The Crusader Crisis

Chapters

The Day After
A Clubhouse Divided
Weathering the Storm
Schoolhouse Rumble
Sisters of a Feather
Under A Shining Star

The Day After

The jubilant atmosphere from Sweetie Belle's accomplishment carried over to the following morning. The campers got up bright and early to get back into town as soon as possible. The big sisters, including Rarity by surprise, carried all their equipment to town, giving the fillies more time to revel in the occasion. Sweetie Belle couldn't wait to tell everypony the good news, and Rarity wanted to get straight to work in planning her little sister's long-awaited cute-cenera. However, the cute-cenera would have to wait for a short while as Rainbow Dash and Applejack reminded her of the consequences the events of last night have on 'Friendship is Magic'.

"Do we really have to involve Pinkie Pie in this so soon?" Rarity whispered, making sure her sisters and her fellow Crusader friends could not hear her conversation.

"Ah’m sorry Rarity," Applejack whispered back, "But we can’t hide this from her, especially after the summer we’ve had."

"Think about it, Rarity," Rainbow started to point out. "A cutie mark crusader who suddenly shows up with a cutie mark. That's like a divide by zero error. We can’t pretend that nothing ever happened."

"Well, perhaps we can write it in," Rarity suggested. "That's how we dealt with Twilight's wings, right?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "We were going to write it out before Hasbro forced us to keep it in, remember? At any rate, this goes a bit deeper than that. Sweetie Belle is still trying ti figure out who she is in the show, right? She can't do that if she already has a cutie mark."

Applejack nodded in agreement. "Rainbow’s right. Sweetie Belle’s gonna have to cover her cutie mark up, or at least have a changeling play her part."

Rarity sighed sadly. The two had a point. "Either way Sweetie’s going to be crushed. I guess I will tell her."

Applejack shook her head. "Don’t, Rarity. Rainbow and I will talk to Pinkie. You go and plan her cute-cenera. Celebrate with her for now. This is her moment. We shouldn't ruin it... at least not yet."

While the elder sisters continued their conversation, their younger siblings carried on a conversation of their own, all three fillies still awestruck over the new cutie mark. Sweetie Belle had been so engrossed with her cutie mark, going over every single minuscule detail.

"Look! The color scheme matches my mane!" she squeaked excitedly. "It’s like this cutie mark was made for me."

"That's sort of what a cutie mark is," Scootaloo laughed.

"I can’t wait to tell Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They’re gonna freak out!" Sweetie Belle smiled.

Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. "I can’t wait to get back either. Ah want to get back to crusading as soon as we get home."

Scootaloo was a little confused at Apple Bloom's eagerness. "Don’t you want to relax a bit before we go crusading again?"

Apple Bloom shook her head. "You see, now that Sweetie Belle has her cutie mark, it’s only a matter of time before we get ours too!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Scootaloo shouted. "So what do you think we should try when we get back, Apple Bloom?"

"Well, Ah heard Applejack talking about the bull riders from the rodeo last year. Maybe we could try that?"

"That sounds awesome!!!" Scootaloo shouted. However, she felt a bit worried from the suggestion. "Isn't that really dangerous, though?"

"Ah know," Apple Bloom conceded, "But Ah was thinking we could work our way up to it. Try riding smaller animals until we're ready for the big one!"

Scootaloo shrugged. "Well, it can't hurt to try. What do you say, Sweetie Belle?"

Sweetie Belle slowed her pace as a sudden thought came to her head. "You know something girls? It just hit me that now I have my cutie mark, I don’t have to go crusading anymore."

The other two fillies stopped in their tracks as Sweetie Belle's realization hit them too.

"Whoa, you're right. I never thought about that." Scootaloo said stunned.

Apple Bloom nodded. "Yeah, it’s going to be weird crusading without you, Sweetie Belle. Ah'm sorry if you're feeling left out right now."

Sweetie Belle smiled. "It's ok. I understand. Hey, I could still cheer you on."

"That's a great idea Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom shouted. "You can be a Cutie-Mark-Crusader-Cheerleader!"

"But Sweetie Belle already has a cutie mark!" Scootaloo pointed out. "She don't need another one. We don't need another Cutie Pox scare. You remember what happened, right?"

Apple Bloom frowned. "Yes. Ah remember the Cutie Pox scare. We wrote the whole thing into the show, after all." It was much to Apple Bloom's dismay that she remembered the incident that the episode was based off of, and how the incident was worse than what was depicted in the show, with cutie marks covering every inch of her yellow coat before she finally confessed the truth. She quickly shook away any lingering memories of the incident.

"At any rate," Sweetie Belle spoke out, "I don't think I can even catch the Cutie Pox if I have a cutie mark, so I think we don't have to worry about it that much."

"Thank goodness!" Apple Bloom shouted. "Ah don't want to go through that ever again!"

"How did things get so out of control back then anyway?" Scootaloo wondered. "Zecora said that it was rare to have a case of Cutie Pox that bad."

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment. "Well, maybe it has to do with Apple Bloom herself."

Apple Bloom frowned again. Her pace suddenly got a tad bit quicker as she pretended she ignored the conversation.

"Really? How so?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well," Sweetie Belle began to speculate. "She wants to get her cutie mark so badly that she's willing to try her hoof at just about anything, right? Maybe that's why her bout with the Cutie Pox was so bad. It's because she's so desperate to get any cutie mark."

Apple Bloom couldn't pretend to ignore any longer. She stopped in her tracks, and turned around to the unicorn filly in anger to defend herself. "Who are ya callin' 'desperate'?"

Sweetie Belle was taken aback slightly by the yellow filly's confrontation. "Well, I was just wondering why your cutie pox episode got so bad. That's all." she explained.

"Well, Ah think that was a silly idea." Apple Bloom huffed. "Nopony knows anything about cutie pox anyway. When did you become a Miss Know-It-All?"

"I'm sorry Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle apologized. "But you know, talking about my cutie mark and the cutie pox got me thinking..."

"Thinking 'bout what?"

"Well," Sweetie Belle began, "I got my cutie mark and I didn’t have to go crusading at all to get it. It’s kind of ironic that I wasted all that time crusading when I didn’t need to do any of that after all."

The words struck Apple Bloom. "Wait... are you sayin' that crusading is a waste of time?"

"Well," Sweetie Belle tried to explain. "Now that I have my cutie mark, the idea of crusading sounds kinda silly when you stop and think about it."

Apple Bloom glared at Sweetie Belle. "Ah wouldn’t call it silly, at all."

Sweetie Belle was surprised by her friend's threatening look. "Whoa, hold on! I didn't mean it like that! I just thought it was kind of funny if you thought about it. You have to admit Apple Bloom, it is pretty ironic."

Apple Bloom got into Sweetie Belle's face. "Crusading. Ain't. Silly."

Before the situation escalated any further, Scootaloo quickly broke the two apart. "Ok, Apple Bloom, you're right. Crusading isn't silly. Can we just drop it right here?"

"Yeah. Let's drop it." Apple Bloom glared at Sweetie Belle before continuing down the path.

"Apple Bloom? I'm sorry." Sweetie Belle tried to apologize.

"Yeah, whatever." Apple Bloom replied without even looking back.

Sweetie Belle took another look at Apple Bloom and decided not to take the conversation any further. There had been other things she had been thinking about since she got her cutie mark, and she figured that sharing these thoughts right now wasn't going to help. She couldn't help thinking these things, but she still couldn't help but wonder. She got her cutie mark without crusading at all, and now that she finally got hers, it made her begin to reassess the whole Cutie Mark Crusader thing, her role in it, and its role on her. Did being in the cutie mark crusaders hold her back this whole time? Would she have gotten her cutie mark quicker on her own? Did she even need to be a crusader at all? Sweetie Belle chuckled at herself for thinking something so ridiculous in the first place. Even if crusading itself turned out to be a waste of time, it still led her to meeting her two very best friends, so being a Cutie Mark Crusader was worth it in the end.

"Hey Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo whispered in her ear, "what do you think got in to Apple Bloom?"

"Who knows," Sweetie Belle shrugged. She didn't want to spend anymore time worrying about Apple Bloom. She had other things to worry about. Particularly her new-found cutie mark.

"Hey Scootaloo? You want to hear about some of the ideas Rarity and I came up with for my cute-cenera?"

"Sure!" Scootaloo smiled.

"Well, we thought that we could go with a royal theme for the party, kind of like a smaller version of Twilight's Coronation."
"Cool! Hey, you could be Princess Sweetie Belle!"

Sweetie Belle blushed. "Gee, I think that's a bit too much for a cute-cenera."

Apple Bloom didn't partake in the conversation. She was still very annoyed over what Sweetie Belle said. She couldn't understand why just said those things about crusading. She never thought crusading was silly before. Did earning her cutie mark do something to her brain? Did she always think like this? She must have, right? It's the only explanation to where these crazy thoughts came from. Apple Bloom took a quick look towards Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo talking between themselves, and Apple Bloom felt a pang of irritation at the sight of Sweetie Belle gushing over her cute-cenera. The yellow earth filly was surprised she felt this way. After all, she was happy for Sweetie Belle, right? All of a sudden, Apple Bloom couldn't answer that question honestly anymore.

~~~~~

While most of Ponyville took the hiatus as a chance to unwind from a busy season three, Sugarcube Corner and the ponies in charge of it were busier than ever. It always seemed like it was a bit too much for Pinkie Pie to handle, with running the shop and running the show. But the end results of both endeavors, whether it be an 'Friendship is Magic' episode or a Sugarcube Corner party, made all the hard work well worth it, especially since she got to work with her best friends. On this particular day, Pinkie was hard at work with one of her oldest friends, Minty, at Sugarcube Corner.

"Hey Pinkie? I think we're running low on streamers!" Minty shouted.

"We’ve got more in the basement." Pinkie replied. "I’ll get some after I put this cake in the oven. I hope we have enough though. We’ve got three more parties to plan this week!"

"Are you sure you’re not being overworked, Pinkie?" Minty asked.

Pinkie simply giggled. "After everything we’ve been through with the show this summer, handling Sugarcube Corner is a piece of cake!"

"That reminds me," Minty suddenly remembered. "You never told me how everypony changed back from being human after Lyra’s party."

"Heh, funny story actually..." Pinkie laughed nervously as a memory popped into her head.

~~~~~

"So Lauren?" the humanoid Pinkie nervously asked the auburn-maned alicorn, "Do you think you can give us a little help here?"

Lauren looked round the room, taking a good look at all the ponies that were stuck as their human forms from Equestria Girls. She sighed. For starters, she couldn't believe she would be back in Equestria so suddenly, but Pinkie managed to call her back for this emergency. She also couldn't believe that everypony had this party without figuring out a way to change back to normal. As she closed her eyes to focused her magical energy, a warm white glow began to radiate from her horn. Within a few seconds, a bright flash shone through the entire room, enveloping everyone in it. The light seemed to linger for several moments before it finally faded. As everyone began to regain their senses, they quickly saw that they had been changed back to their normal pony selves.

"Thanks Lauren. I think we can take it from here." Celestia bowed her head in gratitude and began to walk away.

"Not so fast, Celestia!"

Lauren's sharp tone paralyzed the sun princess on the spot. Celestia nervously turned her head to see Lauren's deep frown aimed directly at her.

"You and I need to have a little talk."

Celestia gulped.

~~~~~

"I’m telling you, it’s not everyday that you get to see Princess Celestia chewed out like that!" Pinkie pointed out.

Learning about Lauren's visit and the subsequent scolding made Minty cringe. "Yikes! Is Celestia all right?"

Pinkie nodded. "She was a bit rattled in the moment, but Lauren forgave her. But she did tell her to be more careful next time."

Minty sighed in relief. "That's good. But I still can't imagine Celestia of all ponies being scolded!"

The two continued chatting when they heard the shop's front door bell ringing. Minty went up to meet the newcomer and saw that it was. When she got to the front of the store, she was met by the familiar figures of Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

"Howdy, Minty, is Pinkie here?" Applejack asked.

"Yes she is, hold on a sec..." Minty turned back to the storage room. "Hey, Pinkie? Come on up here! Look whose back!"

It didn't take very long for Pinkie to emerge from the storage room. She smiled as she saw the two newcomers.

"Rainbow Dash! Applejack! You're back! So how did the camping trip go?" Pinkie asked excitedly.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other nervously. With all their talk about the dire need to break the news to Pinkie, the two found themselves grossly unprepared to actually say it.

"It went… great!" Applejack eventually said as a response.

"Yeah… great…" Rainbow Dash nervously agreed.

The stilted manner of the response caught Pinkie as odd. "Are you sure? You don’t sound that excited. Is everything all right?"

"Eeyup! Everything’s just fine!" Applejack answered quickly. Unfortunately it was a bit too quickly as her face scrunched up in response to what she had said.

Rainbow Dash facehoofed at her friend's telling reaction. "Applejack, you’re scrunching up!"

"Shoot! Ah really tried this time," Applejack cursed at herself.

Pinkie shifted her eyes at the two, confused at their odd behavior. She started to feel a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. "Applejack? Rainbow Dash? What’s going on?"

Rainbow Dash sighed. There was no use beating around the bush anymore. "Listen Pinkie, something happened at the camping trip, and… we think it’s gonna be bad news for the show."

Horror started to slowly grip Pinkie's form. Oh no! Not again... She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "What happened?" she asked.

Applejack closed her eyes. "Well, you see…"

"You’re pregnant!" Minty suddenly shouted out.

The wild guess took everyone by surprise. Applejack's eyes nearly popped out of her head due to the shock.

"WHAT?!?" Applejack shouted back.

Minty's eyes grew wide. "You are, Applejack?"

"No! Ah’m not pregnant!" Applejack frowned.

Minty turned to Rainbow Dash. "So you’re pregnant!"

Rainbow Dash's face twisted in disgust. "Are you kidding me? No way!!!"

Minty turned to Pinkie. "Then you're pregnant!"

Pinkie quickly shook her head. "No I’m not!!!"

Minty gasped. "So that means that… I’m pregnant?"

Rainbow Dash facehoofed. "I... I don’t even…"

"Minty, nopony’s pregnant!" Pinkie reassured the mint pony. She cast a quick aside glance to Rainbow Dash. "Nopony is pregnant, right?"

"Not anyone we know." Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Minty scratched her head. "But… if nopony’s pregnant, then what’s the problem?"

"It’s Sweetie Belle," Applejack answered.

Pinkie Pie gasped. "What happened to her? She isn't hurt, is she?"

Applejack shook her head. "Far from it. Ya see, Sweetie Belle…"

"Sweetie Belle kidnapped Spike and is holding him for ransom so she can get more screen time?" Minty guessed.

Applejack did a double take, again. "What?! No, Minty!"

"She won the lottery?"

"NO!" Rainbow Dash shouted angrily.

"She was tricked into selling her soul and she’s now a magical girl?"

Minty's latest wild guess left the other three confused. Doesn’t being a unicorn technically make her one already? Pinkie wondered.

"She got a cameo role on Pound Puppies and…. mmmph!!!"

Minty was surprised when Pinkie covered her mouth, making her unable to continue.

"Ok, seriously. What happened to Sweetie Belle?" Pinkie said as she kept Minty's mouth closed

Applejack sighed and broke the news straight. "Sweetie Belle got her cutie mark."

Pinkie's jaw dropped "WHAT?!!"

"That was my next guess! I swear!" Minty insisted as she broke free from Pinkie's grasp.

Pinkie Pie sat on the floor, absolutely bewildered by the news she had just heard. "Sweetie Belle got her cutie mark?" she asked, her voiced hushed by the shock.

Applejack nodded. "It happened last night at the campsite. That's why we came straight here first." Pinkie inspected the cowpony's face. It was stone cold serious with no hint of scrunching whatsoever. That was more than enough for Pinkie to confirm the news was indeed true. She lowered her head, her mind racing with millions upon millions of thoughts to what the ramifications of this event were.

"We’re sorry, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash apologized. "We didn’t want to add anymore stress for the show for you, but we felt you had to know. Just promise us you’re not gonna freak out over this."

Pinkie didn't respond. She simply kept sitting on the floor with her face downwards. Minty slowly approached her as she began to get concerned about Pinkie's eventual reaction.

"Pinkie? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Minty," she replied with a resigned sigh. "Well, I guess there’s only one thing we can do now."

Pinkie suddenly bounced up from the floor and straight onto the kitchen counter.

"We have to throw Sweetie Belle the greatest cute-cenera Ponyville has ever seen!!!" the pink pony said with a huge smile. She quickly began to gather up everything she needed for the occasion. "This is gonna be so great! We're going to need to invite everypony! I hope Sugarcube Corner is big enough. Oh well, if it isn't then we can just have it in Applejack's barn! That's big enough for everypony! Speaking of big, we're going to need a really big cake for this! Maybe a 10 layer cake, what do you think girls? Wait! That's not gonna work, we'll never have enough frosting for 10 layers. Well maybe I can pull it off if I frost every layer a different color. Wait, what am I even thinking? This isn't Rainbow Dash's cute-cenera. Hey Dashie, how many layers were on your cute-cenera cake? I've always wanted to know."

Rainbow Dash blinked at the hurricane of words that had just hit her ears. "Well, it was a two layer cake and..." she quickly shook her head and regained her senses. "Wait a minute!!! You’re not worried about this at all, Pinkie?"

Pinkie smiled and shook her head. "Nope!"

"You’re not going to panic over this? Even a little?" Applejack asked.

"Nuh-uh!"

"But… a Cutie Mark Crusader with a cutie mark doesn’t make any sense," Applejack pointed out.

"I know! Isn’t it great?"

"So... what are we going to do about the show then?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"That’s the best part! I have no idea!!!" Pinkie grinned.

Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack in concern. "I think we just broke Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie shook her head. "No, you don’t understand. I really am glad for Sweetie Belle and I couldn’t care less about the show. But even if I did, we still have a few months before we start filming again. In fact, we could even make an episode out of all this! This isn't like when Twilight became an alicorn and we only had a week to figure things out. We’ve got more than enough time!"

"Well, that explains why you’re taking this so well," Minty observed.

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, RD and I thought you’d flip out over this worse than when you found out about Equestria Girls!"

Pinkie chuckled nervously. "I know, but after everything we’ve been through recently, I think I've learned how to handle these kinds of things now. I’ve learned my lesson."

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Ha! I'll say! Looks like you're little talk with Lauren after the party really did set you straight, huh Pinkie?"

"Yeah. It really did." Pinkie blushed a bit in embarrassment.

"Wait," Minty interrupted. "Lauren talked with Pinkie? Pinkie just told me she talked with Celestia after that party."

"She did at first," Applejack explained. "But that was nothing compared to the tongue lashing she gave Pinkie for how she treated Lyra. Hoo doggy, Ah've never seen anything like it."

Pinkie turned a deep shade of red as the memory of the incident replayed in her head. While Celestia did get chewed out for almost trapping all of Ponyville as humans, it still paled in comparison to how Lauren chewed her out on her overreaction to Equestria Girls. She could barely remember the actual event itself, but she did remember thinking at one point that even Nightmare Moon herself would have been shaken to her core. However, Pinkie stood through it all and took it like a grown mare. She deserved it after the way she acted back then. Thankfully, and to Pinkie's surprise, Lauren give her a big hug at the end and told her she was so proud her her to have resolved the issue like she had.

Pinkie shook the memory away and snapped back into the current issue at hoof. "Hey! Wasn't there a cute-cenera we needed to plan? What do you say we get back to that?"

"Sure!" Minty replied. "There's a lot of things we have to do for this!"

"Ah know Rarity has a few ideas," Applejack informed the party planners.

"I'll get Rarity and Sweetie Belle over here!" Rainbow Dash spoke up. "We can't plan this party without them!"

Sugarcube Corner worked overtime that night as the plans for the greatest cute-cenera ever began to take shape.

