response from her.

Looking back towards you, she shrugged in defeat and returned to her seat. You rolled your eyes and your lips held a frown as you continued to look on at the still motionless Apple Bloom beside you until an idea came to mind. It may have sounded stupid but giving the circumstances, you felt it was most appropriate as a course of action.

Slowly looking around the table at each of your friends individually, they looked back at you and motioned for you to do something and without further delay, you did something.

You slowly moved towards her, hoping to Celestia it would at least make her look up, and softly wrapped you hooves around her, pulling her into a hug.

Apple Bloom squeaked softly at the surprise contact yet still kept her head hung low. That was when you decided to amp things up a bit. With a hoof, you raised it towards the back of her head and gingerly stroked down her mane in a soothing motion. At the contact of your hoof, she seemed to calm down and eventually, she began to break into tears, her body shuddering and shaking and she leaned into you, resting her head against your shoulder as she continued to cry.

Giving the moment between the two of you, the silence that the shop drowned in was only broken by the sound of Apple Bloom's crying and you attempting to calm her down.

''Well, that escalated surprisingly fast.'' You heard Halo whisper a little too loudly to Archer and you mouthed angrily towards her ''Shut up'' and she did, blushing madly with cheeks like a pink wildfire.

Apple Bloom sniffled heavily and calmly cuddled up to you whilst you continued to hold her. ''Will you be alright?'' You asked her and she looked up to you with glassy eyes, her amber irises reflecting like glowing jewels. For the first time, you saw her lips curl into a small smile and she nodded once lightly.

''So, do you wanna tell us what's going on or are we just going to sit here awkwardly for a little longer?'' Halo asked and you didn't need to think twice at seeing that she was irritated and uncomfortable with all this sitting around.

''Yeah, I've already heard Cerulean's side of the story and I wanna know Apple Bloom's take on this, too. I don't like all this conflict at all.'' Scootaloo said, looking towards her calmed down friend whom held a surprisingly straight face under Scootaloo's inquisitive gaze along with everypony else.

She sighed and looked over to Sweetie Belle who nodded towards her. ''You'll feel better, AB.'' Taking one last sigh and forcing herself to withstand breaking down again, Apple Bloom bit her lip and began to tell her side of the story. In particular, you wanted to hear what happened after the...events...at the clubhouse and when she began to talk about it, you listened intently to every word.

She went on for about nearly an hour or maybe a little over and the looks on your other friend's faces all ranged from shocked to surprised and some places in between. Well, all apart from Halo who you saw had her head in her hooves as if she was listening to a comedic story. I swear, I have no clue what goes on in her head sometimes You thought to yourself as you mentally rolled your eyes.

As a matter of fact, the only one with a casual expression was Sweetie Belle whom you guessed has heard it before. As for yourself, you were quite surprised. In the time you have known Apple Bloom, it was no lie that you valued her as a friend and the two of you became close alongside her other two friends.

From what you've heard from her friends and a few other ponies, you knew that the Apple family were an honest kind of ponies and for a pony such as Apple Bloom who was brought up in such a family to lie to Sweetie about it either deliberately or out of nervousness (in this case it was the second one) to the point where she actually hit you without knowing it was a huge misunderstanding was mind blowing.

Apple Bloom was crying again by the time she had finished her story and everypony stared at her and she was visibly shaking and uncomfortable under all the eyes focused on her, almost as if they were a bunch of lasers that were melting into her very soul.

''Ah never meant to lie! Honestly, Ah didn't! Ah was just so nervous and scared about what Ah did and Ah'm so sorry, everypony! Especially you, Cerulean.'' She looked towards you with sad, regrettable eyes and you sympathized her.

Yes, what she did caught you very off guard and was the main reason for all this conflict but she was still your friend. You wasn't the kind of pony to hold grudges, especially against one of your own friends.

''I could never stay mad at you, Apple Bloom. As far as I'm concerned, you're still one of my closest friends, and I don't think any less of you.'' You said, pulling her into a friendly hug. Her face transformed momentarily into an expression of happiness but was soon replaced by a glowing blush at what you whispered to her whilst holding her in your embrace. ''If it's any consolation, you're not a bad kisser.''

