Chapter 2
Monday came about very slowly for Apple Bloom. Despite spending all of Saturday with her fellow Crusaders, the three didn’t really get much done that day. Although Sweetie Belle was energetic, Apple Bloom just couldn’t get into the spirit of hunting for her Cutie Mark that day. She noticed that Scootaloo also seemed to be down that day, but she already had too much on her mind to try to figure out why.
Sunday wasn’t much better either. Just like on Saturday, thoughts of Diamond Tiara refused to make themselves scarce in Apple Bloom’s mind. She couldn’t figure out why, but for the whole weekend, there were two concerns on her mind: whether Diamond Tiara was okay or not, after the incident in Manehatten, and that dream that she had had on the train ride home… along with the two other dreams she’d had about the filly since then.
“If ah was just concerned about how she was doin’ after that incident, that’d be one thing,” Apple Bloom said to Twist on her way to school, “But why am ah havin’ dreams about… bein’ her friend?” Despite her confidence that she could share any concerns she had with Twist safely, she still wasn’t going to reveal the full extent of her dreams to her, or to anypony, for that matter.
“Maybe you just want to make sure she isn’t too traumatised by what happened to her?” Twist suggested. “Remember when Dinky Doo was being bullied a few months ago, and you spent the rest of the day trying to cheer her up?”
“So ya think ah’ll be okay once ah see her back the way she was before?” Apple Bloom asked hopefully.
“Maybe. We’ll find out soon enough anyway.” The two fillies stopped at the gate to the schoolhouse for a moment and looked around at all of the fillies and colts playing around outside. “Doesn’t look like she’s here yet. Wanna go play hopscotch?”
Apple Bloom shook her head. She really wasn’t up to doing much right now. “No thanks. Ah’ll just wait inside ‘til the bell rings.”
Twist looked at her with wide eyes. Apple Bloom, choosing to sit silently rather than playing with other foals outside? “Wow, this must be really getting to you, huh? I hope this doesn’t last too long.”
“Me too,” Apple Bloom said with a slight giggle. “Ah’ll see ya later, Twist.”
Twist nodded, and waved as Apple Bloom entered the schoolhouse by herself. She looked concerned for her friend, and wished that there was something she could do to help her out.
Scootaloo bolted up out of bed with a start. This marks the fourth time she had had a dream about herself and Diamond Tiara. The first two were about the two of them going on a date somewhere. The third was about the two of them being stuck in detention together, and Scootaloo making advances she would never do in real life. The fourth dream was the most weird by far… it was a dream of Diamond Tiara being bullied by two colts, and Scootaloo coming in to rescue her…
The strange part is that Scootaloo enjoyed the thought of rescuing Diamond Tiara, and the thought of the pink filly showing her appreciation with hugs and kis-
“Blech!” Scootaloo shouted as she scrunched up her face and stuck her tongue out. “Gross! What’s wrong with me?”
Scootaloo thought back on the dream again, and found that she had mixed feelings about it. On one hoof, she felt her heart flutter from the thought of being so close to Diamond Tiara… Her face heated up, and her stomach started to feel light. But on the other hoof, whenever her mind drifted to the part of the dream where Diamond Tiara was in trouble… seeing that face hurt look on the pink filly’s face, the tears streaming down her cheeks, and the fear in her eyes…
Remembering these things triggered something in Scootaloo. The orange Pegasus was never one to allow bullying to just happen right in front of her, and she’s probably the first in her class to jump into a fight to protect somepony when they’re in trouble, but usually, she never really felt so strongly about it. Sure, she didn’t like seeing others sad… but she never feared it. And that’s what she was feeling right now: fear at the thought of Diamond Tiara being hurt so badly. She didn’t want to see Diamond Tiara in pain. She wanted to protect her, and it went far beyond the feeling of wanting to protect a classmate or a friend.
“Ugh, what is wrong with me?!” she asked herself again as she pounded the sides of her head with her forehooves. “She’s Diamond Tiara! The stupid, stuck up little snob who’s always giving me and my friends a hard time! Why am I feeling this way about her?!”