~~~~~

It was late at night when Applejack returned home to Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom had been sent to bed and Granny Smith was fast asleep in her favorite chair. Big Macintosh stayed up to finish a few kitchen chores when his sister finally returned home to share the good news about how well things went over at Sugarcube Corner. The stallion was left confused.

"So you're telling me that Pinkie was actually happy 'bout all this?" he asked his sister.

"Eeyup!" Applejack nodded with a smile.

"She didn't panic at all? Even a little?"

"Nope!"

"And, there's a good chance she'll even write this into the show too?"

"Eeyup!"

Big Mac shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. Ah'm speechless."

Applejack laughed. "Ah know. Ah couldn't believe it either! Ah can't wait to tell Apple Bloom! You should have seen how happy she was when Sweetie Belle got her cutie mark!"

"Actually," Big Mac informed her, "She hasn't said much of anything since she came back home. She's been mostly quiet all day."

Applejack found this information odd. "She has?"

"Eeyup."

"Hmm... Ah guess she's just tired from the long trip," Applejack guessed. "It has been pretty exhausting since last night."

Unbeknownst to the two of them, their little sister was listening in to the conversation from the very top of the stairs. She heard all she needed to hear before she returned to her bedroom. She couldn't believe it. Everypony was happy for Sweetie Belle. Even Pinkie Pie herself couldn't have cared less about having a cutie-marked Crusader. Everypony was happy, except her. Her mind was swimming in thoughts as she flopped onto her bed. Earning a cutie mark was what they wanted, right? It was what they waited their whole lives for. And now it's finally happened for one of them. So why wasn't she happy?

Apple Bloom frowned. She knew why she wasn't happy. It was Sweetie Belle. The way she acted today rubbed her the wrong way. Just because she didn't get her cutie mark from crusading, doesn't give her the right to dismiss crusading as "silly" or a "waste of time". Was there more 'pearls of wisdom' to come from the unicorn? What if these thoughts led Sweetie Belle to become worse than Diamond Tiara's character in the show. Apple Bloom never thought she would ever think anything like this, but she was beginning to prefer Sweetie Belle as a blank flank. Yes, she wasn't liking this new pony Sweetie Belle was becoming. She wanted the old blank-flanked Sweetie Belle back. A few moments in deep thought later, a smile crept on Apple Bloom's face. She knew what she had to do to get the old Sweetie Belle back.

Author's Note

YAY UPDATE!!! BTW, School + Life + Writer's Block = NO FUN AT ALL!!!

This was a rough chapter to write for me, and I hope it came out all right. Seriously though, thanks for liking the story so far and I promise I'll get to wrapping this story up as fast as I can. As always, comments are greatly appreciated!

A Clubhouse Divided

Ponyville seemed a bit brighter than usual the following day. There was an excited buzz around town as news spread about Sweetie Belle's new cutie mark. Throughout the day, random ponies stopped the young unicorn and her two friends to congratulate her and to ask her questions about the details of the event. Sweetie Belle was more than happy to share her story with everypony who wanted to hear it. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, meanwhile, stayed out of the way throughout much of this, letting Sweetie revel in her moment. However, doing so meant that they were not able to do any crusading activities they previously scheduled. By the time late afternoon rolled around, the trio hadn't even begun crusading at all, which left Apple Bloom more than annoyed. If it weren't for Sweetie Belle, Ah coulda had mah cutie mark today already! Apple Bloom thought. She kept her feelings for herself for now, but she was having more difficulty keeping them in check. She started to wonder how much longer she could hold her growing displeasure back.

After finishing talking to Aloe and Lotus, the three fillies continued on their way down the street.

"Wow, Sweetie Belle! I think everyone in Ponyville wants to hear your story!" Scootaloo remarked.

"I know!" Sweetie Belle beamed. "I never get tired of telling it though!"

"You must have told that story over 1,000 times today!" Scootaloo laughed.

"1,347, but whose counting." Apple Bloom replied flatly. "At any rate, could we just get going now? Ah wanna get some crusading done today."

Scootaloo shrugged. "I guess today hasn't been one of our most productive days, has it?"

Sweetie Belle blushed. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. But can you blame me? Look! I got my cutie mark!" She pointed to her flank once again.

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "We know, Sweetie Belle. Ah think everypony in Ponyville has seen it by now!"

Scootaloo stopped in her tracks. She noticed a cloud of dust ahead and closing in on them fast.

"Not everypony, Apple Bloom," Scootaloo replied, pointing at the dust cloud.

The trio looked on as from the dust, a pair of silhouetted fillies emerged. As the figures closed in, they saw that one of them was wearing a tiara, the other one was wearing glasses, and both of them had smiles a mile wide.

"SWEETIE BELLE!!!" the approaching fillies shouted.

It was useless to get away. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom watched as Sweetie Belle was glomped by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, smothering her in a celebratory hug. Sweetie Belle didn't fight back. Outside of the show, the two 'bullies' had always been one of their biggest supporters of their crusading endeavors. She knew that when the moment finally happened, they would want to congratulate her.

"We heard what happened! Congratulations!" Diamond Tiara shouted.

"We knew you could do it!" Silver Spoon added.

"Gee! Thanks, you two!" Sweetie Belle replied.

"Why didn't you stop by earlier?" Silver Spoon asked. "We wanted to know the second it happened!"

"Sorry. I wanted to tell you guys earlier today, but everypony we ran into today wanted to congratulate me!"

"And we do mean everypony!" Scootaloo laughed. She, nor anyone else, didn't notice Apple Bloom's annoyed expression at the literal statement.

"At any rate, we need details. NOW!" Diamond Tiara instructed. "Don't leave anything out!" Apple Bloom's face grimaced in reaction to the instruction, again without any of the other four fillies noticing.

"Hey! I have an idea!" Silver Spoon shouted. "Let's take this to Sugarcube Corner! Our treat!"

Scootaloo jumped in excitement. "Sweet! I call dibs on the ice cream!"

