//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Return of Bad Babs 
// Story: A Blooming Diamond: The Wrath of Silver Spoon 
// by PastelBacon 
//------------------------------//

"So this is part of everything you do?" Diamond asked, as she watched Applejack collect apples.
"Pretty much, after all we run an apple farm, not to mention the names." Applebloom said.
"Ya got that right..." Diamond said, almost rolling her eyes at the apple relatedness.

"Hey ah think ah see somepony coming" Applebloom said.

Indeed, somepony was headed to the farm, that being none other than Applebloom's cousin, Babs Seed.
"Babs!" Applebloom yelled, surprised. 
"Hey cuz." Babs nonchalantly replied, in her strong manehatten accent.

"Oh... you." Diamond said.
"Whats the matter? Still sour from when I sent yous and your best friend into the mud?" Babs told Diamond with a chuckle.

"Whatever." Diamond replied.
"Knock it off you two..." Applebloom said.
"Pfft. Pretty Pink Princess is just all pouty cause I pushed her off a porch." Babs said.
"Nice alliteration dweeb." Diamond said.
"How original. Dweeb. WHat's next blank flank? Yeah I dares ya, call me a blank flank." Babs told Diamond, a bit of harshness behind her tone, easily in a provoking manner.

".....um...." Diamond muttered a bit.

"What? Didn't quite hear that miss prissy." Babs said, getting in Diamond's face.
"U-U-Um...." Diamond begin to back down a little bit, a bit scared of how aggressive Babs was being.
"Pathetic." Babs said, shoving Diamond down into the dirt, and taking her tiara. 
"H-Hey! G-Give that back!" Diamond yelled.
"MAKE ME!" Babs screamed back, in pure aggression.

Diamond covered her face, not used to being the one picked on, but now that she felt it, she had an even harder time believing she used to do this to Applebloom and her friends, as it really hurt, Diamond began to sob a bit, not knowing what to do, and she herself never being much of a fighter.

"Oh waah waah you little foal." Babs mocked, putting Diamonds tiara on and acting like Diamond used to be.

Babs got knocked to the ground, unsuspecting of a certain Applebloom who literally smacked her on the cheek.

"That's enough!" yelled Applebloom. "What's gotten into you Babs?!" she questioned.

Applebloom backed off a bit, surprised that the only retaliation she got was a growl instead of an explanation.

"I don't needs to tell yous anything cuz.... I don't owe you nothings. NOTHINGS!" Babs yelled, spitting at Applebloom.
"You're really gonna help this quack out?! After all the crap she puts you through?! That's why I don't take yous seriously! Yous too stupid to realize, ponies don't just change in an instant! She's still the same little bitch she was before! And I guess now, looking at you... your her bitch." Babs said coldly, before kicking dirt into Applebloom's face and leaving.

Applebloom began to cry, shocked at what had just happened, not believing how cold her cousin had been and that she'd kicked dirt into her face, before Diamond Tiara come over to comfort her

"I-I bet she's right! Y-Your just doing this ain't ya?!" Applebloom yelled at Diamond, almost smacking her away.
"A-Applebloom... trust me... I've changed... I'm not just doing this. I meant how bad I felt about your granny passing, and looking back on how things are.. I really am sorry about how I treated you all those years... please... don't throw me out... y-your all I have left... your really my friend... a-and I want us to stay friends... every time I hear or usher the words "blank flank" I get sick to my stomach... and the only thing that makes me sicker is my so called former friend Silver Spoon... the way she acted after all this... it was... just disgusting... far beyond anything I ever could do... far beyond anything I ever thought she could do... she crossed a line you just don't cross...." Diamond said, before hugging Applebloom and nuzzling her, trying to comfort her as she said, new friend. 

"Y-Ya really have changed... A-Ah'm sorry for almost buying into what Babs said...." Applebloom said, sorrowfully.
"It's alright... you were just thinking like that cause Babs is family... but sometimes you learn the hard way, not all family is there for you... some family doesn't want you." Diamond said, with a tone that seemed like she'd experienced such a thing in her life as well.
"W-We need to find Sweetie Belle... a-ah want her to know you aren't so bad after all... a-and afterwards maybe we can find Scootaloo...." Applebloom said.
"Alright. We'll do that. But first we need to get something to eat. I know one thing good about apples." Diamond said, smiling.

Applebloom smiled as well slowly, as the two fillies then said in unison "Apple Pie!" which prompted them both to giggle at the timing.

They then made their way inside, sitting at a table, it actually being around dinner time.

"Ya'll are a bit early, dinners not for 20 more minutes ya hungry little varmits." Applejack said, jokingly at the varmits part.
"Well... we were gonna head down to the Carousel Boutique and see if we could talk to Sweetie Belle." Applebloom replied.
"Ah, alright just make sure yer home by 8:00. Ah don't want Mac lifting the entire barn again tryin to find ya." Applejack said.
"He actually did that?" Applebloom replied out of surprise.
"He's strong when he's normal, when he's worried... he worries me with how strong he gets.... ah'd rather not talk about some other things that have happened." Applejack explained.

"Alright AJ.." Applebloom said.

Applebloom and Diamond Tiara waited for 20 more minutes, and then soon after that time Apple Pie had been cooked, and they took their time to eat, before giving their goodbyes to both Applejack and Big Mac, and heading out for the Carousel Boutique, it was around 6:00 PM so they had just over an hour, and would most likely have an entire hour, and maybe an hour and a half, by the time they got to the boutique.

