A Clubhouse Divided
Ponyville seemed a bit brighter than usual the following day. There was an excited buzz around town as news spread about Sweetie Belle's new cutie mark. Throughout the day, random ponies stopped the young unicorn and her two friends to congratulate her and to ask her questions about the details of the event. Sweetie Belle was more than happy to share her story with everypony who wanted to hear it. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, meanwhile, stayed out of the way throughout much of this, letting Sweetie revel in her moment. However, doing so meant that they were not able to do any crusading activities they previously scheduled. By the time late afternoon rolled around, the trio hadn't even begun crusading at all, which left Apple Bloom more than annoyed. If it weren't for Sweetie Belle, Ah coulda had mah cutie mark today already! Apple Bloom thought. She kept her feelings for herself for now, but she was having more difficulty keeping them in check. She started to wonder how much longer she could hold her growing displeasure back.
After finishing talking to Aloe and Lotus, the three fillies continued on their way down the street.
"Wow, Sweetie Belle! I think everyone in Ponyville wants to hear your story!" Scootaloo remarked.
"I know!" Sweetie Belle beamed. "I never get tired of telling it though!"
"You must have told that story over 1,000 times today!" Scootaloo laughed.
"1,347, but whose counting." Apple Bloom replied flatly. "At any rate, could we just get going now? Ah wanna get some crusading done today."
Scootaloo shrugged. "I guess today hasn't been one of our most productive days, has it?"
Sweetie Belle blushed. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. But can you blame me? Look! I got my cutie mark!" She pointed to her flank once again.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "We know, Sweetie Belle. Ah think everypony in Ponyville has seen it by now!"
Scootaloo stopped in her tracks. She noticed a cloud of dust ahead and closing in on them fast.
"Not everypony, Apple Bloom," Scootaloo replied, pointing at the dust cloud.
The trio looked on as from the dust, a pair of silhouetted fillies emerged. As the figures closed in, they saw that one of them was wearing a tiara, the other one was wearing glasses, and both of them had smiles a mile wide.
"SWEETIE BELLE!!!" the approaching fillies shouted.
It was useless to get away. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom watched as Sweetie Belle was glomped by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, smothering her in a celebratory hug. Sweetie Belle didn't fight back. Outside of the show, the two 'bullies' had always been one of their biggest supporters of their crusading endeavors. She knew that when the moment finally happened, they would want to congratulate her.
"We heard what happened! Congratulations!" Diamond Tiara shouted.
"We knew you could do it!" Silver Spoon added.
"Gee! Thanks, you two!" Sweetie Belle replied.
"Why didn't you stop by earlier?" Silver Spoon asked. "We wanted to know the second it happened!"
"Sorry. I wanted to tell you guys earlier today, but everypony we ran into today wanted to congratulate me!"
"And we do mean everypony!" Scootaloo laughed. She, nor anyone else, didn't notice Apple Bloom's annoyed expression at the literal statement.
"At any rate, we need details. NOW!" Diamond Tiara instructed. "Don't leave anything out!" Apple Bloom's face grimaced in reaction to the instruction, again without any of the other four fillies noticing.
"Hey! I have an idea!" Silver Spoon shouted. "Let's take this to Sugarcube Corner! Our treat!"
Scootaloo jumped in excitement. "Sweet! I call dibs on the ice cream!"
Scootaloo began to run towards Sugarcube Corner, with Sweetie Belle, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara not far behind. Apple Bloom lingered for a few moments. She noticed that the sun was starting to get very low in the sky. It was official, today had been a complete waste. She sighed in defeat and joined her friends towards Sugarcube Corner. The sooner Ah get the old Sweetie Belle back, the better, she thought.
~~~~~
At Sugarcube Corner, Sweetie Belle retold the story to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and answered their seemingly endless questions about it. The five friends all munched on cupcakes and ice cream that Pinkie had happily served them. While Scootaloo actively joined in on the fun conversation, Apple Bloom never said a word, choosing to quietly played with her food instead. At the moment, the fillies were in a corner of the shop by themselves as Pinkie had to step out momentarily to get some more baking supplies with Minty. They continued talking when the shop's front door jingled open. The Cutie Mark Crusaders all looked as their three older sisters entered the store.
