> When I Cry
>  by Brony Hectic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> First Impressions 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                       Thanks to "Diarch" for editing this. Also, thanks to my proof readers, "TexPony", "NightShader", and "multiple bronies."

Okay, before you judge the story, I'm going to tell you now, these beginning chapters are REALLY bad and unedited unless they say so. I recommend reading at least 7 or 8 chapters in before making a final opinion.


It was a bright and sunny day in the beginning of summer in Ponyville when he came. His name was Dim Shadow. Dim Shadow usually kept to himself. He found himself most comfortable in old, dark places. It wasn't that he was depressed or had a negative personality, he just really enjoyed that type of scenery. He was the kind of colt who was always trying to help others, but usually didn't talk unless spoken to. Dim Shadow’s coat was grey, and he had a light blue mane that fought bitterly with his sapphire eyes. His cutiemark was a heart with a shadow, and within the shadow was one pony helping another off the ground.
After the completion of arranging his room in his new home he wanted to check out the town. It was better to spend some time memorizing it now than to get lost in the future.
He took out a map that his parents gave to him. He noticed a few parks so he decided to go to the one on the edge of town near the woods. Little did he know it was the worst park to choose. As Dim Shadow made his way to the park, he passed a building that look battered and run down. Judging by the broken windows and ivy vines growing on the side. It looked abandoned He also noticed the school house nearby I assume that's where I'm going in a few months, looks pretty bland. he thought to himself in an unexcited tone.

When Dim Shadow finally arrived at the park he noticed that there were many young colts with cutie marks that had to do with sports like basketball or scootering. There were occasional fitness cutiemarks in the mass as well. Dim looked very out of place, and he knew that he was. He didn't spend much time there, maybe a minute, and everypony was already giving him weird looks and chuckling. Before he could leave, he was met by three colts blocking the exit.

"Hey, you the new kid?" The tall, orange pegasus said with a devilish grin on his face. Dim knew where this was going.

"Yeah, how did you know that?" Dim Shadow said.

"Cheerilee said that you would be coming to town, but you never got to school. My name's Heavy Weight." The colt said.

"Well it’s nice to meet you Heavy Weight. Now can you please move." Dim Shadow said, narrowing his eyes.

"Sorry, I can’t do that. All of the new guys gotta pay the fee, so give it up." Heavy Weight said, laughing a little

"Well sucks to be you. I don't have any money on me, so I will say it again. Can you move?" Dim snorted.

"Excuse me? Did you just try tell off one of the toughest, strongest colts in Ponyv-" Heavy Weight was cut off when Dim shoved him do the ground with a shoulder, and just walked off like it was normal. For him it was. In his old town there were many ponies like this that he had to deal with daily, so it became more of a routine for him or maybe even part of his life.
All the other ponies watching began laughing at Heavyweight as the new pony from nowhere just threw a very, very strong colt to dirt like common trash.

"I won't forget about this!" Heavy Weight shouted at Dim Shadow "I'll hurt you, and make you wish you were never born!"
"When I cry!" Dim Shadow yelled back. "When I cry..." he said softly under his breathe.
> One vs Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                            Special thanks to flutterbythebay for fantastically editing this chapter. 


"What did that little waste say?" asked Heavy Weight as Dim Shadow walked off.

"I think he said something like, ‘When I cry’." said one of the colts next to him. Heavy Weight laughed ominously.

"What’s so funny Heavy Weight?" asked another colt.

"I'm taking that, as a challenge." Heavy Weight said in the most satisfied voice anypony could ever imagine.    
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"Can’t I live anywhere where this doesn't happen to me?" Dim Shadow asked himself as he walked away from the park. He looked behind his back to see if anyone was following him. "Hopefully not." he said that because he loved the feeling he got after belittling ponies that deserved it. It was his own drug of satisfaction and pride.
Okay where to go next? he thought to himself. Let’s see, it's a Tuesday, in summer, at twelve in the afternoon. Well that means just about everywhere will be filled with ponies. May as well check out the other parks, He thought. He decided to do just that and check out each park. They all seemed to be about 30 minutes away from each other, he didn't mind the traveling. And Dim Shadow reminded himself to try to make a mental map of the town as he made his progress.
Just like he had expected, every park was filled with ponies. An idea flashed through his mind as he looked at the busy playground in front of him. The park at the school! Ponies might not go there since it's at school, and no pony wants to be near a school during the summer, right?
Dim made his way to the schoolyard park, peacefully, and with no distractions other than the new buildings that were currently being constructed. He finally made his way to the red school house. As he walked up the hill he heard a noise. It wasn't the birds singing or the leafs rustling in their trees. No, it was something different. It was a loud crying. He could also detect the faint, sickening, sound of laughter. Curious, Dim went to check on what was happening.

"You're such a failure!" said Diamond Tiara in a mocking tone.

"Yeah, you're the worst out of the three of your stupid friends!" Silver Spoon sneered. She too spoke in that mocking tone that Dim Shadow so deeply despised.

"A unicorn that can't even use her magic? What a pathetic little waste of pony flesh!" rasped a colt.

"Pl . . . pl . . . please stop! I'm so sorry," Sweetie said whimpering and crying. "I didn't even do anything, please stop!"
Dim Shadow, upon hearing this, couldn't hold it back. He instantly ran to the other side of the building, enraged. This happened to ponies at his old town, but very rarely. When it did, he would get violent if he needed to. He didn't tolerate this kind of abuse to others, at all, what so ever. "This is going to be fun!" he said. He stepped between the four and yelled “I seriously recommend you three just stop talking right now, before I do something we will all regret!"

They all burst out into fierce fits of laughter.

"What are going to do about it? Who are you even?" Diamond Tiara spoke first.

"Who I am doesn't matter at the moment. What does matter is why you three are bullying this poor filly. It doesn't seem like she did anything." Dim said in a deadly serious voice.

"Oh, but she did!" exclaimed Silver Spoon, "She decided to show her ugly blank flank around town!"

"Who gives a flying feather if she doesn't have a cutie mark?! She's just as good as you three, wait no, I take that back because that's just an insult. Now, like I said, I recommend you three walk away and never bother her again."

"Excuse me?!" burst Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon at the same time. "You can't talk to us like that!"

"I'll get my buddies down by the park at the edge of town to mess you up!" the other colt generically said.

"Them? From what I saw, they don't seem like a force to be reckon with. Some big, orange, idiot tried blocking my way out and I simply shoved him aside with no hassle. But that doesn't matter at the moment. What really matters is that you three leave here and do something else." Dim Shadow retorted.

"Wait... I think he's talking about Heavyweight!" said Diamond Tiara in a shocked voice.

"Yeah, he mentioned his name. Now get out of here!" Dim said very firmly.

"Or what?" challenged the colt.

"I will use force or whatever I have to do to make you leave.” Dim warned the colt coldly. He shifted his gaze to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “'ll guess you two will dash when its clear he can't do anything."

"I'd take you down in a second!" said the colt with a grin.

"Fine, go ahead; punch me as hard as you can. I won't do a thing."  Dim said in a smug voice, he puffed out his chest just to show that he meant it.

"Okay, if you insist. By the way, my name's Rider, and I'm the top in my class for boxing." And with that, Rider forced all his strength into one punch filled with anger and pride, and swung with his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't believe them. All his medals and trophies seemed worthless for the time being. Dim Shadow was standing there, in the same place. He had not moved at all. Rider then ran off in hurry thinking that Dim Shadow would punch back.

That hurt like tartarus, but don't show that it did. Dim thought to himself, biting his lip to distract himself.

"You'll wish that never happened! I . . . I'll get ponies to make you regret coming here!" said Diamond Tiara in an uncomfortable voice.

"When I cry." said Dim. He took one step forward and the other two ran off. He and the injured filly were alone.

"Okay, let me help you up. What's your name?" Dim Shadow asked as he turned to hoist the delicate stranger off the ground.

"Sweetie Belle and th-" She cut off when she looked into his bright eyes. As the two stared at each other, a spark ignited. Dim Shadow knew that Sweetie Belle had sensed it too.
> Making Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                              Thanks to M-Hard for editing.

"I'm Sweetie Belle, and thanks a lot!" Sweetie Belle hugged him and was very happy and thankful for what had just happened to her. No pony she knew would ever think of doing that. "That's the first time anypony has ever stood up to them like that." She had a smile on her face and tear running down her cheek. Not from what just happened, no, but rather from the amazing deed this new colt that she had never even heard of or seen just did. It was something even her closest of friends would never do. She knew this was her love and not just because of what he did. "Oh and uh, who are you?"

"Well, uh, my name's Dim Shadow and you're welcome Sweetie Belle," Dim said, "Just doing my job."

"Your job?" Sweetie Belle said in confused manor.

"Kinda, that's what this is for," Dim said as he looked at his cutie mark with a satisfied grin. "Oh and if you're wondering why you haven't seen me around, it's because I just moved here, like, a few hours ago."

"Well again, thank you. Maybe I could show you around and you could meet some of my friends?"

Dim thought about it and he thought it was a good idea for a few reasons. One, if he left, those three could come running back and the whole situation could get really violent. Two, he needed to know the area, and who better to show him than somepony who already knows it. And finally three, he wanted to find out what that spark meant when he looked into her eyes, he knew it wasn't that surge of pride and happiness he normally felt after he took people down like that. No, it was something else.

"Sure, a tour of the place doesn't sound bad, and all I've made so far are definitely enemies so making some good friends is a good idea."

"You have made a friend through me!" Sweetie Belle said happily jumping.

"Yeah, I suppose so," he chuckled. "Now how about that tour?"

"Sure, lets start. Well, this is the school," Sweetie Belle said with an awkward smile.

They began walking down the hill back into town, Dim looked behind them to make sure those others weren't following them. That was a problem where he used to live.

"All of the roads link so this won't be hard to remember," Sweetie Belle said calmly.

"Okay, so about back there, what exactly happened?" asked Dim Shadow.

Sweetie Belle took a deep sigh and said, "That was Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Rider. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's parents are really rich so they think they can push everypony around. Especially us because we're blank flanks, it makes us so mad!" Sweetie Belle yelled in frustration."They do it all the time too. Rider's just there because I think he's Diamond's colt-friend or something." Sweetie Belle groaned kicking the dirt.

"You said us. Who's us?" Dim heard that Sweetie said us, he hated it even more when it was a group of ponies, because usually when it was a group of ponies they all had something in common.

"Me, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. We call ourselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and we experiment different things to try and find our special hidden talents. But none of us have found it yet..." she sighed. "Anyway what did you mean when you said ‘When I Cry?’ "

"Oh that," Dim smiled and blushed, he was a little embarrassed when she asked that. No pony really took the time to ask him the meaning of that little saying he made. "Well, you know how they say ‘When pigs fly?’ It means pretty much that, it will never happen. I'm a little full of myself when it comes to that stuff."

"Wow, so you never cry?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Not since I was a baby, but since then, not a single tear has been shed by me. Well, not counting crying from laughter, you know what I mean." Dim explained.

"Okay, and that's Carousel Boutique. Me and my sister Rarity live there. Maybe I could introduce you to her after?" Sweetie said, hoping that her sister could get the chance to meet her new crush.

"Sure, but later," said Dim. Dim thought to himself, This filly is a little too happy, this never happened to me before, even when I helped somepony in this type of situation.

They walked for another maybe ten minutes before they got to Apple Bloom's.

"Anyway, this is Sweet Apple Acres. My friend Apple Bloom lives here and the Cutie Mark Crusaders club house is just through the woods. I'll go see if they're there, can you wait here for a minute or two? Oh and if they're here the pegasus is Scootaloo and the earth pony is Apple Bloom."

"Okay, got it, and I don't mind, go ahead," Dim said. He was a little thankful he could get a few moments of silence to think. Wow, this filly really likes me, he thought. No pony helps her out I guess. She probably is just really happy I did that for her. I must admit though, she is kinda cute. Wait, could that feeling I felt be? No it couldn't be lo-  His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Sweetie Belle telling her friends about what happened back at the school.

"Then, they ran off after he got punched by Rider and didn't even move!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. Sweetie Belle approached Dim with her two other friends, a brownish orange Pegasus with a purple mane and a brightly colored Earth pony with a red mane and bow on her hair.

"No way! No pony can just ignore being hit by Rider! He's the head of the boxing team of the other school." Scootaloo said with excitement.

"But he did, I swear on Celestia's name," Sweetie Belle said reassuringly. "He's right over there, by the fence. "Hey!" Sweetie yelled as the other two fillies ran over to Dim. She had an upset frown when they ran to him.

"Is it true you shoved Heavy Weight?!" exclaimed Scootaloo with a smile.

"Did you really tell off Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon like that?" exclaimed Apple Bloom with an even bigger smile.

"And did you really shrug off a punch from Rider?" asked Scootaloo.

"Calm down, one at a time. Okay. One, yes and to the ground. Two, yes. Three, no because there was nothing to shrug off." 
The two other foals started to laugh at the third response. Sweetie Belle looked a little mad that her friends were getting all of Dim's attention. 

"I have my own question for you three, does that happen to you guys often?" he asked the C.M.C.

"Yeah," they all said in the same sad voice. "But we're the only one's there to help ourselves, and well, we ain't all that good at it," Apple Bloom said frowning.

"Well listen, consider me a friend, if that ever happens again find me and I'll help anyone of you, no matter who is up in your face. Don't even hesitate to yell my name."

"Got it," they all said simultaneously.

"Well, I have to get home now, it's getting late," he said looking at his wrist watch.

"Yeah I gotta go home too Rarity will start getting worried about me," Sweetie Belle said.

"Well in that case, can I walk you home Sweetie Belle?" asked Dim with a grin.

"YES!" Sweetie smiled and yelled as some magic flew from her horn. "I mean, uh yes." She was a little bit embarrassed about what just happened.

"Wait here a second I need to run ahead a bit to see something." Before she could answer he galloped off for a moment. Dim was a little paranoid that he was being followed and he had to make sure it was safe. He was paranoid because once when was walking home in the other town he last lived at, a pony snuck up behind him and hit him with a wrench that put him in the hospital for a week.

"Sweetie has a colt-friend, Sweetie has a colt-friend!" sang Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in the same voice.

"Do not!" Sweetie yelled but she wished that they were right.

"Whatever, see you later Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, bye." Apple Bloom said.
They saw Dim Shadow coming back from the walk way. "Okay Sweetie Belle come on," Dim said

"Coming," Sweetie said as she trotted off to Dim. "Why did you have to go ahead?"

"Uh, no reason. Anyway lets get a move on," Dim said.

"Maybe we can hang out tomorrow?" asked Sweetie. She finally built up the courage to ask. She really wanted to be with him as much as possible after this day.

"Sure, that can be worked out," Dim said as Sweetie smiled. "How about the school at maybe... 11:30 tomorrow. Does that work for you?"

Immediately Sweetie said, "Yep that's fine! Oh we're here at my house."

"Okay, very nice meeting you Sweetie Belle, you're a very nice filly, and I can't wait see you tomorrow." Dim said in a comforting tone.

"Oh- okay bye Dim Shadow." Sweetie Belle said in a baffled voice.

"Bye." With that, Dim trotted off.

When Sweetie entered her home and shut the door she said rather loudly "I'm going to see him tomorrow and not only that, he said he can't wait!" In a squeaky voice.

"Who can't you wait to see tomorrow, dear?" said Rarity.
> Vengeance is in Order 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Rider ran off in into the distance, "Rider!" he heard Diamond and Silver yell. "Wait up!" Rider stopped running but he wished he didn't, he thought that other colt would be following him, but he was luckily wrong. 

"What the heck was that?!" shouted Diamond Tiara, she knew Rider as the tough pony that could make anypony go on their knees and start to cry rivers and as a pony that no-pony would even think of touching let alone giving him the option to punch them. All three of them were still in dis-belief about what just happened back at the yard. They stopped running and crouched behind a bush. They shared flabbergasted looks.

"What happened to big strong Rider that won the Ponyville youth boxing championship?" asked Diamond Tiara annoyed.

"He's still here, but, but that guy. He's tough. I hate to say it, but that was a strong punch. He didn't even bleed." Rider was dumbfounded remembering it. "Listen, lets get to the park and find Heavy Wight and we'll make a plan to take the little twit pay for that. We were just havin a little having fun." he said with a chuckle. 

As they made there way to the park by the edge of town they were talking about how they would pay Dim Shadow back for embrassing them like that . They were very serious with this, no pony talks to them like that or puts their filthy hooves on them. "I'll kick him so hard that his heart will stop for a few seconds." Diamond said with a swagger. 

"Yeah, well I'll knock every tooth out of his stupid mouth." Rider said also with a swagger.

"Well I'll smash his head in with a brick!" Silver said a little evilly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa take it easy Silver, we don't want to kill him. Take it easy." Rider said with haste.

"Sorry, I got a little too into it." Silver said with a little grin.

Before they knew it, they were at the park. "Yeah... okay we're here let's try to find Heavy Weight, I hope he's still here." said Rider, he really wanted to talk to Heavy Weight about Dim and to really make sure that he actually shoved him to ground, which he personally didn't believe happened. They yelled his name a few times before they got a response soon after.

"What is it? Heavy Weight replied, turning away from a friend he was talking to.

"Good you're here. Anyway, there was this kid a few minutes ago, he's new had a black coat-" Rider was cut off by Heavy Weight.

"Light blue mane, stupid lookin' cutie mark, a little too brave?" 

"Yeah, that's the-" Rider, again, was cut off by Heavy Weight.

"So I guess he did somethin' to you guys?" said Heavy Weight knowingly.

"Yeah, how did you know?" asked Rider.

"Why else would you be here asking for a pony that I probably only have met so far?" replied Heavy Weight.

"Good, point what did he do to you?" He asked

"All he did was push me a bit an-" he was interrupted by Rider.

"He said he shoved you to the ground..." said Rider with a little grin.

"Well, yeah, I still want to get him back though after that. Nopony can just do that to me." Heavy Weight huffed in a rather pissed off fashion. "So did he do you guys?"

"I don't want to talk about it-" Rider was rudely interrupted by Diamond Tiara.

"That pony took a direct punch to face from Rider, and didn't even budge." she said to Heavy Weight.

Heavy Weight's jaw dropped. "I don't believe that, nope, not for a second." he was in complete denial, Rider was just as tough and strong as Heavy Weight if not stronger. "Funny joke D.T."

"Well... believe it." Rider said ashamed with a sigh. "The really weird thing about it is, well, does that colt look like he even has muscles? He doesn't look strong in any way, shape, or form. Am I loosing my touch?" Rider asked, worried.

"You're not loosing your touch, Rider I can asure you that, but what I do know is that we need to teach this, uh, what was his name again? Uh, Dim Shadow I think it was? Anyway, we need to teach this Dim Shadow to not mess with you, me, or them." Heavy Weight in a confident tone..

"How do you propose to do that?" asked Silver Spoon. "Do we have to hurt him, because that looks like the only way to do anything to him. Oh! That reminds he said something to us it was something like 'When I Cry'. I don't know about you ponies, but I want to take that as a personal challenge."

"He said that to me too, and I took that as a also took that as a little challenge. Great minds think a like I suppose." Heavy Weight winked.

"Well we'll also take that challenge," said Rider, also speaking for Diamond Tiara. "If that's okay with you foals." he teased. 

"Oh it's plenty fine after what he said to us." Diamond Tiara replied, Silver Spoon nodded in agreement.

"So, do we know anything about him?" asked Diamond Tiara.

"No," they all answered at once. "One of us should follow him to see if can figure out what he's like."

"I think it should be one of the girls." Rider offered.

"Wait! Why one of us?" They both yelled at the same time.

"Because if one of us goes and he catches us, he could hurt us, I don't think he would hit a girl." Rider said.

"What are you chicken that the new guy will take you down?" mocked Diamond Tiara.

"Hey, I ain't no chicken! Fine, I'll do it!" exclaimed Rider, not allowing himself to get belittled anymore today. But tomorrow, he could be anywhere by now and I don't feel like looking for him, probably sometime in the morning."

"Whatever, just find out a few things about him."

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go home now. I'll need the energy for playing spy." said Rider.

"See you later then,"  Diamond Tiara said.

"Yeah, bye." Heavy Weight and Silver Spoon said as Rider left the park.
> Truth Be Told
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                    Thanks to M-Hard for editing this chapter.


"Um, no pony," Sweetie Belle said, I should have waited till I got to my room, to celebrate. Sweetie Belle thought.

"What do you mean no pony?" Rarity said. "Sweetie Belle you're not moving from that spot until you tell me who you're talking about dear."

There's no use in hiding him from her, Sweetie thought to herself. "Fine but listen, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were-" 
Sweetie Belle was cut off by Rarity the moment she mentioned those names.

"Those two ruffians?! I have every right to contact their parents right now!" Rarity was mad. Last time an incident between Sweetie Belle and those two happened happened Cheerilee was NEEDED to separate the three. They were about to be at 
each other's throats.

"No, wait, you didn't let me finish, anyway a new colt that moved into town saved me from them. He stepped between them and did some things that no one I know would even think of doing." Sweetie Belle said, she was a little bit uncomfortable talking about this to another pony, even her own sister. She felt kinda weak talking about it. So she told the whole story about how he jumped in, told them off, and took a punch to the to face from Rider. "Then I asked if we could hangout tomorrow, and he said yes!" Sweetie Belle said.

"I'm not sure Sweetie Belle, he sounds like a very kind colt, but he also seems like he has trouble following him. He might get you hurt." Rarity said, she was concerned for a very specific reason. "Listen, this same thing happened when I was a little older than you. Ponies thought they could get to him,emotionally, by hurting me, I fought them off, but you Sweetie Belle, if something like that happened to you, well, Sweetie you can't fight. You're not toughest filly I've seen. No offense though."

"Hey! Who's to say that I can't handle myself in that kind of situation!? Also, not even the meanest ponies from around here would do that. They may be really mean, but they're not like that." Sweetie huffed.

"You would be surprised what some ponies are willing to do get something Sweetie Belle. Listen, I don't want to be the mean, over-protective sister so, I'll give him a chance, but you two have to have your little play-date here." 

Perfect! Nothing to distracted us and we'll be alone. Flawless. Sweetie Belle thought. "Fine, we agreed to meet at 11:30, is that okay with you Rarity?"

"It's fine dear." Rarity walked off

And with that, Sweetie Belle went up to write in her diary about her day and a few other things. She wrote the following:
 "Today I met the nicest, kindest, toughest pony ever! His name is Dim Shadow. Today, I was getting picked on by Diamond, Silver, and Rider when he just jumped in and defended me until they ran off. And wanna know why they ran off, because he took a punch in the face from Rider, the minor boxing champ of Ponyville! I love him, and I just met him today. I know I love him, not just because of what he did. And guess what! He said he would hang out with me tomorrow! But Rarity found out when I came in all happy and said that we would be seeing each other tomorrow so she made me tell her about him. She said that if I hang around him, I could get hurt, but I don't think that would happen, he would defend me against all the fillies in Ponyville I bet. But the best part is, Rarity said we had to stay here and "play". But does he love me back? I don't know, I read a book about body language in school one day when I was bored, so I'll use what I can remember from that tomorrow. I've never felt this way about another pony. I mean, I've told my parents and Rarity that I love them, but this is different. I'll let you know how our "play-date" goes tomorrow."                                  
*************************
Well that was quite a first day, he thought to himself I made a point to those colt's that I don't take crap from any pony, took a punch that almost made me bleed, and that unicorn Sweetie Belle. What was it about her that was so interesting? What was it that I was thinking earlier? That I like her? No way... well, maybe. That wasn't the feeling of satisfaction when I looked into her pretty eyes earlier. No, it was, uh, what was it? All he could do was think about Sweetie Belle for the rest of the way home. "Maybe I do." He laughed to himself "Maybe I do, I'll sleep on it. I wonder if she likes me back though. Probably not, don't get your hopes up Dim." And with that Dim went into his house and wrote in his own little journal. He wrote the following:

"Today was quite the day, I made a point I don't take nothing from any-pony and that you don't bully anyone while I'm around. But there was underlining thing from my day, and it wasn't getting socked in the face by some brute. There was this unicorn named Sweetie Belle. There's something about her that is different from the other foals I've met, she was grateful, funny, and very cute. I'm gonna hang out with her tomorrow. I'm not sure whether or not I like her yet. You know what? To the moon with it. I like this filly more than any pony I have met in my entire life. I can't wait to see her tomorrow. I hope we talk all day and no pony bothers us. Dear Celestia did I really just write that? Whatever, it's not like anypony is gonna see or read this right?"
> Just One Page
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dim woke up with his journal over his face, he threw it off of him and it flew across the room. He looked at his watch, it read "10:47 A.M".  he thought to himself "I have my time with Sweetie Belle in like an hour, I better get ready." and with that he jumped into the shower, brushed his teeth, and ate breakfast. As did Sweetie Belle but, she literally jumped into the shower. Both of them anxiously waiting until the clock hit 11:30 A.M.

"Sweetie Belle, calm down," Rarity chuckled to herself.

"I can't help it!" she shrieked in happiness. "I told you about him, you should be just as happy."

"Sweetie, I've never met him before, and he's your age," Rarity said smiling.

"Yeah well-" The clock hit 11:30 and Sweetie Belle bolted out the door without another word.

"Wow, this colt must be really... special." Rarity said then walked off to work on her dresses.

When the clock hit 11:30 Dim put a few things in his saddle bag, he threw in about 20 bits, a hat, and his journal, he never left his journal anywhere except with him. He also ran out the door but a lot slower, he took his time. As he made his way through the town to the school he thought about the how the day would go. Well, we should probably get to know eachother a little better, first off. Maybe- When he finally got in view of the park he saw the most rage engaging thing he could think of. He saw Sweetie Belle, but not just Sweetie Belle he saw Heavy Weight and Rider walking up to her and Rider had clearly not looked happy. Dim Shadow was a little too far away.





Rider woke up and remembered what he had to do that day, play spy and get info about Dim, but he thought he needed help. Rider got up and after about two hours he headed out to Heavy Weight's place to ask if he would like to help. As he made his way there he thought about how this day was gonna go Seriously, I agreed to his? How stupid am I? First I have to find him, and even if he leaves his house how am I supposed to find him? And even if I do find him, what am I supposed to find out about him? It's not like he's gonna talk about his weaknesses and worst fears out loud. Hopefully Heavy Weight and I will decide to do something else after like an hour or less. This is so ridiculous. he thought. He finally got to his friend's house and knocked on the door and Heavy Weight answered. 

"What do you want, Rider?" he asked.

"Listen, I was hoping you could help me out with the info getting on Dim." Rider said.

"You know that I go to the gym with my dad every Sunday,right?" Heavy Weight asked.

"Can't you just blow off one day?" Rider pleaded.

"I guess," Heavy Weight let out a sigh "let me ask my Dad first, okay?" 

"Whatever," Rider replied "Oh, and if we don't find him you wanna go to the ring?"

"Sure." Heavy Weight ran off to find his Dad and ask if he could hang out with him instead of go to the gym, his Dad said yes and they started walking off into town.

"So, where do you think we should look first?" Rider asked.

"Well, that kid looked pretty emo so probably behind some building no one what's to be around." Heavy Weight answered.

Rider laughed at that remark and said "Yeah you're right, where would no pony want to be?"

They thought for a second and both said "School".

"Hey would you mind if we jog? I'm tired of walking." asked Rider .

"Sure," Heavy Weight approved. "Lets get going, it's not far from here." And then they jogged off to the school. As they made their way there they talked about what they would do if they found Dim, Heavy Weight recommended just following him around, Rider recommended just beating the living hell out of him to get the information but Heavy Weight  pointed out the many flaws in that plan. They agreed to do what ever came natural at the moment. They finally made it to the school and noticed Sweetie Belle.

"That girl, she's what what got me into this mess with that kid, I oughta' teach her a lesson!" Rider said enraged.

"Rider, Rider calm down man, she didn't do nothin'," Heavy Weight said, trying to defend her. "Whatever, just don't do anything stupid now." 

"Whatever! Just give me second!" Rider was furious, he hated what happened yesterday, he felt weak when that punch did nothing to Dim Shadow and he felt Sweetie Belle was the reason, he had no reason why, he just thought that she was. "Hey!" he shouted.





"Hey!" he heard Rider shout.

No! if she gets hurt it's my fault! he thought to himself. He immediately tripled his speed to run to Sweetie Belle to stop the other two colts. He was there in a about 20 seconds. 

Dim leaped between Sweetie Belle, who had just now noticed the on coming colts, and the two approching. "Déjà vu ain't it!?" Dim Shadow yelled. "Get out Sweetie Belle." he sternly told Sweetie and with that she ran off to the front of thd school to avoid the soon quarel.

Rider has reached a good distance so that he could still talk to Dim Shadow and still have time to react if Dim were to lunge at him. "Calm down, I don't want to hurt anyone. I want to make nice." Rider had to make up a lie he knew.

"What?" Heavy Weight said under his breath with a disgruntled look on his face .

"Yeah right, and how I supposed to believe that since you were going towards her, you didn't look like you were in the best of moods a few moments ago." Dim asked.

"We were looking for you. Like I said, we wanna be fri-" Rider was cut off by Dim Shadow.

"I want nothing to do with either of you, now, GET LOST!" Dim walked off, not staying to see if the two left or not. He went to the other side of the school to find where Sweetie Belle went, turning his back on the other two colts. Rider walked forward to Dim and tried to raise a hoof but Heavy Weight pit his one of his front legs in front of him and shook his head.

"Not yet," he whispered. "You're gonna wish you made up with us!" Heavy Weight  yelled. Dim just rolled his eyes and Rider and Heavy Weight walked off. Rider waited for Heavy Weight to say something but he never did until they were out of sight.

"Sweetie Belle it's okay now, come out if you're still here." Dim said softly and Sweetie Belle came out of a near by bush in the front of the school.

"Thanks again I guess." she said with a sheepish smile.

"No problem, so what do you want to do?" he asked Sweetie.

"Well, actually I told my sister about you and she said something like that trouble follows you. So, if we hang out, she said we have to stay at my house, sorry.

"No, no that's fine, let's get going." Dim said. This is awesome, not only am I spending the day with her, it's at her house! Could this get any better? he thought to himself.

"So, how are you today?" Sweetie Belle asked, trying to start a conversation.

"I'm good, you?" Dim answered.

"Great." Sweetie answered. "So what happened back there with you and those two?" asked sweetie Belle.

"They wanted to be my "friends" by I didn't believe them for second. I"m pretty sure Rider wanted payback, that's why he was walking to you and he made up that excuse at the last second in my opinion." Dim said.

"Oh, well how do you know they were lying?" asked Sweetie Belle. 

"I just don't believe they would do that, it's not likely. Then Heavy Weight said I'd regret that I didn't make up with them just like how he said I'd regret knocking him over yesterday and how Rider said I'd regret not getting hurt by his punch, if that last one even makes any sense."

"Do you think they are going to make you regret that stuff?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"They can do what ever they're gonna do, but I won't regret anything, no matter what they do."' said Dim.

"No matter what they do?" Sweetie asked.

"No matter what they do." replied Dim. They arrived at Carousel Boutique and Sweetie Belle opened the door which hit the bell, causing it to ring.

"Rarity we're here!" Sweetie Belle yelled. Dim dropped his saddle bag by the door.

"Hello dear, and hello Dim Shadow, I think was your name, yes. Oh, Sweetie Belle could you do me a quick favor, could you put a few shirts out to dry please?" Rarity asked

"But Rarity!" Sweetie yelled.

"Sweetie do it, I have to have a little talk with your friend anyway." She gave Sweetie the "Do it" face and she went off.

"Don't embarrass me." Sweetie Belle said under her breath. She then left the room to take the shirt's out and hang them.

"Okay Dim Shadow, first thank you for helping my sister with those ruffians yesterday before anything major happened that would endanger her." Rarity said thanking Dim.

"No problem, miss..." Dim said, not knowing her name.

"Rarity". she said

"No problem, Miss Rarity."

"But I know what it's like to be around some pony like you, trouble follows you and by trouble I mean bad ponies." Rarity said.

"That's true and you're smart for knowing that Rarity, not many ponies do." Dim Shadow replied.

"Thank you Dim, but what I'm trying to say is that if Sweetie gets hurt, and it's because of you, I'll have your head on a pike, metaphorically speaking of course." Rarity said that last part in an very serious tone.

"Hehehe, nice one." Dim Shadow commented.

"I'm dead serious dear." Rarity made sure that she was clear.

"I understand, I'd say the same thing if I were in your hooves, nothing will happen to Sweetie Belle because of me, I swear on my life." Dim Shadow said, making sure Rarity would be okay with Sweetie Belle hanging around him. Then Sweetie Belle returned from hanging the shirts outside.

"Okay Rarity I finished." Sweetie said.

"I'm also done talking your friend here also." Rarity replied 

"Okay then, come on Dim, my room is around the corner." Sweetie Belle said.

"Okay then." Dim picked up his saddle bag and put it on a small stand by what looked like a scroll and walked with Sweetie Belle to her room. "So what are we gonna do Sweetie Belle?" Dim asked, he was more of an out door pony so he wasn't sure what there was to do inside.

"Don't worry I have a few things planned for us to do. I wrote them down" Sweetie replied, excited to do the things she planned, they got to her room and sat down. (If you made a sex joke here you should feel ashamed of yourself and you are a terrible person. If you did make a sex joke go clean yourself in the waterfall of forgiveness.)

"Okay, so what exactly do you have planned to do first?" Dim asked.

"Uh, wait here I think the paper is out the on the table." And with that Sweetie Belle went out to get the paper on the table. When she got to the table she noticed Dim's saddle bag and was a little curious. "I shouldn't ... but I am, he won't notice" she thought to herself. As she went through his saddle bag she notice three things a hat, a few bits, and a book. Curious, she looked at the book cover and in fancy letters it read "Journal". She put it back immediately, "No I can't look at even a page of this! It would be invading his privacy and he wouldn't look in my diary. Well, maybe one page wouldn't hurt.. I wonder what he wrote about yesterday. Yeah, just one page." she thought. She flipped to the page he wrote about yesterday which she assumed was the one most recently and she was right. She flipped it open and started to read and hearts replaced all color in her eyes .

"Sweetie Belle! Do you need help?" Dim yelled.

Sweetie Belle nearly had a heart attack "NO! I'll find it, j- just stay in there!." she yelled back.

"Okay then." he replied. But then, Dim start looking around Sweetie's room and noticed something sticking out of Sweetie Belle's pillow case and he decided to see what it was. He saw that it was a book, "I guess it's her diary... I probably shouldn't look in it," he looked away for a second "but I will, just one page, the one about yesterday. And if she didn't write anything about it I'll close it immediately, I swear on Celestia's name." So he flipped to the most recent page and began to read and hearts replaced all color in his eyes.
> Writing on the Page
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Dim Shadow finished reading he decided to do something really, really risky. He decided that this would either destroy his chance's with Sweetie Belle  or ensure the one chance. He decided to draw a heart and next to that write the following "Sweetie I feel the same way about you. By the way I only read this page." Then write his initials D.S (If you made a Nintendo joke go into the waterfall of forgiveness.)  Sweetie Belle had also decided to write something she too decided that it would either make or brake her chances with Dim Shadow. What she did was she drew a smiley and only wrote "me too" next to it, but then the second worst possible thing that could happen, happened.

"Sweetie Belle, what are you doing?" Rarity asked. Sweetie Belle froze with fear.

"Nothing!" She turned to Rarity and quickly put the journal under the saddle bag. But that didn't fool Rarity, she shoved  Sweetie Belle aside, looked under the saddle bag and saw that it was a journal... and that Sweetie Belle wrote in it.

"Sweetie Belle you know better than to look in other people's journal's let alone write in them!" Rarity yelled so loud that it could be heard all throughout the boutique. It was heard all through out the boutique.

"Shhhhh! He might hear you." Sweetie Belle whisper shouted. (you know what I mean.)  

"He has every right to know what you did Sweetie Belle, I'm going to tell him." Rarity started to walk off ro her sister's room.

"No you can't, you don't understand Rarity please, no!" Sweetie cried.

"And what don't I understand dear!?" Rarity demanded.

