//------------------------------//
// A New Era 
// Story: The Public Life of Sweetie Belle 
// by BronyWriter 
//------------------------------//


Seven Years Later


Pride. An uncontrollable sense of pride, that was what was welling up inside Sweetie Belle's chest at the moment. Today was a new chapter in her daughter's life. Blossom, as everypony had taken to calling her, was starting school, and the filly could not be happier for all of the money in Canterlot.

Sweetie Belle smiled as Blossom pranced around the room, her new saddlebag bouncing on her sides. Her smile of unadulterated joy was what kept the small twinges of fear out of Sweetie Belle's mind. This was it, this was the time that it would all be made right, and life would stay at the perfect level that it had for the past seven years. 

The addition of Joyous Blossom into the world, and to a smaller extent Ponyville, seemed to have been what the remaining townsponies who still had not trusted Sweetie Belle needed to finally see the good in the mare once more. Her foal's birth had somehow been the thing that had washed away the last blemishes that Rarity's actions had left upon the town and for some, it was like it had never happened at all. 

The most rewarding instance was a few weeks after Blossom's birth, she had been walking around town when she had run into Barley Brewer (who still had a scar on his cheek from that fateful Nightmare Night) who gave her his usual glare of hatred. However, when he had seen the happy filly on her back, Sweetie Belle could swear that she saw the corners of his lips turn upwards in a barely concealed smile and, in fact, he had yet to give her another glare. 

Still, that's not to say that there had not been issues. Joyous Blossom was gifted with an insatiable drive for knowledge, something that Twilight was more than happy to foster with both books and magic lessons, and as such, she asked questions about everything that she did not know about. 

Things like the statue in the middle of the town square. 

Blossom was five years old when she was riding on her mother's back to town to go to the market for that month's groceries. Ever the curious and social filly, her eyes were in constant movement to find ponies to greet with a happy smile and objects to ask her mother about. 

And that's when her eyes landed on a solemn pair with their heads bowed in front of the memorial for Rarity's victims. Blossom had observed the pair with her curious eyes until they had passed at which point she had questioned her mother on it. 

Sweetie Belle had frozen in the street and a small gasp had escaped her lips at the question. No, it couldn't come now. Blossom wasn't old enough for it to come now. No, she would have to wait on that until she was older. As such, Sweetie Belle told her that something very sad had happened in the town about twenty years ago but it was impolite to talk about it. Thankfully Blossom had still been at the age where if her mother said something, then it was truth no matter what. Her mother wouldn't lie to her and technically Sweetie Belle hadn't. Still, she knew that she couldn't hide it from her forever. 

That wasn't important now. It wasn't even on Sweetie Belle's mind as she watched her happy filly bounce up and down in front of the door. She chuckled at the memory of how Blossom had reacted when she found out that there was a place where all you did was learn all day and there was a nice mare named Miss Cheerilee, who had been Mommy's teacher when Mommy was a filly, who was just as nice as Miss Twilight at the library. Needless to say, the filly had been beside herself with glee. 

"Is it time yet, Mommy?" Blossom asked. "Is it time to go to school yet?"

Sweetie Belle chuckled and nodded her head. "Yes it is, Blossom," she said. "If you'll let me get my saddlebag really quick, we’ll be off!" 

Sweetie Belle turned around and used her magic to levitate her saddlebags on her back and then, as promised, the duo was off. 

Blossom ran eagerly alongside her smiling mother in a mad rush to get to the school as soon as possible, even though it didn't start for another twenty five minutes. Of course, part of Blossom's motivation may have been to meet as many foals as she possibly could before class started. 

"Is Apple Seed going to be there, mommy?" asked Blossom. 

Sweetie Belle chuckled and shook her head. "Blossom, Apple Seed is only four years old. Aunt Apple Bloom still has to take care of her at home." 

Blossom frowned for a moment before she broke out into her wide smile again. "Okay, Mommy, I guess that makes sense," she said. "But can we go see her after I come home so I can tell her all about how wonderful school was?"

"We'll see, Blossom. She might be taking her afternoon nap."

"Oh, okay," said Blossom. 

