Chapter 4 (Longer chapter)
The Cutiemark Crusaders; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, did enjoy their little chaotic hangout with Screwball for just a little while; but once they witnessed her father, Discord, manipulate the friendship between Twilight and her friends, that drew the line for them. Fooling around and making annoying pranks was one thing, but ruining the friendship between friends was a completely different story. Knowing that they caused all of this to happen, the crusaders were fixed on righting this wrong all by themselves.
All three of them were racing towards Twilight Sparkle who was walking away sadly feeling no hope of harmony ever returning to Ponyville, and possibly Equestria.
“Twilight; hey Twilight, wait up!” shouted Apple Bloom as she and her friends approached.
Twilight tilted her head behind her and saw who was calling out her name.
“Oh, hey Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo.”
“Where are ya goin’; aren’t ya goin’ to do somethin’ to fix this?”
Twilight just slightly shook her head, “I’m afraid not girls; it’s all hopeless now.”
“What;” shouted Scootaloo, “Don’t tell me that you’re actually going to give up?!”
Suddenly, Apple Bloom zipped in front of Twilight that caused her to stop in tracks, “Yeah, the Twilight my sister is friends with would never give up on something like this!”
“That’s right,” Sweetie Belle responded, “you’re too determined!”
Twilight wasn’t being quite convinced of the three little fillies’ and their supporting words, “Look girls, I appreciate your support and your strong will to think that there’s a way to stop this; but the Elements of harmony were our only hope. Now that our friendship is gone, that hope is lost. Just face it, Discord won.”
“No he hasn’t!!!” shouted Scootaloo; startling Twilight a bit.
“You can still fix this if you just keep tryin’!” Apple Bloom responded.
“We’ll even help you out if you want!” Sweetie Belle continued.
Twilight just walked on past the crusaders not having a change in her decision, “That’s okay girls; it’s not like it’s your fault that all of this happened.”
All three crusaders suddenly felt like a guilt bomb fell and exploded at the bottom of their stomachs after hearing Twilight say that to them. They watched as Twilight just went on her way feeling her deep sorrow.
Suddenly, Screwball appeared beside the crusaders realizing what she heard, “O-M-G, you guys must feel really terrible right now… and a bit awkward.”
The crusaders didn’t say anything as they just sat there sighing and feeling down about their situation. But then Screwball just smiled and was trying to help them forget about their troubles.
“Oh well, you guys tried… and failed; so… wanna go have more fun?”
All three of the three crusaders suddenly sat back up and then turned arund and glared at Screwball.
“No, we don’t,” Apple Bloom responded in an un-amused tone.
Screwball suddenly became startled, “Y… y-y-you… don’t?”
“No, we don’t! This is all our fault and we refuse to live the rest of our lives feelin’ guilty about this moment!”
“That’s right!” shouted Scootaloo, “We’re the Cutiemark Crusaders and we’re going to fix our mistake even if it kills us!”
“Kills us!!?” questioned Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle in panic.
“Well, not literally… but, you know what I mean!”
All three of them huddled up and high-fived each other, “Cutiemark Crusader Friendship Restorers, yeah!”
Screwball really didn’t want them to do something so foolish that they might endanger themselves, “Heh… c-c-come on guys, you don’t really want to do this, do you?”
“Butt out, Screwball,” shouted, Apple Bloom, “Discord is going to be turned back to stone… whether you like it or not; come on girls!”
The crusaders then left Screwball and went on to try the best they could to bring the Elements of Harmony back together again. Screwball just sat on her flank and crossed her forehooves while pouting a little as she thought to herself.
“They’re being so stubborn those three. Oh well, they’ll soon realize just how hopeless doing this really is. They’ll be back; they’ll be back.”
-----
Apple Bloom at Sweet Apple Acres…
Big Mac was running at Apple Bloom when he saw her again; but once he got close enough to her, Apple Bloom shouted out…
“Sit boy!”
Big Mac suddenly stopped and complied with her order.
“Now stay.”
Big Mac whined a bit and laid down on the ground feeling a bit let down that Apple Bloom didn’t want to play right now. Ignoring the strange sight, she was fixed on finding her big sister.