"Well there's no use in hiding it from you sis," Sweetie sighed "He really likes me and I REALLY like him, but I'm telling him by writing that, please don't tell him Rarity, please." Sweetie Belle pleaded, she wanted him to find about her love through the journal not through being ratted out by her sister.

Rarity thought for moment, "I understand Sweetie, just don't do this again. I apologize." Rarity said and went off with her business. "Also, let me know how it goes between you two, I do love these stories."  And with that she went off.

"I bet he heard her yell, there's no way he didn't." she said with a frown and began to walk slowly to back to her room with her head down, she picked up the paper with the things to do. But assuming that Dim would be mad at her she cast a small incineration spell on it, one of the very few she knew, and the paper was reduced to ash. Hearing Sweetie Belle slowly walking back to her room Dim put the pencil and diary back under the pillow. "I guess you heard what happened back there." Sweetie Belle sighed 

"What happened, I got lost in my thoughts and it blocks out all sound. What happened?" asked Dim.

"Really? I mean nothing, nothing at all. Anyways, I couldn't find the list, so, what do you want to do?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't know, what do you wanna do?" Dim asked.

"I don't know, what do you wanna do?" Sweetie replied. They went back and forth with that question five times before they started laughing. (If you made a Sponge Bob reference, yeah, you know where I'm going with this, waterfall of forgiveness.)

"Um, how about we get ice cream at Sugar Cube Corner? I'll ask Rarity." Sweetie said. Since she just told Rarity about, well the hopefully to-be relationship, hopefully she would let them go out and get ice cream. 

"Wait, but didn't she specifically say we had to stay here?" Dim asked.

"I'll try and convince her," Sweetie said with a smile then walked off.

"Rarity," Sweetie Belle called "are you there?"

"What is it , did you tell Dim about-" Rarity got cut off by Sweetie Belle, she didn't want that situation to be talked or brought up again until she said so.

"No, but I was wondering if we could uh," she chuckled "get ice cream."

"Us? Now?" Rarity was confused.

"What, no! I meant Dim and I." Sweetie Belle said.

"Sweetie Belle, I specifically said you two have to stay here." Rarity said firmly.

"Please Rarity, please." Sweetie begged. Rarity thought for a moment.

"Fine, but only ice cream and only Sugar Cube Corner. Then immediately back here. Got it?" Rarity replied, she still thought that Dim had trouble right behind him.

"Thanks!" Sweetie Belle said then ran out of the room and went back down stairs to tell Dim Shadow that they had permission to go to Sugar Cube Corner. "Dim, Rarity said it's all right. We can go."

"Okay, I brought some bits with me, I'll pay." Dim said. "Great let's go." Dim said happily, walking out of the room and grabbing his saddle bag. "So how far is Sugar Cube from here anyway?" he asked.

"Not far." Sweetie replied and with that they went out the door and headed for Sugar Cube Corner.

"Sweetie Belle, when you first came back from the room, you said that you guessed I heard something. What was it, don't lie." Dim said with a little smile.

"Oh, um, you'll find out later today, trust me." she said with a grin and blushed.

"Okay then, how will I?" Dim asked, he was a little puzzled.

"It's a surprise," she kept smiling "trust me, you'll find it and you'll love it."

"Sweetie Belle... are you flirting with me?" Dim said with a smile. Sweetie Belle froze in place and her eyes widened.

"N-n-n- no. Not at all." she stuttered. 

"Calm down I was joking." Dim lied, he didn't want to make Sweetie Belle feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I knew that." Sweetie said with a small grin and fake laugh. "We're almost at Sugar Cube Corner, uh, what are you gonna get?"

"I don't know what they have so I'll probably decide when we get there." Dim replied.

"Okay then." Sweetie said, they turned a corner and arrived at Sugar Cube Corner.

*************

"I'm so bored." Silver Spoon said in an annoyed tone.

"Well what do you wanna do?" Diamond Tiara asked, she didn't want to hear Silver Spoon's whining.

"I don't know, do you have any ideas?" Silver Spoon said, she really wanted to do something.

"Well, it's hot as the sun and the stupid pools are closed today. We can get some ice cream if you want." Diamond said, trying to stop the other filly's whining before it got too annoying.

"Like, at Sugar Cube?" Silver replied.

"Where else, everywhere else in Ponyville sucks and it's like right around the corner, literally," Diamond said "also that place is air conditioned so we'll be cool and not sweat like pigs out here."

"Okay then, how many bits do you have with you? I left my purse at home." Silver said.

"I have enough, I'll pay, just pay me back." Diamond Tiara said, she didn't mind lending money as long as she got it back.

"I will, don't worry about it." Silver Spoon said and they made their 47 second walk to Sugar Cube Corner.

"Oh, look who it is." Diamond said to Silver Spoon. "It's those two, ugh, why now?"

"Calm down Diamond, I have an idea just wait." Silver said with a smile. "I think I can help out with the making him cry thing, I just need to find out one thing."

"And what would that be?" Diamond asked.

"Just wait, you'll see." Silver replied said with a hellish grin.

********************
"I remember this place, you showed it to me yesterday." Dim remembered. They walked through the door and were met with a cool breeze. Dim observed the place an noticed a lot of baked goods like cakes and cupcakes. He turned to Sweetie Belle, "Sweetie Belle this place looks like a bakery, not an ice cream parlor."  When he turned he back forward, was face to face with a pink pony.

"We serve ice cream in the summer! Oh, I'm Pinkie Pie, who are you, I haven't seen you around, did you just move here?" Pinkie exclaimed. Dim nearly had a heart attack since he didn't see this pony anywhere in the building when they walked in.

"Calm down, one thing at a time." Dim said to Pinkie, which really didn't matter since it was Pinkie Pie. "I moved here  yesterday, my name is Dim Shadow, nice to meet you." Dim said really quickly.

"Okay then what can I get you, oh hi Sweetie Belle, I didn't see you there." Pinkie said in her hyper voice.

"Hi Pinkie, we're here get some ice cream." Sweetie Belle said happy to see Pinkie.

"Sure, what do you two want?" Pinkie asked.

"I"ll have a chocolate hay milkshake. Dim what do want?" She said.

"Uh, what do you have?" Dim asked. Pinkie named at least 45 different flavors in under 15 seconds.

"And we have those in milkshake, swirl, and combo." The pink pony said with a smile. Dim was dumbfounded at how fast she named all those different flavors and combinations in that short of a time. Did she rehearse that? He shook his head to snap back to reality.

"Uh, I'll have what she's having." he didn't understand anything she said so he just went with what Sweetie Belle had.

"Oki Doki Loki, coming right up." she galloped to the back room to make the milkshakes. She came back in a few minutes with the milkshakes. "Okay you two, here are your milkshakes but there's one thing, you have to drink them outside because I ran out of a few ingredients and the Cakes aren't here to watch the shop and now I have to go buy a few things." Pinkie Pie said. "Also, when you're done leave the cups on the table, they're store property."

"Okay Pinkie we'll do that." Sweetie said.

"Okay then." Pinkie said, and all three of them left the shop. Pinkie went down the road to the general market and Dim Shadow and Sweetie Belle sat down at a near by table.

"So..." Sweetie Belle said try to start a conversation with Dim. 

"So...what?" Dim asked.

Sweetie Belle thought of an idea. "Well, uh, me and the crusaders were going to go crusading tomorrow and uh there were some things we needed four ponies for that we really wanted to try and well, do you want to help us out?" she said blushing and not making eye contact.

"Sure, what did you have in mind?" Dim asked Sweetie Belle taking a sip of his milkshake; since he didn't know what those three did exactly when it came to their crusading.

"Well, we were gonna try, uh I don't remember, but we have a really long list of things that the three of us can't do alone. We keep it in case we get any new members." Sweetie Belle said then taking a sip her milkshake.

"Whatever I'll just go with the flow depending on what you three are doing." Dim said.

"Okay that sounds fair just be by Sweet Apple Acres around maybe 9:45 or so and-" Sweetie accidentally spilled her milkshake on herself, "darn it! I"ll be right back, I need to get this out before it makes my coat sticky. I'll be in the bathroom." Sweetie Belle said.

"Are you sure you should go inside? Pinkie told us to stay out here." Dim reminded her.

"I don't think she'll mind. She trusts me. Her and my sister are really good friends." she told Dim.

"Okay then." Dim said then Sweetie Belle went into the shop. Dim started to think to himself She's so- his thoughts were interrupted by somepony.

"Hey!" it was Silver Spoon. 

"You know, you have a lot of nerve thinking it's a good idea to talk to me after yesterday. You seriously do, what do you want?" Dim said in an angry tone.

"So, you like that blank flank Sweetie Belle don't you?" she said with a grin, circling him.

"What's it to you? It's none of your business to begin with." Dim said still pretty angry.

"Of course you do, you've only known her for a day and you're already getting ice cream together." Silver Spoon said, mocking him.

"You know, your coat and mane look really nice, looks pretty expensive to keep it that way." Dim said with a sarcastic smile.

"Uh, I only use top of the line so-" Silver Spoon stopped talking when Dim tossed most of his milkshake on her. "You-you- just, you know what!" Silver Spoon punched him in the face. He smiled and laughed and didn't move. "That's the last straw!" she shouted and walked off back to Diamond Tiara.

"Silver, did he really just do that?" Diamond said in an extremely surprised voice, eyes widened.

"It doesn't matter, I have an idea, it may sound crazy but listen." Silver said.

"Okay, what is it?" Diamond asked. Silver Spoon whispered in her ear what she was planning on doing. "WHOA! You would go through with that?!" Diamond couldn't believe what her friend just said she would do.

"Anything to see him shed a single tear. Anything at all." Silver Spoon said in an insane voice and they walked off. 

"I'm back-"' Sweetie noticed Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara walking away. But, more she noticed that Silver Spoon was covered in milkshake. "I left you alone for two minutes," she chuckled. "So, what happened?" she asked.

"That doesn't matter, but I think we shout probably get back to your place." Dim said in worried tone.

"You're right, Rarity might start getting a little suspicious." she said "Lets get going." it was a few minutes before either of them said anything. "Hey, what was it like back in your old town?" 

"Well, it wasn't the nicest area, but not that bad. But, it did have it's fair share of bullies, almost every day with different ponies. But each one that needed help, got help and each one that needed to be taught a lesson, got taught a lesson. I was respected by most ponies." Dim said with pride.

"Dim, did you ever have to fight another pony?" Sweetie was curious about Dim's life in his old town and how he dealt with other bullies.

"Only when I needed to but sometimes when it came down to that I would fight." Dim said.

"How do you decide when you have to fight somepony?" Sweetie asked.

"Usually they start to attack me but every once in a while they'll say something that makes me snap and go all out, but that rarely happens. You'd have to say something pretty bad to set me off." Dim said with a little chuckle 

"Like what?" Sweetie really wanted to know more about him.

"It depends, I can't say for sure but again it has to pretty bad." Dim reminded. "Well it looks like we're here." They opened the door and was immediately greeted by Rarity.

"And where were you two?" she asked in a stern voice.

"Sugar Cube Corner, why?" Sweetie asked, they weren't gone that long were they?

"For an hour?" Rarity asked.

"Oh, what happened was that we got milkshakes and the glasses were the bakery's so we couldn't leave and walk back with them." Dim said, he need Rarity's trust if he ever got into a relationship with Sweetie Belle.

"And if I ask my friend Pinkie, she'll say they same?" Rarity asked with a strange look on her face.

"She should." Dim replied.

"Okay then, sorry for the false accusations." Rarity apologized.

"It's fine, which reminds me, I need to quickly go get something from my house. I'll be back in a few minutes, okay Sweetie Belle." Dim said, honestly he didn't need to get anything, he just needed silence for a little while.

"Sure go ahead." she said just staring at him with a smile while he walked off.

"You really like him don't you Sweetie?" Rarity said in a charming voice.

"Yeah... when do you think he'll read what I wrote?" Sweetie asked Rarity.

"Probably some time later tonight. He might take the time to write a little something quick when he gets to his house." Rarity said with a smile. That gave Sweetie Belle the idea to write in her diary.

"Rarity, I'll be in my room." Sweetie Belle walked over to her room and got her diary from in her pillow case. She flipped to her last page she wrote on and noticed writing, but not her's. It said "Sweetie I feel the same way about you. By the way I only read this page." -D.S. At that moment, her heart stopped for a second and had the biggest smile she ever had. She then ran out of the room as fast as she could to try and catch up with Dim. She slammed the doors behind her and ran as fast she could. She ran for a little and finally saw Dim walking to his house, she gained speed and was right behind him. She tackled him to the ground, pinned him, and  began to kiss him uncontrollably over and over again. Dim didn't know what hit him. 
> Call it a Date
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dim couldn't move, and he didn't want to, he just let Sweetie Belle do what ever she wanted. Kiss after kiss made him happier and happier. He had never kissed a filly or gotten kissed by a filly before, and to him, it felt amazing. Her soft lips on his face and lips just made him more happy to be alive each time she made contact. Dim wanted to kiss her back but he was overcome by the force of Sweetie Belle keeping him down. He had no clue that a foal like her could be so strong. He just lied there in the soft grass as the foal kept kissing him. He had a smile on his face the whole time. Sweetie Belle finally stopped kissing him and hugged him uncontrollably, like a bear hug. "I've wanted to do that since I met you, Dim." and she gave him one more kiss and blushed. "I saw what you wrote in my diary, and if you feel the same way about me as much as I feel for you, you wouldn't mine that."

"I didn't mine at all, not one bit." Dim laughed with a heart warming smile.

"Neither did I." Sweetie Belle looked down blushing with a smile.

"I suppose this means... well, you know..." Dim said blushing.

"What, that I'm your filly-friend now? Of course it does silly!" Sweetie exclaimed with her voice cracking.

"Awesome, you know what, I don't need anything from my house anymore, lets head back to the boutique." Dim said, he didn't need silence, he wanted to be with Sweetie Belle until he had to go home for dinner.

"That's good." she said with a smile and that walked back to the boutique with their heads leaning on each other. "And when get back, I have an idea of what we can do."  (If you just made a sex joke, you know where to go, le Waterfall of Forgiveness, but there's a 20 minute wait. You people have dirty minds.)

"What would that be?" Dim asked.

"Rarity has a deck of cards that have different types questions on them that you ask other ponies. She uses them when she has dinner parties, they're super fun to answer. They can help us to get to know each other better." Sweetie said. 

"I know what you're talking about, I did that once at one my cousin's house." Dim replied.

"Great, we aren't far from the boutique." Sweetie Belle said and until they got back to the boutique they didn't say anything. When they opened the door they were once again, greeted by Rarity.

"Where did you just run off to Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked "And didn't you say you had to get something?" she said looking at Dim Shadow.

"I'll tell you later Rarity, Dim wait in my room." Sweetie Belle said, then Dim walked to Sweetie's room."Oh, where are those cards that have questions on them? You use them at dinner parties sometimes."

"The conversation starters? Why?" Rarity asked, Sweetie never seemed to show intrest in those before.

"Dim and I want to use them."

"They're in the cabinet by the table dear. Now again, what just happened." Rarity demanded.

"Well, uh, Rarity how old were you when you had your first colt-friend?" she said looking away with a small snicker and blush.

"I'll get the cards for you dear." Rarity walked off with a smile, then Sweetie Belle walked off to her room. Rarity didn't have a colt friend until she was 5 years older than Sweetie Belle, honestly she was a little jealous. Although, this also made her more concerned for Sweetie Belle, but she was willing to give Dim Shadow a chance. She wasn't the pony who assumed somepony would definitely be trouble unless she knew that they were bad news. She also thought that Dim could defend her if it came to fighting, which she knew was highly unlikely. 

"Rarity's getting the cards Dim," Sweetie said, "can you please open the window Dim? It's really hot."

"Sure." Dim said, opening the window

"Thanks." Sweetie Belle said. Rarity entered the room with the cards in her mouth.

"Here you two go, don't lose any of them."

"Okay, first question," Sweetie drew a card then burst out in laughter.

"What's so funny?" Dim asked.

"Okay, it says "What was your first kiss like and when did it happen?"." Sweetie Belle laughed.

"Well.." Dim said and Sweetie laughed. "I was pinned down on the grass by this really pretty filly and it happened about 12 minutes ago." Sweetie Belle chuckled and blushed. "Okay my turn," Dim drew a card. (Yes, Monster Reborn! Just what he needed to defeat Sweetie Kiba!) "Okay, it says "What's the craziest thing you and you're best friend have ever done?"

"Well, one day when we were thinking of ideas for crusading, we thought that it was a good idea to see if our hidden talent was being ninjas. We tried to scale Apple Jack's barn and Scootaloo broke her wing. We, we aren't ninjas." Dim burst out laughing. "Okay my turn." Sweetie picked up one of the cards (Blue Eyes White Dragon) they went on and on reading and answering each card until they were all answered, "Well, that was fun. So what do you wanna do now?" Sweetie asked. Dim looked at his watch and noticed the time.

"Anything you want but I have to be home in 45 minutes for dinner, my Mom hates it when I'm not home on time."

"Okay how about we, uh, let me think... how about we... do you have any ideas?" she asked Dim.

"Ummm, how about we-" Dim was cut off by an excited Sweetie Belle.

"How about we think of a new design for the Cutie Mark Crusaders cape!" (or what ever the hell it's called) said Sweetie.

"Well what's the current design?" he asked Sweetie Belle.

"Let me get it." Sweetie said, then walked over to her closet and pulled down the sash from the top shelve. Dim looked at it and agreed in his head that they needed a new design, he thought it was too bland in his opinion. "I'll get paper and pencils." Sweetie walked off to Rarity's room to ask for the things they needed.

"Rarity," Sweetie knocked on the door then tried to open it but it was locked.

"Hang on a moment Sweetie Belle," she heard the drawer over Rarity's bed open, the drawer she was never allowed to go into then Rarity unlocked the door "what do you want darling?" Rarity asked.

"I just need some paper and pencils, can I borrow some please?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Sure, allow me to get them."  Rarity said then going into a lower drawer on the left side of her room pulled out 3 pencils and 10 papers. "Here you go dear, and can you please not come back up here unless it's urgent, I'm working on a really important dress that requires much concentration."

"Okay Rarity." Sweetie Belle said then walked back down stairs. "Dim, I'm back with the paper." she said before entering the room.

"Okay then, while you were gone I thought of an amazing idea. Can I see a paper and pencil please?" Dim said.

"Sure, here." Sweetie handed Dim a paper and pencil.

"You'll love it," Dim said and in a flash of cartoon pencil ash the design appeared. It was what looked liked Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle hoof-bumping each other and on their flanks were question marks and under that it said C.M.C."

"Wow, Dim that's amazing, it just needs some color and needs to be sewed! How did think of this?!" She was really excited, when the crusaders were brainstorming ideas for a new design all of them were very bad. And honestly, it was better than Rarity's idea.

"Thanks, it was nothing." 

"I'll have Rarity make three of these later. Amazing, but what do we do now?" Sweetie asked.

"I think I'm gonna go home now. I need to think" Dim said.

"What?" Sweetie had no clue what he meant by that.

"I can't keep, uh, how do I put it? I can't be around noise for too long. I need quite after so long, nothing against you, I just need quite. Also it's getting late anyways." Dim said, trying to make the situation less awkward. 		

"Oh, okay then," she said as they were walking towards Sweetie's door "remember tomorrow though. Around 9:45 be at Sweet Apple Acres." Sweetie said. 																		

"Don't worry," Dim said walking towards the boutique's door.

"Oh Dim one more thing before you leave, today when you asked if I was flirting with you I was just practicing." Sweetie said with a smile.

"Okay then," Dim laughed "then call today a date. See you tomorrow Sweetie." Dim said closing the door behind him.

"A-a-a date!" Sweetie said then passed out for a second. 
> By the Entrance at 9:56
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Thanks to Your overlord Diarch for editing this chapter and putting up with my grammatically incorrect bullshit.


"Well that was fun, to say the least," Dim said, chuckling to himself. These last few day's have been so hectic. He now began to think to himself, Who could have guessed that in two days I would be in a relationship someone I met in the previous two days? If you told me that this would happen, I'd call you crazy. Dim didn't think to himself or make a sound until he got home, he needed silence or he'd go insane. he merely enjoyed  the beautiful scenery Ponyville had to offer, the leaves blowing in the trees, the grass waving side to side, the mid after-noon sky above.

"I'm home Mom," Dim said as he entered the house.

"Welcome back Dim, how was your play date with your new friend?" Dim's mother asked, she was always curious about Dim's new friends. He never really had many, he preferred to be alone with his thoughts and she knew that.

"You don't know the half of it..." Dim spoke softly under his breath.

"What was that?" she asked

"Oh, um, I'll tell you later. By the way, when's Dad coming home from work?" Dim said trying to change the subject, he didn't want to tell his Mom quite yet.

"What time is it now?" Dim's mother asked.

"It's five fifteen PM," Dim replied.

"Then he should be home in about an hour or so."

"Okay then," Dim said then walked into his room then began to write in his journal.

"Wow, all I can say about today is wow."
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Sweetie Belle regained consciousness. "Wow, today was amazing." Sweetie Belle stood up and remembered the design Dimshadow drew. "I should probably get these to Rarity," Sweetie said out-loud. She shook her head then began to walk to her room remembering what happened that day. She entered her room and looked for the drawing Dim made. "Where did he put that thing?" Sweetie Belle said, looking for where she last left it. "Oh, there it is, on my bed." She then picked up the drawing with her mouth, left her room, the proceed to walk up the stairs to show Rarity humming a small song the way there. 

Sweetie knocked on the door, "Rarity are you there?" Sweetie asked before knocking.

"Yesh dear? Come in." Rarity said, holding a tape measure in her mouth. "What ish it?"

Sweetie Belle opened the door with the drawing in her mouth. "Look what Dim made..." Rarity gazed her eyes upon the sketch. "I wanted to know is you could sew three of these for us, please?" Sweetie said with a smile.

"Wait a second, Dim made this?" Rarity just stared at the sketch.

"Yes! I reacted the same way when I first saw it." Sweetie Belle wanted to say more by was interrupted when she paused.

"This isn't bad for an amateur. How long did it take him to draw this?" Rarity asked.

"Only a few seconds." Sweetie replied, waiting to see her sister's reaction.

"Really? That's... surprising. That reminds me of myself when I first began to make to sketch dresses for my classes. I would just look at someone and a dress, a delicately drawn dress, would appear on my paper. Those were the good old days Sweetie Belle." Rarity said looking out the window.

"Uh huh... so could you pretty please make some of these, I know I made the originals but I don't think I could make this, it looks a little too hard." Sweetie Belle said to Rarity, who was still looking out the window.

"Oh yes dear, just leave the drawing here and I'll have a few sashes for you and your two little friends by today or tomorrow," Rarity said, "Now run off and play or go to sleep, it's getting late, a filly like you needs her beauty rest."

"Okay, don't forget it sis." Sweetie said leaving the room. "My diary, I almost forgot to write in it!" Sweetie said, running down the stairs back into her room. She went under her pillow to get her diary and pencil. She flipped to a new page of paper and began to write

"I don't know what to say about today... YES I DO. It was the greatest day of my life! Dim and I hung out, got ice, cream, and KISSED, I him so many times and hugged him and he's my colt-friend now. Nothing will ever be able to better than this day. He even said he felt the same way there." She drew a few arrows pointing to what Dim wrote. "I'll never regret this day, no matter what. Me and the other Crusaders are going crusading and Dim is coming along! I can't wait!"
Sweetie Belle put her pencil in her diary and back under her pillow. She then turned off her lights and went to bed.
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Dim woke up the next morning. He got out of bed, standing up. He looked on the wall where he put his clock. It read quarter past eight AM. Well, I have to be at that apple orchard in about an hour and a half. I better get ready, it takes like twenty minutes to get there. Yawning, Dim started his day. He stretched then started to walk to the bathroom to take a shower. After he dried his coat, he began to make breakfast for himself. His parents were already at work by now. Unfortunately this morning, his allergies were acting up again. Just the normal, common allergy, the pollen in the air. Ponyville was luscious with newly blooming flowers every day, which was a bother for Dim. It caused his eyes to water up very badly if was near them too much. He looked at his watch, it was nine thirty. "I better get going," he thought to himself. He grabbed his saddle bag and proceed out the door.
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"Do you seriously think this will work?" Diamond asked Silver Spoon.

"As long as what I've planned works out, then yes."

"Remind me one more time what you plan on doing Silver. I want to hear it one more time, just to make sure I get this straight." Diamond Tiara still was confused about her friends plan.

"Uh! Fine. Yesterday when we were at the bakery I over heard that those two would be meeting up at Apple Bloom's pig sty of an orchard at about nine forty five. What's going to happen is I'm going to hide in a bush and wait for Dumb Shadow to come. When Sweetie Belle comes along you hit the tree three times .I'm sure you remember what happens after that..." Silver Spoon said in an impatient voice, this was at least the fifth time she had re-explain the plan. Silver thought that Diamond was still not able to comprehend her idea. Silver Spoon wasn't ever the pony to think of plans or anything, but, she had this undying hatred for the new pony. "We're almost there."

"Are you sure this will work?" Diamond asked. "What if Sweetie Belle comes first or maybe that one of them is already there? What if they don't come at all?" Diamond didn't want her friend doing this, she felt wrong about it.

"Well, if one of them is already there then we won't do anything. And if Sweetie Belle is comes first I'll wait in the bush until she leaves, easy as that. I don't see why you think this is such a bad idea."

"Well... there are too many things that could go wrong." Diamond was lying, she didn't want to say anything against her friend.

"Whatever, we're here." The two fillies came over a hill to he the vast apple orchard. "Can you believe that they have to buck every last apple just to make a living?" Silver said, mocking them with her rich arrogance. "Now, where is the entrance?" They looked around the fence  until they say the gap. "There it is," Silver Spoon said pointing her hoof at the entrance.

"Are you sure that you want to go through with this?" Diamond said, trying to talk her out of it.

"Diamond, I swear on Celestia and Luna's name if you ask me that one more time, I will kill you!" Silver was asked that a countless number of times on the way there. "Now go to that tree over there, I'll be in the bush closest to entrance, the one by all the flowers."

"Got it," Diamond said with a sigh. It's not that she didn't want her to do this to Dim, just that she didn't want what she was planning on doing to Dim.
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"There it is," Dim said, walking down the dirt road to Sweet Apple Acres. He proceed  down the path to the apple orchard. The scent of fresh apples entered his nose and it smelled divine to him. I'm going to have to try one of those, he thought to himself. He got to the entrance and slouched his back against the fence next to a bush. By the time he got there it was already nine forty seven. She should be here soon, he thought to himself. I wonder what hectic ideas those three fillies are going to try today. Well, I hardly know them so I can't think of anything they'd do so I can't judge them yet. For the next few minutes Dim just stood there and thought about how today would go. Suddenly, Dim's eyes began to water uncontrollably, "What the hell?" Dim said, "Why are my allergies acting-" Dim looked where he was standing. "You've got to be kidding me! How did I not notice I was standing in a flower patch?!" Dim yelled getting away from the flowers. He was now standing in front of a bush.

Perfect... Silver Spoon thought herself with a smile.
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This is taking forever. Diamond thought to herself, Diamond was really impatient and she already didn't want this to happen. She was considering just leaving her friend, even though she was her best friend, she'd get over it. That left her mind immediately when she saw Sweetie Belle walking down the path with a smile. She sighed then presided with part of the plan. She was considering not doing it for a second, that her friend's plan was just wrong. Then she remembered what he had done to Silver Spoon, the disrespect and the milkshake. At that moment she hit the tree three times with the branch.
"What in Equestria was that?" Sweetie Belle said looking around. "It's probably nothing, just the wind." She proceeded down the dirt path that lead to Sweet Apple Acres.
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Oh, this is going to be fun. Silver Spoon thought to herself waiting to see a shadow begin to peer around the corner of the hill. Any second now... Silver Spoon waited a few seconds, she then heard the galloping of hooves instead of a shadow. Okay, now or never Silver.

Dim was still trying to blink the water in his out before Sweetie Belle came. "This is so annoying why now-" Somepony had just tackled Dim to the ground using one of their hooves to block his vision. Then the pony began... kissing him... very passionately.
Sweetie Belle, this is a little much we just met, he thought, this was obviously Sweetie Belle who else would tackle, pin, and kiss him. It's exactly what she did yesterday. Although this time she felt a little heavier, and stronger. "Odd," he thought. The kiss had be going on for about ten seconds now. Then, Dim heard a very familiar voice.

"WHAT?!" yelled Sweetie Belle. She couldn't believe what was before her eyes. Silver Spoon kissing Dim Shadow. Why was this happening to her? After yesterday, why was he kissing one of her worst enemies?
Dim heard the voice of Sweetie Belle. Dim immediately threw off the pony kissing him, he saw that it was Silver Spoon. He then turned to see Sweetie Belle crying her eyes out and running away from the orchard. Dim stood up and looked to Silver Spoon who was smiling devilishly "You're gonna wake up under water." Dim said then began to chance after Sweetie Belle, who already had a big head start.
> The Journal 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Thanks to "Diarch" for editing this chapter. Also thanks to "TexPony" and "NightShader" for proofreading.



"Sweetie Belle wait! Please!" Dim Shadow yelled, how was he going to describe this to Sweetie Belle? Would she even believe him if he caught up to her? The filly was about fifteen meters away from him. "Please let me explain!" That didn't even slow her down. All Dim Shadow could hear is a loud crying. Dim in pursuit of Sweetie was thinking about what just happened. He thought, Did that just happen? How could she think of a plan like that. She's smart. He began to pant Silver Spoon really hates me. I like that. But she did this for vengeance. Dim wasn't the one to let others get the best of him. "I won't let her win this." Dim doubled his speed, quickly catching up to Sweetie Belle "Sweetie please let me explain."

"Why should I!" Sweetie Belle didn't stop running.

"Because..."

"No!" Sweetie Belle yelled, trying to outrun Dim Shadow.

"Because I can explain what just happened and second if you don't stop I'll trip you." Dim said, causing Sweetie Belle to stop upon hearing option two.

"Fine then, explain why you were kissing Silver Spoon!"

"I wasn't," Dim said, trying to catch his breath.

"Yes you were! I saw you!" Sweetie still had tears in her eyes.

"It's hard to explain, I thought she was you and I couldn't see because she was blocking my eyes and, eh."

"You expect me to believe that?!" Sweetie shouted.

"Well, yeah... that's what happened. I don't know how else to put it. She hates me, she knows I like you, she wants me to be unhappy. So, she did that." Dim was hoping that would make sense to her, there really was no other way of explaining what had just happened.

Sweetie Belle sniffled, "You promise that you're telling the truth?" she asked with a small tear in her eye.

"Of course I do Sweetie Belle. Why would I lie to you?"

"Okay then," she began to smile a little. "I'm sorry for running off without letting you explain." Sweetie Belle then began hugging Dim Shadow.

"It's okay, I would have- Oh no!" Dim broke away from the hug, realizing something he failed to notice earlier.

"What is it?" Sweetie Belle asked, wondering what had just caused the sudden change in topic.

"It's not with me! I had it a second ago!" Dim was frantic.

"What? What is it?"

"No time, follow me." Dim began to run back to the farm entrance. Sweetie Belle began running a few seconds later.

"What is-" Sweetie didn't get to finish her sentence.

"My journal, it's not with me!"

"What, did you leave it at home?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"No, no, no it was with me when I came here! I think it fell out when Silver Spoon tackled me!" Dim started to run faster. "If it did, she might have taken it. What I write in there is really personal. Stuff about me that nopony else knows about. My inner thoughts and stuff. If she took it and reads it and she tells other ponies what's in it. Let's just say making friends will be a much larger problem than it usually is for me."

"It can't be that bad," Sweetie said, trying to calm him down.

"Easy for you to say, Now hurry!" They finally got back to the entrance. Dim was sweating and panicking when he got there. 

"Over there, if it's anywhere, it would be around that area with the flowers. Start looking." Dim then sat down.

"Wait! Why do I have to look?" Sweetie asked.

"Because I'm really allergic to flowers. Just look, quick!"

"Okay then," Sweetie Belle walked in the tall flower patch, looking for Dim's journal. "I don't see anything." she said with disappointment in her voice.

"No! She must have took it! Damn it! She couldn't have gotten far. Come on, let's look for her." Dim was getting frantic.

"But, what about the crusading you said you would help us with today?" Sweetie said,

"I'm going to look for her, you can stay and go crusading with your friends if you want, but I need to find that filly."

"But...- fine, I'll help." Sweetie sighed.

"Great let's get going. Right now." Dim began to look for any traces of hoof prints or any form of sign about where Silver Spoon had gone. Dim looked around the grass and dirt and finally he found something. "Look, the grass is stomped here." Dim began following the fade impressions in the grass up a hill.

"How do you even know that these are hoof-prints? They don't even look like hoof-prints." Sweetie Belle said. Sweetie Belle thought that Dim Shadow was taking this a little too far. It was just a stupid journal. Who cares if some random pony reads it? It couldn't hold that many personal secrets... could it? she thought.

"Well, they're imprints of a small hoof shaped object, so it's the best lead I have come on, the prints should be clearer going down hill. Now come on!" Dim began following the hoof-prints at a faster pace now, but as he got more down the hill, the more faded they became. The grass would only take so long before it stood up again, regaining it's natural shape, which would erase the prints.

"Hey, I think Diamond Tiara was probably helping Silver Spoon with this plan. Those two are always with each other," said Sweetie Belle.

"You're probably right." Dim reverted his attention back on the hoof prints that were getting harder and harder to see. "Come on, come on. Stop erasing your self's!" Dim shouted at the grass but it was too late, the tracks were too unclear and couldn't be seen. "Okay, new plan, split up and look for them. We'll go into town and look for them. Yeah, yeah, that'll work."

"Dim, you're seriously taking this a little too far. It's just a stupid diary." Sweetie Belle said.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that. Now please help me out. It won't take long, there can only be so many places they could be at."

"Dim, this is the whole town you're talking about. That could take us forever to look for them."

"If you don't want to look, fine by me."

"I'll help but I won't look for them through one whole half of the town. They're probably behind a building or something."

"You're right, now lets start." Dim was about to run off, but Sweetie Belle asked him something.

"Wait, what should I do if I find them. They're stronger than me."

"Well, just take it and run. Destroy it with magic if you have to. If you bring it back in one piece, I'll do whatever you want, no questions asked. Let's meet back here in about ten minutes." Dim Shadow didn't give Sweetie Belle any time to answer, he ran off into town looking for Silver Spoon and his journal in a flash.

"Okay then," Sweetie sighed and began to walk into the opposite side of town. "I can't believe that he's making such a fuss over a silly diary. Nothing those two could learn about him could be that bad right? What's the worst that could happen?" Sweetie was a little frustrated with Dim until something in her head said, What if those two got their hooves on your diary?. "Oh dear, that would be the most terrible thing to happen to me since I broke Rarity's flawless ruby." Sweetie Belle was starting to understand why Dim was acting like that. "I don't even have that many secrets in my diary and if those two got it, it would still be the worst thing to happen to me. They would spread rumors and ruin me. Dim probably has super personal things in there, and knowing Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, what those two would do... I need to find them." Sweetie Belle picked up her pace and started looking behind buildings, trash cans, trees, etc.
At the speed Sweetie was going, it wasn't long before she heard familiar giggles and laughs coming from behind a spa. "Time to repay two days ago." Sweetie said before marching to where she heard the laughs and giggles.
> face stomach 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                    Thanks to "Diarch" for editing. Also thanks to "NightShader" for proofreading. 

"Okay Dim, let's start..." Dim said, frantically looking behind various buildings and large structures. "Come on, come on. Where did they go?!" Dim was getting annoyed at this point. How did he manage to lose those two? It only took him a minute or two to explain what had happened to Sweetie Belle. There's no way it could be this hard to find them if they were on the side of the section of town that he took. Dim was now walking behind the back of what looked like an outlet mall when he saw two familiar faces, Rider and Heavy Weight. They didn't seem to notice him yet, they were having a conversation and were looking at each other, but they were were going to cross Dim Shadow any second and they would notice him when they did. Just keep looking, they probably won't bother you if you don't bother them, like bees or something. He was wrong. He continued walking then bumped into something feathery.

"Hey there," said Heavy Weight with a sinister smile.

