The three ponies fell silent as Diamond Tiara and her friend came upon the CMCs, strutting with the confidant, arrogance air that instinctively accompanied them.
The two fillies walked over to the CMCs. Naturally, Diamond Tiara spoke first: “Silver and I were waiting outside, and we heard what you were saying.” The expression on her face, however, was hard to read.
There were a few beats of silence. Then, Silver Spoon spoke, with a slight smirk in her voice. “This is about helping Scootaloo fly, isn’t it?”
The CMCs hardly knew what to say in response to the smart-aleck grins on the two fillies’ faces. It looked as though the truth was out… now what would these two say?
These ponies, who have made fun of me in the past- no. The past is past, Scootaloo. The past is in the past.
But… what will they say about me?
Finally, Diamond Tiara spoke: “We knew it. We just, like, knew it. You should really work on making this treehouse more private for ponies who you don’t want around.” A grinning Diamond Tiara motioned to the open doorway as she spoke.
Applebloom found her voice: “Look. We’re sorry we didn’t ask you two to come today. We never meant to hurt your feelings.” If there was one thing Applebloom was good at, it was saying something sincere while being honest. While it was true that neither of the CMCs were that keen on having the two reformed rivals as part of this special meeting, the actions had never been intentionally to make anypony feel left out. “But you two really shoudn’t ‘ave been spyin’ on us.”
Diamond Tiara flashed one of her signature smiles; an effective mix between proud, friendly, and devious. Perhaps the Deviousness, once again, was in the imagination of the CMCs. “In all fairness, Applebloom, you told us to leave. But you never said we couldn’t listen in.” She glanced at her friend. “Isn’t that right, Silvey?”
Silver Spoon shrugged slyly. “She does have a point, you know. Like, you three should really be more consistent with your wording.”
Applebloom scowled: “Fer yer information it’s not you three, I was the one speakin’-” Applebloom shook her head. “Why am I gettin’ hung up over this? My point is, this is a-”
“We know, we know, it’s a secret mission.” Silver Spoon spoke dismissively while waving her hoof and rolling her eyes, not showing any negative emotion from being rejected. “Our point is, we couldn’t help but listen in. And…” Silver Spoon closed her eyes, and sighed loudly. “We aren’t here to make fun of you. We want…” She cringed a bit. “...to help... you.”
The crusaders were taken aback by surprise. Surprise, slightly hinted with doubt. Could this really be happening, or was this another a joke? Although the two rivals were reformed - as far as most ponies at the Ponyville school knew - who was to say that this for sure wasn’t another prank, or joke?
Once again, strong-minded Applebloom spoke: “... Well, this is a surprise. But anyways, we really appreciate the offer and all, but this is something’ we should really do by ourselves.” Applebloom smiled widely. “So, not to rude or anythin’, but can ya please leave. Thank you.”
Scootaloo couldn’t help flinching at the way Applebloom spoke. She had clearly inherited from her artificial sister the capability of being extremely honest and hard-headed, to a point where it could be hurtful. And these two fillies didn’t necessarily deserve to not be given a second chance.
But do I want these two to help me fly? Scootaloo’s mind began to spin, like it always tended to do whenever the two former rivals were around.
She thought of all the times Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon made fun of her for her inability to fly. At first, there were only small comments. Small bouts of giggling, pointing, name-calling. Small, rare situations that were easy to ignore.
However, the fillies grew more persistent with age. And the bullying towards Scootaloo - besides many other ponies that were made into targets for flaws they had, from being blank flanks to unpopular to simply “uncool”, the bullying grew worse.
Diamond Tiara, slightly taken aback by Applebloom’s words, spoke: “Listen. If you three let me help out… I’ll feel better about myself.” Her voice was softer now; her expression more somber. “This is going to sound a bit stupid, but… I’ve always wanted to be somepony else. And in order for that to happen-” Diamond Tiara looked away, blushing. “- or should I say, for me to realize that it’s happening… I just need to help somepony. Anypony. And I figured now that you three… may look like you need some help, I want to take this opportunity to prove to other ponies,” Diamond Tiara cringed, “and myself, that I’m… not so mean?”