"Hi Rarity!" Sweetie Belle shouted.
Rarity turned to see her sister and her four friends. She walked over to their booth, followed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "Oh, Sweetie Belle! We didn't know you were all here."
"We were just spending time with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. What brings you over here?"
"We're meeting with Pinkie about the party. Hey, where is she, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"She and Minty stepped out to get some more baking stuff. They should be back soon," Scootaloo told her idol.
Applejack smiled. "Well then, we'll wait for her upstairs. We've got a lot of planning to do. Y'all go on and enjoy yourselves."
The three made their way up towards Pinkie's room to wait for her return. The fillies began to continue their conversation when Silver Spoon began to be concerned by Apple Bloom's unusual quiet behavior.
"You OK, Apple Bloom?" Silver Spoon asked. "You haven't said much of anything since we got here."
Apple Bloom shrugged. "Ah was just thinking, that's all."
"What were you thinking about?"
Apple Bloom sighed. "Sweetie Belle's cutie mark. Ah mean, it's nice that she got it and all, but Ah think it's gonna make a big problem."
"It will?" Sweetie Belle asked. "But I thought everypony was happy for me."
Scootaloo suddenly got on top of the table with a determined look on her face. "Don't worry Sweetie Belle! If some idiot has a problem with your cutie mark, then they'll have to answer to me! Seriously, what moron would have a problem with this?"
"Hasbro." Apple Bloom answered.
The four fillies were hushed into a nervous silence at the mention of the company's name. Scootaloo sat back down as her determination quickly vanished.
"Ya see what Ah'm saying?" Apple Bloom continued, "Ah don't think Hasbro's gonna like what this cutie mark thing could do to the whole show."
Diamond Tiara shrugged a reluctant nod. "I guess you're right. We can't call Sweetie Belle a 'Blank Flank' in the show anymore, can we?"
Silver Spoon scratched her head. "How are we going to deal with this on the show, anyway?"
Scootaloo was ready to tell the two that Rainbow Dash told her that everything was going to be fine as far as the show was concerned. But before she was able to say anything, Apple Bloom spoke up.
"Oh don't worry about it, Silver Spoon. We got it all figured out."
"We do?" Scootaloo asked in surprise.
Apple Bloom nodded. "Yup. We’ll just have Sweetie Belle cover up her cutie mark like nothing ever happened."
Sweetie Belle's jaw dropped in utter disbelief. "We're going to do WHAT?!?!"
"Think about it Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom began to point out. "Ya can’t be a “Cutie Mark Crusader” with a cutie mark now, can you?"
Sweetie Belle stammered. "Bu... But, I... I finally got my cutie mark! I want EVERYONE to see it!"
Apple Bloom shook her head. "But it doesn't make any sense! Just pretend this never happened and we can continue crusading like before, all right?"
Sweetie Belle looked at her friend. She then took another look at her cutie mark. She was so proud of earning it, and now she was supposed to pretend that the biggest moment in her life never happened? No, she decided. She wouldn't accept this.
This was what I wanted, she thought. I waited for my whole life for this. And I won't let anypony ruin this for me. Not Hasbro, not ANYONE!
"I'm sorry Apple Bloom, but I'm not covering my cutie mark."
Apple Bloom frowned. "Sweetie Belle, this isn't your decision!"
Sweetie Belle got into Apple Bloom's face. "It's MY cutie mark! And I get to decide what I do with it!" she growled.
Silver Spoon ran over to the two and separated them for the moment. "You know, I think we struck a nerve or two here. Maybe we should just change the subject."
"Yeah, good idea. Forget we even brought this up, ok?" Diamond Tiara nervously agreed.
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "I want to talk about this now!"
"There’s nothing to talk about, Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom insisted.
"So we’re supposed to pretend that the biggest moment of my life never happened? That’s not fair!"
"Ya think it’s fair Diamond Tiara has to pretend to be a mean bully?"
Diamond Tiara tried to interject. "Actually, I'm not that bothered by that anymore. It's just a show and..."
"No, it's not fair!" Apple Bloom continued as if Diamond wasn't there. "But Diamond Tiara does it anyway! It’s all for the good of the show!"