"Now is not the time, I'm busy." Dim continued to look behind the buildings and the ground.

"Maybe now is the time." Rider stepped in front of Dim, also with a sinister smile.

"Only if you can provide the background music, now move." Dim walked tried to walk away from Rider.

"What, you think you're funny?" Rider exclaimed.

"Not particularly. Sometimes though," Dim said wittingly.  Dim's smile went away when he was shoved to the ground by Heavy Weight.

"Think you're funny now?" Heavy Weight said, with a smile.

"I'm going to pretend that didn't happen." Dim rose up from the ground and dusted himself off. "If you do that again, I won't be as nice." Dim tried to walk away and continue his search but with no luck.

"Oh, what this?" Rider shoved Dim to the ground again, still smiling.

"I was hoping you'd do that. I warned you..." Dim's face became over run with a look of malice he then punched Rider in the gut, taking him down wheezing for breath, turning his attention to Heavy Weight, he then tackled Heavy Weight, who went down with a hard thud.

Dim was quick to climb onto his hooves and face his opponents, panting heavily as he was physically outmatched against the two larger and more athletic colts.

Suddenly the two charged him. Dim was flexible enough to dodge them both and push Rider into Heavy Weight, which caused Rider to fall down. Dim jumped on Rider and proceed to punch him repeatedly in the face and stomach. Dim got off of Rider, who was holding his face and stomach. 

"You'd think for the boxing "champion" you'd at least be able to throw a punch, or maybe block one." Dim look to his right. "Hey Heavy Weight..." Dim said slowly, glaring at him like a maniac. Heavy Weight charged at Dim and knocked him down on the ground. Dim tried to get up, but in the same way he hurt Rider, he was being punched. Heavy Weight only got one or two punches on him before Dim could block the rest with his upper hooves. He wiggled and squirmed until he finally knocked Heavy Weight off, when Dim got up he noticed that Rider was getting up.

"Cut me a break." Dim whispered to himself. Dim started to run back to where he and Sweetie Belle had to meet back up, while he thought of a plan. Dim could take both of them but not now, he was under too much pressure of what Silver Spoon and quite possibly Diamond Tiara have probably read, he couldn't think straight.

"Why you runnin'? You scared, you little foal?" shouted Heavy Weight.

"Yep, terrified." Dim rolled his eyes, trotted off to to the spot.

"Come on Rider, get up, we can take him!"

Rider began to shuffle to his hoofs. "I know, but he can throw a punch."  He finally got up fully. 

"Let's get him." The two ponies began to chase after him, and they were fast to catch up, but Dim wasn't far from where he was trying to get to. They were right behind him, Heavy Weight on left and Rider on the right. Dim smiled then stopped and quickly threw his front hooves sideways.This caused them to get hit right in the throats. The two colts dropped to the ground in a coughing fit.

"What's the matter?" Dim was enjoying this very much. "You can't take little old me? Come on, you can do better than this, I know you can. Give me a challenge." Dim laughed.
The two colts were trying to say something but it only came out as mutters. They held their throats and began to get up.

"It's about time-" Dim was tackled by Heavy Weight in a flash, Dim was just faked out. He was about to get that challenge. Dim didn't know what hit him, he felt like an idiot because of how easily he was tricked. However, Heavy Weight was the only one who wasn't hurt, Rider was actually hurt and still recovering. Dim was getting pinned and couldn't move. Ironically, Heavy Weight was pretty heavy.

"Come one Rider, I got him! Help me out here!"

"Yeah he needs help, you know he can't take me alone!" Dim laughed to himself.

"Shut up!" Heavy Weight punched Dim in the mouth.

"Worth it," said Dim.

Rider began to walk towards Dim with a burning hatred. Rider circled Dim twice smiling, thinking where to hurt him first. After a moment of thinking he began to kick Dim Shadow on the side of his head.

"Hows that feel, huh?!" Rider kept kicking and kicking, then finally stopped.
Dim was in world of pain at this point. He was foolish to give those two a chance to fight back.

"I got this, step back Rides." Heavy Weight wanted to take a turn on beating on Dim. Heavy Weight got off of Dim but held on to one of his back hooves. He began to twist. Dim still could move, he was recovering from the kicks. It was a few seconds before the pain shot through him like an arrow. He needed to act now before Heavy Weight broke his back right hoof.

"Bad idea numbskull," Dim turned his body and kicked Heavy Weight in the head. Heavy fell back, releasing Dim. Dim could see where he was trying to get to. He looked at his watch, "Perfect," he began to limp to where was trying to get to.

"Come on Heavy Weight get up, he's hurt and we can take him for sure now." Rider was trying to help Heavy Weight up.

"Ow, just give me a second! He kicked me in the head if you didn't notice!" Heavy Weight sat on the ground, waiting for the pain to ease off. He could fell his head pounding on the inside. Heavy Weight was never hurt this bad before, well, he was never hurt much, but this was for sure the worst he felt in a long time. After about half a minute Heavy Weight got up but was still in pain. Him and Rider began running in Dim's direction, he was still in sight but Dim got right where he needed to be, he just needed to hold out until she got back.

Dim's back leg was in pain, Dim thought that he probably seriously hurt a muscle and he was just beginning to gain the feeling back in his skull. He felt his head a few times then looked at his hoof, there was blood but not much, he didn't think anything of it. Dim turned his attention back to his hoof. He could put weight on it, but it hurt a lot when he did. He turned to where he came from, Heavy and Rider were running towards him. "I think I can take them." Dim stepped forward with bravery.
The two colts were almost to Dim when he heard running and panting from the other direction. He turned to see who it was quickly before the two could get to him. It was Sweetie Belle being chased by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Those two had the journal.
> Fear Facing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


It didn't take long for Sweetie to find the two. After the running to find the journal and the two ponies who stole it. Sweetie started to hear laughing from behind the local spa.

"He's so weird!" Diamond Tiara was teary eyed from laughing. She never understood the emotions of others or points of views, she couldn't get how others feel through her thick skull. Silver Spoon was no different. "I don't even think this qualifies as a journal. There aren't even any real entries, just a bunch of scribbles of thoughts and random words. Look Silver, in the circle, what does "dark, vigilante, fear-less, hardened," and wow, he wrote "uncryable." This colt is so strange. I can't wait to tell everypony about this when school starts ".

"Why would he even write this creepy stuff? Only a few of these are understandable. This is gonna make him the laughing stock of the whole school. I'll bring it the first day and show everypony." 

Sweetie Belle was on the side of the Spa's wall. How could they be so mean? Sweetie started thinking to herself. Why would anypony even want to do that to a pony they barely know? He didn't do much to them. Even with the milkshake, this a ponies private thoughts. Sweetie began to put a hoof forward and finally step up to the two mean fillies. But, I can't take it from them. I'm not strong enough, and they might tease me and just run off with the journal... I'm scared. She began to bring her hoof back, but then quickly stepped forward. No, I have to do this. You're no chicken Sweetie Belle, you're brave and you can do this. She began to walk around the corner with sweat coming from her forehead.

"H-Hey!" Sweetie said, "You shouldn't take things that aren't yours!"

Diamond and Silver turned their heads to Sweetie Belle and stood up. "And what are you gonna do about it blank flank?" Diamond said in that same annoying tone. The two began to approach Sweetie slowly.

"Give me the journal, n-now!" Sweetie didn't budge. She was scared at what might happen to her, but she was determined to get that journal back. She wanted to repay the favours Dim had done for her in the last two days. Sweetie knew for a fact that she alone couldn't take on the two fillies alone in a fight, but she wasn't even considering starting a fight in the first place. She needed to think of a plan.

The two of them started to laugh. Throughout all their time of knowing Sweetie Belle, the most of an effort that she made to stand up for herself was little to nothing. But somepony else, little just left town. They never took Sweetie Belle seriously when she spoke. "Yeah right, who's gonna make us? You and your blank flank poor friends? Or your stupid little colt friend that you just met yesterday?"

"He is not stupid! He's better than your's at least!" 

"You take that back! Rider is stronger, tougher, and smarter than Dumb Shadow."

Sweetie Belle, thinking of a quick come back, she remembered the time. It had to at least be nine minutes. Sweetie Belle then thought a of quick plan, it had many holes in it, and had a higher chance of not working but she had to take the chance and do it now. Sweetie Belle wasn't the kind of pony at all to what she was about to do, but she needed to compromise. 

"Well,..." Sweetie kicked a large amount of dirt on both of the fillies. "Catch me if you can you dumbos!" Sweetie then ran off to where she and Dim had to meet back up.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon jumped and began to wipe the dirt off of their coats. "Why that little, lets get her! I've had enough of her! Dumb blank flank." shouted Diamond Tiara.

"Yeah! Lets get her!," said Silver Spoon. The ponies began to chase Sweetie Belle to where ever she was running off to.

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"I can't believe that worked, and their even chasing me. They are dumbos." Sweetie snickered. "Oh no!" Diamond and Silver were catching up. Fast. Who knew they were so fast? "Run faster Sweetie Belle." Sweetie tried to pick up the pace but it was useless, the two fillies were right behind her now; trying to grab her tail to stop her. Luckily she was right about where she needed to be. But would she make it was the question.  		




"Yes!" Sweetie yelled as she actually made it back to where Dim and her had to meet back up. And Dim was there. With Rider and Heavy Weight running towards him. 









> Sweet, Sweet, Vengeance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh dear," said Sweetie panting.

"Even better," Dim Shadow smiled. Dim quickly began to shift his gaze between Sweetie Belle running to him and the Rider and Heavy Weight running at him. As quick as light Sweetie Belle picked up her speed and was by Dim's side in a second, which gave them about 8 or 10 seconds to make a plan.

"Okay, can you make a little light from your horn?" Dim asked quickly

"A little bit, why?"

"Just do that until I say not to. Switch sides." Dim Shadow wasn't normally the one to think of last second plans but when the time came he could. But the problem was it was literally last second plans and the hardest part was having ponies understand what exactly he meant when he said the plans. Sweetie Belle did. She was was facing the two colts and Dim was facing the two fillies. And like Dim Shadow told Sweetie Belle she kept a light on her horn. Luckily what Dim was going for, happened, they thought it was a form of magical weaponry. The two colts froze, worried what might happen if they moved.They had been successively tricked.

"'ll be taking that!" Dim snatched the journal from Silver Spoon. "So how much did you read anyways?"

"Hahahaha, we read enough, you are one weird colt I must say, just wait until the school hears about it." said Silver, with a snicker. She even had that same smug grin as before.

"What ever. You do realize this means war now right? You two also!" Dim shouted to Rider and Heavy Weight, who were still not moving. "Anything that I can do to make any four of your lives worse, I will do. Well, within reason."

"Well then, we accept  your silly little "war" and expect us to do the same."

"You're gonna wish you hadn't. Come on Sweetie Belle." Luckily, Sweetie Belle was smart and also began to back up, but she kept her eyes on the two colts the whole time until they were far enough that it was safe to stop looking back.

"What was that all about!?!" Sweetie yelled.

"What do you think? They took my journal an-"

"Not that, why were Rider and Heavy Weight chasing you?"

"Oh, well I was looking for the journal and I saw them. I tried to ignore them but they chose to act violently, so, I fought back but I'm pretty sure a muscle was torn in my back right leg. But I'll live. Oh, and thanks, I seriously owe you one like I said before."

"Oh, it was nothing." Sweetie blushed.

"It was, trust me."

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Dim.

"Didn't I have to help you with your crusading?" reminded Dim.

"Oh my Celestia! I forgot! Come on, we have to hurry!" Sweetie began to run back to the apple orchard in a hurry.

"Wait up- ow!" Dim tried to run but his back leg wouldn't let him. "Listen, I'm gonna head back to my house so my leg will heal up. Okay?" 

"Oh... okay..." Sweetie became sad. She was really excited about today and in the end she was late and Dim wouldn't even be there.

Dim, in his most sympathetic voice said, "Listen, I'm really sorry."

"No, it- it's fine, but can you promise me that you'll for sure come next time? Please."

"I promise, next time. Come here." Sweetie approached Dim Shadow and gave he gave her a hug. "See you later."

"Okay then, bye Dim." Sweetie began to run back to the orchard.

"Well that was fun." Dim the began to walk back to his house.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ow," Dim mumbled, when ever he had to put weight on his back leg. "Ugh, and I have at least another ten minutes of walking, Celestia and Luna why?"

Dim was almost home when he noticed that abandoned building again. "Well, I may as well look inside and see if there's anything cool. It won't take long, it's pretty small."


Dim Shadow entered the building and the door creaked. There was a lot of broken glass and fallen wood. The building seemed to have two levels and a cellar  Dim's guess was that this might have been a brewery or cider making facility or something like that. Dim began to look in cabinets and drawers for anything interesting that may have been left behind. All that he found on the first main floor was old pillows and dirty mostly broken tables. Dim chose to not go into the cellar, he saw enough movies to know that it's never a smart idea to go into the cellar of abandoned places. Instead, he chose to go to second floor, which he could only get to by a flight of stairs. He was considering not going up the stairs because they could be unstable. However, based on what Dim could judge by the building, the building could only have been like it's current state for maybe about a year and if the stairs were unstable and broke under his hooves well lesson learned. He cautiously took each step, making sure it was save. When he finally got to the top he saw that it was much... cleaner than the rest of the building, as if a pony was keeping it that way. It couldn't have been any-pony homeless, there was nothing that could been slept on and there was no sign of food or packaging. But there was a what appeared to be an old dresser and a few pillows. Dim curious, he decided to go rambling through the dresser and to his surprise there was what appeared to be a book. On the cover there was a baseball a baseball bat. Dim raised an eye brow and began to open it. But there were no words in the book, instead there were pictures. Dim Shadow couldn't see who the ponies were in this picture because the room was a little too dark. 

He moved to a window that only had a small crack of light shining through it. Dim put the book in the sun light and noticed that the ponies in the picture looked rather familiar. Dim knocked out some of the glass where the glass was and the pictures became more clear. The ponies in the pictures were the two ponies who hurt his leg not too long ago. Rider and Heavy Weight.

"How much more convenient can this day get?" Dim asked himself with a smile. "Well, let's see what I can do to this place, shall we?" Dim dropped the book and turned his attention back to the room. A few pillows, a dresser, and a photo album. Dim began to tare up the pillows with his hooves; having the stuffing and feathers inside of them fly throughout the room. After Dim was done ravaging the pillows he looked at he dresser. "Now what could I do with this?" he asked himself, staring at the dresser. Dim Shadow thought for a moment the realized that the dresser was fairly close to the stairs. "Duh," he said then walked over to the dresser. He moved it right in front of the top of the stairs and bucked it, hard. Sadly for him he forgot about the muscle in his leg. "Ow! WhywouldIthinkthatwasagoodidea?!" he said really quickly before grabbing his back leg. "Celestia, why?" Dim Shadow sat there for a moment on the dirty floor before he could stand up again. "Well that hurt like heck. What happened to the dresser?" Dim stood up and walked over to the stairs to see his work. Three steeps on the stairs had broken and the dresser was completely demolished. The drawers had all fallen out and four out of the six had cracked. the back had also been broken. "Nice, now for the final part," Dim averted his eyes toward the book with all the photos in it, "This is gonna take a while.

Fifteen minutes later...

"Done, took a while but I think it turned out well." Dim had torn up every last little picture that the book contained. The scraps and torn pictures were he arranged to spell out his name. "DIM SHADOW" in all capital letters were spelled out on the floor. "Well, that was fun. Better get going." Dim proceeded back down the stairs with much caution, in case any of the stairs would brake easier after what happened with the dresser.	

Dim made it down safely with no injuries other than the already existing one. He trotted out the door with a smile of satisfaction. "Now I play the waiting game." he said then walked back to his house. 
> Oh No...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dim finally got home after a short day out. He had only been out for about 2 hours, by the time he got to his house it was about 12:00 p.m. Nopony else was there , his parents wouldn't be home for a few more hours so he had the place to himself for a while. He walked to his room, put his bag down, and sat on his bed. "Okay, how bad is it?" He then got off his bed, putting weight on the hoof that was hurt. "Ugh..." It hurt, but Dim had force himself to walk off and let it affect him much. The pain would be gone in a few days anyway. He then felt at his head to see if there was any more blood trickling down. "Ow!" he touched exactly where his head had been kicked. He proceeded to look at his hoof, there was no more blood thankfully. Dim then started talking to himself	                                                                

"Why does it always have to come down to violence with those two? They could have just walked away and ignored me, but no, they just had to have a fight didn't they?" he chuckled, "Oh, what I'd pay to see their reactions to what I did in that building. Was it too far?" He hesitated for a moment. "Nah. Well, at least in my mind." Dim Shadow began to think back to the building itself. "They have that place kept pretty clean, there's a bunch of broken windows and holes there. It has to get filled with leaves and water when the weather team brings that weather. Wasn't there suppose to be a small shower last night?" Dim got out of his bed once again and began walking to the door of his house. He opened the door and walked to his front lawn to feel the grass. It was still damp. "Guess, I didn't notice that before	. I wonder if they do check ups on that place after rain." Dim thought for a moment. "Well, I have nothing better to do, I may as well." Dim Shadow decided to wait around the area of the building and see if Rider and Heavy Weight would come by. He had nothing to do and there was nothing to do. He was about to walk into his house to retrieve his saddle bag with his journal but then he stopped. "I don't need the extra weight, it'll be fine." Dim got the key and locked the door then began to walk back to the building.
*************************************************************************************************************
"I hate that colt. Like I really really really hate him." Rider said with annoyance in his voice.

"You gotta get over it man. We'll get back later." Heavy Weight said, trying to calm down his friend.

"No, you don't understand. I'm the toughest colt around this place then out of now where, this random colt pops up beating me in fights and taking punches. I'm the boxing champion of Ponyville, and he shrugs it off man! HE SHRUGS IT OFF LIKE NOTHING HAPPENS! How is that possible?!" Raged Rider.

"Calm down, you'd think 20 minutes would be enough to get over what happened." 

"You seriously think 20 minutes is enough time? What's wrong with you?!" shouted Rider.

"Oh, nothing but when you lose matches you calm down afte-" Heavy Weight got cut off.

"What's that suppose to mean?!" Rider jumped in front of Heavy Weight.

"Nothing it's just-" he was yet again cut off.

"Are you saying I'm weak?! Huh?" Yelled Rider.

"What? No! Dude, calm down. This colt must have you worked up." Heavy Weight tried to calm his friend down again.

"Sorry, it's just that it's like he's ignoring it altogether. Nopony I've had a match could, nopony I've ever had a fight with could, then this poser just trots into town like he owns the place and you know the rest." Ride said with a huff.

"Listen, how about we just go to the old cider place and just chill there for a while. Okay?" Heavy Weight put his hoof around his friends shoulder.

"Sure, why not." And with that they began to trot to old cider place. That place became like their own little club house for the two of them and the occasional Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but they weren't really there much, they didn't like the filthy place. They kept a photo album there of all the great times that they had. But noting really important, they knew that the place should  break one day and possibly destroy the pictures, but they knew that they could save the album if something broke. They found the place about a year ago when nopony ever bought it, one day the sale's ponies just stopped trying to sell it and abandoned the place. Heavy Weight and Rider would go there at least every one to two weeks. But what they were going to find would only fuel the fire of hate towards Dim Shadow. 
**************************************************************************************************************

Dim impatiently hummed a tune; hiding in a tree by the building it was maybe 10 feet away from the building itself. The tree was behind the building where the window was. This is getting boring Dim was thinking. He was just about to climb down when he began to hear two voices.

"And so that's how I saved Hearth's Warmings' Eve." Rider said.

"Huh... okay then," said Heavy Weight," rolling his eyes.

A large smile began to form on Dim Shadow's face. He began counting down from 10.

Ten. "All right then Rider, lets get inside."

Nine. "Okay."

Eight. "Wait, what's that at the bottom of the stair case?"

Seven. "What do you mean?"

Six. "I mean look, isn't that the dresser?"

Five . "Let me see."

Four. "We need to get upstairs and see what it looks like!"

Three. "Agreed but be careful and hurry."

Two . "Go, go go!"

One. Screams of rage as loud as an atomic bomb could be heard from the building

Dim began to burst out laughing as loud as he could.

"When. I. Get. My. Hoofs. On. That. Colt. I. Will. Kill. Him! I will have his head on a stick! I will kill him until he's dead!" yelled Heavy Weight.

Dim finally calmed down. He wiped a tear of laughter from his eye and climbed down the tree. He was about to walk home but he thought that if he walked the same was he came that Rider and Heavy Weight might see him, and Dim didn't want to take them on when they were enraged like they were now. He decided to cut through a bit of forest to get back on the road. He finally got back on to the road and trotted back to his house. He opened his door and went  into his room.

"Well, that was fun. I think I can write a little early today, where did I put that saddle bag? Oh, yeah." Dim reached over from under his bed and picked up the saddle bag and began to ramble through it. He picked up his journal.

"Okay, where did we leave off?-" Dim noticed that the page entries from when he met Sweetie Belle were done. "Oh, must be stuck to the next page." Dim tried to pull the pages apart but they weren't coming apart. "Come on now.." Dim kept pulling but then he noticed that the page wasn't stuck to the back of the next, but it was torn out. The page had been torn out today.

...
...
...

....


> Dim Shadow does not negotiate with terrorists.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No, no no no no! You've got to be kidding me!" Dim slumped over his bed, letting out a long sigh. "How was I that dumb not to check it when I got it back?! I have to get the page back now." Dim began pacing around his room. "But how? There's no way I could find them now, they're probably at their house or something. But who would know where they live? Could Sweetie Belle? Do I have any other options? Ugh, I gotta go now!" Dim, again left his journal at his house, seeing no need to bring it again due to it's extra weight and the last thing he needed was it getting lost or stolen again. He ran out of the front door and  sprinted his way to Sweet Apple Acres, in hope that they were still there. He pushed through the pain in his back leg. He bolted past passing ponies on his way and made extremely few sharp turns, almost knocking over every pony in his way. After about seven or so minutes of fast sprinting, he finally got to Sweet Apple Acres, out of breath. "Where would they be?" Dim Shadow looked around the farm turning his head. He noticed a mare bucking a tree and apples falling into a large bucket with ease. He began to approach the mare.

"Huh, who are you?" asked the pony.

Panting, Dim replied. "Where's Sweetie Belle ... and her friends?"

"Uh, why you ask? You a pal of their's?" she questioned.

"Kinda. Now please ... where are they? It's really important." Dim replied, still heavily breathing.

"Well, I don't wanna hold y'all up now. They're in the back, through the woods." she answered.

"Okay, thanks... um, uh."

"The name's Applejack lil' one. I didn't catch your name." Applejack said.

"Dim Shadow." And with that he ran through the field into the woods, searching for Sweetie Belle and her friends. He continued down the path, but now his run turned into a jog. He sprinted through the woods, searching for the club house. He dashed pass large trees and bushes. He finally came upon the club house and could hear voices inside chattering.  Dim smiled and began to walk up the ramp, leading to the club house entrance. He then knocked.

"Who could that be?" asked Scootaloo rubbing her head, she got up to answer the door. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Dim Shadow, open. Now." he said panting.

"Okay," Scootaloo opened the door "Why are you here? I though you hurt your leg."

"I did ...that's not important." He continued to breath really heavily. 

"Dim are you okay?" Sweetie Belle rushed to his side.

"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon..." Dim began to cough violently.

"Apple Bloom, get him some water!" said Sweetie to her friend.

"On it." Apple Bloom trotted to the pitcher of water they kept on the table and she poured a glass of water. She then brought the glass over to Dim Shadow. "Sit down for a sec'. Catch your breath." Dim Shadow nodded his head and sat on the floor. He took the glass of water and began to drink it, still breathing heavily. 

"Are you okay?" Sweetie Belle asked again.

"Yes," Dim took two deep breaths. "Hang on." After about a minute the colt could speak clearly. "Okay, long story short they stole a page or two from my journal. I need to get it back."

"How are we suppose to do that?" questioned Scootaloo. 

"I was hoping one of you would know here they live. I could take it from there." The three fillies exchanged looks then shook their heads. 

"No," whispered Dim Shadow. "Okay then, are you sure?" he asked, disappointed.

"Sorry." They all said at the same time with sad expressions.

"Then I"ll need to get the page on my own."

"How are you going to do that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I'll find a way. I always do in the end." said Dim, walking out of the club house. "Okay, how will I get out of this mess?" he said out loud. Then Dim remembered something he once heard in school Four fifths of our problems will solve themselves if we just ignore them. "Okay then, lets see if that's true." He continued to think about out comes of the situation and worse case scenarios leaving the apple orchard. "Yeah Dim, it could only be so bad." he said, trying to calm himself. "What's truly the worst they could do anyway?" he got an answer from his left. 

"That's a good question." said Diamond Tiara in a sarcastic voice. 

"You know, if the ponies from my other school knew you did something like this, they'd ship you to an insane asylum. Now give me the page. Now." said Dim. He knew he could get the page now, he just had to demand the right way.

"Or what? What's big bad Dumb Shadow gonna do?" she said in the same voice.

"Funny, that's a good question." Dim began to walk towards Diamond Tiara. "Now, give me the page."

"What? You think I'll just give it over to you? Fat chance." she huffed. 

"Did Rider and Heavy Weight tell you what I did yet?"

"No, Why?" she asked.

Dim let out a small grin that lasted only a second. "Because I'll do something worse than that to you. Don't test me. Give me the page." he repeated.

"I don't even know what you did, why should I care?" Diamond retorted.

"Oh, you will in a short time trust me." he let lose a small grin.

"Whatever, I don't even have it with me stupid." she snorted.

"Yes you do." Dim said, rolling eyes.

"And how do you know?" Diamond said, annoyed.

"Why else would you approach me like this?"

"You're cute when you're trying like this. It's a shame you'll be the laughing stock of the whole school in a month when I show it to everypony and they know you and Sweetie Belle like each other."

"Don't they know you and Rider like each other?"

"That's old news. Also, they all know better than to mock me." she replied.

"And why is that?" asked Dim.

"Duh, my father's Filthy Rich." Diamond said in annoyance.

"Is that his name or..."

"It's his name you uneducated numb skull!" she hissed.

"Somepony's mad..." Dim chuckled.

"You're never going to see that page again."   

"Then I guess we have nothing else to talk about." Dim began to trot off until he was stopped when Diamond out a hoof in front of him. 

"Wait," Diamond Tiara said. "I'll give you the page back... on one little condition."

Dim knew he wasn't going to like this but if it would get the page back he'd probably do it. He guessed it would probably be something demeaning or saying something rude or random to a pony. Something stupid like that. "And what would that be?" he asked, sighing.

Diamond Tiara leaned in close and whispered into his ear. "You kiss me. Now."

...
...
...
...
...
...
...

> Observations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Excuse me?" Dim Shadow said in disbelieve.

"You heard me. A kiss. Now. That is if you want to see the page you hold so dear..."

Dim started to scan the area, this could just be another trap like what Silver Spoon did earlier that day. Or maybe Diamond legitimately wanted a kiss, but that wouldn't make sense. She almost hated him as much as Sliver Spoon, why would she want a kiss. As Dim looked around the field he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, there was the fence, that patch of flowers with the bush from earlier, and a few trees. But Dim knew that if he did agree, that it wouldn't be forgotten and probably used against him in the very near future. But again none of it adds up. Even in the three short days he knew Diamond Tiara, she never showed any signs of liking him. Dim Shadow looked around the area once more; still the same, the fence, the bush, the trees. Nothing different. 

"Why though? I thought you hated my guts..." Dim said, trying to weed out Diamonds plan. He was trying to read her voice and face.

"Well, I mean. I don't know... it just came to me a little while ago."

"Really?" Dim questioned, still in disbelieve of the whole situation. 

"Yes. I know its hard to believe." Diamond Tiara blushed.

"Yeah, you could say that again." Dim laughed.

Dim scanned the area once more, Same fence. Same trees. Same bush. Dim thought for a second. She is up to something but what? Then it hit him like lightning.  

"Sure, I'll kiss you. If you just do one thing." Dim let out on a fake smile.

'Really?! What?" asked Diamond Tiara.

"Can you hand me that rock right there." Dim pointed to the rock to his side.

"Um... okay." Diamond said befuddled. She leaned over, picked up the rock, and handed to Dim. "What do you need a dirty rock for?"

"You must think I"m either stupid or blind." Dim said, turning his head to the bush, throwing the rock up and down in this hoof.

"Wh- what are you talking about?" Diamond turned away, trying to hide her face.

"This," Dim, threw the rock as hard as he could at the bush.  
> Reinforcements 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The medium sized rock flew through the air and finally landed in the bush, hitting the pony inside it. 

"Owww!" shouted Silver Spoon leaping out of the bush, with a camera around her neck.

"I knew it," Dim said with a smile, but then he noticed something else on the ground next to Silver Spoon a piece of paper. Dim looked at it for a second then noticed it was what he was looking for. The page. Dim shoved Diamond Tiara out of his way and bolted to the page.

"Silver, look out!" Diamond shouted, warning her friend.

Silver scrambled to her hooves and jumped on the page. She picked it up and turned just before Dim could grab it. She ran back to her friend. Dim followed, but Diamond Tiara stood between between the two.

"Move now or I will shove you to the ground. You have 5 seconds." Dim began to count down.

"You wouldn't dare!" Diamond shouted in Dim's face. Nopony in the right mind would do that to her.

"Yes I would." And he did. Dim, without any hesitation, shoved Diamond right to the dirt filled ground and tried to snatch the page from Silver Spoon but she then started to run off. And again, Dim followed. 

"Oh my Celestia he didn't!" Diamond began to chance after Dim Shadow now, with revenge in her mind.
*******************************************************************************************

"Stop running Silver!" Dim shouted at Silver Spoon. Dim could easily catch up to her any second, but he chose not to. He wanted to see if it was possible to negotiate with Silver, or get her to hand it over on her own, without needed force. "I'm giving you a chance, if you give it to me now I might forget this ever happened." Dim kept chasing her for few more seconds. He sighed, "Okay then, have it your way." 

Dim picked up his speed and was now right next to Silver Spoon, who now looked like she'd seen a ghost. She didn't think that he could be that fast, or pick up that much speed in such little time. "Hey," he said before throwing a hoof in front oh her. Silver fell to the ground and rolled.

"Okay, now again give me the page." Dim crouched next to Silver Spoon. "Come on now." Silver Spoon went into fetal position with the page. 

"No!" she shouted.

Dim sighed again, "You brought this upon yourself, remember that." (Get ready for the Waterfall of Forgiveness.) Dim began to pry Silver's front and back legs apart. revealing the now crumbled up page. Dim pulled together enough strength for one more powerful pull, which worked. In the second of time he got to snatch the page, he did. "Yoink!" He held it up in the sun light for a moment honoring his own victory. "Don't do anything else like that again got it-?" Dim was tackled to the ground by an angry Diamond Tiara.

"Oh, hello there," Dim smiled.

"Shut up! You can't push me around like that!"

"Yes I can. I just did."

"You really know how to make a pony made don't you?!"

"You don't know the half of it," Now Dim was just trying to screw with her. "So how about that kiss?"

Diamond Tiara tried to punch Dim but missed; Dim turned his head away just in time.

"Okay now get off of me. I wanna go home and let my leg heal."

"Oh, your leg hurts? Let me fix that." Diamond guessed what leg was hurting and punched it hard. She guessed right.

Dim screamed. "Ow! Why would you do that? You're so mean!" Dim, not wanting to get hurt anymore threw Diamond Tiara off and tried to get away, he couldn't run, after what just happened to his leg.

"Oh what, does your leg hurt?" Diamond Tiara began to walk toward Dim with a malicious grin, Silver then followed with the same facial expression.

"Okay now, we don't have to resort to this now. There's nothing to gain if try to hurt me."

The two fillies kept slowly walking towards Dim. "Girls... come on." they almost reached him. "Key word was tried." Dim wasn't in the mood to fight anypony. He didn't know how he would have to fight girls, he though of just blocking what ever they would throw at him. Dim did took a stance but it hurt his back leg, he lowered to the ground in pain. The two fillies were now looking over him, with evil smiles, like when a predator is about to pounce. Dim was still paying all attention to his leg. Dim was ready for what ever other pain was going to be inflicted to him and he was ready to try and block it. Just then a shadow came over Dim Shadow. He looked up to see a pony riding a scooter land next to him. The scooter came to a screeching halt, as if it was going extremely fast, rushing to him.

"Back off!" Scootaloo yelled, now standing between the two fillies and Dim. 

"Yeah, back off!" Apple Bloom yelled as she came running to aid Dim also. She too now stood between the two fillies and Dim.  

Reinforcements have arrived, Dim thought. Dim knew he could probably take on both Diamond and Silver, so long as they didn't only target his leg. Wait, where's Sweetie Belle? Dim thought. As if on cue, Sweetie came running down the hill. Dim could guess that she was the more mellow one of the group so he was curious how she would handle the situation. She, like her friends, now stood between Diamond & Sliver and Dim. However, she didn't say anything, rather she just stood there with an angry facial expression. Dim wondered why she wasn't as assertive as her friends. You'd think that if your special some pony was in danger you'd be the most concerned. Strange, Dim thought. 

"And what are you three blank flanks here for?" Diamond laughed, "Oh what? Is Dumb Shadow too weak to fend for himself? And to think he made such a big deal about himself."

Dim got up and walked through the Crusaders. "Okay first off all, I could take both of you with three hurt legs and blind folded. Second, I didn't make a big deal about myself. Now, I recommend you back off before I let these three stoop to your level." Dim said, with a smug look. 

"Whatever, we don't have time for ponies of the likes of you anyway. Come on Silver, lets go to my house." Diamond hissed, then proceeded to trot off with her friend but not before each of them could give him a death glare. Dim just rolled his eyes in retaliation then turned his attention to the Crusaders. 

"So, uh... thanks," he said, rubbing the back of his head and blushing. "I guess I owe three one. I could have gotten hurt by those two."

"No problem," Scootaloo said, taking off her helmet and placing it on the ground. 

"Yeah, don't mention it." Apple Bloom said. They were lying. Before they came down there, they were scared out of their minds to stand up to Diamond and Silver in the manor at which they did. They were honestly considering not doing it before Sweetie Belle gave them those puppy dog eyes. They gathered enough courage to do so. Sweetie Belle, after what had happened earlier that day didn't want to deal with Diamond and Silver, she had more than her fair share. That's mainly why she was the last to arrive. She also guessed that Dim would be able to handle himself against those two, considering he could handle Rider and Heavy Weight. 

Dim began to try to walk but his leg quickly got a jolt of pain. Dim, yet again, was forced to crouch down on one leg. He was pretty much limping.

"Do you think you need help getting home?" Scootaloo asked, walking over to him.

"Y'all could stay in the club house if ya want," Apple Bloom offered.

Dim thought about it. He had sprinted and ran almost all day, half the time on a pain filled back leg. And now after it was just hurt again and considering the distance between his house and the time it would take to get there he agreed. After all he still had about three hours to kill.

"Yes, please."

> There's no such thing as monsters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Crusaders and Dim Shadow finally got back to the club house. Dim's hurt leg didn't slow them down too much at all. They made their way in and shut the door behind them. 

"Now what?" Dim asked.

"Well, we was gonna play in the field, but no that you're here..." Apple Bloom said.

"Oh, it's okay, you three can play without me. I'll just stay here, I'll be fine." 

"We can't just leave you here alone, that would be rude please come with us," Sweetie Belle begged, good manors towards other ponies was important to her, Rarity taught her that. One of the most important things when being around friends is to never leave one alone while the rest go play or do something.

"It's fine, really. If it starts to feel better, I'll come play with you. I promise." Dim said, not wanting Sweetie to feel bad.

"Okay then," Sweetie Belle lowered her head, still feeling as if she was doing something wrong, then walked out the door. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked back at Dim then followed their friend. The door shut and there was a silence. 

Dim began to look around and exam the club house. When he was there earlier; he didn't get the chance to really look around and see things. The floor was a light green color and so was the ceiling. The walls weren't painted, so they just had the color of wood. There was two windows, one had curtains, the other didn't. There was a normal table, a few chairs, and single lantern hanging from the ceiling. He also noticed a ladder leading to the second floor. "Nice place," he said allowed. He slowly began to walk around the club house. He saw some picture frames and began to try to see who was in the pictures. There was a picture of Scootaloo with a rainbow pegasus. Dim turned his head and looked at the other picture. It had a filly that was also wearing a crusader cape. 