Diamond Tiara looked at the CMCs sheepishly. The words she had just spoken were hard to say, and yet, they flowed off her tongue quickly as though they had been rehearsed many times.
“Uh, hold on a sec please.” Applebloom motioned her two friends closer, towards the back of the treehouse. She was calling for a private discussion.
The entire discussion happened in whispers. Applebloom spoke first:
“Scootaloo… what do you think? This mission is for you after all.” Her eyes bounced in the direction of the two other fillies. “Do you want them to help you fly?”
“Uuhh…” Scootaloo felt undecided. A part of her thought maybe, while a small voice in her still whispered: no”. The real question was which of the voices in her - which sides of her gut - she should trust. She went with the first one: “Maybe? I mean, well, it doesn’t look like they are going to leave unless we… let them in, you know?”
“But that ain’t an excuse to include them. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I trust those two more than I did before, but… are we ready to trust them this much?” Applebloom’s eyes reflected the way Scootaloo felt: Uncertain, worried, confused.
Finally, Sweetie Belle spoke: “You know what? They already know our mission, and they want to help. So, let’s trust them.” She beamed.
The two other ponies looked at the unicorn in surprise. “What makes ya decide so quickly, Sweetie? Why do ya think this is such a good idea?”
Sweetie Belle slighted in annoyance, without breaking her confidant air: “Well, Scootaloo did say that this is a CMC mission… but it would still be considered one if we were involved. Maybe we should look at this another way, and open up the idea of including other ponies, rather than restricting the responsibilities to us.” Sweetie Belle glanced over at the two fillies, as her expression turned more sincere: “And if we do this, we’ll help them feel more welcome. I think Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon can be nice, and we just need to give them a chance rather than shut them out, just because - no offence Scootaloo - this is supopsedly a mission only for the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
“But, Sweetie Belle - well, I like yer suggestion an’ all, but… who’s to say that this should be ‘bout them, when it’s really ‘bout Scootaloo flyin’?”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes began to show more emotion: “But Applebloom, you don’t understand. If we help them, we also help Scootaloo. This mission is still about her. And we seem to be a bit limited on ideas. Maybe it’ll help to have two other friends help.” Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened in surprise, as the word “friends” came out of her mouth so automatically. Nevertheless, she continued. “I don’t know about you, but I really want to see Scootaloo fly.” The comment left Scootaloo blushing, with the warmness of receiving encouragement and care that she had been waiting all her life to receive. Sweetie Belle continued: “And here, it looks like we might all win both ways. Before saying whether letting other ponies help will…” Sweetie Belle made quotations with her hooves, “...’jinx things’, I say we give these two fillies a chance, and consider that maybe letting them help is for the good of this mission.”
Applebloom sighed softly. “If ya say so, Sweetie. I mean, somepony needed to make a decision eventually.” Nethertheless, she smiled while saying this; Applebloom was confidant herself that perhaps this would work for the better, for three ponies rather than one. “Scoot, the final decision is yers. So, whaddya think?” The two ponies glanced at her encouragingly.
Scootaloo, blush still rising in her cheeks from receiving so much care for her problems, answered: “Yes.”
All three ponies turned around to inform Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon the decision. The two fillies had waited patiently for a rather long secret discussion.
Scootaloo was the one who spoke, beaming: “Welcome to our mission.”
As Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon cheered, everything in Scootaloo’s mind seemed to be alright.
However, as the other two CMCs retained the Mission Diagram in order to show the two fillies the plans they had brainstormed already, the dark thoughts that she thought were long gone began to resurface…
“Al-right! I call this CMC mission… To order!” Applebloom tapped the front table with the mock judge hammer. It felt just like old times, calling missions to order in this professional way.
Only this time, there were two other ponies accompanying the CMCs in this special mission for a pegasus. Two ponies who, in efforts to mend their old ways, insisted on helping this one time. At least, that was what it seemed like; hopefully, it was the truth.
But meanwhile - all doubts cast aside - there was a mission to perform. A mission… with three cutie mark crusaders and two reformed rivals. No pony would have ever seen it coming.