Breaking away from the embrace, she looked back into your eyes and smiled warmly. ''Ya'll have no idea how much that means to me to hear ya say that.'' You smiled back to her.

From beside you, Scootaloo glared at Sweetie and catching her eye, Sweetie looked confused and appeared to be even a little scared at that stare from her friend's eyes, almost as if they were knives.

''W-What?'' Sweetie asked quietly and shakily, failing miserably to maintain her usual, calm and sweet voice.

''Aren't you going to apologize, too?'' She asked, narrowing her eyes at her and you looked between them with a hint of confusion before it hit you what they were talking about. The time when you and the rest of your friends, excluding Sweetie and Apple Bloom, were in a conversation one school morning during recess and out of the blue, Sweetie comes out of nowhere and slaps you hard in the cheek. I guess the sweet and innocent personality give the demon inside a run for it's money. ''You punched Cerulean in the face, remember?'' Scootaloo said in a low growl, feeling her own blood begin to boil.

Sweetie flinched when Scootaloo unexpectedly used her hooves to brush away the fur on the cheek that Sweetie's hoof struck you with, revealing a pale, black-blue coloured mark in the shape of a hoof on your skin. It wasn't long until Sweetie's eyes began to tear up and she sniffled.

''Oh, my Celestia, I'm so sorry about that, Cerulean, I didn't know what actually happened and when I get mad I just can't control myself sometimes!'' She explained in a single sob, wiping her eye with a hoof. ''Can you ever forgive me?''

You sighed. ''Once more, I'm not one to hold grudges against my friends over a misunderstanding, so yes, I do forgive you. Next time though, at least tone down on the smacking, please. That hurt me more than it hurt you.'' You said, cringing when you lightly made contact with the bruise with your hoof.

''Wow, anypony else got any drama to resolve?'' Halo asked. ''No? Good, because we're in a pastry shop and it's driving me crazy staring at all of these cupcakes and stuff.'' Without any objections, Halo was off like a rocket, not bothering to give the chance to anypony else to say anything.

Watching his sister about to give herself an unearthly amount of sugar, Archer rolled his eyes and frowned before getting up and going after her. ''I'll go and keep her under control.''

You snickered behind your hoof and everypony else turned to look at you with confused glances. ''W-What? She's just so random sometimes that I can't help it!'' They all rolled their eyes at you. Well, all apart from Rumble who had his head hung down again.

Scootaloo frowned and tapped you on the shoulder, causing you to turn around to face her. Leaning close to you, she whispered in your ear. ''Cerulean, do you mind if me and Rumble had some time for a little chat? He seems a little upset.'' She said, motioning with her eyes towards the young pegasus.

You simply nodded and asked for Sweetie and Apple Bloom to follow you towards an empty table a short way away, leaving Scootaloo and Rumble alone together. From your newly seated positions, you all took a final glance back over towards them and you could see that Rumble was visibly upset.

It was the first time you have ever seen Rumble upset and you guessed that he was rarely in this kind of mood. However, given the circumstances, you thought that it was understandable. Something about it made you recall the night when you were in that crazy conversation with the imaginary version of Scootaloo and something about her telling you that Rumble liked her as more than a friend and that she secretly decided not to tell him that she knew.

Somehow, you wasn't sure whether to feel happy or sad about that. Granted, if you were in Rumble's position and developed a crush on Scootaloo when you became friends only to find out that when a new colt comes to town and befriends said pegasus and ends up in a relationship with her, you would be shattered.

You frowned sympathetically. To you, Rumble was like the brother you never had and you did talk a lot more than the others in the school playground.

''Well, since we're gonna be here for a while, would you mind if I bought us all something from the counter? Perhaps a few milkshakes? Mum gave me a few spare bits.'' You offered and both Sweetie's and Apple Bloom's faces lit up.

''Sure!''

''Sounds good!''

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