The duo walked in silence for a few minutes before the schoolyard came into view. Sweetie Belle had to slow her daughter down, lest she charge ahead too far. Of course, once they reached the schoolyard she let Blossom loose and she instantly walked up to a group of fellow foals and began chattering animatedly about whatever it was that foals talk about during the first day of school. 

Sweetie Belle's smile widened at the sight of her daughter and to her it just reaffirmed the fact that she had discovered with the birth of her daughter: that everything was going to be okay. 

And it was. 

Sweetie Belle was just about to leave, when she made eye contact with Cheerilee who smiled at her and trotted over. "Good morning, Miss Cheerilee," said Sweetie Belle. 

Her former teacher chuckled. "Sweetie Belle, how many times do I have to tell you that you don't have to call me 'Miss' Cheerilee. You're a grown mare you know."

"I know," said Sweetie Belle. "But I guess old habits kind of die hard."

"They do at that," agreed Cheerilee. She glanced in the direction of Blossom. "How is she doing?" 

"Oh you know her; she's like Pinkie Pie almost. Nothing can keep her smile away and she wants to know everything that there is to know. You're going to have your hooves full with her you know," chuckled Sweetie Belle. 

Cheerilee smirked at her former pupil. "Oh I don't doubt that," said the teacher. "I've been around the library a few times while Twilight is tutoring her and I cannot believe how many questions that filly asks. It's going to be quite refreshing. Not every foal I teach is quite as immersed as yours."

"Well best of luck to you," said Sweetie Belle. "And do be sure to let me know how her day went. You know Blossom: she's going to be so excited that it'll take me a week for me to understand what she's saying, she'll be talking so fast." 

"Oh will do, Sweetie Belle, will do." 

Sweetie Belle and Cheerilee exchanged goodbyes and after a brief moment to say goodbye to Blossom, Sweetie Belle made to leave the schoolyard. 

It was right then that Sweetie Belle was the two things that might make sure that Blossom's schooling wouldn't be as amazing as she thought: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were walking down the path, their fillies, Golden Necklace and Fire Ruby respectively, so that the duo could begin their first days of school as well. 

Diamond Tiara had never really let go of the fact that she had gotten her cutie mark before the Crusaders did. The fact that she now owned Barnyard Bargains didn't help any and even though Scootaloo was one of the more popular Wonderbolts, she still pretended that she was better than the Crusaders. Silver Spoon, for her part, had mellowed out considerably and was on cordial terms with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. She still never stopped Tiara's verbal abuse. 

Of course, as was usual, Diamond Tiara saw Sweetie Belle walking in the other direction and she shot her the usual smug smile. Sweetie Belle silently thanked Luna that Golden Necklace had yet to get her cutie mark or else the training of her mother would have assured Blossom torment. The filly was just as nasty as her mother had been as was Fire Ruby. Still, in the latter's case Sweetie Belle knew that it was more the influence of Diamond Tiara and Golden Necklace than Silver Spoon herself. 

Sweetie Belle silently passed by the four ponies, having long since learned to ignore the torment of Diamond Tiara and her spawn. Her old schoolyard bully had never made it a secret to her child that Sweetie Belle's sister was the Ponyville Butcher, nor the idea that Sweetie Belle was as insane as her sister and that she was not to be trusted. She had not come after Blossom... yet. But the day she did was a day that she would regret. 

Sweetie Belle sighed at the idea that her daughter's first day of school might be marred by the presence of the two fillies. Blossom was so enamored by the idea of school and if she realized that she had to spend it with fillies who would torment her then she might not want to come back, no matter how wonderful the idea of learning was. She sighed. Why did life have to be so cruel to her family? Why did there always have to be somepony that tormented them, even before the death of Rarity?

She shook her head and tried to push the thoughts of the two fillies out of her mind. Cheerilee would take care of Blossom. Even when they had attended, Cheerilee had always done her best with keeping the peace between the Crusaders and the nastier duo. No, Blossom would have a wonderful time at school, there was no way that she wouldn't. 

With nowhere to go for the day, she decided to pop over to the library to talk to Twilight and maybe get a bit of light reading material for some free time. Now that Blossom would be going to school, Sweetie Belle found herself in a position to take up a job again. Still, that wouldn't take up all of her time so she figured it was a good time to check out some of the books that she had been meaning to read. 

