"What on Earth was all that?" I exclaimed, trotting up to the pink filly ahead of me upon leaving the classroom. School was just over and everypony was leaving to their respective homes or guardians that came to pick them up.
"I-I j-just wanted to show her who's boss, and she was asking for it- wait, Earth?" Dia paused mid-sentence while slowing down to let me catch up.
"Yes, Earth, the dirt, the soil, Celestia's holy ground! What on Earth were you thinking?" I shot down Dia. My expression doubly furrowed in the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. "What happened to us making friends with Scootaloo?"
"I-I, didn't you hear what she said Sil? She called us 'dweebs', and she called me ugly! She had to be shown her place!" Dia stomped the ground in her own defense.
"And just what was 'her place' exactly Dia?" I sighed, already knowing the source of this way of thinking.
"Below us of course! I'm a Diamond! And you're a Silver! We shouldn't be treated like this. Especially not by the likes of her!" The pink filly argued. "Why do you want to be friends with her so much anyways? She only ever called us names ever since we got here."
"She's, she's not that bad. Or, at least she isn't supposed to." I muttered, kicking the dirt.
"What do you mean isn't supposed to?" Dia eyed me skeptically.
"I mean, she wasn't this... rude in my dreams." My eyes lowered to the ground as I brought a hoof to my chin in thought. "She isn't supposed to be the one starting fights. Usually we were the ones that did that..."
Dia scoffed. "Well maybe there was a reason why we did that. I'll admit that Sweetie Belle turned out to be a good friend, but to me Scootaloo just seems like a lost cause."
My courage quickly dwindled after that remark. With another sigh, I state. "We can't just give up on her. There's got to be a way for her to be on our side." I furrowed my eyes deeper, quickly reminiscing what little details I can recall about the orange pegasus.
"Sil, be honest with me. Do you actually want to be friends with Scootaloo?" Dia asked.
"Of course I d-"
"No Sil, think! Do you actually want to be friends with Scootaloo?" The pink filly's gaze peered into me as she held both my cheeks with her hooves. "Or are you just doing it because you don't want us to end up like those ponies in your dreams?"
Those words actually managed to get me to stop thinking for a moment as I stopped in my tracks. "I-I", I stuttered as I seriously considered it. Do I want to be friends with Scootaloo? It's not like she isn't a bad filly, at least not truly from what I've seen in the show. Then again, Diamond Tiara wasn't truly a bad filly either as depicted in said show. The flightless pegasus was an alright kid from what I could see. She was definitely loud, obsessed with her scooter, and just a little overbearing in her Rainbow Dash worship, but she wasn't a bad kid. Yet I couldn't say that I was particularly motivated to be her friend either. "Well, like, it's a mixture of both really?" I gave an unsure answer with a conflicted expression.
Dia returned an unamused gaze but ended up sighing at the pathetic response. "Okay, okay. You can try to be friends with her and I'll try to be less mean to her. Just, think about whether or not you actually want to go through with this. You're not obli... obli... um.... obliii..." Dia trailed off with her own speech.
".....Obligated?" I suggested.
"Obligated! You're not obligated to be her friend!" Pointed at me with her pink hoof in my face.
I carefully moved her hoof away and nodded to her. "Yeah alright, thanks Dia." I snorted to myself.
"What?" Dia tilted her head.
I snorted again before I quickly explained. "I just didn't think I'd be getting a lecture on friendship by you."
"What? Why not! I have tons of friends! Naturally I would be an expert at it." Dia turned her muzzle up playfully as she skipped back to her mansion.
"Right, right." I said before I followed her, smiling lightly before returning to my pondering. I have a lot to think about.
"Urghhhhhhh!" Sweetie Belle groaned in the comfort of her bed. It was only yesterday that she became official friends with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but Scootaloo's behavior had only really started to get on her nerves. She had thought for sure that she would have been able to convince Scootaloo to add another friend to this group, but the other two just had to come in at the worst time. Not that she could blame them, Silver Spoon probably had the same idea as her. Or rather, she had the same idea as Silver Spoon considering what she revealed to her.
"Why does Scootaloo have to be such a jerk!" The unicorn filly practically screamed into her pillow, frustrated at her pegasus friend, but also frustrated with herself. Looking up from her pillow with a scowl unbefitting of a filly, she muttered. "Why didn't I stop her?" It was the question that raced her mind ever since she left the school grounds. The whole argument replayed at the center of her mind.
She could have intervened and stopped that fight from escalating. She should have. Yet, she just stood there looking dumbfounded at the sheer vile name-calling that was thrown back and forth. Silver Spoon looked equally as bewildered as her when it happened. In the end, neither of them said anything and all that shouting caused what little chance she had at befriending Applebloom to dissipate. "This is so... stupid." Sweetie Belle cursed under her breath, wishing she had a word for something even dumber than the word 'stupid'. "This is... super stupid."