A loud ringing next to Scootaloo startled the Pegasus filly, and caused her to jump off of her bed with a loud yelp, her heart beating quickly and almost threatening to jump out of her mouth. “Oh, my alarm clock,” she calmly deduced as soon as she calmed down. She sighed, and reached over to turn the annoying device off. “Guess I’d better get ready for school… SCHOOL! Oh, no! I’m gonna have to see her, aren’t I?!”
Scootaloo paced up-and-down her bedroom frantically as she wondered how she was going to approach this situation. If she went to school, she would have to see Diamond Tiara. Somepony she didn’t want to see. At least not until she had figured out why she was having she strange dreams and feelings towards her.
But then, an idea presented itself to Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash had once taught her that the best way to deal with a problem, is to face it head-on. “So… I gotta go to school and see Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo grabbed her mane with her hooves and pulled as she groaned out loud. “No way! I don’t wanna do that! But… I don’t want to go against Rainbow Dash’s teachings…
“Wait, maybe this isn’t so bad after all! If I go to school and see Diamond Tiara being the big jerk that she always is, these feelings are sure to go away! Yeah!” With a nod and big smile on her face, Scootaloo rushed about her room to pack and collect her saddlebags, and pick up her scooter. “I’m leaving!” she shouted as she ran downstairs, receiving a simple murmur from another room in the house.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon giggled together as they entered the gates to the schoolhouse. They had been reminiscing about the movie they watched during their sleepover last night, and picking out all of its bad points piece-by-piece. It was a terrible movie, but making fun of it brought a smile to Diamond Tiara’s face, so Silver Spoon considered it a job well done, praising herself for her efforts.
“We still have ten minutes left before we have to go inside. Wanna go hang out by the swings while we wait?” Silver Spoon asked.
“Sure, as long as there aren’t any losers there,” Diamond Tiara responded. She was feeling just as great as she felt before the trip to Manehatten a few days ago, and she knew that it was all thanks to her friend. She considered herself lucky to know somepony as great as her, and wasn’t about to ruin the grey filly’s attempts at cheering her up by stubbornly remaining miserable. She was going to be happy, and she was going to laugh alongside side her BFF all day long.
Or that was the plan, at least. But when the screams and yelps of nearby foals caused the two rich fillies to turn around, and she saw Scootaloo sliding into the school gates on her scooter, skidding to a stop and causing some fillies and colts to jump out of the way, Diamond Tiara’s spirits suddenly dropped again. ‘Ugh, great! It’s her! And after I had just gotten her out of my mind…’
During the entire weekend, Diamond Tiara couldn’t stop thinking about that incident in Manehatten, where she had gotten into a fight with two colts much stronger than herself, and was then saved by two fillies who she considered to be her enemies. One of those two fillies was Scootaloo, and, if Diamond Tiara, the rather crude and energetic Pegasus filly was the first one in a whole crowd of ponies watching her suffering to actually step up and do something.
She wasn’t really paying much attention at the time, as she was so shaken up and was too busy wiping her tears out of her eyes, but when she had time to reflect on it later, the way that Scootaloo stood up for her, taking on the two colts all on her own… and the look in her eyes as she told them to let her go. Diamond Tiara had to wonder whether that rage was from seeing her in such a state. Whether Scootaloo got that angry for her sake.
Of course, such thoughts were absolutely ridiculous. She cared not for how the Cutie Mark Crusaders thought of her, just as long as she could continue making fun of them and pulling her pranks on them every now-and-then. And she certainly didn’t dwell on the incident in the train, where Scootaloo had chivalrously offered to take on Diamond Tiara’s punishment, due to her injured hoof. She spared no thoughts on the Pegasus’ generousness, or he kindness, or how amazing her hoof felt against her own…
‘GAH! It’s happening again! I thought a weekend away from her would get those disgusting thoughts out of my head, but now, I can’t even go two seconds without them coming back to me! I have to regain some control… and I know just how to do it!’
Diamond Tiara approached Scootaloo with a grin on her face. The foals around knew where this was going, and began to back away enough to get out of the splash zone of any incoming fights, yet not so far away that they would miss any of the action. Silver Spoon was the exception, following Diamond Tiara, ready to back her up.
“Oh my,” Diamond Tiara said, causing Scootaloo to turn to her just as she removed her helmet. The pink filly stopped, and watched as Scootaloo’s scruffy mane revealed itself from under her helmet, before the Pegasus flicked it back-and-forth to sort it out, her face glistening from the sweat she worked up riding her scooter to school.