Scootaloo began to run towards Sugarcube Corner, with Sweetie Belle, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara not far behind. Apple Bloom lingered for a few moments. She noticed that the sun was starting to get very low in the sky. It was official, today had been a complete waste. She sighed in defeat and joined her friends towards Sugarcube Corner. The sooner Ah get the old Sweetie Belle back, the better, she thought.

~~~~~

At Sugarcube Corner, Sweetie Belle retold the story to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and answered their seemingly endless questions about it. The five friends all munched on cupcakes and ice cream that Pinkie had happily served them. While Scootaloo actively joined in on the fun conversation, Apple Bloom never said a word, choosing to quietly played with her food instead. At the moment, the fillies were in a corner of the shop by themselves as Pinkie had to step out momentarily to get some more baking supplies with Minty. They continued talking when the shop's front door jingled open. The Cutie Mark Crusaders all looked as their three older sisters entered the store.

"Hi Rarity!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

Rarity turned to see her sister and her four friends. She walked over to their booth, followed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "Oh, Sweetie Belle! We didn't know you were all here."

"We were just spending time with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. What brings you over here?"

"We're meeting with Pinkie about the party. Hey, where is she, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"She and Minty stepped out to get some more baking stuff. They should be back soon," Scootaloo told her idol.

Applejack smiled. "Well then, we'll wait for her upstairs. We've got a lot of planning to do. Y'all go on and enjoy yourselves."

The three made their way up towards Pinkie's room to wait for her return. The fillies began to continue their conversation when Silver Spoon began to be concerned by Apple Bloom's unusual quiet behavior.

"You OK, Apple Bloom?" Silver Spoon asked. "You haven't said much of anything since we got here."

Apple Bloom shrugged. "Ah was just thinking, that's all."

"What were you thinking about?"

Apple Bloom sighed. "Sweetie Belle's cutie mark. Ah mean, it's nice that she got it and all, but Ah think it's gonna make a big problem."

"It will?" Sweetie Belle asked. "But I thought everypony was happy for me."

Scootaloo suddenly got on top of the table with a determined look on her face. "Don't worry Sweetie Belle! If some idiot has a problem with your cutie mark, then they'll have to answer to me! Seriously, what moron would have a problem with this?"

"Hasbro." Apple Bloom answered.

The four fillies were hushed into a nervous silence at the mention of the company's name. Scootaloo sat back down as her determination quickly vanished.

"Ya see what Ah'm saying?" Apple Bloom continued, "Ah don't think Hasbro's gonna like what this cutie mark thing could do to the whole show."

Diamond Tiara shrugged a reluctant nod. "I guess you're right. We can't call Sweetie Belle a 'Blank Flank' in the show anymore, can we?"

Silver Spoon scratched her head. "How are we going to deal with this on the show, anyway?"

Scootaloo was ready to tell the two that Rainbow Dash told her that everything was going to be fine as far as the show was concerned. But before she was able to say anything, Apple Bloom spoke up.

"Oh don't worry about it, Silver Spoon. We got it all figured out."

"We do?" Scootaloo asked in surprise.

Apple Bloom nodded. "Yup. We’ll just have Sweetie Belle cover up her cutie mark like nothing ever happened."

Sweetie Belle's jaw dropped in utter disbelief. "We're going to do WHAT?!?!"

"Think about it Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom began to point out. "Ya can’t be a “Cutie Mark Crusader” with a cutie mark now, can you?"

Sweetie Belle stammered. "Bu... But, I... I finally got my cutie mark! I want EVERYONE to see it!"

Apple Bloom shook her head. "But it doesn't make any sense! Just pretend this never happened and we can continue crusading like before, all right?"

Sweetie Belle looked at her friend. She then took another look at her cutie mark. She was so proud of earning it, and now she was supposed to pretend that the biggest moment in her life never happened? No, she decided. She wouldn't accept this.

This was what I wanted, she thought. I waited for my whole life for this. And I won't let anypony ruin this for me. Not Hasbro, not ANYONE!

"I'm sorry Apple Bloom, but I'm not covering my cutie mark."

Apple Bloom frowned. "Sweetie Belle, this isn't your decision!"

Sweetie Belle got into Apple Bloom's face. "It's MY cutie mark! And I get to decide what I do with it!" she growled.

Silver Spoon ran over to the two and separated them for the moment. "You know, I think we struck a nerve or two here. Maybe we should just change the subject."

"Yeah, good idea. Forget we even brought this up, ok?" Diamond Tiara nervously agreed.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "I want to talk about this now!"

"There’s nothing to talk about, Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom insisted.

"So we’re supposed to pretend that the biggest moment of my life never happened? That’s not fair!"

"Ya think it’s fair Diamond Tiara has to pretend to be a mean bully?"

Diamond Tiara tried to interject. "Actually, I'm not that bothered by that anymore. It's just a show and..."

"No, it's not fair!" Apple Bloom continued as if Diamond wasn't there. "But Diamond Tiara does it anyway! It’s all for the good of the show!"

Sweetie Belle scoffed. "Last time we heard that phrase, Twilight wound up having a nervous breakdown. Ugh, I can’t believe we're even having this argument. Scootaloo? Could you please talk some sense into her?"

Sweetie Belle waited impatiently for Scootaloo to instantly agree with her. Instead, the young pegasus shifted her hooves around nervously. "Actually, Apple Bloom kind of has a point."

The meek confession left Sweetie Belle speechless. Apple Bloom, meanwhile, couldn't help giving off a satisfied smirk. Her plan to get her friend back to normal was working perfectly.

"At the very least, we haven’t even set up any one of us getting a cutie mark on the show," Scootaloo tried to explain. "I guess it does makes sense to cover it up, at least for a little while."

Looking desperately towards Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for support, Sweetie Belle was met by the two looking away from her in shame, silently confirming that they concurred with Scootaloo. Left speechless from the betrayal, Sweetie Belle sat on the floor in stunned disbelief. In reality, she half expected this issue to come up sooner or later. However, she still wasn't ready for this kind of turn against her and her cutie mark. What was supposed to be the best moment of her life was being ruined thanks to Hasbro, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Sweetie Belle took another look at the fillies. Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon all looked embarrassed and ashamed of themselves for reaching the conclusions they had made. Apple Bloom, on the other hand, had a telling smirk on her face. Now this reaction was odd. How come Apple Bloom's reaction was so different? Was she actually enjoying seeing her sad like this? Come to think of it, Apple Bloom never said anything about the show. She simply said that 'she had to cover it up.' The longer she looked at Apple Bloom, the more she began to wonder if the instruction to cover up her cutie mark came from Hasbro in the first place. She kept her gaze on Apple Bloom.

"So I have to cover up my cutie mark, huh?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yes." Apple Bloom nodded.

"Do I have to cover it up for the show, or in real life?"

"Don’t be silly, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo laughed. "It’s only for the show, right Apple Bloom?"

Apple Bloom said nothing. Her frown got deeper as she stared down Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo's expression slowly fell at the lack of a response. She nudged the earth filly, trying to get what should have been an obvious yes. Instead, Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes to Sweetie Belle.

"Like Ah said, you can’t be a Cutie Mark Crusader with a cutie mark," Apple Bloom said.

The entire room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon shifted their eyes nervously and slowly made their way towards the store's exit.

"Hey!" Diamond Tiara laughed nervously, "I think I hear my dad calling me! I have to go... paint the roof of my house!"

Silver Spoon quickly nodded. "And I have to... straighten my spoon collection! Bye!"

The two dashed out of Sugarcube Corner, wanting to get as far away from the scene as possible. Silence continued to reign over the remaining three.

"You’re kicking me out?" Sweetie Belle finally asked, her mind still unable to get over the shock.

"Apple Bloom, are you crazy? You can't do that!" Scootaloo yelled.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders need to move on, Scoots." Apple Bloom replied. "She’ll just drag us down."

That phrase struck a nerve with Sweetie Belle. She got into Apple Bloom's face. A helpless Scootaloo could only watch as her best friends angrily faced-off.

"I'll drag you down?!?" Sweetie Belle shrieked, "The way I see it, you were dragging me down this whole time. I could have gotten my cutie mark a lot sooner if it weren't for you and your stupid ideas!"

"Mah ideas ain't stupid!" Apple Bloom insisted.

Sweetie Belle scoffed. "Oh, give me a break! Did you really think our special talent was bull riding? Or journalism? Or any of the crazy things we did?"

"Some of those were your idea too! Right, Scootaloo?"

"Uh.. I... uh... uh..." Scootaloo stammered. She couldn't respond to anything at the moment. She could barely even process the sight she was seeing.

"See? Scootaloo agrees with me!"

Scootaloo finally snapped out of it, taking offense that Apple Bloom had put words in her mouth. "Hey! Hold on a sec..."

"I probably got those stupid ideas because I spent too much time hanging out with you two!" Sweetie Belle told Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo tried to establish her neutral position. "Wait Sweetie Belle! I never said..."

Sweetie Belle never gave her a chance to finish. "You didn't need to say anything! It's obvious you're taking her side!"

Scootaloo's heart sank as Sweetie Belle had labeled her as her enemy so suddenly.

"Sweetie Belle..."

"Don't talk to me, you traitors!" Sweetie Belle screamed. Her mind was clouded as the full weight of this betrayal bared down on her. The only thing she knew at that point was that she had to get back at them. She wasn't gonna stand there and take it. She would make sure they knew she meant business. And she knew exactly how to do it.

"I see how it is," Sweetie Belle began. "Ponies with cutie marks aren’t good enough to be your friends, huh? Well, fine! You won't have to kick me out because I quit! I don't need you guys or your stupid club either. You wanna know why? I have my cutie mark! I don’t need to hang out with you BLANK FLANKS anymore!"

The words hit Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hard. Scootaloo nearly cried as her best friend used their long time cat call against her. Apple Bloom, on the other hand, began to boil red with anger. Her face twisted in pointed anger towards the unicorn filly.

"Take… that… back…" Apple Bloom warned.

"Make me, Apple BLANK!"

Apple Bloom lunged at Sweetie Belle in pure rage. They were both knocked onto the floor yelling, screaming, and fighting. Scootaloo jumped into the ball of violence in a desperate attempt to break them up. Upstairs, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, & Rarity stopped their planning activities when they heard the commotion below them. The three quickly ran downstairs to see the their little sisters in an all out vicious brawl. It didn't take long for the big sisters to separate the fillies. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle kept trying to get one another while in their sisters' grasps.

"What on Earth is going on down here?!?" Rarity asked.

Sweetie Belle didn't answer. Instead, she simply began to walk out of the store. "Come on Rarity, we have a Cute-cenera to plan."

"And you can take that stupid party of yours and shove it!" Apple Bloom shouted.

Applejack gasped at her sister's language. "APPLE BLOOM!!!"

Sweetie Belle scoffed. "Fine. You weren’t invited anyway. This is going to be a party for grown up ponies like me. We won’t have time to babysit blank flanks."

Rarity gasped. "Enough is enough, Sweetie Belle. We’re going home right now! What the heavens has gotten into you?"

Rarity unceremoniously ushered Sweetie Belle out the door. Before leaving, the unicorn filly took one last look at her two ex-best friends. She took a particular glance at Apple Bloom thrashing about in Applejack's hooves. Her work was done. She had won. And it made her feel surprisingly good putting those two know-it-alls in their place. Now she'll make sure they'll never forget this for as long as they lived.

"See you later, Cutie Mark Crybabies!" Sweetie Belle smirked as Rarity nudged out the store, closing the door shut.

"AH HATE YOU!!!" Apple Bloom shouted at the now closed door. She stopped thrashing, now that Sweetie Belle was gone. She huffed in exhausted anger while the other three ponies in the room were left hopelessly confused.

"Would anypony mind explaining what the heck happened down here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Now it was Apple Bloom's turn to respond by walking towards the door. "Ah'll explain later. Come on, Scoots. Let’s get back to the clubhouse. We’ve got work to do."

Scootaloo's jaw dropped. "You want to go crusading NOW?"

Apple Bloom nodded firmly. "Yes. And this time, we ain’t stopping until we get our cutie marks. Even if we have to crusade all day and all night. We’ll show her, Scoots. We’re gonna a cutie mark so awesome, she'll beg us for forgiveness. We're going crusading!"

Applejack pulled her sister back from leaving. "No yer not!"

"Yes we are!" Apple Bloom tried to continue from being held back.

Before Applejack could argue back, Scootaloo spoke up. "No we’re not! Apple Bloom, you’re not thinking straight!"

"You heard what she said Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom argued back. "Don’t you want to show up that stuck-up prissy know it all?"

"Apple Bloom, I want my cutie mark too! But I’m not going to drive myself crazy like that to get it."

"Are ya calling me crazy?"

Scootaloo hesitated for a second before responding. "Right now? Yes! It wasn’t just Sweetie Belle acting like a jerk back there, Apple Bloom. It was kinda your fault too!"

"You’re not taking HER side, are ya?"

"I can’t choose between the two of you. You’re both my friends."

"That Crusader-Faker is NOT our friend!"

Scootaloo gulped. She took a deep breath. "I’m sorry Apple Bloom, but you can’t tell me who I can and can’t be friends with."

Apple Bloom frowned. So Scootaloo's siding with Sour Belle. Well in that case... Without warning, she grabbed one of the ice cream-filled bowls on the table and hurled it at Scootaloo.

Scootaloo was too stunned to dodge out of the way. She almost didn't even feel the bowl strike her in the head, or the ice cream landing in her mane. She simply looked on at the yellow earth filly in frozen shock.

"Fine then," Apple Bloom shouted at Scootaloo. "Ah’ll make it easy on ya. If you want to be friends with her, then Ah’m no longer friends with you!"

"Apple Bloom! Apologize to Scootaloo right now!!!" Applejack yelled at her little sister.

Apple Bloom took a good look at Scootaloo, melted ice cream oozing down her stunned face. "Ah'm not apologizing to that chicken," she huffed.

Applejack had enough. "That's it, young lady! You're grounded!!!" She grabbed her little sister by her mouth and started steaming her way towards Sweet Apple Acres.

"Let me go!!!" Apple Bloom thrashed while her big sister forced her back home.

"Just wait until Granny Smith finds out what you've been up to," Applejack firmly told her sister. "How dare ya treat your friends that way!"

"They're not my friends!" Apple Bloom shouted. "They can have each other as far as I care! Ah don’t need them! Ah don’t need anypony! Ah’ll get my cutie mark by mahself!"

The argument continued between the two Apple sisters well past them leaving the store. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash heard Apple Bloom's rantings and Applejack's scoldings fade away until they were left alone in silence inside the store. Scootaloo was frozen in place since Apple Bloom threw the bowl at her. It all seemed like a nightmare, but it just happened right in front of her eyes. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom now hate each other, and thanks to guilt by association, both of them hated her too. The friendship all three of them shared, all the good times they shared together, all of it was destroyed in a matter of minutes. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were falling apart, and all Scootaloo could do was just sit in shock.

Rainbow Dash looked at Scootaloo and approached her with extreme caution. "Um, you ok there, kiddo?" she asked.

Scootaloo said nothing.

Before Rainbow Dash could speak again, the shop's front door opened up. Rainbow Dash looked to see Pinkie and Minty arrive with several bags of baking supplies.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cake? We’re back!" Pinkie announced. She noticed the two pegasi in the store. She would have cheerfully greeted the two, but her first glance at the shocked expressions and the melted ice cream in Scootaloo's mane told her that something was off.

"Scootaloo? Rainbow Dash? Is everything ok?" Pinkie asked.

The two pegasi remain silent.

Minty noticed Scootaloo's stunned expression. "Geez, you look like you lost your best friend," she observed.

The floodgates opened. Sobbing loudly and uncontrollably, Scootaloo ran out the store.

"Nice going, Minty!" an angry Rainbow Dash hissed sarcastically. Not wasting any time, she dashed out the door in pursuit. Minty and Pinkie were left confused from the two's reaction.

"What did I say?" Minty wondered, prompting an uneasy shrug from Pinkie.

Author's Note

Ugh....

Once again, real life and school have bitten me hard these past few months, meaning I couldn't get this done as quickly as I wanted it too. What's worse, I had a horrible time writing this chapter in the first place that this process got to be kinda tedious, particularly when it comes to writing a story about the CMC getting into a huge fight. Oh well, I did my best with this chapter despite everything, and I'm just proud of myself for actually finishing this part of the story.

With that said, I have no intentions of abandoning this story at all. I WILL finish this all the way through, as well as a few others I have on the back burner right now.

Thanks for being patient and I hope you enjoy, everypony!

Weathering the Storm

Rainbow Dash flew high over Ponyville, desperate to find an orange speck that would lead her to Scootaloo. She had absolutely no idea what had just transpired between the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and thinking about it only led her to ask even more questions. All three of them seemed fine just a few minutes ago. What could have caused a fight like that? How did Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom come to hate each other? And how the heck did both of them treat Scootaloo like that? Despite all her questions, her mind was focused on one thing. Scootaloo was hurting and she needed somepony to help her.

Rainbow’s aerial search hadn’t yielded any results, made all the worse by the setting sun, so she lowered her altitude, hovering just over the Ponyville roofs to look for any nook or cranny Scootaloo might be hiding in. A few moments of searching later, Rainbow Dash noticed the pronounced sounds of a filly crying in a small alley. It was Scootaloo. No doubt about it. Taking a deep breath, she followed the sobs to its source and she found the orange filly hiding away from the world in the corner of the alley, her head buried in her hooves. Rainbow Dash landed gently behind Scootaloo and slowly approached her.

“Scootaloo?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The voice startled the young filly. She turned around to face her, quickly wiping the tears away from her face. “Oh. Hey Rainbow Dash…” she smiled weakly.

Rainbow Dash sat next to her. “Are you ok? I mean, I saw what happened back there…”

“Oh that? That was nothing. I’m fine now!” Scootaloo tried to chuckle through sniffs.

“Are you sure? Because it looked like…”

“No really, I’m ok!” she insisted, trying desperately to stop the tears from falling again. “I mean, I… I was alone before. I could do it again. It’s cool, right?”

Without any warning, Scootaloo suddenly found herself being hugged tightly. Looking up, she noticed that Rainbow Dash was now fighting off tears of her own.

“You’re not alone, Scootaloo,” she told her.

Scootaloo struggled mightily to fight back the flood forming in her eyes. “Rainbow Dash?”

“If you want to cry, I promise I won’t tell anypony.” Rainbow whispered.

The brave face Scootaloo struggled to put on cracked open completely. She buried her head in Rainbow’s chest and sobbed. Sobbed for herself. Sobbed for her friends. Sobbed for everything that happened. Rainbow Dash kept a brave face as Scootaloo continued to weep, but she was unable to stop the tears from falling down her face.

“This is all my f-fault.” Scootaloo sobbed. “I could have stopped it! I could have told both of them to stop fighting! But I…I just stood there like a stupid idiot. Why? Why didn’t I stop this? Why am I so weak?”

“Listen to me, Scoots! You’re NOT weak. You’re NOT stupid, and you’re NOT alone! I know things are bad right now, but we can fix this.”

“But what if we can’t fix this? What if Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle never talk to me ever again?” Scootaloo asked. “I can’t choose between them, Dash! I just can’t! I love them both! They’re my f-friends!” Scootaloo’s tears returned as she buried her head in her hooves.

Rainbow Dash hugged the filly tighter. “It’s gonna be all right, Scootaloo. We’ll fix this somehow.” She tried to come up with something else to say to her, but was unable to come up with anything beyond those words. Instead, she continued to hold Scootaloo in her hooves in silence, allowing the filly to let out all her emotions. Rainbow herself had to periodically sniff away a few tears.

She wasn’t sure how long they were in that alley crying together, but after a while, Rainbow Dash became aware of a pair of high pitched voices calling out their names. Moments later, she heard one of those voices seemingly a few dozen yards away in the street.

“Minty! I found them!”

The two pegasi broke away from their embrace as Minty and Pinkie Pie finally caught up with them.

“Scootaloo? I don’t know what I said back there, but I’m sorry!” Minty said.

“We had no clue what happened. Honest!” Pinkie added.

Scootaloo sniffed, wiping away the tears away from her worn out eyes. “It’s ok. I understand. I… just can’t help being upset right now.”

“And I’m sorry I was a bit harsh back there to you, Minty,” Rainbow apologized.

Minty smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Rainbow.” She turned her attention to the crying filly. “Hey, Scootaloo? What do you say we get that ice cream cleaned up from your mane?”

“O-okay,” Scootaloo sniffed.

Rainbow Dash led Scootaloo over to Minty. “You two go ahead. Pinkie and I will catch up in a bit.”

With a tentative nod, Scootaloo went over to Minty and the two of them started back towards Sugarcube Corner, leaving Pinkie and Rainbow Dash behind. The cyan pegasus sighed in exhaustion and slumped to the ground, emotionally spent from the last few minutes.

“So what DID happen back there, Dashie?” Pinkie asked.

“I think you need to sit down for this one, Pinkie. We’ve got a really big problem.”

~~~~~

The trip from Sugarcube Corner to Carousel Boutique normally takes a few short minutes. This time, however, Rarity felt like this trip was taking several hours, thanks in large part to Sweetie Belle. Ever since the incident with Apple Bloom not too long ago, Sweetie Belle had gone on and on about the details of her upcoming Cute-cenera, completely dismissing the incident as if it never happened.

“You know, I was thinking that maybe we could move my Cute-cenera to Canterlot!” Sweetie Belle suggested. “We’re gonna need some extra room for everypony to come and celebrate!”

“We’re not celebrating anything, young lady!” Rarity frowned. “Do you have any idea how disappointed I am in you right now?”

“You’re mad at me? Apple Blank started it!”

“Stop calling her that! I don’t care who started what. Your attitude back there was simply unforgivable! Just wait until I talk about this to our parents.”

“What’s there to talk about? Apple Blank just got a little whiny back there. It’s not my fault I’m more mature than she is.”

“You’re four months younger than her and TEN months younger than Scootaloo!” Rarity pointed out.

Sweetie Belle scoffed. “In that case, why do I have my cutie mark and they don’t? Oh yeah, that’s right! Because they’re both crybabies!” She then scrunched her face, pretending to cry. “Boo hoo! We didn’t get our cutie mark so you have to hide yours!” she teased. She then crossed her hooves and frowned. “I can’t believe I wasted my time with those two losers.”

“Enough is enough, Sweetie Belle! How can you keep saying these things?”

“You said worse things about Applejack!” Sweetie Belle countered.

Rarity stammered for a second before she was able to continue. “D-d-don’t change the subject here. We’re talking about you right now. And as of right now, your Cute-cenera is cancelled.”

Sweetie Belle froze in shock. “But Rarity…”

“No ‘buts’, Sweetie Belle.”

Sweetie Belle tried to counter but she just fell silent at Rarity’s stern tone. “At least I can still look forward to the show,” she grumbled out loud.

Rarity overheard Sweetie Belle’s thoughts. “And furthurmore,” she added, “Until your attitude improves, I won’t allow you to be on the show.”

