Bass Clefs and Sapphires

by Crispn

An Unabridged Tale of a CMC

“Well, that was something.” I said offhandedly as I rewrapped my silk scarf around my neck.

“Yes. Apple Jack has always had a problem with Scootaloo. She was always in some sort of trouble or injured and Apple Bloom would be right alongside her, Sweetie Belle too and even Spike occasionally. I believe she has the idea that Scootaloo was a very poor influence.”

“You’re Sweetie Belle’s sister, what did you think?”

“To be completely honest, I never really paid much attention. Yes, I thought Sweetie Belle was better off sometimes not knowing them, because she would always come home bruised or covered in tree sap. I can’t count the amount of times I had washed it out of her hair. But when she would talk about her friends to me, I knew she was happy. Having fun and being silly is part of being a friend.”

I wrapped my arms around Rarity as we stopped on the side of the snow covered road, letting the light snow land on our coats, contrasting the deep black. Placing my forehead to hers, I closed my eyes and took in a breath.

“Well, I guess that means you are a better sister.”

“What?! Me, a better sister than AJ? You do know that once Sweetie Belle disowned me as a sister because I wouldn’t do some silly competition with her?”

I smiled, “But let me guess, you ended up doing something clever so that Sweetie Belle would want you as a sister again. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“No,” she mumbled, blushing, “It took almost a day to get the mud out of my hair. I felt so off but it was so much fun to do something with Sweetie Belle. We have been competing together each summer for 6 years now. Placed almost every year and won twice. You should see the ribbon I designed for the Sister Social, it is magnificent.”

“That’s what I am talking about.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, let’s look at some things between you and AJ. Even though it was out of your comfort zone, you did something to make your sister happy. I’m guessing AJ would do the same, possibly. But here’s the big thing, you let Sweetie Belle make her own mistakes and are there as her sister for comfort and camaraderie, instead of acting like her mother. That’s why you’re a better sister.”

Rarity said nothing, but instead lightly pecked me on the cheek. She then looked down, blushing profusely, “I need to...take care of something. Yes, that’s it. I need to take care of something back at home.”

“Oh, what do you need to do?”

“I cannot tell you that. It’s a secret, but I need you to stay away for at least 30 minutes.” She brought her mouth up to my ear, whispering softly as I could feel her breath send a tingle through my body, “It will be worth it.”

I stood there, blushing hard as my wings whipped open to full extent. Rarity stifled a small giggle, kissed me and then quickly sped off in the direction of her apartment. How did I get here? I mean, well, I didn’t really expect anything to happen after AJ’s explosion. Oh well, pushing that to the back of my mind, got bigger things to worry about.

I decided to take the scenic route through one of the many parks that the small town had to offer. I saw over to my left a small gazebo with a raised platform and to my right, what looked like a small convenience store. Quickly doing a breath check and failing, I thought it may be a good idea to at least be prepared for the night ahead. Could be nothing but you know the saying, ‘Better to have the sword and not use it, than not have it and need it’.

Briskly walking over to the corner store, I made my purchase of...certain items. Popping a piece of gum into my mouth, I took a look at my watch, only to discover that only 5 minutes had gone by. I still had almost a half an hour to waste, but I was quickly going to end up just sitting on the steps waiting for the time to expire.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I heard a female state loudly from around the back of the store. “I don’t need this right now Silver Spoon, just take you and your cronies back to whatever hell hole you and DT dug out of.”

“Well, you would know something about that now, wouldn’t you?” A second female shouted back, as the sound of glass shattering filled the air.

“No! What are you doing to her!? Stop it!” The first voice yelled out, followed quickly by a sharp yelp and a thud.

That was it. I had had enough of this bullshit. I couldn’t just sit here while some random girl was being assaulted by this group of thugs. Hitting a quick stride as I leapt up, I circled around the building and came upon four teenagers, two girls and two guys. One of the girls, an athletically built kid with bright magenta hair was being pinned up against a wall by a stout guy. The taller boy and the other girl, with silver hair and slim glasses, were beating a large hunk of metal with pieces of lead pipe, the magenta haired girl teary as she tried to free herself from the wall.

