• Published 2nd Jul 2019
  • 1,927 Views, 39 Comments

Bellesitter - Draxonos135



Adagio, and eventually the rest of the Dazzlings, get involved in a difficult situation.

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Aria Blaze - Scootaloo

At the park, Aria Blaze relaxed on a bench, trying to enjoy her break from work as much as possible. Now, she wasn't completely out of the store's view, so she still had to be nice to an extent, but she didn't have to force a smile and be all polite either, so this worked out.

Unfortunately, her peace was soon disturbed when Sunset's friends, as well as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, approached her, instantly putting a frown on her face. "Do you need something?"

Rainbow Dash was gently pushed forward by Applejack, the jock throwing a look at her before she sat next to a disapproving Aria. "We're here to... help you give advice to Sweetie and her friends.

Aria paused for a second, then stood up, put her finger on her mouth, and lifted the wet finger on to the sky. After a few seconds, Aria lowered her finger and shrugged. "Yep, there's no sign that cats and dogs will be raining today."

"I'm not surprised you were checking for that," Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and stood up. "Listen, I know us wanting to help you sounds like a massive stretch, but this isn't about us. It's about Sweetie Belle, her friends, and helping them patch things up so they can properly apologize for everything that happened thanks to Anon-A-Miss' fault."

"Well, it's quite noble of you to swallow your pride and accept to help people who were once your enemies, get your friend's sister and her friends back together," Aria replied as she walked towards Rainbow Dash. "But I sure hope you understand what you're getting yourself into: the other sirens already did their part, so the one you'll have to deal with is me. And I'm not particularly easy to deal with."

"Doesn't matter, as long as we help the girls get back together, it'll be worth it," Rainbow Dash stood up and folded her arms. "Now, how do we get Scootaloo to learn her lesson?"

"Tartarus if I know," Aria raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who chose to approach me, you give me an idea."

Rainbow Dash wanted to punch the siren, but making an enemy out of someone she was trying to help was probably not the best idea. So she calmed down. "Well, I didn't come with a plan in mind-"

"At least you're honest," Aria shrugged.

"But I do know a couple things that Scootaloo wouldn't mind doing, like sports-"

"Listen, Blue Girl, I don't think you're understanding what I'm asking from you," Aria sternly said, keeping her smile as she poked Rainbow Dash's forehead. "I'm not asking you to tell me what you know, I'm asking you to give, me, a, plan!"

"I can't just give you a plan without thinking things first!" Rainbow Dash snapped, slapping Aria's hand away. "I mean, what do you expect me to suggest? A race that spans miles?!"


Aria, Sunset's friends, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sat at the tables of Sugarcube Corner's, a starting line drawn across the street which could be seen from the window, signaling the start of the race.

"A toast to Blue Girl's big mouth!" Aria exclaimed, lifting her juice box. "May her mouth continue to blurt out nonsense and screams of sheer frustration! All hail the rainbow loudmouth!"

"Okay, Aria, we get it," Fluttershy glanced at the starting line. "What we don't get is how this race is going to help."

"Well, let me tell you something I've learned from my stay in the human world: people are better actors when they don't know what's going on," Aria replied, taking a sip of her drink. "If I were to tell you what's the plan, you would put effort into acting your part, and that would make it clear this is a setup."

"And if Scootaloo figures out it's a setup..." Pinkie Pie blurted, getting everyone's attention. "She'll figure out something's going on, and probably back away before we get a chance to teach her a lesson."

"If the pink one's the one who understands the plan first, then I'm not surprised you need my help," Aria took another sip of her drink. "Anyway, did any of you call the girl here?"

"We did," Diamond Tiara answered. "She should be here soon."

"Well then," Aria stood up and clasped her hands. "I think Blue and I should go out to welcome Scootaloo to the race. Come on, Blue, let's go."

"I got it, calm your horses," Rainbow Dash growled as she stood up. "Just a word of advice: if you do anything to hurt Scootaloo, or if this ends up hurting her worse than expected, I'm going to make you pay for it."