After a few minutes of looking around Dim noticed that his leg was starting to feel much better, as if it was never hurt in the first place. Dim thought for a second then decided to bend and flex his leg. It didn't hurt at all. "Well, maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought it was." Dim trotted around for a bit just to make sure it was all good. Dim, remembering his promise, started to head out the door and find the three fillies. He began to walk down the trail to the farm when he felt something. Not physically, but something inside. Like it was a bad idea to keep going down the path, as if something bad was about to happen. He glanced both left and right, not noticing anything. He paused then began to walk again, then getting the same feeling. He couldn't quite figure out what it was. Was somepony following him, watching him? Dim Shadow turned around, "Hello?" he said, waiting for a response. Nothing. He began to walk again, and again, the same feeling. "Okay this isn't funny!" Dim began to turn around and go in the woods. "Girls? Is that you? Come out." Silence. Nothing but silence. He turned back around to get back on the trail, but as he walked, he never came upon the trail, just more and more apple trees. "Did I take a wrong turn? I barley walked in the woods." he frustratingly said. Then just as he said that, a bush near by shook. Dim jumped, startled. He cautiously began to walk toward the bush, Dim lost his trust in bushes after today, he continued to creep closer. He was next to the bush now, then jumped in. "What the?" Dim was surprised as to what he found. The bush had no sticks or twigs, it was hollow. And to add to strangeness there was a marking on the ground where all the sticks and branches of the bush would be coming from. He looked at it closely. I was what appeared to be an O... with an X through it. Something odd was going on, Dim knew. He quickly jumped out of the bush.

Dim backed away slowly. He turned his whole body around and not even 20 feet away from him there was a figure. Dim could make out that it was a very tall , skinny, pure white stallion... in a suit... with no... face. Dim just starred blankly, unable to move for a few moments, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. But then, some unknown force made Dim start to walk toward the "pony". Dim tried to fight it, but it was no use. He kept walking toward the pony, who was still standing perfectly still. Dim was terrified, he was about 10 feet away from it now. He was breathing heavily, very heavily. 5 feet. Dim couldn't take it anymore, he used all of his strength and tried to stop walking. He was almost face to face with the faceless pony, 3 feet away. Dim now felt nothing but sick to his stomach, he knelled to ground, as if he was going to throw up. He looked up and the faceless pony was now starring down. It turned it's head to the side as it leaned closer. The pony's faceless head began to flash with the mark in the bush between each flash. 

"Dim." he heard a voice call. The creature now had long, dark, tentacles coming from it's back. Dim was speechless, unable to scream.

"Dim." the voice called again.  

"Dim!" Dim woke up, on the floor of the club house sweating and screaming. His heart pounding, almost coming out of his chest. "Dim, what's wrong?" Sweetie said, rushing to Dim's side. He was breathing heavily.

"Wh-what was that?!" Dim shouted.

"What was it?" 

"A- a- a monster or something! I don't know!" Dim didn't lower his voice.

"It's okay, it was just a bad dream. Calm down." Sweetie said softly, trying to comfort Dim.

"Bu- bu- but it felt so real. There was this tall, thin, faceless pony in a suit an-and,"

"It's fine." Sweetie hugged Dim trying to calm him down. 

Dim started to settle down, realizing that none of that could have been real. There's no such thing as monsters.

"Okay," Dim said breathing normally now, snapping back to reality.

"I came in to check on you, to see if you were feeling away better, you know, with your leg," she said smiling and blushing. 

Dim got up. "Yeah, it's fine now." he lied, he was not staying by himself alone in the woods. "Let's go," Dim said trying to get away from this place as fast as he could. He held the door open for Sweetie Belle.

"Thank you," she said, walking down the ramp.

"You're welcome," he replied, before he shut the door he looked out the window. Behind a tree Dim could see a white pony in a suit. Dim shook his head and blinked a few times, it was gone, nopony was there. Dim let out a soft, sarcastic chuckle, "There's no such thing as monsters." 
> I'm Just Saying
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you coming?" Sweetie shouted from the end of the ramps.

"Yeah... yeah," Dim shut the door behind him. He noticed that Sweetie Belle was getting ahead of him, so he trotted quickly to her. That "rest" Dim took did help his leg a little, it didn't hurt to walk now, but he was sure that if he ran or stretched his leg too much, that it would start to hurt again. He now caught up with Sweetie Belle.

"Hey, um... I have a question," Dim said uneasily.

"What is it?" Sweetie replied.

"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, are they usually like that?" Dim didn't know much about those fillies but he didn't think that they were type of ponies that would go these great of lengths just to embarrass him, or whatever they were trying to accomplish. 

"Like what?"

"You know, like, making traps and stuff?" 

"Well, no. Not at all actually, they've never tried to hurt us, other than calling us names, and they never set a trap like that either. You must have made them really mad or something." she answered. "Also, I forgot to ask, why did Diamond punch you?"

"Wait, you saw her punch me?" Dim's tone changed slightly. 

"Yeah, that's when we decided to come help you. We all thought you could take them both." she replied.

I could easily take them both, he thought. "Okay," Dim said. "Well turns out they almost fooled me twice..." Dim began to blush a little.

"What do you mean?" They continued their way through the woods.

"Well, first she asked if would...." Dim took a breathe. "Kiss her-" Dim didn't get to say another word.

"WHAT!" Sweetie's voice cracked as all the birds flew out of the trees in a panic of crowing and chirping.

"Wait, wait, wait I didn't kiss her of course calm down. Now, I didn't believe her at all so I started to look around to see if she was up to something. After looking around I realized they were trying to do what they did last time, only they were gonna take a picture or something. Silver Spoon was gonna take a picture, she was hiding in the same bush. Tell your friend to put a bear-trap in there by the way."

Sweetie laughed at his joke.

"Anyway, I threw a rock in the bush and it hit her." Before he could start his next sentence, Sweetie spoke up. 

"Wait a minute. You threw a rock at Silver Spoon?" Sweetie's mouth fell open.

"Yeah, why?" Dim asked, but was answered with a hug. "Um..."

A tear came to Sweetie's eye. "I've been wanting to do that forever." she said while hugging him.

"Glad I could help-" Just as Dim began to close his eyes and enjoy the moment, Dim's breath was stolen when 10 feet away from him, was the creature from his nightmare. Just standing there, menacingly. It continued to only stare at Dim. "AHHHHHHHHHH!" Dim shoved Sweetie away, she stumbled. He himself fell to the ground in a panic.

"What is it!" Sweetie said with an angry and annoyed expression. 

Dim, eyes closed, whispered so softly. "Be-behind y-you."

Sweetie slowly turned her head, sweat beginning to drip from her forehead. She finally completely turned around. "There's nothing there you whack-o!"

Dim slowly opened his eyes, shivering. He looked at where he saw the demon. "It was right there a second ago!" Dim was in disbelief, mouth a gap. Dim, in a flash was now next to Sweetie Belle. "Can w-we just get out of these wo- woods?" Dim stuttered.

"You're such a fraidy cat Dim," Sweetie sighed. "We're almost out anyway." Sweetie continued to walk with an annoyed expression. 

"I'm sorry, I'm probably just seeing things," Dim said. "Okay," Dim calmed down, "do you want to know more about what happened?"

"Of course."

"Okay where was I? Oh yeah! Okay, so after the I threw a rock at Silver Spoon," a smile came back to Sweetie Belle's face, "she jumped out with the page-" Dim just realized something, he didn't have the page on him. "I left the page in the club house!"

"Do you wanna go back and get it?" Sweetie asked.

"No, just, whenever one of you three gets your hooves on it, bring it to me. Keep it in a safe place until then." There's no way Dim was gonna stay another un-need second in those woods, not even for the page, plus he trusted those three to keep it safe.

"Okay, so anyway, after she jumped out with the page I ran over to her to grab it and long story short I chased her down and got it back." Dim finished his summary of the previous events.

"Well anytime that those two ever tried something like that on us, they would send somepony else to do it. They've never done something like that one their own." Sweetie told Dim. 

"They send other ponies to do their dirty work for them?" Dim questioned. 

"Well yeah,"

"I'll keep that in mind." he noted. The two ponies were now out of the woods and back at the farm. "So, where are your friends?" Dim asked as looked turned his head left and right. 

"They were in the barn last I checked." 

"Okay," Dim Shadow said. They began to make their way to the barn. Dim opened the barn doors to find many animals, pigs, cows, chickens, etc. 

"Help!" a voiced cried from above "Help!" Dim looked up but couldn't see anypony. "Over here!" Dim looked up even further, to see Scootaloo and Apple Bloom hanging from a support beam with a single piece of rope suspending them from the waist. They were slowly spinning.

"How did you even manage to get up there!?" Dim shouted from below.

"Just get us down!" Scootaloo yelled in response.

"What the hay?" Sweetie Belle said, entering the barn. Dim pointed to her swaying friends up above. Sweetie burst out in laughter.

"Gee, thanks Sweetie Belle. We're glad to see you here to help." Scootaloo sarcastically said, unamused.

"How are we suppose to get you down?" Dim asked.

"I don't know, think of-" The support beam was starting to crack, unable to hold the fillies much longer. "Oh dear." was all they both could say, before they began to fall, screaming.

"I got you!" Dim quickly looked at Sweetie, "get Apple Bloom!" Dim positioned himself under where Scootaloo was falling just in time to catch her, heart pounding. Sweetie Belle also got to Apple Bloom just in the nick of time, catching her. Scootaloo opened her eyes slowly, now realizing that she was okay and not hurt.

"Nice catch." Scootaloo said laughing to hide her embarrassment for the stupid thing she did.

"I can't believe y'all caught me Sweetie Belle. I didn't think you were strong enough to do that. Thanks." Apple Bloom said.

"What were you two even trying to do?" Dim asked confused. He had no clue how it was even possible to get up there.

"I don't wanna talk 'bout it." Apple Bloom said rather slowly. 

"Scootaloo, what were you trying to do?" Sweetie asked tilting her head to the right.

Scootaloo swiped some dust of her. "Uh, it doesn't matter, so what you wanna do?" she asked Sweetie Belle.

They all thought for a second, Apple Bloom was first to speak out, "We could go back to the tree house and-"

"No!" Dim shot up almost instantly. 

"Why?" Apple Bloom questioned.

"Just... just because." Dim replied looking at the ground.

"Tell us why." Apple Bloom said

"Does it matter?" Dim said, avoiding eye contact with her.

"To me it does, now tell me." Apple Bloom started make it sound more like a demand.

Before Dim could open his mouth to say no again, Sweetie spoke.

"He had a bad dream about a monster, and now he thinks it's real and following him." Sweetie rolled her eyes, then Apple Bloom began to laugh.

"Seriously?" she kept laughing. "Y'all scared if a 'lil nightmare." she paused for a second.

"Stop," Dim Shadow was getting annoyed. 

"I just can't believe it, out of all the things you could get scared of, a silly bad dream has got your tail in a twist." 

"Stop," Now Dim was getting frustrated.

"I'm just sayin' you was almost beaten up by those two colts, and this silly little thing is the worst that's happened to you."

"You know, I could," he stressed  the word "could". "put you back up there, dangling and somepony might not catch you next time if you were to fall." Dim said, looking Apple Bloom dead in the eyes. He didn't like being made fun off, no matter who it was. All three of the crusaders now looked at Dim with the did he just say that? face. "What? I'm just saying."



> Reactions and Reasons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Diarch for editing and thanks to TexPony and NightShader for proofreading.


"S-sorry," Apple Bloom stuttered. She didn't realize that she was making Dim mad, she knew that she was maybe annoying him a little bit. "I didn't mean to make you mad Dim, I was just kidding."

"I'm sorry, just please don't so something like that again. Okay?" he said. Dim didn't like being mocked because of fears. You can't help fear, you can get over fears but not things that just happen within half an hour. And especially fears that Dim was facing, something that feels so real. But it wasn't only that, not at all.

Scootaloo was thinking back to when she got scared by Rainbow Dash's campfire story. How afraid she was to even go outside, until she learned that they aren't real and that they can't hurt her. She felt some pity for Dim Shadow and honestly wanted to speak out when Apple Bloom was laughing at him, but she didn't. She didn't want to start a fight with one of her best friends.

Sweetie Belle was actually quite shocked at what Dim said. She didn't expect him to say that. She thought Dim knew that Apple Bloom was only kidding, she didn't mean to make Dim mad. And even if she was, Dim would say that? I guess you know more about a pony each day. she thought to herself.

"Listen, just don't do stuff like that," A small frown came on to Dim's face. "When I was back in my old town, there were some ponies... I don't wanna talk about it."

What happened to him that made him react to something so little the way he did? Sweetie thought to herself. There's a lot about Dim that she didn't know yet.

"How about we just.. uh, I still got nothing." Dim said.

"Any more ideas?" Sweetie Belle said, now getting annoyed.

"Actually, there are a few trees my sis hasn't bucked yet, maybe we can get those apples for her?" Apple Bloom suggested.

"And how do you get the apple's out of the trees?" Dim said, waiting for Apple Bloom to realize why what she said was a bad idea.

"Bucking them... oh yeah, your leg," Apple said slowly, rather in an embarrassed tone.

"Wait, I think I got something!" Scootaloo shouted in excitement.

"What?" all three of the ponies said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"That didn't work out," Silver Spoon sighed, disappointed.

"I see now why you hate him so much, he's smart, in both ways." Diamond Tiara said, wearing a small angry frown. "Do you 
have anymore genius plans?"

"Plenty, but not now."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Yes it does." Silver huffed.

"No it doesn't you can't have something if you don't have it."

"Whatever, I mean I'll think of stuff. He hasn't seen the last of us."

"Calm down, you're starting to sound like an evil villain from a book."

"I can't help it. He's driving me crazy, and not in a good way. Although, I must admit, it gives me something to do."

"I can't believe those three blank flanks had to help him. We would have totally kicked his flank." Diamond smirked.

"Agreed, I can't believe he just pushed you aside like that, nopony would dare to do that!"

"And then there's "Dim Shadow" Mr, I think I can treat Diamond Tiara like that. At first today I thought you were going too far, 
but now I can see why you went so far."

"Good,"

"Hey!" a voice called.

Both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were looking around for who called out.

"Over here," Rider and Heavy Weight walked toward the fillies, they had hell-fire in their eyes.

"Rider you look... mad, is everything okay?"

Rider was about to yell out about what Dim Shadow had done to their little club house, but calmer than a monk on morphine, 
Heavy Weight put a hoof in front of Rider's mouth then said, "No no no no no, let them see for themselves."

"What happened?" they both asked.

"Just follow us and you'll see why we want to destroy Dim Shadow with a brick." Heavy Weight said, keeping the small smile and calm voice.

"Sweet Celestia, what did he do?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Oh, you'll see in a minute Silver Spoon, you'll see in a minute." he said.

"When did you become so calm and laid back?" Rider said confused and somewhat annoyed at how his friend all of a sudden just stopped caring about what happened. So many memories happened in that place and now it was a wreck, sure it could maybe be fixed but that would take work and bits.

"We're almost there."

"Okay, why are you so calm, it's seriously starting to scare me a little."

"No, I'm fine," Heavy Weight said.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were still really confused as to what happened to make Rider look like he was an escapee from an insane asylum.

"Right here," Heavy Weight pointed his hoof to the club house.

"Okay it's your silly little club house, we don't see anything wrong here..." Diamond Tiara said.

"Go inside, take a look." Rider twitched.  

"Ugh, but that place is old and dirty." Silver whined.

"Oh, you'll only be in there for a second or two. Just go upstairs and take a peek. We'll be out here" Heavy Weight gestured the front of hoof, showing them the door.

"Fine," they both entered the club house, "I don't see- why is there a dresser at the bottom of the staircase?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Oh, that's not the big thing, head upstairs." Rider said.

"No, the stairs look like they'll collapse!" Diamond Tiara shouted.

"You'll live, just a quick peek. Do it." Rider demanded.

Diamond Tiara cautiously put a hoof down slowly on the first stair, it was fine, she along with Silver Spoon slowly walked up the rest of the staircase. They made it to the top.

"Oh. My. Celestia." Diamond Tiara let out.

"Move, let me see!" Silver lightly shoved Diamond Tiara out of the way. "Wow... he did this?!" she yelled mouth agape. After a moment of pure shock, they rushed back down the stairs and outside.

"He did that?" Silver exclaimed.

"Yes. He did. And before you ask if we're gonna do something about it, you can bet your cutie mark we will, and you two will help." Rider said, devilishly.

"Yes we will." they said simultaneously.

"Good, lets talk." Rider said.
> Planning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                  Thanks to "Diarch" for editing. Also, thanks to my proof readers "NightShader", "TexPony", and "multiple bronies" 


"Silver Spoon, you said you had ideas in mind earlier." Diamond Tiara said. The group all turned their heads and looked at Silver Spoon.

"Give me second to think," she replied, putting a hoof under her chin and looking off in another direction.

"Anypony else have ideas?" Heavy Weight asked.

"Wait a minute, you two had a book earlier today that he wanted back. Like a journal or something?" Rider brought up.

"Yeah, what about it?" Diamond said, knowing where this was going.

"Think you can you get it again?" he asked.

"Um, I don't think that's a good idea..." Diamond said, remembering how that whole thing went.

"And why is that?"

"Lets put it this way, he threw a rock at her," Diamond Tiara pointed to her friend. "and we only tore out one page. If we were 
to take the whole journal and tear it up or whatever you are planning to do with it, I don't even want to imagine what he would do to you. Just trust me on this one." she insisted.

"The more frustrated he gets the better, plus I think I could take him." he said with a swagger.

All three of the ponies just looked at Rider with the sarcastic "really" expression on their faces.

"What?" Rider said.

"Okay Rider," Heavy Weight began to say. "Today he kicked both of our flanks, both of ours. Imagine if he went after you, with a motive to hurt you. How do you think that would work out in the end for you?"

"Whatever, do you have any ideas feather brain?"

"Well if you want me to be honest, no. We know barely anything about him; likes, dislikes, or fears." Heavy Weight said with the plain face of disappointment.

"Oh, we know something he likes." the two fillies began to chuckle.

"What?" the colts said at the same time, turning their attention to the girls.

"Sweetie Belle,"

"How do you know?" Rider asked.

"Rider, are you some kind of special type of stupid? He was with her all day, she helped him get the journal back, and went off with her. Doesn't that give it away, not to mention that she wrote in her journal that she liked him and he wrote that he liked her."

Rider wanted to get mad but he was more interested in where Diamond was going with this. "Okay, what's your plan DT?"

"We do a little bit of proving our point that you don't mess with us, and Sweetie Belle will be a little messenger." A large, teeth showing grin was slowly appearing.

"Yeah, that'll show him not mess with us!" Rider said with joy.  

"I guess that might work..." Silver said, she just thought of something too. Then I guess what I had in mind will have to  be plan B. she thought.

"So when are we gonna- wait, what are we even gonna do, you've been kinda ominous about it." Heavy spoke up, unclear about what was going to be done.

"Oh, you'll know what to do."

"Okay then, back to what I was saying, when are we gonna do this?"

"Well she always is going to Apple Bloom's almost everyday so we'll get her tomorrow on her way there. It's usually around nine forty five a.m."

"Can I ask how you know this? It's kind of strange." Rider asked, it felt kind of weird that Diamond Tiara knew when and where this filly goes.

"Does it matter?" she huffed.

"I guess not, just curious." he replied.

"Wait, are we gonna hurt her?" Heavy Weight asked, Heavy Weight was never the type of pony that would hurt another pony just to get a point across, especially if it were a filly.

"Not physically, of course not." Diamond said, with a look on her face that seemed to be saying "what kind of question is that?".

"Well now that we have everything established, wait, shouldn't we meet up somewhere?" Heavy Weight asked.

"Here I guess, oh and at lets say nine thirty?" Everyone nodded their heads in approval of the set time.

"So now what do we do?" Silver Spoon asked.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm gonna call it a day and head on home, see you tomorrow." said Heavy Weight letting out a small yawn and then flying off.

"Yeah, I guess I'll go too." Rider said his goodbyes and slowly started trotting away.

It was now just Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon alone. Diamond Tiara was already excited for tomorrow, anxious to do what they planned. Silver Spoon still had no clue as to what her friend had planned, she was being very secretive as of late. Silver Spoon had thought that her plan was much better than what her friend thought up, but she didn't want to bring it up. She'd rather see how this played out, then if that didn't work, she would bring up her plan. Honestly, what ever she has planned, what I have in store is a lot better. He's going down.

"I suppose I'll be going home too, Silver Spoon. Bye," Diamond said, waving a hoof at her friend.

"Okay then, see you tomorrow." Silver said as Diamond Tiara trotted off back to her house.

As soon as her friend was out of sight Silver Spoon went back into the building. She slowly and cautiously went up the stairs, still not trusting their stability. When she got to the top, she stared at what Dim Shadow did and thought How can I top this? she thought that not doubtfully, but rather amused. In her mind, it was kind of becoming a game of "who can do worse?" It wasn't to Dim Shadow though, to Dim Shadow it was just vengeance and nothing more. He wasn't the kind of pony who would turn that into game.
"Whatever Diamond Tiara plans on doing to that "blank flank" tomorrow, it just better be good." she whispered to herself before exiting the room.
> Right about now
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                              Thanks to "NightShader for editing. Also, thanks to "TexPony and "multiple bronies" for pre reading. 



The four ponies began to walk back to barn from their "adventure".

"That was so much fun!" Scootaloo yelled in excitement with a smile on her face.

"I know right!" Sweetie Belle chipped in, also with a big smile on her face, almost extending to her eyes.

"I loved it!" Apple Bloom also said with same expressions as everypony else.

"It sure was fun! I can't believe that all happened. It was such a misadventure. I mean with the go-kart and the beavers, how was what we did even possible?" Dim Shadow said with a small smile on his face.

"I don't know, but it was amazing. We have to do it again sometime." Sweetie Belle said, quite happy and wanting to do the day over again if she could.

"You could say that again," Scootaloo said. "How long was all of that? Dim can you check your watch?" she asked.

"Sure, it's about four. Whoa, we were out for quite awhile. I think I should go home by now, it also looks like it's going to rain." he told the girls.

"Okay then, see you later Dim," Scootaloo said, giving a small wave.

"Bye girls," Dim said to the other two crusaders.

"Bye Dim," the other two crusaders said to Dim also giving a small wave.

"Hey Dim, I've got a question." Sweetie said just as Dim began to walk away.

"Yes?"

"Do you wanna hang out with us again tomorrow if you don't have anything to?" Sweetie Belle offered.

"Do you guy’s hangout with each other every day?" he asked.

"Pretty much," Sweetie answered.

"Sure, but I might sleep in after today so I may be a little late," Dim said, making sure it was okay to be late.

"It's fine, you can show up whenever. You know where to find us." Sweetie Belle said.

"Okay then," Dim replied "see you three later tomorrow I guess." Dim waved again to the three giving a small smile then walking off.

"Bye!" they all said, also giving a friendly smile and wave.

-----------------------------------------------------------------


Sweetie Belle's alarm clock went off, playing a loud but nice classical melody until the button was pressed to stop it. Sweetie Belle asked Rarity if she could have the clock taken out since it was summer, but the only response she got was something about how summer messes up a pony's internal clock or something and then it's hard to wake up when school starts again. However, she did convince her sister to set the alarm an hour later than her normal time to wake up for school. Sweetie Belle groaned then leaned over and turned the clock off by lazily hitting her hoof on it. She was still tired but she knew that Rarity would pester her until she woke up. Luckily Sweetie usually wakes up right before the clock goes off, normally about five minutes earlier or so.

Sweetie stretched and then hopped out of bed, landing on the cool carpeted floor of her room. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the time, 8:04 a.m. the clock read.

"I better start getting ready," Sweetie said, walking out of her room. She walked into the hallway to see her sister holding a bag.

"Sweetie Belle dear, I got your new Cutie Mark Crusader sashes done. How do they look?" she asked, giving Sweetie Belle the bag. Sweetie set the bag on the ground then took out one of the sashes and unfolding it. It looked almost exactly like the one Dim made, but with color.

"They're amazing Rarity, thank you!" she said, hugging her sister.

"It was nothing. I even made one for your "friend"." Rarity said, putting stress on the word friend to tease her sister.

"Thanks," Sweetie said, ignoring her sister's remark. "But he isn't in the group; he already has a cutie mark."

"Give it to him anyways, as a gift or something of the sort." Rarity suggested. Can't she take a hint? she thought.

"Okay, good idea." Sweetie said, liking her sister's suggestion.

"I'd like to keep talking but I have to get ready." Rarity said.

"Ready for what?" Sweetie asked.

"An important client is coming today to see a new dress design and I must look very presentable and official." she said.

"I also have to get ready," Sweetie said.

"Then we shouldn't be stalling each other." Rarity said walking off to another room in the boutique.

"See you later." she said to her sister.

Sweetie then walked into the kitchen to try and make some breakfast. Knowing that she had to leave soon and Rarity was too busy to make anything, Sweetie went into the counter and got two slices of bread and was about to put them into the toaster when Rarity dashed into the room.

"Sweetie Belle no!" she shouted bolting between her sister and the toaster. Knowing her sister wasn't the best cook and remembering the last time she tried to make something on her own.

"What?" Sweetie backed up, a little startled.

"Well, uh um... how about you just have a breakfast bar today? I insist, dear." Rarity said with a large, fake, smile.

"Okay, I guess." Sweetie replied.

Rarity reached into the counter and pulled out a box that contained the bars. She pulled out two and gave them to Sweetie Belle. "You like orange and oats, correct?" she asked.

"Yep, thanks Rarity." she said, opening the wrapper. Rarity then walked out of the kitchen as Sweetie took a bite out of the bar. She took another bite then remembered the bag with the sashes. Sweetie put the two bars on the table and trotted over to the bag she left at the kitchen's entrance; she picked it up and decided to put it by the door so she wouldn't forget them.

"What was I doing? Oh yeah, getting ready," Sweetie said out loud. "I better get in the shower quickly; before it's time to go." And so she did, Sweetie finished her breakfast and got in the shower. I wonder how the others will like the new sashes. What will I do with them if they don't though? That might hurt Dim's feelings. Oh, I hope they like it. she thought to herself. She didn't want the design to be rejected by her friends. Maybe I should have shown them first before I had Rarity make them, dang it.  Sweetie Belle thought the others would like the idea but never really asked them. She just hoped that they'd like it. I'd better get out now. she thought. Sweetie turned the nozzle on shower until it stopped dripping. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself, allowing her coat to dry. After about fifteen minutes Sweetie Belle thought it was about time to go.

"Rarity I'm leaving now!" she shouted, hoping her sister would hear, so she didn’t have to look for her throughout the boutique.

"Okay!" her sister shouted back in response.

Sweetie Belle grabbed the bag with the sashes, opened the door, and headed out on her usual path.

____________________________________________________________


"Where are they?" Diamond angry said out loud. Around this point she was getting impatient.

"Right here, Diamond," Rider said as he came around the corner of the building with a smile on his face, eager to do what today's plans were.

"Good, where's your friend?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"I'm here, I'm here." Heavy Weight said as he too came around the corner of the building, but with a rather plain facial expression as if it were just another day.

"Okay, have any of you seen Silver Spoon yet?" she asked the two colts.

"Nope." they both responded.

"Well she better be here soon because we only have a few minutes before we go and-"

"I'm here," Silver said appearing behind the three. "Did you honestly think I would miss out on something like this?" she said, pushing her glasses up slightly.

"Good, now that we're all here, I think we should get going." Not giving the other three a chance to answer she began to walk to where Sweetie Belle was going to be.

"You never told us exactly what we'll be doing you know..." Heavy Weight said.

"Like I said, you'll know what to do." Diamond replied.

After a few minutes of no talking they arrived at the alleyway of two buildings.

"Now we wait until she comes along. It shouldn't be too long." Diamond said, peering around the corner.

"Okay then," Heavy Weight said, barely tolerating Diamond's excitement.
______________________________________________________________

Sweetie Belle hummed a soft tune trotting down the road, lost in her thoughts. Noticing nopony was around she started to think out loud.

"I wonder what time it is. Dim said he's going to be late I wonder what time he'll be there." Sweetie was about to go back to humming her song when Diamond Tiara stepped out of a nearby alleyway.

"You'll be wishing he were here right about now." Diamond Tiara said as Silver Spoon, Rider, and Heavy Weight stepped out, all of them looking maniacally at her.




> Mental Assault 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Thanks to "NightShader" for editing. Thanks to "TexPony" and "multiple bronies" for proof reading.


Sweetie gulped in fear, her main bullies were all right in front of her; targeting her. Sweetie could barely get away from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and that was with Dim's help. How was she going to prevail against four? She looked around for any means of escape. Sure she was in on the back roads of Ponyville, but she knew they would definitely catch up to her in a second. Dim wasn't going to show up anytime soon. The four began to walk towards Sweetie Belle with sarcastic smiles on their faces. Sweetie began to panic as they started to get closer.

"No pony's here to save you now." Diamond Tiara said happily. "You know, you are the weakest of all three of your stupid little friends. At least they don't cry every time."

"And they don't need a personal body guard to defend them you pansy." Silver Spoon said, speaking down to her. "And what do you even see in this colt? He's quite possibly the worst pony I've ever met, he might actually be worse than you three."

Sweetie started to shake and slowly quiver down.

"Yeah, I bet he doesn't even like you at all! He's probably just using you or pretending because he feels sorry for you." Diamond Tiara said, trying to break Sweetie Belle and get her to cry. Sweetie Belle's teeth were starting to chatter and  small whimpers were escaping her mouth.

"What's in the bag?" Silver Spoon said, picking up the bag and emptying the contents on the ground. Four sashes fell out on the dirty ground. "What are these, capes? Let me guess, they're your stupid "Cutie Mark Crusader" capes." Silver Spoon said Cutie Mark Crusaders in mocking tone, making it sound very childish. "Guys, look at these stupid things!" Silver unfolded one of the sashes to reveal it's design, holding it up showing it to the others.

"Now that just looks stupid; as if it was designed by a five year old." Rider laughed.

"He-hey, p-put those down!" Sweetie muttered, trying to defend herself. Her knees were trembling, she could barely stand up.

"Or what!" Rider shouted in Sweetie's face. Making her back up, she lowered her head to the ground; a small tear coming from her eye.

"Wh- when I tell Dim S-Shadow about this he-he'll-" Sweetie's teeth began to chatter again.

"What will he do, huh?!" Rider yelled right in her face.

"Ple-please stop, I didn't d- do anything." she said, voice cracking and tears now streaming down her face.

"Like I said, you always cry your eyes out. And you wanna know something?" Diamond Tiara leaned in, almost touching Sweetie Belle. "You deserve to cry like the weak, useless, meaningless blank flank you are!" Diamond shouted, spitting on Sweetie Belle.

In Sweetie Belle's mind she was an emotional wreck, she didn't expect this to happen, not at all. The only thing she could hope for right now is Dim Shadow to appear but she knew it would take quite a while for him to come. She wanted to run away from the bullies, back to Dim where she was safe. But she knew that if she tried to escape now it would only make it worse.

"Come on guys, lets let this dumb pony lay where she is." Silver Spoon said, "But you know,I think these would look good in a trash can." Silver put the sashes back in the bag and began to walk off, then kicked a lump of dirt into Sweetie's face.

"Hey, those ar- are mine!" Sweetie said, coughing up some dirt that landed in her mouth. But the other's ignored her. The other three ponies began to walk off too, following Silver Spoon with satisfied smiles on their faces. When they disappeared behind another ally Sweetie let out all the tears she was holding in. Waterfall's of tears were coming out of each eye. Why are they so mean? Can't they just be nice for once? Why would they take the sashes!? They didn't even like them! What am I going to do now? Sweetie Belle didn't know how to handle the verbal abuse she had just experienced. I- I'll just wait for Dim to come. Sweetie picked herself up and went behind a large trash can, still crying her eyes out. How am I going to explain this to Rarity what happened? No I can't! It would only make her look more like a baby.
At that moment Sweetie Belle thought back to Babs, and how she was the only one who said that they should go tell a bigger pony but this felt different for some reason. Sweetie had been crying for a long time, but now it was slowly simmering down. How is Dim going to react to this? He's going to be really mad at them. Celestia, what will he do? Sweetie nearly shuttered at the thought.
___________________________________________
"Bye Mom," Dim said opening the door but waiting for his mom's reply.

"Bye honey, have fun." she answered.

Dim walked out and shut door. I wonder if there are any other paths I can take; I don't think now is the best time to get lost looking though. Forget it, same path Sweetie Belle showed me, maybe I'll catch her on her way there. Dim thought. Turns out he wasn't as late as he thought he would be, only maybe a half hour or so.
Dim began to turn down the street and head through the alleyway. Today was the perfect weather for Dim, dark skies with no breeze and his surroundings also made it rather nice, behind buildings, everything was mostly gray, and he could see the woods. Suddenly something in the corner of Dim's eye caught his attention, a tree. That one tree looks disturbingly tall. It almost looks like a pony. He thought to himself for a moment. Sounds could be heard from that general direction, but he couldn't quite put his hoof on it. Dim stood still for a moment and put his hoof around his ear so he could hear better. Is that coming from the trash can? Dim slowly walked to the trash can around the corner of the building. As he peered over Dim was left dumbfounded and confused at what he saw. Sweetie Belle was crying like crazy and shaking. Dim didn't waste a second.

"Sweetie Belle! What happened, why are you crying?" Dim asked running over to his filly friend.

"Di-diamond Tiara, Silv-Silver, Rider and Heavy Weight all-" Sweetie stopped talking and began to shudder uncontrollably again.

"It's all over now," Dim said wrapping his hooves around Sweetie Belle in a hug. "Tell me what they did. Did they hurt you?" he asked.

"No, they, they just made fun of me, but more than usual and then they stole the new Cutie Mark Crusader capes. Rarity just 
made them too." Sweetie said weeping.

"Okay, don't worry I'm here, they're gone. Now what did they say to you?" Dim asked, looking her in the eyes.

"They said I was worthless and weak. They said you're only my colt friend because you feel sorry for me. Rider also shouted in my face and Silver Spoon stole the sashes." Sweetie told Dim.

"Well you wanna know what's going to happen Sweetie Belle?" Dim asked with a smile.

"W-what?"

"What's going to happen is I'm gonna get those sashes back, teach them all a lesson, and make this day much better. Now go to the club house, I'm going to find Rider and Heavy Weight first. They probably aren't far. You'll have the sashes back soon." Dim said courageously.

A smile came to Sweetie Belle's face and the tears stopped. "Really?"

"Really." Dim answered with a gallant smile.

"Thank you."
> Getting to Know You Better
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                               Thanks to NightShader for editing (maybe Diarch). Thanks to TexPony and multiple bronies for proofreading.

"Don't mention it, it's what I do. Now, go the the orchard and I'll be there with everything before the end of the day." Dim glanced back with a smile and slowly began to walk away. Now, first Rider and Heavy Weight. They have to learn to leave her alone and leave her out of this. Wait no, the sashes are more important. Ugh, I'll have to deal with those two again. Can I go a day without them? They're so irritating. Now, how will I-- Dim dashed back to where Sweetie Belle was.

"Sweetie Belle, wait!"  Dim yelled.

Sweetie stopped and glanced back. "What is it?" she asked.

"Which way did they go?" he asked.

"The ally closest to where I was. Why?" 

"Hoof prints; and this is mostly gravel, so it should be very easy for me to find them." he replied.

"Smart."

"Basic," Dim said before trotting off to the alleyway. When Dim got there he looked at the ground and saw a mixture of what appeared to be hoof prints covered by other hoof prints. The alleyway was thin so Dim walked through it; when he did, the prints became more clear. Since it was still fairly early in the morning, few ponies came down this road, but that wasn't even an inconvenience for Dim Shadow. He followed the tracks, staring at the ground. After about three or so minutes the tracks went in two different ways, the tracks that headed west were much bigger than the ones that continued north, Dim knew  they were obviously Rider and Heavy Weight's. However, now the much smaller prints looked like they were stomped in with a lot more force. Dim continued north, but not for too long before he came upon a large house. He wouldn't call it a mansion but it was much larger than any other house or in fact any building he saw in Ponyville so far. 	

