Discord's Very First Faithful Student

by Pokonic

Intermission: Crusaders To Be Confused

"Ah don't know, Sweetie Belle." Apple Bloom said, hesitantly, "I don't really think that's true."

The two Crusaders were currently in Sweetie Belle's room by themselves, allegedly because Applebloom was having trouble with her homework (which she finished two weeks into the vacation!) , but in truth they were together because they needed to catch up on things.

Right now, they were talking about Diamond Tiara, because they were really bored without Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle had mentioned that her dad was probably the reason why she was such a brat.

"But Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle replied, kicking her legs lazily in the air as she sat on one side of the bed, so the other filly could have some room, "Her dad's name is Filthy Rich. I mean, they're rich. She's cheating at life. She has pools, AB."

Apple Bloom sighed. She'd had this exact conversation before, with Applejack; she hated to repeat stuff she heard like some parrot, but in this case, Applejack and Granny took the time to explain it to her, so it seemed sort of important enough that Sweetie should know it too.

"Sweetie, yah gotta know something about Diamond." she said, as serious as she could.

Sweetie Belle paused; Apple Bloom felt a twinge of pity, because Sweetie Belle didn't have a dang clue what was coming. Her big wide purple eyes stared at her, but the look on her face told Apple Bloom that she probably expected her to say that Diamond Tiara was a big meany or something.

"What is it?" Sweetie Belle asked, sounding as curious as a puppy watching the first snowflake she ever saw falling on her nose.

(Applebloom had gone through Winona's puppyhood photo journal a day ago, and she really wanted to use that metaphor in a conversation at some point.)

Apple Bloom took a breath.

"Sweetie Belle, her dad isn't bad. You know how, last summer, the barn had to get rebuilt?"

Sweetie Belle nodded.

"Mr. Rich paid for half of it."

Sweetie Belle raised a eyebrow; she seemed pretty stunned.

"Really? Why?"

Apple Bloom thought long and hard about how she could explain the whole situation; she really didn't want to sound like Applejack or Granny Smith, but they also said it pretty well, so she had to make a compromise.

"Well," she paused, and brought a hoof to her chin, "yah know how Mr. Rich owns Barnyard Bargains?"

"Uh huh." Sweetie Belle replied.

"Well," she started, "Back when Granny Smith ran the farm, it used to be a lot bigger."

Sweetie Belle huffed, puffing her cheeks out as she did. "Apple Bloom, I know this already!"

"Hey!" Apple Bloom said, a little disgruntled, "This is important! I wouldn't be tell'n you this for no reason!"

Sweetie Belle shrugged her shoulders; Apple Bloom eased up a little, figuring that she was okay with the whole thing, and started again.

"Well, anyway, one year there was a big crop failure because a big wild icestorm came through town in the middle of the summer, and a lot of the farm's trees died! But when Granny was selling land to the town to help pay everything, Mr. Rich asked if he could buy the oldest barn on the property."

Sweetie Belle frowned. "You had more then one barn?"

Apple Bloom nodded. "The farm was a lot bigger around then, yep! But the one Mr. Rich bought was so old that even the cow's didn't want to be in it."

Sweetie Belle kept frowning, but nodded in understanding. Her sister had talked about her own start-up a few times in the past, but Rarity was never did say how she got the money to open the boutique in the first place. She didn't like math at all!

"Anyway," Apple Bloom continued, "Mr. Rich started to sell stuff from the barn, including Zap Apple Jam. You know about that, right?"

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened.

"Oh, wow! Apple Bloom, you never did tell me that Mr. Rich is basically you're uncle."

Apple Bloom, for the record, reacted to that relatively well.

"Sweetie Belle." she deadpanned, "Yah know my family's really big, right? Ah don't need any extra uncles to make it bigger."

Sweetie Belle giggled a little at that; Apple Bloom thought it was pretty gosh-darned funny too, but she was the first one to stop laughing anyway.

"I knew that Mr. Rich was a sorta friend with Granny Smith, but I didn't know how much he was!" Sweetie Belle replied. Apple Bloom wanted to correct her grammar, but she decided against it.

"Well, yeah. Mr. Rich is a rich pony, and I guess he is a little sleazy," Apple Bloom admitted, "but he's never been like, the Flim Flam Brothers or anything like that. He's done legal stuff for Granny when she stopped being able to keep up with everythin' changing."

Sweetie Belle smiled slightly, "Oh, okay. But," she said, frowning again, "why's Diamond such a pain then?"