Sweetie Belle froze in shock. “WHAT?!?”

~~~~~

“You can’t kick me off the show!” Apple Bloom shouted in disbelief.

Standing across from the yellow filly were her family, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith, all of whom were wrapping up reprimanding her for the stunt she pulled on Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo just a few hours ago.

“Ya think ya deserve to be on the show after what you did to your friends?” Applejack frowned.

“They’re NOT mah friends!!!” Apple Bloom screamed.

Granny Smith shook her head. “It don’t matter none! An Apple never treats anypony like that!”

“Nope!” Big Mac nodded.

“That’s not fair!” Apple Bloom protested. “Applejack wasn’t punished at all when she called Rarity…”

“This ain’t about me!” Applejack cut in. “Now first thing tomorrow, yer gonna go right back over to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and apologize for what you did. You do that and we might talk about a softer punishment.”

Any further protests Apple Bloom had in mind died on her tongue. It didn’t matter what she had to say, her family was still going to make her apologize against her will. The last thing she wanted to do was to talk to those two in any way. She could have cared less about them after their betrayals. She took matters into her own hooves with her former friends.

And now she felt she had to take matters into her own hooves with her family.

“No.” Apple Bloom said defiantly.

“Beg pardon?” Applejack frowned.

“Ah said no!” Apple Bloom repeated. “Ah ain’t gonna apologize to that bucket of feathers or that prissy stick of…”

“APPLE BLOOM!!! Watch yer language!” Granny Smith shouted furiously.

“And Ah ain’t apologizing for mah words neither. Ah don’t care about them. Heck, Ah don’t even care about the show.” Apple Bloom turned back to her bed, not bothering to look her family in the eye anymore. She opened her crusading diary and started writing down some notes. “Ya know what? Ah don’t even care if Ah’m grounded, anyhow! Ah ain’t comin’ out until Ah get mah cutie mark!”

The elder Apples’ stern expressions turned to nervous anxiety. They hadn't expected Apple Bloom to react like that. Their planned punishment for the young pony was starting to backfire.

Granny Smith decided to speak up. “We’ll continue this conversation later. It’s almost dinner time. How ‘bout we all go down to the kitchen?”

“Send mah dinner to mah room. Ah’m busy.” Apple Bloom never raised her head from her notebook.

“Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, “Ya know we always eat at the table together when it’s dinnertime.”

“Ah said Ah’m busy,” Apple Bloom shot an icy glare at her family.

The three elder Apples lingered in the filly’s bedroom until they realize that they would no longer be able to reach through to her. One by one, they exited the room. First Granny Smith, then Big Mac. Finally Applejack, after one last worried glance at her little sister, also left the room, closing the door behind her. In the hallway, she took off hat hat and slumped against the wall.

“Well, that could have gone better.” Applejack sighed.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac nodded.

“We’ve done what we can. It’s really up to Apple Bloom if she wants to be sorry or not,” Granny Smith pointed out.

Applejack began to fidget nervously with her hat. “But Ah never would have thought she would have acted that way to us, too.” She slumped down on the floor and sighed. “How do we snap her out of this?”

“There ain’t nothing we can do right now.” Granny Smith admitted. “We just have to give her some space right now and hope fer the best.”

Applejack nodded slowly. A tear rolled down her cheek. “Ah wish Ma and Pa were here. They’d know what to do.”

Big Mac gave her sister a hug, fighting back tears of his own. “Me too, Applejack. Me too.”

~~~~~

The Golden Oaks Library fell silent as the news of the Crusaders sunk in. Pinkie had gathered Fluttershy, Twilight, and Spike together to break the news of the fallout that had just occurred at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie and Fluttershy had caught Twilight and Spike in the middle of a chaotic library reorganization, so they all had to move up to Twilight’s messy bedroom before Pinkie could begin the story. Twilight and Spike were both dumbstruck while Fluttershy could only sob at the current circumstances.

“So… yeah,” Pinkie shrugged nervously. “I think it’s safe to say that we have a bit of a crisis on our hooves.”

“And to think that Hasbro has nothing to do with it this time.” Spike shook his head in disbelief.

Twilight gave the small dragon a quick, disapproving glare, before she addressed Pinkie with grave concern. “How’s everypony holding up, Pinkie?”

Pinkie shrugged. “I don’t know how Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle are doing, and I have no clue how Applejack and Rarity are dealing with them. But Scootaloo looks like she's in bad shape. Dashie is doing her best to cheer her up but I don’t know how that’s going either.”

“Poor Scootaloo.” Fluttershy sniffed. "I wish there was something we can do for her."

Twilight gave Fluttershy a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. We’ll do all we can to help her, and everypony else.”

“But what ARE we supposed to do?” Spike asked. “We can’t just snap Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle out of this, can we?”

Twilight sighed. “I wish it were that easy. I can’t even begin to work out a solution to this problem right now. I need more information.”

“Way ahead of you, Twilight,” Pinkie spoke up. “I told Dashie that I was going to plan an emergency meeting for us tomorrow if it’s ok with you.”

“It’s more than ok with me, Pinkie.” Fluttershy nodded.

Twilight nodded in agreement. “You don’t have to ask me twice. Just let us know what time you want to meet so I can get the library ready.”

“Actually, Twilight?” Pinkie nervously cut in. “Would you mind if we had the meeting at Sugarcube Corner instead? I was gonna bring it up later, but the library is getting really cramped.”

Twilight took a good look at her bedroom. Books were sitting in piles on the floor, boxes of science equipment were beginning to block the staircase downstairs, and sheets upon sheets of official princess documents were spread all over the room. All of this paled in comparison to the main foyer downstairs. There were so many books downstairs it all had to be organized on the floor, taking up so much room that Twilight couldn’t do any work at all.

“I should have known that I would need more space after I became a princess,” Twilight sighed.

“I keep telling you we need a bigger place,” Spike insisted.

“I think it would be hard to renovate a tree,” Twilight chuckled. “Besides, there’s nothing really wrong with the library. It’s fine.”

Spike groaned. “Twilight, not only do we have to store all the books, AND your new royal collection, but we ALSO have all the equipment and props from the show taking up all the space in the basement! I love the library too, but let’s face it, Twilight. Something’s gotta change.”

Twilight took a good look around the cramped library. Spike did have a point about the need for a bigger place, but she had become so emotionally attached to her Ponyville home that the very idea of changing it made her feel uneasy.

The young princess sighed. “We’re getting off track. We’ll talk about the library later. Right now, I think we’ve got bigger issues to deal with. At any rate, I’m fine with meeting at Sugarcube Corner.”

Pinkie smiled. “Perfect. We’ll meet tomorrow at about noon. I’ll make sure the others know, too.”

“I just hope we can fix this,” Fluttershy said. "I can't imagine what everypony is going through right now."

*****

Scootaloo sat on her bed, holding her cape in her hooves. She had lost track of how long she had been there. A few hours? A few days? It was all running together in a haze for the young pegasus. But time didn’t matter anyways. Barely anything mattered anymore.

Her friends were gone, and she was alone.

Scootaloo clutched the cape with all her might, holding back tears. She thought back to the moment that ignited this problem. “We wanted to get our cutie marks so badly. We waited our whole lives for it. And it actually did happen. So… why did everything fall apart?”

Scootaloo remained still as she heard the door open. She didn’t look over to see who it was because she already knew the answer. It was Rainbow Dash. It had to be. She was becoming a regular visitor to her room ever since this whole crisis began. She also knew that Rainbow Dash would also be wearing that same worried expression she had ever since she found her crying in that alley.

“How are you doing, Scoots?” Rainbow Dash asked softly.

“I was just thinking,” Scootaloo replied.

“Thinking about what?”

Scootaloo shrugged. “Everything. Me. The Crusaders. The future…”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. She couldn’t stand to see Scootaloo this sad anymore. She had to do something to get her to smile again. “You know, I was on my way to visit Fluttershy,” she smiled. “I was wondering if you wanted to come too. We could even pick out a new pet if you want.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “I’d rather just stay here.”

“Scootaloo, you haven’t been outside for days now! You have to come outside eventually.”

“If I go outside, Apple Bloom or Sweetie Bell might see me and get even angrier,” Scootaloo explained. “If I stay here, then maybe they’ll have a chance to get back together.”

Feeling a lump in her throat forming, Rainbow Dash slowly approaches the bed. “Scootaloo…”

“The best way I can help everyone is if I disappear completely.” Scootaloo then chuckled bitterly. “Heh, story of my life, huh?”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t find any more words to comfort Scootaloo. All she could do is embrace her while trying to keep her own tears in check. She couldn’t take seeing Scootaloo like this anymore. She wanted her to smile again. She just didn’t know how to do it.

*****

Apple Bloom slowly picked herself off the Sweet Apple Acres dirt, her teeth gritting to help fight off the pain from the fresh scrape on her leg. She had convinced herself that she could get her skateboarding cutie mark through hard work alone. Several dozen skateboard tumbles, however, was starting to make her reconsider that thought. Nevertheless, she wasn’t ready to give up. She would never give up. And nothing or nopony would get in her way. That much was certain.

She had been at it for several hours, and now Luna’s night was starting to take over the sky. Applejack was heading in after a hard day of bucking, which was made even harder with her mind on her little sister and not the trees. She noticed Apple Bloom in the same spot she saw her at the beginning of the day, picking herself up from another failed attempt at getting her cutie mark. The cowpony sighed. Ever since the incident with Sweetie Belle a few weeks, the yellow filly had been putting herself through the depths of Tartarus itself to get her cutie mark.

“Hey AB, it’s getting late.” Applejack called out. “You could try again first thing tomorrow if ya want.”

Apple Bloom yawned, but got right back on the skateboard. “Ah ain’t sleepy,” she insisted.

“Don’t lie, Apple Bloom. You’ve been at this all day. Ya gotta give it a rest!”

“Resting is for babies. Ah’m a big pony! Ah can handle it.”

“Apple Bloom, if ya keep doing this, yer gonna…”

“Ah’ll be fine. Applejack,” Apple Bloom said forcefully. “It’s gonna take a lot more than sleep to keep me from getting mah cutie mark!”

Applejack slowly approached her little sister. “You know, how’s about Ah help you out with this? We can work together and…”

Before Applejack could finish, Apple Bloom turned away from her. “Ah don’t need help from nopony. Now if you’ll excuse me, yer wasting mah time.”

Applejack looked on helplessly as Apple Bloom ignored her presence completely. A sense of fear grew in her mind. If things didn't get any better, there was a very good chance she could lose her little sister for good.

*****

Rarity’s migraine had gotten worse since she and Sweetie Belle had left Carousel Boutique en route to their parent’s house. Ever since the incident, Sweetie Belle hadn’t spent a lot of time outside this month thanks to her punishment. So Sweetie Belle was taking full advantage of this trip to the market to showcase her skills, much to Rarity’s chagrin.

“I feel charming,
Oh, so charming,
It's alarming how charming I feel!
And so pretty,
That I hardly can believe I'm real.”

Sweetie Belle sang. She also began a semi-elaborate dance to go along with her performance

Rarity rubbed her temples. She noticed all the ponies on the street giving her and her sister a strange look. Some were giggling. Some were shaking their heads.

“Sweetie Belle, would you mind singing something else? Ponies are starting to stare.” Rarity said to her sister.

“I want them to look!” Sweetie Belle insisted. “I have to let the world know how great a singer I am. It IS my special talent after all.”

“But do you really have to do so that loudly?”

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “Well, I wouldn’t have to if SOMEPONY didn’t cancel my Cute-cenera.”

Rarity decided it was useless to continue arguing with her little sister. The two continued down the road, with Sweetie Belle singing loudly along the way. As she continued, the small unicorn began to dance and twirl around without looking in front of her. Some ponies had to duck out of the way to avoid a collision.

“Sweetie Belle, watch where you’re going!” Rarity called out.

The warning came too late. In mid twirl, Sweetie Belle brushed up against another pony, causing her to lose her balance. She wound up tumbling into a puddle of mud on the street.

A small voice belonging to the young filly who caused the tumble called out to her. “Oh no! Sweetie Belle! I’m sorry!”

Sweetie Belle looked up to see Rarity rush to her aide alongside the young filly who caused the accident. It was her classmate, Ruby Pinch.

The two helped Sweetie Belle up from the puddle. As they did, the young unicorn noticed that her coat was now mostly covered in dirt and mud. Sweetie Belle gasped at the sight of the grime sliding down her flank and over her precious cutie mark.

“Are you ok, Sweetie Belle?” Ruby Pinch asked.

“Am I ok? Am I OK?!?” Sweetie Belle replied incredulously. She angrily got into Ruby's face. “Do you even know what you almost did back there? You could have ruined my cutie mark! Why don’t you watch where you’re going, you idiot?”

The outburst caught both Rarity and Ruby Pinch by surprise, even more so for the young filly who was not prepared to see Sweetie Belle lash out.

“I’m… I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle,” Ruby apologized through growing tears.

Sweetie Belle growled at the apology. She turned her back to her classmate, not wanting to have anything to do with her.

Rarity was forced to speak up in order to make her sister do the right thing. “Now Sweetie Belle, Ruby just apologized. What do you say?”

Groaning loudly, Sweetie Belle tuned around to face Ruby Pinch. She gave her classmate a menacing scowl. Ruby Pinch was frightened a bit, but was still able to flash a nervous smile as a token of her forgiveness. Sweetie Belle took one look at Ruby, and then looked down at the puddle she had just fallen into. A small smirk suddenly appeared on her face.

With no warning, Sweetie Belle shoved Ruby Pinch to the ground and into the puddle. Rarity watched is stunned disbelief as her sister pushed her classmate to the ground.

“Apology accepted.” Sweetie Belle then turned her back and walked back home on her own, her big sister still too shocked to process what she had just seen.

Ruby Pinch was too stunned to initially react to what had just happened. However, as she sat on the ground covered in mud, tears started to well up in her eyes. A few short moments later, she got back up and ran back to house crying loudly.

