//------------------------------// // 103. Reap What You Sow - Part 3 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// “Hot carrot crepes! Get `em here, get `em hot!” Lively music filled the air, ponies lining the streets, excited and anxiously waiting for the parade to get started. Twinken, his friends, his brothers, and Applejack stood with all their other friends, and couldn’t help but take a guilty chuckle at Spike’s expense when he saw the little dragon get denied the steaming good fragrance of those carrot crepes from Pinkie, who shamelessly blew him a raspberry. But Babs was still on his mind. She and Apple Bloom were both gone by the time he’d come downstairs that morning for breakfast. “Why so quiet, little brother?” He looked up at Midnight, who was smiling down at him with a curious look. “Oh, uh… Just wondering where Apple Bloom and Babs are, is all.” “Apple Bloom and the girls somehow managed to make a new float in time for the parade,” Midnight explained. “They should be down the street with the other floats, getting ready.” Twinken suddenly had an idea of where Babs might be, and squeezed through his brother’s legs to go find Rumble and Button. Babs blew her mane out of her eyes as she led Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon towards the floats when their eyes widened at one in particular. “Whoa…!” It was a shiny golden apple float, on wheels, a little door on the left side, and a window where a visible steering wheel was. Sweetie Belle was shining it when she noticed them. “Isn’t it smashing?” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gave her worried looks, Sweetie Belle instantly flabbergasting as she tried, “I mean- Isn’t it a hit?” Scootaloo facehooved as Sweetie Belle continued to gobbledygook so she went up to Babs, poking her roughly in the chest as she gave her the stink eye. “Well don’t even think about riding it, Babs!” She gave a not-so-subtle wink to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, prompting AB to elbow Sweetie. “Oh!” She hopped in and fiddled with something inside the float while Scootaloo said to Babs, “You had your chance!” Babs looked towards Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon rolling their eyes, silently asking if she was really gonna take that. But before it fortified her nerve, she startled to see Twinken, Rumble, and Button, waving those incriminating pictures! Now Babs was beginning to sweat! Twinken had made it perfectly clear he had no problems ratting her out, and with those pictures there was no way she’d be able to talk herself out of it. But then Twinken’s words started to hit home as Babs began to wonder if Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would have her back if Twinken did tell Midnight and Applejack on her. And if it comes to that, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon will cut you loose. When Babs thought about it, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had not, for the duration of her time with them, aided her in bullying Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, and Twinken had been right that they weren’t in the pictures with her bullying the Crusaders. It had come down to a choice – Continue bullying the Crusaders and get punished or come clean and still get punished. She was trapped! As the pressure built up, her sense of right and wrong teetering, and all eyes on her, Babs couldn’t take it! She began to cry. “Huh?!” The Crusaders were blown! They’d planned this situation perfectly! They’d even pulled out a mattress for a soft-landing after their assumption of Babs knocking them off the float to steal it. Babs breaking into tears was not what they’d been expecting. “Wha’s goin’ on here?!” They flinched and turned to see Applejack with balloons, Midnight with a bag of popcorn, both of them with furrowed eyes demanding an explanation. “Applejack, Midnight!” the girls didn’t know what to do, as the two older ponies gave them the stink eye. “Somepony start talking,” Midnight demanded. “Now.” “Uh, well-” “See, the thing is…” “Babs just-” “It’s my fault!” Babs began to bawl, all eyes turned to her, and she hiccupped, trying to find her voice. “I-I-I’ve been… being a bully!” “Huh?!” “What’re you talkin’ about, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked as she went over and placed a comforting hoof on Babs’ shoulder while Midnight levitated a handkerchief to the filly. She accepted it and blew her nose. “For the past couple days… I’ve been bullying Apple Bloom and her friends… Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came to the barn and… I just didn’t want to be bullied like I was back in Manehatten and… I thought being a bully would-” “Wait, Babs was bullied in Manehatten?!” Apple Bloom gaped in shock, as did Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “Well, Ah din’t say nothin’ b’fore cuz’ Ah didn’t want Babs t’ feel singled out,” Applejack explained as she continued to comfort Babs. “But there’s been some bullies back in Manehatten teasin’ her t’ pieces about her blank flank.” “T-teased…?” “B-bullies?!” “Blank flank!?” The girls all sank in shame when Midnight spoke up. “Hold on, why are we only hearing about this now? If Babs was bullying you girls, why didn’t you say anything?” “Because a certain couple of someponies didn’t want to feel like snitches,” Sweetie Belle gave a sheepish Apple Bloom and Scootaloo the stink eye. “And we’re the reason Babs confessed.” They all looked to see Twinken, Rumble, and Button walking up. “We followed Babs as she was bullying the girls and took pictures,” Rumble explained. “And I threatened Babs last night to confess or I’d show the pictures to you and Applejack to prove she was being a bully,” Twinken confessed, feeling a little guilty about being a blackmailer. “We wanted to tell you as well but the girls didn’t