“Now where the hay is Applejack?”
Suddenly, she heard a nearby voice.
“Wow Granny Smith, Ah think you’re an awesome dancer; you should take up dance classes.”
That was sarcasm by the way.
“Applejack, there ya are!” Apple Bloom shouted as she spotted her sister leaning against the barn relaxing, “Ah was lookin’ all over fer ya!”
Applejack looked up and saw who it was, and she didn’t seem too thrilled about it, “Apple Bloom, where the hay have ya been?! Ah’ve been workin’ mah flank off while you were off foolin’ around somewhere doing who knows what!”
Apple Bloom was really upset hearing her sister like this, but she just shook it off and was concentrating on getting through to her.
“Y-yeah, okay Applejack; but that’s not what’s important right now. Ya have to make-up with Twilight and the others so y’all can all defeat Discord!”
“Oh sure, Ah’ll make-up with Twilight,” Applejack responded, “as long as she admits that our defeat was all her fault.”
“Come on Applejack, this is serious! All of Equestria is doomed if y’all don’t do something to stop all of this chaos!”
“And what about you,” Applejack retorted, “Don’t think Ah didn’t see ya hanging out with Discord and this other weird creature. You must be conspiring with him and trying to trick me, just like Twilight and the others were trickin’ me; well Ah ain’t fallin’ for it.”
“What?!” Apple Bloom shouted, “That’s nonsense Applejack; why are you saying all of this? You’re being so… dishonest! Don’t ya even care about everypony in Ponyville?!”
“Ah can honestly say that it’s not mah problem anymore. So if you want to do somethin’ about this, fine; just leave me out of it… if ya don’t mind.”
Applejack then laid against the barn again and placed her hat over face to rest some more.
“Oh yeah,” steamed Apple Bloom, “well… well, fine! Just sit there and do absolutely nothin’!”
She then started to leave the farm while stomping in her path, “Just don’t come cryin’ to me if Big Mac comes and starts lickin’ you in the face!”
-----
Sweetie Belle at Carousel Boutique…
“Halt right there missy; don’t you even take one more step near my gem!”
Sweetie Belle was at her sister’s Boutique trying to get through to her senses, but she wasn’t having much luck.
“Rarity, stop acting so… selfish; I’m not even interested in your… your… gem, I’m only here to convince you to come out of here and get with the others again so we can defeat Discord; The Elements of harmony are our only hope!”
“Ha, nice try Sweetie Belle,” Rarity scoffed, “but don’t think that you have me fooled for a second!”
“Say what!?”
“Twilight and the others didn’t care about me or some chaos business at all, they were all just jealous of my beautiful precious Tom.”
“Tom?” questioned Sweetie Belle.
“Yes, my precious gem, Tom. I found him and he belongs to me! Nopony else can have him; not even you, dear sister.”
“Rarity, I hate to break it to you,” said Sweetie Belle, “but your precious… Tom… IS A ROCK!”
“*Gasp* You take that back!”
“I will not! Look at you, fondling over a stupid rock; a stupid, giant piece of solid mass, and it doesn’t even shimmer and shine like a real gem! The sister I know would realize the difference and throw this stupid thing away! Now do you want to stop Discord or do want everything to go into total chaos?!”
“Forget it Sweetie Belle, I don’t have to listen to anything you say. I’m the big sister here and I refuse to go anywhere except here with my precious gem! Now go run along now and go play with your crusader friends or something; just don’t tell them about my gem, they’ll want it too.”
Sweetie Belle just sat there with her eye twitching a bit from feeling annoyed while she watched her sister checking all sides and angles from her… gem’s present position. Nothing she was saying was getting through to her; all she cared about was her gem/rock.
“Fine, be that way!” shouted Sweetie Belle as she walked away from her sister, “If you’re in love with that… gem so much, then go on ahead and marry it!”
Then she walked out the door and slammed it behind her.
“Hmph, maybe I will!”
-----
Apple Bloom at Sugar Cube Corner…
After failing with her sister, Apple Bloom went to and entered through the doors of Sugar Cube corner to try and convince the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie.
