“You’re a horrible friend!” Apple Bloom’s voice echoed.
“But I-” I tried to say.
“CMC’s forever? Never with YOU!” Sweetie Belle’s voice roared.
“No please, you don’t-” I tried again.
“You’re a bully!” Scootaloo’s voice echoed all around me
The world shifted. I was back at the library and saw Twilight as she looked the other way, reading.
I sobbed, “Twilight?! Please-”
“What are you doing here? A horrible friend like you can’t be my little sister, what would Princess Celestia think? So until we can send you home, you’ll live in an orphanage.”
Before I could react, I faintly heard a voice, playing on the edge of my consciousness, calling my name. A blue light slowly filled my vision, and I woke with a start. I was still scared, my heart pounding in my ears.
“Star, Star, Star! Wake up!” Called Twilight, slightly panicked.
I took in heavy, shaky breaths, eyes darting around the room. A nightmare? Twilight must have heard me in my sleep, for it was still dark outside. Was not even sleep a place of safety from my troubles?
Twilight came to my bedside, and I hugged her tightly.
“It’s okay Star, it’s okay, you're safe.”
I slowed my breathing, calming a little, but my grip on Twilight didn’t loosen.
“I dreamt that I was the worst friend to Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, that you left me because of that, that- that-” I broke off into sobs, and Twilight stroked my mane gently.
“Oh, Star… I’ll never leave you, no matter what, okay?”
I looked up at her, and she kissed me gently on the muzzle.
Soon Twilight spoke again, “But as far as what you told me yesterday, I don’t think that you and the girls are friends.”
A few sobs escaped me, but I nodded weakly.
“How about tonight, you sleep with your big sis Twily?”
I looked up from her chest fur and nodded again as Twily dried my eyes with a tissue. After my eyes were dried, I was placed on her back and Flurry was levitated in my hooves. Finally, I was gently laid down on Twily’s bed, and she climbed in next to me. I snuggled up to her, as closely as I could, and slowly drifted back off to sleep.
I woke up to a brush being pulled gently through my coat, it felt so peaceful, I just relaxed. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Twilight lying next to me, the brush held in her magic.
“Mmmm.”
Twilight giggled, “Morning Star.”
“Mmmm, morning big sis,” I mumbled.
Twilight stopped and said, “I hope you slept well, as it’s time for breakfast.”
“Okay,” I then noticed that I had no pajamas on, or diaper, “Twilight?”
“Yeah? Is it about your pajamas and diaper?”
I nodded.
“I figured there was no harm in getting you out of that while you were still sleeping. Besides, I know you love to get your tummy brushed,” Twilight giggled, and I joined her.
My nose picked up something delicious and I followed the smell to the dining room and ate the breakfast of oats, honey, and flowers that Spike had prepared for us, and like always, it was delicious.
The breakfast was great but short. We both thanked Spike before heading back upstairs to get ready for the day. At Twilight’s bed, she finished brushing my mane and tail before we set off to school.
We were about halfway to school when I spotted Diamond and Silver, and as I wanted to walk with my friends, I turned to Twilight and said, “See you after school big sis.”
Twilight was a bit surprised, and maybe a little disappointed, “You don’t want me to walk you the rest of the way?”
“I’m fine, I’ll walk with my friends!” I smiled and looked towards Diamond and Silver.
Twilight nodded and we hugged goodbye before I walked over to my friends.
“Morning gals,” I said.
“Morning Star, are you ready for school?” Diamond asked.
We started walking again, and I replied “Yeah, I’m just hoping nothing will happen with those three today. I just want today to be peaceful..”
“Don’t worry about them,” Silver said.
“Yeah,” Diamond continued, “They didn’t respect that we were best friends, but just stick close to us, and it’ll be a quiet day.”
I smiled. “Thanks girls, so are we doing something after school today?”
“Well,” Diamond said, “Since my father and mother are out of town, and won’t be home until tomorrow, we can go to my place. Then you can see my room, and we can hang out by the pool.”
“Ohh, a pool? Sounds fun! Is anypony gonna be there to look after you?”