Rarity could only watch as Ruby Pinch cried her way back home. She then looked back the way where Sweetie Belle left. Then she looked again to Ruby Pinch. Then one more time to Sweetie Belle. Several questions ran through her head at once, but she would have to wait for any answers. Snapping out of her shock, Rarity ran to catch up with her sister. She made a note to visit Berry Punch later to explain to her what happened to Ruby, even if she had no idea herself.

~~~~~

Thanks to the storage problem at the Golden Oaks Library, the old storage barn at Sweet Apple Acres had become the temporary location for the stars of “Friendship is Magic” to plan the show. There was a lot of planning involved to make the upcoming fourth season better than ever, so these rehearsal sessions were important to make sure everypony was on the same page.

Unfortunately, everypony’s minds had been preoccupied with the Cutie Mark Crusaders that, even now in the critical late stages of planning the fourth season, things were progressing very slowly. There wasn’t even a solid plan for the fourth season finale yet. Thankfully, the premiere was ready to go, as well as ideas for some other one shot episodes throughout the season. One such episode was the one everypony found themselves rehearsing on this particular day. It was based on Spike’s favorite comic book heroes (Pinkie wanted to make it up to the baby dragon for his role in Lyra’s Equestria Girls movie, so she let Spike create an episode on his own). These episodes were sufficiently planned to the point where filming could begin later that month. They could wait to figure out how season four would end later.

It was the first time Twilight, Pinkie and everypony had tried on their Power Pony costumes. It was something everypony was joking about the moment Spike proposed the episode. While the costumes turned out to be as silly as everypony expected, there had been a severe lack of joy in the air during rehearsals. This was especially true for three of the Power Ponies who, no matter how they tried, just couldn’t get their minds off three particular fillies. Despite everything, rehearsals continued on as the six ponies and Spike acted out the scene after their first encounter with the evil Mane-iac.

“Spike, where is The Mane-iac building her doomsday device?” Twilight asked as if they were stuck in the middle of Maretropolis.

Spike fully got into his part. “Her top-secret headquarters! But you better get there quick. That glowing orb she just stole is what she’s gonna use to power it up!”

Everypony’s attention turned to Applejack for her to ask Spike to lead the way. However, the cowpony’s attention had slipped and she was currently looking out the window for signs of a yellow filly in the orchards.

“Applejack! Your line?” Pinkie asked.

“Huh? Oh!” Applejack quickly realized she had spaced out. She stammered a bit before she cleared her throat. “Um… Come on out Mane-iac, or the Power Ponies are coming in!” she shouted.

“That’s…. Rainbow’s line,” Fluttershy nervously pointed out.

“Dagnabit!" Applejack cursed. "Ah’m sorry. Ah don't know why Ah did that.”

“It’s Ok, AJ,” Pinkie replied. “Let’s back up a bit and try again, all right?”

Applejack nodded, and began to get back into character. “So let me get this straight. We’ve been sucked into some sort of… comic book world?”

“Technically, it’s called Maretropolis,” Spike acted out, “And if we want to get back to Ponyville, I think we have to stop the Mane-iac from using her doomsday device to destroy it!”

“No biggie! I was already awesome. And…” Rainbow Dash’s confidence melted away suddenly, making her unable to finish the line.

“Are you ok, Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash hesitated. “Uh, yeah. I’m fine.” She tried the line again. “I was already awesome. And now we’ve all got superpowers….” She trailed off as she found herself unable to recapture her usual bravado.

There was an awkward silence in the air for a few seconds before Spike decided to go on with the scene. “Almost all of us have superpowers,” he acted.

Rarity lifted Spike’s cape with her hoof. “But you must have them too, Spikey-boo. Your character is wearing a cutie mark.”

Spike blinked in confusion. “My cutie mark?” He checked his sides just to make sure.

Twilight winced a bit as she turned to Rarity. “I think you meant to say ‘cape’, not ‘cutie mark’.”

Rarity gasped. “Oh dear. I sincerely apologize! I didn’t even know I said…”

“It’s ok, Rarity. We understand.” Pinkie sighed. This rehearsal session was going nowhere. She thought that working on the show a bit would help lift everypony’s spirits. Looking at her friends, however, Pinkie understood that they weren’t in any shape to work on the show. Resigned to that fact, she started to get out of her costume. “Maybe doing rehearsals today was a bad idea, after all. How about we just call it a day?”

“Thanks, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said as she and the others changed out of their costumes. “I just can’t my mind on the show right now. I should be with Scootaloo right now. She needs me!”

“How is she holding up, Rainbow? Is she any better?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow frowned sadly. “No, she isn’t. She doesn’t use her scooter anymore. Heck, she barely goes outside for that matter, and she doesn’t want to talk to anypony else other than me. No matter what I tell her, she still blames herself for everything that’s happened.” Rainbow Dash crumbled to the floor in a depressed heap. “Some big sister I turned out to be, huh?”

“Don’t say that, Rainbow," Fluttershy smiled. "You’ve been an awesome sister.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “Besides, you’ve gone above and beyond for Scootaloo. That’s all anypony could ask for.”

“I’m gonna guess that things aren’t getting better with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, are they?” Spike asked.

Applejack and Rarity shook their heads.

“Mah family’s tried punishing her. We’ve tried not punishing her. We just can’t get through to Apple Bloom anymore. She shut us out!” Applejack explained.

“And Sweetie Belle’s ego is starting to get out of control,” Rarity added. “And now that school’s about to start up again, I don’t know if it’s safe to send her.”

“Well Ah know for a fact Apple Bloom is going next week, no matter what she says. She knows how we feel about her missing school,” Applejack said, finally putting her hat back on.

“But if both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are there too,” Fluttershy wondered, “What’s gonna happen to Scootaloo if they start fighting again?”

“It’s a really bad idea to have ponies missing school on purpose, though. I really think Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle should go,” Twilight replied.

“Perhaps you’re right,” Rarity admitted.

“We have to at least let Ms. Cheerilee know what’s going on.” Spike added.

“Great point, Spike.” Twilight levitated a notebook and began to write down some notes. “I’ll make sure to have a talk with Cheerilee later today, just to make sure she’s ready to handle any problems.”

Fluttershy slowly stepped forward. “And I can talk with the school foals if they have any questions.”

“I really need to meet up with Lyra about that Equestria Girls sequel she’s been working on, but if you girls need some extra help, I’ll do whatever I can too,” Pinkie offered.

Rainbow Dash shifted nervously. “I don’t know. I can’t help feeling that sending Scootaloo to school would just make things worse.”

Spike shrugged. "Things are kinda getting worse already."

“I'm willing to give this a try,” Rarity said. “It's better than just standing pat like this.”

With her friends all in with the idea, Rainbow Dash smiled. "Well if you guys insist, I'm on board too. I just hope we an end this."

“Yeah. Me too.” Applejack nodded. She took another look at the orchards. “Ah really need to get back to work. We’re starting to fall behind on the farm again.”

"All right, AJ. See you later," Twilight smiled.

Applejack waved her goodbyes to her friends. Rarity watched the cowpony make her way back through the grove of trees. Before she knew it, Rarity found herself galloping to catch up with her.

“Applejack!” Rarity called out. “Wait!”

Applejack turned around. “Rarity? You need something?”

“Well… I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind if I accompanied you.”

“Of course Ah don’t mind. Although Ah don’t think you’d be up to bucking all them trees today.”

Rarity chuckled. “Oh dear, heavens no! I just thought you’d like some company.”

“Well thanks, sugarcube.”

An awkward silence hung over the two for a few moments before Applejack spoke again. “So… How are ya holdin’ up? Ah heard what happened the other day with Sweetie Belle.”

Rarity was caught by surprise. “You heard about that?”

Applejack nodded. “Berry Punch told me everything at the market yesterday.”

“I’d… rather not talk about it right now.”

“It’s all right. Ah understand.”

“How about you, dear? Are you all right?”

“Ah think that answer’s pretty obvious. Ah’ve been a mess worrying about Apple Bloom. Heck, Ah would have forgot about rehearsals today if Big Mac didn’t reminded me.”

Silence fell on the two ponies as they walked down the path. Several times, both ponies tried saying something to the other, but no words were spoken. They knew what each other was going through as fellow big sisters. However, they couldn’t even find words to comfort themselves at the moment, never mind comforting their best friend.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of Rarity. She took a deep breath and asked. “Hey Applejack? Can I ask you a question? Back when we first met, what did you think of me?”

Applejack stopped walking.

Rarity gulped, hoping she didn’t strike a nerve by bringing up a painful memory. “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to. I was just curious”

Applejack sighed. “It’s ok, Ah understand.” The cowpony took a few moments to carefully choose her words. “If you honestly wanna know, back then Ah thought you were a selfish, stuck-up Canterlot reject.”

Rarity felt hurt. “Oh. I see…”

“But that was back then though. Ah don’t think that anymore.” Applejack clarified. “Ah bet your first impression of me wasn’t all that better, huh?”

“I thought you made most diamond dogs look like the Manehattan elite,” Rarity admitted, trying her best to say it as nicely as possible.

“Well, gee. Thanks for sharing,” Applejack replied, feeling more than a little annoyed.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that I though very little of you at first. I didn’t mean to…”

Applejack gave Rarity a friendly pat on the back. “It’s ok, Rarity. Ah understand.”

“But still, I was just wondering…” Rarity stopped herself from saying any more.

“You were wondering what?” Applejack asked.

Rarity shook her head. “Nothing. It’s not important.” She started to make her way back down the path as fast as she could.

“You were wondering if you’re the reason Sweetie Belle is acting up this way. Weren’t ya, Rarity?” Applejack called out.

Rarity was stunned frozen at Applejack’s question. She turned back to the cowpony. Her eyes were starting to water. “How… How did you…”

Applejack let out a heavy sigh. She slowly took her hat off her head. “Ah was wondering the exact same thing about mahself and Apple Bloom.”

The two big sisters remained silent. Neither one knew how long they sat there, but eventually Rarity stood back up.

“I have to go home now. It’s my turn to supervise Sweetie Belle.” She began to gallop away from the farm.

“Hey Rarity?”

The unicorn turned back to the cowpony.

“Good luck,” Applejack smiled, putting her hat back on.

“You too,” Rarity smiled back.

Author's Note

In the words of Randy Quaid in Independence Day... "Hello boys! I'M BACK!!!"

So, it's been two years since I last updated this story. Hope I didn't miss much. :twilightsheepish:

Seriously, though. Sorry for falling off the bandwagon. Life got super serious and I had to deal with some things. But the good news is that I've dealt with them! As for the story, the events of "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" hasn't really changed much as far as this story is concerned. Just needed to add a few things here and there. And I know I'm not the world's best writer and my grammar style is a bit awkward. But I've always done this for fun, and I will continue to do so.

Overall, I'm back and I promise this story WILL be finished.

Schoolhouse Rumble

After several weeks of sitting empty during the break, the schoolhouse classroom buzzed with activity once more. School was once again back in session and the fillies and colts of Ponyville were taking their places to begin a brand new school day. The usual mix of excitement and disappointment over the start of another school term, however, was replaced with a sense of tension and uncertainty concerning three particular classmates. Rumors had been swirling about what happened to the Cutie Mark Crusaders all summer long, and many of the school foals had a hard time believing the stories that were spreading around town. As time passed and as school began anew, the students came to realize that something serious was going on between the three Crusaders, and many started wondering how it would play out in school.

The rift between the Crusaders had already caused a one major change in the classroom dynamic. Cheerilee had changed the seating arrangement for the entire class. She wrote everypony’s name was written on their desks on small paper nameplates so every colt and filly could see where they were sitting. As it turned out, nearly all the changes in the seating order stemmed from the fallout of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, with all three of them sitting at opposite ends of the classroom; Sweetie Belle was in the front row closest to the door, Scootaloo would be on the opposite end of the row, right by Cheerilee’s desk, and Apple Bloom would be in the back corner by the classroom windows.

Apple Bloom was among the first students in school that day, mainly thanks to her family forcing her. She sat at her desk, writing down new plans for her cutie mark, and furiously scratching out those same plans minutes later. She kept her head buried in her notebook, blocking out the world around her. She didn’t want any distractions from anypony. She didn’t even notice a young colt approach her.

“Apple Bloom! Haven’t seen you in a while! How are you doing?”

Apple Bloom glanced up for a quick second and saw him. She groaned. She didn’t have time to talk to Pipsqueak. “Ah’m fine,” she replied back.

“You know,” Pipsqueak started nervously, “I was wondering since… you seem to be lonely lately, that maybe you’d like to hang out at lunch.”

“Can’t. Busy.” Apple Bloom kept her eyes on her notebook.

Pip was shocked at the sudden denial. “Well… we could hang out some other time if you want.”

“Maybe,” Apple Bloom replied. Her tone was such that Pipsqueak knew she didn’t mean it. He hadn’t expected Apple Bloom to be this distant.

“Do you need anything at all?” he eventually asked.

“Can you convince Cheerilee to send me home so Ah’m not wasting mah time here?”

Pip scratched his head. “I don’t think I can.”

“Then leave me alone.”

Pip wanted to say something else, but he decided to respect Apple Bloom’s request. He slowly turned away to look for his assigned seat. Apple Bloom continued to rebuff any other innocent hellos from her other classmates, focusing instead on her own work. She suddenly became aware of a high pitched voice coming from the hallway which she easily recognized as belonging to her former friend, and it sounded like that stuck up unicorn had roped in Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon by her side too. Hearing that voice spurned Apple Bloom to scribble harder.

“I can’t wait for school today! I finally have an audience to showcase my talents!” Sweetie Belle beamed, entering the classroom.

“I’m sure everypony will be glad to hear it, Sweetie Belle,” Diamond Tiara said through a forced grin.

“Yeah. I can hardly wait myself,” Silver Spoon nodded nervously. She looked back to Diamond with concern. Ever since the fight began, they hadn’t seen any trace of Apple Bloom or Scootaloo around Ponyville. However, Sweetie Belle was a frequent visitor to their homes, despite the fact that she was still grounded. Sweetie Belle now considered Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to be her closest friend, which also meant the two had to accept her own feelings towards the other former Crusaders as their own, whether they liked it or not. They were stuck with this new Sweetie Belle, and the more time they spent with her, the more uneasy it made them both feel. They couldn’t even say hello to Apple Bloom, sitting alone by herself in the corner, as they entered the classroom. The three of them stopped for a moment as they spotted the farm filly. Sweetie Belle frowned.

“I don’t have time to deal with the likes of her” she muttered to herself. “But if she thinks she’s gonna get in the way of my big day, she has another thing coming.” With a huff, she turned around and headed for her desk. “Come on, you two. Class is gonna start soon. I need to get ready.”

“Sure thing, Sweetie Belle!” Silver Spoon grinned forcefully. Once the young unicorn was out of earshot, she turned to whisper to Diamond Tiara. “We need to say hi to Apple Bloom, too! We can’t leave her like that.”

“If we talk to Apple Bloom, who knows what Sweetie Belle might do!” Diamond Tiara warned her friend. “Besides, looking at Apple Bloom, I don’t think she’s in the mood to talk to anypony right now,” she added, taking a good look at Apple Bloom’s demeanor. “I hope somepony is able to snap them out of this.”

Taking one last look at Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon turned around to find their desks.

One by one, the students filled into the classroom as the opening bell drew closer. Sweetie Belle went out of her way to say hello to every foal who came through the doors as if she was running for class president. This was it for Sweetie Belle. She was the center of attention. And soon, everypony would be celebrating her cutie mark. Her accomplishments. Her talents. Yes, they would be all celebrating her! And there wasn’t anypony who would get in her way. While she continued welcoming her classmates, she didn’t notice the spiteful glare from the back of the classroom from a certain blank flanked filly who hid behind her notebook.

For the students themselves, seeing Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom so far apart both physically and spiritually created a twinge of nervous anxiety in the usual pre-class chatter. Scootaloo immediately noticed this anxiety when she entered the classroom herself. It was the last place she wanted to be, but Rainbow Dash convinced her that skipping school was a bad idea. She slowly stepped through the door and made her way through the class, avoiding as much eye contact as possible. She didn’t want to see the looks of sympathy everypony was giving her. It was just a cold reminder that she was stuck in the middle of a situation she could have stopped if she was brave enough.

Sweetie Belle noticed the Pegasus nervously making her way to her desk. She immediately frowned and began to walk past her. As she did, she stealthily stuck her hoof out underneath the unsuspecting filly. Scootaloo’s front hooves suddenly got tangled by the mysterious hoof and she fell to the ground.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going, you dodo!” Sweetie Belle smirked. She turned her head and continued to greet the rest of the incoming class.

“At least she didn’t call me a chicken,” Scootaloo sighed. She picked herself up from the floor and made her way to her desk. As she got settled in, she noticed Apple Bloom in her new seat several rows behind her.

“Good morning!” Scootaloo waved slowly.

Apple Bloom only replied with an icy glare. Scootaloo backed away quickly.

“So much for that.” Scootaloo gave up reaching out to her friends and settled in for the start of the school day.

“Good morning, Scootaloo,” a voice called out from right beside her. She turned to see Ruby Pinch.

“Morning,” Scootaloo replied back.

“I guess we’re sitting next to each other.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, I guess. Hey, Ruby? Are you all right? I heard what happened with you and Sweetie Belle.”

Ruby Pinch looked down in shame. “I don’t know. I mean, I still don’t know what I did to make Sweetie Belle hate me.”

Scootaloo sighed. “Join the club.”

Ruby Pinch gasped, realizing she forgot about Scootaloo's dilemma. “Oh, I’m sorry Scootaloo. If anything, I should be asking you if you’re all right.”

“I still feel lousy. But at least Rainbow Dash is helping me feel better.”

“If you need somepony to talk to, you can always talk to me.”

“Thanks, Ruby.” Scootaloo knew that she could talk to her, or any one of her classmates about this. If anything, everypony in town is sympathetic to what she was going through. But she didn’t feel comfortable opening herself up to her, or anypony else. There were really three ponies Scootaloo felt she could confide her feelings to.

And two of them had shut her out completely.

As the last of the students filed in, Ms. Cheerilee entered the classroom and took her place at her desk. All the students settled quickly into their desks by the time the school bell rang.

“Good morning, class!” Cheerilee smiled. Even her smile was somewhat dampened by the tensions in the classroom.

“Good morning, Ms. Cheerilee!” the class echoed in unison.

“It’s great to see you all again! I hope you all had a pleasant break.”

“I had a wonderful break Ms. Cheerilee!” Sweetie Belle shouted suddenly. “I got my cutie mark!”

Cheerilee exhaled before she replied. “Yes, I know.”

“And since I got my cutie mark,” Sweetie Belle continued, “I would be honored to tell you my official cutie mark story!”

Cheerilee closed her eyes and shook her head. “As much as I would love to hear that, Sweetie Belle, we have a lot of subjects to cover today. So we really need to move along.”

Sweetie Belle’s expression fell into shock. “B-but… Diamond Tiara got a whole 20 minutes to talk about her cutie mark story to the class!”

“I know, Sweetie Belle, but things are different this year,” Cheerilee explained. “Now that everypony is one year more advanced, there’s a lot more complicated materials we need to cover. Sorry.”

Sweetie Belle frowned and settled back to her seat in a giant huff. A filly sitting beside her started to giggle. Sweetie Belle shot a mean look in her direction which immediately hushed the filly up in fear.

Cheerilee sighed. She knew things would be difficult due to the crisis, but to run into this issue right out of the gates was something she had not expected. She took a good look at the grumbling Sweetie Belle. She then looked to the apathetic Apple Bloom, who seemingly wasn’t aware that class had begun. Finally, she noticed Scootaloo, whose usual spunk was gone out without her friends. Cheerilee had something to get off her chest.

“Before we continue, I just need to say something.” Cheerilee returned to her desk and sat down. Her expression had turned to a serious degree that the school foals were not used to. “I know things are a lot different than when we last saw each other. It’s not just the advanced school work. You all are growing up so fast. It won’t be long until you foals will be full grownup ponies, which means very soon, you all will have new responsibilities, new commitments, new everything.” She glanced over towards Sweetie Belle. “And while it’s important to take these responsibilities seriously, it is also important to remember what was it that got you to where you are right now.” She turned her glance to Apple Bloom. “Because whether you want to admit it or not, the things that make up your past will stay with you for the rest of your life.” She turned a final glance to Scootaloo. “And a big part of being an adult and dealing with your future is learning how to deal with your past, for better or for worse.”

Silence permeated the entire class as Cheerilee finished her speech. The teacher didn’t know if what she said will make a difference, particularly to the fillies who needed the most help at the moment, but at least she felt better now that she said her piece.

“We’ll have plenty of time to go into this later on in the year,” Cheerilee smiled. “But for now, let’s begin today’s lesson with a little math.”