Sweetie Belle scoffed. "Last time we heard that phrase, Twilight wound up having a nervous breakdown. Ugh, I can’t believe we're even having this argument. Scootaloo? Could you please talk some sense into her?"
Sweetie Belle waited impatiently for Scootaloo to instantly agree with her. Instead, the young pegasus shifted her hooves around nervously. "Actually, Apple Bloom kind of has a point."
The meek confession left Sweetie Belle speechless. Apple Bloom, meanwhile, couldn't help giving off a satisfied smirk. Her plan to get her friend back to normal was working perfectly.
"At the very least, we haven’t even set up any one of us getting a cutie mark on the show," Scootaloo tried to explain. "I guess it does makes sense to cover it up, at least for a little while."
Looking desperately towards Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for support, Sweetie Belle was met by the two looking away from her in shame, silently confirming that they concurred with Scootaloo. Left speechless from the betrayal, Sweetie Belle sat on the floor in stunned disbelief. In reality, she half expected this issue to come up sooner or later. However, she still wasn't ready for this kind of turn against her and her cutie mark. What was supposed to be the best moment of her life was being ruined thanks to Hasbro, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Sweetie Belle took another look at the fillies. Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon all looked embarrassed and ashamed of themselves for reaching the conclusions they had made. Apple Bloom, on the other hand, had a telling smirk on her face. Now this reaction was odd. How come Apple Bloom's reaction was so different? Was she actually enjoying seeing her sad like this? Come to think of it, Apple Bloom never said anything about the show. She simply said that 'she had to cover it up.' The longer she looked at Apple Bloom, the more she began to wonder if the instruction to cover up her cutie mark came from Hasbro in the first place. She kept her gaze on Apple Bloom.
"So I have to cover up my cutie mark, huh?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yes." Apple Bloom nodded.
"Do I have to cover it up for the show, or in real life?"
"Don’t be silly, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo laughed. "It’s only for the show, right Apple Bloom?"
Apple Bloom said nothing. Her frown got deeper as she stared down Sweetie Belle.
Scootaloo's expression slowly fell at the lack of a response. She nudged the earth filly, trying to get what should have been an obvious yes. Instead, Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes to Sweetie Belle.
"Like Ah said, you can’t be a Cutie Mark Crusader with a cutie mark," Apple Bloom said.
The entire room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon shifted their eyes nervously and slowly made their way towards the store's exit.
"Hey!" Diamond Tiara laughed nervously, "I think I hear my dad calling me! I have to go... paint the roof of my house!"
Silver Spoon quickly nodded. "And I have to... straighten my spoon collection! Bye!"
The two dashed out of Sugarcube Corner, wanting to get as far away from the scene as possible. Silence continued to reign over the remaining three.
"You’re kicking me out?" Sweetie Belle finally asked, her mind still unable to get over the shock.
"Apple Bloom, are you crazy? You can't do that!" Scootaloo yelled.
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders need to move on, Scoots." Apple Bloom replied. "She’ll just drag us down."
That phrase struck a nerve with Sweetie Belle. She got into Apple Bloom's face. A helpless Scootaloo could only watch as her best friends angrily faced-off.
"I'll drag you down?!?" Sweetie Belle shrieked, "The way I see it, you were dragging me down this whole time. I could have gotten my cutie mark a lot sooner if it weren't for you and your stupid ideas!"
"Mah ideas ain't stupid!" Apple Bloom insisted.
Sweetie Belle scoffed. "Oh, give me a break! Did you really think our special talent was bull riding? Or journalism? Or any of the crazy things we did?"
"Some of those were your idea too! Right, Scootaloo?"
"Uh.. I... uh... uh..." Scootaloo stammered. She couldn't respond to anything at the moment. She could barely even process the sight she was seeing.
"See? Scootaloo agrees with me!"
Scootaloo finally snapped out of it, taking offense that Apple Bloom had put words in her mouth. "Hey! Hold on a sec..."
"I probably got those stupid ideas because I spent too much time hanging out with you two!" Sweetie Belle told Apple Bloom.
Scootaloo tried to establish her neutral position. "Wait Sweetie Belle! I never said..."
