Night Crawlers

"Sweetie Belle, wake up."

Sweetie stirred and looked up at Twilight, who smiled tenderly. "Do you think you're ready to go to school today?"

Sweets had taken the rest of the day off every since Rarity was in the hospital, and then gotten a Mental Health Day the day after. "Mhm."

"Okay, school starts in a half hour, why don't you get ready and we can have breakfast together." Sweetie Belle nodded and fished her mane brush out of her bag, and got to work while Twilight headed downstairs. Untangling a curly mane in the morning was a daunting task at times, but after nine and three-quarters years of dealing with it, it wasn't as hard. After a few minutes she was skipping down the stairs, mane all brushed. They all sat at the low table in the middle of the library to eat, Spike digging into his allowance of gems, and Twilight and Sweetie Belle having crispy hay and syrup. This is so much like home. Sweetie thought, looking around at Twilight and Spike. It feels like what happened was just a bad dream.

Once she was finished, she got her saddlebags and headed out, Twilight waving as she left. "Hey, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo pulled up next to her on her scooter. Apple Bloom was running along behind her. "We heard Pinkie's been attacked too. Have you seen her? Is she okay?"

"Pinkie's been better, but the doctors say she'll be alright." Sweetie responded somewhat flatly. So much for it being a bad dream. The attacks were a hot topic of conversation, and every single time it came up, she was reminded of the fact her sister was in the hospital.

"I guess it's a sensitive topic, though." Scoot's smile was now a guilty one. "Let's go, we're going to be late!" The three dashed off to the little schoolhouse. They had a few minutes before the bell sounded, so students were out of their desks and instead clumped in little knots of chatter.

Sweetie Belle slunk over to her desk, desperately trying to avoid Diamond Tiara and her lackey. Keep your head low, Sweetie, pretend you aren't here, they're too busy talking anyway, just sit down and hide your face in the book. She took a chance and ran the last few steps, then sat down and started to read. The bell rang, and the class instantly became a flurry of flying papers, pencils, bags, and for all Sweetie knew textbooks as everypony scrambled to get in their seat.

"Alright, class, today I'm going to teach you a bit about vamponies, and various other supernatural creatures." Cheerilee's tone was a little less peppy than normal. Just a little. "Now, I'm sure most of you have heard of at least a few of the creatures I'm about to describe. So, can anypony tell me what they know about vamponies?" Cheerilee asked politely as three or four students thrust their hooves in the air. "Cotton Cloudy?"

"Don't they suck your blood?"

"Mhm, that's one of the most common facts known about them. It's also common knowledge that they burn in sunlight, and have a weakness to fire." Cheerilee wrote these things down on the board as she said them.

"Sweetie Belle? What do you know about vamponies?"

Sweetie Belle shut her book and started rattling off everything she had read. "They're supposedly immortal unless you kill them, they won't die of natural causes, they don't like garlic, they can't process normal food, they'll throw it up the minute they eat it-" This got several "ewww!"s from her classmates. "Other spices that supposedly repel them are star anise, aloe vera, chive-"

"You know quite a bit, then!" Cheerilee cut Sweetie Belle off. She put the chalk down and let out a little gasp. "I've been reading about them." Sweetie Belle pointed to the book she had been reading.

"That's interesting. Would you mind if I borrowed that book after you finish it?" Sweetie shook her head.

"Thank you. Now, who can tell me what vamponies are rumored to look like?"

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

"Outside, everypony!" Cheerilee rang the little bell signaling recess, and Sweetie nearly got trampled under the wave of excited foals. The Crusaders met up under their favorite tree and started to discuss the lesson.

"Why do you think she'd teach us about that randomly of all things? It's not close to Nightmare Night or anything." Scoots said as she bounced a ball on her head. She was trying to beat Rainbow Dash's record.

"Maybe it's because of the attacks." Sweetie whispered, sketching a picture in the dirt with a wayward stick.

"Maybe. Or she just thought it was interesting." Apple Bloom glanced over at Diamond Tiara, who was heading over to them, Silver Spoon in tow. She sighed. "This is getting old."

"What?" Sweetie stopped her sketching and looked where Apple Bloom was looking. "Oh, no." But instead of looking upset, she looked bored and annoyed. "Whatever shall we do."

"Hey, losers!" DT strolled up to them, her trademark snobby smile (more like sneer) in place. Silver Spoon merely stared at the ground.

"What do you want, DT?" Scootaloo's expression was flat, and her ball sat next to her.

"Oh, I don't want anything to do with Little Miss Chicken." Diamond snarked. "I just want to talk to Elizabeth." Scootaloo's wings instinctively spread in anger.

"Elizabeth! Hey, Elizabeth!"

Sweetie stiffened up. She hated her proper name. It was just so dull and boring. She had adopted the first name "Sweetie" due to what her parents always called her. Thus, her name became Sweetie Belle. "What?"

"Just wondering how you were doing after Rarity got sent to the hospital. I mean, she obviously faked it to get away from you." Diamond Tiara examined the back of her hoof. Silver Spoon's cheeks burned red, but Sweetie couldn't tell if it was from anger or embarrassment.

"No, okay!? Just. No." Scootaloo was all up in Diamond's face. "There are lines you don't cross."

Diamond laughed mirthlessly. "What if it's true? Elizabeth here is too ugly for anypony to actually love her." Diamond shoved Sweetie, who fell. She laughed again. Scoots and Apple Bloom were about two seconds away from throwing punches.

"DT, I'm going to highlight your mouth-"

"Screw you, Diamond Tiara."

All heads turned in Silver Spoon's direction. She was shaking with rage. "Screw. You."

She stomped up to the little pink filly. "Like Scootaloo said, there are lines you don't cross. I don't care if I owe my life to your family! Screw you anyway, Diamond Tiara! Everypony has somepony out there that loves and cares about them. Mine isn't you or your father. I don't care about his 'I love you both equally' stuff. Sweetie Belle has Rarity, and she's sick. It's not very nice to kick a pony when she's down."

Silver trotted up to the Crusaders. "I'm on their side now."

Diamond looked about to explode with rage. "FINE! I don't need you! Just watch, Silver, I'll make your life worse than you could ever imagine." She stormed off.

Silver stared at the little filly until she was out of sight. "I can't believe I actually had the nerve to do that." She glanced back at the crusaders. Apple Bloom nodded in approval. "Welcome to the team, Sil." Scootaloo ran up to the silver filly and squeezed her tight. "Welcome back, Silver." Silver hugged back, tears streaming down her face. "It's good to be back."

Sweetie and Apple Bloom voiced their thoughts at the same time. "What?!"

"Scoots, explain." Apple Bloom leaned up against the tree.

Scoots let go of Silver and began to tell their story. "Once upon a time, Silver lived at the same orphanage as I do. She was a lot different. A lot more rough-and-tumble, she didn't have her hair in a braid. We were pretty good friends ever since I shared my lunch tray with her- long story -and we played together a lot. We even slept in the same room together. Then DT and her dad came looking for somepony to adopt. They chose Sil, and the rest is history."

Silver nodded. "I was always less than Diamond in Daddy's eyes, but he always said he loved us both equally. It hurt to look deep in his eyes and find disgust. I helped the servants, I played in the dirt, I did the things your average filly liked to do. I wasn't the pristine little neat-and-tidy girl he wanted to be associated with. I didn't belong." She sniffled, and hugged Scootaloo again. She closed her eyes. "It feels good to be free from Diamond Tiara."

The Crusaders decided to test out their latest creation; pony pile hugs.