To Everypony, A Season

by GarlandGala

Chapter 2

In the high towers of Canterlot, the watchful eyes of Princess Celestia grew heavy with the setting sun. Soon, her sister would be coming to relieve her of her post. Luna would have much to oversee on a night like this. All the local pegasi had done well to clear the sky of clouds, ushering in a warm and breezy atmosphere that massaged one's mane like a lover's hoof. It was scheduled to be the perfect night for a romantic tryst beneath a star-studded sky... Luna's exact orders.

But for now, an orange sunset still lay across all of Equestria. Some of its light fell upon the official clubhouse of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, such that the interior appeared as if it were set on fire. A fire that was swiftly running out of oil.

Scootaloo was frantic. She glanced repeatedly at the open book she had swiped from Twilight’s shelf, Mixtures of the Mind. She tried her best to memorize the complex formula on the upturned page, just in case it became too dim for her to read. Maybe there had been a simpler, less sinister recipe than this, but she hadn't had much time to choose. It had taken all day to find the ingredients, and Scootaloo still had to mix them in the most meticulous manner. She didn't even bother talking to the other two fillies standing behind her; it was enough that they were not interfering.

Apple Bloom was considering it. She and Sweetie Belle had searched high and low for their friend, only to find her standing at a table directly under the west-facing window of the clubhouse, concocting something that would presumably curb her interest in Rainbow Dash's date. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stood as far back as they could, talking in hushed whispers. They were both frozen with uncertainty. Neither of them had ever seen Scootaloo quite like this before.

“ Shouldn't we do some’n?” Apple Bloom whispered.

Sweetie Belle looked as though she was close to panicking with indecision. “I don’t know! Rarity said that she needs to leave Rainbow Dash alone." she raised a hoof toward Scootaloo, "And she says this potion will make her stop worrying, so -”

“I know, but with another potion? After yesterday? Maybe we should just... y’know, go and ask Rarity.”

“No way!" Sweetie said, stomping a hoof. "Cutie Mark Crusaders aren't tattle-tales!”

“No, we ain't, but someone could get hurt. This is serious, Sweetie Belle!”

“Scoot said she’s going to be the one drinking it!”

“I know, and that doesn’t make me feel any better."

Apple Bloom, with a little more decisiveness than before, began crossing the room toward Scootaloo. Her voice raised a bit with the intent of being heard by everyone.

“That there potion could be another poison. I wanna see.”

Scootaloo turned almost mechanically and raised a hoof to block her advance. “Seems to me that you guys should learn how to mind your own business too!”

“Scootaloo...” Apple Bloom said gently, reaching up to meet Scootaloo’s hoof with a light touch. “You don’t need to hide stuff from us. We’re your best friends!”

“I do, too!” Scootaloo snapped, pulling her hoof away. "Know why? Because my so-called ‘best friends’ just make fun of me when I try and talk to them about anything!”

With a hmph of disdain, Scootaloo turned back to her work, more exasperated than before.

Sweetie Belle bit at her lips. She had already begun to feel very unhappy with herself whenever she looked back at the night around the campfire... the things that were said. She had been tired; they all had. They had spoken loosely and it didn't end the way it should have. Above all, Sweetie realized, most of that was her fault. She was the one that led the baiting and the insults, even when Scootaloo had made it crystal clear that she wasn't amused.

“Scootaloo...” Sweetie whispered sheepishly, walking up to join the others by the table. “Scoot, I... I didn't mean to pick on you last night. That was really mean of me. I’m sorry... okay?”

Apple Bloom smiled at Sweetie Belle, proudly. Scootaloo herself turned at first with anger, but then she seemed to pick up her friend's sincerity. Her face softened.

“So...” Sweetie continued, “If... um, if you like Rainbow Dash that way, it’s okay! We still love you and stuff! Um, like a friend I mean. But a really good friend! Just, um, I mean - arg!”

“Um, yeah!” Apple Bloom chimed in, saving Sweetie from further embarrassment. “Who needs some dumb ol’ potion when you can just tell us how you’re feelin’? Why, that sounds like a lesson in friendship right there!”

Sweetie giggled. “I guess we should go find Spike!”

For a moment, Scootaloo actually did smile a little. But then she turned, grabbed her wing by the teeth and pulled yet another Pegasus feather loose. Everypony was silent as she returned to the glass and stirred the concoction until it transformed into a deep, quivering blackness.

Spitting out her feather, Scootaloo calmly responded. “Talking's not going to fix anything. If you’re really my friends, and you really want me to feel better, then help me get inside the party tonight so we can get this over with.”

Apple Bloom blinked. “Come again? Party?”

“Oh, right!” Exclaimed Sweetie Belle, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t told Apple Bloom. She hadn't really told Scootaloo either, but it was of little surprise that she had found out on her own. “All the grown-ups are going to this big fancy party at The Braided Mane. It’s like, I dunno, a dumb ‘couples only’ thing.”

Suddenly it all made sense. “So that’s why Rarity found Dash a date.”

“Uh huh!” Sweetie Belle nodded, her mood lifted by the chance to gossip. “In fact, she found a lot of ponies dates. It’s a Hearts and Hooves tradition, and Rarity loves to play matchmaker. In fact, Fluttershy-”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Apple Bloom shook her head in confusion. “ Wasn't Hearts and Hooves, y’know, yesterday?”

“Well duh. Everypony had to work today, remember?“

None of these details made a lick of difference to Scootaloo, who loudly shut the potions book and closed the lid on her creation. Into her saddlebag it went.

“You guys remember how the last one worked, right?” She said, turning once again to her friends. “Cheerilee and Big McIntosh had to drink it while looking right at each other. Well. This is the same thing.”

There was a moment’s pause as everyone processed Scootaloo’s plan.

“Oh boy...” sighed Apple Bloom, already defeated. “Are you sure about this, Scoot?”

“You could wait for another time when there aren’t so many grown-ups around!” Added Sweetie Belle.

“No.” Scootaloo said with a voice that was calm but resolute. “I’m doing this tonight. You'll know why later. Look, guys... you can help me, or you can leave me. Or I guess you can tell on me if you want to be that way. It’s all just like Rarity said, I can’t choose things for you. But I can choose for me.”

Sweetie and Apple took one final look at each other, saw the matching defeat in their eyes, and sighed in unison.

Comments

[Voyna]

Great chapter!

[GarlandGala]

1532530
Thanks, that one should have probably been part of chp 1 but i wasnt sure how i wanted to break it up.