"Sonata told me that when you tried to do that to her, she sent you flying with a punch to the gut," Aria scoffed as she and Dash walked out of the establishment. "I don't know about you, but that makes your warning seem as hollow as Sonata's head."

Rainbow grumbled, once again wanting to punch the siren in the face. But since Scootaloo would come any minute now, she needed to stay calm to be able to help her.


Scootaloo arrived after a couple minutes, reaching Sugarcube Corner to see Rainbow Dash and Aria exchanging stern looks, Rainbow scowling while Aria grinned.

"Um, hi?" Scootaloo blurted, getting the pair's attention. "What's going on?"

"So this is the kid called Scootaloo?" Aria asked, before raising an amused eyebrow to Rainbow Dash. "What's she supposed to be to you? A sister? A friend? Your daughter?"

"I'm just friends with her!" Scootaloo exclaimed, only to quickly blush and twiddle her fingers. "Not a sister, or daughter, her friend!"

"Wow, we just met her and she already put you in the friend zone!" Aria patted Rainbow Dash's back with a smug smirk. "You have my condolences. Anyway, how about you explain what she's doing here?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Scootaloo, we're going to have a little race: you, me, and the siren here."

"We're going to race?" Scootaloo glanced at the sky for a moment. "You would obviously win, Rainbow Dash, so what's the point?"

"Beats me; purple fish over here refuses to explain herself," Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "But, she says that this race will help you learn your lesson... whatever that means."

Scootaloo narrowed her eyes. "And you believe her?"

"Adagio may have given you the push to cause your friendship with your friends to end, but Sonata gave you advice on how to fix things: you have both a good and a bad experience with the sirens, so I'm not surprised you would distrust me," Aria replied as she walked towards the starting line. "However, you need to remember that you still haven't been forgiven by Sweetie Belle; she still lives with me, Sonata, and Adagio, even if I myself don't like the idea; and one way or another, she's become a target of Adagio's affection."

"Well, that sounds like something Sweetie Belle would do," Scootaloo remarked as she walked to the starting line with Rainbow Dash. "She can be so nice and kind, just about anybody who has a heart would become close to her."

"Nice and kind, right, and yet she still let herself be blinded by jealousy?" Aria scoffed.

"Jealousy affects everyone no matter how nice or mean they are," Rainbow Dash replied, lowering her head a little. "I'm speaking from experience."

"That, I can believe," Aria snickered. "Anyway, are you ready?"

Scootaloo winced. "Well, I-"

"Sorry, not letting you say otherwise," Aria interjected. "Ready, set, go!"

With that said, Aria bolted out of the starting line and ran as fast as she could, before Rainbow Dash caught up and chased after her, Scootaloo being the last person to come out with an uneasy trottle.

"Hey, what's the big idea!?" Rainbow Dash snapped once she reached Aria. "Scootaloo was about to say something!"

"She was probably going to spit out an excuse to not do the race, save herself the shame of her inevitable loss," Aria replied. "After all, losing to your idol is one thing. Losing to your idol and someone like a siren? That would be the worst. Especially since she was already convinced she wouldn't win."

"That... well, yeah, she said she knew I would win, and I'm not saying that's not true..." Rainbow Dash lowered her head. "Maybe we should backpedal a bit?"

"Right, and I bet that's not going to make her feel worse: losing to her idol and a siren, even when that idol held back in order to give her a slim chance," Aria narrowed her eyes. "Believe me, Blue, just keep doing what we're doing and let her play along."

Seeing no other choice, or at least, no other choice that Aria wouldn't point out would make things worse, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and begrudgingly kept running.


Minutes had passed since the race started, and the end goal was already in sight: Canterlot High School.

"This doesn't seem too bad, actually. It takes longer than I'd like, but it doesn't feel too bad regardless" Rainbow Dash remarked. "Are you sure this activity will help Scootaloo learn her lesson, whatever that is?"

"Not everybody's as athletic as you are," Aria responded with a little shrug. "You're a teenager; she's a kid. She's not nearly as fit as you are, not by a long shot. She'll eventually grow tired, and then, we can see if she's willing to learn her lesson or not."

