It was summer time, a great time for colts & fillies of all ages, for some ponies, it meant a time for vacation and travel, the weather is normally just fine for this type of stuff.
For one young filly, it meant many great weeks to hang out with her family from another town, in this case, Babs Seed. The young Manhatten filly got permission from her family to spend time in Ponyville with her favorite cousin & co-founder of The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom got the message a few days ago from Pegasus Mailmare Derpy Hooves. She was so excited to have Babs stay the summer, it will be like having a second sister, and it would be much better than Babs' first visit to Ponyville.
Come the day where Babs would arrive, Apple Bloom was on her way to the train station, joined by fellow Crusaders Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and newer member, Rumble. The four foals being chaperoned by Apple Bloom's sister Applejack & one of Rumble's regular foalsitters, Cloudchaser.
Rumble had encountered Babs once before in Manehatten when he and his brother Thunderlane joined Apple Bloom and her sister Applejack in visiting Babs when Rarity was invited to Manehatten to visit Coco Pommel. This will be his first extended visit with Babs, he liked the idea of getting to know her a little better since he barely spoke to her at her apartment or at the showdown between Rainbow Dash & Lightning Dust.
Apple Bloom was visibly excited for this and wouldn't stop smiling on her way to the train station, "This is gonna be so GREAT! I'm happy to see Babs in ponyville!"
"Yeah, more crusading potential, I wonder if she has any great ideas?" Scootaloo asked.
"She probably will have great ideas, so long as a certain Pegasus doesn't shoot the idea down", Sweetie Belle statted, glaring a little at Rumble.
"When have I ever done that?" Scootaloo asked, oblivious to Sweetie's glance towards Rumble.
Sweetie Belle shot a 'seriously' stare at Scootaloo, "Not you Scootaloo, I mean the only colt in our group".
Apple Bloom shot a glare of her own at Sweetie Belle, "Sweetie ah told you a million times, stop saying bad things about Rumble".
"I'm just being honest", Sweetie said.
"Well can it!" Apple Bloom shouted.
Applejack turned around, "Hey be nice back there or all of you are going home!"
Sweetie groaned a bit while Apple Bloom stayed close to Rumble, who looked unhappy about this. This wasn't anything new, Sweetie Belle hasn't really liked him all that much, ever since he joined the group she's harbored a deep dislike for Rumble. She had complained about him being shoehorned into the crusaders, since Scootaloo made the decision by herself. Apple Bloom, while a little annoyed about that herself, at least came to like Rumble due to her having a small crush on him, Sweetie however wasn't gonna buy his cute boy deal.
Sweetie usually got in trouble for saying such things about Rumble, usually with her sister Rarity, who also at one point had to deal with Applejack's initial dislike of Thunderlane, Rumble, Flitter & Cloudchaser. Sweetie briefly understood Applejack's frustrations about Thunderlane being shoehorned, though after an incident in Canterlot, Applejack changed her tune about Thunderlane and his friends, and since then has done her absolute best to make amends with them.
One would think Sweetie would follow Applejack's example and befriend Rumble, but after seeing how Applejack acted afterwards, Sweetie thought Applejack was degreading herself to make amends, basically following Thunderlane and his friends blindly essentially begging forgiveness and being straight up foolish. Basically it looked like Applejack was just trying to save face since she runs a business, but that's not the case.
Applejack's reasons for being friendly was not just for her benefit, but just the tremendous guilt for treating Thunderlane horribly, scaring Rumble, injuring Flitter and upsetting Rainbow Dash, in addition to nearly ruining her chance at a relationship, more importantly to Applejack, ruining her friendship with Rarity, a pony she's always felt some sort of connection to despite being opposites.
Applejack, contrary to Sweetie Belle's beliefs, genuinely cares fro Thunderlane & his friends and geniunly enjoys helping them, even going so far as to occasionally offering to foalsit Rumble should Flitter & Cloudchaser not be available, Apple Bloom likes Rumble staying at her house and Applejack's come to really care for Rumble, and Rumble has come to care for The Apple Family.
Apple Bloom whispered to Rumble, "Don't worry about Sweetie Belle, ah will guarantee that she gets her act together". She nuzzled Rumble a bit, earning a small blush from the colt.
"Thanks Apple Bloom, but what if she doesn't?" Rumble asked, still a bit worried.
"If she doesn't, then I'll give her a good old fashioned flank-kicking"
Rumble went wide eyed at that comment, "Wow". Apple Bloom did a sassy grin and kept walking.
Rumble was a bit nervous about meeting Babs again, hoping to keep his clean sweep with the Apple Family. Applejack liked him, Apple Bloom had a thing for him, Big Macintosh believes him to be a fine young colt, even their granny thinks he's a nice young stallion, kinda hoping he and Apple Bloom eventually hit it off, much to Apple Bloom's embarrassment.