“It’s your fault that DT isn’t here anymore,” the silver hair girl screamed, brandishing the pipe as she slowly moved towards the wall, “I bet you still can’t fly, you stupid dike bareback. Why don’t we make it so you can’t walk.” The girl raised the pipe above her head, readying to strike out at the pinned one.

The sound of metal scraping against stone pierced the cold air. I had barely made it, pushing the pipe hand off to the side instead of into the girl. All four kids looked at me in surprise, the one against the wall had a look of relief while the two boys had ones of panic. The silver haired girl was just furious, steamed that her blow was deflected from its original target.

“Do you want to mess with us, peg?” the girl said, advancing on me.

“I don’t really know what’s going on, but I would suggest that you leave. Now.” I calmly stated, still pinning the pipe to the wall. “Because from what I know about situations like this, it won’t end well for the people on the giving end of the beating.”

“I don’t need a shithead like you telling me what to do. Now get out of my way or I will have to give you the same treatment.” The silver haired girl said through gritted teeth, ripping the pipe from out between my hand and the wall.

“Uuuum, Silver Spoon?” the taller boy said, backing away. “I think we need to get out of here before cops show up. If he heard the glass shattering, someone else did.”

Silver Spoon looked down at the ground shaking furiously. “Fine. Let’s get out of here.” She nodded at the shorter boy, who let his grip on the magenta girl fall to the ground. Walking towards the town, she stopped at the hunk of metal and slammed the pipe into it again. “This isn’t over, bareback.” she said, laughing maniacally as the two boys pulled her along and into the darkness. The magenta haired girl slumped to the ground, leaning up against the wall, holding her head in her hands, the small muffled sounds of crying permeating the night.

I sat down next to the girl and dived into the bag. Pulling out a fresh box of cigarettes, I took two sticks out and put one in my mouth.

“Hey.” I said to her. I was only met with sniffles. I tried again, but this time I tapped the girl on the shoulder. “Hey.” The girl looked up with teary eyes and wet cheeks.

“What do you want? Here to torment me like everyone else in this stupid town?” The girl replied, wiping the tears from her face with the sleeve of her jacket.

“Just thought you might want something to calm the nerves.” I calmly stated, holding out the second cigarette to her.

“But I don’t smoke.”

“And if Rarity asks, I don’t either.” I said, winking at the small girl.

“Why would Rarity ca.... Ooooh. So you’re the one Dash told me about. She said her new roommate was dating Rarity.”

“Yeah. Crisp, by the way.” I said, holding out my right hand as I lit up with the left.

“Scootaloo.” She softly said, taking my hand in hers. Her hand took me by surprise, rough and calloused.

“Nice to finally meet you after hearing so much about you.”

She snorted at the comment, “I bet it wasn’t all good.”

“The same could probably be said about me.”

We sat in silence. Well, relative silence. Scootaloo moved over to where the hunk of metal was. Now she was picking up different bits and tossing them to the side, cursing each time.

“So what was that all about?”

Scootaloo looked over her shoulder at me, “Silver Spoon is a bitch. Always has.”

“Can’t deny that, but not what I was talking about.”

“You mean Apple Jack?”

“Yea. I have never seen her fly off the handle so fast. Rarity mentioned something about Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, but I’m guessing by the difference in reaction, there is something more than can be seen.”

Scootaloo turned back around towards the remnants of metal in front of her. Shaking, she rose and walked back over to me, “Do you mind if I have one of those?”

“Not at all.” I smiled, taking a fresh one out of the box and passing it over to her. She took my lighter and lit the stick as I took the cigarette I had pulled out earlier for her out from behind my ear, waiting for my lighter.

“What makes you think that I am just going to tell you everything? Or anything for that matter.” Scootaloo quickly said, tossing the lighter at me.

“To be honest, I don’t expect you to.” I calmly stated, flicking it open and lighting my second. Deeply inhaling, I felt the wave of calm rush over me. Suddenly, violent coughing erupted from Scootaloo as she tried her first draw.