There was a strange tug in Diamond Tiara’s chest as she watched Scootaloo coolly leaning onto her scooter’s handle, holding her helmet with her left foreleg and staring at Diamond Tiara with two big purple eyes. ‘Oh my,’ she repeated in her mind, but in a much different tone.
“Yeah?” Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow at Diamond Tiara’s sudden hesitation.
“Oh, uh…” Diamond Tiara cleared her throat, and commanded her heart to slow down a bit. “Hey, is that a Cutie Mark you have there?” she asked, pointing to Scootaloo’s flank…Her flank… ‘Her f-flank…’ Diamond Tiara’s cheeks turned red, and she averted her gaze.
Nopony else seemed to notice though, as all eyes were directed immediately to Scootaloo’s flank… which was still blank. “There’s nothing there,” a colt from the nearby crowd said, with confusion in his voice.
“Well of course not,” Diamond Tiara said. “It’s just like hr special talent: non-existent!” The two rich fillies laughed at the joke, along with one or two ponies around that only saw it as a harmless practical joke on one of their classmates.
“Now now, Scootaloo, don’t feel so bad,” Silver Spoon said, following up on Diamond Tiara’s joke. “After all, you could become the oldest pony alive who doesn’t have their Cutie Mark! That’d be pretty impressive, too, y’know?”
The two fillies’ laughter continued for a bit, before dying down as they waited for Scootaloo’s reaction… which never came. Normally, Scootaloo was the first of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to lash out at the two fillies, but right now, she was simply staring at them with an un-amused look on her face.
“Is that all you wanted?” she asked. Diamond Tiara was rendered utterly speechless by this, and before she could think of something clever to say in response, Scootaloo walked off with her scooter towards the schoolhouse, entering it and leaving many bewildered foals outside, some worried that the Pegasus might be sick, and others thinking that she had gone crazy, or was being possessed by a ghost or something.
“Well, that was… weird,” Silver Spoon said. “I guess we were just too much for her to handle on her own, right, Diamond?”
“Y-Yeah,” Diamond Tiara responded, glaring at the door leading into the schoolhouse.
“Well, c’mon. Let’s go hang by the swings until the bell rings.” Silver Spoon turned around and began walking towards the swing set in the distance. On the way, she tried to engage Diamond Tiara in a conversation regarding the latest jewellery available in her mother’s shop, but stopped when she realised that her friend wasn’t responding. “Diamond?” She turned around to find that the pink filly in question was nowhere to be found. “… Where’d she go?”
Scootaloo rolled the dial on her locker to the number seven. A click sounded, and the filly pulled her locker open so that she could put her folded-up scooter inside. She closed the locker and locked it up, and then just stood there in silence as she considered going to class early.
Scootaloo sighed as she thought back to her encounter with Diamond Tiara just moments earlier. ‘I should have just told her where to shove it… I wanted to, but I just… couldn’t. And it’s not like I could get into a fight with her without making sure her hoof’s okay.’
“Hey,” a voice called out to her. Scootaloo cringed. This was the last voice that she wanted to hear right now. She considered quickly running away, but that would just look completely uncool. So she instead stood her ground, and faced the approaching pink filly with a nonchalant look on her face. “What’s with you, running off like that when I was trying to embarrass you in front of everypony?”
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Uh, sorry? I just didn’t feel like taking part in your bullying today, that’s all.”
“You’re the victim!” Diamond Tiara shouted. “You don’t get to chose whether you take part or not!” ‘Why am I getting so worked up? I could just go and find Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom… It doesn’t have to be her!’
‘So, Diamond, what’s it like being Queen of your own messed up little world?’ Scootaloo wanted to ask her that, but for some reason didn’t. ‘Just go bug somepony else. Stop bothering me with your annoying, whiny, stuck-up voice.’ For reasons beyond her, all the things that Scootaloo wanted to say to Diamond Tiara to make her run away crying, she just couldn’t. And in addition, she found that some of those thoughts were betraying her. ‘Well, I guess her voice isn’t that bad.’
“Well? Are you going to say something, Cutie Mark Cry-baby?”
“I’m not a cry-baby!” Scootaloo shouted in response, bringing a smirk to Diamond Tiara’s face. “Ugh, do you honestly enjoy tormenting me so much?”