Within a few minutes she was knocking on the door of the library and met with the happy smile of Twilight. "Hello, Sweetie Belle," the librarian greeted opening the door further and letting Sweetie Belle in. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing fine, Twilight," Sweetie Belle said. "I just dropped Blossom off for her first day of school!" 

Twilight's eyes widened in joy and her smile grew. "That's so wonderful!" she said. "You know, I think she shows a lot of magical talent."

"More than I did at that age, that's for sure," chuckled Sweetie Belle. "I think she'll do wonderfully. You should have seen how excited she was to go."

"If she was half as excited as she was when she started getting tutoring lessons from me then she must have been ecstatic," said Twilight. 

"You'd better believe it. I don't think that Hearths Warming Day makes her so happy." 

Sweetie Belle looked up from the conversation and glanced around the ever growing collection of books that the library held. "I'm looking for some good reading material, you know, something just for fun while Blossom's at school." 

Twilight's eyes lit up and she got that maniacal grin that only Twilight could get when books were involved. "I think I have just the book for you!" said Twilight, igniting her horn and levitating a blue book over to them.

"It's not the latest Daring Do, is it?" asked Sweetie Belle. 

Twilight shuddered and vigorously shook her head. "Don't you remember rule 118 of the library, Sweetie Belle?"

"I know, I know, 'thou shalt not mention any Daring Do book after the fourteenth in the series'."

"That's right," said Twilight. "After the series started ripping off of things that my friends and I did all while the author insisted that they were stores that she made up... yeah, even Rainbow Dash quit the series after that." 

"It’s ridiculous! How do you think you can get away with Daring Do defeating the Being of Disarray with the Amulets of Unity and not think that ponies aren't going to notice?"

"Well, enough didn't," said Twilight. 

Sweetie Belle shook her head in mild amusement and took the blue book out of Twilight's telekinetic grasp, transferring it to her own. She opened it up to the front page and scanned it.

As she did, she heard Twilight clear her throat and even without looking at her, she knew that Twilight was about to ask an awkward question. 

"So... Sweetie Belle, I have to ask: are you at all worried about Blossom's first day of school?"

Sweetie Belle looked up from the book, a hint of a glare in her eyes. "She's not my sister," she growled. "Blossom would never do anything like that, she hasn't even grasped the concept of death yet, not fully anyways." 

The librarian nodded with a sigh. "I know, and I'm sorry to pry like that. It's just that... I was worried that it would be hard for you, you know? The whole of Equestria knows what happened back then and--"

"She's not my sister," spat Sweetie Belle. "And she never will be!" 

"Okay, okay," said Twilight, backing up defensively. "I'm sorry I asked. I didn't mean to offend you."

Sweetie Belle sighed and closed the book. "I know you didn't," she mumbled. "And I'd be lying if I said that the thought hadn't crossed my mind, especially with Tiara and Spoon's fillies starting today too. Rarity didn't even really know... them and she... well, you know. Blossom has met those two and she does know that they can be nasty, but they haven't been overtly mean to her while I've been watching and she would tell me if they had when I wasn't. Besides, Cheerilee will look out for her."

Twilight's smile returned and she put a hoof on Sweetie Belle's shoulder. "I think you're right." The smile faded slightly. "But... especially with foals like them around, what are you going to do about telling her about Rarity? I mean, she knows that she had an Aunt Rarity who died before she was born, but you never went into more detail than that, right?"

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "She's not old enough to know yet," said Sweetie Belle. "I know that she's barely younger than I was when I found out and that's back when Rarity was still alive and killing. Heck, I wasn't much older than her when I..." Sweetie Belle's bottom lip quivered and she had to take a moment to regain control. "Well, you know what happened."

Twilight nodded. "I do," she said. "But I'm just worried that she's going to hear things, especially from those two, and you won't be there to let her down gently, if you will. She's going to find out sometime, sometime very soon to be honest."

Sweetie Belle sighed and ran her hoof through her mane. "I know," she muttered. "But how do you tell a filly who barely understands death that her aunt was the deadliest serial killer in Equestrian history and that's why she's dead? How do you think she's going to react to something like that?" 

"I don't know," said Twilight. "But I fear we're going to have to find out sooner rather than later and I don't know if it's going to be pleasant."