Sweetie Belle never gave her a chance to finish. "You didn't need to say anything! It's obvious you're taking her side!"
Scootaloo's heart sank as Sweetie Belle had labeled her as her enemy so suddenly.
"Sweetie Belle..."
"Don't talk to me, you traitors!" Sweetie Belle screamed. Her mind was clouded as the full weight of this betrayal bared down on her. The only thing she knew at that point was that she had to get back at them. She wasn't gonna stand there and take it. She would make sure they knew she meant business. And she knew exactly how to do it.
"I see how it is," Sweetie Belle began. "Ponies with cutie marks aren’t good enough to be your friends, huh? Well, fine! You won't have to kick me out because I quit! I don't need you guys or your stupid club either. You wanna know why? I have my cutie mark! I don’t need to hang out with you BLANK FLANKS anymore!"
The words hit Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hard. Scootaloo nearly cried as her best friend used their long time cat call against her. Apple Bloom, on the other hand, began to boil red with anger. Her face twisted in pointed anger towards the unicorn filly.
"Take… that… back…" Apple Bloom warned.
"Make me, Apple BLANK!"
Apple Bloom lunged at Sweetie Belle in pure rage. They were both knocked onto the floor yelling, screaming, and fighting. Scootaloo jumped into the ball of violence in a desperate attempt to break them up. Upstairs, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, & Rarity stopped their planning activities when they heard the commotion below them. The three quickly ran downstairs to see the their little sisters in an all out vicious brawl. It didn't take long for the big sisters to separate the fillies. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle kept trying to get one another while in their sisters' grasps.
"What on Earth is going on down here?!?" Rarity asked.
Sweetie Belle didn't answer. Instead, she simply began to walk out of the store. "Come on Rarity, we have a Cute-cenera to plan."
"And you can take that stupid party of yours and shove it!" Apple Bloom shouted.
Applejack gasped at her sister's language. "APPLE BLOOM!!!"
Sweetie Belle scoffed. "Fine. You weren’t invited anyway. This is going to be a party for grown up ponies like me. We won’t have time to babysit blank flanks."
Rarity gasped. "Enough is enough, Sweetie Belle. We’re going home right now! What the heavens has gotten into you?"
Rarity unceremoniously ushered Sweetie Belle out the door. Before leaving, the unicorn filly took one last look at her two ex-best friends. She took a particular glance at Apple Bloom thrashing about in Applejack's hooves. Her work was done. She had won. And it made her feel surprisingly good putting those two know-it-alls in their place. Now she'll make sure they'll never forget this for as long as they lived.
"See you later, Cutie Mark Crybabies!" Sweetie Belle smirked as Rarity nudged out the store, closing the door shut.
"AH HATE YOU!!!" Apple Bloom shouted at the now closed door. She stopped thrashing, now that Sweetie Belle was gone. She huffed in exhausted anger while the other three ponies in the room were left hopelessly confused.
"Would anypony mind explaining what the heck happened down here?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Now it was Apple Bloom's turn to respond by walking towards the door. "Ah'll explain later. Come on, Scoots. Let’s get back to the clubhouse. We’ve got work to do."
Scootaloo's jaw dropped. "You want to go crusading NOW?"
Apple Bloom nodded firmly. "Yes. And this time, we ain’t stopping until we get our cutie marks. Even if we have to crusade all day and all night. We’ll show her, Scoots. We’re gonna a cutie mark so awesome, she'll beg us for forgiveness. We're going crusading!"
Applejack pulled her sister back from leaving. "No yer not!"
"Yes we are!" Apple Bloom tried to continue from being held back.
Before Applejack could argue back, Scootaloo spoke up. "No we’re not! Apple Bloom, you’re not thinking straight!"
"You heard what she said Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom argued back. "Don’t you want to show up that stuck-up prissy know it all?"
"Apple Bloom, I want my cutie mark too! But I’m not going to drive myself crazy like that to get it."
"Are ya calling me crazy?"
Scootaloo hesitated for a second before responding. "Right now? Yes! It wasn’t just Sweetie Belle acting like a jerk back there, Apple Bloom. It was kinda your fault too!"
"You’re not taking HER side, are ya?"
"I can’t choose between the two of you. You’re both my friends."