"How am I even going to do this?" he asked himself. "I can't just break a window..." Dim put a hoof up to his chin. "Actually," he said rubbing his chin and narrowing his eyes. After a few more seconds of contemplating the idea Dim noticed the ground; the tracks hadn't stopped at the front door. The tracks went around the house. Dim noticed this so he slowly walked around the large house and peered around the corner. There he saw a white fence which he knew could only be around a pool. Probably meant to keep out animals from the pool. He was about to walk in the back yard before he heard two voices.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Diamond said frustrated.

"Until he gets here, I know he will. He can't not help his little "damsel in distress". I've learned that about him so far, he won't put up with somepony else hurting ponies he likes. I can work with that." Silver said really seriously like it was a part of a master plan to destroy Dim.

"Okay..." Diamond replied. Honestly, she thought that Silver Spoon was getting a little too serious. Diamond didn't think it was a bad thing on her part though, as long as Diamond got what she wanted she didn't care if her friend went insane. 

A trap or something? Probably. Dim thought to himself. I'm pretty sure Silver is crazy or something. I haven't been that bad to her... Oh wait, yes I have. Whatever, it gives me something to do if I have a mortal enemy. Yeah that could be fun.

"Hey, I've been wondering, why haven't we just told our dad's about him? This whole things could be over just like that, you know." Diamond brought up.

"If we do that then our fun is ruined. Are you not having fun trying to make him squirm?" Silver asked.

"True." Diamond replied.

Making me squirm, oh are they gonna have some trouble with that. Lets see what else they say. Rather than reveal himself, he now chooses to be a little spy. 

"Silver, it's hot, do you wanna get a quick drink? It will only be a second." Diamond Tiara asked.

"Fine, but it has to be quick." Silver replied.

"Whatever." Diamond rolled her eyes and opened the glass sliding door. "Just keep the sashes under the table." Diamond said as Silver reached for the bag that had the sashes. "That was all over the ground and it will track dirt."

Silver let out a grunt and put the bag under the patio table then walked inside the house and shut the sliding door.

"Well I guess now is my only chance," Dim said in a sarcastic heroic voice. Dim calmly trotted over to the patio table, moved a couple of chairs and grabbed the bag with his mouth. "Wait a minute," Dim put the bag down and inspected the area around him. "No, this was too easy..." Dim Shadow slowly turned his head from right to left inspecting everything. "Nothing looks out of the ordinary." Dim slowly picked up the bag,, in doing so he hit his head on the table.

"Ow!" Dim yelled in pain, then stumbled  forward hitting a chair and making it fall forward. The large backrest of the chair fell forward and landed on the table. The weight of the backrest made the table fall down and land on Dim Shadow. Dim was trapped under the weight of the fallen table and chair. 
_______________________________________________

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were in the kitchen enjoying their cold drinks when they heard a large bang.

"Did you hear that?" Diamond asked.

"Yes," Silver Spoon said, putting her drink down and running back down the stairs and to the patio where the bag was.

"Wait up!" Diamond shouted, who was still on a different floor.

Silver Spoon opened the glass door and began to walk around Dim. "Well, what do we have here?" she said in a fake surprised voice.  

"I know we haven't become the best of friends, but can you please help get this off of me?" Dim asked with his voice being strained .

"I don't know how you managed this by trying to pick up a bag but now you're trapped under all of this patio furniture," Silver mocked.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Dim said. Now, this was a small problem with Dim, in situations like this he didn't know how to keep his mouth shut, he always had to crack a joke or make a smart remark.

Silver Spoon leaned into Dim's face. "You're just like every other failure we meet. You think you can be better than us, but you can't. Diamond and I are the best, richest, and smartest fillies in Ponyville, anypony else who says otherwise is wrong. Just like you, you're as good as the dirt we walk on." Silver said to Dim, trying to break him. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara did this to anypony who thought that they could stand up to them. This usually stopped them dead in their tracks and they would never mess them again. "You think just because-" she was cut off mid sentence.

"What's happening?" Diamond asked, still inside the house. From her perspective she just show her friend talking to some fallen furniture.

"Come see for yourself," she answered. Diamond trotted over to Silver Spoon's side and burst out laughing at what she saw. 

"Are you kidding me?" she said nearly in tears. 

"I know, only an idiot could end up like this." she turned her attention back at Dim. 

"Okay are you done rambling yet?" Dim Shadow asked annoyed. "I just wanted the sashes, I don't want any trouble."

"That's another thing, Sweetie Belle." Silver was about to start talking again before Dim cut her off.

"Leave her out of this." Dim immediately said.

"What is that blank flank off limits for us to talk about?" Diamond asked.

"Just don't, you can say anything else. Just leave her out of this, please." he pleaded. 

"I honestly don't see why you like her so much, she's just a dumb blank flank who can't defend herself." Silver said, ignoring his request. 

"Stop." Dim said, now trying to wiggle and nudge his way out from under the patio furniture. 

"Trying to get out I see?" Silver Spoon said.

"Don't worry about it, just let it happen." Dim said, trying joke around.

Silver Spoon just rolled her eyes, "Okay, so be it." she jumped on top of the fallen table, adding more weight on top of Dim Shadow.

"Ahh," Dim let out a soft moan as more weight was now pushing on his back."Okay, you know you can't keep me here forever." 

"We know that." they both said.

"Good, because I have somewhere to be soon." Dim said calmly.

"And where would that be?" Silver asked.

"Crusading with Sweetie Belle and her friends." he proudly answered.

"Oh my Celestia they even have you in on that now?!" Diamond started to laugh. "You're such a pansy, just like them."

"A pansy is the one thing I am not." he looked up at Silver Spoon. "Okay, I better get going now as a matter of fact. So can you get off now?"

"Wh-why would I agree to get off or let you go?"  Silver asked, confused as to why he would ask such a dumb question. 

"Because if you don't get down you could get hurt, do you honestly think I can't get out? I could have gotten out the moment this stuff fell on me, now get down." he laughed, now awaiting Silver's reaction. 

Diamond Tiara was just sitting back and waiting to see if Dim was bluffing.

"If you could get out then why would you stay there?" she asked, shocked.

"I wanted to talk, see what you two are like. I must say, I don't like you any more than I did yesterday. And just for the record, you're no better than anypony else in town. I could just sit here and tell you how you're so much worse actually, but I'll do that another day. Now if you'll excuse me," Dim began to lift his back and the table began rise. In one jolt the table rolled off toward the door and Silver fell over. The table was now on top of Silver Spoon, she was trapped under the stand part of it. She tried to lift it off, but she wasn't strong enough. 

"Diamond, help!" she yelled for assistance. Diamond Tiara tried to roll off the table, it was difficult and she had to use almost all of her strength, but she got it off her friend. Meanwhile, Dim Shadow had picked up the bag and had almost gotten out of there. 

"You get him, I need to catch my breath." Diamond said panting after lifting the table. Silver answered with a nod then began to run after Dim. 
_________________________________________________________________
"Hey, wait. I just want to know one thing," Silver said to Dim.

He sighed and put the bag down by his hooves, but didn't turn to face her. "And that is?" he said.

"Why do you want to stand up for other ponies so much? You don't gain anything from it." she asked.

"I genuinely don't know."  he answered.

"Liar." she huffed.

"Maybe I am." he shrugged his shoulders and walked off, Silver didn't pursue him. Dim stopped for a second and turned his head to Silver Spoon. "One more thing, if you ever do anything like whatever you did today," Dim paused. "To Sweetie Belle again I won't be as nice," he said slowly to her.  After that he picked up the bag and was on his way to Sweet Apple Acres. 
> Adventure!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

             Thanks to "NightShader" for editing. Thanks to "TexPony" and "multiple bronies" for proof reading.

After he was a good distance away from the house, Dim Shadow started talking to himself.

"Well that was interesting," he said. "It went better than expected and worked out pretty well." Dim Shadow turned into the alley and continued on his way to the orchard, it wasn't far now. I wonder how Heavy Weight and Rider are gonna react. I don't want to get my hooves dirty, but if they're gonna hit me, I'm gonna hit back. Aw what am I saying, I know they're gonna want to fight. Hopefully that won't be today. After a few minutes, the sweet scent of fresh apples began to fill Dim's nose, he knew he was pretty close by. Dim picked up his pace and began to gallop. In a minute or two he was at the entrance. Entering through the gate, he walked to the barn to see if they were in there. He opened the door and lamentably saw no one was there, Dim gulped knowing that they were probably in the clubhouse where he had that terrifying experience yesterday. Dim slowly walked to the entrance of the pathway to the club house. He stared at it for a while before slowly putting a hoof on the path, he immediately pulled his hoof back.			

"There's no way-" Dim was interrupted by the memory of what Diamond Tiara said, 'You're such a pansy'.  "No, I'm no pansy. I can do this." Dim took a few steps into on the path and continued to walk a little bit more. "Yeah, there's nothing there Dim, just keep walking, you'll be there in no time." he let out a fake chuckle. 

After he was about halfway to the clubhouse he calmed down. "Okay, it's not that bad. I guess I was just seeing things yesterday." he said to himself reassuringly. 
After another minute Dim came upon the clubhouse. Finallyhe thought to himself . He walked up the ramp and knocked on the door.

______________________________________________________________

"Where's Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked frustrated.

"I don't know Scootaloo, I told you. Maybe she's just running late or sleepin' in." Apple Bloom proposed. 

"Can we just start without her?" Scootaloo strained,

"No, Scootaloo. That's one of the groups main rules. 'Nopony left behind.' You were the one who made the rule too!" Apple Bloom said reminding her friend of her deeds.

"Listen, I just think-" Scootaloo was interrupted by a knock on the door. "I got it." Scootaloo said, since she was closest to the door.  She opened the door and was greeted by Sweetie Belle. "Sweetie Belle, what the hay?! Where were you?" Scootaloo asked, annoyed that her friend was this late.

"I-I'm sorry," she sniffled.

"What's wrong?" Scootaloo  asked with a mellowed voice. Apple Bloom walked over.

"I'll tell you girls later," Sweetie shut the door. "But I have an idea." she said.

"What?" the other's asked. 

"I think we should make Dim Shadow a crusader." Sweetie said with a smile.

Both of the other Crusaders face-hoofed "Sweetie Belle, he has a cutie mark. How could he be a Cutie Mark Crusader?"

"Yeah, I know that. But he can help us in our quest to get our marks." Sweetie said.

"True, but I think we should test what he can do first." Scootaloo exclaimed.

"That's not fair, we didn't test Babs and she became a Crusader." Apple Bloom said. "She was super mean to us and we still let her in, why should Dim need a test?"

"Because he has a cutie mark." Scootaloo said as if they should already know this, as if it were part of a rule.

"Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle said, liking the idea.

"But why?" she asked

"I don't know. It just seems appropriate for that to have to happen in a group like this." 

Scootaloo jumped, "New rule! If you want to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders and you have a cutie mark you have to take a test!" 

"I mean okay, I just don't see the big deal." Apple Bloom said still wondering why this was a necessity. 

"Like I said, it think it's appropriate. Now what kind of test should we do?" Sweetie asked.

"He has to steal a bag of gems from a dragon!" Scootaloo enthusiastically smiled

"I don-"

"He has to stay one night in the Everfree Forest!" Apple Bloom too enthusiastically smiled.

"Girls wait! We don't want to get him killed. How about he just helps out for a few days, if he can, then after that we can take a vote?" Sweetie proposed a better way to test Dim.

"Yeah that sounds better." Apple Bloom said, changing her mind.

Scootaloo pondered the idea for a moment before agreeing with a sigh. "Yeah, I guess that can work," she said a little bummed out that he didn't have to go on a life or death mission.

After a few minutes of talking about other things, Scootaloo brought up how sad Sweetie Belle looked when she entered the club house. 

"If you have to know, I had a little run in with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and those other two. They were worse, much worse than usual. I had a surprise for you guys but they stole it." Sweetie said, looking at the ground with a sad expression.

"We have to get it back then!" Scootaloo yelled.

"It's okay Scootaloo, I told Dim what happened and he went to get it back." she said, perking up.

"Wait! You sent somepony to steal something back from those two?" Both of her friends stared at her with wide eyes.

"Do you know what could happen?!" Apple Bloom shouted. "If he gets caught he could get sued, and if he gets sued he gets taken away, and if he gets taken away that'll be your fault."  Apple Bloom frantically said.

"We have to help him now!" Scootaloo was about to get her scooter and burst out the door before there was a knocking. "Who could that be at a time like this?" annoyed she opened the door, it was Dim Shadow holding a bag from Carousel Boutique. "You've gotta be kidding me... that's so cool!" she jumped, fluttering her wings with a teeth showing smile.

"I'm sorry, what did I do?" he cocked an eyebrow placing the bag just outside the door.

"You actually got the, whatever it is! I was just about to try and help you." she said shocked.

"Oh, she told you?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a minute ago," Scootaloo said.

"Speaking of," Dim picked up bag and walked over to Sweetie Belle. "Here you go Sweetie." he placed the bag in front of her and nuzzled her. Apple Bloom smiled while Scootaloo made the motion of throwing up.

"Dim why do you have a mark along your back?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I was under a table for a while." Dim answered.

"Why?" Apple Bloom asked slowly.

"When I reached to get the bag I knocked over a patio table and Silver Spoon thought it would be a good idea to sit on it." Dim explained.

"What?" Apple Bloom asked, still unsure as to what happened.

"When I went after the two and was at Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon's house, I'm not sure which one's house it was. I reached under the table when they went inside to get a drink, I knocked over a bunch of patio furniture and I was trapped under it for a while, or so they thought." Dim got three confused facial expressions ."Let me explain," for a few minutes Dim explained from beginning to end the story of what had happened, however he left out a few things that he thought were a little personal. "Any questions?" he asked the group.

"So she just let you go? Just like that?" Scootaloo asked in disbelief.

"Basically; don't ask why, I don't know myself." Dim answered rubbing the back of his head.

"If that were one of us, they would have probably taken pictures and shown it to all the ponies at school." Scootaloo said kicking the ground.

"I guess they didn't think of it at the time." he said. Dim was looking over to his filly-friend. "You might want to show them what it is." he said nudging her. 

Sweetie Belle unfolded one of the sashes and displayed to the others. They both observed it for a while, not saying anything. Dim was a little nervous about what was about to happen, Sweetie was nervous even more. None of them had approved it although none of them had said they didn't like it. After a while Apple Bloom finally spoke up.

"I like it." she said but with no emotion so Dim couldn't tell if she was gonna say there was one thing wrong with it or if she actually liked it completely.

After another few seconds Scootaloo told her opinion. "They're cool," she said.

"So you girls like them?" Sweetie asked.

"Yeah, nice job making the design Sweetie Belle. How long did it take? Must have took a while." Scootaloo said, putting on one of the sashes. 

"I actually didn't make them." Sweetie said, looking over to Dim. The other Crusaders looked at Dim.

"Rarity?" Apple Bloom asked putting a hoof under her chin.

"Seriously?" Sweetie said face-hoofing, "he did." Sweetie pointed to Dim, who smiled proudly.

"Nice job Dim." Apple Bloom said. "So how long did it take you to make this?." she asked.

"Couple seconds,"

"No way, I don't believe that." Apple Bloom chimed.

"No, I watched him draw it, didn't take that long." Sweetie said, assuring  her friend he wasn't lying. 

"That's cool and all but we're behind on our Crusading." Scootaloo brought up.

"Okay, so what were you planning on doing today?" he asked.

"You'll see when we get there." Scootaloo said.

"Why does it have to be a surprise?" Dim questioned.

"So you don't back out." Scootaloo said walking out the door. Dim looked over at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom who just shrugged. Dim and the others followed Scootaloo out the door. Dim didn't think that the other two knew what Scootaloo was planning to do either or why she was keeping it a secret. Dim wasn't the one who would back out of something as long as it was within reason. If Dim knew it was clearly unsafe or could easily hurt him he wouldn't do it, even if others said he was scared. After another few minutes of silence and following Scootaloo they finally came to a small dock with a raft, oars, life jackets, and helmets.

"Scootaloo, where did you get these?" Dim asked.

"That doesn't matter. Get a life jacket and helmet on, today Crusaders and Dim Shadow, we are rafting." Scootaloo said as if it were some extreme sport.

Dim did as told and put on a life jacket and helmet. "You girls done?" he asked.

"Almost," Sweetie Belle said, strapping on a helmet. "Now we are." she said now starting to walk to the raft.

"Okay," Dim picked up an ore and walked towards the raft, as did the others. They pushed the raft so most of it was in the water; they hopped in and began to use the ores to push the rest in.

"So, you girls like rafting?" Dim asked as they started to row.

"We don't know, we've never done it before." Scootaloo said.

"So, you've never been rafting before?" Dim asked.

"Nope." she answered.

"Well, neither have I." Dim said. Oh yay, an adventure! he thought.

"All we know is that the water gets bumpy and fast, and rocks lots of rocks."

Soon the water began to get faster and faster. "I think the bumpy fast part is gonna happen soon," Sweetie Belle said excited.

"Adventure!" Dim shouted with a smile. The others couldn't help but laugh as Dim broke from his apparently serious nature.  

____________________________________________________________

"And so that’s why Cheerilee is probably a spy from the Griffin nation." Rider said to Heavy Weight as they walked along the river. 

"Diamond Tiara was right, you are some type of special." Heavy Weight said looking at the river.

"You can't prove me wrong!" Rider yelled.

"It's a stupid idea in the first place! Why would you even-"  Heavy Weight was cut as he heard somepony yell something that sounded like the word 'adventure'. "Did you hear that?" he put a hoof to his ear.

"Hear what? I don-"

"Adventure!" he heard a voice yell from what sounded like the river. "Is that..." Rider said as a raft with some familiar faces came thrashing down the river. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"I have an idea," Heavy Weight said, staring at them as they passed by with a half grin. "Get some rocks," he said.
> And Here We go
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                  Thanks to NightShader for editing and TexPony for proof reading.


Rider knew what Heavy Weight was planning to do. He grabbed all nearby stones quickly and handed them to his friend.

"Thanks," he said as he took to sky and began to pursue the fast moving raft with a large group of stones. 
______________________________________________________________

"So how much longer if this gonna be?" Dim asked as he was speeding down the river, drops of water landing on his face.

"Not sure, probab-" Sweetie Belle's voice was interrupted with a swarm of rocks landing on her and the others. The stones nearly filled up the raft.

"Ahhh!" they all screamed as rocks fell on top of them. Everypony dropped their ores as they put their hooves over their heads, in doing so the ores floated for a moment before they sank to the bottom of the river. The others looked up to see the bright orange pegasus following them, laughing as if he just won a battle. 

"I swear to Celestia that when I get out of this raft-" Dim was saying before Heavy Weight interrupted.

"If I were you I'd concentrate on the water rather than me," he said before he stopped following the raft and just hovered in the air. Dim looked forward to see a thick, fallen tree had been blocking their way, it stretched from one side of the river to the other; and they were speeding towards it with no way of stopping the raft. 

"Brace for impact!" Dim yelled just before the raft hit the fallen tree. The raft collided and sent all four of them and a bunch of rocks flying through the air. They all screamed before they plummeted into the water. After a few seconds of being covered in the cold water, the current washed them up on the land. Dim spit out a stream of water, Scootaloo had some plant on her head, Apple Bloom had a small hermit crab pinching her and Sweetie Belle was getting sand out her mane.

"So, now what?" Apple Bloom said, hitting away the crab from her leg.

"Well, do any of you have a cutie mark now?" Dim asked, trying to hold in his emotions of rage and annoyance with trying to cover it with humor. Dim didn't like getting surprised like that.

They all took a quick glance at their flank, knowing their wouldn't be anything. "No," they all said simultaneously. They didn't care about not getting their cutie marks, they knew they probably weren't going to anyways, now they were more curious as to what Dim was gonna do.

"Okay, is anypony hurt?" he asked.

"No," they answered, Isn't he gonna do something? This is totally not like Dim. they thought.

Apple Bloom finally spoke up, "Aren't you gonna do anything?" 

"Of course, they could have killed us, they made us lose the raft, we're all wet now, and frankly I didn't enjoy the water. So yes, but not now," Dim said raising his tone as the he continued. Dim shook his body to get the water off as the others did the same, they were still wet but it helped. 

"So where are we?" he asked looking around. The area where they were was a mixture of sand and dirt with large weeds and plants. Other than that and a few trees Dim couldn't make out much else.

"I'm not sure, I've been in a lot of the woods and beaches in Ponyville and I don't recognize this place," Scootaloo said with uncertainty in her voice.

"Well lets get going," Dim said walking whilst he moved the tall weeds out of his way. After a few more steps he saw what looked like trimmed grass. 

"Oh, it looks like a back yard, come on," Dim said as he ran forward to get out of the weeds. The three fillies walked out of the small patch of plant life, pursuing Dim who was already a bit ahead. They looked back at the place where they crashed, it seemed really out of place. The rest of what could be seen looked like clean cut grass that was kept that way, but it just stopped at the river's side. 

"So we're still near civilization, good so that means we-" Dim stopped talking and just let himself fall on the ground. "Oh, come on! Why!?" Dim shouted flailing his legs.

"What is it!?" They asked staring down at him.

"Just look," Dim said, eyes closed, still laying on the ground without moving a muscle.

The Crusaders looked over the hill and were dumbfounded at the large structure in front of them, it looked like a house but it was enormous. Yet it was not enough to trigger anything suspicious for the three fillies. 

"It's a big house... so what?" They asked clearly unaware of what Dim meant.

"this is either Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon's property. I don't wanna go through there, I just wanna stay as far away from them as possible. With my luck they're probably gonna be right there too," Dim said, starting to standing up.

"They're probably not even home," Sweetie Belle said. By the tone of her voice Dim could tell she didn't want to go through there just as much as he did. Although she didn't want to go through there for different reasons.

Dim shut his eyes and let out a strong exhale, "You're probably right, but just in case... Lets try to sneak around the house for if they are," Dim paused and changed the tone from an annoyed 'I don't wanna do this', to a more serious tone. "And on a more serious note, this is private property so if we get caught we'll be in big trouble," he said quickly. Dim was gonna say more but before he could continue, Scootaloo  began to speak.

"Okay Crusaders, we're about to have some fun," Scootaloo said, "We can try being ninjas again, kinda-sorta," She turned and looked at Dim, "So, how are we gonna do this?" she asked.

"It should be easy enough if we just stick to the side of the the lawn and move quickly. On three just run and follow me. Got it?" he asked, sounding very official. The Crusaders responded with nods. "Also, stay quiet," Dim looked over the small hill and looked left and right. 

"Okay, one, two, three!" Dim dashed to the nearest tree which was rather far from them and wouldn't be wide enough to hide all four of the ponies behind it. However, it was the only thing that could be used as a form of cover. 

The others were slower than Dim so he made hoof motions telling them to hurry up. When they finally got to the tree Dim was relieved, leaving the area of the house wasn't far. "Okay good, if we just make it over there we'll be in the clear," he looked left and right and waited a few seconds before he said anything. "Okay, I don't think we'll have to run this time. I think we'll be able to walk it. Wait, where are we gonna go after this?" 

"Back to the orchard," Apple Bloom answered.

"Okay," Dim replied. "Lets go now," Dim began to walk away from the house with the others. "Well that went better than expected."

"If having rocks dropped on you and crashing is your idea of 'better than expected', then yeah I guess it was," Scootaloo said sarcastically. The group turned down the road to head back into town.

"You know what I mean, we didn't have a run in with those two or anything. So I'd say it went okay even though we could have drowned or gotten a concussion," Dim joked, well not really joked since that all could have happened to them just earlier. He was more less making light on the situation. "So, what are we gonna do when we get back?"

"We're not sure, but we'll think of something," Scootaloo said.

"Okay, so I guess," Dim's face shift from happy to dammit when he saw two figures in the distance of silver and pink. "Girls, stay quiet and just walk, don't make eye contact," he said quickly, then just stared dead ahead.

"What?" they asked confused to Dim's sudden out burst.

"Look, it's them," he said, but then suddenly Dim had a change in mind, Actually, maybe I can play around with this, he thought, a small grin starting to form. "Actually, scratch that. Do whatever,"

________________________________________________________________

"Well I think it's safe to say- Silver Spoon, look!" Diamond Tiara shot a hoof outwards pointing up the street to the four ponies walking down it. "The only reason to come up this road is to get to your house," she said. "What are they doing here?" she said narrowing her eyes. "Should we check it out?"

"Why are they here?" Silver thought for any valid reason. "They couldn't have done anything, could they? Would they even dare?" Thoughts were racing through her head as to why they were there. "Lets find out, shall we?"

The two fillies now shifted to the other side of the street and approaching the group of three fillies and a colt with mixed emotions in their eyes. 

"Just why are you on this road? The only place this road goes is my house, explain yourselves, now!" Silver Spoon demanded, getting in Dim's face.

"Take it easy," Dim couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Nothing went wrong, we just crashed our raft and landed in your backyard," Dim let out. "I swear, we just made our way through your backyard and nothing else,"

"Figures you fools would crash a raft,"  Silver said, lowering her glasses.

"Can we go now?" Dim asked.

"Get out my sight and don't come back here or else there'll be trouble for you. Real trouble ," Silver stressed to make sure to get the point across.

"Oh no, what are you gonna do?" Dim said, trying to mock her and see how mad he could make her. He then just walked away with the girls following him.

Silver simply ignored his comment but not for long. What will I do, what will I do! Does he even know who I am or who my family is?! I could do so much. she angrily thought to herself, hell, all the fillies and colts knew that you wouldn't want to get on her or Diamond Tiara's bad side. They may have not done anything drastic to anypony ever, but they could and they knew it.

"You know what?!" Silver turned around viciously, like a wild animal who was being poked with a stick. Dim turned around to see Silver Spoon angrily trotting to him. Dim didn't do anything but watch as Silver Spoon was only two centimeters  away from touching him. "You've done it! You're gonna wish you'd never met me," she began to push him, but with not much force, though Dim still moved back a bit. "Trust me on this, you. Will. Regret. Everything!" 

The Crusaders and Diamond Tiara just watched this hissy fit unfold. Diamond liked where this was going, though she didn't know what Silver Spoon would do, she liked what was happening. The Crusaders just watched as this wave of hatred fell on Dim Shadow and Silver Spoon.

"Will I? Will I really? There's nothing you could do, nothing you could buy that would make me regret coming here or doing what I've done. Prove to me that you can do something," Dim stared into Silver's cold eyes as the the fire of hatred continued to burn. 

"Oh, I will. And sooner than you think, loser. You better watch your back," Silver huffed out then run up the street, Diamond Tiara followed seconds after. 

"Sorry you had to see that," Dim Shadow said under his breath. Dim was a like antsy now, he's had to issue this challenge once before but that never went anywhere, he was curious as to what Silver Spoon would do; and honestly he wanted it to happen. He was enjoying that fact that somepony was taking their time to think of ways make him feel bad. It made him feel special in his own little way. He felt flattered.

"I-it's fine, but aren't you scared? She can do a lot of things, really bad things," Sweetie shuttered at the thought.

"What's the worst she could do?" he asked.

"Let's just get back to the orchard, when she said 'sooner than you think' that could be at any time, so I wouldn’t recommend staying here for too long," Scootaloo said, a little shaken about what had happened

"Yeah lets go," Apple Bloom began to walk in front of Dim and take the lead of the group, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle also went in front of Dim and now walked with Apple Bloom. Dim didn't say anything to it and followed them back to the orchard. 
__________________________________________

The rest of the day went by pretty nicely, there was no sign of Silver Spoon, there wasn't anymore crusading for the day because the girls were paranoid that something would go wrong because of Silver Spoon. Dim Shadow didn't mind it. For most of the day they played games talked about random stuff, but now the day was ending and it was time for Sweetie Belle to head home, Rarity didn't like her staying out at all when it was dark. Scootaloo didn't have to be home for who knows how long, and Apple Bloom could stay out in the orchard all night if she wanted. 

"Hey Sweetie Belle, mind if I walked you home?"

"Of course not," she blushed. 

Dim didn't want her walking home alone after what happened with Silver Spoon. Dim knew that at some point in the yelling he told her to leave the Crusaders out of this however she never actually agreed to that.

"Okay let's get going," 
_____________________________________

Dim and Sweetie Belle finally arrived at Rarity's house. During their time walking there they talked about how the day went, but mostly about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Sweetie was really concerned about what would happen, she knew that they weren't joking around. Dim didn't mind talking about them at all. 

"Well, see you tomorrow, Sweetie Belle,"  Dim said as he was walking out the door. 

"Wait, do you want to stay for a little while, maybe," she said rubbing the back of her head with a half smile.

"Sure," he said turning back around. But shouldn't we ask-" and on cue Rarity walked in the room.

"Good evening Sweetie Belle, hello Dim. You were intending on staying?" she asked.

"Yep," he answered.

"That's fine with me, but one thing. In case I need to contact your parents for any reason, what may your address be?" she kindly asked, knowing that in the wrong tone, that could sound a little distrusting. 

"Do you have a pen and paper I may use?" 

"Of course," Rarity walked over to an end table and took out what looked like a pad of sticky noted and a pen then placed it on the top of the table. Dim walked over and scribbled down his address. Rarity looked at it, "Hmm, quite a walk away," she said. "Well, then have fun you two."

> Reassurance 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                           Important, please read. This was colab chapter between me and NightShader, my editor. This chapter was suppose to come out a lot earlier and it's been done for almost a month, enjoy.
Edited by  NightShader, proof read by multiple bronies and TexPony.


“I do hope I can trust you two alone in the boutique for a while.” Rarity said, walking over to the exit.

“Of course you can, what can ever go wrong?” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Let’s not talk about what can go wrong darling.” she responded while Sweetie Belle let out an annoyed grunt.

“I’ll be back in half an hour.” Rarity said closing the door behind her, leaving Dim Shadow and Sweetie Belle alone in the boutique.

“So, what do you wanna do?” Dim asked Sweetie Belle.

“Actually, there’s something I’ve been needing to talk to you about...” Sweetie said, her voice’s tone slowly turning sadder as she positioned herself in front of Dim.

No, don’t be what I think it is. Please please please please. Dim thought to himself frantically.

“It’s just, what Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were saying to me earlier," Sweetie Belle let out a long sigh. "That I’m weak, annoying and you’re only with me because you feel sorry. Is it true?” she asked, a small frown coming to her face.

“Sweetie Belle, of course not. You aren't weak at all and you most certainly are not annoying. I’m with you because I like you, I would never go with another pony just because I feel sorry for them.” Dim said, trying to comfort Sweetie Belle and to get those thoughts out of her head.

“But I am weak, you’re the only pony who has stood up for me and you’re the one who has stopped those ponies. I've done nothing except sit back and watch.” she said lowering her head.

“Everypony needs help once in awhile, and I don’t mind helping you out. Just because you don’t take action when I’m there doesn't mean you’re weak, my special talent is helping other ponies out in these types of situations.” Dim said laying a hoof on her shoulder. “Weren't you the pony who got my journal back from those two?”

“Well, yeah I guess.”


“It takes true bravery to do that kind of stuff, I mean you could have gotten hurt by those two or something like that. And I wouldn't have gotten it back without you.”

“If I’m not weak then why do I cry every time they do something to me?”

“Oh come on, you don’t cry every time.” 

“Well, maybe sixty percent of the time I do.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re weak, it’s just how you cope with your emotions. Everypony cries, Sweetie Belle.”

“Then why don’t you? You said you never cry, Dim.” 

“I’m different that way. It’s hard to get me to cry, very very hard.”

“They also said that the only reason you’re with me is because you feel sorry for me.”

“Sweetie Belle I told you I’m with you because I like you, not because I feel sorry for you. If I felt sorry for you I would have only stayed a friend. Now I’m more than that, and enjoying every moment of it.”

“Do you really mean that?” Sweetie asked with a small smile on her face.

“Do I really need to answer that?” Dim replied playfully nudging her shoulder. Sweetie Belle visibly perked up at this.

“No, I guess you don’t have to, Dim.” she said looking into his eyes. 

“So what do you want to do? Well actually since this is your place what can we do?” Dim asked.

“I know something...” Sweetie Belle said leaning closer towards Dim, now almost face to face with him.

“Close your eyes.” She whispered, causing Dim to hesitate but still do it.
“PILLOW FIGHT!” she screamed grabbing a hold of a pillow and throwing it towards Dim. It caught him square in the face.

“It’s on now.” he said, as the war of the pillows commenced.

After several minutes of heavy warfare both of them are exhausted. Dim collapsed on the couch and let out a yawn.

“I guess you win.” he said resting his head on his hooves.

“It’s not over yet.” she said sneaking behind him, giving him another smack on the head with the pillow. Dim quickly regained his composure and tackles Sweetie Belle.

“Okay then, I win.” he said grinning while he holds her down.

The sound of the doorbell tingling interrupted the battle as they both look over to the door.

“Who is it?” Sweetie asked who ever it may be outside the door.

“THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” Was screamed in unison from behind the door.

Sweetie Belle unlocked and opened the door, revealing the crusaders who stood behind it.

“Hi Sweetie Belle, we was wonderin’ if we could hang out at your place for a little bit.” Apple Bloom asked.

“No, Rarity trusts us and wants us to be responsible as we look after her boutique.”

“Cool! We’re all alone now?” Scootaloo asked with a big smile.

“We, are. You two have to go before Rarity comes back.” Sweetie Belle said. But it was of no use as the two other fillies simply ran right past her.

“What’s up with the couch? All the pillows are spread across the room...Were you two doing a...”

“Pillow-fight?” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom said in unison as they giggled in glee and ran towards the pillows and started to throw them in random directions.

“Girls I don’t think it-” Dim got off mid-sentence when Scootaloo hit him in the face with a pillow.

“Girls ser-” he got hit again with a pillow.

“Okay, then be like that.” Dim picked up a pillow and tossed it across the room, hitting something. “Got you.” he said.
“Uh, Dim you didn’t hit anypony.” Scootaloo said.

“But I heard it hit something, it didn’t sound like a wall.” Dim looked over to where the pillow had landed to see some other white thing. “What’s that over there?” Dim asked, trotting over to the unknown object. He noticed something move a little. Moving closer he realized that it has a head and paws. “Oh, I didn’t know Rarity had a cat, Sweetie Belle. Here kitty kitty.” Dim began to approach Opal.

“NO!” All the crusaders scream in unison.

“Why, it’s just a-” Dim’s face was violently scratched at. “Okay, dangerous kitty.” he said as he sped back to the other side of the room. Opal did the same, but instead scurried upstairs.

“Told you so.” one of the crusaders said.

“Why did it hurt me?” Dim asked Sweetie Belle.

“She kind of hates everypony except Rarity,” she answered. 

“I wish I knew that before, I think the cuts are starting to bleed.” Dim said as he rubbed his hoof on his cheek revealing a small amount of blood. “Do you have any band-aides?” he asked.

“Plenty in the bathroom.” Sweetie Belle replies “And as for you two, I think it’s best if you go now before Rarity comes.”

“Fine.” they grunted as they walk over to the door. The moment they left, Sweetie Belle lets out a deep sigh.

“That wasn't that bad.” she mumbled trotting over to the couch and spreading herself on it. After a few minutes Dim returned, without a band aid.

“Why didn’t you grab a band aid?” 

“It stopped bleeding after I rinsed it. Care to warn me about other cute but lethal animals before they attack me?” Dim said at which Sweetie Belle simply lets out a giggle.

“So now what?” Dim asked.

“Well, we could do makeovers?” Sweetie suggested with a smile.

“Um, I’m a colt; I can’t get a makeover, that’s filly stuff. ” Dim said eyeing her with a confused look. He then laid his head back on his hooves and lets out another yawn.

“A quick nap won’t hurt.” he said closing his eyes. Sweetie Belle walked over and placed herself next to him as well.

“Tired already?” she asked while nuzzling into his back. “Wait until we go crusading again.” she said giggling. At this, Dim re positioned himself, grabbing a hold of Sweetie Belle in the process.