“Hello, Pinkie Pie; are ya in here? Ah-Ah-Ah just wanted to talk with ya about something.”
Suddenly, she heard a voice nearby, “Or… did you come to laugh at me and my stupid personality?!”
Apple Bloom looked up on the counter and saw Pinkie sitting on top. She looked a bit different to Apple Bloom, especially of how her mane was straight and hanging down instead of being up and all poofy; and Pinkie was scowling down at her and was feeling rather unpleasant.
“Oh, h-h-hi Pinkie Pie,” said Apple Bloom nervously, “Ah guess Ah found you, heh.”
“What do you want, Apple Bloom,” said Pinkie in an angered manner, “you better have not come to laugh at me, or else.”
“Whoa, whoa; hold up Pinkie, Ah’m not here to laugh at you, Ah just wanted to see if you were alright.”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Pinkie shouted, “I saw a little smirk on your face when your eyes were fixated on me. So tell me… what’s so funny.”
Apple Bloom was feeling just a little scared from the way Pinkie was talking to her and glaring at her.
“Pinkie Pie, you’re kinda scaring me. Why are you actin’ so… so angry?”
Pinkie Pie jumped down from the counter wearing her angered expression as walked towards the young filly feeling irritated.
“Why am I so angry; why you ask?! It’s because of everypony I know, that’s why! I tried to be their friends all of this time; playing around, acting goofy and laughing together and making them have a good time; only now I find out that they were all laughing… at me! They think I’m stupid, dumb and brainless, do they?!”
“Wait, wh-wh-what?” said Apple Bloom shivering a bit in her hooves.
“Well… no more miss nice pony; if anypony makes as much as a single chuckle at me, they’re going to regret it BIG TIME!”
Apple Bloom was quite shocked to see what Discord had turned Pinkie into; it was quite frightening for her to see the pink mare like this.
“Pinkie Pie, all of that is not true,” said Apple Bloom, “Ah-Ah don’t know what anypony said to you, but no pony is laughing at you! And besides, ya have to get back with the others so you can save Ponyville from eternal chaos!”
“Forget it,” shouted Pinkie, “if I go back to them, they’ll… they’ll just laugh at me again, just like they’ve always been doing all this time. And if they do… oooohhh, it’s on sister!”
As she was ranting on angrily, she turned away from Apple Bloom; but then the young filly suddenly noticed some cake batter that was smeared on one side of Pinkie’s flank. The sight was a bit amusing to her and she made a little muffled giggle. But then she gasped in knowing what she just did and quickly covered her mouth as Pinkie suddenly turned back around and glared at her.
“What was that; was that a giggle I heard?”
Apple Bloom rapidly shook her head while keeping her mouth covered.
“You were laughing at me, weren’t you; weren’t you?! Tell me, what’s so funny, ya little jerk?!!!”
The force of Pinkie’s yelling knocked Apple Bloom backwards on her flank and she was trying to stay cool under pressure.
“Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah wasn’t laughing at you, Pinkie; Ah was laughing… um, at… mahself, yeah. Ah was laughing at mah own… humiliating thought.”
“Get out!” yelled Pinkie.
Apple Bloom suddenly got up and was trying to say something, “Pinkie wait, you have to understand, you need to…”
“I said… GET OUT!!!”
Pinkie suddenly charged at Apple Bloom yelling at the top of her lungs causing the young filly to get frightened and was running away from her towards the door. She was so quick to act in fact that she tripped over the bottom of the doorway and fell on her flank outside the door.
Pinkie stuck her head out the door and shouted at her, “… AND STAY OUT!!!” And then she slammed the door shut. But just when Apple Bloom got back up, Pinkie opened the door again and stuck her head out literally terrorizing the young filly, “I MEAN IT!!!” And then slammed the door shut again.
Apple Bloom just sat there trying to get her nerves together and was wiping a little tear to the side. That was a second failure she made to try and fix this chaotic mess.
“Great, n-now what am Ah goin’ to do?”
