When I'm With You
After a long day of crusading and scootering, Scootaloo returned to her apartment in Manehattan that she shared with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, hoping to wind down and relax that evening.
She took out her key and opened her front door, sulking tiredly into her living room.
"Whatcha doing, Sweetie?" Scootaloo approached her filly-hood friend who appeared to be concentrating on something important.
"I'm writing a song. Don't disturb the creative process," Sweetie Belle muttered, barely audibly.
Scootaloo smirked. Sweetie Belle sure had grown up. It had been about a year since the Cutie Mark Crusaders had moved to Manehattan to expand their cause, and Sweetie Belle had spent countless off-hours writing surprisingly deep songs.
"Now that you're here," Sweetie Belle suddenly said. "Can you write this one with me? I'm not feeling it enough, I need another set of eyes."
"Me? You know how badly I suck at writing songs!" Scootaloo protested. But she resented when Sweetie Belle broke into her adorable puppy face. Dang, she hated when that happened. "OK, I'll write this one. But don't expect anything to be good."
Scootaloo looked at what Sweetie Belle had written so far. Lines and lines of different notes, assigned to different instruments including piano, saxophone, bass guitar, and drums, scaled the page. However, there were no notes for the singing part. The song had no words.
"Is it supposed to be an instrumental song?" Scootaloo wondered.
"Nope. You're gonna help write the words," Sweetie Belle grinned. This was weird, but Scootaloo was going to oblige to make her filly-hood friend happy. That was how friendship worked, anyway.
"OK." Scootaloo thought before breaking out into an improvised song. As she promised, this was anything but good. For instance, she sang something like this: "I like cheese / cheese tastes good / and when I eat it / it makes me feel...good! Yeah, good. / You put cheese on pizza / and hayburgers / and pretty much anything you want - "
"All right, stop right there." Sweetie Belle barely contained a laugh as she took in Scootaloo’s questionable lyricist abilities. "That's not even what I want the song to be about. Nice try. But if you study the notes and instruments you can tell what the song is supposed to be about."
"I can't read music," Scootaloo deadpanned. Sweetie Belle knew that, right? What was up anyways?
"Right...well, it's supposed to be a love song." Sweetie Belle blushed a little and hid behind her mane.
A love song? Despite it being very popular int he music business, a love song was the one type of song Sweetie had never written before. After all, she had never liked anypony before.
Scootaloo tried again. "I love you / your eyes are...blue / Your face is cool-looking / and I like looking at it / and you're probably creeped out because I keep staring at you / but can't you see baby / I love you."
Sweetie Belle was once again trying not to laugh. "OK, it's a start. Let me just revise that a little bit."
"What's wrong with what I had?" Scootaloo joked.
"It's not...bad, per se, it's just that I want the song to be perfect!"
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "OK, whatever, Steely Belle."
Sweetie Belle levitated a quill and began to write. After a while the song read "I love you / your eyes of purple hue / Your beautiful face / makes my heart race / I can't help but stare / but baby know that I care / I love you."
"Oh. His eyes are purple." Scootaloo chuckled. "Well, I said blue. Close enough."
Scootaloo could have sworn that Sweetie Belle blushed a little at that statement.
"So who is this song for? Tender Taps?"
"You know Tender Taps is dating Apple Bloom. It's somepony else. Just guess." Sweetie smirked. Scootaloo thought for a little bit. "Nah, I got nothing. But let's continue." Scootaloo took an exaggeratedly deep breath before focusing her gaze on Sweetie. "When I'm with you, honey, my pulse pounds / and my head spins / When I'm with you / When I'm with you, honey, I can tell / that it's meant to be." Scootaloo quickly looked away and hid her face.
"Wow, that wasn't half bad coming from you." Sweetie Belle noticed. Scootaloo nodded slightly as Sweetie Belle wrote the words down.
---
Sweetie Belle had noticed one thing, that Scootaloo's lyrics were less random and ridiculous, and more powerful and meaningful whenever she was looking into Sweetie Belle's eyes. It was like Scootaloo was lost in a trance. This excited Sweetie Belle; maybe this whole plan would work out after all. She kept this in mind as an optimistic promise, and after she had written the last note of the singing part, she read it over quickly, trying to detect any mistakes. Despite Scootaloo's teasing, this did have to be perfect.
"You want to sing it with me, Scoots? Just to make sure it sounds good?"
"Uh...sure," Scootaloo chuckled nervously.
Sweetie Belle played a few bars on her piano as the two mares began to stare into each other's eyes before the two began their lines of the song.
I love you
your eyes of purple hue
Your beautiful face
makes my heart race
I can't help but stare
but baby know that I care
I love you
When I'm with you, honey my pulse pounds
and my head spins
When I'm with you
When I'm with you
I can tell, honey
that it's meant to be
I admire you
Your determined attitude
Your mane blowing in the wind
always makes me grin
I can't help but wonder
if we could be together
Me and you
When I'm with you, honey my pulse pounds
and my head spins
When I'm with you
When I'm with you
I can tell, honey
that it's meant to be
And I think all day and night about you
And it drives me crazy
wondering if you think about me too
When I'm with you, honey my pulse pounds
and my head spins
When I'm with you
When I'm with you
I can tell, honey
that it's meant to be
When I'm with you, honey my pulse pounds
and my head spins
When I'm with you
When I'm with you
I can tell, honey
that it's meant to be...
As Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sang their song, their faces drew closer and closer, and by the end of the song, before they had realized what they were doing, they had locked each other into a passionate kiss.
After they were done on account of running out of breath, Scootaloo blushed and quickly backed away, feeling terribly for what she had done. "I'm sorry, Sweetie. I know that was probably really awkward - "
"No it wasn't." Sweetie Belle smiled warmly. "You still haven't figured it out? I wrote the song for you."
"What? Oh, yeah. I do have purple eyes. I forgot." Scootaloo laughed. Now that Sweetie Belle had told her, it seemed so obvious. How had she not figured it out before? "Wow, I thought I was weird for liking you but...I guess you feel the same way at the same time. What are the odds of that happening?"
"It's a pretty rare occurrence," Sweetie Belle agreed. "But I'm glad it happened to us."
"This song, right here? This masterpiece of yours? This song's gonna be a hit," Scootaloo whispered softly into Sweetie Belle's ears before they kissed again, for longer and better this time around.
---
Scootaloo was right, the song was a hit. The only difference was, nopony knew who Sweetie Belle had referred to in the song. Not that they cared, considering they were lost in the genuine, soft jazz rock beat. All they knew was that Scootaloo at least had writing credit in the song, so she must have written some of it. But they didn't question that fact. Scootaloo was okay with this. Some things, like love for instance, just take time.