want us to,” Button added. “I didn’!” Sweetie snapped at him, “I wanted to tell somepony from the start!” “Is that all?” Midnight asked with a raised tone. “Or does anypony else have something to confess?” “Eh…” the girls hesitated. “Oh sweet mother of Celestia- What is it this time?” Midnight threw up his hooves. “We booby-trapped the float,” Sweetie Belle admitted, pointing at the golden apple float. “We wanted t’ get back at Babs fer bein’ a big bully,” Apple Bloom explained. “But we had no idea you were being a bully to avoid being bullied yourself like you were back in Manehatten,” Scootaloo added, addressing Babs, who looked away in shame. “Kids…” Midnight said with a tone. “Two wrongs… or rather in this case, four, don’t make a right! Babs, being a bully to avoid being bullied is not the answer. Boys, blackmail is wrong, no matter what the reason, and girls, getting back at someone like whatever you were planning just makes you sink to their level!” “All o’ this could’a been avoided if’n ya just told us from the start,” Applejack added. “Urgh, why does life have to be so ironic?!” frustrated Sweetie Belle. “Because irony can teach you a lesson,” Midnight answered when the sound of the horn that signaled the parade was about to start sounded. “Uh-oh, we better wrap this up.” “Applejack, Midnight, Ah know we all went an’ made a real mess o’ things but…” Apple Bloom looked hopeful. “Can we ride our float throught th’ parade anyhow?! No more tricks, no more bullyin’, no more blackmail, nothin’ but honest fun and together-ness!” All the colts and fillies looked up at Applejack and Midnight with puppy-dog eyes and the two older ponies shared a look. “Well…” “Ah think they learned from their mistakes.” “Ok,” they both said, and they all cheered. It felt so good to clear the air, and the colts n’ fillies happily rode the float after disabling the booby-trap. Babs was even given the honor of steering the float, Apple Bloom and Rumble rode with her inside the float while the rest stood on top smiling and waving to the crowd, while they ignored the jeering looks from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. A lot of stuff happened for the rest of Babs’ stay in Ponyville. After they officially made her a member of the Cutie-Mark Crusaders, they had a big delicious pizza at Pepper Pony’s, and did some crusading over the next few days, much to Babs and the colts’ chagrin, particularly because of what the crusading led to. Dumpster-diving (which led to a three-hour long bath to get the smell off). Street sweeping (which turned out to be back-breaking labor). Bungee-jumping (they settled for jumping off the barn with a haystack at the bottom but Midnight caught them before they touched it and they got a stern-talking to about the crazy shenanigans they got themselves into, also because they’d used a line of twine since they couldn’t find a bungee cord) It just go to the point where the boys made them slow down and take a break. Babs, to Button’s surprise, turned out to be pretty good gamer, and beat his high score at his favorite pinball machine at the arcade. She showed Scootaloo how to do a new trick on her scooter. She got Sweetie Belle to rap with her on a karaoke machine, and they both sounded great. But soon it was time for Babs to go home. At the train station, the colts n’ fillies, accompanied by Applejack and Midnight saw Babs off, the foals wearing their crusader capes and bandanas. “So you promise yer gonna start our Manehatten branch of the Cutie-Mark Crusaders, right?” asked Apple Bloom. “Yeah, and I promise to keep talking to my family about the teasing back home,” Babs added while giving Applejack and Midnight a promising look. “Atta girl, and remember if you have any problems,” Midnight said as he held his friends and family close. “We got your back as well.” “So you’re leaving huh?” They all looked to the end of the station and saw the brazen hussies had come to see Babs as well. “Great, now we’re stuck here with these lame blank flanks!” Babs looked from them to her friends and saw how the girls looked hurt while the boys wanted to make the brats hurt. “If they weren’t fillies…!” Midnight seethed, Applejack putting a hoof on his shoulder. “Midnight…” she said with a warning tone but she wanted to teach those little prissies a lesson as well. Babs then faced Diamond Tiara and silver Spoon, “Hey! That’s not how you talk to my friends!” “F-f-friends?” Silver Spoon echoed as she and Diamond Tiara looked at Babs in disbelief. “Yeah, you gotta problem with that?” Babs said in warning tone. Taking her up on it, Diamond Tiara challenging, “Well what if I do? What are you gonna do about it?” Babs might have said or even done something nasty but when she looked back at her friends and family, she suddenly had an idea of how to take the high road. “Tell your mothers about your bad attitudes!” Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had backed up warily at Babs’ challenging approach, not noticing they were teetering towards the edge… when Babs gave them a frightful look, that made them trip! *SPLAT* The Crusaders and even Midnight and Applejack took a laugh at Diamond and Silver’s expense of having fallen into the mud. Midnight even gave her a hoof-bump as she passed them by to get to the train. “All of a sudden,” he said with an amused raised brow, “I’ve got a lotta respect for that filly.” “Me too,” Sweetie Belle agreed. “I’m sure gonna miss that bad seed.” “Bad seed?” Applejack echoed in confusion. “Ah thought y’all were friends now?” “I think she meant ‘bad’ in the new sense of the word meaning ‘good’,” Midnight explained as they waved at Babs through the train car window and she waved back. “You’re thinking ‘bad’ in the old sense of the word. Geddit?” “Yyyyeeaaaahhh-no,” Applejack drawled, making everypony laugh as the train took Babs home.