Rainbow Dash looked back at Scootaloo, who hung her head low and slowed down a bit, taking heavy breaths every once in a while. "I don't know, she looks like she's already exhausted."

"You're just saying that because you're worried for her as her friend," Aria replied, focusing solely on the road ahead. "You can't let your relationship with her let you go soft on her: if you do, then she won't-"

*thud*

Aria stopped, and Rainbow Dash immediately ran back, while the siren stopped and her eyes widened as she processed what she just heard. "W-What was that?"

Aria slowly turned around, and saw Rainbow Dash right next to Scootaloo, who had collapsed on the ground. Immediately panicking, Aria ran up to the girl and helped Rainbow Dash carry her.


Once back at Sugarcube Corner, Scootaloo eagerly ate some cupcakes and took a big slurp out of her drink, surrounded by Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends while Aria confronted Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon outside. And from the looks it, she was quite ticked off.

"Why didn't you tell me she lived a couple apples away from Canterlot High School, and that she hadn't eaten or drank anything before coming here!?" Aria yelled at the duo, putting a hand on her hip while she rubbed her forehead with the other. "And while I could understand those things as honest mistakes, why did you also tell her to come here on foot!?"

"W-Well, since the idea was a race, w-we thought having her already a little exhausted would help her get the message across!" Diamond Tiara stammered. "B-Besides, you didn't tell us anything about the race, where it would start or where it would end!"

"How did that stop you from telling me about it and convincing me to go easy on her!?" Aria yelled back, stomping the ground. "It took a couple minutes to set the race and you came and went in car, so you had more than enough breath to spare a word or two with me!"

"Uuuummm..."

"Just, stay out here while I go talk with everybody else," Aria rubbed her forehead with both hands. "If I'm lucky, they're not going to throw food at me and kick me out as soon as I step forward."

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon exchanged concerned looks as Aria walked into the establishment, being met with looks from Sunset's friends... but nothing else. Not even a single food projectile.

"So?" Aria growled, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm waiting to be bombarded by stuff right now!"

"We're not angry enough to do something like that," Fluttershy replied, before she pointed at Pinkie Pie. "And besides, Pinkie Pie convinced the owners to set up a "non-food throwing in the establishment" rule."

"It's right there in the rules next to you." Pinkie added.

Aria glanced at the rules, and once she spotted the rule in question, she rolled her eyes in disappointment. "Well, talk about a buzzkill. If you can't throw stuff at me, how else are you supposed to show your anger at me for making a kid collapse?"

Rainbow Dash stood up and took a deep breath. "Your name's Aria, right?"

"Yes, Aria Blaze," the siren saved her hands in her pockets. "And before you ask, yes, I know your name's Rainbow Dash. I was just calling you "Blue" to annoy you."

"I know; you weren't subtle about that," Rainbow Dash walked up to the siren. "Listen, we're angry that things got bad enough that Scootaloo collapsed, especially me. But we already went through this before."

"When Anon-A-Miss spread our secrets, we got so angry that we didn't let Sunset tell her side of the story," Pinkie Pie spoke. "Just like everybody else, we began to think Sunset was Anon-A-Miss, and... well, things got worse from there."

"If throwing the blame at someone without evidence of their guilt didn't work once, what reason do we have to believe this time it will?" Fluttershy added. "As far as we know, you had no idea Scootaloo was that tired. If anything, the ones at fault are the girls that brought her here, and trust us, we're going to talk to them."

"Besides that, Scootaloo wants to talk to you," Rainbow Dash spoke, pushing Aria towards the table. "Even if we were angry enough to yell expletives at you, I think it's fair to let her talk with you first."

With that said, Rainbow Dash and the girls left the building to talk

"Can you believe their audacity?" Aria snickered. "Not one of them stayed behind to keep an eye on me, they left you alone with the person who made you collapse; nobody in their right mind would do something like that! Especially if the other person is a siren!"