‘Of course not! Right now, I’d rather be with Silver Spoon, talking about jewellery. It’s your fault though… If you’d just reacted outside…’ Diamond Tiara moved closer to Scootaloo, causing the other filly to back up a bit. “I just decided to go to class earlier, and happened to pass you in the hallway. That’s all.”
“S-Sure,” Scootaloo said, her face heating up as Diamond Tiara moved closer to her. “Well then, why don’t you just go on ahead to class?”
A few seconds of silence passed between the two fillies, with Scootaloo shifting her eyes about uncomfortably, and Diamond Tiara examining her closely. Finally, Diamond Tiara said something. Something that Scootaloo was not expecting to hear. “Thank you…” she said, though it was in a low mumble.
“… Uh… what?”
“For sticking up for me in Manehatten!” Diamond Tiara shouted, her face quickly turning red. “And for helping me on the train, when my hoof hurt… There! I thanked you, now stop bothering me already!”
Before Scootaloo could say anything, Diamond Tiara turns around and tries to run away quickly, but only gets to steps away from the bewildered filly before crashing into a locker door that had been carelessly left open. Scootaloo cringed as she heard the painful thud! from the collision, and walked over to Diamond Tiara as she fell to the floor.
“Um… you okay?” she asked, not sure if she should be concerned or laughing uncontrollably right now. “You need a hoof?”
“… I’m fine,” Diamond Tiara said, slowly pushing herself up to her hooves. She rubbed the sore area on her muzzle, and then stumbled backwards a bit as a dizzy spell washed over her. “Wah!” she cried as she began to fall backwards.
“Whoa!” Scootaloo quickly reached forward to catch the pink filly before she fell down. As soon as she did, she once again began to scold herself in her mind. ‘It would have been hilarious to see her fall on her flanks after all she’s done to us! Why did I help her?’
Diamond Tiara gulped as she looked up at Scootaloo’s face, peering down at her from above. Both fillies just stared at each other in silence for a bit, neither one saying anything to break the uncomfortable silence. ‘W-Why?’ Diamond Tiara asked herself, this time in fear. ‘Mommy said… this is how you feel towards your special somepony. Why am I feeling this way towards her of all ponies?’
‘You’ve gotta be kidding me,’ Scootaloo told herself as she looked down into Diamond Tiara’s big, wide eyes. ‘There’s no way I can be feeling this way towards Diamond Tiara of all ponies! Why? Why has life gotta be so cruel?!’
“Hey,” they both said in unison.
“Uh, you first,” Scootaloo said, turning her gaze away from Diamond Tiara’s.
“D’you think you could, like, let go now?” Diamond Tiara asked, motioning towards Scootaloo’s hoof, which the Pegasus filly hadn’t even realised was holding her tighter than necessary.
“Oh, right,” Scootaloo said, releasing Diamond Tiara and allowing her to get back to her hooves. ‘Man, why her? What’s so great about her? And, what did she mean when she said I was ‘bothering’ her?’
The school bell rang, startling the two fillies and breaking Scootaloo out of her thoughts. Behind her, the Pegasus filly could hear the sounds of the schoolhouse doors opening, and several fillies and colts entering. Scootaloo turned back to Diamond Tiara, only to find that the pink filly was now running away, towards their classroom. After giving herself a few seconds to shake off the last remnants of her weird thoughts, Scootaloo followed after her, but at a much slower pace.
Apple Bloom groaned as she buried her head into her hooves. ‘Please don’t let Diamond Tiara be in school today… Please please please plea-’
“Oh, if it isn’t the other blank flank.” Apple Bloom slammed her head into her desk. She was here. Wait…
“The ‘other’ blank flank?” she asked. What did that mean? Had she encountered Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle already today?
‘Yeah, as in the other blank flank that won’t get out of my mind!’ Diamond Tiara shook the thought away, and walked up to Apple Bloom’s desk. The yellow filly raised her head to look at her… and suddenly, Diamond Tiara had to avert her gaze. “I-Is my tiara ready yet?”