~~~~~

The first half of the school day passed without any incidents, much to everypony's relief. Between the schoolwork and the icy relations between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, the lunchtime bell came as a welcome distraction. The school foals had all spread about the school yard playing around or enjoying their lunches. Most of the students were taking advantage of what was a beautiful day. Three particular fillies, however, were not joining in on the fun.

Apple Bloom had secluded herself in a corner, still buried in her notebook, and shooing away anypony who tried to distract her. It was a miracle she took the time to take out the apple fritter her sister had made her for lunch, although she wasn’t planning on eating it just yet. She still had work to do.

Scootaloo ate her lunch quietly near the playground. Unlike Apple Bloom, she did talk to her classmates for at least a little while. She even allowed Dinky to sit next to her and eat lunch. However, despite all the attention and support Scootaloo received, she still couldn’t muster even a small smile. Scootaloo just looked onto where Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were and sighed.

“You sure you don’t want one of my mom’s blueberry muffins?” Dinky asked.

Scootaloo shook her head. “No thanks..”

“You know,” Dinky spoke up, “If you need somepony to talk to, I can help.”

Scootaloo groaned. I wish everypony would stop telling me that, she thought. She shook that feeling aside. Dinky was just trying to be friendly, just like everypony else, so she had to at least recognize that. “Thanks, Dinky. I’m sorry. I got a lot on my mind right now.” She tried to change the subject. “So… how did your break go?”

“It was great!” Dinky beamed. “I spent a lot of time with my mom. She’s helping Lyra with a new project and they’re getting really excited about it!”

Scootaloo listened quietly as Dinky went on about her break, and the new project that her mom was involved in. Scootaloo did her best to listen, but her heart just wasn’t into it.

In another part of the playground, Sweetie Belle was still stewing over the events of that morning. “I can’t believe Ms. Cheerilee didn’t let me show off my cutie mark,” the unicorn frowned.

“I don’t see why that’s a big deal. Everypony knows the story by now, anyway,” Silver Spoon pointed out.

“But I had this big thing planned for the first day back to school!” Sweetie Belle pouted.

Diamond Tiara shrugged. “Oh well, there’s always next time.”

Sweetie Belle sat quietly for a few moments when an idea formed in her head. “You’re right! There is always next time. And THIS is next time!”

“Wait, Sweetie Belle,” Diamond Tiara replied. “What are you even talking abou… aaaaand she’s gone now, isn’t she?”

“Yes, she is,” Silver Spoon confirmed, watching Sweetie Belle suddenly rush to the school steps.

“Geez! She’s getting as bad as the other me!” Diamond Tiara remarked, alluding to her ‘Friendship is Magic’ character.

“At this rate, I don’t even think Bully Tiara would be enough to stop Sweetie Belle,” Silver Spoon sighed. They watched Sweetie Belle run up to the school steps. She turned around and addressed her classmates.

“Listen up everypony!” Sweetie Belle shouted, grabbing everypony’s attention. “In honor of me getting my cutie mark, I have decided to treat you all with a song. I hope you enjoy it!”

The school foals looked at each other, not sure whether or not to acknowledge Sweetie Belle’s call for attention. Nevertheless, many of them decided to humor her. Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and began.

I've paid my dues,
Time after time,
I was a blank flank,
For no reason or rhyme.
But that's all over,
Because now you see,
I now know what kind of pony I'm supposed to beeeee!

Apple Bloom gritted her teeth. Not only was she being distracted from her work, but SHE was doing it. Enough was enough. With one swift motion, Apple Bloom grabbed her apple fritter and launched it at Sweetie Belle. The fritter struck the unicorn on the back of her head, interrupting the young unicorn's big song.

“ALL RIGHT! WHO DID THAT?!?” Sweetie Belle shouted angrily.

Everypony quickly shuffled out of the way, revealing Apple Bloom with a sly smile on her face. Sweetie Belle stormed up to the farm pony.

“You think that’s so funny, Apple Blank?” she shouted.

“Why, yes! Ah think it’s hilarious!” Apple Bloom smirked.

Sweetie Belle got into Apple Bloom’s face. “You’re gonna pay for that!”

“Try me,” Apple Bloom glared.

After a few tense seconds facing off against each other, Sweetie Belle backed away a bit, suddenly smirking at her foe. “On second thought, maybe I won’t do anything. I see it all in your cutie mark.”

Apple Bloom suddenly gasped and checked her flank, but there was no cutie mark there. Sweetie Belle burst out in laughter at the fake out.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up,” Apple Bloom hissed.

Sweetie Belle wiped a tear from her eye as her laughter died down. “But don’t you see? That’s the perfect cutie mark for you.”

“There’s nothing there.”

“Exactly.” Sweetie Belle smiled viciously. “And that’s exactly who you are Apple Bloom. That’s all you’ll ever be. Absolutely NOTHING!”

Sweetie Belle didn't have any time to react to the yellow hoof that flew straight to her face, knocking her to the ground. Apple Bloom didn't allow Sweetie Belle to get up as she started launching several punches right into the unicorn’s face in rage. The next thing anypony knew, the entire school yard descended into chaos as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle traded punches. Sudden shrieking and yelling came from the entire class who watched the entire scene devolve in front of their eyes. Several classmates quickly rushed to separate the two fighting fillies, some of the foals ran inside to tell Cheerilee about the fight, while others simply looked on with a mix of disbelief, sadness, confusion, horror, and a bit of twisted humor. Quietly, a couple of the students exchanged bits over a bet that was made earlier that day. Scootaloo’s mind raced trying to think of something, ANYTHING to do to stop all of this, but she was unable to come up with anything. She simply looked on dumbfounded like the rest of the class.

It seemed like forever, but Cheerilee finally emerged from the school building, running as fast as she could upon hearing the commotion from her classroom.

“Everypony FREEZE!” Cheerilee shouted angrily. The rare harsh tone from the teacher caused the courtyard to fall silent. “What in Equestria is going on out here?”

All at once, everypony told Cheerilee what happened from their own perspective, resulting in a chorus of yelling and shouting. Cheerilee couldn’t make out any specifics over the voices, but she did take note that the words ‘Apple Bloom’ and ‘Sweetie Belle’ were coming from every direction, and taking a look at the disheveled heap the two offending ponies were in, not to mention the fresh bruises that didn’t exist on them that morning, Cheerilee was able to connect the dots rather quickly.

“Ok, that’s enough,” Cheerilee said, quieting the crowd. “There’s nothing else to see here. Please return to your lunches, everypony,” she told the class. She lowered her gaze at the center of attention and frowned. “Except you two! Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle? I need you to come with me.”

She led the two back inside the school house. Any explanations, protests or blaming that either of them gave fell on deaf’s ear. Slowly, the rest of the class returned to their lunchtime activities with a more subdued tone after what just happened. Diamond Tiara couldn’t return to her lunch. She was too worried about the third Crusader in this mess. If seeing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle fight like that shook up the entire class, then who knows what Scootaloo was going through. She quickly noticed Scootaloo sitting near the playground, still too stunned to react to what just happened.

“Scootaloo!” Diamond Tiara shouted out, running towards her. “Are you all right?”

Scootaloo remained silent.

“Please, Scootaloo! Say something!”

“Say something…” Scootaloo mumbled. She suddenly blinked as the words materialized into a single thought. “I have to say something. I have to talk to them!” She started to run towards the school house.

“Scootaloo! Wait!” Diamond Tiara called out, but it was no use. She could only watch on as Scootaloo went back inside. She didn’t understand what Scootaloo had in mind, but whatever it was, she prayed that it would bring an end to the crisis.

Inside, Scootaloo ran down the short hallway just in time to see Cheerilee step out of her office. The teacher looked more worn out than she ever remembered. Still, Scootaloo approached her. “Ms. Cheerilee?” she called out.

“Scootaloo? Is there something wrong?”

Scootaloo shifted around nervously. “I was wondering…. Do you think I can talk to them? I mean just me and nopony else?”

Cheerilee sighed and opened the door. “Well, their sisters are on their way here right now, but you can go right ahead. Maybe you can talk some sense into them.”

Scootaloo took a deep breath and entered the office. Inside, she saw Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sitting in opposite corners facing the wall. She cleared her throat. “Hello, girls?”

The two turned around and noticed her. They frowned.

“What do YOU want?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“We need to talk. I mean, all three of us,” Scootaloo replied.

Apple Bloom crossed her arms. “Hmph. Ah ain’t got nothing to say.”

“Yeah, how about you two blank flanks talk and leave me out of this.” Sweetie Belle huffed.

“She’s NOT mah friend!” Apple Bloom shouted.

Sweetie Belle was taken by surprise by that statement. “Oh! You two had a falling out? Finally come to your senses, huh Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Apple Bloom is still my friend, Sweetie Belle. And so are you!”

Sweetie Belle frowned and scoffed before turning her back on the two.

Scootaloo got closer to the two. “You guys have to cut this out. You’re acting like total jerks!”

“Oh, I’M the jerk?” Sweetie Belle asked in disbelief. “You’re just jealous like Little Miss Cry Baby over there! Why would I want to associate myself with a bunch of whiny, stubborn blank flanks anyway?”

Apple Bloom turned her head in anger. “Whiny?!? Jealous?!? Why should Ah be jealous of an overrated, self-centered, D-grade, wannabe diva?”

Sweetie Belle eyes glazed over in fire. “D-grade?!? Why you little…”

“STOP IT!!!”

The two turned their attention to Scootaloo, who was now starting to fight tears.

"This can’t go on anymore!” Scootaloo yelled out. “Are you two just gonna keep fighting for the rest of your lives? Don’t you realize how miserable you’re making everypony around you? What about our class? What about our families? What about ME?!?” She huffed for a few moments as she calmed herself down. She continued in a more controlled, even tone. “Look, I know things have gotten crazy, but we can work this out. Maybe we won’t be the Cutie Mark Crusaders anymore, but we can still be friends, right?”

Apple Bloom replied in a stern tone. “Not anymore. Not after what she’s done. Ah can be friends with… that,” she said glaring at Sweetie Belle.

“But Apple Bloom…” Scootaloo tried to protest.

The earth filly turned her back to her. “It’s over, Scootaloo. It’s time to move on.”

“Well in that case, I hope you have a rotten life, Apple Blank!” Sweetie Belle huffed.

“Buck you, ya fat marshmallow!” Apple Bloom yelled.

“Did you just call me FAT?!?”

This time it was Sweetie Belle who launched at Apple Bloom in rage and tackled her to the ground. Scootaloo watched on helplessly as the two exchanged another round of punches. The fight continued for a few moments before Applejack and Rarity arrived at the office. They were accompanied by Cheerilee and Rainbow Dash, who had come out of concern for Scootaloo. The two big sisters quickly saw the fight in progress and separated the two brawling fillies, who stopped thrashing once they were out of hoof’s reach of each other.

Apple Bloom noticed the newcomers in the room. She knew what was going on, so she groaned. “Whatever. Ah’m outta here.” Apple Bloom led herself out of the room.

Before Applejack could run out to chase her, she turned to Cheerilee, her voice sounding heavily defeated. “Lemme guess. Apple Bloom’s suspended indefinitely, right?”

Cheerilee nodded sadly. “Yes. So is Sweetie Belle.”

“She started it!” Sweetie Belle protested.

“Sweetie Belle, just don’t!” Rarity said, her voice heavy with exasperation. “Don’t say anything. Let’s just go home.”

Rarity led her younger sister out of the school, while Applejack ran out to catch up with Apple Bloom. Rainbow Dash was left alone with Scootaloo and Cheerilee.

“Is Scootaloo in trouble too?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Cheerilee shook her head. “No, she isn’t. But I’ll understand if she doesn’t want to return to class just yet.”

“Thanks, Cheerilee. I’ll try to take it from here,” Rainbow Dash told her. Cheerilee nodded and went back to her classroom. Rainbow Dash gulped and approached Scootaloo carefully. “Are you ok, kiddo?”

“It’s never gonna end,” Scootaloo said in silent realization. “This is hopeless, Dash! It’s only getting worse!”

“What happened?”

“I tried to talk to them. I told them that their fighting was making everypony miserable. But they didn't listen. Apple Bloom even said that it was over. That I should move on.”

Scootaloo fought back a fresh set of tears as the words sunk in. Rainbow Dash could barely look on. She couldn’t take Scootaloo this sad anymore. Something needed to change.

“You know,” Rainbow Dash found herself saying, “Moving on might not be a bad idea.”

Scootaloo turned her head in disbelief. “What?!?”

“Maybe what you need is a fresh start. You know, get away from all this.”

“A fresh start? What do you mean?”

Rainbow Dash hesitated before continuing. “I know some ponies in Cloudsdale. I can make a few calls and you can move in later this month.”

“Cloudsdale?!? You’re gonna send me away?!?”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Rainbow Dash defended herself. “I just thought that a fresh start would be the best way to make you happy again.”

Scootaloo couldn’t believe what Rainbow Dash had just said. “Happy? I can’t be happy with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle acting like this! How can I be happy? Even if I run away, I can’t run away from them. I’d never do that! Why do YOU think I should?”

Rainbow Dash stammered. “I-I just thought that…”

“…that I should just give up?” Scootaloo cried. “That it would be better if I pretend that I never met Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle in the first place?”

Rainbow Dash tried to reach out to Scootaloo, but the orange Pegasus turned away, hiding her tears from her.

“I thought you believed in me, Rainbow Dash. I thought you said you can help me fix this. I thought you knew how much Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle mean to me! And you think that I should just FORGET them?!?”

“Scootaloo, wait!”

Scootaloo couldn’t take it anymore. She ran out of the classroom, crying loudly. Rainbow Dash was left alone, bewildered as to why Scootaloo reacted the way she did. It didn’t take long to realize what Scootaloo thought she was saying. She slumped down on the floor and buried her head in her hooves.

“Rainbow Dash, you idiot!” she scolded herself.

Sisters of a Feather

In the course of normal events, Pinkie Pie would be downstairs helping the Cakes run Sugarcube Corner or meeting up with her friends to go over ideas for the show, or to just hang out and have fun. Right now, however, Pinkie Pie didn't feel like doing any of that. Not since an extremely distraught Rainbow Dash came to visit her a few hours ago. She told her about what had happened that afternoon between Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. She had also told her about the mistake she made with Scootaloo, and how awful it made her feel. Pinkie did her best to make Rainbow Dash feel better, but she wasn't sure if she was able to break through all that guilt her friend was feeling. She gave her the advice to go over to Scootaloo's and straighten things out, and she hoped that Rainbow Dash would follow it. Between seeing Rainbow Dash as sad as she could ever remember, on top of hearing about Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's fight, AND Scootaloo being even more sad, Pinkie Pie was just unable to continue working today. She excused herself for the rest of the day, and went back upstairs to her room. She didn't want to work at the store right now. She barely even felt like working on the show.

Oh yeah. The show. Season four was supposed to start one month from now. And there was still a lot to be done. The first part of the season was ready to be filmed, but she was sure nopony was in the mood to film anything at the moment. On top of that, there was still a whole ten or so episodes left to plan, including the now-plotless season finale. Season three ended with Twilight's coronation (it wasn't their original plan, but it worked out anyway), and Pinkie wasn't sure if they were able to top that for the season four finale. Maybe some suggestions from Hasbro would point her in the right direction. She looked at the stack of letters that Hasbro had sent her which she hadn't even read yet thanks to the ongoing Crusader feud. She took some of the letters in her hooves and read them quickly. It was mainly just status updates, and recommendations Hasbro offers them to use for 'Friendship is Magic' and 'Equestria Girls'. Speaking of Equestria Girls, wasn't she supposed to meet with Lyra about the sequel soon? She quickly brushed that concern aside and went through the rest of the letters. There were updates on merchandising, inquiries about future episodes and... Wait, when did The Hub decide to change its name? The show was going to be on 'Discovery Family' now? Who made that decision?

Pinkie threw the letters back on her table. There was too much to go through right now and frankly, she didn't really care about any of it. It barely mattered anyhow because if things kept getting worse like they did today, there may not even be a show to prepare for! She flopped on her bed, face down in her pillows, and sighed. She didn't cry or shout out. She just laid down silently. It was too much. The Crusaders. Her friends. The show. There were too many problems and not enough solutions. And if she couldn't find a solution soon, then Celestia knows what might happen.

Pinkie continued laying down on her bed, blocking out the world around her. She didn't even hear her bedroom door creak open. A mint green unicorn stood at the entryway, holding a notebook that read 'Lyra's Equestrian Girls Notes'.