“No adventure talk, sleepy time now.” he said while he held her in his embrace. She felt soft and warm as he could feel her lungs vibrate at every breath she took. It was very soothing.

“Okay,” Sweetie inched a little closer pressing her chest flat against his side. “But we have to put the pillows back before any sleeping.”

“I guess you’re right,” Dim said getting off the couch and walking towards the closest pillow. “Help me?” Dim asked.

“Right.” Sweetie agreed as she too picked up a pillow and placed it on the couch. “There’s a few more over there” she pointed to the mid-center of the room.

“There’s a few more everywhere.” Dim said looking around.

Several minutes of picking up pillows later, they finally were done getting all the pillows that were scattered all across the room. The last bits of energy were now drained from their bodies.

“Ugh, my body.” Dim said as he trotted back to the couch, slowly as he didn’t want to lose anymore energy. Sweetie Belle simply followed him.

He dropped himself back on the couch she dropped herself next to him again, holding him tight she commenced to nuzzle his neck once again as she layed there savoring the warmth in his embrace. It felt good being so close to him, she felt safe and loved.

She moved her head closer and placed a small kiss on his cheek.

“Thanks Dim.”

“Thanks for what?” Dim asked half opening his eyes.

“For being there for me when I need you the most, even though it’s only been a few days.” she said tightening the embrace while she pressed her cheek against his chest.

“It’s what I do. You’re special to me, don’t ever forget that.” Dim sa. Sweetie Belle closed her eyes as she rested on his chest, breathing softly in his embrace she let out a small yawn as she cuddled closer to him. Several minutes later Dim could hear light snoring from the filly sleeping soundly on his chest. With a satisfied smile he closes his eyes as well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I’m home,” Rarity said entering the boutique. Entering the main room she saw Sweetie Belle cuddled up close to Dim Shadow, her head laying on his chest as they were both fast asleep.

“Aren’t they just precious?” Rarity said softly. She slowly trotted upstairs into her room, after grabbing a blanket she returned downstairs back to the two. She walked over and lays it on them. 

“Maybe I should go to Dim’s parents and ask if they’re comfortable with a sleep over.” Rarity said leaving the boutique.

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes wide.

“Dim, did you hear that? We’re going to have a sleepover!” she said  letting out a squee in delight. Sweetie Belle nudged Dim a few times to wake him up. He half opened his eyes and looked over to the white filly who was now practically bouncing next to him.

“Hmm?” he asked a bit groggy and not knowing why she was so happy.

“Didn’t you hear? Rarity said we could have a sleepover!” she continued bouncing. 

“Really?” he asked with a smile on his face.

“Yes!” she said tackling him into a hug. “This is going to be so much fun.”

Dim just grinned at the sight in front of him. Maybe it was going to turn out fun after all...

> Filler
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

              Thanks to NightShader for editing. Also thanks to multiple bronies and TexPony for proof reading.



"Well then I guess no sleep for a while." Dim said hopping off the couch.

"Of course not silly!" Sweetie said as she continued to hop around the living room in glee and excitement. She didn't even know what was gonna happen and she had nothing planned but that didn't matter to her. 

"So it may take Rarity a while to get to my house and back, so what should we do until then?" he asked.

"Well maybe we could-" she was stopped mid sentence when she had a realization that caused her to stop bouncing and make her ears go down. "Wait, what if your mom and dad say no?" she asked in a sad voice.

"Trust me, they will," Dim Shadow said, his parents always had little to no worry about Dim being a little unsocial with the other ponies. Whenever Dim would bring up that he made a new friend, which was a rare thing, they would be happy for him. One of their main worries was that Dim wouldn't make any friends or it would take a while. Dim never had a sleepover before, and his parents would be very excited that not only has Dim made a friend in the short few days that they've been here, but now he wants to spend the night there as well.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Just trust me." he said before changing the subject. "So, what do you do at sleepovers?" he asked shrugging. 

"You've never had a sleepover before?!" she asked both confused and excited. Sweetie Belle loved to have sleepovers, not only because she was allowed to stay up extra late but also because she got to be with her friends for the whole night; and if it was with somepony as special as your colt-friend it could only be that much more fun. 

"Nope. Is it really that f-" Dim didn't get to finish, Sweetie Belle began to happily and quickly hop in one place by quickly switching her front right hoof and back left hoof really fast and let out a feminine squeak. 

"Sleep overs are super duper mega fun!" she said loudly.

"Okay, you seem a little excited about all this. "Dim said taking a small step back.

"S-sorry," she said finally stopped moving.

"So what should we do until Rarity gets back?" 

"Ummm, I don't know. What do you want to do?" she asked unsure.

"Well what do ponies normally do at sleepovers?" Dim asked.

"Play games, watch movies, eat a lot of junk food, and a ton of other fun stuff," she said happily, ears perked up. 

"Well it's still pretty early and it's gonna be a while until Rarity gets back from my house, so what do you want to do?" He asked putting a hoof just under his chin.

"Oh! I have an idea!"

"And that is?"

"We can make snacks and stuff."  she pointed to the kitchen with a smile, a little too enthusiastic.

"Okay, sure." Dim responded.

Sweetie took the lead and walked towards the kitchen, quickly after that, Dim entered the kitchen with Sweetie Belle and noticed that it was extremely clean and it had clearly been washed recently. It was an average kitchen though, nothing special about it.

"So what are we gonna eat?" Dim asked.

Sweetie looked around at each cabinet and drawer, trying to remember the contents of each. Rarity didn't usually let her in the cabinets or let her cook anything for some reason that was unknown to her. 

"Um, lets look around." she suggested walking towards the closest cabinet and opening it to see what was inside.

"Okay, anything in there?" Dim asked, moving his head to try and see the contents of the cabinet. 

"Just pots and pans and stuff like that, nothing that we can eat." Sweetie was about to close the cabinet when a bunch of pots and pans slid out with a thundering bang as they hit the floor, one by one. She backed away quickly, "Oops!" she said as her ears went down.

"How did that happen? I saw those were stacked on top of each other, there's no way those could have just slide out." Dim let out confused.

"I'm kind of a little bit of a klutz..." she slowly said with a little fake smile to hide her embarrassment.   

"B-but, that doesn't-" he let out a sigh. "whatever." 

"You start looking, I'll put these back." 

"Got it," he said walking over to the refrigerator. He opened the door and a small cold wave blew over him. Upon investigating the contents of the refrigerator he noticed something wrapped in plastic on a plate towards the back. After carefully moving other items aside he found a couple of sandwiches in plastic wrap. "Hey Sweetie Belle, I think I found something," he said turning his head to face Sweetie.

"What?" she asked putting the last of the pans back into the cabinet.

"Sandwiches." 

"That works I guess," she said walking towards the refrigerator.

Dim pulled out the cold plate with his mouth and began to walk towards the table. He set the plate down.

"So now what do we do?"

"Well, usually at sleepovers-" Sweetie Belle stopped talking and turned her attention to the Rarity who just came back from Dim's house with a bag in her mouth. She set the bag on the ground and walked into the living room, not noticing Sweetie Belle and Dim in the kitchen

"Where are they?" she said aloud.

"We're in here Rarity!" Sweetie shouted from the kitchen. 

Rarity hearing that Sweetie Belle was in the kitchen trotted quickly to the kitchen to make sure everything was still intact and that there were no fires.

"Ah, I see you two got something to eat. I have a surprise for the both of you." she said happily with a smile.

Sweetie Belle and Dim Shadow already knew what Rarity was going to say but they chose to act surprised to make Rarity feel a little happy.

"Dim, would you like to sleep over tonight dear?" Rarity asked.

Sweetie Belle jumped up with a large smile and ran over to hug Rarity. Rarity smiled and looked down a Sweetie Belle then looked over to Dim who put on smile and nodded a couple times.

"Well that's good because I've already taken the liberty to go to your house and ask your parents. They agreed and we had a talk with each other for little bit, they assured me you would be no trouble. They packed you a bag, I put it by the door." Rarity cleared her throat. "Sweetie I must have a small talk with you really quick however." she said sternly. 

Sweetie detached herself from Rarity's leg and followed her into another room, leaving Dim in the kitchen.

"Okay Sweetie Belle, this is your first sleep over with a colt, so I must set a few rules." Rarity began to say in a commanding voice.

"I know, I know." Sweetie Belle said, knowing what Rarity was probably going to say.

"I'm not sure you do, so let me tell you. Unlike when you have a sleepover with your friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, Dim may not sleep in your bed. He has to use a sleeping bag, Understand?"

"Yes, Rarity." Sweetie sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Good, you may continue with what you were doing. I have some preparations to make," and with that Rarity walked off. Sweetie Belle didn't see where she was going but by the looks of it she was heading towards the basement. 

Sweetie Belle returned to the kitchen to find that Dim had taken the plastic off of the sammiches.

"So what was that about?" he asked taking a bite from the sandwich. 

"She said that since you're a colt you have to sleep in a sleeping bag and you can't sleep in my bed." Sweetie boringly said.

"Oh, I see," Dim quickly changed the subject. "So what do we do after we eat?"

"Umm.. what time is it?" she asked.

Dim took a look at his watch, "About 8:00." he answered.

"Okay then how about we-" Sweetie Belle was interrupted when Rarity called them from the living room. 

"Sweetie Belle, Dim, come to the living room!" she called.

Dim got up and the two trotted over to the living room. Upon entering, they saw a projector set up and Rarity holding a movie reel. "Who here wants to watch a movie?" Rarity said with a chime in her voice.

"What kind of movie?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"A classic movie, Landais and the Trakya."

"What's it about?" Dim Shadow asked.

"Watch it and you'll find out, darling. Are you interested?"

Sweetie Belle and Dim exchanged looks then shrugged. "Okay," they both said simultaneously. They walked over and sat on the couch.

"Marvelous," she said putting the reel in it's slot. She turned on the projector and after a few seconds the film flashed on.

3

2

1

beep

> By a River
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                     Thanks to NightShader for editing. Thanks to multiple bronies and TexPony for proof reading. 

It was a beautiful midsummer night. There was a soft breeze flowing through the air, Silver Spoon hummed happily as it passed through her mane. It was past the time Silver Spoon had to be in bed, however she couldn't get to sleep. Since Silver Spoon's family was quite wealthy they had newer forms of Equestrian technology, in this case a small portable radio. Silver Spoon grabbed it from the dining room before she snuck out. There was a small patch of overgrown plant life in her backyard by the river. Well actually it was at it's normal length and height but compared to the trimmed leaves, trees and bushes it looked out of the ordinary. 

She continued to walk through her backyard to that spot. She always liked that specific spot ever since she came to Ponyville a while back, Luna's moon always seemed to shine just a little brighter there. 

Silver Pushed away the tall grass to reveal the sandy section that hadn't been removed and replaced with dirt like the rest of the yard. She placed the radio down and tried to find one of the few stations that played either classical or orchestral music, she wasn't a big fan of new style music. 

After she finally found the station and as a light violin piece came on she began to think to herself. Why is it I can't get to sleep tonight? she pondered the idea, Of course, him. She was referring to Dim Shadow. I never really thought about what I was gonna do to that peasant, oh the possibilities... she put a hoof up to her chin,I promised my worst but should I really do my worst? Yes! Without question, if I don't get my point across that nopony in all of Equestria may disrespect me, I'll look like weakling and a pushover.

Silver Spoon began to talk out loud, "What could I do? I could take that journel again and make copies of it... no that would take too long, but it would make a good plan B. Wait a minute I think I got something..." a large evil grin formed on her face, this plan was so easy and so good, "Actually... perhaps I should save that for some other time." After another couple of minutes of thinking Silver Spoon finally established an idea of what she was gonna do. It wouldn't be her worst but it would send the message. "I guess I'll stay out here for a little longer, it's quite a beautiful night." she said as another soft breeze came in.

"Yeah it is, isn't it," a familiar voice rung behind her.

Silver Spoon immediately got on her hoofs and spun around  to see who she thought it was, she was right in her assumption. She knew if she shouted she could wake up her parents so she tried to keep her voice down. "Why are you here, Dim? I can get you arrested if I wanted to for trespassing on private property!" she backed away from him.

"Calm down, calm down. Can't a pony just enjoy the night?" he asked.

"Stop it! I know you're not here to 'enjoy the night', explain yourself right now," she hissed.

"Just because," a smile crept on his face.

"I will destroy you if you don't-" Dim put a hoof up to Silver Spoon's mouth.

"Do you need a reason for everything?" Dim interrupted, rolling his eyes.

"Well in this case seeing as you're on my family's property in the middle of the night, then yes I do!" she said arching her eyebrows as she raised her voice.

"Good point, um... this is kinda hard to explain..." Dim said rubbing the back of his head.

"Explain it quick before I lose my remaining patience." Silver Spoon huffed.

"Fine, fine... I guess it would just be better if I showed you..." Dim blushed and began to sweat a little.

"What are you-" Silver didn't finish her sentence. Dim put his lips up against Silver Spoons in a passionate kiss hoping she wouldn't kill him for doing that. She tried to fight it for a moment but she stopped almost immediately. She was liking this a lot more than she felt she should have. She put a hoof around the back of Dim's neck and returned the kiss with more passion than Dim was intending, this included tongue and all. She finally broke away and stared him in eyes for a moment then stared at the sandy ground before she mumbled something.

"You can stay if you want..." she mumbled blushing and pawing at the sand with her hoof. 

Dim was about say something however Silver Spoon was being broken away from her current realm, Dim started fading with the rest of the landscape and after a few seconds she was looking at a black ceiling, there was a little light shining through a window which happened to be perfectly angled on her eyes. She had forgotten to close it the last night and she usually didn't wake up  for at least a few more hours as it was still morning. Lazily she shuffled out of her bed and nearly fell to the ground when she shuffled a bit too much, she did land on her feet though. Then it hit her, she remembered her dream. 

"If only..." She said softly in response to the memory,  then she shut the curtains and returned to her bed in hopes to continue the dream, even though it was unlikely she pleaded with Luna for the dream to pick up where it left off.
> A Couple Questions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          Thanks to NightShader for editing, thanks to multiple bronies for proof reading.

As the movies credits began to roll along the screen and the outro song began to fade in Rarity let out a soft yawn and asked, 

"So how did you two enjoy the movie? I thought it was particularly amazing as always," she waited a moment but with no response from either of them. Rarity was about to ask again until she turned and noticed the two fast asleep, Dim's hoof loosely around the back of Sweetie Belle's neck. 

"Aw," Rarity let out with a chime. A couch is not a proper place to sleep. Rarity thought. She then made the decision to nudge to two awake. She began to lightly tap Sweetie Belle on her shoulder until she awoke. 

"Hmm?" Sweetie Belle drowsily perked her head up and felt Dim's hoof gently slide off her.

"If you plan on sleeping now you should do so in bed, darling," Rarity whispered. "I'm going to go find your sleeping bag so Dim can sleep in it. Remember what I told you," Rarity said slightly narrowing her eyes whilst giving Sweetie Belle a stern look.

Sweetie let out an annoyed groan, "I know, Rarity," she huffed in response.

"Just reminding you." Rarity said before walking off.

Sweetie Belle let out a short yawn then looked over at Dim who was still resting, a small smile came upon her face. Sweetie Belle quickly looked left and right before quickly, but gently, kissing Dim on the cheek. She looked left and right again after she was done just to make sure nopony was there. She tapped Dim a couple times in effort to wake him up.

"Dim," Sweetie began shaking him but to no avail. "Dim Shadow!" she shouted, immediately waking Dim up and startling him at the same time which overall resulted in him falling off the couch.

"What?" Dim asked a little annoyed.

"Oh sorry, are you okay?" 

"Yeah I'm fine. So why did you wake me up?"

"Rarity says we can't sleep on the couch so she woke me up and told me to wake up you up to tell you we can't sleep on the couch."

Dim hesitated for a second, "What?" 

Sweetie Belle let out a frustrated sigh. "We have to sleep in my room, not the couch."

"Ah okay," There was a short awkward silence. "So where did Rarity go?"

"She went off to find a sleeping bag for you."

"So what should we do now?" Dim asked.

"Well, I'm pretty tired," Sweetie Belle said before a thought suddenly hit her. "But don't worry! We'll do a whole lot of fun stuff tomorrow!" she said. Sweetie Belle thought that since they were going to bed earlier than she thought, Dim would be disappointed. She didn't want to make Dim upset. Unknown to Dim, Sweetie Belle  was worried that if she slipped up Dim wouldn't want to be around her anymore. But now isn't the time for explaining this.

"It's fine, it's fine." Dim wondered why Sweetie Belle was all worked up. "I'm tired too."

Dim was about to continue but Rarity entered the room with an orange sleeping bag and turned his attention to her.

"I see you're up, here take this," Rarity tossed the sleeping bag from across the room to Dim, which hit him in the head. It was kinda a small warning from Rarity and Dim knew that. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Rarity said.

Dim rubbed his head, "It's fine, it was my fault for not catching such an easy toss." 

Rarity didn't argue. "Either way, I still apologize. You may want to head off to bed now if you're tired."

"Come on, Dim." Sweetie Belle said pulling at Dim's leg before she walked off to her room, Dim followed shortly behind her.

Upon arrival in Sweetie Belle's room Dim rolled out the orange sleeping next to Sweetie Belle's bed side. Since both of them were just kids they didn't change their minds about going to bed when they entered the room like most teens or older kids do.

"So... now what? We just sleep?" Dim asked.

"Well, yeah," Sweetie responded. "Actually we can still chat until we go to bed."

"Okay then, what do you wanna talk about?"

"Stuff," Sweetie said.

"What kinda stuff?" 

"Just stuff."

Dim wiggled into his large sleeping bag knowing that Sweetie Belle probably wanted to talk about something specific. Dim pondered on what she might want to talk about but he couldn’t make a final decision of what it could be about. After turning off the light and jumping into bed, Sweetie Belle spoke.

“Hey Dim, can I ask you a couple of questions?” she said a little cautiously.

“Sure, what’s on your mind?” Dim responded.

“What do you think Silver Spoon is gonna do?”

Dim chuckled, “Who knows, it probably won’t be that bad no matter what she does. She might even do nothing at all.”

“But what if she does something like, like… um, really bad like make us not see each other again?” She said as if even speaking about that would give Silver Spoon the idea.

“Sweetie Belle, nothing she could do could break us up. No threats or anything, she’s all bark and no bite. And even if she does go through with anything, I can handle it.” Dim said trying to calm down Sweetie Belle, hearing the worry in her voice.

Sweetie Belle was still a little worried, “But she said she would do her worst and she has money and money can do anything!”

“I don’t think she would go as far as what you’re implying, Sweetie Belle. Listen, lets see what she does first and then I’ll handle it.”

“We’ll.” she corrected.

“We’ll?” 

“Yeah, we’ll handle it. I don’t want you to go at it alone if it’s what I think it is.”

That made Dim smile. He didn’t expect Sweetie Belle to say something like that. Nopony ever said something like that to him, it was always just him in those situations. 

“Yeah,” Dim took a breath in, “we’ll handle it.”

“Okay, second question.” Sweetie Belle said with a little pride in her voice.

“Ask away,”

She hesitated for a moment. “C-can I sleep in the sleeping bag with you?” Her words fading as she said them.

Dim was a little shocked when she said this. “But didn’t Rarity say-”

“She said you can’t sleep in my bed, she didn’t say I can’t sleep in the sleeping bag with you though,” she said in a correcting tone.

“Don’t you think she would get really mad at us?” Dim knew he had no way out of this and he liked that.

“I don’t care.” Sweetie quickly said.

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” 

Sweetie jumped out of bed at the end of his sentence. She walked over to Dim and crawled into the sleeping bag after Dim scooched over. She immediately put him into a massive hug, one which he returned.

“Good night, Dim.” she said happily with a soft voice

“Good night, Sweetie Belle.”
> Hired Gun
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Edited by NightShader. Proofread by multiple bronies

Silver Spoon woke up with a satisfied yawn upon instant remembrance of last night's dream. Oh the fun she had in that dream, hugs and kisses galore and more. It was so confusing to her. Her eyes went wide remembering that dream, "What?" thoughts were racing through her head Why did that happen?! No! That's not how it works! I don't like him! she hopped out of bed in an annoyed fit against herself. After another string of mixed thoughts consisting of both positive and negative, she walked to the shower. She turned the knobs on the shower to get the perfect temperature she needed. "I don't like him in anyway! There's no chance in the world I'd like him." she said as the hot water began to cascade her in warmth.

Then why did I dream of him, and why did I plead with Luna to continue that dream? her conscience rang.

"I don't know!" she yelled, "It was probably just dream me wanting to keep that, that, germ there. I wasn't thinking straight." She wasn't worried about her parents hearing her since they were either at work or sleeping yet and if they weren't awake then Silver wouldn't wake them. Her parents could stay asleep if Discord was surging chaos right outside.

Then why did I continue to do... stuff... when I went back to sleep. I had complete control over that dream last night.

"Because shut up!" she yelled grabbing a bottle of expensive shampoo and throwing it against the showers wall, emptying the majority of it's contents in the tub. "If I had the option I would go back to bed, dream him up again, then beat the living Tartarus out of him! I could probably beat the living Tartarus out of him in real life too!"

Don't even try, I know I can't.

"Oh yeah?!" she kept yelling as warm water continued to rain on her.

I shouldn't do what I'm thinking, no good could come out of it

"I'm right, no good can come of that..." Silver Spoon was, of course, referring to her trying to physically injure Dim. "I couldn't do that, but he wouldn't be allowed to punch or kick back since I'm a filly. But what would that achieve?" she said all the while making obscure hoof gestures. "Wait a moment," Silver Spoon had a lightning bolt of knowledge hit her in the head when she remembered the decision of what she'd do in her dream last night.

She recalled herself saying it wasn't her worst doing but it would get the message across. Silver Spoon, after having to hang around Rider and Heavy Weight for a while, made a few "friends" at the park. Not the type of friend that you would would hang out with after school, it was the type of friend that you could hang around and not want to get as far away from them as possible. Basically she'd made some acquaintances.

He couldn't take them all at once, but they could take him all at once. a cynical smile erupted across her face with the thoughts going through her head. Dim on the ground, broken, defenseless, in pain. Him pleading them to stop and trying to yell for help. Then as he finally mustered up the strength to open his eyes, he would see her standing over him in triumph.
Her defeating him and him knowing that. The mere thought made her want to do this right now

Where does that blank flank fall into all of this? Does she even need to be involved at all? Silver spoon pondered the idea of making her watch. No, she might get away and tell somepony. Just target him... for now.


After a few more minutes in the shower contemplating how her plan would be set in motion, Silver Spoon established a pretty basic plan in which she saw no problem in, it was easy to do and fool proof. Thinking it up was one thing but actually doing it was a whole other ordeal. 

After turning off the water, Silver Spoon got out of the shower. The bathroom was filled with steam, the mirrors were thick with condensation and the air was warm. She jumped out of the tub and grabbed two towels, one specifically for her mane and the other one for the rest of her body. She opened the door and was hit by a very cold breeze with steam escaping around her.

After about an hour of drying off, styling her mane, applying various perfumes, and going over and making revisions to her plan, she was finally ready to depart towards the park where all the ponies that took gym class too seriously were at. She was well respected there, mainly due to her wealth. It was about 10:30-ish when she finally arrived, fully prepared to do what she was going to do. 

As she entered the park a few heads turned as she walked by and a few ponies greeted her, to which she replied with either nodding her head or a simple hello. After only a couple of minutes she found those who she was looking for. There was group of five colts. There were three Earth ponies, one pegasus, and one unicorn.

The three Earth ponies all had different color patterns. The tallest one had a light green mane and dark green coat with orange eyes. He also had a messy mane. His cutie mark was what looked like crowbar. The other two were about the same height although one was about an inch or so taller. The slightly taller colt had a gray mane and light red coat, it wasn’t pink but it may as well have been considered pink. His cutie mark was clearly a hoofball helmet. The final one was just pure yellow with green eyes and his mark was just a plain old catchers mitt.

"You three Earth ponies, come here." she commanded from about ten feet away.

"Us?" the tall pony responded.

"Yes, come here!" she yelled, making hoof motions to come towards her.

"What about us?" the Pegasus and Unicorn asked.

"I don't need you two!" Silver Spoon replied in an obnoxious tone.

The three Earth ponies each shrugged their shoulders then proceeded to walk towards the gray filly.

After the filly had just began walking away with their three friends the Pegasus spoke up, "Dude, do you think she's racist?" he asked.

"Probably." the Unicorn replied rolling his eyes in annoyance and sighing.
_______________________________________________________

"Oh yeah, you're um..." one of the Earth ponies began to say, " uh, Shiny Spork, right? We've seen you around here before hanging out with Heavy Weight and Rider before, right?"

"D- did you just call me "Shiny Spork"?" she stuttered in disbelief.

"Isn't that your name or something along those lines?"

"My name is Silver Spoon, you twit." she barked.

"Sheesh, sorry. What do you want?"  he asked.

"I need a few ponies to help teach a pony I know a lesson in respect." she hissed out firmly. 

"If you mean ruff them up, we're the ones you wanna talk to. How'd you know to come to us?" he wondered.

"I actually didn't, I was simply looking around and your three looked like you could get the job done. I thought I'd have to go through the lengthy process of offering you an outrageous number of bits after the even longer process of convincing you to do it."

"Well well well, lucky you. So what do you need us to do by "teach a pony you know a lesson in respect?" That can mean a few things."

"All I need is for you three and a couple of others to help beat the common sense into a pony who doesn't have any. And I mean seriously beat it into him, hard." she slowly let out through her teeth."

"I see what you mean, bring the pain, not send a little message to stop messing around."

"Basically."

"So do you have a plan or do you just want us to go in and do it ourselves?" he asked.

"Oh, don't worry I have a plan." that cynical smile was encasing her face again.

"May we ask what it is?" he almost regretfully asked upon seeing Silver's face.

"Sure," she said then went on and explained step by step on what would happen.

A moment passed before one of the Earth ponies spoke, "You're one screwed up filly." the yellow one plainly blurted out not caring about the consequences.

"Call me what you wish, but will you do it?”

"I mean sure we'll do it but I'm just saying." he responded, ending with an exhale.

"Good, then lets get going." Silver Spoon said before trotting over to the park's exit.
> A Friendly Letter 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 NightShader did stuff.

Sweetie Belle was the first to wake up that morning. She opened her eyes and saw a sleeping Dim Shadow facing her. She smiled before trying to place a kiss on his cheek. Just as she was about to so, Dim popped his head up and kissed her. Sweetie Belle was about to let out a small "eep" but was cut off when Dim's lips met hers, silencing her.

"Beat you to it," he mumbled before plopping his head back down and shutting his eyes.


Sweetie Belle paused for a moment, not knowing how to react. She was about to say something until she heard hoofsteps coming from the stairs and down the hall to her room. It was Rarity coming to check up on them, she knew. She remembered Rarity said she had to stay in her bed and Sweetie Belle could make a logical guess at what the consequences would be. In a panic she quickly stood up and tried to jump over Dim Shadow into her bed.

She failed and tripped in mid air over Dim, collapsing on top of him and waking him up.  Dim woke with the wind knock out of his chest and eyes widened. 

"Sweetie... Belle," he began to say, taking in large breaths between each word. "Why?"

"Shhh!" she said, "Rarity might hear you." she whispered. She still hadn't moved and was still laying on top of, a rather confused,  Dim Shadow.

Please walk by, please walk by, please walk by... she said repetitively in her head as her sister's hoofsteps drew closer to the door and Dim still gasping for breath. A new sound entered Sweetie Belle's ears, a galloping of lighter hoof steps running to her room. Before she could react to this her door burst open, revealing Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, each wearing a panicked expression on their faces.

"Sweetie Belle, you need to... oh... is this a bad time?" Scootaloo trailed off when she saw Sweetie Belle laying on Dim Shadow.

A little embarrassed, she quickly rolled off her colt friend, who again had the wind knocked out of his chest. "Why?" he let out a deep, fading, moan.

"No, it's fine." she looked back at Dim, who was again gasping for air. "What's so important that you needed to come here at..." she didn't know what time it was. "Um, Dim what time is it?"

Finally, Dim regained his breath after a hard cough. "It's," Dim looked at his watch. "11:13!"

"What!" Sweetie yelled. "Rarity should have been up hours ago. I know that the shop is closed today, but still." Sweetie Belle was a little shocked. 

"Listen, something happened to the club house!" Scootaloo yelled in horror.

"What!" Sweetie yelled back with an equal amount of horror in her voice.

"What happened?" Dim asked.

"Come see for yourselves'." Apple Bloom said.




The group finally arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. There were mixed emotions between Sweetie Belle and Dim Shadow about what had happened. Since Sweetie Belle had not known exactly what has happened to the tree house, in her mind she was panicking. She had an emotional attachment to that tree house as did all the other crusaders. She helped to build that tree house and had many memories with the other Crusaders in there. If it were destroyed, which was what she thought had happened, she would feel a little empty.

Dim Shadow on the other hoof, didn't really care much for the tree house. He just saw it as a really well build tree house and nothing more. Sure, it would kinda suck since that was the only meeting place the group had, but other than that he didn't feel anything. He guessed that whatever had happened was pretty bad since Scootaloo and Apple Bloom felt the need to burst through the door.

The group had gotten on the path to the clubhouse.

"None of you have said a word, are you okay?" he asked to the three fillies.

"Yeah, we're just wonderful." Scootaloo replied sarcastically. 

"Hey I-" Dim never finished his sentence. His mind was captivated by the clubhouse.

The few windows that were there were busted, the clubhouse was no longer it's vibrant mango color but now a multicolored mess of dull colored spray paint. The balcony was hardly standing and looked ready to collapse at any second. The tree itself had many branches broken off and leaves defiled. Dim's mouth dropped like an anchor. 

"Oh thank goodness!" Sweetie Belle wiped her forehead.

"What do you mean 'thank goodness'?!" Dim yelled.

"Worse has happened to this place, trust me." Sweetie Belle said.

"But, how and- bu- why then-" Dim couldn't get his words together. He took a breath, "Then why did you come in so horrified about the tree house?" he said in calm tone.

"It's not about what happened on the outside, look inside." Apple Bloom said in a dead serious voice as she began to slowly walk to the un-touch ramp up to the club house. The others followed. When they finally got inside the place was a wreck, nothing was standing up right and the little furniture that was in there was overturned but not damaged.

"Okay, it's wreck... that's normal." Sweetie Belle announced.  

"Look there," Apple Bloom pointed to a piece of paper nailed on the wall.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom remained stationary as Sweetie Belle and Dim Shadow approached the note impaled to the wall. It read:


 Dear Dim Shadow,
I believe we may have gotten off on the wrong hoof these past few days. I think we should talk about it in a civil manner.How about you come to my house at say, 2:00 pm today? Do try and fit it into your schedule if you can, it would only benefit you.
Sincerely,
Silver Spoon and company  

	
	
	

> Dancing With the Devil 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                             Thanks to NightShader for editing and TexPony and multiple bronies for proof reading.



Dear Dim Shadow,
I believe we may have gotten off on the wrong hoof these past few days. I think we should talk about it in a civil manner.How about you come to my house at say, 2:00 pm today? Do try and fit it into your schedule if you can, it would only benefit you. Sincerely,
Silver Spoon and company  


The note read, clear as day to Sweetie Belle and Dim Shadow. Sweetie was left mouth a gape, pure worry going through her mind like an arrow. The previous night she remembered herself say that in this type of moment she would be by Dim Shadow's side, but she didn't have to be a mind reader to know what Dim was going to say. 

"Dim..." she hesitantly said.

Dim Shadow just stood there and looked at the note before tearing it off of the wall. "I have to go." he said before turning toward the door. Before he could even take a step forward two fillies blocked his path.

"What are you going to do?" Sweetie Belle asked with a slight crack audible in her voice.

"I'm going to go to Silver Spoon's." 

"But you can't!"  Apple Bloom shouted. "We all know she won't talk to you or do any of that. Can we go with you? You can't do this alone!" Apple Bloom pleaded. 

"I can't let that happen, you three could be hurt and it would be my fault. It's already my fault about what happened to this place." Dim said before he shoved the two aside and tried to make a quick gallop to the door. He was too slow, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were already obstructing his path.

"Girls move out of the way." Dim said sternly.

"Yeah, he can handle this himself." Scootaloo said as she walked into the tarnished club house. "He beat those other two." she said making various hoof gestures. 

"Are y'all crazy, Scootaloo! There's no way he can take on... um... wait who did it say would be there?" Apple Bloom asked, changing her tone from serious to casual.

"It just said 'Silver Spoon and company'." Dim answered.

"Well... that just means it could be anypony, that's even worse!" Apple Bloom yelled, trying to make a point. "You have to let us come with you!"

"No, you could get hu-"

"I don't give a flying feather if we could get hurt! Crusaders stick together." she said, her angered tone getting louder as each word passed.

"Hey, lay off him Apple Bloom! If he wants to do this alone let him. It's his choice," Scootaloo insisted.

"Scootaloo, don't you understand?! There could be anypony there waiting for Dim, there could be like ten ponies waiting there for Dim Shadow!" Apple was now getting angry.

"Listen Apple Bloom, I know that could happen, that's why I won't let you girls come with me, if the odds are like that then we would all get destroyed! This was my fault, I'm the reason this happened!"  Dim flung his hoofs outward. 

"B-but, what about me..." Sweetie Belle whimpered.  

"Especially you Sweetie Belle, I couldn't forgive myself if you were hurt." Dim said as he trotted over to her and grasped her in a tight hug.

Scootaloo turned away because she thought it was gross, but not before getting a glimpse at the back of the paper.

"Wait! It says something one the back!" Scootaloo pointed at the paper.

Dim Shadow broke the hug and looked at the back.


P.S- Come alone, or there might not be a tree house for another note to go on.


Dim gave them all a deadpan look and showed them what was written. They read the sentence then let out a long sigh and moved out of Dim Shadow’s way. Just as he was out the door, Scootaloo asked him a question.

"Dim, she said to go there at two, it's only noon. What are you gonna do for two hours?" she asked.

"Getting ready."

"What do you mean?" she replied.

All Dim did was look back at Scootaloo and walk away.

A few moments had past. "So... what should we do now?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Well, I suppose we should start repairing this place." Apple Bloom said as a plank of wood fell from the ceiling and landed dangerously close to her. "I'll find the planks."





Dim began to play out different situations in his head. From Silver Spoon actually wanting to make to make up, to there being 20 other ponies waiting for him there, Dim made a plan for each situation and he knew he wouldn't follow any of them. It was 1:47 as Silver Spoon's house came into sight, Dim's heart was pounding out of anticipation. He had about an hour to prepare and all he did was walk around and think. He didn't bring anything with him no other ponies, nothing to defend himself with, just him. 
Dim continued up the road and was now right in front of Silver Spoon's property. He thought about knocking but then realized how silly of an idea that actually was, he went his usual way into the backyard. Upon arriving there Dim ever so slowly peeked around the corner but saw no pony. 

She has to make it so dramatic, doesn't she? he sighed mentally before walking into backyard a few feet. After a few seconds more of walking, a voice rang. 

"Hello, Dim Shadow." Silver Spoon slowly let out before appearing from behind a tree with a grin ever so sinister.

"You called?" Dim sarcastically spoke.

"So funny." Silver Spoon rolled her eyes. "But I don't really think you're in the position to make jokes right now. As you may have noticed, you've upset me."

"Really? I couldn't imagine why. Just get to it." Dim demanded.

"Watch your tone!" Silver yelled back then began to approach Dim. "I'm tired of everything that you've done. You've been here only for a few days and you managed to make me more mad than those three blank flanks have been since I've known them. I won't tolerate it any longer." Silver Spoon got right up to Dim's face. "Say my name."

"Excuse me?" 

"Say. My. Name!" Silver Spoon yelled into Dim's face.

"Oh I get it, I say your name, degrade myself, and we both never bother each other again. I know how it goes. It basically means I'm your, well a rather distasteful word, I wouldn't wanna offend you now." Dim sarcastically retorted. "And to that offer, I say no."

"Remember how I said you're not in a position to make jokes? Look around you a little closely." she slowly said as smile crept on to her face.