"Ya in there Sweetie? Rarity?" Applebloom asked, knocking on the door to the Carousel Boutique, it having taking them to 6:30 to get there. 

"Cooooming~" Rarity said, in her familiar sing song tone, before opening the door. "Ah, hello Applebloom and... um... Diamond Tiara?" she said, looking at Applebloom confused, knowing the history of Applebloom and Diamond Tiara, as well as the history her younger sister Sweetie Belle had with Diamond.

"It's a long story." Applebloom simply said.
"Oh.. well ok, but if your here to talk to Sweetie Belle, have fun explaining that to her." Rarity said in return.

"Trust me, ah will... hopefully nothing gets broken. 'Specially cause ah know you can be about that." Applebloom said.
"Are you implying something?" Rarity asked, in a somewhat disgruntled tone.
"Rarity, everypony knows how you are about things being broken." Applebloom told Rarity.
"...I suppose that is correct..." Rarity said. "Fine, come in, but make sure nothing gets brok- you get the point." Rarity said, not wanting to give Applebloom the satisfaction of being correct.

"Alright, will do." Applebloom said, chuckling as she and Diamond walked in, and went up to Sweetie Belle's room, which was open, so they walked on in."

"Hey Sweetie." Applebloom said.
"Oh hey Appleblo- why is she here?" Sweetie asked, turning her was-going-to-be-greeting into a question about Diamond Tiara's presence.
"She's been supportive of me and kind ever since Granny Smith died. She even attended Granny's funeral." Applebloom stated.
"OH THATS..... really nice of her actually..." Sweetie said, surprised to hear about Diamond doing such a good deed.
"Ah know it sounds shocking, and ah'm still a little shocked she's being this nice, but ah'm not complaining either." Applebloom said, smiling a little.

"You really did that for her Diamond?" Sweetie asked, turning her attention to her longtime Pink Rival.
"I did. I may have been her enemy at the time, but I thought it would be very disrespectful.. and I don't even think I was completely her enemy at the time... just.. something happened that's changed my outlook, and me and Applebloom clicked as friends... I'm really hoping we'll do the same Sweetie, I don't want a possible fight between us make Applebloom lose another friend..." Diamond said, remembering about what Applebloom had said about Scootaloo.

"Oh... yeah... Scootaloo...." Sweetie murmured, before continuing. "Alright... but as long as you don't just use us. I don't want to find out you were doing this just so you could stab us in the back later on." Sweetie said in a more serious tone.

"Trust me, the way I was in the past, If I was going to stab you in the back, I'd have done it already." Diamond replied.
"She's got a point Sweetie, she was like that in the past." Applebloom said, backing Diamond's point.

"Okay firstly... I never thought I'd hear the day Applebloom and Diamond Tiara agreed on something, and second... I never thought I'd be agreeing with Diamond Tiara, but I am." Sweetie said, shaking her head out a bit, wondering if she had a fever or something.

"Sometimes your greatest enemies can become your greatest allies." Diamond said, smiling.
"YUP!" Applebloom yelled, giggling.
"Ow.." Diamond and Sweetie said in unison, rubbing their ears.
"Eheheh... sorry." Applebloom said.

"It's fine... but why are you here anyway, you don't just usually come here to see me, even when Scootaloo was still with us you didn't do that.

"Well.. um... It's about Babs. She's back." Applebloom said, her tone a bit sad. 
"Why are you so sad? Shouldn't that be a good thing?" Sweetie asked, not knowing about what had happened not long ago.
"It should be... but.. she completely mocked me and Diamond... she stole Diamond's tiara if you hadn't noticed." Applebloom said, her tone even sadder now.
"I was wondering why she wasn't wearing that.. she always does..." Sweetie said, more focused on the fact Diamond wasn't wearing her tiara than the rest of what had happened.
"That's not what's important Sweetie, I may have had my tiara stolen, but the real problem here is how Babs treated Applebloom. She growled at her, knocked her down and kicked dirt in her face. And called her a word that ponies of our age shouldn't even be saying." Diamond said.

"Wow.... she really did all that?" Sweetie asked, shocked by yet another thing.
"Yeah... it was terrible..." Applebloom said.

"After she did what she did to me.. it made me understand even more how you 3 had felt when I bullied you... and for that, I am even more sorry than I was before, because it felt terrible." Diamond admitted.

"Aw... it's no problem Diamond, as long as we know you've changed for the better." Sweetie said, smiling a bit.

"Thanks... that really helps." Diamond said, smiling back.

Diamond then got a group hug, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both hugging her, which surprised the pink filly, but she eventually accepted it and hugged them both back.

"Welp... we better get going back to the farm. AJ told me to be back by 8:00." Applebloom said.
"I.. think I'll stay here for now Applebloom, I want to get to know your best friend as well." Diamond told Applebloom.
"Alright, if your sure. Just don't be surprised if her sister Rarity puts you to work." Applebloom said with a giggle.
"I've been around similar environments like this, I think I can handle it." Diamond said with a smile, before hugging Applebloom.
"Alright, you two take care then." Applebloom replied, hugging Diamond back and then giving Sweetie Belle a hug before leaving.

End Chapter 3