"I asked them to leave us alone," Scootaloo confessed. "I wanted to talk with you on private, because I get the feeling I know what that race was all about."

Aria quit the quipping and took a deep breath, before she adopted a sincere, regretful tone. "I'm sorry for what happened, alright? I wasn't informed you had neither eaten before going here, or that you lived miles away from the starting point. Or the ending point, for that matter. If I had known about those previous things, I wouldn't have gone as harsh on you, I swear-"

"Don't, you did all of this to teach me a lesson, Rainbow Dash told me. And I think I know what the lesson was," Scootaloo replied. "The girls and I felt bad about Anon-A-Miss eventually, but it's not hard to imagine one of us would feel worse first. Sweetie Belle must've felt bad first, and when Apple Bloom and I wanted to keep Anon-A-Miss, she must've put on an act that she wanted it to continue too, in fear that something bad would happen otherwise."

Aria's eyes widened, noticing a peculiar bit in Scootaloo's statement. "She acted? So, she was faking wanting it to continue?"

"Yeah, she's a pretty good actress," Scootaloo rested her chin. "She once told me she was taking acting lessons, and how she was the top student of her class. I guess she was so good, we couldn't tell when she was acting and when she was being honest."

"So, she's a good actress... interesting..." Aria clutched her chest. "By the way, the moment I saw you collapsed, I felt something bad. Something... unpleasant... that made me feel that doing this was probably a bad idea. Do you know what it could be?"

Scootaloo scratched her chin and hummed. "It must be guilt. It's what someone feels when they've done something that they've come to regret. The more intense it feels, the more likely the person will do anything to get rid of it."

Aria's eyes widened and she stood up, gaining a little smile. "So, you're saying that the more powerful a person's guilt feels, the more that person will do anything to try and redeem it?"

"Yeah, and I think it also makes them a bit more desperate in general," Scootaloo scratched her head as she looked at the ceiling. "I've read stories of people doing things they wouldn't do otherwise, or outright changing their personality in order to free themselves from their guilt."

"So they could get desperate enough to, say, fall for a good actor, right?" Aria raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, you've met Adagio, right? When did you meet her?"

"I bumped into her by accident while I was still upset about Sweetie ending our friendship," Scootaloo twiddled her fingers and lowered her head slightly. "Then, with her pushing me a bit, I spoke with my friends, things got heated, and she ended our friendship for real. I think she was still around when it happened."

Aria scratched her chin and looked elsewhere, her smile widening in delight. "Which means that Adagio must've felt guilt when she saw them end their friendship. Whatever her reason, she would feel bad for kinda-sorta having a hand in ending it, meaning she's not treating Sweetie Belle better than usual because she's going soft, but because she's trying to free herself from her own guilt!"

Aria narrowed her eyes, her smile unfaltering. "And that also means Sweetie Belle could be taking advantage of it..."

Aria laughed joyously as she grabbed Scootaloo by her arm, lifted her, and began spinning around the place in bliss. "Now it makes sense! Why would Adagio treat Sweetie Belle different, why the kid would be lying through her teeth without being caught, it all makes sense now!"

She stopped spinning and lowered the girl until they met face-to-face. "And I have to thank you for that."

Aria put Scootaloo on the ground, and strolled up to the door, only stopping when Scootaloo shouted "wait!"

"Yes?"

"Thanks..." Scootaloo smiled. "For helping me understand better how Sweetie felt back then."

"And..." Aria paused, smiled, and continued. "Thank you too. For helping me figure out how things made sense once again."

Aria bid farewell, and threw an envelope to the counter before she left the establishment, the envelope holding enough money to pay for everything the girls bought.

Author's Note:

So, thanks to Scootaloo, Aria has not only experienced guilt as well, but also figured out the reason behind Adagio treating Sweetie Belle more... well, sweetly, than she expected.

Scootaloo, however, will take a while to rest, so the movie night with Sweetie Belle will have to wait for a little bit longer. Granted, this is probably something Aria would like... especially considering what she has in mind...

Also, yeah, these chapters are definitely getting longer than expected.

Draxonos135, flying away.