Dim looked around for a moment and realized they weren't alone at the sight of a few shadows. 

"Well, would you look at that, you've gotten a party set up."

"You have five seconds."

"Okay, okay, calm down." Dim quickly muttered. 

"That's what I thought." she grinned ear to ear with a victorious look.

Dim took in a large breath and slowly opened his mouth. He cleared his throat. "Heisenberg."

Silver Spoon's eye twitched. "Your funeral." she said as she clapped her hoofs. As soon as they heard it, 5 different colts came into sight, all staring at Dim.
> Hate to Bloodshed 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edited by Janet Kinnaman. Proof read by TexPony.

“Well then," he looked at the five colts approaching.

"I believe you know Rider and Heavy Weight already. Let me introduce you to the other three. This is Moss," she pointed to the dark green pony with the crowbar cutie-mark, "This one is here is called Scents."  she again pointed, this time to the light red, but pretty much pink, pony with a hoofball helmet. "And finally we have Steel Sticks." she yet again pointed to one of the other ponies, this one being the yellow one.

Dim backed up a little bit before the five began to circle him, and smiles began to creep on to their faces. Silver Spoon was standing where she was before. Dim looked her in the eyes for a moment, "What's the matter big shot, can't start your own party?" Dim taunted as he continued to stare her in the eyes.

"You guys know what to do. Do it." she said before a grin flashed onto her face.

On command the five ponies simultaneously each grabbed a hold of one of Dim Shadow's limbs and picking him up. Dim didn't have any time to fight back, only struggle, which was to no avail. The group of ponies approached a thick tree, which looked extremely rough seeing as the bark was chipped in many places. The tree had various plants, like moss, also growing on it and a couple vines coming down from it. 

"Are you guys gonna sacrifice me to a tree god? Because I honestly wouldn't mind that too much. That's pretty cool way to go out actually." 

"Shut up!" yelled Rider, who was walking in front of the others that were carrying Dim. He then bucked Dim hard in the mouth with anger.

Dim felt a metallic taste in his mouth however there was no blood. The group was then finally at the tree where the colts holding Dim's legs dropped him. Dim tried to take advantage of this by bucking in random directions, but his bucks hit nopony. The ponies that were holding his legs, Heavy Weight and Steel Sticks, immediately grabbed his sides. His was barley touching the tree.

"Do it now!" Sticks shouted.

Rider heard this and proceeded to rub Dim's face violently against the tree. The jaggedness of the tree's bark immediately tore his skin and caused blood to come out. Dim let out a cry of pain before thrusting his body in all directions trying to get out of his current situation. He had no luck and Rider kept rubbing his face back and forth on the tree's rough bark. Dim knew if he couldn't get out, he wouldn't let them see him being dominated. 

"Come on," Dim dreadfully groaned. "Impress me." he coughed with one eye open, looking at Rider. 

"Fine then, follow me." Rider said cynically. Heavy Weight and Steel Sticks picked up Dim by his hind legs without struggle and followed Rider to the river in the back of the yard.




Sweetie Belle was pacing around a tree frantically, sweating and heart pounding. The grass and dirt around the tree were flattened. Thoughts were quickly racing through her head about how Dim Shadow was. He could be fine or fighting or getting beaten by ponies twice his size. Sweetie Belle's thoughts were interrupted by Apple Bloom.

"Come on Sweetie Belle, we need you to help us out, you can't just sit here moping around." she said.

"I know it's just that I'm worried that something awful is happening." she spoke with worry in her voice.

"Don't get your tail in a knot, Sweetie Belle. I bet he's already on his way back." Apple Bloom said with a reassuring smile. "Come and help me pick up these branches, it'll take your mind off of him, hopefully." 

Sweetie Belle sighed. "Fine," she walked off with Apple Bloom. She began to pick up torn and or fallen branches from around the tree when she started thinking, I said I'd be with him in this type of stuff, I have to keep my promise, right?  she started sweating nervously again, which Apple Bloom noticed. What if he's in trouble right now and all he needs is some help? What if he's getting hurt by ponies twice his size and all he needs is somepony to get help for him? Terrible thoughts and images zigzagged through her head.

"Apple Bloom, where's Scootaloo at?" Sweetie Belle asked as calmly as she could.

"Inside fixin' up the ceiling, why?" Apple Bloom thought for a moment, "Don't even try; you know that she'll say no." 

"I don't care, I'll take my chances." she said before dashing up the ramp into the tattered club house. "Scootaloo, where are you?" she yelled.

"Up here," she replied, sticking her head out from the upper part of the club house. "What do you need?" she asked.

"Get your scooter and the wagon, we're going." she said as assertive as possible.

"Where?" Scootaloo asked.

"To Silver Spoon's house to help out Dim!" she yelled.

"Sweetie Belle, you don't understand, do you? These types of problems have to be solved alone. I doubt it’s that bad he needs our help. I'm not going there." she huffed.

"Oh yes you are!" she yelled back just as Apple Bloom had ran into the club house with a somewhat sad look on her face.

"I heard yelling, please tell me you’re not trying to force her to go, Sweetie Belle." she spoke frantically as she had predicted in her mind that something like this would happen.

Scootaloo ignored Apple Bloom and looked Sweetie Belle dead in the eyes with a heinous stare, "Who's gonna make me?! Huh!?" she shouted.

"Me. Because if you don't, I'll tell Rainbow Dash that you keep clumps of her hair!" Scootaloo was left dumbfounded at that threat. "And you," she looked at Apple Bloom "If you don't come with us, I'll tell Apple Jack and Big Macintosh that you got into the Cider barrels from this year's cider sale!" she yelled with a voice crack.

"But that cider was-" she was cut off.

"You know what kinda cider I'm talking about!" she said.

Scootaloo walked out of the club house defeated and annoyed, frustrated, and mad at Sweetie Belle. "Come on," she mumbled with a pissed tone. Apple Bloom didn't even bother to look back at Sweetie Belle, "You'd better hope he's in trouble for treatin’ us like this." she said before leaving

A small frown beckoned on Sweetie Belle's face before she left the club house, following her two friends. After getting her helmet on, the trio was off.




Dim Shadow's scratched and torn up face was now being held over water. He continued to struggle but it wasn't working. Rider and Heavy Weight were having fun with this torment, they felt it was a nice way to finally get back at Dim Shadow. He wasn't even fighting back, well he was trying but it was doing no good.

"Okay, lets impress him guys." Rider said, then on command the group shoved Dim Shadow's head under the water, submerging him. Not only could he not breath but the bacteria in the water was making the cuts and scrapes on Dim's face feel like fire. After about 10 seconds Rider told them to bring him back up. Dim was completely panicking now, he was flailing his body in hopes to escape and perhaps swim away, but that was only making him lose more oxygen, there's no way he could run through the yard but perhaps he could lose them in the forest. 

"Okay bring him up." Rider said. The two ponies holding his head under water pulled Dim Shadow up by his mane. Dim Shadow was brought up, coughing, as he tried to fill his lungs with air. "Drop him." Rider commanded; Dim was dropped hard on the sandy ground.

"Okay so what have you learned?" Rider looked down at him with a deadpan look.

Dim coughed hard once more "That you're all some rich filly's mare and you're all probably compensating for something. Like seriously, why do you need so many ponies to take me on? That's saying a little something don't-" he coughed, "excuse me, but anyway-"  Dim didn't finish, for he was bucked hard in the head by Heavy Weight, sending him flying into the tall river side plants.

"Does he normally talk like this?" Moss asked and cocked eyebrow.

"You wouldn't believe it, he doesn't know when to shut up. We could probably break all his legs and he'd still try to make jokes." Rider spoke with annoyance.

"I believe you," he replied. 

"Let's continue with this kid." Rider said before walking into the river side plants.

Rider trotted into the grass and dragged out a barely conscious Dim Shadow, had he not gotten kicked in the mouth and sent into the bush he would have made a run for it. The other colts stared down at Dim's torn up face trying to intimidate him.

"Pick him up, I bet Silver Spoon would love to see this!" Scents said. "Sticks, you carry him." Steel Sticks rolled his eyes with a sigh and agreed to. He picked up Dim and hung him over his back. The squad of bullies were then off.

Dim began to slowly open his eyes as he was slung over Steel Stick's back, they were in the back of the group. Dim did hear that they were going to Silver Spoon. Dim had to take this in for a moment.

Or not, lets not do that. Ow, it even hurts to think. he thought painfully to himself. 

Dim Shadow remained still until a small gardener's shed come into the distance.

Okay, yeah, I can work with this. Ow. he thought as some blood trickled off his face.

Dim Shadow's carrier began to approach the side of the shed, there laid a hose, Dim grabbed a hold of that hose's head and held on to it until he came face to face with the door handle to the shed. Now was his chance, Dim threw the hose around Steel Sticks neck in an attempt to choke him. Dim rolled off Sticks, still holding onto the hose. The whole process of getting the hose around his neck and rolling off only took a few seconds before all the others turned around astonished.

Sticks couldn't turn around and try to get to Dim Shadow without tightening the hose around his neck. Dim tightened the hose until Steel Sticks fell to the ground. All the other colts just watched as Steel Sticks fell to the ground out of oxygen.

"Okay you didn't even try to help him. Some friends you are." Dim said as Stick's body fell to the ground.

"Listen here you god damn prick, you have a good thirty seconds before we kick your ass until you're unconscious and we let Silver Spoon do what she wants to you, with nopony to stop her, so make any jokes you want right now!" Moss yelled.

A bright smile came on Dim's face as he saw something over the hill rushing to his location, "Can you boost that up to eh... about  forty five seconds?" he said trying to stretch his neck to look over their shoulders and heads. "Yeah that will do- ahh" and intense head ache collided with Dim Shadow bringing him down to his knees. His ears suddenly started to ring uncontrollably. Dim fell to the ground grabbing his head and trying not to scream from the sudden pain.

Dim had dropped down the ground unconscious for a little while, which was about twenty seconds.

Time had suddenly started going by really fast. 

One second, the remaining four colts were walking toward him.

Dim Shadow blinked.

Now there was a scooter in the air that turned and flung a wagon at Heavy Weight, Rider, and Moss immediately sending them to the ground. 

Dim Shadow blinked. 

Three fillies were on top of the colt that wasn't hit by the wagon, screams could be heard.

Dim Shadow blinked.

"Get him in the wagon, now!" 

Dim Shadow blinked. 

He was moving now, fast, there were two fillies next to him, one staring him in the eyes the other was not. "Don't worry we're almost there!"

Dim Shadow awoke. 

There was a white filly laying next him with tears in her eyes.

"Hello, S-Sweetie Belle? Right? I think so. I don't even." Dim could hear faint beeps could be heard. "Where am I? Everything is white." he mumbled.

"Y-you remember my name? You remember my name!" Sweetie Belle got up and began bouncing around in happiness. Sweetie Belle ran out of the room quickly 

"What happened?" Dim Shadow mumbled as a nurse came into the room. He was very confused.

"Ah, it's good to see that you're up. Don't lift your head. Your three friends brought you here and you're safe now. We cleaned up your cuts and patched you up." the nurse said as she stood over Dim.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're at the hospital. One of your friend said your got into an accident riding a scooter, is she correct?" the nurse kindly asked.

"Um, uh, yeah I think." Dim lied.

"Well I suppose I should say it straight forward, you may have a slight concussion kid. You're gonna have to relax here for a while until we think you're good to go. Got it?" she stated. 

"Yep." Dim Shadow replied. 

"Okay then, I'll be back in a little while just lay down and try not to move your head much." the nurse said before leaving the room.

> Two Sides to Every Story
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edited by NightShader. Proof read by TexPony and multiple bronies


Silver Spoon came back down stairs after she felt the need to treat herself to a refreshment. When she came back to her lawn, she was surprised to see that there were no other ponies in sight. She was puzzled for a moment before she decided to look past her patio and went to one of the small hills that blocked her view. She looked around for a moment before she laid her eyes upon the shed. There were five ponies groaning in pain and trying to get back up but hopelessly falling back down when they tried. Silver Spoon had to take this all in for a moment. No bucking way.
Five ponies all stronger and larger than Dim Shadow were all down and out laying in a pile of defeat. Silver Spoon immediately ran as fast as she could to the colts who were on the ground, sweat coming from her forehead. When she got to the colts  the first one she went to was Moss, who looked to be the most okay out the group. She grabbed him by the head and turned it towards her's.

"Tell me this right now, did he do this?" she asked in her most serious voice she could muster up.

"N-no these other three ponies came. They were fillies I think and there was a unicorn, earth pony, and a pegasus. They hit us with a wagon, I- I think. and I'm pretty sure they beat up Scents and the others. Then I believe they said something about taking him to a hospital. I'm-" Moss was brutally punched in the nose by Silver Spoon.

"You sent him to the hospital?!" she punched him again. "What did you do to him?!"

"We- we did what you said. The tree, then Rider took him to the lake then-"

"The lake!? What happened at the lake?!" she demanded.

"Rider put him under water for a little." he said, his voice getting a little quieter with each word.

"Are saying he tried to drown him?!" she yelled.

"K-kinda." he whimpered, intimated by Silver Spoon. 

"You're all lucky I have to go to the hospital now, or I'd drown all of you in the lake." she said at all the ponies. "Fix yourselfs up and get out before I come back." she said before galloping to the hospital, which wasn't very far.





How'd I even get here? I was kinda fine at Silver Spoon's. Did I fall or something? Dim couldn't remember what caused him to be in the hospital, well of course he knew it had something to do with him getting beaten up. One second he choked a pony with a hose then the next second he was on the ground. How do I get the nurses attention, is there a button or a bell I can ring? Dim looked around, not moving his head, and couldn't notice anything like that. Luckily he didn't need a button or bell because the same nurse walked in with some news.

"One of your friends is here, is it okay if they come in?" the nurse kindly asked.

"Yeah, which one?" Dim replied.

"I didn't get her name, but she's a gray Earth pony. I'll tell her she can come in." the nurse opened the door and began to leave.

"Earth pony, that must be Ap- wait did you say gray?!" Dim frantically spit out but was too late, the nurse had shut the door. Dim awaited his hated visitor. He kept his eyes locked on the door. A moment passed before the door slowly creaked open revealing Silver Spoon.

She quickly came in and immediately shut the door. Her and Dim were staring each other in the eyes. Dim was first to speak.

"Come here to gloat, huh?" Dim rolled his eyes then returned eye contact.

"I don't know how you did it, but that's not what was suppose to happen-"

"Do you really think that matters? I don't care how your stages of torment were suppose to go. You're the reason I'm here. I don't know why I'm letting you even stay here, I can get the nurses to take you out." 

Silver Spoon sighed, "No you can't." she stated.

"Of course I can-"

"All the nurses are on break or on a different level of the building at the moment. The only way you could contact them was if," Silver Spoon walked over to the left side of Dim's bed, which made Dim scoot to the right uncomfortably. "you were to pull this string here." she pointed out the bit of rope that hung next to Dim's bed.
Silver Spoon pushed Dim's bed so he couldn't reach the rope. His bed slowly rolled out off of hoof's reach to the rope.

"Now if you'll listen, you half wit." Silver Spoon began aggressively. "You weren't suppose to end up here, whatever happened at the lake was not suppose to happen. I'm not here to gloat, much. I'm here to apologize." she turned her head away in shame.

"Yeah right, that doesn't make any sense. If you cared about me in the slightest you wouldn't have even done that in the first place!" Dim yelled.

"Shut up for a second! By Celestia, do you ever stop talking!?"" she yelled back louder, annoyance starting to build up in her. "Listen, I'm here to say sorry for this happening to you. Okay? I was only trying to hurt you a little. Ugh, I can't explain it." Silver Spoon let out a frustrated sigh. "Look if you want to know-"

"I don't." Dim interrupted.

"You're lying again. I don't even know why I'm offering this but if you want to know, just come over whenever. I honestly think you'll want to know." Silver Spoon began to walk out of the room with a frown.

"So that's it? No trying to persuade me or anything? And why would I go to your house? All that's ever happen to me there is pain or somepony trying to hurt me." Dim said, deadpanned.

Silver Spoon paused but didn't look back. "Dim Shadow, I can read you like a book. If there's a possible chance of you having to fight anypony or having an adventure, you'll be there. You're not as mysterious as you set yourself out out be. Just come over." Silver Spoon said, her voice changing to a much softer tone at the last sentence. She walked out of the room and shut the door behind her without letting Dim answer or reply to her in anyway.

Dim thought for a moment about what Silver Spoon had said and offered. He didn't think any of it made sense. Why would you apologize to someone because you put them in a hospital when you were trying to hurt them? Dim felt another headache coming on. Now isn't the time to think.




"Gotta find them quick, gotta find them quick," Silver Spoon whispered to herself. She was now on a quest to find a tuft of cloud, a bright rainbow's glow, and pegasus feather. 

> Revelations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                       Edited by NightShader. Proof read by TexPony and multiple bronies. 

Dim could finally think clearly without having a splintering headache. Why did I like that? Dim was referring to fighting those colts from earlier. Is that normal? Should I like that? He wondered to himself. Dim got into very few fights in his old neighborhood and even then, they were brief and ended in a few minutes. There were few grudges, and even then, those ponies with said grudges never did anything about it. This was the first time ponies were trying to continuously bring harm to him and to this extent made it worse. But bringing harm to somepony, having the feeling that ponies could be looking for you with an intent to hurt you, why was Dim Shadow enjoying this? Do I like hurting other ponies? No, that wouldn't make sense! He nervously thought. No no, it's just the adrenaline when somepony is fighting you, yeah that makes sense. He thought to himself. Then it hit him No, no ,no! he screamed in his head as he began to panic. Dim was now desperately trying to get the sheet off of him, it was tucked in tight and it was difficult to remove the sheets from under the bed due to the bluntness of hooves. 

After a couple of minutes of trying to remove the blanket, Dim successfully removed it from him. His eyes were now locked on to his cutie mark. Sweat was beating from his forehead. Oh thank Celestia! his cutie mark was still the same as always. Red heart helping a pony up from an upside down black heart. Something awful had nearly happened to Dim Shadow...



A couple minutes past before the same nurse came into the room with important news for Dim Shadow.

"Hey, good news for you." the nurse began, not noticing the un-tucked covers on the patient's bed. "We got the papers a little messed up, they were suppose to go to somepony else. You're fine, but you'll have a headache for a while. And there is  more good news, we don't have to contact your parents." she said with a smile the picking the clip board with the papers she left on the counter from before.

"Why don't you have to contact my parents?" Dim asked out of concern. 

"Why? Does it matter?" the nurse replied with a shrug.

"Shouldn't a colt of my age have his parents know he went to a hospital to get treated?" Dim asked as he rolled out of the bed, landing hooves first on the marble tiled floor.

"It's a Ponyville thing, the kids here are getting a little bruised up all the time for silly nonsense, the nurses and doctors don't like seeing kids get in trouble with parents over little stuff, like a scooter accident." she smiled in reply then glanced back.

"Okay, but now I think there's a bigger problem." Dim said.

"Which is?" the nurse pony asked.

"Doesn't that mean you let a pony with a concussion leave?"

The nurse gasped in realization. "By Celestia, you're right! Get on outta' here, I gotta find the pony I just let out!" the nurse yelled before running out of the room at lighting speeds.

The room was silent and empty for a moment before Dim decided to walked out.



The sliding doors to the hospital lobby opened, letting Dim pass through. The main lobby was a mostly white room with a marble tiled floor. It had a small medical themed poster on almost every wall, like most hospitals. He immediately saw Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo outside through the glass door. Scootaloo appeared to be trying to comfort Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom looked like she was trying to do the same. Dim was frantic to tell them the good news. After he told the pony at the front desk about the mix up and how the nurse said he could leave, he was out the door.



"Girls, I'm fine!" he yelled as he trotted over with a smile. Dim was caught off guard and tackled to the ground by Sweetie Belle.

"Oh my gosh are you okay? Did you break something? Tell me!" she yelled in his face then leaned in for an answer whilst staring him in the eyes, searching for answers.

Dim removed Sweetie Belle from himself and got up, "Don't worry Sweetie Belle, I'm fine. The nurse said my head will hurt for a little though. But I need to thank you all for taking me here. What happened at Silver Spoon's though? There was like five of them if I remember correctly."

"We took care of them, Crusader style!" Scootaloo said with a prideful cheer while chopping at the air.

Dim giggled, "Nice,"

"So now what?" Apple Bloom chimed.

"Well what el-" Dim had remembered Silver Spoon coming into the room. He remembered her offer to go to her house to actually get an explanation for her actions. Now of course there was a chance that she was lying again just to get back at Dim for his actions in the previous days. But Silver Spoon was 100 percent right in what she said, if there was a chance for Dim to fight or have an adventure, he'd be there, even if Dim didn't want to believe that it was the truth. This was a realization for Dim Shadow as well, he always thought of himself as one who kept the peace, not the one who wanted to expand on the hatred. 

But then it hit him again, she said he liked fighting. Dim knew he liked fighting, with the rush he got while doing it and all. But then again, that feeling probably hit everypony in situations like that, right? But it's the fact that he kept having to solve all his problems with violence now, but why now? Fighting was never an issue for Dim even though it was a rarity before now. And it never got this bad, usually it was just tackling and knocking a few heads before Ponyville. It's only been a couple days and look what's happened. Dim Shadow looked at his cutie mark to make sure it was still the same as always. 

The three fillies looked at Dim Shadow concerned, "Dim, are y'all okay? Do you need tah go back in?" Apple Bloom asked

"No, I'm fine, it's just that something really bad could have happened." Dim said as he pawed at the soil beneath his hooves.

"What?" the Crusaders asked in unison. 

"Well I"m gonna try to make it simple. I have this disease thing, it's not the kind where you get sick or there's something wrong with your head. It's a little interesting but really bad in the long run. I’ll explain. See my cutie mark here?" Dim said as he pointed to his cutie mark.  The three others adjusted their vision and nodded. "Well, basically, if I did something that is completely opposite of myself, like if I wanted with all my heart to hurt another pony who did nothing wrong for example, my mark turns upside down... and my personality changes to the opposite of what it would normally be." he explained. "I have plenty of other examples but that’s the simplest way I can explain it."

The three fillies were left astonished. After all that work trying to find out what your special talent is , then have it all taken away from you. That seemed like the worst thing to them.

"But it is reversible, kinda, I think." Dim put a hoof to his chin. "It's not as bad as it seems."

"Has it happened to you before?" Scootaloo asked.

"No, but how bad could it be? I heard that the way to reverse it is to make the pony realize that what they're doing is not themselves, basically." Dim said as he began to walk, the other three following him.

"Well, how did you figure you had this?" Sweetie Belle asked, tilting her head to the right.  

"Well, long story short, these doctors take cells from your cutie mark and expose them to whatever the opposite of your cutie mark is then if they shift they figure out if you have the disease, although I don't know what they could have exposed it to." Dim stated.

"Well, why could it have happened today?"  Scootaloo asked. 

"I'd rather not talk about it." Dim muttered. 

The Crusaders behind Dim Shadow nodded in a silent agreement to respect Dim Shadow and not ask again.

"So what now?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I guess I should probably go home and take it easy for a little, but if I'm my head feels better tomorrow I'll head over to Sweet Apple Acres. And again, thanks for having my back today." Dim said.

"No problem," the three fillies said. "See you later."  they said as they separated from Dim Shadow and started trotting away.

"Bye Dim!" Sweetie yelled from behind as she walked.

"Bye Sweetie Belle!" Dim smiled as he waved the fillies off.

He decided that he would take up Silver Spoon's offer, after all, if there was a chance for adventure or a fight Dim Shadow would be there...  





Acquiring the ingredients for the love potion weren't hard at all surprisingly. All Silver Spoon had to do was pay one of her pegasus butlers some bits and all the parts to the concoction were there in under twenty minutes. Luckily the butler had a good friend on the weather team who got the rainbow's glow straight from the Rainbow Factory itself. Money always finds its way of solving things.

Silver Spoon knew about the potion, or poison as some may call it,  and what it could do. In her off time she tends to do a lot of reading, thanks to her family's massive library. She also knew it's negative effects, the pony who drank the potion with would want to be together at all times and ignore everyone else and their responsibilities. If a pony were to drink a whole glass they'd be in that position, basically reforming their whole life to be in their lovers presence. However, if a pony only drinks a small amount, a really small amount, the effects would be minimal, and the only thing that would happen was that they would develop something like a crush for each other and still be able to live their normal lives. It's a win win situation, right? 

"Stir with a pegasus feather, fast not slow." Silver Spoon lightly mumbled to herself. The pitcher that had recently been a shiny rainbow color now turned to a neon pinkish purple color. Hearts of the same color began to emit from the potion and popped. There was a knock on the door, and a smile emerged on Silver Spoons face. 

She knew who that was...


> Liquid Emotion 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                    Edited by 'NightShader'. Proof read by 'TexPony' and 'multiple bronies'.

"In A Society That Has Abolished All Adventure The Only Adventure Left Is To Abolish That Society"


This is such a bad idea Dim Shadow thought to himself as he stared at the door in front of him. After a long sigh he knocked 
on the door three times. Nothing good will come out of this. But it gives me something to do. He waited for a moment or two before a tall brown pony with a gelled back black mane in a red bow tie opened the door and looked at Dim Shadow in the eye.

"And you are?" he spoke in a tone as if Dim was interrupting something and was being a burden.

"My name is Dim Shadow, sir. I'm here to see Silver Spoon." Dim stated in response.

The butler cocked an eyebrow before pressing and holding down a button on an iron slate on the wall. "Ms.Silver, I have a Dim Shadow here to see you. Shall I send him up?" he took his hoof of the button and stood in place for a moment before a shot static sounded with a response shortly after. 

"You can let him in, Rupert." Silver Spoon said, as if she was holding something in her mouth.

"Ms.Spoon, do you have something stuck in your throat? Should I send assistance?" the butler asked, although he didn't sound concerned in the slightest.

"I'm fine," the sounds of air being pushed out could be vividly heard "just let him in." Silver replied which once again,  sounded like there was something in her mouth. The butler moved out the door way and extended his arm toward a long staircase. "Third floor, second door on the right. I'd advise you knock before entering, enjoy your stay. You might want to get in quick little one, I heard the weather ponies should be building quite a large storm some time soon." the butler nodded off before returning to whatever tasks were at hoof before.  Dim glanced back at him before he stared at the staircase in front of him and made his way up.

        Dim Shadow was still questioning if this was a smart idea. Well actually, he was pretty sure it wasn't, but he was still thinking. Could this be just another trap he allowed himself to walk into, or perhaps Silver Spoon actually wanted to talk or some how justify her actions over the past days. Third floor, second door on the right. Dim thought to himself as he finally got to the third floor, losing almost no energy at all, surprisingly.

Dim walked down the hall and was presented with a fine hoof crafted wooden door with Silver Spoon's cutie mark engraved in what appeared to be pure mahogany wood. Well, this should be fun. 




Silver Spoon had never concentrated so much on any form of measurement, really. She had to be as precise as a sniper with something like this, however. The smallest mishap could make the pony go crazy with love and too little would have little to no effect. The area in the middle was so small, some might even say that this was a black or white process. 
        The needle-like object injecting the neon purple potion into the cup of water let out a trickle of it's contents. Bright purple danced around in the cup as it dispersed. Silver Spoon let it sit for a moment before adding a few grains of salt. The salt had erased the remains of the faded purple concoction, Silver Spoon smiled as her plan was falling perfectly into place.

"Shouldn't take more than a couple secon-" She was interrupted by a knock on the door, Silver was about to answer before she remembered that the pitcher of the potion, beakers, graduated cylinders, and bag of salt were still out. 

"One second!" she called at the door as she opened her closet door and shoved the science and measuring equipment in there without care. She wasn't about to let the potion be out in the open, after all if Dim or anypony in general had seen it there would definitely be trouble and tons of questions. 
        Silver quickly opened her combination safe. Moving various gems and jewelry aside, she made room for the pitcher and placed in there, shut the door, and spun the lock around a few times to lock it back up.



Outside the door Dim could only hear muffled groans. An invisible timer went off above his head. I understand why he told me to  knock...



A few more awkward moments passed before Dim could hear the slow creaking of the wooden carved door open. Dim just stood there with a look of annoyance. "Silver Spoon, why do you have to be so dramatic about everything? Just answer the door like a normal pony." Dim waited for a moment with no response, all he could hear is the air conditioner cooling the large house. 

"Ugh!" Dim  looked threw his head back. "If you plan on doing anything fishy I swear..." Dim quickly and lightly pushed the door open but no pony was present in Dim's view. The entrance into her room was like the small hall like entrance to that of a hotel room.
        
Dim Shadow slowly made his way into the room. From what he could see and feel, the floor was carpeted and the walls were white, however, there were no light switches next to the door, which Dim found odd. He took this fairly creepy moment to evaluate the day, The pony who organized five others to beat me up and put me in the hospital, invited me  to her home all within a few hours and I agreed to go. Now I'm in a dark room with no light switch and said pony is no where to be seen when I heard her voice not even thirty seconds ago. Good on me. 
                
Dim finally walked out of the small hallway like part of the room and could now see the whole room and the one occupying it. 

"Hello, Dim Shadow, take a seat and a glass of water, this will be a while." Silver Spoon turned her head away from the window to see Dim Shadow walking backwards with a roll of duct tape tapping a long line across the room with said tape. "What are you doing!" she yelled.

"Don't cross the line." Dim stated as he dropped the tape next to him and looked over at Silver Spoon. 

"Where did you even get that?" Silver Spoon questioned.

"Doesn't matter, why did you want me here?" Dim asked standing at the duct tape border.

"Okay first of all, you can't put duct tape on a carpet floor!" Silver Spoon said walking to her side of the border. "Ugh, it doesn't even matter." she said turning around back back the window. "I asked you to come here because I-I..."

"Want to say sorry?" Dim said, finishing her sentence. 

"No, not at all. I need to confess something. I feel as if you'll be the only one to understand." her voice weakened.

"Can I remind you, you literally just put me in a hospital, and now you want me to comfort you? Honestly, what in Celestia's name is wrong with you? That bugs me in the head you know... Interesting if you're telling the truth though...” Dim finished, rubbing his chin.

“Are you done rambling on yet, you blank flank loving brute?” she said looking at Dim Shadow.

“Oh how mature, you know the only thing separating us is tape right?”

Silver Spoon glared back. “The real question is who it’s separating who from.” she stated firmly.

“Oh, I see how it is, little miss-” Dim was suddenly lunged at  And here we go! Dim couldn’t move his  front hooves and but he was unmoved from where he was sitting, he hadn’t been tackled but Silver Spoon was restricting his front hooves and nothing else. Then suddenly, she muttered something in Dim’s ear.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for everything. I haven’t always been like this!” she sobbed into Dim’s shoulder, tears running down her face.

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down. What do you mean? What’s wrong.” he couldn't move his arms above his head to try and hug her back and he honestly was trying to.

“Wait, you-you’re not mad? Why are you-” Silver Silver Spoon asked confused and in sorrow.

“It’s what my mark is for, I can’t just not help a pony that bear hugs me while crying and saying sorry. No matter how much they’ve wronged me. This includes you, now tell me what’s wrong.” he stared into her tear filled eyes with a smile. 

“Thank you.” she said as she broke the hug.

“What do you mean you haven’t always been like this?”

“It started just a little bit before I moved to Ponyville, just a couple months actually.”



“And you’re you’re gonna do what?!” the young pony taunted the boy he had cornered against the old brick wall.

“I’m sorry, just let me get to class. I need to keep up my perfect attendance.” the other young pony begged. 

“Well too bad! Do you know how much that bat cost, and then you have the nerve to ‘accidentally’ knock it over!” the angered pony yelled spitting. “Oh, it’s not only for hitting baseballs-” the pony began to pick up his brand-new titanium bat and lift it above his head about to swing. The pony against the wall was shaking in his hooves, and just before he got a couple of his bones broken, luckily, the school’s new worst nightmare walked outside and was running to them.

“You, drop that ten bit bat now before I have to use it!” The gray maned and coated pony said in demand as she slid to a halt.

The pony holding the other against the wall let him go and turned to Silver Spoon, allowing the the victim to run off. “Thanks!” he yelled back.

“No problem!” she shouted back and immediately turned her attention back to the assaulter. 

“Now as for you.”

“Now who exactly are you, you little filly?” the pony taunted.

“Enough Brick Bones, what just happened is over. I’ll give you one more chance and if I see you doing ANYTHING like this again, you will regret it.” Silver Spoon yelled threateningly. “I’ll see myself out, never speak to me.” Silver Spoon turned away and was headed back on the track to her original destination.

“I don-” he hardly had time to speak.

“Listen, I don’t think you know how much money and power my family has. If I chose to, I could make sure you never play baseball, or any other sport ever again. Or if you want me to, I could get some ponies who will do to you what you were about to do to that colt. Have I made myself clear?” she turned around and stared him in the eyes. He didn't reply. That was all the agreement Silver Spoon needed.




“And that’s only one of the many times I had to step in and rescue idiots like him.”

“You used your money to scare ponies into not bullying any other ponies... not my style but I like it, whatever works, works.” Dim complemented. “Any times you failed?” Dim asked, to which Silver Spoon immediately looked up as if she was insulted. “What?”

“I’ll just pretend you never asked that..” she turned around and glanced back with a smile.

“So… why did you become this?” 

“Excuse me, I will not be referred to as a ‘thing’" she said. “But if your question is why did I stop, I’ll tell you. Dim Shadow, you’ll notice there are almost no problems with the Ponyville community at all, and when there are, they’re quickly resolved by the Element Bearers who all reside here. And if you mean ponies like me, there are almost none and if you want to get in trouble you have to find trouble. You can’t just accidentally stumble upon a situation like the one at hoof. You wanted it to continue, you’re the reason everything is where it is.” 

“You didn't answer my question.” he said, ignoring that final statement.

“I believe I have, like I said, there were almost no ponies like me, except for Diamond Tiara and I. Speaking of which, I met her during the summer, way before I knew who she truly was and what she did. Only when that school year started she convinced me to be more like her or ‘give it a try’ as she said. Making fun of idiots for being idiots is much more fun than saving them, it gave me more of a thrill.”

It’s like an addiction? Dim thought to himself. 

“And you, you've been giving Diamond Tiara and I the time of our lives for the last few days. No one stands up for themselves and Cheerilee almost never notices. We always wanted a challenge.” 

Dim continued to ignore the statements about him feeding the problem. “Couldn't there be some other alternative to what you’re doing. Something else that makes-”

“Makes me feel what, happy?” she said as if Dim had offended her.

“Well… yeah.”

“When did I say this makes me feel happy? It doesn’t make me feel happy.” she turned around and walked towards the window and opened it to let a breeze in. “It only makes me feel something!” she suddenly yelled with tears running down her eyes.

Dim walked over to her by the open window. “Silver Spoon, what do you want to feel?” 

Silver Spoon was about to answer but then Dim broke out into a coughing fit. “Woah, what’s wrong?!” she asked.

“The flowers on the windowsill-” coughing interrupted him “I’m very allergic to flowers.” more coughing took over him.

“Sorry!” she quickly closed the window. Now’s my chance. She grabbed the glass of water off the dresser. “Here, drink some water.” she handed the glass to Dim.

Dim quickly drank it all down in an effort to stop his coughing fit. After a second the water soothed his throat. “Thanks for that.” he looked at Silver Spoon who was suddenly a little too close for comfort.

“What did you ask me?” she put on a little smile and blushed. Silver Spoon then put a hoof under Dim’s chin and directed his head towards her so they were looking in each other's eyes. “What do I want to feel?”
> A Little Honesty 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 							Edited by NightShader. Proof read by TexPony.

“What did you ask me?” she put on a little smile and blushed. Silver Spoon then put a hoof under Dim’s chin and directed his head towards her so they were looking in each other's eyes. “What do I want to feel?”

Dim was about to question what Silver Spoon was trying to do. He opened his mouth but no words came out, his eyes were suddenly dazed in ecstasy for a few moments. There were colors everywhere for three seconds then everything slowly went black, as if he had gotten up too quickly. Dim was really confused. This headache is terrible.

