Hopefultality

by Mindless Dream

2: Preliminary

I remember the night after the incident with Rarity, I was sitting alone in my bedroom, ignoring my father grumbling about a hard day at work from down the hall. I wanted to die. Shrivel up. Disappear. But then I remembered all the good things in life and decided shriveling wasn't the way to go. All the good things in life like... Like... Well, you know what I'm talking about. Good things. And the friends and family I'd be leaving behind. And, how does one just "shrivel"?
Really, shriveling up made no sense, so I decided not to. But I did have to put an end to any bullying. At least done by Clover and Company. Or by anypony, for that matter. But I just said that. Okay, here, I had to focus on Clover and Rarity for just right then. The reign of terror had to end.
I had to devise a plan. Whisper Door was afraid to talk to me, Sugarfree was hesitant to do anything, and so I had Candy. Candy would be all sorts of fun. And by fun I mean annoying. And by all sorts of I mean in every way possible.

Urgh.

Of course, I couldn't just jump into the battle, I had to have a plan. A plan. Plan, plan, plan. Say it enough, sounds funny. I had no idea for a plan. Plan, need a plan. Beautiful plan, one to rock the ages, be remembered.
Around the thirty-first time I said "plan", which actually had started to sound funny, I realized I needed a plan. Damn, there it goes again.
Candy was inarguably on my side. The conversation might as well have started with "yes", but there had to be one to tell her what had to happen.
"There's something I must ask you," I recall beginning. Her eyes lit up brighter than my grandad when he bet against a winning team. She nodded vigorously. "There is no clear plan, and there's a high chance we'll fail..."
"Yes?!" Candy was practically jumping.
"...but the bullying scene in this school has to burn to a stop..."
"And?!"
"...and I need help."
"YES! Yes, oh yes, I will do it!" she had started jumping. Oh, how did I predict that? Candy is sweet, but as I said previously, can get annoying. Although I had premeditated their responses, the good simeritan friend within me wouldn't have it but to still ask them.
Sugarfree, of course, was cynical and pessimistic about the situation. Said we couldn't stop it if we tried. And I knew it was true. I had heard of other stories of bully intervening attempts. Not pretty. Ever wonder why Twist has a lisp? Oh, you don't know her, do you? Alright, nevermind. Still, it was pretty bad.
Pretty bad.
But who would buck Candy in the face? And that's who I was working with. Seeing as a certain Whisper Door almost had an attack when I asked him! I mean, for the love of Cadence! The colt started sweating and spewing nonsense, and I had to tell him to forget it before he did the... thing.
I sighed. Nothing was working out. I felt like merping just then. Little help, no backup, not much of anything worth going on, and two major problems looming over me like giant pillars of trouble.
Clever should be easy, I thought at the time. I mean, while Rarity had street smarts, Clever had little less smarts than trends and fads. While Rarity was tough, Clever was a pansy. While Rarity was quick and sharp-tongued, Clever wasn't exactly the brightest bulb (much less clever). But there was one setback in this optimistic idea.

While Rarity was all these things that Clever wasn't, Clever had Rarity.

---

I hadn't gone over such things in my head at the time. I was blissfully unaware that Candy and I were walking right into open graves.
Now, before we get into the battle royale, which I do not literally die in, just socially, don't worry, we have to get into getting into it. If that doesn't make sense, just listen.
Candy was actually the one who came up with a plan. We, first needed to get over this vague "stop the bullies" jist. There had to be a way, a reason, a method to the madness, and a superrifically good plan to "stop" them, first. Her words, not mine. Here's what she meant. A way to "stop" them, so there had to be some direct approach, a planned downfall, a tactic. The first step of this tactic was to find a way to "stop" them. So, we needed a reason, a specific deal that would cross the line, so to say. So we needed to create a way for them to cross this said line, a madness that would snap one, and it needed a method, a way for it to happen. Ergo, a method to the madness. All of these things put together, with a little glue to fill the gaps, would be a good plan. Superiffically good, as Candy said.
Sadly, neither of us were smart enough to figure it out.
Luckily, a poor, fellow bullied soul spoke out one day.
Smart one at that.

---

Lucky for us a little light-hearted filly overheard our plans. Bad pun, I know. Here's how it went down, basically. I'd have just told you earlier, but the events leading up to it were pertinent.
So, this happening... right after Candy's little speech about plans. A feeble, accented voice spoke from behind us.
"Maybe I could help...?" she whispered, scaring the majeebus out of both of us.
After recovering from the shock, which took about three seconds, don't worry, I turned and responded. "Sure! Whatchya got?"
"Well, um... I know some stuff about Rarity. Personal stuff," she bargained. Candy nodded, interested. I, on the other hoof, was unsure.
"How ready are we to take on such a big power as Rarity? Let's take Clever first," I insisted. Light shrugged.
"Well... That does make sense," she agreed. "I... I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I overheard you needing a plan. I may be your mare. I think I have a plan!"
"Go on...!" Candy encouraged.
"Well, here's the deal with Clever. She... isn't exactly clever, so she should be easy. What we need to do is humiliate her, make her lose face. Once she loses some renown, she'll be respected less. So, then, we humiliate her again, not too soon after the first time, but not too far away, either. I have an idea for the first time. But, it's still not ready. But, I can have it ready by... Say, you open Sunday?" she explained, having us nodding the entire time.
"Yeah, I'm game," I confirmed.
"Sure, why not?" beamed Candy.
"Great, meet me in the town square at noon this Sunday!" she decided, packed up her stuff, and left.