“Pinkie? It's me, Lyra!” she called out. "Mrs. Cake told me you were up here."

Pinkie suddenly lifted her head from her bed and turned her attention to the door. “Lyra!” she gasped in quick realization. “Oh no, the Equestria Girls meeting! That was supposed to be today! I completely forgot!”

“It's all right, Pinkie. We can deal with the meeting later? Are you feeling all right?”

Pinkie slumped back on her bed. “No, I’m not. Actually, none of us are.” She went on to tell Lyra about what had happened just a few hours earlier with Rainbow Dash and how she told her about the fight between Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and the pegasus' own apparent fallout between herself and Scootaloo.

“I told Dashie that she should go to Scootaloo and straighten things out, but I’m not sure if she has the nerve to do that right now,” Pinkie finished explaining.

“Wow,” Lyra remarked as she heard the last of the story.

“Yeah, it’s that bad,” Pinkie confirmed. “Rainbow is depressed, Scootaloo is even more depressed, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are further apart, AJ and Rarity are worn out dealing with them, the rest of us are worried about all of them, and to top it all off, we’re a month away from the season four premiere which means we need to start filming soon and… ugh.” Pinkie buried her head in her hooves in frustration. “We can’t do the show with all this going on.”

Lyra went over to the bed and sat down next to Pinkie. “Have you told Hasbro?”

Pinkie shook her head. “I don’t know if I should. I don’t even know where to start if I told them.”

“Good point,” Lyra admitted. “I can’t believe things have gotten this bad.”

“I know. Every time I think it can’t get any worse, it does!” Pinkie buried her head in her hooves. “I just… I don’t know what to do anymore.”

The two sat in silence for a few moments. Lyra tried to speak up again, but felt awkward doing so under the circumstances. Eventually, she slowly started to make her way back to the door. “I guess today was a bad day to talk about the Equestria Girls sequel, huh?”

Pinkie hesitated for a second and sighed. “No. You can go ahead and talk about it now, Lyra.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I have to take my mind off this for a while or else I’ll drive myself crazy. Besides, you worked hard on this and it wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“All right, Pinkie. If you insist.” Lyra sat back on the bed. She reached for her notebook and started to leaf through the pages. “I had a lot of ideas for the Equestria Girls sequel, but I think I came up with one that’s a winner.” She found the pages she was looking for. She opened up the book to Pinkie, revealing a drawing of three sinister looking girls singing on stage. “It all started when Sunset Shimmer’s friends from Fillydelphia came over one day. There’s Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk, and Adagio Dazzle. They call themselves the Dazzlings. They’re a music trio. You should hear them. They’re pretty good!”

“Yeah, I bet they are.” Pinkie found herself starting to smile. Meeting new friends for the show definitely would help lighten the mood.

“They’re a little strange though,” Lyra warned. “They have these Siren avatars that they like to use.”

“Sirens?” Pinkie asked. “That’s a first.”

“I know. They’re really into that kind of stuff. I don’t get it either,” Lyra shrugged. “At any rate, one day, Adagio met Vinyl and they had a music battle. You should have seen it, it was pretty epic! And it gave me an idea about what to do with the Equestria Girls sequel.” Lyra turned the page and revealed the logo of the proposal. “I’m calling it ‘Rainbow Rocks!’ What do you think?”

Pinkie took a good long look at the logo. “Hmm… it does sound interesting. Do you have an idea for the plot?”

“I'm still working on the specifics,” Lyra shrugged, “But at the very least, I wanted to base it around an idea of a music show at Canterlot High.”

“A music show.” Pinkie acknowledged. Pinkie blinked a few times as a new thought began to form in her head. “A music show?”

“I think it could be fun,” Lyra continued. “I’m thinking that maybe the Dazzlings could go up against you six in sort of a battle of the bands type thing.”

“A music show…” Pinkie muttered, lost in her own thoughts.

Lyra noticed that Pinkie had spaced out. She took the reaction as a sign that her plot for ‘Rainbow Rocks’ was a bad idea. She started to flip the pages of the notebook again.

“That was just one idea,” Lyra said. “If you don’t like it, then I had this other idea about a competition with a rival school and…”

“A MUSIC SHOW!!! THAT’S IT!!!”

Lyra was shocked to see Pinkie suddenly stand up and shout triumphantly, with a giant smile on her face.

“Pinkie? What the…” Lyra stated to ask before being grabbed by a set of pink hooves.

“LYRA, YOU’RE A GENIUS!!! THANK YOU!!!” Pinkie showed her eternal gratitude by giving Lyra a giant kiss on the lips. Once done, she suddenly gasped. “Oh my gosh! I have to go tell the others! Be right back!”

Pinkie rushed out of her room and out of Sugarcube Corner, leaving a very confused and very flustered Lyra in her wake. Once she was able to get some semblance of sense back, the green unicorn gathered her notebook and slowly made her way out of the store. She slowly made it back towards her home, her expression frozen in bewildered shock. A dizzying half hour later, she finally made it back to her house, where Bon Bon and Derpy were waiting for her.

“Lyra!” Derpy shouted excitedly. “What did she say? What did she say?”

Lyra kept staring ahead in shock. “She… she…”

Bon Bon found her roommate’s reaction very concerning. “What happened, Lyra? Pinkie didn’t like it?”

Lyra shook her head slowly. “No, she loved it. Hoo boy, did she love it.” She began to head for her bedroom. “Tell everypony that ‘Rainbow Rocks’ is on. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go lie down now.”

~~~~~

Rainbow Dash stood at Scootaloo’s bedroom door for several moments. She knew Scootaloo was inside. She could hear her sobs from the other side of the door. She tried several times to knock, but hesitated. She wasn’t sure if she even had the right to talk to her after what she said. Eventually, she gathered up enough nerve to knock gently.

“Scootaloo?” Rainbow Dash called out.

“Go away!” the voice sobbed from the other side.

“Listen, Scoots. I need to say something. And if you don’t want to listen, that’s fine. I just need to say this for my own sake.” Rainbow Dash sat down in front of the door and sighed. “I’m sorry for what I said back there. I never should have said that you should give up and move away.”

“Why do you want me to leave? I thought you wanted to be my big sister?”

“I do want to be your big sister, Scootaloo. I just want you to be happy. I thought the best way to do that was to get as far away from Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as possible.”

“Are you serious?!?”

“Yeah. In hindsight, that was a really dumb idea.” Rainbow sighed and stood back up. “You have to understand though. I’m trying, Scootaloo. I’m really trying to be the best big sister ever. But, I don’t know how. It’s not like I grew up with a little sister like Rarity and Applejack. I’ve never been through this before.”

From the inside of the bedroom, Scootaloo’s sobs hushed down as she listened to Rainbow Dash.

“I spent my whole life trying to be cool and awesome. I try to be the best at everything I do. And you deserve the best big sister in Equestria, Scootaloo. I’m just not sure if I’m the right pony for the job, anymore. What’s the point if I can’t be cool and awesome to the one pony who deserves it most?” Rainbow Dash began to slowly trot away. “I understand if you don’t want me as your sister anymore. But just know that even if you give up on me, I’ll never EVER give up on you. I’ll always have your back, Scootaloo. I always will.”

Suddenly the door to the bedroom clicked open. Rainbow Dash turned around to see an orange and purple streak rush her way. Before she knew it, Scootaloo was clutching her hind leg for dear life.

“Don’t go, Rainbow Dash! Please! Don't go!” the young pegasus cried.

“Scootaloo?”

“I already lost Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. I can’t lose you, too!”

Rainbow Dash sat back down and gave Scootaloo a gentle hug. “It’s ok, Scootaloo. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I thought you wanted to send me away because you didn’t want me anymore.”

“Come on, kid. You should know that Rainbow Dash never leaves anypony hanging. I just… I wish I could be a better sister to you, Scoots.”

“I don’t want a better sister. I just want you!” Fresh tears formed in Scootaloo’s eyes. She buried her head in Rainbow’s chest. “I’m scared, Dash. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to me, or Apple Bloom, or Sweetie Belle. Is this gonna go on for weeks? Months? Years? Will we be like this when we grow up? I can’t face this alone, Dash. I’m too afraid!”

Rainbow Dash sighed heavily as Scootaloo cried. She closed her eyes in shame. “Can I let you in on a big secret? I’m afraid too.”

Scootaloo crying stopped. She looked up to Rainbow Dash in disbelief. “You're afraid too? Why?”

The two pegasi walked back to the bedroom. Rainbow Dash couldn’t even look Scootaloo in the eye as she explained. “I'm afraid because I can’t screw this up, Scootaloo. You're too important to me. You need me to be a big sister now more than ever, but I don’t know if I can do that. I may be awesome, but I’m not perfect. I know I’m gonna screw up somehow in the future. I can’t afford to take that chance. Not with you.” She slumped on the ground, fighting back tears of her own. “I don't know if I’m strong enough to be a sister.”

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash stunned disbelief. This was a side of Rainbow Dash she wasn’t familiar with, but yet she completely understood. A small smile appeared on the young filly’s face. She realized something at that moment; Rainbow Dash needed her as much as she needed Rainbow Dash.

“I believe in you, Rainbow Dash. You can do it,” Scootaloo said, sitting next to her idol.

Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly. “You really think I can be an awesome sister?”

Scootaloo chuckled. “You got me to smile, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I guess I did,” Rainbow Dash laughed softly. She then gave Scootaloo a loving embrace. “Thanks for believing in me, kiddo."

“No, thank you. For everything.” Scootaloo hugged her idol-turned-sister back. For the first time since this situation began, Scootaloo found a reason to smile. The future may be filled with too many unanswered questions, but even that didn’t matter at that moment because no matter what, she'll have Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash will have her. And it felt… right. Scootaloo saw a twinkle in Rainbow Dash’s eye as a tear fell down her cheek.

“I love you, Scootaloo.”

“I love you too, Rainbow Dash.”

The two pegasi continued their sisterly embrace until they heard a sudden thud from inside the room. They broke away from the hug and saw Pinkie Pie standing at the open door. The pink pony’s jaw had literally fallen on the floor. An odd reaction, but nothing was odd when Pinkie was involved.

“Hey Pinkie. I didn't hear you come in,” Rainbow Dash said. “Listen, if you came by to help me out with Scootaloo, you don’t need to anymore. We worked things out.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo nodded. “And believe it or not, I feel a lot better now.”

Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash became concerned as Pinkie started to smile excitedly, her face seemingly about to burst with joy.

“Are you ok, Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Scootaloo! Look at your flank!!!” Pinkie shrieked.

“WHAT?!?” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped. She checked her flank. She saw a symbol of a lightning bolt inside a pegasus wing surrounded by a three color shield on her flank. She saw her cutie mark.

Scootaloo’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH!!!”

“OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh!” Rainbow Dash shouted in excitement. “Scootaloo! You did it!!!”

“I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!!!” Scootaloo shouted in glee. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie tackled her in celebration.

“HA! This is awesome!!! Way to go, kiddo!”

“Congratulations, Scootaloo!”

Scootaloo could barely contain herself. She had earned her cutie mark! She waited her whole life for it to happen, and now her moment had finally come!

But the moment felt incomplete.

In the midst of the celebration, the nagging feeling tugged at Scootaloo's mind that caused her to stop celebrating.

“Scootaloo, What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked, “Aren’t you happy?”

“I am.” Scootaloo insisted. “This is a dream come true! But… I don’t feel right celebrating like this. Something’s missing.”

Rainbow Dash was quick to guess what Scootaloo was implying. “Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle,” she sighed.

Scootaloo nodded. “I always thought they would be here when it happened, you know like how we were there when Sweetie Belle got hers.” She took a good look at her cutie mark. “And now, I don’t even know what’s gonna happen when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle find out. I can’t help thinking that this is gonna make things even MORE complicated.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “This sucks. Even when something good happens, it turns out to be a bad thing!”

“I’m sorry,” Scootaloo apologized.

Pinkie smiled. “You don’t have to apologize for getting your cutie mark, Scootaloo,” Pinkie smiled. “Besides, I think I figured out how to make things uncomplicated.”

“You do?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Pinkie laid out her plan to the two pegasi. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash stood dumbstruck as they took it all in.

“Well, what do you think?” Pinkie asked.

Scootaloo shook her head in disbelief. “I… I don’t know what to say.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “I know I do. Pinkie, that’s brilliant! That just might work!!!”

Scootaloo ran up to Pinkie and gave her a huge hug. “Pinkie, I... I don't even know how to thank you!”

“Well, it really wasn't my idea. Lyra was the one who brought it up,” Pinkie clarified. She blinked as a sudden thought came to her. “Wait a sec, did I tell her she could do that ‘Rainbow Rocks’ thing? Oh, who cares? I’m sure she’ll do a great job with that anyway!”

“‘Rainbow Rocks’? What's that?” Scootaloo asked.

“I’ll explain later. Right now, I’ve got to tell the others about this plan!”

“I’ll get AJ and Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said, getting ready to take off. “Pinkie, you get Rarity and Twilight. We’ll meet you at Sugarcube Corner in 15 minutes.”

“Aye aye, captain!” Pinkie saluted.

Rainbow turned to Scootaloo. “Wanna come with, kiddo?”

Scootaloo grinned. “Of course!”

“Let’s do this!” Pinkie shouted.

“Wait!” Scootaloo called out. “There’s something I need to do first.”

Scootaloo ran to her dresser and pulled out her Cutie Mark Crusader cape. She could still see some of the tear stains she had put on it the past few weeks. She chuckled a bit, then she tied the cape on, draping it over her flank.

“You’re wearing the cape NOW?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“But, you just got your cutie mark!” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

Scootaloo smiled. “I’ll explain along the way. Come on, you guys! What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Under A Shining Star

The Crusader Crisis

By: Astrobrony

Rarity was near her breaking point that night. It was bad enough that she had to have been dragged out to the middle of nowhere once again for another camping trip. But now, much like the events of the first camping trip, she, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were being subjected to another round of campfire songs by her little sister, Sweetie Belle.

"49 buckets of oats on the wall!
49 buckets of oats!
Take one down, pass it around,
48 buckets of oats on the wall!!!"

Rarity could barely take it anymore. She was exhausted and stressed out from the long trek to the campsite, and Sweetie's campfire song was only making her growing headache worse. If it were up to her, she would have been back in her nice, comfortable bed back at Carousel Boutique. However, she had let herself to be convinced to go on another camping trip, this time to celebrate Apple Bloom's birthday. She resisted at first, as everypony had expected, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash convinced her that it would be a great opportunity to get away and relax during the hiatus which, thus far had been anything but relaxing.

Everypony had successfully managed to dodge not one but two major show crises in the past few months. Rarity remembered the chaos that was the season three finale which needed an emergency rewrite thanks to Twilight's accident that turned her into an alicorn. That was followed by all the hoopla that was Lyra's movie, Equestria Girls. Thankfully, both situations resolved themselves fairly neatly all things considered. Yes, it had been a very interesting few months for everypony, and after everything quieted down after Equestria Girls, Pinkie Pie decided to give everypony a few months off to unwind from the show for a while before they begun season four later that fall.

With no show to worry about, everypony was able to make the most of the downtime. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, meanwhile, were busier than ever with their seemingly never-ending ideas to get their cutie marks. Apple Bloom had tried to push her fellow Crusaders a bit harder in an attempt to get her cutie mark before her birthday. Of course, none of their plans worked and all three of them were nowhere closer to getting their cutie marks.

Apple Bloom felt a bit down going another year without a cutie mark, so Applejack decided to cheer her up with another camping trip, like the one they had based the episode "Sleepless in Ponyville" on. The only difference between the episode and the actual first trip was that Rainbow Dash was the one who went through bouts of insomnia by nightmares brought about from Scootaloo's scary stories. So for this camping trip, Scootaloo tried again to tell a scary campfire story, in part to see if Rainbow Dash could handle a scary campfire story. Unfortunately once again, the story made Rainbow Dash delay everypony's bedtime as she tried desperately to stay awake. This meant, like last time, Sweetie Belle took center stage by singing campfire songs.

"43 buckets of oats on the wall!
43 buckets of oats!
Take one down, pass it around!
42 buckets of oats on the wall!"

As the song continued, Applejack, Rarity, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were all looking worn out from having to listen to the song. Applejack was on the verge of dozing off and Rarity held her hooves to her head, trying to massage away the migraine that had grown over the past 25 or so buckets of oats. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, kept smiling and moving her head to the music.

Apple Bloom looked over to Scootaloo. "Did we get our cutie marks in being-annoyed-to-death yet?"

Scootaloo checked her flank. "Nope."

"Pleeease make it stop," Rarity whined. She covered her ears in a vain attempt to block out the noise.

"What are you guys talking about? This song is awesome!" Rainbow Dash grinned nervously, bobbing her head back and forth to the song.

Applejack sighed. "That’s it, Scootaloo. No more scary stories. I don’t think Dash can take anymore."

Scootaloo groaned. "But I wanted to tell the one with Fluttershy and her shed."

Rainbow Dash's eye twitched. "Sh-sh-sh-shed?" she stammered.

During all this, Sweetie Belle continued happily singing, oblivious to her audience's apathetic reception to her performance.

"39 Buckets of oats on the wall!
39 buckets of oooaaatsss..."

Enough was enough. Rarity had to stop this headache. "All right, Sweetie Belle! I think that's more than enough!" she shouted, bringing an abrupt end to her sister's song.

"Aww, But I had a great encore!" Sweetie Belle pouted.

Rarity frowned. "No more encores, Sweetie Belle. It's getting late, and everypony needs to get their sleep."

"All right," Sweetie Belle sulked for a moment before perking right back up with a suggestion. "Well, can I pick up where I left off tomorrow then? Or I can take requests for another song I can sing while we travel back to Ponyville!"

Rarity cringed. The headache she got from Sweetie Belle's little sing-along was bad enough, but the thought of being subjected to it on the long trek back to town would simply drive her insane.

"You know Sweetie Belle, I'm sorry. But I would prefer if you stayed quiet for the rest of the trip. Your singing is giving me a headache."

The other five campers' did a double take at Rarity's blunt statement. Sweetie Belle, in particular, was stunned beyond belief.

"A headache? Was my singing really that bad, Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked in a small voice.

Rarity nodded. Maybe it was her own exhausted state or her own desire to get back to Ponyville as fast and painlessly as possible, but Rarity decided to be more direct with Sweetie Belle's singing talents, or lack thereof.

Sweetie Belle couldn't understand. "But... I thought everypony liked it when I sing. What's so different now?"

"We can talk about this tomorrow. Let's get some sleep ok?" Rarity replied, turning back towards her ornate camping tent.

Sweetie Belle nearly complied with her older sister. However, a different feeling began to well up in her. Singing made her happy and it seemed like everypony enjoyed it when she sung. And now, the most important pony in her life was telling her that her singing was actually a pain? No way, she thought. She didn't need to go to bed right now. She needed answers.

"No! I'm not going to bed. I want to talk about this now, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle frowned.

Watching from the other side of the campfire, the other four ponies cringed as the argument started to escalate. They tried to speak up, but the two unicorns were so lost in their debate that they were certain they wouldn't be heard. They continued to watch helplessly.

Rarity groaned. "Sweetie Belle, I don't want to argue this right now."

"Well can you at least tell me why everypony thinks I'm not a good singer?" The unicorn filly suddenly glared at her older sister. "Or is it just you who thinks that?"

Rarity stammered as the tables suddenly turned against her. "Wait! I'm not the one on trial here!"

"Tell me Rarity!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

Rarity frowned. "Well, you haven't made a memorable impression when I've heard you sing. Honestly, do you have to sing so loud, anyway? They probably heard you all the way out in Canterlot!"

"Well, excuse me for trying to impress you!"

"I can't say there was much to be impressed about," Rarity muttered under her breath. She went back to answer her younger sister. "Why do you insist on 'impressing' me, anyway? Can't you go impress Twilight, or Pinkie, or the bronies instead?"

Tears started to streak down from Sweetie Belle's eyes. "Because none of them are my sister! That's why!"

"Oh, you're not using that excuse on me again, young filly! This isn't the Sisterhooves Social. In fact, if you really want to go there, I should mention how rude it is for you not to consider my feelings. Your singing is a nuisance, and I would prefer if you stayed quiet for once so I can get some sleep!"

Everypony was shocked as Rarity put her sister's talents down like that. Rarity was too tired to think about what she was saying. The only thing on her mind was she wanted sleep, and she wanted it now. Sweetie Belle glared at her sister for a few tense moments. She wanted to counter Rarity's last point but, with tears flowing down her face, she shut her eyes, lowered her head in defeat, and began to slowly walk away from the campsite.

"Ok, Rarity. Whatever makes you happy." she said sadly.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other in concern. "Hey, Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked, "We're coming with you."

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Sorry girls. I want to be alone right now. I... I don't want to bother anypony." Sweetie Belle choked back her oncoming tears. Before her fellow Crusaders could respond, Sweetie Belle ran off away from the others, towards the nearby lake.

"Ugh, finally!" Rarity groaned. She didn't notice the tears from her sister. The only thing that mattered was that she now had peace and quiet, meaning she could finally get a good night's rest for the first time on this accursed camping trip. "I'm going to bed. Good night everypony." She started making her way to her camping tent.

"A-HEM!!!" Rarity heard the sound of Applejack clearing her throat loudly towards her. She turned around to see the disapproving frowns from the other four campers.

"Why is everypony looking at me like that? What did I do?" Rarity asked.

"Seriously?" Apple Bloom deadpanned.

"Don’t you think you were a little hard on Sweetie Belle back there, Rarity?" Applejack asked.

Rarity groaned again. "I'm sorry, but I'm not in the mood right now. I'm tired and I'm sore from walking all over this stupid forest!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "We get it, you're not an outdoors pony. But still, what you said to Sweetie Belle wasn't cool at all."

"Well, she always wanted to know what I thought of her singing, so I simply told her," Rarity explained.

"But Sweetie Belle is a fantastic singer!" Scootaloo objected.

"She really is!" Apple Bloom added. "She helped me and Scootaloo through the 'Babs Seed' song this past year, and she also helped me get through my part of 'Raise This Barn' too! Remember how nervous Ah was Applejack?"

"Ah sure do, sugarcube." Applejack chuckled a bit as she remembered how much Apple Bloom was fretting over the possibility of ruining her big sister's big musical solo debut during her own part, and how Sweetie Belle helped her get over her nerves.

"Besides," Rainbow Dash added, "You have to admit that Sweetie Belle did do a good job with the 'Perfect Stallion' song."

Rarity hesitated to respond for a second. "I wouldn’t know… I never saw it."

"WHAT?!?" everypony shouted in disbelief.

"I just couldn’t bear to see her embarrass herself, so I always skip over that part of the episode," Rarity explained.

"So you mean to say that you’ve never heard Sweetie Belle sing, Rarity?" Applejack asked in disbelief.

"I’ve heard her sing plenty of times!" Rarity answered defiantly. "And every time I try to listen to her sing, loudly I might add, I end up with a headache."

"That's not how she really sings!" Apple Bloom protested. "She just really wants to impress you!"

"Yeah, I think that Sweetie Belle's the best singer in Ponyville!" Scootaloo added.

Rarity scoffed at that notion. "Best singer in Ponyville? Do I need to bring up 'Art of the Dress' or 'Becoming Popular' once more? I think it's plainly obvious that I am one of, if not the best singer in Ponyville."

"Says the pony who didn't get an episode in season three," Scootaloo muttered under her breath.

Rarity's ear twitched as she caught the snide remark. Her face grew red with rage. "Why you little..."

Before the situation escalated any further, Applejack and Rainbow Dash broke the two sides up, Applejack restrained Rarity at lunging at the two fillies while Rainbow Dash held Scootaloo and Apple Bloom from retaliating.

"Ok, I think this is the part of the show where everypony apologizes now," Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously.

"Yes. I believe it is." Rarity glared at the two crusaders.

"Starting with you apologizing to Sweetie Belle," Applejack said, nudging the unicorn towards where her little sister went off.

"What?" Rarity shouted.

"At the very least, you broke her feelings," Applejack pointed out. "You should at least apologize for that."

"Yeah. She didn't do anything wrong, after all," Rainbow Dash added. "She was just having fun."

"Couldn't it wait until morning?" Rarity asked sheepishly.

The angry frowns from the four campers answered her question. She sighed in defeat and turned towards the lake.

"All right, fine! I'll go apologize," she said, dragging her hooves away from the campsite. The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can get some sleep, she thought. It didn't take her very long to notice the others following her. "I can apologize by myself, you know," she told them.

"We know," Rainbow Dash said. "But we're still coming with you anyway."

"Fine," Rarity groaned. She barely had any energy to whine anymore. She should just let them monitor her apology. Anything that would get her to sleep as quickly as possible. As far as Rarity was concerned, this camping trip could not end fast enough.