"Oh I know that it won't be pleasant," said Sweetie Belle. "But I..." Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and shook her head. "I don't know what's going to happen, Twilight. I don't know what I'm going to do if Golden Necklace tells Blossom about Rarity. I wish I did, though."

Twilight pulled Sweetie Belle into a one legged hug. "It'll be okay in the end, whatever happens," said Twilight. "It's like you said, Blossom isn't Rarity and if I know you and how much you love her, she never will be."


*  *  *  *


Sweetie Belle stood up from her couch and stretched. The book she had borrowed from the library was indeed engrossing as Twilight had said and she had almost lost track of time as a result of reading it. She had knocked out a decent chunk of the book and was frankly looking forward to delving a little deeper into the book when Blossom went to bed tonight. She had to cut her reading spree short now as it was time to pick Blossom up from school. 

After putting a bookmark on the page and setting the book down on a nearby coffee table, 

Sweetie Belle put her saddlebag on and trotted over to the schoolyard where a flock of parents were retrieving their youngsters. After saying hi to a few of them, Sweetie Belle scanned the courtyard for any sign of her child. 

There was none. 

Sweetie Belle inwardly panicked for a second, fearing that she had... no, that was ridiculous. Cheerilee would have noticed. But Golden Necklace and Fire Ruby were missing as well. They hadn't gone to... No, that was still ridiculous. Again, Cheerilee would have noticed and quickly stopped them from going anywhere until their parents had arrived. 

Sweetie Belle walked into the courtyard, the rational side of her brain doing its best to squash the side that was setting off alarms, telling her that her child had gone to the creek and was trying to wash the blood of her tormentors off. 

Thankfully, reality erased those thoughts from her mind as she entered the schoolhouse and saw Cheerilee with a comforting hoof on Blossom's shoulders. Cheerilee looked up when she saw Sweetie Belle enter and her grim look told Sweetie Belle all that she needed to know. 

"Oh no," whispered Sweetie Belle. She rushed to Blossom's side and sat on her haunches in front of her desk so as to get at eye level with her. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she was confronted with her daughter's expression. She wasn't crying, she wasn't mad, in fact, her face held no expression at all. 

Her eyes did. Her eyes conveyed her true feelings in a way that her face never could and they showed one emotion: fear. Blossom was scared out of her mind and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. 

"Blossom, can you hear me?" said Sweetie Belle soothingly. "Mommy's here now, can you tell me what's wrong?"

Blossom blinked at the sound of her mother's voice and took a deep, shaky breath in. "Mommy," she whimpered. 

Sweetie Belle stood up and wrapped Blossom into a tight hug. "Mommy's here, Blossom. Mommy's got you now." No, not like this, she couldn't find out like this. 

"Mommy, I don't think I like school very much. I don't like learning things here." 

Sweetie Belle glanced over at Cheerilee who nodded sadly. Sweetie Belle held her foal closer and had to fight back tears. 

"Wh--" her voice cracked. "Why don't you like it here?" 

"I learned bad things today," said Blossom. Sweetie Belle felt the fur on her foreleg become wet as Blossom started shedding tears. "Bad things about Aunt Rarity."

Sweetie Belle held back a small whimper and had to exert all of her willpower to prevent herself from breaking down in front of Blossom completely. 

"It was just a few minutes ago," said Cheerilee quietly. "When the class went out, somepony put a news article in Blossom's open book when she went to get her saddlebag. By the time I knew what she had it was too late. She read the whole thing." 

Sweetie Belle's eyes glanced at Cheerilee's desk which had a faded newspaper article on top of it. She used her magic and levitated the article over to her. 



ELEMENT OF HARMONY EXECUTED AS A SERIAL KILLER!! THE ELEMENT OF GENEROSITY IS CONFIRMED AS THE SOURCE OF DISAPPEARANCES OVER THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS!