Apple Bloom’s ears twitched, and she quickly sat up straight. “Oh, right!” She had actually forgotten all about it since entering the classroom. Her mind had been on more important things… like trying to get a certain obnoxious pink filly out her mind. “It’s in mah bag. One second…”
Diamond Tiara watched as Apple Bloom lifted her bag onto her desk, and began to rummage through it for the tiara. As she watched, she kicked a hoof against the floor and grinded her teeth together. Scootaloo wasn’t the only one haunting the filly’s mind this weekend… Memories of how Apple Bloom had come to her side and comforted her in her time of need kept coming back to her, casting the uncouth Earth Pony filly in a whole new light that made Diamond Tiara question her sanity.
She was sure that there was only one way to rid herself of these thoughts. “T-Thank you,” she said, causing Apple Bloom to stop her rummaging and slowly poke her head out of her bag. Diamond Tiara closed her eyes and continued. “For helping me back in Manehatten… Thanks.”
“N-No problem,” Apple Bloom said, her heart skipping a beat as she pulled the tiara out of her bag and extended it towards Diamond Tiara. “Here…”
Diamond Tiara opened her eyes and saw the familiar piece of jewellery before her. She reached up with a forehoof and grabbed a hold out of it. As she took the tiara and placed it atop her head, the two fell into an awkward silence. Diamond Tiara looked at her desk beside Apple Bloom’s, and tried to move towards it. But her legs felt like jelly, and she couldn’t for the life of her figure out how to move them right now.
“It looks good,” Apple Bloom said, surprising Diamond Tiara. “The tiara, ah mean!” she quickly added. “Ah didn’t get mah Cutie Mark for it, but ah think ah did pretty good, if ah do say so mahself.”
Diamond Tiara blushed as Apple Bloom kept staring at her, and both fillies quickly turned her heads away from each other. “It’s… not bad… for a blank flank.”
Any other day, Apple Bloom would have frowned at Diamond Tiara’s trademark insult, and fallen into a bad mood until her friends arrived to cheer her up. But currently, the term ‘blank flank’ didn’t bother her like it usually did. In fact, she actually felt a smile forming on her face. Why? Why would she be happy that Diamond Tiara is being her usual annoying self?
She remembered what Twist had said to her earlier, and wondered if she was just happy to see that Diamond Tiara was indeed doing okay after that incident in Manehatten? ‘Well, that’s good, right? ‘Cause it means ah’ll stop thinkin’ ‘bout her so much.’
Diamond Tiara finally managed to work her legs properly again, and casually walked past Apple Bloom’s desk, her head held high and her eyes shut so that she wouldn’t accidentally make eye contact with her, and she took her seat next to Apple Bloom. As she did so, Apple Bloom caught a scent that was familiar to her, from previous days of sitting next to the rich filly… It was some strange, expensive perfume that Diamond Tiara made a big deal about some time ago.
It was a familiar smell to Apple Bloom, so she had never paid it much notice. So why was it that, now, the smell was making her head spin, and her face to flush. Maybe she was just not feeling well today? Or maybe Diamond Tiara put on much stronger version of that perfume? ‘… Or maybe… N-no, Granny Smith said that colts belong with fillies, and that fillies belong with colts. Ah can’t be attracted to another filly, it’s just not possible… ‘Specially not that one.
The classroom door opened suddenly, snapping Apple Bloom out of her thoughts, and she quickly turned around to see her classmates entering. ‘… R-Right. Ah’m just not feelin’ well today, that’s all. But as soon as school’s out, ah’ll be right as rain!’
“Good morning, class,” Cheerilee said as she sat at her teacher’s desk at the front of the classroom.
“Good morning, Miss Cheerilee,” the class responded in unison.
‘Okay, so if I carry this number then… Ugh, I’m lost.’ Scootaloo put her pencil down and rested her head on the table in front of her. ‘Stupid numbers. Why do I even have to learn them? I’m gonna be a Wonderbolt someday!’
“Diamond Tiara, eyes on your own book,” Cheerilee said, causing most of the class to turn their attentions to said filly, who quickly pulled her head away from Apple Bloom’s desk.
“Hmph. Not like she has anything useful for me to copy anyway,” Diamond Tiara said back, pouting as she rested her chin a forehoof. Some of the class began to laugh, but that was quickly ended by Cheerilee.
“Five more minutes, and then we’ll go through the answers together.”