He shook his head quickly to get his vision back together and looked at the floor. “Sorry, headache was getting uh, um, weird. What did you… what did you…” he looked back at Silver Spoon who was still looking at him with a smile. He looked right into her eyes. “Whoa…” Dim was struck with a flurry of new emotions when he stared at the gray filly.  

“Something wrong?” Silver asked, keeping the smile on.

“I-I don’t know.” Dim replied standing up but then instantly staggering back and bumping into a dresser. 

“I think you should sit down before you hurt yourself, Dim.” Silver Spoon began to walk towards him slowly.

This isn’t right at all. Why am I feeling like this? I don’t like this pony one bit, especially not like this! Sweetie Belle surpasses her in everyway. But she’s so beautiful… and amazing…

“Yeah, good idea. Where’s a chair?” Dim looked around but there were no chairs present in the room. Odd for such a rich pony to have no chairs. 

“Chairs are stupid. Your options are the floor, which you seem to not be good with. Or the bed, which you should feel honored to be in the presence of I might add.” Silver Spoon said adjusting her glasses and still not breaking that same smile. 

Why does she keep smiling at me? It’s getting a little creepy. But cute at the same time. Agh! No! She’s not cute! She’s a horrible pony who since I got here has only been trying to hurt me, my filly friend, and her friends. She just told me to be honored to be near her bed. It’s literally impossible to like somepony like that.

‘Quit lying to yourself.’  Dim Shadow’s inner subconscious rang. 

“Yeah,” Dim turned around and began to walk towards the Silver Spoon’s bed. “I’m soooo honored to look at your bed.” Dim said sarcastically rolling his sapphire blue eyes. 

        Dim hopped on to the bed and sat down letting his back hooves, from the knees down, hang off the bed; then slowly lowered his back down onto the soft silky sheets. They felt like magic on Dim’s body. They had to be professionally made and who ever made them definitely put time and effort into it. A smile of comfort came upon Dim’s face. However that moment of peace was broken when suddenly Silver Spoon’s face flashed above Dim’s from the other side of the bed.

“So where were we? What do I want to feel, you asked?” she continued to persist at that question.

“Y-Yeah, you said what you do doesn’t make you feel happy but only makes you feel something. So again, Silver Spoon, what do you want to feel?” Dim flipped over and looked up into Silver Spoon’s eyes all while trying to resist any and all new feelings as hard as he could.

“H-h-h-honestly?” Silver Spoon nervously asked.

“Yes, I’m just trying to help you. I won’t judge.” Dim said reassuringly.

“Dim Shadow, I want to feel y-” 

 -CRASH- Deafening roars of thunder could be heard as streaks of lightning flashed from out the window, blinding both of them. Startled, both ponies grabbed each other on impulse and held each other close. 

After a few seconds, the impact had passed, leaving the two ponies in eachothers arms.

Dim put on an awkward smile, “Eh, heh heh, sorry about that.” He tried to break away from the naturally forced hug but Silver wouldn’t let go. “Umm…”

She whimpered, “I hate thunder and lightning.” she hugged tighter.

“It’s okay… it can’t hurt you.” Dim let her continue to hug him.

Stop enjoying this.

‘Make me.’

Suddenly heavy rain came down in massive amounts, sounding like rocks hitting the house.

“Man, it must be awful to be stuck out there now. It’s gonna suck having to walk home from here.” Dim drifted off.

After a couple silent minutes of Dim comforting Silver Spoon because of the storm, a pony knocked on the door.

“Ms. Spoon, may I enter?” the same butler who greeted Dim at the door from before asked.

Silver Spoon quickly threw Dim off of her, “Yes, what is it?”

“A recent discovery has been made, which is this storm shall last until early tomorrow morning. That being said we have arranged for your friend here to spend the night. Is that okay with you two?” the butler asked regally.

Dim Shadow and Silver Spoon looked at each other intently

Absolutely not! I’d rather sleep in the rain!

‘Yeah right.’ his subconscious rang.

“Uh, sure?” Dim agreed somewhat hesitantly.

“Ms. Spoon?” The butler turned to Silver Spoon.

“Yeah yeah yeah, it’s okay.” Silver agreed.

“Good, I shall inform your parents of your approval.” the butler turned around and walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

“Well it looks like-”

“Don’t remind me, it looks like I have to tolerate you all night now.” Silver Spoon huffed.

“Well you were tolerating me pretty well a few minutes ago.” Dim smiled with a chuckled.

“Hey! That’s only because you were going to sob your eyes out because of a little thunder and you needed comfort!”

“Didn’t you say you hated the thunder, and wasn’t I the one you wouldn’t let go?”

“No, I-”

-CRASH-

Silver Spoon instantly latched herself around Dim, slowly staring into his eyes, annoyed that she just proved him correct. 

“Told you so.”




> True Colors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                 Written with 'NightShader'. Proofread by 'multiple bronies' and 'TexPony'

Rupert trotted downstairs to Silver Spoon’s parents, whistling a barely audible tune. “Mister and miss Spoon, the youngins have agreed with no opposition.” the Butler said to Silver Spoon’s parents.

“That’s good.” Mrs. Spoon said, taking a sip of her wine. “So, who is this new filly that my daughter has been acquainted to?” she asked.

“Well for one, the pony in question is not a filly, he is a colt. Secondly-”

“Colt?!  As in a male species of pony?!” Mrs. Spoon interrupted loudly. “Rupert... I hope you have a good explanation for this...”

“He was born a male, Mrs. Spoon,” Rupert explained.

“Why does my daughter have a colt over? She’s far too young for colts!”

“Ma’am, I can assure you they are far too young to even think about you may have in mind.” 

Mrs. Spoon thought for a moment then sighed, “Okay, my apologies. I shouldn’t have burst out like that. I shall tell my husband about this and see what he has to say about this, although whatever his opinion may be it will not change mine. I’m fine with my daughter having colts as friends but not colt-friends and especially not sleep overs with colts.”

“While I respect and understand your position on the subject, I must say they are just children and with my twenty five years of childcare experience I can safely say they are no more than friends. Also, during my many times of picking up Silver Spoon from school I have not once seen this colt in the class or around the school so I assume he moved in recently and is trying to make friends. Plus, if your daughter invites a pony over they obviously meet the highest of standards a pony could have. Not to mention there’s no way we can send him home in this type of weather, he could get lost, sick, hurt, maybe even all three.” Rupert explained.

Mrs. Spoon thought for a moment then gave in and sighed, “You are correct once again, Rupert. However I will keep a vigilant eye on the two.” she assured. 

“I’m glad you have come to your senses.” Rupert was about to walk off when Mrs. Spoon pointed out something.

“Rupert, how will this colt’s parents know where he is spending the night? They’re probably already worried sick of his whereabouts.”



“If you insist, I shall let you do what you think is best, however at least drink a potion that will prevent you from getting soaked like a towel.” Mrs. Spoon suggested.

“Fabulous idea, I’ll acquire one after I get his address.” Rupert said as he turned around and went back up the stairs.         



The storm could still be heard ravaging outside the house, it was starting to get fiercer every moment. 

Celestia, will she ever let go of me? I swear it feels like she’s been hugging me for two months.  Dim thought as Silver Spoon continued to bury her face into dim’s chest and hugging progressively tighter, squeezing the air out of Dim’s body. I hate my special talent sometimes.

Silver took her face out of Dim’s chest just so her somewhat tear filled eyes could meet his. “If you tell anypony about this, it’ll be the last thing you ever tell anypony.” she mumbled out as rain continued to pour. “Thank you, for actually caring about me, even though all I’ve done to you is try and hurt you.”

“Don’t mention it, it’s what I do. Thank you for not kicking me out into the rain I guess.” Dim let out a chuckle trying to continue the conversation. 

“Be thankful.” she said. 

A funny feeling was starting to build in his chest, Her superiority complex is too adorable, Dim though to himself with a dumb smile, No, no no! Stop thinking dumb stuff Dim Shadow....maybe I’m feeling like this because I’ve never helped out anypony this much before… yeah nopony have ever invited me into their house like this before!

‘You know what you want, don’t lie’ Dim’s bitterly truthful subconscious said.

“Hey!” Silver Spoon yelled, snapping Dim out of his self induced trance. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking, I know that look!” the gray filly said. A very awkward feeling shot through Dim for a moment before Silver Spoon said something else more shocking, she grinned and turned away. “Go for it.” 

“W-w-what?” Dim hesitantly muttered.

“You’ve been acting weird ever since you got here and the only time I’ve seen that look in your eyes is when you’re around Sweetie Belle. So again, go for it.”

“I-I- you know I can’t! I’m just here to help- an-and Sweetie Belle.”

“Sweetie Belle doesn’t have to know, does she? Plus we’ve already kissed before, remember?” Silver Spoon said.

“You tricked me into that!”

“And I think you deserve a little payment for what you’ve done today.” Silver slowly blinked while putting a hoof under Dim’s chin, turning his head to face her’s in the process. It was too much, Dim didn’t resist. Silver and Dim sat on the bed across from each other. Silver leaned in, with a smile, so just their noses were touching. Dim stared into her glasses. “Ready?” Silver Spoon tilted her and opened her mouth just a little.

“Sorry," he turned his head rejecting Silver Spoon’s kiss. "I only do volunteer work.” Dim pushed her back just before their mouth’s made contact.

Dim Shadow expected Silver Spoon to be mad at him for rejecting her kiss, it seemed to fit her personality. Oddly enough, she didn’t react the way Dim expected. “Fine, be like that, but if you change your mind…”

“I won’t. And if you liked me all you had to do was say so.” Dim said.

Silver Spoon scoffed but couldn’t say what she was going to because Rupert had come through the door. “Dim Shadow, I’m going to need your address.” he said.

“For what?”

“Don’t you need some items if you intend to stay the night?” Rupert tilted his head.

“No, I’m-” Dim was elbowed by Silver Spoon who shot an annoyed look at Dim. “Uh, yeah you’re right.” Rupert proceed to take out a quill and paper and look at Dim, a sign to tell him he was ready for his information. Dim Shadow told the regal butler his address, the butler read it back to Dim to make sure he got everything written down correctly. 

“I will be on my way I suppose. Play nicely little ones.” Rupert said as he left the room, but not before Silver Spoon flashed Dim a quick smirk at which point he uncomfortably shifted.

The door was delicately shut and room was silent for a few awkward moments before either pony spoke up. 

“So… what’s there to do?” Dim asked sheepishly, trying to stray away from what had just happened.

“Rocks-for-brains, if you didn’t notice when you walked here, this is a mansion. What isn’t there to do here is the better question.” Silver Spoon hopped off the bed and began to walk to the door. “Well, are you coming?” Silver motioned her head to the door.

Dim Shadow paused and rolled off the far side of the bed and awkwardly tried to keep his distance from Silver Spoon.

Silver Spoon look over her shoulder confused, “What are you doing?” she questioned before she realized that he wasn’t comfortable being close to her outside of comforting her. “Oh, you don’t trust me?” she teased.

“Not one bit.”





“Porcelain?” Mrs. Spoon quietly called her husband’s name as she entered his study. The room was covered in books and work related papers. Porcelain Spoon was enjoying a fine cup of tea as he stared out of his window, admiring the beauty of the storm. Porcelain was a milky white stallion with a dark gray mane and blue eyes with a rather skinny build.

He sighed, “Yes dear?  he didn’t enjoy being interrupted when he was enjoying his days off from work.

“Do you recall that friend that Silver has over?” she asked.

“What about her?” Porcelain replied.

Mrs. Spoon turned away and put a hoof behind her head, “That’s just it, her friend isn’t a filly, it’s a colt.”

Porcelain giggled to himself, “Honey, don’t overreact, be happy our daughter is finally making new friends. Maybe now Diamond Tiara won’t be the only friend of her’s who actually comes here.” he chuckled again before taking a sip of tea.

“He’s sleeping over.”

Porcelain Spoon dropped his tea, cup shattering into small pieces. Almost instantaneously a butler seemed to have teleported into the room with a dust pan and broom to sweep up the broken glass and vanished as quick as he appeared. “I see how it is. Let me have a small chat with this colt.” Silver Spoon’s father was not a very happy stallion at that moment
> Broken Frame
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                            Edited by 'NightShader'. Proof-read by 'TexPony' and 'multiple bronies'

The Crusaders were walking back to their destroyed clubhouse to continue the repairs from it’s demolishment earlier that day. Sweetie Belle remained silent as she was a little scared to talk, not knowing if her friend were still mad at her for threatening them. Or maybe they weren’t mad because after all, Sweetie was correct that Dim Shadow did need their help.

“So, uh, do you girls think half of our time is gonna be with Dim Shadow on dangerous adventures? Hehe…” Sweetie sheepishly giggled, trying to loosen the unknown amount of tension that was present.

“Hopefully not,” Apple Bloom said, her tone didn’t have a hit of anger. Sweetie was relieved when she heard her friend’s neutral tone. “I don’t want the clubhouse breakin’ every day and I don’t wanna have to fight ponies either. Remember that one colt at Silver Spoon’s?” Apple Bloom asked as the three fillies shuttered in the recalling of the poor colt who had been taken down by them.

“Think he’s okay?” Sweetie Belle asked, her voice was filled with worry.

“Probably,” Apple Bloom answered. “Yeah, he’ll be fine.” she paused for a moment. “But in all honesty, Sweetie Belle, I don’t wanna do that kinda stuff. Dim’s a nice pony and all but I don’t 
wanna get mixed up in his personal business.”

“Oh come on Apple Bloom! You can’t say you haven’t had fun in the last few days. We even got a little payback to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.” Sweetie giggled.

“Speaking of those two… have you noticed those two are acting really odd?” Apple Bloom asked. 

“Yeah I have, they’ve gotten a lot craftier and a lot meaner than usual.” Sweetie Belle glanced at Apple Bloom, who nodded in agreement. Sweetie was about to continue until she noticed Scootaloo had not spoken up since them and Dim went their separate ways at the hospital.

“Hey Scootaloo, you alright?” she asked

Scootaloo paused where she stood. “Yeah, if being alright means being threatened by your oldest friend to do something she wants or else I’ll be embarrassed for life, then yes I’m perfect, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo stomped the ground with one hoof.

“I’m sorry, but if I didn’t Dim would have been beaten up!”

“Yeah, but you didn’t know for sure if he even was in trouble! You had a lucky guess.” Scootaloo spat. “Sweetie Belle, ever since that colt got you you’ve been different, and not the good type of different, and honestly I’m starting to wonder about him!”

“Excuse me?!” Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyebrows and stared back at her friend.

“Girls!” Apple Bloom yelled to stop her two friends from escalating the situation. “Fighting won’t solve anything. 

“I bet he probably isn’t back at his place, I bet he just went off to get into more trouble like always!” Scootaloo yelled, ignoring her friend.

“Oh, and we don’t get in trouble?!” Sweetie Belle shouted back in anger, getting more mad by the second.

“I never said that! But at least our trouble doesn't involve wanting to find trouble.” Scootaloo huffed.

“And what is the suppose to mean?” Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyes and stepped forward.

“Don’t try and deny it, Sweetie. You know just as well as I do that your little colt friend clearly tries to continue this big fight between Silver Spoon and  Diamond Tiara and those other two colts. Like when we got shipwrecked in Silver Spoon’s backyard, when we left and Dim got all up in Silver Spoon’s face. Don’t you remember what he said? He kept making fun of her and taunting her. I bet if he didn’t keep messing with them this would have all been over by now and nopony would have ended up in the hospital!” Scootaloo face became red with anger as she continued to yell about her oldest friend’s colt friend.

Sweetie just stood in an angry silence trying to think of a response to her fellow crusader. But she couldn't seem to think of a response to Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle was lost in trying to come up with anything. Her look of anger began to fade and a different look began to slowly emerge from her face. A look troubled agreement. 

“Oh my gosh.” Scootaloo put a hoof up to her mouth. “You think I’m right too don’t you?”

“N-no.” Sweetie stutterd.

“Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom began. “She is kinda right.” a look of worry slowly creeped it’s way on to Apple Bloom’s face, not knowing how Sweetie Belle would react to having both of her friend’s going against her.

Sweetie took a deep breath. “Okay,” she exhaled, “you girls are a little right. Next time I’m with Dimmy, I’ll talk to him.”

Scootaloo laughed, “Ha! Did you just call him Dimmy?” she continued to chuckle. Apple Bloom soon joined in on the laughter.

Sweetie pursed her lips and her face became red with blush. “Hey!” she squeaked in a playful mad tone. She was relieved the tension had went down

“What? You don’t like when we talk about your little ‘Dimmy Wimmy puddin’ pie?’” Apple Bloom fell on the ground laughing. 

Sweetie Belle let out an annoyed growl. As the three ponies continued to walk back to their broken tree house, two of them continued to make fun of the pet name Sweetie Belle had given to her colt friend. “Next time you see your little Dimmy Wimmy huggy bear are you two gonna play kissy face?” Scootaloo teased.

“I hate you girls sometimes.”


Rider stood in the old, abandoned, and recently trashed building. His once dear pictures that held so many memories were now torn into pieces by some new colt who continued to belittle him time and time again in front of the one he colt his filly friend. The bits and pieces of the pictures that once spelled out the vandal’s name, Dim Shadow, no longer spelled anything as the pieces were blown all around the room by Equestria’s wind.

“Please, please let me find the whole thing.” What Rider was looking for was what many would guess, his favorite picture that he held nearest and dearest to his heart.

I frickin’ loved that picture. Nothing was better than that. Me and Diamond on that ferris wheel at the Ponyville Festival last year was the best. And I thought it was great idea to leave it in a broken old dresser in a broken old building, gods I’m so dumb.

The picture in question was last year at the annual Ponyville Festival, Rider and Diamond Tiara were at the top of the ferris wheel, red and white fireworks were going off in the distance and were captured in the photo right after they exploded. The clean water of the lake was shining under the moon’s glow, giving it a nice starry look to it. Both of the ponies were smiling and having the times of their lives. 

Unfortunately, Rider never made copies of the photo because he never felt that he would lose it, but lo and behold something did indeed happen.

Forget it, what’s the use? Half the picture scraps already went out the window anyway. 

Whenever Rider was having hard times he would always look at that picture. Once in the middle of winter, Rider was feeling awful beyond his own belief and he marched from his house to the old run down building just to take a glance at it. Whenever he did miserably in sports he would always come take a look at that picture.

And Dim Shadow took that away from him.
> Shadows in the Moonlight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                        Edited by "NightShader". Proof read by "TexPony"


Dim Shadow, still keeping a safe distance from Silver Spoon, followed her to wherever she intended on taking him. They were walking down the hallway that led to the stairs, Dim Shadow looked at his surroundings. Not much was to be said about the hallway other than a few framed paintings and a fire extinguisher resting on the wall. 

“So, where are we going and what are we gonna do when we get there?” he asked.

“Who knows?” Silver Spoon responded.

“Didn’t you just get done saying there was oh so much to do here?” Dim said with sarcastic enthusiasm.

Silver Spoon paused and turned around, obviously annoyed. “Look here, if you’re gonna be here for the night, at least try not to be a smart mouth.”

“Yeah, I’ll try.” Dim rolled his eyes. “But honestly, what are you gonna do?”

“I told you-”

Suddenly a shadow loomed over Silver Spoon, she looked up at saw it was none other than her father, Porcelain Spoon, with a stern look on his face. “Silver… may I take your new friend aside for a moment?” he asked with clear discontent.

“Why of course, father,” Silver tone changed from snarky and sassy to a more proper sounding one. “I’ll head downstairs so you may talk in private.” Silver said before heading down the hallway to the stairs. Please do not anger my father, you loud mouth. She thought to herself.

Porcelain watched his daughter disappear down the staircase to whatever level of the house she chose to go to. Once she was out of sight he looked down upon Dim Shadow, his brow narrowed. "Who are you, and how do you know Silver?” he asked. 

“My name is Dim Shadow, I moved here a  couple days ago. Silver Spoon and her pink friend met me at the school’s park the day I moved in and the two of us just clicked.” Dim lied to Silver’s father’s face. 

“Okay… and did you get either mine or Silver’s mom’s permission before having a sleepover here?” Porcelain asked, still staring down and not breaking eye contact with Dim.

“We didn’t plan on having a sleepover, Mr. Spoon. Silver wanted me to come over and a really bad storm started. I’m sorta trapped here until the storm passes by.” 

Porcelain scoffed, offended. “What do you mean ‘trapped’? Is our home not up to you standards?”

“You know that's not what I meant!” Dim said back at him.

“Excuse you!” Porcelain exclaimed at Dim’s remark.

“Excuse ME?!” Dim put a hoof to his chest. “Excuse-” Looking behind Porcelain, Dim caught Silver Spoon motioning her hoofs left and right and mouthing “No” repeatedly. She did not look too amused with what Dim was saying.

“You’re right,” Dim cleared his throat, “excuse me. That was rather out of line on my part. I didn’t mean trapped in a negative manner, I meant it, simply, as in I currently have no where else to go at the given moment. And your home goes above and beyond all other homes I have seen in this town.” Dim’s quickly changed tone and attitude surprised Silver and Porcelain. Dim looked down the end of the hallway at Silver Spoon with a ‘What do you think of that?’ look. Silver sighed then gave a sarcastic slow clap without letting her hooves touch.

“Hmm, I forgive you. For I too can lose my composure at times. I shall allow you to stay and you may be friends with my daughter, but that is it, just friends and nothing more. Do you understand, little one?”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that, Mr. Spoon.” 

“What do you mean?” Porcelain raised a brow.

Here we go again. Dim thought. “I mean I do not like your daughter in that way.” Dim sighed, annoyed.

“Why? Is she not up to your standards, like my home?!” Mr. Spoon yelled, echoing in the hallway.

“I’m not doing this again.” Dim simply stated before walking past Porcelain Spoon with a half eyed expression. Silver swiftly ducked down as her father turned around and watched Dim Shadow pass, not wanting to get caught eavesdropping.

Porcelain grumbled to himself before heading to another area of the house, not wanting to deal with a rude colt after a long week of business work. He wouldn’t forget about this and would deal with it later.

Dim Shadow approached the staircase, a few steps down Silver Spoon was crouched down. “I cannot believe you just did that! How dare you disrespect my father!” she shouted.

“Disrespect your father?! He was being annoying and misrepresenting what I was saying! I bet he was doing it purposely too! I can’t deal with that.” Dim responded.

“Well deal with it. You can’t just do that to new ponies you meet, especially the elite of society such as my father.” Silver scorned.

“You telling anypony about how to interact with other ponies? Okay, Miss ‘Get five ponies to beat me up.’ Whatever, Miss ‘Make fun of everypony else.’ Sure-” Dim was interrupted.

“Do not say another word you dolt! Do not speak to me unless I give you permission. And do not speak to anypony in this house unless you are spoken to. I will not let you speak down to my family or me.” the silver filly gritted her teeth as she spoke to the dark grey colored colt. “Follow me.” 

You'd complete me. Dim though after hearing Silver stand up to him. So assertive, so pretty, doesn’t take any down talk from anypony. Perfect.  Dim visibly cringed a few moments after he thought positivity of Silver Spoon’s traits . Why? Why am I thinking these things? Did she do something that I didn’t notice? No way, I would have noticed had she done anything to make me like her like this. J-Just remember all those horrible things she’s done. Even if she is pretty, that doesn’t redeem anything about this pony. And Sweetie Belle, I must stay loyal. Nothing Silver could say, nothing she could do, would make me betray Sweetie. 

Dim was snapped out of his thought by Silver Spoon clapping her hooves in front of his eyes. “Come on you idiot, snap out of it. This is the second or third time that’s happened to you today. Now, follow me.” she said, irritated. As she turned around she whipped the tip of Dim’s nose with the end of her tail.

“Hey!” Dim exclaimed, rubbing his nose.  

The two descended down the staircase to the second floor of the large home. Dim watched Silver Spoon as she walked down the stairs, admiring the way she walked down the stairs. She wasn’t trying to move in any particular fashion, she was simply walking and thinking. Dim Shadow was too just walking and thinking, but what he was thinking about concerned him.
There is something wrong with me. he thought to himself as he unconsciously smiled at Silver Spoon.  

Silver Spoon glanced behind her without Dim Shadow noticing. I guess the poison is working, he’s smiling like an idiot. I should probably do something to make it work faster. Silver Spoon paused just as they reached the second floor. She turned around with a small, very friendly smile. “Wanna watch a movie?” she said happily.

Dim Shadow stopped and stared at Silver Spoon, not speaking. Both of them looked at each other, but Silver was the only one who was confused. She dropped her smile, “Hello?” she waved a hoof in front of his eyes. “Oh, I get it.” she rolled her eyes. “You can speak.” 

“No, absolutely not, she-devil. What are you trying to get me into? Do you want something? Do you need another hug?” Dim questioned. “Because I’m all for hugs. Do you want to hug? Lets hug.”  Dim held a hoof outward, hoping for embrace.

Silver Spoon was taken back a bit. She was surprised to see this reaction, even though she was trying to get him into a semi-romantic situation. Could he see right through her and was simply making fun of her? Or was the poison working? How could he go from condescending to affectionate that quick? 

“I’m not falling for that. You’re obviously trying to make fun of me. Are you having emotional trouble? Wouldn’t surprise me, seeing as who you are. Do you need a hug?” Silver Spoon extended her hoof outward.

“No, if you want a hug, you’re coming to me. Hug me.” Dim Shadow said, hoof still extended. 

“Did I say you could speak? YOU come here.” Silver Spoon leaned forward.

“I don’t take orders from you. Come here and hug me!” Dim responded by also leaning forward, and narrowed his eye brows.

“No! HUG ME!” Silver Spoon yelled at him.

“No you!” Dim retorted.

“You are going to get into my hooves and you are going to like it!” Silver exclaimed.

The two then got into an unnecessarily violent yelling competition, demanding one hugs the other. After a while, the two were still shouting at one another in the same position, hoof extended and leaning forward. Nopony actually gained any ground in this insightful battle of wits. After a while of insults and “No you!”s, Dim Shadow paused, wiping the angered expression off his face to a much calmer and relaxed one and walked over to Silver Spoon and wrapped a hoof around her neck and nuzzled her a bit. She lost her angry look once Dim made contact with her. The hug only lasted a few seconds before he stopped and looked in her eyes.

“Happy?” he asked, removing himself from from Silver Spoon.

Silver replied with a smug grin. “Very.” 

"I only hugged you because I was worried that the friction between us would create a thunder cloud and scare you to Tartarus." 

Silver pushed Dim. "I told you not to talk about it!"

Dim pushed back. “There’s nopony around, don’t get your cutie mark in a twist!” he chuckled. 

Angry, Silver Spoon jumped on Dim and pinned him down. “I said do not talk about it!"  she shouted in Dim’s face. Silver held him down and leaned in to the point where their noses were barely touching. An angered Silver Spoon stared into the eyes of a smiling Dim Shadow who let out a little laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking, you’re really, um, uh,-” don’t say nice, don’t say pretty, don’t say cute. “you’re really nice.” Dang it.

“What do you mean? Are you setting me up for a joke?” she tilted her head to the right.

I gotta cover this. “Nicely… mean?”

They both continued to look at each other, Silver unamused. “You’re an idiot.” she removed herself from him. “I’ll ask again, do you want to watch a movie to pass the time? It’s not like we have much time before we have to go to bed.”

“Why do we have to go to bed at… whatever time you’re thinking of?” Dim asked.

“The accursed ‘bedtime’ as my parents put it. I consider most of it beauty rest.”

Dim just looked at Silver Spoon You need beauty rest? I think you’re doing just fine. he thought. “I need my beauty rest too, can’t look this good without a little effort.” Dim joked.

Silver laughed. “I’d say you need to put in more work then.” 

“Hey, lay off.” Dim smiled. 

The two let out a small chuckle before Silver led Dim to the small home theater the Spoon family owned. It was a nice, relaxing thing for anypony to come and visit on occasion. At maximum it could fit about eight ponies and came fit with comfy recliner chairs. And of course it had a popcorn machine not too far from the little theatre. 
        After the expected bickering between the two ponies, they decided on a rather long movie but wouldn’t extend past the time Silver had to got to bed, which would be the same time Dim would have to rest as well. Surprisingly enough the two made it through the majority of the film without any problems.

“I’m sorry Candle, but I cannot love you, for there is another.”

“Limedrops, don’t tell me…”

“It had better not be Plum!” Silver said softly, but sounding loud due to the quiet environment. Small tears had formed in the corners of her eyes, Silver had gotten really into the movie.

“Plum is the only one who has grabbed my heart in such a way that I have never felt before. I am so sorry, Candle.”

“Limedrops, you broodmare!” Silver yelled at the screen as tears slowly ran down her face. 
“Plum is only using you! He doesn’t care about you!” 

“Calm down, Silver Spoon.” Dim said. “It’s just a movie.”

“J-just a movie? It’s more than that! It’s a story! One with an unhappy ending, there’s too much bad stuff that needs to be resolved before the end of the movie and there’s only a few minutes left.” Silver whimpered.

“Well just because it doesn’t have a happy ending doesn’t mean its bad. If it were to suddenly fix everything right now it wouldn’t make sense. I think we can all learn a thing from unhappy endings.” Dim wisely put.

“All I know is sadness.” she stared at the floor.

“But, what about the bank papers?” Candle asked. “How could you still love him?”

Silver’s attention was brought back to the screen.

“What do you mean?” Limedrops asked.

“He’s been eating away at your bank account to fund his own company! Haven’t you seen them?”

“He told me he was investing it into the companies we agreed upon!” she exclaimed. “I could get all this money back in a moment!” Limedrops continued to read the bank statements. “And my sister didn’t abandon me! She’s on a paid vacation using money Plum took from my account! Oh my gosh!”

“Its okay Limedrops, I’m here for you!”

“Oh, Candle!"

“Oh, Limedrops!” 
*the two ponies kissed as the screen fades to black and credits roll..*

Silver wiped away her tears and smiled at the screen with hope, while on the other hand, Dim was left mouth agape with a large disappointed frown at the sudden fix of everything.

“That was stupid!” Dim yelled as the screen faded to black as the credits rolled. He put a hoof to his forehead as he processed the stupidity of the movie’s end. While Dim was in his chair, Silver Spoon was bouncing around the room in glee; thankful that she got the happy ending she had thought she lost. 

“You know how dumb this makes the movie, right?” Dim inquired. 

"Yeah I do, but everything turned out alright in the end. So that makes it okay.”

“How? Aren’t you annoyed that they didn’t bother having a decent ending? The rest of the movie was okay but then they butchered it.”

Silver scoffed. “Can’t you just appreciate a happy ending?”

“Not if it isn’t done well.” Dim replied.

Silver Spoon grunted before thinking of something else to say in response. Nothing came to mind so she changed the subject. “You know, I saw a lot of of you and me in Remington's and Sprinkle’s story.” she said.

“Didn’t Sprinkle try to hire a hitmare to take out Remington when he rejected her proposal?” Dim asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

“Yep.” she smiled. 

“Well, at least their happy ending made sense. She managed to convince the hitmare not to kill Remington by explaining the amount of love she truly had for him. Her words alone made the hitmare make an exception to the rules.”

Silver decided to take the rest of the story. “And Remington overheard it and realized no one else in his life had loved him like that, then he changed his mind and decided to marry Remington. I just watched the movie, Dim Shadow, I know what happened. Although I think it’s a bit silly that Remington found that romantic and not insane.”

“Yeah, I can totally see how you see you and me in that.” Dim sarcastically spoke. What is she, insane? Dim thought. That doesn’t relate to us at all. Wait… she’s comparing us to a couple… is she hitting on me? Dim went wide eyed. He shook his head to regain his logical thinking. Even if she was it wouldn’t matter to me, I don’t see myself anywhere near her after tonight. The longer I stay here the more dumb thoughts I’ll have about her… “Silver, what time is it?”

She looked at the clock on the wall. Reading the time, her ears perked up suddenly. “Late. We need to get to bed.” she thought for a moment. “I’d have the servants set up the guest room but it’s way too late and I’m not one to over work them…”

“Look!” Dim shouted over his shoulder. “One of your butlers left my stuff out here by the door.” Dim inspect the bag’s contents, an orange sleeping bag, toothbrush and toothpaste, and a pillow. Upon further inspection, Dim found a note from his parents.


Dim, we’re very happy to see you making so many new friends in such short time. We can already see the positives of moving to this town. Enjoy your time at your new friend’s house and remember to be kind to your hosts. 


Love, Mom and Dad. 


“Oh, mom and dad, when am I not kind to everypony?” Dim genuinely said allowed.

Silver Spoon coughed to get his attention. Dim turned around to see her staring at him with an “Are you serious?” face.

“You’ve lost your nice Dim Shadow privileges.” Dim turned back around to his bag.

“Have I? You were being pretty nice during the thunderstorm.” 

“Well based on the noise I’m hearing it’s still going on. And that was different, you needed somepony to comfort you.” 

After turning off the large screen, Silver Spoon walked through the door. “Shut up about it.” she said before purposely bumping into Dim on her way out. “Whoops.”

Not one to be pushed around, Dim stuck a hoof out in front of Silver’s right back leg and tripped her. “Whoa, are these floors waxed? I’m slipping all over the place.”

Silver Spoon got up and dusted herself off. “Actually, they are.” she said before grabbing one of Dim’s front legs and flinging him across the waxed floor. Dim tried to stand back up on his hooves while spinning around on his chest. He came to a stop before he could regain his balanced and get himself back up. He sighed before saying, “You may have won the battle but not the war.”

“What was that?” Silver Spoon asked from the other end of the hallway.

“I said, it’s been a long day and we should probably head to bed.”

“Agreed.” Silver said as she walked down the hallway. As she got to the end she approached Dim and stopped in front of him. She offered a hoof out to help Dim back up. He hesitated for a moment, seeing as this was the first time that he could remember Silver Spoon trying to help him with anything. After a moment he grabbed her hoof and stood up on all four legs. “Wow, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever done for me. I’m touched.” Dim put a hoof to his heart.

For the second time Silver turned around and whipped Dim’s nose with her tail. “Go get your junk and come to my room. You get the floor tonight.” she said before descending up the staircase without another word.



It was later in the night, the storm was still raging outside. The thunder and lightning made the silver filly in the room uneasy in her sleep.  She was twisting and turning with a sad frown and the occasional whimper. The dark grey colt on the floor was on laying of the unzipped sleeping bag; unzipped all the way, it was essentially a large blanket. Something you would lay on to watch the stars at night or have a picnic on. Neither of the ponies were under covers, the wet storm and hot air only made the air in the room humid and being under covers would be uncomfortable for most ponies.

Silver Spoon had awoken from her sleep from an exceptionally loud thunder clapping. She knew she wouldn’t get back to sleep on her own. Nights like this she usually never got back to sleep and if she did it would only last a few minutes before the slightest sound awakened her.

She sat up and waited until her eyes adjusted to the darkness. A few moments had passed and she could make out the things in the room. The delicate moon light made everything visible. Thunder echoed outside her home and she jumped. A small tear formed in her eye. She looked around the room to try and distract herself, like she did most stormy nights. Silver Spoon noticed Dim Shadow sleeping on his orange, unzipped sleeping bag. She thought back to earlier that day where he cuddled her so she would feel comfort in the scary weather.         
        She observed him as he was unphased by the loud storm, resting peacefully. She carefully got out of bed, making sure not to let the springs of the bed let out their usual annoying, loud squeaks. Silver slowly got out of bed with a pillow and ever so silently walked over to where Dim Shadow was resting. She placed the pillow next to his and laid down, facing him. Thinking she managed to stealthily get out of bed and change position, she shut her eyes.

“Mmm?” Dim murmured with one eye barely half open, most likely unaware of his surroundings. 

Don’t say a single word, please. Silver thought to herself, not wanting the embarrassment on top of the most likely restless night ahead of her.

A moment passed before Dim Shadow half consciously grabbed Silver Spoon and pulled her in for a hug. Although a bit taken back, Silver Spoon didn’t protest and embraced Dim Shadow’s hug. After enjoying the sudden hug, she shut her eyes.

As the two were touching noses, Dim placed a soft kiss on Silver Spoon’s lips. Her eyes shot open. Stunned, Silver Spoon froze, not moving a muscle. A smile came across her face as she returned the hug and nuzzled into Dim Shadow’s neck. She went right back to sleep.