Apple Bloom frowned a bit herself ; now this was getting into other pony's personal problems, but they were problems that Big Macintosh actually took the time to lay it out in front of her, so she had to respect the ideas behind the words.

"Well, you know how Big Mac and Miss Cheerilee are the same age?"

Sweetie Belle nodded.

"Well, Diamond's mom used to be the big bully when they were growing up."

Sweetie Belle was apparently doing mental gymnastics in trying to figure out what Apple Bloom was trying to say; Apple Bloom felt a little bad, because while Sweetie Belle was usually pretty nice to be around, she wasn't exactly the brightest light in the building, and the faces she made in trying to figure it out were a bit unfortunate.

"So, uh," Sweetie Belle attempted to reply, before Apple Bloom decided to spare the poor, innocent filly the pain of trying to wrap her head around what she was forcing into her consciousness.

"Mr. Rich was Rarity's age around the same time Diamond's mom was our age."

Sweetie Belle's face turned a little green. "Eww!"

Apple Bloom had to agree, but there was more to it than Mr. Rich robbing the metaphorical cradle (as she had heard from Granny Smith. Apple Bloom really liked metaphors, now that she knew what they were!).

"Sweetie Belle, that's not the main thing, though. Her mom's gone a lot."

Sweetie Belle paused in looking completely grossed-out long enough to reply.

"Are they like Scootaloo's parents?" she asked, bluntly.

The reason the third Crusader was away from Ponyville today, Apple Bloom knew, was so that she could go to Cloudsdale for the day.

"No, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo's parents both work at the weather factory. They work different shifts, at different times of the day. So when her dad's home he's sleepy and when her mom's home she's asleep till dark." she said; the unicorn didn't seem to have a good grasp of two different ponies working at different times of the day and not seeing each other often, so Applebloom sometimes had to remind her of that.

Sweetie Belle nodded.

"Diamond's mom doesn't work at all." Apple Bloom said, trying to sound as serious as she could while not sounding demanding.

"Like mine?" Sweetie Belle piped up, causing Apple Bloom to realize that her explanation was just beating around the bush.

"Sweetie Belle, you're mom and dad are retired, though." Apple Bloom replied. "Diamond's mom never did had to work."

Sweetie Belle seemed to be having trouble with that general concept.

"So, Diamonds mom was a bully who married a rich stallion? And she was mean to Miss Cheerilee?" she said, sounding a little upset, "That's like, the opposite of one of Rarity's romance novels!"

Apple Bloom nodded. "It kinda is, but the main issue with Diamond's mom is that she only comes and sees her once every year."

That made Sweetie Belle go a little bit rigid. Even her parents visited Ponyville every month when they weren't really far away!

"Really? Why?" Sweetie Belle asked, cluelessly, "Does her and Mr. Rich have a de-vorce?"

Apple Bloom frowned. She was doing a heck of a lot more frowning than she really wanted to be doing, at this point.

"No, she lives right in Manehatten. She just doesn't come and visit her often."

Sweetie Belle just looked plain sad. "That's horrible!" she squeaked out, indignant.

Apple Bloom didn't feel especially thrilled about feeling empathy for Diamond Tiara either, but in this case, it seemed like that was a big problem that Diamond didn't have a lick of control over.

"So, I think we should try and do what we did with Babs, when she came over." Apple Bloom eventually said, grinning hesitantly.

Now, at least, Sweetie Belle was completely on board with something. "We sing a song?"

Or not. Apple Bloom sometimes thought that she had enough brains for the three crusaders, though; Scootaloo was tough and Sweetie Belle was cute, and Babs brought some urban ruggedness to even things out, so it all balanced it out.

They were pretty awesome.

"Ah think we should try and be friends with her." she said, and continued before Sweetie Belle had the chance to speak up, "Because if we try and be nice on the first day of school, that'll start the whole new year off fresh. I mean, you're friends with Silver Spoon, right?"

Sweetie Belle blushed a little.

"Yeah, a little? I do her hair sometimes." she admitted.

Apple Bloom was a little offended, because she thought that was their special thing (except when Babs was over; Sweetie Belle thought her hair was 'crinkly' and liked the challenge with working with it), but they had bigger problems at the moment then about who did who's hair.

"Well, anyway," she continued, "You can get her onboard, and I'll try and get Scootaloo to go with it."

Sweetie Belle was confused. "So, uh, do we all just hug her at the same time and hope she doesn't turn to stone?"

Apple Bloom was now the one that was confused.

"Huh?"