Scootaloo was probably the last foal still looking at Diamond Tiara after the class had settled down. ‘That’s right, she’s bad at Math too… And English, and Geography, and Science, and… well, I guess she’s actually pretty good at History.’
Diamond Tiara was glaring down at her question paper, looking as if she was ready to just get up and explode with rage at it. She tapped her pencil against her exercise book as she bit into her forehoof. It seemed to Scootaloo that she was genuinely trying to answer the questions, but just couldn’t make sense of any of it. ‘Yeah, I know how that feels.’
A piece of paper suddenly flew at Diamond Tiara, hitting her forehoof and landing on her book. Both Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo looked towards what they thought to be the paper’s origin: Silver Spoon. The grey filly was paying attention to her own question paper, not writing anything down. Knowing her, the two fillies assumed that she was already checking her answers.
Diamond Tiara opened the paper, and soon began writing at a much faster pace than earlier. There was no doubt about it in Scootaloo’s mind: that paper contained the answers to the questions on the sheet. ‘Great,’ she thought to herself, ‘Now I’m gonna have the lowest score of the class.’
Sparing one last look over at Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo could just about make out the smile on the pink filly’s face. She quickly put her head back into her forehooves as she felt her face heating up again. ‘I don’t get it, what do I see in her?! She’s loud, and obnoxious! I mean, sure, Rainbow Dash can be loud sometimes, too, but Diamond Tiara’s just loud for the sake of being annoying! That stupid, stuck-up, high-and-mighty tone of hers!…’
Diamond Tiara’s voice began to sound in her mind. ‘… I guess, it isn’t the worst voice in the world, but still! Okay, I’ll admit she’s… kinda… c… cu… cu… not the ugliest filly in school, but that doesn’t mean I should like her! She’s always tormenting me and my friends! And that giggle she always does whenever she’s with Silver Spoon… Um, what did it sound like again? Darn it! Now I want to hear her giggling?! That’s it! I’m going straight to therapy as soon as school is out!’
“Scootaloo?” Cheerilee called out, causing Scootaloo to bolt upright in her seat. “Do you have the answer to question three?”
Scootaloo looked down at her paper. Question three was one of the few questions she could actually make a decent attempt at, but she still wasn’t very confident about it. Still, she decided to give t a go. Anything to get her to stop thinking about a certain tiara-wearing pink filly.
Speaking of which, Scootaloo turned her attention o where Diamond Tiara was sitting. Normally, this would be where Diamond Tiara would be grinning from ear-to-ear, just waiting for the chance to laugh and poke fun at Scootaloo’s poor arithmetic skills. Today, however, Diamond Tiara seemed to be paying no attention to her whatsoever.
“Um, I got… twenty-eight?”
A few giggles around the class was enough to tell her that she was wrong, and brought a frown to her face. Surprisingly, though, Diamond Tiara wasn’t one of the ones giggling. Even with her back turned, Scootaloo could see that Diamond Tiara wasn’t laughing at her incorrect answer. And while that shouldn’t have bothered her in any way, for reasons unknown to Scootaloo, she was actually upset with it. ‘What, I don’t even exist in her eyes?’
As Miss Cheerilee went over the answer on the board, none of the information went into Scootaloo’s ear at all. She was far too busy scowling at the back of Diamond Tiara’s head, half of her wondering why the pink filly was refusing to acknowledge her existence, and the other half wondering why she cared so much.
Lunch could not have come sooner for Apple Bloom. After spending a whole two hours in class next to Diamond Tiara, she thought that the strange thoughts she had been having lately would go away, and she’d be back to hating the very thought of even being classmates with the pink filly. But no, they didn’t go away. In fact, they had made her act like what she could only describe as a ‘grade-A goofball’.
She noticed that Diamond Tiara was looking over at her book for answers to the Math questions, and whilst she usually would have just ignored it, or sent Diamond Tiara a glare to make her back off, this time, she found herself actually edging her book towards the other filly, making it easier for her to see her answers.
When Diamond Tiara was caught by Cheerilee, Apple Bloom then decided to write the answers both in her book, and on a separate piece of paper. She then folded the paper up, and tossed it over to Diamond Tiara. She knew that Silver Spoon had a tendency to do that, so she wasn’t afraid of being caught. She could just act innocent, and let Diamond Tiara think that her friend did it for her.