“Our butler Randolph, like always.” She replied, nonchalantly. Her family must really be rich if they have a butler.
We chit-chatted for the rest of the way, and soon the schoolhouse came into view. We arrived and placed our saddlebags by our desks, but Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, or Scootaloo hadn’t yet arrived. Even though I didn’t want any drama today I still wanted to apologize, or at least to clear the air.
It wasn’t long before the bell rang, and the three ponies I’d been dreading seeing trotted into class. Sweetie Belle sat next to me, so I decided that I should try and get her attention somehow.
During class, Miss Cheerilee read a section of a book to us, then the class had to write a short story while I had to continue learning how to write. I tried for a few minutes to do my practice, but my mind kept drifting. How could I get Sweetie Belle’s attention? As I fiddled with the crayon in my mouth I got a perfect idea, and I let go of the crayon, watching as it fell to the ground, right next to Sweetie Belle.
“Hey, Sweetie Belle,” I whispered, “Could you get me my crayon please?”
Without so much as looking at me, she grabbed it from the floor and forcefully placed it on my desk, a scowl on her face.
I wasn’t able to focus on much for the rest of the class, and I made little progress in writing. I made bigger progress in my magic yesterday, so hopefully, I’d be able to write with my magic soon, but that was a matter for another day.
As the bell for recess rang, I took an apple from my saddlebag and took a few bites while I watched Sweetie Belle and the two others walked out. I sighed.
Diamond walked over, looking a little concerned. “What’s wrong Star?”
“I just wanted to talk to them, and make sure that there was no bad blood between us and the crusaders.”
I lowered my head, and my ears drooped.
“I know, Star,” Diamond said as she lifted my head, smiling before she continued, “But if those ponies can’t see you for the awesome pony that we see you as, then they don’t deserve you.”
I nodded, but I didn’t feel much better. I let Diamond lead me outside, where Silver was waiting for the two of us. She looked like she could see I wasn’t happy as well.
“Cheer up Star,” Silver said, “I’ll race you to the swings?”
“Well… Only if you’re ok with losing!”
Then I bolted, running off as fast as I could, and I found that even though I used my muscles differently as a pony, I still found it very easy to run, only making me wonder… Would I still have such mastery over my old body?
Once again, though, I found that running and deep thought were not a very good mix, and managed to trip, faceplanting into the sand under the swings..
“Ow, that hurt!” I complained, spitting out the bits of sand that had gotten in my mouth, and getting back to my hooves. I rubbed my muzzle with my hoof, hoping the pain would go away.
“You okay Star?” Silver asked.
“Yeah, I just need to look where I’m running,” I laughed.
The pain in my muzzle was gone, and I sat on the swing, letting Silver push me.
Diamond, Silver, and I had fun for the rest of recess, but soon the bell rang and we had to go back to class.
Once we were all inside, Ms. Cheerilee said, “I hope that everypony had a lovely break, because now it is time for Phys Ed.”
Some students cheered, while others groaned. I guess that PE was as divisive here as it was back home. ‘Too bad for them, I guess’ I giggled to myself. Cheerilee waited for everyone to quiet down before she continued.
“I know, I know, but remember my little ponies: a healthy body has a healthy mind. Also, since Star joined us, we can now have groups of three, and once you’re settled we’ll start where we left off last time.”
Diamond whistled, which got Silver’s attention, and she gestured Silver to come over before turning to me.
Diamond grinned, “Now we can all be in a group together!”
I smiled, and we all worked together to push Diamond’s table to mine, combining them into one that we could all sit around. The other groups did the same, and it wasn’t long before Ms. Cheerilee began teaching her lesson.
We started with a recap, where students were called on to recall good foods to eat; salads, vegetables, things like that. We did the same with bad foods, like potatoes, and things that contained a lot of salt. Everything was rather familiar to me, except for the fact that ponies didn’t have sugar as one of the unhealthy things, in fact, it was something that they apparently needed quite a bit of.