Rumble hoped to keep things up with Babs, though Apple Bloom noticed his worry.
"If yer worried bout Babs, relax, she's really nice", she reassured.
"So is Sweetie usually, and she hates me", Rumble stated.
"She doesn't hate yah, she just doesn't like yah much...wait ah said that wrong, wait you consider her nice despite how she treats yah?"
Rumble nodded, "Yeah, I don't think she's mean, I just think I'm doing something wrong, I will find out though, and soon she'll be my friend, I hope so".
"Aw, yer such a sweetheart, but you ain't doing nothing wrong, Sweetie's just a nut to not like yah".
"I heard that Apple Bloom", Sweetie said.
"Shush up! Anyways don't worry about Babs, this will be fun, it will not end up like the first time she came tah visit".
"What happened the first time?" Rumble asked.
"That's when she was picking on us, like splashing water at us, stealing our smoothies, scaring us, and throwing apples, but she's not like that no more, now we're friends", Apple Bloom explained.
"Oh right, I remember you mentioning that in Manehatten", then Rumble raised his eyebrow, "Wait a minute, if she's your cousin, why was she being mean to you?"
"You know Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon right?"
"The mean rich girls? Yeah they pick on me sometimes, though Cloudchaser sometimes scares them off by threatening to fly them into the sky and drop them", Rumble said.
"Wow really?" Apple Bloom asked.
Cloudchaser spoke up, "Damn right I do, no one messes with my little buddy".
"Wow, that's cool, anyway the first time she came to visit, she had come here because some foals had been bothering her in Manehatten, she was gonna stay here for a while, but then she encountered Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and when they started acting mean, she joined with them so she could avoid being bullied. It hurt at first and we were planning revenge, but after finding about her also being bullied, we realized getting back at her would make us bullies, so we ended the prank and apologized to her, then she apologized for being mean and we became friends, so happy ending", Apple Bloom said and did a sqee smile.
Rumble then rubbed his forehead a bit to attempt to make sense out of things, "I'm sorry to say this Apple Bloom, but that story sounds really stupid".
Apple Bloom cocked her head in confusion, she's never heard Rumble be so blunt about something, "How so?"
"First why would your cousin turn on you? Even if there were bullies surely she would have taken a 4 to 2 odds, did she come here to avoid bullies or make friends? Because she should know enemies are easier to make than friends, why have fake friends and side against family!" Rumble was saying, starting to feel a bit riled up, "True friends and a loving family always have your back, I would never take sides against Thunderlane, Flitter or Cloudchaser, and now I can say I would never takes sides against you or the crusaders, or your sisters and their friends".
"Even with Sweetie's attitude?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yes, even with her attitude I wouldn't side against her", Rumble stated with confidence.
"Kissing Sweetie's flank isn't gonna get her to like you Rumble", Scootaloo stated, trying to make it sound as less mean as possible.
"Scootaloo!" Applejack shouted, getting Scootaloo quiet. Even if she wasn't trying to sound mean, it's still a rude thing to say.
Rumble resumed, "Also why did you think you were being bullies for getting back at Babs?"
"Because she was bullied herself, so that's why she bullied, because she was just scared and a bit insecure", Apple Bloom replied.
"That's a lousy reason!" Rumble shouted, face showing obvious annoyance, "If she was bullied then she should know how much something like that can hurt others, unless did she only do it when Diamond and Silver were around?"
"No she was always doing it", Apple Bloom admitted.
Rumble narrowed his eyes a bit, "Any sign of her feeling remorse?"
"No not really, she DID seem to enjoy it", Apple Bloom said, a little bummed, starting to understand Rumble's point.
Rumble smugly nodded, "Sounds like she enjoyed the power, and maybe when she saw you can fire back is why she decided to back down. Also while maybe revenge isn't the best idea, it doesn't make you a bully to stand up for yourself, which I believe you were doing. Also why did you girls apologize first? She should have apologized for acting the way she was!" Rumble started sounding a bit agitated.
"Rumble relax, you're getting a bit worked up" Apple Bloom said.
"Sorry but hearing this type of stuff gets me a bit worked up, did you at least tell somepony?"
"No, Babs said that would make us snitches".
Rumble groaned, "That's just ridiculous, I hope Applejack at least punished her a bit".
"Well ah think she talked to her but maybe her family in Manehatten did something, not sure", Apple Bloom said.
Rumble's face turned red with anger, "What really irks me about this is that Babs may have gotten off scott free while others like Trixie and Lightning Dust probably have issues like this that they never were able to overcome because they probably got all the punishment and none of the second chances, and were then labled for their mistakes for life! They're both insecure mares so by your logic about Babs, they should get away with what they do as well!"
