“So what did you do?” Rainbow Dash asked Star Shine. The two were, in a rare moment for Rainbow Dash, walking and not flying away from the school. Neither of them admitted it to the other but they knew if they had been flying then they would have had to split up sooner. By walking they could spend just a little bit longer with eachother.
“Hmm?” Star Shine responded, looking over at her. “What do you mean?” The question took him off guard and he didn’t have any clue what she meant.
“You said you’d taken care of everything. I won’t be able to keep an eye on her, so what did you do? You get Cheerilee to keep an eye on her or something?” Rainbow Dash explained.
“Honestly? I didn’t do anything.” Star Shine replied. Rainbow Dash looked at him with narrowed eyes. she expected more than that. “I think she’ll be fine. Her friends will take care of her and it seems like those other girls are going to be nice too. I don’t think she needs to be watched like that anymore.” Star Shine explained hurriedly. Rainbow Dash looked at the ground and sighed.
“I know she might not need it.” Rainbow Dash said flatly. “But I still get worried about her.” she added, looking back up at Star Shine. Star Shine smiled at her and nuzzled her.
“I know you do, and there’s no harm in that. She’ll be alright for one day though. She’s been fine this past week hasn’t she?” Star Shine said. Rainbow Dash returned the nuzzle and stepped away from Star Shine to separate from him.
“Yeah she has really. I’ve been feeling kind of silly about keeping an eye on her anyway.” Rainbow Dash replied sheepishly. “So what are your plans for this morning?” she asked Star Shine. Partly out of curiosity and partly to change the topic.
“I think I’ll go back to the house and plan my lesson for this afternoon. If I have some spare time then I’ll find something to do. I’ll meet you near the library around noon and we’ll go in together. Sound good to you?” Star Shine replied.
“Yeah that sounds alright. I’ll see you later then.” Rainbow Dash replied, taking off into the air. She had wasted enough time talking and needed to hurry up and get to Cloudsdale before she was late for work. Star Shine, true to his word, took off himself and headed back in the direction of the cloud manor.
---
Back at school things were going fine for Scootaloo during the early morning lessons. She was able to focus more on her work and even got into a friendly competition with Diamond Tiara over answering questions out loud when Cheerilee asked them.
“It’s nice to see you too getting along so well.” Cheerilee commented after they both elected to shout out the answer and laughed at eachother. Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo smirked at eachother and giggled before the sound of the school bell going off made them jump. They had been so caught up in having fun that they didn’t realise a few hours had passed and it was time for their mid morning recess. Cheerilee looked at the clock, surprised herself. “Looks like it’s recess time.” she said. It was slightly pointless as most of the children had already begun making their way towards the door without waiting to be excused. “Oh, Scootaloo, could you stay behind for a minute? There’s something I want to discuss with you.” Cheerilee added quickly before Scootaloo could run outside. Scootaloo looked across at her friends nervously and motioned for them to go out and wait for her before heading back to Cheerilee’s desk.
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee?” Scootaloo asked nervously, worried about what Cheerilee could possibly want. She couldn’t see how she could possibly be in trouble unless Cheerilee was more annoyed than she was letting on by Scootaloo’s antics with Diamond Tiara during class. If that were the case though Scootaloo thought that Diamond Tiara would get kept behind too. “Is this something to do with Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo ventured. Cheerilee shook her head, paused for a second, and then started nodding instead.
“Yes but you’re not in trouble or anything, so don’t worry about it.” Cheerilee replied. She smiled down at Scootaloo who breathed a sigh of relief.
“That’s good. So, what is it?” Scootaloo asked. “Uh, Miss Cheerilee.” she added quickly. She might not have been in trouble for her antics with Diamond Tiara and she didn’t want to get in trouble for a lack of respect instead.
“It’s a good thing obviously but I’m wondering why this sudden change with Diamond Tiara. She’s been much better behaved lately but you’ve still been apprehensive with her. I can understand why you were, so I’m just wondering what happened to make you change your mind.” Cheerilee explained.
“Oh. Well at first I wasn’t sure if she was actually any different but, well, it’s been so long and she hasn’t done anything wrong. I just...accepted she had changed is all. If she wants to be my friend then I don’t want to be the kind of pony who would push her away.” Scootaloo explained.
“That’s a very healthy attitude and I’m glad you have it.” Cheerilee replied. Scootaloo giggled a little at the praise. “Well that’s all, so you can go and have fun now. Enjoy the rest of your recess.” she added. Scootaloo nodded and ran out of the schoolhouse door. Cheerilee watched her go and thought she looked a lot different than she did just a few weeks ago when she came back to school. She had been so depressed and barely talked and now she was making friends with the pony who had made her life less than enjoyable. Whatever was going on at home for Scootaloo had made a huge impression on her.
Scootaloo left the schoolhouse and saw that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were waiting right by the door. She looked around for sings of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and saw that they were sat across the playground and were seemingly discussing something. She didn’t really expect them to wait but it would have been nice. If they had something important to talk about then she could live with that and wouldn’t want to intrude on them anyway.