In what is sure to be the tragedy of our time, Princess Celestia revealed to a crowd today what rumors from Ponyville have stated for the past few days: that the Element of Generosity, Rarity, was discovered to be the source of the disappearances over the past fifteen years. Princess Celestia confirmed that Rarity violently murdered her victims and sources from the Royal Guard indicate that she hung their pelts and manes on the walls of her basement. Princess Celestia refused to give many details, saying only this:

"It is with great sadness today that I stand before you to confirm what many of you have been hearing. Four days ago, we arrested the Elements of Harmony in connection with several disappearances over the past fifteen to twenty years. The Element of Generosity, Rarity, was found guilty of the crime of dozens of cases of first-degree murder and she was executed by lethal injection not long after her arrest. The other Elements were cleared of any wrongdoing and I personally assure you that none of them had anything to do with it, neither did Rarity's family. At this time I would like to ask for your support for the families of the victims. It will take the strength of us all to make it through this time."

Celestia made no official count public, but reliable sources indicate that Rarity had as many as eighty victims and possibly more, making her easily the deadliest serial killer in the history of Equestria. Is this a sign that the Elements aren't as powerful as we thought? What does this mean for the nation? Who will replace Rarity as the Element of Generosity? How did a serial killer become the Element of Generosity? We'll bring you more updates on all of these questions and more as we get them.

Sweetie Belle stared at the clipping, hardly able to register the fact that her daughter had read all of it. The picture that accompanied the article left no doubt that the aunt that Blossom had that had died before she was born was the killer mentioned in the article.

"Blossom, who gave this to you? Who put this on your desk?"

"I don't know," whispered Blossom. 

Sweetie Belle looked up at Cheerilee who shook her head. 

"The first I knew about it was after she began crying. I ran over and saw that in her book." 

"Was it Golden Necklace or Fire Ruby?" 

Cheerilee shrugged. "I can't prove anything. But believe me; if do learn who did it I will expel them. End of story. I asked the class about it but nopony said anything. I'll be having one-on-ones with them in the upcoming days. I will find out who did this, I swear to you."

"I already know who did it," growled Sweetie Belle. 

"If you can't prove anything then there's nothing I can do. When I do find out, and I will, I will ensure that the guilty parties are expelled. You have my word." 

Sweetie Belle nodded and gently levitated Blossom onto her back. "Thanks, Cheerilee," she muttered. "I'll see you later. I can't say for sure whether or not Blossom will be in school over the next few days."

"Of course," said Cheerilee. "I completely understand. Take as much time as you need. She's welcome back whenever she feels up to it." Sweetie Belle nodded and walked out of the classroom. "Bye, Blossom. I hope you feel better!" Cheerilee called out to her. They weren't particularly comforting words, but Blossom needed to know that ponies besides her mother cared. 

"Do you want to go see Aunt Apple Bloom?" said Sweetie Belle when they were out of sight of the school. "Mommy needs to run some important errands."

Blossom whimpered and held her mother tight. "Why, why did she do that, Mommy?"

The words triggered a small sob from Sweetie Belle who took a moment to respond. "Your Aunt Rarity was a very sad pony, Blossom. She had bad things happen to her and she had angry feelings inside of her as a result. She tried to fight them, Blossom. I promise you that she didn't want them." 

Blossom slowly nodded and the journey continued on in silence until the farm came into view. 

"Am... am I gonna have those bad feelings that's going to make me do those things?" whispered Blossom. 

Sweetie Belle stopped in her tracks and levitated Blossom off of her back. She looked her filly directly in the eye. "Joyous Blossom, you will never have the will to do what your Aunt Rarity did. You are not the pony she was. You are going to go through life and be very, very successful and you will never hurt anypony. That's not an order, that's a fact. You are going to be okay, you aren't going to have those sad feelings." 

Blossom slowly nodded and Sweetie Belle hugged her close once more. 

"You're going to be fine," said Sweetie Belle. "You're going to go through life and be happy and successful and you won't have to live in the shadow of what Rarity did, okay? I promise." 

Sweetie Belle put Blossom back on her back and finished the journey to Sweet Apple Acres where Apple Bloom and Applejack were just coming in from the fields. The pair smiled when they saw Sweetie Belle and Blossom coming up the path, but their smiles quickly fell when they saw their moods. They quickly galloped over to the approaching pair. 

"What happened?" asked Apple Bloom. "Is she alright?"

Sweetie Belle wordlessly shook her head and motioned over to the house. Applejack nodded and led the group inside. 

"Apple Bloom, can ya take Blossom here up to Apple Seed's room? Ah think we need to have a talk here with Sweetie Belle."