“Hehe,” I chuckled, “Just let the smoke sit in your mouth. It takes some time to get used to the heat, and that way it will cool off first. And don't worry, I get where you are coming from.”

“What do you get?”

“Having problems and not wanting to talk about it. I feel like I have been in a similar spot, right around the same age too. Seventeen?” Scootaloo nodded. “See, you’re a bit younger than I was. Let me see what I can piece from what I have heard and what I can see. Orphan, but adopted when you were in your early teens, picked on as a kid for not having a mark. Probably something else too, that girl said something about not being able to fly. Wing problems?”

Scootaloo looked down at the ground, allowing her eyes to tear up again. She pulled her arms around her knees and just sat there, rocking back and forth. I felt bad for this kid. She was me, just younger, and sober. I looked down at my watch. 11:37 pm, still had nineteen minutes left to waste, so I might as well wait them out here. I should probably take this kid home. She looked pretty unstable.

“Sorry if I upset you. I got some time to kill so if you want someone to take you home, I don’t mind walking you and your...uh, pile of metal?”

Again, Scootaloo just rocked back and forth, this time her watery eyes looking forward at the pile of scrap metal Silver Spoon had gone to town on.

“Scooter.”

“Scooter.” A couple of minutes passed in silence, “You know, if there was a real problem with your wings, maybe I can help.”

“How do you think you can help?” the small girl quickly snapped, her tears streaking down her face as she shot up and strode in front of where I was sitting. “I have LGMD, ok? Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy. It affected my wing muscle growth when I was a kid so I was never able to fly well. I can barely get off the ground because of it.” She cried as she pulled off her jacket, revealing a pair of orange wings, pretty small for her size. I noticed her right shoulder sported a large white bandage. I rose off the ground and calmly blew a smoke ring up into the air, unfurling my own wings.

“There is nothing wrong with having smaller wings.” I said, brandishing mine in front of my body as a sort of cloak. “Mine didn’t start growing until I was in college. I bet that Twilight could find something to help out.”

“Maybe Zecora would be better.” She mumbled, looking at the wings, fluttering her small orange ones behind her.

“Who?”

“Zecora, the local apothecary. She lives out in the forest. Besides, it won’t matter. Everyone will keep making fun of me.”

I looked down at the small girl shivering in front of me. She gripped her right shoulder with her left hand as her right wrapped around her waist. Grabbing her coat from off the ground, I wrapped her shoulders in it and patted it on her back.

“Some people are always going to be assholes, no matter what. But I think this goes a bit deeper than just old bullies.” I said, putting my half clenched fist under her chin, lifting her eyes to meet mine. “I’m guessing it has something to do with why you covered that shoulder blade of yours.”

Scootaloo wrenched herself away from my hand, and slumped back down to the mangled remains of her scooter. “We were all supposed to get them together, you know. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and I promised when we made the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” She pulled a small piece of cloth out of her pocket, a crude stitching of a girl with a cape on a magenta background, the underside was made of what looked like gold silk.

“I’ll never forget Rarity’s face when she saw the capes Sweetie Belle made for us. I thought she was going to blow a fuse, she was so mad. We made a promise that day, that we would all get our marks together. But Sweetie Belle, she broke her promise.”

“Shouldn’t you be happy that she found out what she’s good at?”

“Apple Bloom was, but I just couldn’t believe that she didn’t wait for us. It was like she didn’t care about me. Her magic was like my wings, weak. But once she got her mark, she started to bloom so much. I couldn’t stand being left behind. So Apple Bloom and I started hanging out more. Alone. We tried everything.”

“Is that why AJ doesn’t want you around her?”

“No, that was because of what happened between me and Diamond Tiara. She started calling Apple Bloom horrible things. I started yelling at her, she pushed me, I pushed back, she slapped me. I tackled her to the ground and beat her. Broke her nose, black eyes. She deserved to get hurt, after all the years of hurt she had given us. If it wasn’t for Sweetie Belle and Spike pulling me off, I probably would have killed her. AJ is scared I would do the same to her sister, but I could never hurt Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo wrapped her arms around her knees again, her voice trembling. She protected Apple Bloom to the very end.

