//------------------------------// // Step 6 ~ Sweetie Belle, Processing Information // Story: Sleepovers And Such // by Sunset-Chan //------------------------------// Step 6 ~Sweetie Belle, Processing Information~ “What?” was Apple Bloom’s question, breaking the long, stunned silence. When Sweetie Belle had woken this morning, it had been to the smell of perfume that clung to her sister’s home like tree gum did to fur. She loved staying over with her big sister, unless Rarity was involved with some deadline, which was always. Well, she liked it nonetheless, and this morning she had even thought that it would become a fairly ordinary day. This was a step up from the day before, because being grounded wasn’t fun. And it was even less so when your sister had found out about some botched test you had carefully hidden beneath the stove. Well, I should’ve known that stove wasn’t trustworthy, she had figured, but left it aside, because this was going to be an ordinary day for crusading. The hour had been early when she, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom met up by their clubhouse, and it had been at that moment when the day took a turn to the extraordinary. “Oh yes,” Dinky shouted from above, laughing maniacally. “Your clubhouse belongs to me now … again!” “Levitating Luna, Dinky,” Apple Bloom said, trying herself at alliteration, “you can’t just go and take over other ponies clubhouses.” “And yet she did,” mumbled Sweetie Belle, which earned two angry looks. “Hah! You can’t tell me what to do, this land belongs to Dinky the destroyer now! Dinky land, dinky rules! And Dinky’s rule say that you shan’t pass!” Scootaloo rubbed her hoof across her forehead. “By the sun, Dinky. If you don’t get down here immediately then–” “Then what? We did this already you fools, your threats don’t scare me!” Interrupted Dinky, grinning awfully bright. Sweetie Belle found the way it put her new bracers on display a bit disturbing, but Dinky had never bothered with such miniscule details. It was a rather admirable trait, she found, even if her sister and parents told her it was distasteful. Not only that, it was always strange how little malice Dinky seemed have. She thinks that this is a game, Sweetie thought, sighing. “Come on girls. She’ll get bored of this soon enough,” she stated, turning around. “Let’s do something else.” “Yeah, whatever,” Scootaloo said and followed suit, her mood ruined . Apple Bloom herself looked up at their tree house, and she might’ve pondered whether she should tell on Dinky. Ultimately, she decided to just follow her two friends away from the tree house. “Ha! I’ll never leave! I’ll never leave,” Dinky shouted after them. “Why is she so annoying?” Apple Bloom wondered after they had gained some distance. “Because she’s got no friends, I think she just wants to have somepony to play with,” Sweetie Belle answered. This was exactly the kind of situation that called for a positive attitude and she had every intention of keeping it. Apple Bloom frowned and shook her head though. Clearly, she wasn’t getting Dinky, but then, who was? Even Sweetie Belle was quite happy when she was being left alone by that weirdo. “Urgh,” elaborated Scootaloo. “How did she even get the key to our tree house!” Apple Bloom shrugged. “We don’t have a key for the tree house.” “Oh, really? Well, now I don’t find it all surprising that Babs Seed, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, Dinky, a manticore, a murder of ravens, Dinky’s mom, the griffon team from the equestrian games, and a bear decided to just take it away from us in the past three weeks.” Apple Bloom shrugged again. Sweetie Belle felt inclined to shrug too, but then she realized the implications of the statement. “Do you guys think our clubhouse is too openly accessible?” “I don’t know Sweetie Belle, I think it’s perfect,” Apple Bloom stated, giving her an encouraging nod. “Really? Really?” Scootaloo seemed genuinely confused by their attitudes. “Well, it’s not all that bad,” Apple Bloom said with a grin. “Now we get to play outside. Without having eaten breakfast. Because you decided to drag me out of here just before the final battle.” “Because I had something important to tell you guys,” Scootaloo said in her defense. “Well, you can tell us now,” Apple Bloom answered. “No. Somepony else might hear. We need to find a safe location.” “You mean some super-secret location that nopony’ll ever find?” Sweetie Belle asked. Apple Bloom made a face. “Can’t we just go to one of the hills overlooking the acres? There’s so few ponies around I doubt it’ll really matter anyway.” Scootaloo looked around. “Well, I’m okay with it as long as we can really see that there’s really nopony around.” She put on a slight grin. “This thing is huge, I tell you.” Of course, Sweetie Belle wondered what Scootaloo meant, but