Finally, near the end of class, when Apple Bloom was supposed to be on full alert for a sudden question from Cheerilee, she found herself drawing little tiaras in her exercise book, and then quickly rubbing them out with her eraser. While caught up in doing this, she had been called upon by Cheerilee to answer a question on the board. A question which, of course, she couldn’t answer, since she hadn’t been paying attention. Still, she tried her best, and somehow managed to guess the right answer. As she went back to her desk, she made a brief moment of eye contact with Diamond Tiara. That brief moment was all she needed to completely space out and trip over her saddlebag on the floor, making a complete fool of herself, and earning a bout of laughter from the entire class. Even from Diamond Tiara.
As she got up to her hooves, with Cheerilee’s help, she noticed that Diamond Tiara’s laughter wasn’t the usual haughty, mean-spirited laughter that she was used to hearing, but was instead more of a soft giggle. As if the pink filly was attempting to hold her laughter in, but it came out anyway, against her wishes. And the sound of it gave her butterflies.
The two made eye contact again as Apple Bloom sat down, and immediately turned their attentions back to their books.
‘Ah need help,’ Apple Bloom thought to herself just as the bell rang.
During lunch, the three crusaders decided to eat outside, seeing as how it was such a lovely, sunny day. Sweetie Belle was ecstatic with her lunch: three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crust cut off, an orange (which made Apple Bloom cringe), and a juice box of grape juice.
Apple Bloom was less ecstatic, though not because of the food she had. She loved apple fritters and apple-flavoured muffins, and apple juice to wash it all down, but she was just unable to get a certain pink filly out of her head, and it was sapping away all of her spirit.
Scootaloo had a similar problem, and that wasn’t helped by the fact that, today, her lunch only consisted of an apple she had stopped to buy on the way to school.
“Is that all you’re having?” Sweetie Belle asked with a look of concern.
“Yeah… Dad was sick again last night, so I didn’t really have enough time to put together a lunch for today.”
“Oh my, I hope he’s okay.”
“He’ll be fine. Ever since mum walked out on us, he’s been getting sick spells every now-and-then, but I take good care of him,” she said with a proud smile on her face. “And he has a ‘special medicine’ for it, too.”
“Still, I can’t let you eat just that.” Sweetie Belle placed one of her sandwiches in front of Scootaloo, along with half of her orange. “Here, you can have some of my lunch.”
“Wow, really?” Scootaloo asked, touched by her friend’s concern.
“Of course. If you tell me why you and Apple Bloom have been acting so weird lately.”
Scootaloo’s ears twitched, and she turned her head away. “What are you talking about? I’m not acting weird.”
Apple Bloom stared down at her lunch for a few seconds, before sighing and raising her head to look at her two friends. “Actually… ah think ah’ve got a real big problem…”
Sweetie Belle turned her attention away from Scootaloo, and gave Apple Bloom a worried look. “A problem? What’s wrong? Are you sick? Is there a problem down at the farm?”
Apple Bloom shook her head. “No, nothin’ like that. It’s a… ah’m not quite sure how ta describe it…”
“Actually, I’ve kinda got a problem too,” Scootaloo said, now feeling a little more secure with sharing her concerns since Apple Bloom had done. “Though, it’s probably nothing to worry about… I’m probably just being silly…”
“Well, talk to me,” Sweetie Belle said, shifting her gaze between her two friends. “I’m your friend! You’re supposed to talk to your friends when you’re having problems. And besides, I might get my Cutie Mark in helping you two,” she added jokingly with a smile on her face.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo smiled back, and decided to start telling her of their troubles, albeit hesitantly.
“Ah’ve… been having these weird feelings for somepony lately.”
“Me too,” Scootaloo said, surprising Apple Bloom. “I’m glad I’m not the only one. I thought I was going crazy.”
“Feelings?” Sweetie Belle asked, before gasping and leaning closer to her friends, giving each of them sly grins and she chuckled under her breath. “What, you mean like love?”
To her surprise, both fillies, now as red as the Red Delicious in front of Apple Bloom, nodded their heads slowly. Sweetie Belle stopped her chuckling, realising that the situation was more serious than she had thought.