Apple Bloom nodded and took Blossom off of Sweetie Belle's back. She galloped up the stairs and quickly placed Blossom onto a nearby bed before rushing back down the stairs. 

"So what happened?!" she queried. "What's goin' on?"

Sweetie Belle didn't answer. She shakily took the article out of her saddlebag and placed it on the table before bursting into tears. Apple Bloom rushed over and hugged her friend while Applejack glanced over the article. Slowly her curious demeanor shifted to one of tranquil fury as she read on. 

"Who gave this to her?" she said. 

Sweetie Belle sniffled and wiped her eyes before answering. "Golden Necklace and Fire Ruby."

Applejack's frown deepened for a moment before a tired look washed over the farmpony's body. "Ah always thought that this was one of the worst ones out there," she said. "It didn't sensationalize nothin'. Ah couldn't look at it and say that mah friend hadn't done any of that." 

"And that's how she had to find out?" said Apple Bloom. "Land snakes, why if Ah ever caught who did it... well Ah don't know what Ah'd do but it wouldn't be pretty, that's fer sure." 

"Cheerilee said that she can't punish them because she can't prove anything. Blossom just came back from recess and found that inside one of her books." 

Applejack let out a deep breath and put her foreleg over her eyes. "Ah can't believe that," she whispered. "Ah just can't believe that anypony would do anythin' like that to that wonderful filly. You'd have to be downright evil to want to hurt her." 

"Anypony born of Diamond Tiara would have to be evil," spat Sweetie Belle. "Silver Spoon too, they're just as bad as their moms!" Sweetie Belle stood up. "I have to go talk to Diamond Tiara. I need you two to watch Blossom while I'm gone."

Before Applejack or Apple Bloom could utter a response, Sweetie Belle ran out the front door of the house and towards the main offices of Barnyard Bargains where Sweetie Belle knew that Diamond Tiara would be. 


*  *  *  *


The door to Diamond Tiara's office burst open, startling the mare inside for a brief moment but she had regained her calm by the time she made eye contact with Sweetie Belle. 

"You. How could you?"

"How could I what?" asked Diamond Tiara calmly. 

"YOU KNOW FULL WELL WHAT YOUR DAUGHTER DID!" screeched Sweetie Belle. 

"I'm afraid that I don't," said Diamond Tiara. "Either tell me what it is that you're accusing Golden Necklace of or get out of my office."

"You know what she did; she put a newspaper article about Rarity on Blossom's desk!!!"

Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow but a small smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I don't think so," she said. "Where would she have gotten something like that?"

"Anywhere," growled Sweetie Belle. "It was the story of the century, it sold millions of papers. It would have taken your daughter two seconds to get one!"

"Well, what do you want me to do about it if she did?" 

"Does... does punishing her sound reasonable?" Sweetie Belle snarled.   

Diamond Tiara gave an amused scoff and smirked as she crossed her forelegs. "If you don't have anything worth my time, then I need you to get out. This conversation is over." 

Sweetie Belle slammed her front hooves on the desk. "No, this is NOT over!!! I want you to get that miserable, worthless, waste of space you call a daughter, and I want her to tell me to my face that she did it and then I want you to punish her for ONCE IN HER SPOILED LIFE!!!" 

"Sweetie Belle, get out!" said Diamond Tiara, a little more loudly than before. 

"You do know that Cheerilee promised to expel the students she discovered were behind the mental scarring of my daughter, right?!" 

To Sweetie Belle's utter satisfaction, a brief glimpse of worry flashed in Diamond Tiara's eyes. However, it was gone as quickly as it came and her smug look intensified. "Well if you had just ponied up and told your daughter what an evil psycho she had for an aunt then maybe she wouldn't have been so shocked by the clipping, right?" 

At those words, a fire erupted inside Sweetie Belle and for the second time in her life, she wanted to hurt Diamond Tiara. No, she wanted to kill Diamond Tiara. She wanted to rip her apart piece by piece until she was a bloody mess on the ground. 

Sweetie Belle let out a roar of anger and raised her foreleg to sweep the objects off of Diamond Tiara's desk when suddenly, something caught her eye. Diamond Tiara had a newspaper on her desk, and the front page had a large chunk cut out of it. 

It was dated a few days after Rarity's death. 