the answer would come to her in due time. For now they went through the long familiar acres. The unicorn remembered herself being a stranger to them, not even a year ago, when the crusaders had been founded. Even now the trees looked all the same and she had to rely on Apple Bloom’s navigation skills. She could still tell how to get to the clubhouse, which served as a landmark, but otherwise? She had gotten lost in here once. For a whole week the filly had survived on a diet of apples, at least until she had remembered that the grass beneath her hooves was edible too. Quite the shocker, but that’s what you got when you never really bothered with how the food got on your sandwich. The trio traveled through the acres with ease, until they finally reached the top of a hill, with a lonely tree standing there. Red apples hung from it ever so ripe. Sweetie Belle found it almost surprising. The hills would make good landmarks too, but you could all just call them “that hill with the apple tree”, which was an utterly useless description considering this place. She had heard Rainbow Dash say that the acres were shaped like one huge apple, too. Really, sometimes she wondered whether this was some sort of obsession the family had, or some sort of ancient ritual to keep their apples fresh. Maybe they could investigate further and get their cutie marks in uncovering ancient conspiracies. That would be kinda awesome. “Okay, we’re on some hill in the middle of nowhere,” Scootaloo stated, looking across the fields. Whether she harbored the same thoughts as Sweetie Belle, the unicorn did not know, but what did it matter? Before and behind them where the Sweet Apple Acres. Green trees and red apples as far as the eye could see, the greatest apple farm in all of Equestria. No matter on how many hills she stood, the sheer size always overwhelmed Sweetie Belle. It was really awesome just being here this early. She even felt like doing some exploring again. Maybe they’d find that one treasure Granny Smith mentioned some time ago. “I wouldn’t call it nowhere, we’re still on the acres,” Apple Bloom said, the wind moving her mane and bow. “Not that it matters,” Scootaloo said, looking around once more. Sweetie Belle did the same, but except for trees and some bushes at the foot of the hill, she spotted nothing that rose beyond the green grass. Well, okay, there were two barns, the home of the apples in the distance, and a dragon flying across the land even farther away. “I’ve got something really awesome to share,” Scootaloo said with a grin. Apple Bloom, who had just stood there all neutral, just sighed. “You’re talking about Diamond Tiara, aren’t you?” Sweetie Belle lifted an eyebrow. “What about her?” Scootaloo started to grin, Apple Bloom just shook her head. “She’s staying over for the weekend, which is apparently funny now for some reason.” “Well, not exactly, but–” “She’s what?” Sweetie interrupted. “You’re having a sleepover with Diamond Tiara?” As Apple Bloom nodded, Sweetie immediately pulled her into a hug, stroking her mane. “I’m so, so sorry.” “Uhm … Okay, she didn’t really do anything until this point.” “Can you be sure? Did she offer you any food? What if she poisoned you?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I … I doubt she’d do that, well, doubt is a strong word, but–” Apple Bloom stammered. “Girls!” Scootaloo interrupted them. “Why’re you questioning the color of rocks when I just found a gold mine?” Sweetie Belle giggled at that comment. “We’re not discussing rocks, silly. We’re talking about Diamond Tiara.” Scootaloo looked at her for a moment, all quiet, before she decided to say something. “Anyway, she was sleeping in a room with us and–” “Oh no, did she put your hooves in warm water?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Well, surprisingly no, but that’s not really my point–” “Did she put a flamingo and a bowl of noodles in your bed?” “No, she–wait, what?” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were both looking at her, question marks clearly above her head. The filly turned red, “Uhm … I’m just asking, you know, because I heard that somepony did that to … Dinky, yeah, Dinky.” “Oh,” both her friends answered. “What?” Then came a moment of silence which Sweetie used to turn away from her friends and think about some childhood trauma best left undescribed. “Well, okay,” Scootaloo said, resuming her approach of the mysterious topic she had. Before she could continue she did let out a snort, though, and the rest of speech was made between fits of giggling. “Well, you see, I saw, like, Diamond Tiara, at night. I mean, I was awake and Apple Bloom was snoring like a lawnmower–” “Hey!” “and so I turned around to find Diamond sleeping on her stack of hay.” “You let her sleep on the hay? Really, don’t you have guest beds?” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “No, we needed the guest room to stash souvenirs our family members send us constantly,” Apple Bloom answered. “Hey, music playing here,” Scootaloo said, frowning at the two of them. “Anyway, her blanket was kicked off and–” “Oh, let me guess,” Sweetie Belle interrupted excitedly, “she had a plushie cactus too!” Honestly, she couldn’t be the only pony who had one of those. “No–I mean, yeah, she did, but that’s not my point.” OhmyCelestia, we can be cactus-buddies now! Sweetie Belle thought, squeeing with glee. “Look, she was wearing something,” Scootaloo said, trying to regain that momentum of funniness that had left the moment she had brought the matter to her friends. “Yeah, that ultra-expensive sleeping gown for-which-I-totally-wouldn’t-sell-off-all-my-toys,” Apple Bloom said deadpan. “No, beneath it. Just, look,” she made a gesture to quieten them. “She was wearing a diaper.” Sweetie Belle blinked. Apple Bloom blinked. Somewhere in the distance, a crow cawed. “She what?” Apple Bloom asked. “She wears diapers to bed, like. A. Baby,” Scootaloo said, a grin spreading across her face. “Actually, my doctor told me that lots of fillies did that, or they have plastic covers, because there’s like millions who still wet the bed,” Sweetie Belle threw in. The grin left Scootaloo’s face immediately. “Stop undermining my point, Sweetie Belle.” “Sorry.” “The important thing is. Diamond Tiara can’t keep her bed dry, which is awesome for us.” Apple Bloom frowned. “How is that awesome? I mean, hay costs money too and I don’t know if it’s usable if it gets, you know, wet. I’d have to run that by my sister to see how it could affect our numbers.” The pegasus laughed it off. “No, I mean we can stop her bullying.” “Don’t tell me–” Sweetie Belle started. “We’re going to blackmail her into leaving us alone forever from now on!” Apple Bloom looked at her friend and then started to nod hesitantly. The nod became quicker as she understood the information more and more, and she started smiling too. Sweetie Belle, however, was not convinced. While her friends were giggling at the prospect of getting Diamond Tiara out of their lives, she could only see the cost at which it would come. “Okay, no. I mean, you want us to bully a bully out of bullying? Didn’t we already try that?” She inquired. “Well, we actually did. But that was Babs. She had her circumstances, and this is Diamond Tiara!” Apple Bloom looked at her as if that was the most viable argument in the whole world. “And now we know that she has her circumstances too,” Sweetie Belle said. Apart from her ego, that is, she added in her thoughts, but let it not ruin the string of her arguments. “I mean, this could devastate her.” “No, we could devastate her,” Scootaloo corrected. “And it’s not like she doesn’t deserve it, or do you want me to remind you of everything she put us through until this point? And her smugness at breakfast was really not helping her case.” “Well, I wasn’t there with you at breakfast. I just thought we had decided at some point to have standards, unlike her.” “How’re standards helping us if she’s annoying us?” “We could always try to fight her. I mean, we’re three and she’s on her own,” Apple Bloom threw in. “What? No, that’d be cruel,” Scootaloo said. “And blackmailing her isn’t?” Sweetie Belle wondered. The three just stared at each other then, before Scootaloo threw her arms up. “Fine, we’re not blackmailing her. What should we do with this information then?” “How about nothing?” Sweetie asked. “I mean, we all have things we appreciate to never get out. For Apple Bloom it’s ruining the mayor’s office with bananas–” “There was a spider in there.” “For you it’s that one time you nearly drowned and got saved by a song-and-dance number done by some seaponies.” Scootaloo froze for a moment. “Oh no, I’m remembering the melody. Shoo-be-doo …” “And for me it’s when I found a flamingo and noodle bowl in my bed when we were on vacation.” Apple Bloom blinked. “Wait, that happened to you?” “And everypony has secrets like this. Instead of using them to hurt others, we help them feel safe, even if it means that we will never talk about them ever again for as long as we live and maybe even beyond the grave. Because that’s the right thing to do, very often. Just not asking, and not telling. We can tolerate what bothers us by ignoring it.” Scootaloo lifted her hoof, humming a melody. “Uhm, just one question.” “Yeah?” “What happened with the flamingo? I’m curious now.” “It doesn’t matter what happened with the flamingo. What is important is that we pretend there never was a flamingo and we can all go on living our lives peacefully.” “But we can’t live peacefully. Diamond Tiara is staying over today and tomorrow too. Once we get back home there will be a war,” Apple Bloom said. “Even if we don’t