~~~~~

Meanwhile, at the lake, Sweetie Belle wiped the last tears from her eyes. Truth be told, she was already afraid that her sister viewed her as a nuisance. But to have that fear confirmed like that was too much for the young filly to take. All she wanted was to spend time with her big sister, the same way Apple Bloom does with Applejack, or Scootaloo with Rainbow Dash. The latter was particularly troubling for Sweetie Belle since for as little time the two pegasi had been 'sisters', they seemed to be engaging in more sisterly activities then she and Rarity did over the past three years. While her two best friends had big sisters whom they can share their lives with, she was stuck with a sister who would rather distance herself from her apparently uncouth little sister, especially over the one activity she enjoyed the most. It wasn't fair.

Maybe that was why she always tries so hard (perhaps too hard at times) to impress Rarity with her singing. One of her first memories as a foal, after all, was hearing Rarity's beautiful voice singing her to sleep and she'd been trying to emulate it ever since she first began to speak. She had always been impressed with Rarity's singing talents and she had wished that she could one day sing with her big sister. She longed for that one special moment with her sister. Yes, the Sisterhooves Social was fun, but she wanted a moment with Rarity that was profoundly special. Now it looked like she would never get that chance.

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes after she finished sobbing and she looked up to the sky. Usually, Luna's night sky would be decorated by the moon and all the stars. That particular night, unfortunately, turned out to be cloudy, blocking most of the stars in the sky. It figured that she didn't even have Luna's beautiful night to cheer her up tonight, she thought. The cloudy sky only enhance the young unicorn's already depressed state. In the dark, however, she noticed a noticeable twinkling in one corner of the sky. Peaking through the clouds was one single star, seemingly alone in the vast, infinite sky.

"Looks like I'm not the only one alone tonight," Sweetie Belle remarked.

As she continued looking up at the star, a memory popped into her head. It was a lullaby. One of the lullabies Rarity sung to her when she was a foal. It was a song that had stuck with her all these years. She began to softly hum the song to herself. It seemed a bit silly for her to sing after Rarity had said her singing was not good. However, this particular song wasn't going to be for Rarity. It was for herself. Herself and the one little star.

The humming Sweetie Belle's tune caught Rarity's ears as she and the others arrived at the lake. They were too far away for her to notice them arriving, but they could all hear Sweetie Belle's humming. They all stopped for a moment to listen. The humming was soft and a little sullen, but most of all, as Rarity suddenly realized, it was beautiful. Rarity's heart nearly stopped as she heard the melody. This was the first time she had ever heard her little sister sing like this. And it sounded wonderful!

"What's she humming?" Apple Bloom whispered, not wanting to interrupt the beautiful melody.

"That's my lullaby," Rarity said in awe.

"What was that about Sweetie Belle not being a good singer?" Scootaloo smirked.

"Shhh!" Rarity hushed everypony. She had to hear this for herself. She wanted to hear her little sister sing. She didn't have to wait long as she heard Sweetie Belle start to sing to the sky.

"One little star, all alone in the sky,
Do you ever get lonely, as the twilight drifts by?"

Tears welled up in Rarity's eyes. She remembered this song. She had sung it herself when she was Sweetie Belle's age when she felt lonely thanks to her parents frequent trips out of town. After Sweetie Belle was born, she used the song as a lullaby to her then-baby sister. She couldn't believe that Sweetie Belle had remembered it all these years later. As Sweetie Belle continued to sing, Rarity finally realized the true talents of her little sister. She also realized how much of a fool she herself had been to her.

Rarity covered her mouth with one hoof as she tried to stop herself from crying. "Oh Sweetie Belle..."

"One little star, in the darkening blue,
Do you long for another, just the way that I do?"

Rarity took a couple of steps towards her sister as she sung. Before she knew it, Rarity found herself singing along as well.

"Sky begins to fill, darkness ends the day,
Someone who I love is far away."

Sweetie Belle trailed off into stunned silence as she heard a second voice singing alongside her. She turned around to see her big sister walking towards her as she finished singing the last line. Her fellow crusaders and their big sisters stayed behind, watching everything in silence. Through soft tear-filled eyes, Rarity smiled at her sister, silently nodding her approval.

Sweetie Belle didn't know what caused this change of heart. She didn't know how long she was listening or if she was being followed the whole time. However, all that didn't matter anymore. Rarity was here, and she now wanted to hear her sing. Sweetie Belle smiled back at her big sister. This was what she wanted. To share an experience with her sister from deep in their hearts. She had always dreamed of this moment, and now it was really happening. And it felt... right. The two sisters closed their eyes and sang the rest of the song together. It seemed like the star flashed brighter for a split second as well as they sung their duet.

"One little star, reaching far through the night,
Do you shine on my someone? Are we sharing your light?
Oh, one little star, shine on us both tonight."

With the song finished, Rarity and Sweetie Belle hugged.

"I was wrong, Sweetie Belle. I was so terribly, terribly wrong," she confessed. "Could you find it in your heart to forgive your stupid sister?"

Sweetie Belle giggled. "I already have."

"I love you, Sweetie Belle."

"I love you too, Rarity."

After the nice loving embrace, Rarity looked up to see where the others were. The four of them all had matching shocked expressions. Their jaws were dropped wide open and their eyes were shrunken down into pinpricks. Rarity found this reaction odd.

"Why is everypony looking at us like that?" Rarity asked. "This isn't the first time two sisters fought and made up."

"Uh.. uh... uh..." For some unknown reason, Applejack was at a loss for words, in of itself a rarity of its own. She couldn't understand what she and everypony else was reacting to.

"Is everything all right?" Rarity asked.

"Sweetie Belle! LOOK!!!" Scootaloo pointed at the young unicorn.

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked. She didn't know why Scootaloo was pointing at her specifically. She gave herself a quick inspection. Her mane. Her hooves. Her tail. Her blank flank...

...with a symbol of a musical note inside a star on a three colored shield?

Sweetie Belle blinked several times. She touched her flank to see if it was just an elaborate prank. The symbol didn't change. It wasn't an illusion. It was real.

It was her cutie mark.

Apple Bloom couldn't contain her smile. "You did it, Sweetie Belle! You did it!"

Rarity gasped as she noticed the symbol for herself. "Sweetie Belle! You... you got your cutie mark!" she shouted in delight.

Sweetie Belle's brain froze for a few moments. When did this happen? HOW did this happen? She replayed the last few minutes in her mind. The fight. The song. The duet. The hug. The flash from the star. Wait a minute. Maybe that flash wasn't from the star. Maybe the flash was from her! But how come she never felt anything? She had always imagined that she would definitely feel it when it finally appeared. She had often wondered if it would be painful. But she didn't feel anything. Now that she thought about it, the moment was kind of underwhelming all things considered. She had always figured that there would be some sort of ceremony accompanying her cutie mark's appearance, or a transformation sequence, or...

Wait, why was she even thinking about all that? None of that nonsense mattered anymore. She got her cutie mark!

"I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!!!!"

Sweetie Belle let out an over exuberant scream. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo quickly joined Rarity in mobbing Sweetie Belle in a boisterous, celebratory group hug. As the four ponies celebrated Sweetie Belle's accomplishment, Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked on, still shocked at what they had witnessed.

"We have a Cutie Mark Crusader… with a cutie mark," Rainbow Dash remarked.

"This is a good thing, right?" Applejack wondered.

"For Sweetie Belle, yes. For the show, however..." Rainbow trailed off. She couldn't even began to comprehend the consequences this turn of events would have.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad do you think this could be for the show?" Applejack asked.

"Over 9,000," Rainbow snarked semi-seriously.

"Ah was afraid you’d say that." Applejack sighed.

The two ponies looked on at the celebration nervously. They wanted to be excited for Sweetie Belle. Heck, they were thrilled for her! But they both knew that the joy and jubilation wouldn't last. They all still had a show to go back to. And in that show, a cutie mark crusader with a cutie mark simply could not work. Several questions swam in their heads, about the show, about Sweetie Belle and how things could end up for both. But the most pressing question of the moment struck both Rainbow Dash and Applejack hard.

How in the world were they going to break this to Pinkie Pie?

Author's Note

And so begins the fourth story in the series! I had some problems ironing out this first chapter, but I think I've got it down. I'm trying some different things with this story and I would like to know how I'm doing, so comments are greatly appreciated :-) At any rate, I hope you guys enjoy this story.

P.S. Yes, that song is from Sesame Street