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened and she put her hooves back on the ground. She picked the paper up with her magic and put it in her saddlebag. 

"Sweetie Belle, give that back!" Diamond Tiara shot out of her chair. "That's not yours, you stupid blank flank!" 

Sweetie Belle whirled around and fixed Diamond Tiara with a glare so fierce that a dragon would have wilted. As it was, Diamond Tiara flinched and took a step back. "Do you really want to push me now?" Sweetie Belle growled, venom dripping from every syllable. Diamond Tiara's mouth flopped up and down, but no words came out. Sweetie Belle scoffed and stomped out of the office.

As she walked out of the building, she saw Silver Spoon coming up the stairs in the opposite direction. Sweetie Belle shot her a death glare as she passed and to her mild surprise, Silver Spoon flinched back. 

Sweetie Belle stomped down the stairs, but she was stopped briefly by a voice. 

"Sweetie Belle..."

She wheeled around to see Silver Spoon behind her. "Sweetie Belle, I..." Tears began falling from Silver Spoon's eyes. "I didn't know," she whispered. "I promise you that I didn't know what they were going to do."

"Well if you got that brat of a child under control then maybe you wouldn't have to worry about things like this happening!!" yelled Sweetie Belle. 

She turned around and stomped out of the building, leaving a crying Silver Spoon behind her. 

As she walked back to Sweet Apple Acres, she felt a momentary twinge of guilt at how she had treated Silver Spoon. If she had nothing to do with it, then she shouldn't be on the receiving end of her anger. Still, her foal probably did have something to do with it. 

Sweetie Belle quickly rushed over to the schoolhouse where she was relieved to see Cheerilee, who was just about to leave. 

"I have proof," she said as she approached the schoolmare. 

"Of what, that Golden Necklace and Fire Ruby are behind this?" asked Cheerilee. Sweetie Belle nodded and took the newspaper out of her saddlebag as well as the clipping. 

"I went to talk to Diamond Tiara about this and I found this on her desk." 

Cheerilee looked at the paper and clipping before nodding. "Very well," she said, taking the two items and placing them in her saddlebag. "I'm going to have a talk with the fillies and their parents and if they can't prove otherwise then Golden Necklace and Fire Ruby are no longer welcome in my school."

The words were like a great weight had been lifted off of Sweetie Belle's shoulders. Somepony cared! Justice would be served and those two nasty foals would pay! She walked back to the farm with a happy feeling in her chest. 

When she entered the farmhouse, Applejack and Apple Bloom both looked up from where they were sitting at the table. 

"Well, what happened?" asked Apple Bloom. 

"I went to talk to Diamond Tiara and I found a newspaper on her desk with the front cut out. The cut matched the article. Not only did Golden Necklace do it, but she had Diamond Tiara's help."

The two apple farmers gasped. "Heavens to Betsy, why in Equestria would she do that?!" 

Sweetie Belle shrugged. "I don't know. I guess she still hates me for beating her up and breaking her tiara, but beyond that I don't really know." Sweetie Belle sighed and put a hoof over her eyes. "How's Blossom?" she asked. 

"Ah think she's sleepin'" said Apple Bloom. "Ah went to check on her 'bout ten minutes ago and Ah didn't hear nothin' comin' from the room. Ah moved Apple Seed to mah room so in case she wakes up she won't disturb Blossom." 

"Thanks," said Sweetie Belle. 

"Don't mention it, Sweetie Belle," said Apple Bloom. "Ah'm sure you'd do the same fer me ‘n Apple Seed."

"Of course I would," said Sweetie Belle. She glanced up the stairs. "I think I'm going to go see my child now. I think she needs her mommy."

"'course," said Apple Bloom. "You two stay as long as ya like. If yer still 'round, yer welcome to stay for dinner." 

"Thanks, we might do that," said Sweetie Belle. 

With a heavy heart, Sweetie Belle walked up the stairs to the room where Blossom was sleeping. She poked her head in and saw the filly curled up into a ball on top of the covers. A quick look when Sweetie Belle walked up to her confirmed that she was out like a light. 

Gently Sweetie Belle moved Blossom over and laid down next to her. She wrapped a foreleg over her and gently nuzzled her daughter's cheek before placing the blanket over both of them and closing her eyes.