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Sweetie Belle at Fluttershy’s cottage…
Sweetie Belle figured that she would have better luck trying to get through to Fluttershy after failing with her sister; seeing that it was Fluttershy and everything. But she was soon going to find out how wrong she was as she entered inside Fluttershy’s cottage.
“Fl-Fluttershy, you’re here right?” she said nervously while stepping in, “I felt kinda worried about my sister and her friends so… I just wanted to talk… to… you.”
She was quite surprised as she saw Fluttershy lying on her couch lazily and ordering and forcing many animals around in doing many chores for her.
“You make sure to scrub those floors extra thorough and you squirrels better be careful with my mane or else; I don’t want any split ends! You don’t want momma Fluttershy to get angry… do you?! And that group of bunnies, come massage my hooves, they seem so achy all of a sudden.”
Sweetie Belle couldn’t believe what she saw; Fluttershy being so… mean and nasty to her animal friends. Why was she doing this; well of course… she already knew that answer.
“Fl-Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy suddenly tilted her head towards the entrance door and saw Sweetie Belle standing there; she didn’t look all that excited to see her.
“Well, well; if it isn’t Miss gimmie gimmie gimmie pants’ obnoxious and annoying little sister, Sweetie Belle. I wasn’t aware that that I was going to receive a guest today; oh wait… that’s right, I WASN’T.”
“Hey, that wasn’t very nice to say all of that, Fluttershy,” said Sweetie Belle.
“Well of course it wasn’t,” Fluttershy responded, “I wasn’t trying to be nice; that’s the whole point of hurting another pony’s feelings. So what are you going to do about it, are you gonna cry?”
Sweetie Belle almost had the urge to cry, but she was trying not to show it. She knew that Fluttershy was only acting like this because of Discord; this wasn’t the real her, so she was going to keep trying.
“N-n-no, I’m not… going to cry. Despite you being so… mean, I know that you’re not really like that. I know… that your really nice, kind, a bit timid, and that you treat these animals like they are your own. So please… stop doing all of this.”
Fluttershy suddenly got up off her couch and was staaring at Sweetie Belle with a little smuggled smirk, “Well then… little filly; if I was sooooo nice and really kind, would I be able to… punish that stupid little mouse… that is slacking off?!”
She suddenly walked up to one of the mice that was laying on its back and gave it a swift kick with her hoof that sent the poor mouse flying outside a nearby window and into the river; but technically, it was mostly okay.
“What did you do that for?!” Sweetie Belle shouted, “What did that mouse do to you?!”
“He was too busy slacking off and not doing what he was told, so I gave him the boot; heh, heh. That’s what happens when you mess with momma Fluttershy.”
She suddenly turned to the other animals behind her who was watching the whole thing and gave them… the stare, “Does anyone else… want to be treated like a flying ragdoll!?”
They all shook with fear, but then went back to doing what Fluttershy was forcing them to do. Sweetie Belle couldn’t everything she was witnessing; she knew that Fluttershy always did her best to keep her animal friends in line, but this was ridiculous.
“Well… never mind that Fluttershy, Ponyville needs your help; they need you and the others to come and stop Discord! Please, you need to come!”
“Why don’t you make me?” mocked Fluttershy, “There is no way I’m going to hang out or even try to cooperate with those losers again; they bore the hay out of me.”
“But you have to,” Sweetie protested, “You’re the Element of… Kindness! We need all of you if we’re going to save Ponyville and you guys have to cooperate and work together! You have to do it, Fluttershy, you’re our only hope! Please, you have to do it!”
Suddenly, Fluttershy did a fake yawn and continued to smirk a little at the pleading filly, “Oh I’m sorry, were you talking to me? I’m afraid that I was just getting bored of your pitiful whining.”
“Cut it out, Fluttershy!” shouted Sweetie Belle suddenly showing a bit of tears in her eyes.
“Aw, look at you, you are crying; heh, heh, how pathetic, you sound like such a baby.”
“But… I’m not… a baby, I’m a… b-b-big pony.”
