//------------------------------// // Diamond of a Solution // Story: Younger Generation // by Seanzilla115 //------------------------------// "Timid… are you okay?" Scootaloo asked as it was 4:12, about seven or so minutes after class ended. "..." "Come on Timid. Tell us what's wrong?" Sweetie Belle asked. "..C-Cheerilee-sensei wants to see us after class," Timid replied. "What?!" Quirky gasped, "Why?!" "Take a quick guess," Dawn Star said with a frown. "...Diamond Tiara?" all of the other Crusaders guessed. "Correct," Amethyst nodded, frowning as well. "And she wanted whoever is in charge of us to come too…" Timid whimpered nervously. "Why?! We didn't do anything wrong!" "I-I know demo…" Timid began before paling, seeing Silver Hawk, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight all arrived, with Timid ducking her head down nervously. "Uh… h-hi mom," Scootaloo waved nervously. "Hey… uh… is everything alright?" Rainbow Dash asked, seeing the nervous look on her adopted daughter's face. "I… really don't know," Scootaloo admitted. "Are you sure? Because Timid looks really scared right now," Twilight noted, making the CMC freeze up. "...Sorry Timid, but we need to tell them," Dawn Star sighed as she walked up to the violet alicorn, "Twilight, our teacher wants to see Timid and the rest of us later today. And… well… she wants are parent, sibling, or guardian to come with us." "Nani? Why?" Silver Hawk asked with semi-wide eyes. "A-an-ano…" Timid whimpered as she hid behind Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, the shy filly shaking nervously. "Because Diamond Tiara called Timid's birthday gift stupid, leading to Dawn Star coming to her defense, and they argued right in front of our teacher," Quirky informed. "I see…" Twilight noted, a small frown forming on her face. --- "Thank you for coming," Cheerilee said a bit later as the Crusaders along with ponies who acted as family or legal guardians arrived. "So… what's going on?" Pinkie asked. "Well… the Crusaders aren't in any trouble, I just had to ask them… if they've been being bullied. But whenever I talked with students about it before, I had to bring someone else in to help them calm down. But no matter what I try, they're still too scared to say who's bullying them," Cheerilee explained before sighing a bit, "Which leads me to my question… Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Timid Swallow, Quirky, Dawn Star, Amethyst…" she paused as she turned towards the CMC, "Is Diamond Tiara bullying you?" "...Yes," Scootaloo sighed, "We didn't want to tell anypony before, and wanted to try and pull through it. But lately… she's being more and more of a…" "Big fat, mean bully of a jerky filly," Quirky added with a frown, "She stole my birthday for 'compensation' when I accidently bumped into her they day I came to Ponyville." "She's been bullying all of us because we don't have our Cutie Marks," Applebloom informed, "That's why Ah tried askin' mah sister and friends for a way to get it faster." "...So, she's been bullying you for a while now?" Cheerilee asked, frowning a bit. "Yea," the original three Crusaders nodded. "She blackmailed us if we didn't continue making rumors about everypony," Sweetie Belle stated. "She convinced mah cousin, Babs Seed to bully us and take our clubhouse," Applebloom added, making Applejack look at her in surprise, "It's true." "She… she…" Scootaloo paused before sighing sadly, "She made fun of me not being able to fly… and the fact I was an orphan." "I se- Hold on...What do you mean by rumors?" Cheerilee asked, a little unsure. "Remember that newspaper we worked on for a little while?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Yes. But I don't..." Cheerilee began before seeing where the unicorn filly was going with this, "You mean to say…she forced you to make those nasty rumors?" "Wait. So you were being blackmailed into making all those false facts about us?" Rarity asked, fairly surprised. "Eeyep," Applebloom nodded, "We didn't want all that to happen… but she said she would do something worse to us if we told anypony about what was really happenin'." "...What did she say?" Cheerilee asked in a serious tone. "Well…" the original three Crusaders began, as they all began to remember. --- (-Flashback-) "I can't believe this… everypony in town hates us now because of those rumors we made up," Sweetie Belle sighed sadly. "Yeah… mah sis is really upset at me right now," Applebloom added. "And Rainbow Dash doesn't even want anything to do with me," Scootaloo sighed, her mane completely wet when Rainbow Dash forced a raincloud to get the filly wet, "...girls. I think we need to stop this and tell Ms. Cheerilee what's going on." "Are you sure…?" Applebloom asked nervously. "I'm serious. Rainbow Dash and the others hates us now because of those rumors Diamond Tiara had us post in the paper. So we need to tell the teacher…" Scootaloo began. "Tell her what?" a voice asked, making the CMC turn to see Diamond Tiara glaring at them. "...About what you're doing