Plenty of minutes have passed since Sweetie Belle started pondering words and phrases to properly contextualize how utterly 'stupid' this was; from 'super-mega-stupendously-stupid' to just plain stupid.
"Sweetie Belle? Are you alright in there? I heard a lot of sighing in there." Rarity voiced through the door in a muffled tone.
"I'm alright." The light-grey filly shouted while being muffled on top of her pillow. She flipped over to finally breathe and calm down from her thoughts. "Just... why does Scootaloo have to be so-" Sweetie Belle refrained from using one of the many variations of the word 'stupid', "difficult?"
"Pardon?" Rarity asked through the door again.
Sweetie Belle sighed before hopping off her bed and approaching the door. "Hey Rarity," the filly opened the door for her, "it's just that today Scootaloo got in a fight with my two other friends."
Rarity grimaced at the news. "I would imagine it didn't end well."
"Ugh... tell me about it." Sweetie Belle turned around before quickly hopping back into her cushions, legs folded in a loaf-like posture. "How do you even deal with a friend who doesn't even want to get along with your other friends?" She groaned in place, mostly asking herself that question.
"Well, that's a pretty difficult question Sweetie." Rarity approached the filly-sized bed and sat next to her little sister, mimicking her posture. "Not everypony can get along with each other, that is the unfortunate truth."
"But the reason they can't get along is so stupid!" The filly exclaimed.
The older unicorn gasped, bringing a single hoof to cover her mouth. "Sweetie Belle!"
"But it's the truth! It's so stupid! The only reason why Scootaloo doesn't get along with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon is because she has this dumb idea that eggheads are ponies she shouldn't hang out with!" Sweetie Belle jumped from her sitting posture in bridled rage. "Stupid Scootaloo and stupid Rainbow Dash!" She shouted in anger.
Rarity was momentarily stunned from this outburst, before narrowing her eyes. "Wait, did you say Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah! It was Rainbow Dash that taught her that eggheads were, and I quote 'uncool'." Sweetie Belle blurted out.
Rarity paused, her concern slowly turning into a stern look. "That brainless pegasus... I swear she never considers the consequences of her careless actions!" Rarity stood up from her sister's bed.
"Wait, you know her?" Sweetie Belle tilted her head, eyes bewildered at the revelation.
"Know her? She keeps crashing into my boutique!" The older unicorn exclaimed. "She's lucky that damage repair is so cheap here in Ponyville. Oh when I get my hooves on her... I'll give her a lecture that she can't possibly fly away from!"
"Wait, she crashed into your house?" The small filly questioned.
"Boutique, and yes. I had forgot that you haven't lived here long enough to know that." Rarity sighed.
"Is Rainbow Dash your friend or something?" Sweetie Belle innocently asked.
"Oh, no oh heavens no! We're more like... acquaintances... by circumstance." The older sister answered vaguely. Only when she saw the further confusion on her little sister's face is when she elaborated further. "Rainbow Dash is... Ponyville's local nutcase. Second to Pinkie Pie, but at least Pinkie Pie actually tries not to cause collateral damage."
"Wait so, does she crash often?!" Sweetie Belle questioned.
"Every week or so, unfortunately..." Rarity answered. "However, for Celestia only knows, she crashed into my boutique for the 8th time this year! In a row no less! I swear she's doing it on purpose!" she snorted angrily.
"But she lives in the sky right? In one of those cloud houses? How are you going to talk to her?"
Rarity side-glanced at the window before narrowing her gaze. "Well, I don't actually have a direct method. Pegasi can't really receive message scrolls like unicorns do." The older sister sighed. "I'm going to have to send a complaint to Mayor Mare. I'm not going to let that irresponsible mare ruin the precious friendship of my favorite little sister!~" The older mare swooped in for a big hug.
"H-Hey, get off of me! Ack-!" To Sweetie Belle's dismay, she was swiftly suffocated within the clutches of her doting older sister. "Rarity! Can't... breathe!"
"Oh don't be overdramatic Sweetie Belle, your older sister is going to help, like I always do." Rarity nuzzled her sister on the cheek. Sweetie Belle eventually stopped her futile struggling.
A part of her was happy that the problem was going to be resolved, but another small part of her worried greatly that things were going to backfire horribly. Ultimately this irrational scenario in her mind that had thought speaking with Rainbow Dash would make this worse was defeated by the genuine comfort of her sister's warm and fuzzy coat. With a defeated sigh, hugged Rarity back. "Thanks sis."