Fluttershy just had a little chuckle at the little simpering filly, but then got tired of it, “You know, I enjoyed watching you acting so pitiful, but now I’ve become bored of it. Get out of my sight now, I can’t stand to look at you.”
With tears still in her eyes, Sweetie Belle looked up at Fluttershy with a determined look, “No.”
Fluttershy stopped in her tracks and then turned around and gave Sweetie an annoyed expression, “Excuse me?”
“I said no! I’m… I-I-I’m not going anywhere; I’m st-staying right here until… you agree to come with me… to the others.”
“Oh are you now?” Fluttershy responded, “Oh my little bunnies, come to your mama Fluttershy… NOW!”
A group of bunnies suddenly rushed over to Fluttershy by her voice and stood at attention slightly shaking as the Pegasus was staring them down, “I want you to pick up that annoying little filly brat and show her to the door.”
The bunnies sighed as they went over to Sweetie Belle and picked her up over them with her hooves flailing in front of her.
“Hey, stop; put me down!”
The bunnies carried her over to the door and opened, and then Fluttershy said, “Don’t forget to drop-kick her out for me my sweeties.”
“What?!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle.
The bunnies looked up at Sweetie and then gave Fluttershy a look that said that they didn’t want to do it; Fluttershy didn’t care.
“I said… DO IT… NOW!”
The bunnies all jumped and were startled; and in not wanting to be punished by Fluttershy, they did what she requested and used their feet to drop- kick Sweetie Belle out of the cottage. Sweetie screamed as she flew through the air and then landed flank first onto the rough, dirty ground.
As the bunnies sadly walked back in the cottage feeling sorry for what they did to a innocent little filly, Fluttershy stuck her head out the door and yelled out, “Enjoy the rest of your day, looooooooser; heh, heh.” And she then slammed her door shut.
“Man… ow,” groaned Sweetie Belle as she rubbed her sore flank, “So much for getting through to Fluttershy.”
Just then, she saw her friend, Apple Bloom walking nearby. Wondering if she had better luck, she raced after her.
“Apple Bloom; hey Apple Bloom, wait up!”
Apple Bloom turned around and saw her friend approaching and solemnly responded, “Hey Sweetie Belle.”
“So how did things turn out with you?” Sweetie Belle questioned.
“Well… considerin’ that mah sister was being a selfish, lazy, and compulsive liar, and that Pinkie Pie literally chased me out of Sugar Cube corner with a lot of angered rage, then… no, things turned out pretty bad for me.”
“Oh… did you see anything else unusual or strange?” Sweetie Belle questioned.
“Well… Ah saw my Granny Smith… tap dancing.”
Sweetie Belle arched her eyebrow and wondered about the thought of seeing that sight, “Weird.”
“So what about you, Sweetie Belle,” asked Apple Bloom, “Did you have any luck yourself?”
“No, I didn’t,” Sweetie Belle sadly stated, “Just now I was drop-kicked out of Fluttershy’s cottage by a group of bunnies that were force to do it… by Fluttershy herself!”
“What?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“I know; how could that dumb Discord make someone so kind and sweet become so mean and nasty?!” stated Sweetie Belle while sobbing a bit, “She made fun of me, she called me names… and… and… she called me a baby; I’m not a baby Apple Bloom!”
“None of us are, Sweetie Belle,” said Apple Bloom while comforting her friend.
“And… and don’t get me started with my suddenly greedy sister, being all gluttony and wanting that huge gigantic gem that she had with her all for herself and doesn’t care about anypony else! Plus, that gem is not even a gem at all; it’s a rock, a big, stupid, gigantic, hulking, solid rock! And she named it… Tom; what does that even mean anyway?!”
“Dang,” said Apple Bloom, “doin’ this friendship restoring thang was much harder than Ah thought.”
“Do you think Scootaloo had any luck finding Rainbow Dash,” asked Sweetie Belle, “If she convinces her then maybe she can help convince the others, and then we can finally get rid of that Discord jerk!”
“Well… it’s hard to guess that,” said Apple Bloom as she and Sweetie Belle continued to walk forward, “but all Ah can say is that Ah hope she is havin’ better luck than we have.”