to us," Scootaloo stated bravely, "We quit, and there's nothing you can do to stop us from telling Ms. Cheerilee on you." "...No you aren't," she responded. "We don't care if you post those pictures, we're going to tell on you." "Again, no you aren't. Not unless you want your 'sister's to have a home," Diamond Tiara threatened, making the CMC look at her with scared, wide eyes, "I can convince my daddy they and their friends threatened to use the Elements of Harmony to banish me to the moon, making him not only take their homes away, but having them placed under arrest. They'll be in jail for so long, not even the princess can get them out." The three Crusaders all looked on at the filly in horror, as they all backed away, putting their reporting hats back on. (End Flashback) --- "She… said that…?" Twilight and Cheerilee asked with wide eyes, earning nods from the original three members of the CMC. "Now Ah definitely see why y'all don't like her," Applejack frowned. "Indeed. What a nasty little filly," Rarity added. "Hai," Silver and Fluttershy agreed, frowning as well. "...We've always been scared she was going to keep using that threat… so we've kept quiet about her bullying for all this time…" Scootaloo said in fear before hugging Rainbow Dash, "I-I didn't want her to take you and your friends away, mom." Everypony looked at the first three Crusaders in shock, including the new four Crusaders. To think they held this secret for so long, shocked them. "I… see," Cheerilee noted. "Ah didn't want to lose the family farm…a-Ah didn't want to lose mah big sister," Applebloom added, shivering a bit as tears formed in her eyes. "I didn't want Rarity to be taken away and lose her job. It… it wouldn't be fair," Sweetie Belle added. "...You three have sure gone through a lot, keeping that a secret for so long…" Twilight responded. "We know," Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo nodded sadly, looking down. "I wouldn't be that brave…" Timid sighed as she cried. "Neither would I," Amethyst added. "Yeah… I'd try to tell you to cheer up, but… I'm too shocked and saddened after hearing all that," Quirky sighed, her mane deflating a bit. "Cutie Mark Crusaders… please, just promise me this. If you're ever bullied again, you'll tell someone, okay?" Cheerilee asked. "Y… yes, Ms. Cheerilee." Applebloom nodded. "Yes/h-hai /Cheerilee-sensei," the rest of the CMC added. "Good, thank you all for coming," Cheerilee smiled, "You may leave now" --- "Scootaloo… I'm proud that you opened up," Rainbow Dash smiled. "Thanks mom. I-I was scared to tell anypony that, but… I'm kinda glad I did now," Scootaloo replied, sighing a bit in relief. Dash pulled her adopted daughter into a hug, smiling at her. --- "Good morning, class," Cheerilee greeted her students the next day, "Today, I have an announcement for you all." "What is it?" Dawn Star asked. "It has come to my attention that bullying in schools has started to get out of hand. Therefore, I'm establishing an anti-bullying rule," Cheerilee replied as she motioned to the chalk board, showing the word 'bully' crossed out, "If anypony here is found bullying someone, they will be suspended from school." "So? That doesn't sound bad," Diamond Tiara scoffed a bit before flinching at the disapproving glare Cheerilee was giving her. "One more thing… if anypony is being bullied, come see me immediately. Okay?" Cheerilee asked her class. "Okay," the class smiled. --- "Finally, we can play recess without worry now," Sweetie Belle sighed in relief before kicking a ball over to Quirky, "Heads up!" "I got it!" Quirky beamed as she bopped the ball with her head, "Coming your way, Amethyst!" Amethyst took off a little bit into the air, managing to balance the ball, "Got it. Dawn Star, comin' your way!" "Got it!" Dawn Star nodded as she took off into the air a bit and flew after the ball just as Amethyst hit it towards her, however she missed the ball and it landed a little bit away from Diamond Tiara, who had a venomous glaring look on her face. "Hello… Blank Flanks," the spoiled filly said, saying 'Blank flanks' like it was a poison. "Ugh… what now Diamond Tiara? We're trying to have fun here," Dawn Star sighed as she flew down to the ground. "You know what! Ms. Cheerilee talked with my daddy yesterday, and guess what?! He grounded me for three months! I can't do anything except go to school now thanks to you blank flanks!" Diamond Tiara snapped. "...To be fair, you brought that on yourself for bullying us," Dawn Star stated with a frown of her own. "You Crusaders are going to regret this, terribly!" "...I'm suddenly kinda scared," Timid whispered to Dawn Star. "I am too, Timid. Hopefully it's an empty threat since she can't do anything now, "Dawn Star reassured. "Hai… that bully has been exposed as the nasty filly she really is," Amethyst added. Diamond Tiara walked off, before turning to the Crusaders with a scowl, before she just walked off. 'I swear I'll get back at those blank flanks...I swear it,' the spoiled filly thought as she walked away.