"That Crusader-Faker is NOT our friend!"
Scootaloo gulped. She took a deep breath. "I’m sorry Apple Bloom, but you can’t tell me who I can and can’t be friends with."
Apple Bloom frowned. So Scootaloo's siding with Sour Belle. Well in that case... Without warning, she grabbed one of the ice cream-filled bowls on the table and hurled it at Scootaloo.
Scootaloo was too stunned to dodge out of the way. She almost didn't even feel the bowl strike her in the head, or the ice cream landing in her mane. She simply looked on at the yellow earth filly in frozen shock.
"Fine then," Apple Bloom shouted at Scootaloo. "Ah’ll make it easy on ya. If you want to be friends with her, then Ah’m no longer friends with you!"
"Apple Bloom! Apologize to Scootaloo right now!!!" Applejack yelled at her little sister.
Apple Bloom took a good look at Scootaloo, melted ice cream oozing down her stunned face. "Ah'm not apologizing to that chicken," she huffed.
Applejack had enough. "That's it, young lady! You're grounded!!!" She grabbed her little sister by her mouth and started steaming her way towards Sweet Apple Acres.
"Let me go!!!" Apple Bloom thrashed while her big sister forced her back home.
"Just wait until Granny Smith finds out what you've been up to," Applejack firmly told her sister. "How dare ya treat your friends that way!"
"They're not my friends!" Apple Bloom shouted. "They can have each other as far as I care! Ah don’t need them! Ah don’t need anypony! Ah’ll get my cutie mark by mahself!"
The argument continued between the two Apple sisters well past them leaving the store. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash heard Apple Bloom's rantings and Applejack's scoldings fade away until they were left alone in silence inside the store. Scootaloo was frozen in place since Apple Bloom threw the bowl at her. It all seemed like a nightmare, but it just happened right in front of her eyes. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom now hate each other, and thanks to guilt by association, both of them hated her too. The friendship all three of them shared, all the good times they shared together, all of it was destroyed in a matter of minutes. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were falling apart, and all Scootaloo could do was just sit in shock.
Rainbow Dash looked at Scootaloo and approached her with extreme caution. "Um, you ok there, kiddo?" she asked.
Scootaloo said nothing.
Before Rainbow Dash could speak again, the shop's front door opened up. Rainbow Dash looked to see Pinkie and Minty arrive with several bags of baking supplies.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cake? We’re back!" Pinkie announced. She noticed the two pegasi in the store. She would have cheerfully greeted the two, but her first glance at the shocked expressions and the melted ice cream in Scootaloo's mane told her that something was off.
"Scootaloo? Rainbow Dash? Is everything ok?" Pinkie asked.
The two pegasi remain silent.
Minty noticed Scootaloo's stunned expression. "Geez, you look like you lost your best friend," she observed.
The floodgates opened. Sobbing loudly and uncontrollably, Scootaloo ran out the store.
"Nice going, Minty!" an angry Rainbow Dash hissed sarcastically. Not wasting any time, she dashed out the door in pursuit. Minty and Pinkie were left confused from the two's reaction.
"What did I say?" Minty wondered, prompting an uneasy shrug from Pinkie.
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Awww! Poor Scootaloo! That kinda thing had happened to me before (I created an awesome story club, and I was the first one to make a complete story. My friend got mad and my other friend was in Scootaloo's position. In other words, they kicked me out of my own club.) And I completely feel her pain...
Friends drift apart. It happens.
As meta as all your other stories have been, this story is slowly looking out to be the one that takes the cake. You've really done well with the conflict here, the inevitability that at least one of those fillies will earn their cutie mark once they find out the one true thing that makes them unique.
Bonus points that the filly with the cutie mark turns out to be Sweetie Belle. Personally I think out of all three, hers is so obvious it isn't funny.
And also that it means that this could potentially be something that is cannon to the show---how would Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle react to the idea that one of them will get their respective cutie mark before the others? Would they become like D.T. and Silver Spoon in the show once once that pony is no longer considered a "blank flank"?
...Ouch.
Another good one from you; I can't wait to see where this goes!
Yeap; ..... pretty much dead .....
6002323
Or is it?
#hiatusover
#timetogetbacktowork