1 Babs and Bullies
Babs trotted towards her school with new confidence, tail up and eyes front – at least they would be if she didn’t have to blow her red bangs out of her field of vision. ‘I gotta do something about that,’ she mused, not letting it bother her. A shadow drifted over her, and she looked up at the ever-descending pegasus-shaped cloud of gloom came in for a graceful landing in the street nearby. “Good Morning, Nor!”
“What’s good about it?” came the taciturn reply, as the storm-gray pegasus tried to fold her long wings. as usual, it was difficult for her to do. “Ever try preening when your wing’s longer than your neck? It’s a pain in the… wait, saying that might be funny.” Nor’Easter made a sour face at her friend, shaking her jet black made out of her face, just as Babs blew her bangs up again. The two fillies matched canters as they closed on Manehattan’s Public School 290. The cramped building was shoehorned into the busy city, and a stream of fillies and colts were heading for the door.
“Hey! Blank-Flank! You’ll have to wait until the better ponies go in first!”
This vitriolic remark was backed up by giggling, as three of the local bullies boxed in a young, pale green unicorn to one side of the stairs, one the two city fillies had never seen before. The speaker was one Babs knew well – one Holly Berry, whose cheerful red and green color scheme hid a mean streak a mile wide. Behind her stood an intimidating black and blue Goth unicorn, horn glittering with a sapphire blue aura. Babs and Nor exchanged a troubled glance. This trio often had Black Ice use a suppression spell against unicorns while the two other bullies physically and verbally abused the magic-hampered victims. Speaking of physical abuse, the last of the Terrible Trio was a red-maned bat-pony by the name of Second Star, who flared her wings in a maneuver calculated to intimidate and block escape from the alley.
Babs and Nor shared a commiserating glance, then Babs grinned and whispered something to Nor. It was so rare that the stormy pegasus developed a grin that was downright scary when it happened.
Babs broke off to her left, moving to come in from the side on the bullies, while Nor continued straight, then turned to come up behind them. The bullied filly saw Babs approaching confidently, and that caused the three bullies to look a bit disconcerted at first.
“O.M.C., Holly,” the Goth unicorn spoke in a Califurnia Girl way that hadn’t been in style for decades. “It’s a plague of blank flanks, like, totally making me ill.” Still all eyes were on Babs now, and that’s just what she wanted. She knew Black Ice wouldn’t be able to do much more than hold her suppression spell up – it was something she’d seen before, and knew it took a lot of concentration.
“No, what’ll make somepony ill is that you three think you’re so much better for getting cutie marks early. So impressive! I mean, look! You’ve managed cornering someone three on one! A new face here, and the first thing she’s got to see are you teen movie rejects getting in her personal space, huh? That’s NOT how we treat people in the big city.” Babs blew her bangs out of her face walking forward and forcing the three other fillies back. This unexpected maneuver caused shock and surprise. Already, gears could be seen turning in Holly’s head - two on three made things almost fair, and this new confidence from Babs rattled her former bullies visibly. “So you three best buck off, before something bad happens to you.”
Babs could see the three girls trying to process the sudden turnaround from one of their previous victims, and then gave them a killer grin. “Too late...”
There was a gray ‘swoosh’, and the three bullies found themselves sitting on their haunches in shock, rear hooves in the air as they tumbled backwards on the dirty pavement, making things even worse. Nor grinned and folded back her over-sized gliding wing as she walked past. Only the fastest eye would know she had used the powerful appendage to trip the three bullies when Babs had backed them up.
As Babs and Nor escorted the new filly up the stairs, Nor shot back with a deadpan monotone, “Guess the ‘better ponies’ are here, since she’s coming into the school with us.”
Behind them, shock rapidly turned to blustering rage, threats and insults amid the laughter of several other former victims of the bullies, before the school door closed behind the three fillies.
“Thanks for saving me,” the unicorn filly gushed, having recovered from her fright with remarkable speed. “I’m Golden Song.” Babs tilted her head, she’d heard that accent before, though never so fast and so cheerful. “I’m so happy to finally meet someone that isn’t mean to me!”
‘No problem – I’m Babs Seed, and this absolute ray of sunshine is Nor’easter,” Babs replied cheerfully, gaining a dismissive snort from Nor. “So, are you from Trottingham? I’ve heard a similar accent…”
“Oh YES,” Golden Song gushed, “It’s such a remarkable change coming here, everything’s so… large. Even the bullies. I’m very, very glad you came along!”
“Don’t mention it,” said Nor calmly. “Seriously – don’t. Those three will try to corner each of us individually and give us trouble, now that they’ve been shown up. I doubt they’ll do more than talk if we stick together. At least they’ll graduate this year, and things will be mildly less depressing around here.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” Babs interjected, “my cousin Applebloom and her friends started a club to help earn cutie marks. It’s called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and I’ve been asked to start a Manehattan branch. You fillies want to get in on the ground floor?”
“How’s it different than trying on our own? How’s it better or worse?” Nor asked, already showing signs of boredom. “Still interested, if only because it means dealing with the Trouble Trio will be easier if we have equal numbers.”
“It’s like a sports team? An after school group? My parents are trying to get me to go sign up for stuff, but it’s all boring like violin lessons. I can’t garden or anything here in the city, but I’d gladly join your club.”
Babs grinned, “Crusading means trying lots of stuff together, helping each other out, so we can find our cutie mark rather than wait for it to come to us. It’ll be the best. We can crusade after school and on the weekends. Let me tell you some of the things my cousin and her friends have tried…”
"… and that was four times in one day they were covered in dirt, leaves and tree sap – but no cutie marks!” Babs waved her forehooves eloquently, pausing briefly to blow her bangs out of her face.
Nor snorted at the story, “Wow, I almost actually laughed at that. So what’s the first plan?” She was almost done with her lunch, as she looked at Babs curiously.
Meanwhile, Golden chewed her food with a google-eyed expression, having been listening to the tales of the Crusaders raptly. “Yep, sounds like such a long list – how do we ever get started?”
“Well, the best part was the CMC clubhouse – where they also have meetings for the Rainbow dash fan club. Now, if we had something like that, it would be a great start.” Babs was pondering the idea as she gathered her lunch refuse. “say, let’s make that our first official mission! We can find ourselves a clubhouse somewhere here in Manehattan!” With their trays cleared, the three fillies bumped hooves, and the whole of PS 290 shuddered with the ensuing shout:
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CLUBHOUSE FINDERS!”