“Well, that isn’t so bad,” she said, though she wasn’t entirely sure. “I mean, Miss Cheerilee did say that ponies start to change at our age, and Rarity said that it’s only natural that we start to ‘notice’ colts as we get older.”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Scootaloo said, scratching the back of her head.
“It’s a filly,” Apple Bloom said, pressing her face into her forehooves in shame.
“Oh. Well, that’s still not exactly a bad thing, right?” Sweetie Belle asked, receiving a surprised look from Apple Bloom. “Well, Rarity’s had marefriends before, and she says there’s nothing wrong with it.”
“But Granny Smith says it ain’t natural! That two colts and two fillies shouldn’t ever be together! She said it’s a sin against Princess Celestia, and that Discord would rise again if fillyfoolers and coltcuddlers began ta spread!”
“Okay, deep breaths Apple Bloom.” Apple Bloom breathed in deeply, and then out. She continued this as she backed away from Sweetie Belle’s face, and went back to looking down at her lunch with a shamed look on her face. “And what about you, Scootaloo? Same problem?”
“No. Well, yeah, she is a filly, but it’s not really that that I mind… It’s who it is that bothers me.”
“And who is it?” Sweetie Belle asked, picking up her grape juice and taking a sip.
“Diamond Tiara,” both of her friends answered in unison. They then turned to each other with shocked looks on their faces, and an uncomfortable silence descended on the group, save for the sounds of Sweetie Belle gagging on her grape juice as it sprayed out of her nose.
“Oh… my…”
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i wonder how bad things are gonna get between the two crusaders.
I want more of this. I like these sort of stories with Diamond Tiara. The only thing that would make this more complete is if Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle developed feelings for each other. Hint hint.
Ah, this is one of those fics that makes everyone hate Granny Smith. I'm really hoping that Princess Celestia 'conveniently' states that she doesn't mind homosexuals just as Applejack writes about an 'unnamed elderly relative' who 'might' be a homophobe..
Wow, I'm loving this SO much! I woke up this morning, saw this, and dropped everything I was doing just to eagerly read the new chapter! Even if you only had one up so far, I was so excited! And it certainly didn't disappoint. You really do write amazingly well. You honestly DID forget about Twist's lisp problem (where she slurs her s-words), and since Discord is now technically back, that part might need to be changed, but otherwise truly masterful! The small hints of comedy, such as Apple Bloom not liking seeing an orange and Scootaloo bluntly thinking she needs therapy, is hilarious and cute. But, all the subtle and sweet romantic moments, going back and forth between Scoots and Bloom, and involving Tiara, were played very well. I was so touched by all of it. Plus, most of all, it just seemed natural and logical and very fathomable. I love it! I seriously can't wait to read more!
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I'm not very good at writing lisp dialogue, and don't wanna risk offending anyone (I accidetnally offended someone with a lisp when I was a kid, and let me tell you it did not end well).
As for Discord, when I write stories I tend to stick to the canon at the time of writing/conceiving it. In this case, I began writing it before the Discord ep, and since nopony really knew which way that ep would go, I just decided I wouldn't include its canon into this story. Besides, the common citizens of Equestria might not know about Discord's return. Celestia may be holding back the news until she can get it all sorted out, or it just might not have spread all across Equestria just yet.
Ah, and it comes out. Although I think I know what's really wrong with Scoots' dad. Damn... :(
That awkward moment when you and your friend have crushes on the same filly.
yay a new chapter!!!! I'm loving how you're slowly building things up. I can't wait for the next chapter showing how Apple Bloom and Scootaloo react to eachother's answers.
You got their thoughts and body languages down quite well. It reminds me of all those crushes people have in elementary school and how much of a nervous wreck we could be lol
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2317374 Inorite? Why doesn't this have the Comedy tag? It's hilarious ;)
I was a little bothered about Granny Smith saying that it ain't natural for a colt and a colt to be together.
But that's not stopping me from reading this!
2977213 I know right!?
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What both of you need to understand is that she's old enough to get away with that type of thinking. Personally, I don't care what people do, as long as they do it away from me. Sure that's a bit hypocritical, seeing as how one of my favorite shippings is SonTails, and TwiDash, but I never said that I wasn't hypocritical, and it's not as though I read the clop for those two ships. Of course, I also don't read the clop for SonAmy and TwiSpike, but it's the principle here.