“What was that all about?” Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo when she made her way over to them.
“Nothing much, Miss Cheerilee was just wondering why I was getting on with DT is all.” Scootaloo explained. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle breathed sighs of relief of their own that Scootaloo wasn’t in trouble over anything. “Say, speaking of DT, I got an idea this morning. Do you think we could make her and Silver Spoon Crusaders?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom broke out into a coughing fit in surprise and Sweetie Belle just wasn’t sure how to react. She settled for staring wide eyed at Scootaloo. “Forget it. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.” Scootaloo said, looking at the ground. She knew her friends might not have reacted well but she didn’t think they would react this badly to the suggestion.
“No, no it’s not that.” Apple Bloom was quick to reassure Scootaloo once she had calmed down. “It’s not a bad idea, it was just unexpected. ‘Sides, don’t they have their Cutie Marks already?”
“Well yeah but we do a lot of fun stuff too and when I thought about it I don’t think having a Cutie Mark means you can’t be a Crusader.” Scootaloo replied.
“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked, confused. To her and Apple Bloom being a Cutie Mark Crusader meant just what the name implied; you were crusading for your Cutie Mark and trying to find your special talent. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had theirs already.
“Well are we gonna stop being Crusaders when we get our Cutie Marks? Actually if it wasn’t for those two we might not even be Crusaders…” Scootaloo trailed off as something occurred to her. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were more confused than ever. They could almost accept the argument that earning their Cutie Marks wouldn’t mean they were no longer Crusaders but the idea that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon helped form the Crusaders was something that was totally lost on both of them.
“Wha?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle added. It was all either of them could think to say.
“If they hadn’t been teasing Apple Bloom at that party then me and Sweetie Belle might not have jumped out and we might not have met. It was even her party.” Scootaloo explained. All three of them shivered at the idea that Diamond Tiara was directly responsible for them all meeting. They might have been friendlier with her but old wounds heal slowly.
“I guess. Invite her at lunchtime and see what she says.” Apple Bloom said after she thought about. She couldn’t think of a single argument other than that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon already had Cutie Marks and she didn’t like the idea that getting a Cutie Mark would mean you were out of the Crusaders. She felt if she earned her Cutie Mark first she would still help Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo earn theirs. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo felt the same so it was a fairly easy decision in the end.
“Yeah that should be okay.” Sweetie Belle said, adding her own approval. “She’s still busy with Silver Spoon anyway and I don’t wanna interrupt them.” she added as she looked across the playground and saw that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were still talking.
“Then it’s decided.” Scootaloo said simply. She reared up onto her hind legs and put a foreleg in the air. Her fellow Crusaders mimicked her and they all put their hooves together.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS NEW FRIENDS YAY!” they shouted in unison before lowering themselves back down to the ground sheepishly as they attracted the attention of everypony on the playground.
“I wonder what the hay that was all about?” Silver Spoon asked, looking across at where the Crusaders were.
“I don’t know and if it’s those three, it’s probably nothing good. Anyway, that’s my plan. What do you think?” Diamond Tiara asked. She had spent the past ten minutes or so explaining a plan that she had and answering questions that Silver Spoon had about it.
“I think you need to be careful. This could get you in a lot of trouble if it goes wrong or if you get caught.” Silver Spoon replied. She was a little nervous about not automatically agreeing with Diamond Tiara it was a good plan but she was concerned about her friend and wanted her to know the risks.
“I know that. They’re going out though so it’s not like I’ll be caught. I’ll be gone way before they get back.” Diamond Tiara replied. Silver Spoon was slightly reassured.
“Even before then though…this thing with Scootaloo. Is it smart to do that?” Silver Spoon asked. Diamond Tiara glared at her and Silver Spoon shied away. “...never mind.” Silver Spoon added quietly.
“If anything goes wrong I can just deny it all. Cheerilee thinks I’m a goody two shoes who wouldn’t do something like that anyway.” Diamond Tiara said, doing a bad job of trying to hide her annoyance at Silver Spoon’s lack of faith.
“She also thinks that you and Scootaloo are friends now.” Silver Spoon countered. She hated to still be disagreeing with Diamond Tiara but she wanted to make sure she had all the facts before she tried something this risky.
“Don’t worry, that really does make everything better for me. It makes things easier for me actually. Scootaloo thought I would slip up even on the first day I was pretending to be nice, how do you think Cheerilee is going to react to Scootaloo slipping up on her first day of being nice? That says she was pretending to me.” Diamond Tiara explained. Silver Spoon wanted to say something but as she opened her mouth the school bell rang and signalled the end of recess. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara made their way into the schoolhouse. Silver Spoon was still worried about Diamond Tiara. She accepted there was nothing she could say or do that would stop her and so settled for just hoping things went how Diamond Tiara hoped they would.