After a few activities, most of the day had passed, and I thought we probably had about ninety minutes left (though I was still not quite sure if I was reading the clock right). We had a small break and tidied up our desks, and then went outside; to finish off the day we had to run laps at a nearby training course.
I ran lap after lap, just trying to get as many as I could, and if that didn’t earn me another cookie I didn’t know what would.
It was the final lap, and right from the start, Scootaloo had been ahead of me. But I wanted to overtake her now and decided to push myself to go faster. I got closer and closer, my pulse racing until finally, I was running along with her side by side. But I must’ve lost focus, because just when I was about to overtake her, I stumbled over my own hoof and fell into Scootaloo, causing the both of us to roll along the track briefly until we came to a painful stop.
“Hehe, sorry Scoots you okay?” I said apologetically, looking over to see if she’d been hurt.
“Yeah, I’m good, just be careful next time,” Was all she said, getting up and starting to walk off, not even meeting my eyes.
“You okay you two?” Diamond asked.
“Huh? Yeah, thanks Diamond, right Scoots?” I asked, trotting after her.
Silver, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom ran over.
“It was Diamond Tiara’s fault Scoots!” Apple Bloom said.
“What?” I protested, “Not this again you two. It was an accident.”
“Yeah,” Silver chipped in, “I saw everything, and Diamond Tiara was at least a body ahead of you both.”
“Liar,” Sweetie Belle said, “Star you can’t be serious, you really believe that you tripped?”
“It felt like it, so yeah, I must have. Besides, why would Diamond trip me over? We’re friends.”
“Yeah,” Diamond said as she pulled me behind her and Silver, “You already upset Star enough yesterday, so leave her and us alone, and go somewhere else.”
“Star, please listen,” Apple bloom said.
“Yeah, we wanted to follow you yesterday,” Added Scootaloo, “But Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon blocked us so we couldn’t run after you.”
I’d had enough of this yesterday. “Enough, just do like Diamond said, and leave me alone.”
With Diamond and Silver, we walked away, and soon we all went back to school and got our lap times from Ms. Cheerilee, Diamond had the fastest lap, Scootaloo got second place, while I got third.
Thankfully the school day was over, but I was in no rush to get out, I would rather wait until Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had left completely. But in the midst of everypony leaving, Diamond and Silver had left without me, “they were just waiting for me outside,” I reasoned with myself.
As I packed my saddlebag a yellow colt, with a short green mane and tail came over to me.
“Hi um…” I said not knowing his name or what he wanted.
“Hey I’m Snails, and I think I saw you yesterday. When you fought with Apple Bloom and her friends.”
“Yea-” Did he really see that? Great. “So? What about it?”
“Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are mean ponies, they bullied ponies without Cutie Marks, like you, Apple Bloom and her friends,” The colt said very casually.
“They’re sorry for what they did, besides, they’re my friends,” I said and turned back to my saddlebag.
“Then I’ll show you.”
But before I could react, I was pulled by my tail, and away from my desk, causing me to fall onto the floor.
“Hey!” I called sternly.
The annoying colt only moved in front of me and pushed me with his head towards the door.
“Stop it,” I complained, “Cut it out!”
But step by step I got closer to the door and as I reluctantly looked outside, my heart dropped.
Diamond and Silver pushed Scootaloo into Sweetie Belle, who then fell into Apple Bloom, and all fell into a mud pile as Diamond and Silver laughed.
“....And don’t ever get close to Star again,” Diamond said in a threatening manner, “or you’ll regret it, blank flanks.”
“Yeah,” Silver chipped in, “Why would Star ever hang out with a bunch of losers like yourself, in your… How did she say it again?”
“Oh, I think I know,” Diamond said and I could even see her predatory smirk from the building, “I think it was a ‘pointless, stupid club, for losers’.”
Tears ran down my face, how could they do this, we were friends, they told me they had wanted to change... The crusaders laid still in a mud pile, and all I could do was cower inside the schoolhouse. I was screaming on the inside, I had to do something about this, or nobody would. I ran out of the schoolhouse.
“Leave them alone!” I commanded.