"I mean, like, if we got the Elements of Harmony and blasted her with it," Sweetie Belle continued, "she'd either stop being evil or turn into a statue."

Apple Bloom, for a few brief moments, was rather distressed at the turn of events.

"Uh, Sweetie Belle-"

"Oh! What is she's some sort of reverse changeling and she feeds on being mean! Then, if we hug her, she'd be launched out of town, or-"

Sweetie Belle no.

"may-be Cheerilee's some sort of wen-di-go and she feeds on meanness, so Diamond's, like, her food supply, or-"

Sweetie Belle stop.

"Oh! What if we-"

Apple Bloom coughed, and put a hoof over Sweetie Belle's mouth.

"Sweetie Belle," she said, slowly, "ah'l think of something by tomorrow."

Sweetie Belle nodded, and said something cheerful into Apple Bloom's hoof that she couldn't make out.

---

Applebloom didn't have a plan when she went to bed.

They could wing it, though.

Comments

[Seether00]

Don't think Apple Bloom has thought her amazing plan through.

[BronyKor]

"Oh, wow! Apple Bloom, you never did tell me that Mr. Rich is basically you're uncle."

Your*

[howard035]

I like dumb Sweetie. I didn't spot the age gap before, that is a little squicky. You know DT's mom only visits her daughter so Filthy won't cut her off. Are we ever going to revisit the fact that Filthy Rich was hedging his bets by worshipping Nightmare Moon?

[Telaros]

I can't believe it has been a year and a half since this story started. And yet it still feels like small morsels to the overall awesome that we're still only just getting into. It really feels like only a few days have passed in the story world. And yet, I still eagerly await new chapters like a crazed One Piece fan still hoping to see the crew reach the ONE PIECE and see Luffy take on Blackbeard Teach and conquer the Warlords of the sea.

No regrets. Still loving every update. Even this sort of intermission type chapter that tries to fill in more of the background with Diamond's parents. Possible nudge at Silver Belle shipping? <3

Anyhow, continue your awesome. I'll be here lurking for any tidbits I can munch on to.

[deadpansnarker]

Don't think I failed to spot the Gravity Falls reference in there. I Just hope MLP develops DT half as well as GF as Pacifica Northwest. Still, at least you KNOW when the next episode of MLP is due...

[Raistlin]

I believe the whole "Sweetiedumb" thing was born from this scene from the comic:

roundstable.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Screen-shot-2013-08-12-at-8.55.04-AM-690x445.png
derpicdn.net/media/W1siZiIsIjIwMTMvMDcvMjQvMTNfNTVfMzRfMTQ2XzM4MjYwOV9fc2FmZV9zY29vdGFsb29fYXBwbGVfYmxvb21fc3dlZXRpZV9iZWxsZV9iaWdfbWFjaW50b3NoX2N1dGllX21hcmtfY3J1c2FkZXJzX2lkd19zcG9pbGVyX2NvbG9uX2NvbWljX2FydGlzdF9jb2xvbl9hbmR5cHJpY2VhcnRfc3BvaWxlcl9jb2xvbl9jb21pYzA5Il1d/382609__safe_scootaloo_apple%2Bbloom_sweetie%2Bbelle_big%2Bmacintosh_cutie%2Bmark%2Bcrusaders_idw_spoiler-colon-comic_lily_artist-colon-andypriceart_noteworthy_bioshock_spoiler-colon-comic09_lily%2Bva.jpg

Yet in canon, Sweetie seems sharp enough to know advanced vocabulary and to manipulate Rarity sometimes. Scootaloo is more often the less bright of the trio.

[Thanqol]

I did a review!

[superfun]

This is turning out to be interesting.
Next chapter soon, please?

[Pokonic]

i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb480/Yumekichi11/pictures%202/19a9b4f4.jpg

[MidnightFMare]

Apple Bloom felt a little bad, because while Sweetie Belle was usually pretty nice to be around, she wasn't exactly the brightest light in the building, and the faces she made in trying to figure it out were a bit unfortunate

Yeah.. sounds about right.

Sweetie's ideas explaining what would happen if they became friends with DT were funny though.

[MidnightFMare]

9745736
I was referencing the show "Once upon a time", where the evil queen, named "Regina", witnesses her true love slain by her mother... or her mother's guards/ servants(?) It's... been some time since I've seen the show.

[Andy Ray]

Uh... Is this all ?..

[StarzGecko]

10962173

Sadly the author seems to be gone for years… to bad this story never finished