want one. She’s so good at antagonizing ponies.” “Yeah, did you hear the way she greeted us during breakfast?” Scootaloo asked. “I thought that was rather nice, actually.” “Well, she–I–She’s evil incarnate, okay?” “Well, yeah.” Apple Bloom answered and even Sweetie Belle gave a nod of agreement. It was hard defending her worst enemy, but that was what having standards was about. Nevertheless, Diamond Tiara was wearing diapers. That was the one thing she hadn’t expected to hear all day. “She did bring us into that Gabby Gums mess,” she said to nopony in particular. “An’ she turned Babs into a bully,” Apple Bloom threw in. “And she makes us look horrible whenever she can,” Scootaloo said then. “And she’s probably never going to stop,” all three stated simultaneously. Sweetie Belle sighed, at least they’d come out of here as moral victors, no matter what would happen. Really, considering everything, they had already won. All the times Diamond Tiara had just tried to get to them, all the times she had thrown them and their good will into the mud, all the times she had schemed and lied just to satisfy her own need for acknowledgement. All that because she felt insecure about wetting the bed. That’s a stupid reason, Sweetie Belle concluded, considering she’d wet the bed well into the first grade and she had never turned evil. So, maybe that wasn’t why Diamond Tiara was the way she was. Well, there’s also her ego. And once she’d find the trio, she would annoy them, and then she would go on to do even worse stuff, and all because they weren’t answering to her bullying. Sweetie looked at her friends, who seemed to contemplate what to do with this newfound information too, but honestly, considering their history, Sweetie was almost sure that blackmail was actually a fair option. It wasn’t like they were doing something evil. All that would happen was that they’d tell Diamond Tiara that they knew her terrible secret and then get her to leave them alone. Okay, maybe she could also do some other stuff. Like do some of their homework, or help around with their respective chores, be a productive child instead of a spoiled one. They might actually be doing her a favor. And it wouldn’t be bullying because Diamond Tiara is evil. “Uhm,” Apple Bloom began. “How about we start by blackmailing her and then slowly become her friends, like, for real.” Scootaloo looked perplexed. “How would that work. You’re not thinking, like, putting her in a basement and–” “What? No, no,” Apple Bloom shook her head, and Sweetie Belle shivered. Why had they even tried reading her sister’s books without her permission? “I mean, I’ve got an idea for a ninety-three stage plan that would surely work.” “Yeah, no, we’re not doing anymore x-stage plans, I do not want to drown and be saved by singing sea ponies again,” Scootaloo protested, waving her hoof around. “Well, I don’t have any other ideas. I mean, we can’t just ignore it. I mean, I kinda want to see what she looks like. I mean, it’s probably funny.” “Yeah, it sure is. I mean, considering most of her shtick is insulting our maturity by asserting the fact that she has a cutie mark, this could be considered deeply ironic,” Sweetie Belle said slowly, so that she would get all the words right and sound really smart. “But we shouldn’t laugh at her.” “Well, we should use it. I mean, she has it coming, and if we can keep it between the four of us, some good ol’ vengeance won’t be that bad,” Scootaloo said, trying to smile again. Sweetie Belle at least understood from where the pegasus was coming, but that didn’t make this any easier. She didn’t want to be a bully, not really, but vengeance did sound nice. “Well, you know what,” Apple Bloom said, “I’m totally fine with just some vengeance. Something that’ll make her shut up for the coming days is all I need. It’ll teach her not to mess with us too.” Sweetie Belle sighed. The truth was that the pros did outweigh the cons. With this, they could rid themselves of Diamond Tiara, even if not completely. It wasn’t like they were actually going to bully her, they were still the good guys and had the moral high ground. Plus, the thought of Diamond Tiara in diapers was kinda funny. “Okay, but if we do something, we do it today, and we let her know that if she’ll start some cycle of vengeance thingie, we’ll tell everybody,” Sweetie Belle said, deciding that this wasn’t blackmail, but insurance. They weren’t dropping any standards, they were still the good guys and they were clearly not going to bully and blackmail another filly. They were fighting against Diamond Tiara and that served as an excuse enough. So, while they came up with a battle plan, down at the foot of the hill the bushes started to rustle and something started to run. Another pony, one who decided just then to have some standards, against all previous behavior.