Apple Bloom looked a bit scared, "Please stop yelling Rumble, it's making me nervous, ah don't like seeing you so upset!"
Rumble realized he was startling Apple Bloom and took a breath, "Sorry, I just hate the idea that somepony was that mean to you, even if it's your cousin".
Apple Bloom patted Rumble's back a little, "It's fine, it's nice to you yah care, even if a certain unicorn doesn't deserve it right now".
"I swear, one of these days...", Sweetie Belle muttered under her breath.
"But Babs feels bad for what she did, now she's the best friend you can have", Apple Bloom admitted.
Rumble nodded, "I guess you're right, ponies make mistakes at times of insecurity, and then they turn out to be total sweethearts, like your sister".
Applejack blushed at that comment, while Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and muttered "What a flank-kisser".
"But still...she didn't seem all that friendly in Manehatten", Rumble said.
"She's just a little shy with new ponies, she was shy when we first met her", Apple Bloom said.
"She didn't seem shy, but I'll take your word for it", Rumble said.
Soon they arrived at the train station, and waited a bit, that's when Cloudchaser took the time to speak to Applejack about something that was bugging her.
"Listen Applejack, about what those girls said about your cousin Babs...she's been set straight right? Was she disciplined for her actions?"
"Ah did talk to her but as far as ah know, she wasn't in that much trouble since she seemed to understand what she did wrong".
Cloudchaser didn't look pleased, "That sounds like total bullshit AJ, if she did something bad she needs to be punished, not get away because she was 'sorry', which like Rumble said, could have been just her saving face".
Applejack shrugged a bit, "Ah didn't want to make things worse, she already had a bad life heading here, the girls forgave her and ah didn't want to bug her more about it, ah just let it slide".
"Yeah well I don't want her bothering Rumble in any way, you and the girls said she's been set straight but ponies relapse, especially if they're still foals", Cloudchaser rubbed her temple a bit, "Put simply, I don't want Rumble to get hurt"
"Ah won't let him, ah promised after my disgraceful actions in Canterlot that I would never allow harm to come to him, ah owe at least that much to him, in fact it was after the Canterlot stuff that I somewhat understood what Babs went though", Applejack admitted.
"Difference is that you worked for your forgiveness. I didn't forgive you straight away but I do now because you proved yourself to be a good friend and you've shown that you're truly sorry. Did this girl prove herself?"
"Well she did tell off those rich bully girls, but ah guess that's not enough", Applejack said.
"Not really, but it's something at least, just please promise me that nothing bad will happen to Rumble".
Applejack put her hooves on Cloudchaser's shoulders and looked into her eyes, "Ah promise you Cloudchaser, ah will not let Rumble get hurt, can you trust me on that?"
Cloudchaser simply nodded and smiled at Applejack, "I can trust you".
Soon the train arrived and the crusaders sans Rumble stepped to the door ready for Babs to come out. Once Babs left the train she was greeted with 3 smiling faces. Apple Bloom spoke first, "Babs! You're here!"
"That's right, for the whole summer, which means one thing..."
All four spoke, "A summer of Crusading!"
As the ponies giggled, Apple Bloom noticed Rumble was still back a little, somewhat shy and nervous.
"Come on Rumble, ah told yah she's nice, come meet Babs".
Rumble approached Babs, who once she noticed him, looked kinda suspicious of him, "That colt again?"
Rumble stopped in his tracks and backed up a little.
"Babs...come on, he's our friend, and a crusader", Apple Bloom said.
Babs still looked unconvinced, but let it go, "Fine", she looked to Rumble, "Come on kid, reintroduce yourself to me".
Rumble shyly approached Babs, "I'm Rumble, I'm the younger brother of Rainbow Dash's coltfriend Thunderlane, nice to see you again".
Babs simply looked at him a moment then decided to hold her hoof out, to which he hoofshook her.
"Well lets head back home", Applejack said and all the ponies walked off.
As they walked, Babs whispered to Sweetie, "Has he done anything useful since joining?"
"No...but I can't complain because if I do, either Apple Bloom or Rarity will bitch about it", there was a lot of resentment in her voice, "He's got all the ponies wrapped around his hoof, they all love him, seems fishy to me".
Babs nodded, "Figures, I don't trust him either. Can't trust any colt, they only want one thing, the fact that he's got Apple Bloom and the mares all over him shows just that, one thing we need tah do this summer is one major thing besides getting our cutie marks".
"And what would that be?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Babs turned to her, serious expression and all, "Boot him from The Cutie Mark Crusadahs".
"What do you have planned?" Sweetie asked.
"Let's talk later, in private, I imagine Scoots herself wants in on this", Babs said.
"Not likely, but I think I can convince her", Sweetie admitted.
The group continued to walk, with Babs and Sweetie already relishing the ideas to rid the group of Rumble.