“She cares about you, Scootaloo... but does she know?”

“Know what?”

“You love her, don’t you?”

“She’s my best friend, of course I love her.”

“Scootaloo...”

Scootaloo looked down at the ground and back up to me, her face red from the blush that was quickly spreading across it.

“How long?” I asked, placing my arm around her shoulders as I sat down next to her. Scootaloo placed a hand on her scooter, running it up and down the wheel cover.

“Before Spike started pursuing Sweetie Belle...”

“Does she know?”

“No... I tried to tell her so many times, but never could, I wrote a note for her and everything....”

“Diamond Tiara found the note, didn’t she?”

“Yea, she started calling Apple Bloom a dyke, saying that she was going to hell. Said that she would never be happy... I just snapped...”

I grabbed the girl in my arms and held her tight against my chest. Her soft sobs pushed in against my coat. Seriously, what was it about me that made girls just open up and then cry into my chest.

“Here, let me get you home.” I said softly picking up the scooter and placing it on its skewed wheels. Scootaloo nodded and walked in the direction of Dash’s house. Oh yea....sister, right. After arriving at her house, she turned around to face me.

“Crisp...can I ask a favor of you?”

“Sure, kid. Anything.”

She zipped over and took my phone out of my jacket pocket, called her phone and placed it back in.

“Can... can I call you... to talk if I need to?”

“Of course, anytime you call, I’ll pick up. You can count on that. Pinkie Promise.” I stated as I recited the promise and followed the motions. She smiled for the first time. It was a pretty smile, and if she could ever muster up the courage, Apple Bloom would be lucky. Scootaloo then turned around and walked inside, taking off her coat as she did. The bandage had come loose, revealing a flaming tire with wings.

“Scootaloo.” I said, stopping her from entering the house.

“Yes?” She replied, almost in a sultry sort of way. The voice was almost exactly like Rarity’s when she got into her teasing mood. My wings opened to full extent due to my body’s confusion.

“For what it’s worth, you should be proud of those wings, and your mark.”

Scootaloo just stared at me, deep into my eyes. I was so lost in the stare I had not noticed her close the gap in between us. She pulled my collar down and pecked me on the cheek.

“Thank you....for everything.” She said, fluttering back inside, the sound of buzzing wings filling the air and closed the door.

I stood on the porch of the large house, wondering what she meant by everything. Looking down at my watch, I noticed it was well past midnight, almost 1 am. Well shit, I definitely gave Rarity enough time to prepare whatever she had in store. I quickly unfurled my wings and zipped off towards her apartment.

Landing a couple minutes later outside, I looked up at her open window. There was a small flickering light, probably from a candle. Flying up, I climbed halfway inside before I found Rarity asleep on her bed, which caused me to almost fall out of the window. She was wearing a purple corset and lace stocking and undergarments. I felt my wings stiffen, and after a couple attempts, managed to pull them inside the apartment. I softly chuckled to myself as I walked over to the bedside table and doused the light. Pulling the covers over her, I got undressed and put on shorts, climbing into bed with her. I wrapped my wing underneath her and pulled her close to me. My mind raced as I inhaled the sweet smell of lavender, quickly falling asleep after the long day.

Over in the corner of the room where my pants laid, unceremoniously thrown, my cell phone buzzed in my pocket, where it would remain unanswered.

Author's Note:

Scootaloo....Damn girl. Just damn.

This was actually a hard chapter to write, a lot of things to consider, and I had to correctly make the correlation to her and Crisp, because honestly, if he didn't see the same thing before that he went through, then the entire chapter doesn't make sense.

The bullying bit at the beginning was partly inspired by Wreck-it Ralph and a personal experience from high school. Yeah, fun times. And if you haven't seen Wreck-it Ralph, drop whatever you are doing, go to the store or internet, get a copy and watch the shit out of that wonderful movie. I'M GONNA WRECK IT!