That one where the spell gets cast
Sweetie Belle was not having a good day. For one thing, Rarity saw her making breakfast, freaked out, and ended up resorting to banishing her from the boutique until a “proper” breakfast was prepared. Then, she’d opened her saddlebags, to check and see if she had everything, only to find out Opalescence had shredded her homework. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Rarity scolded her for leaving the homework out, not Opal, the real criminal. Finally, to top it all off, she had just banged her hoof on a rock while walking to school, tripped, and fell flat on her face.
Today was not going Sweetie Belle’s way, and she really didn’t want to deal with anyone.
This is why, when the two bullies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, showed up behind her, laughing, she was so angry.
“Tripped on something?” Diamond Tiara asked mockingly.
“Maybe it was your cutie mark, oh wait, you don’t have one!” Silver Spoon added before yelling, alongside her friend, “BLANK FLANK!”
“Hey! Leave her alone!” came a rough, female voice that Sweetie recognized as belonging to Scootaloo. Said Pegasus zoomed over to the three on her scooter and jumped defensively in front of her unicorn friend. “What did Sweetie Belle ever do to you?”
“Oh, look, here’s her little friend, here to fight her battles again.” Diamond taunted, seemingly disinterested.
Sweetie Belle groaned, this really wasn’t what she needed today. The white unicorn filly simply got up and started trudging to the schoolhouse, leaving the bickering girls behind her. Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo were caught up in their argument but Silver Spoon noticed Sweetie walking away.
Do I follow her? She looked over to Diamond Tiara, … I’ll just say nothing, she looks sad. Neither of the bickering fillies noticed time was passing until the school bell rang and they grudgingly galloped inside the school building.
“You ok Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked, noticing her friend’s demeanor.
Sweetie nodded, “just having a bad day” she groaned. She honestly felt like a ticking time bomb at that point, like any little thing could set her off, and she remained that way until the end of school. As if to add insult to injury, Cheerilee also thought it was necessary to assign a project, not that Sweetie Belle was really listening to what it was about. When the bell rang to let the school ponies go, Sweetie Belle felt relieved.
That is, until she and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders had ventured far enough from the school. Far enough for Cheerilee to not hear the snickers and taunting that came from the two bullies sneaking up behind them.
“You know Sweetie Belle, it was very rude to just leave us alone like that” Diamond Tiara taunted, circling the trio like a shark.
“And you left poor Scooterloo alone” Silver Spoon lamented, putting a hoof to her forehead like Rarity did whenever she was being overly dramatic.
“That’s Scootaloo” the Pegasus said through gritted teeth.
“Hmm I don’t know, I think Scooter Loser works better” Diamond Tiara said, before breaking out into cruel giggles.
“Why don’t y’all jus’ leave us alone?” Apple Bloom sighed. “It’d be a lot easier for all of us if ya jus’ went about your own business and left us to ours.”
“Ooh is somepony scared?” Silver Spoon cooed. “Wittle baby Apple Bloom can’t deal with a bit of friendly ribbing?”
“Ain’t nothin’ friendly about this” Apple Bloom muttered.
“Well” Diamond Tiara began, “I can see why you would be, after all, it must be intimidating to be around us.” She snickered “after all, we have our cutie marks, so obviously we’re more special.”
“Yeah” Silver Spoon agreed, “it feels great to not be…” she and Diamond Tiara looked at each other and yelled in unison “BLANK FLANKS!”
“That’s enough!” Sweetie Belle screamed, startling the other four fillies. “I am so sick of this stupid bullying, you can’t even think of any good taunts, in fact, you’re probably just jealous of us since your talents are absolutely meaningless, why don’t you two just leave us alone?!” Her horn was spewing green sparks, “I hate you Diamond Tiara, I hate you Silver Spoon!” She then turned on her friends “and you’re not dealing with it well, just ignore them, their taunts are absolute crap anyway, honestly they can’t even think of anything better to say than ‘blank flanks.’ I just—I—GAH!” she screamed and her horn emitted a light green light, which expanded and encompassed the dumbfounded fillies, before fading.
All five were passed out at this point. The first to get up was Sweetie Belle. She had never felt more exhausted in her life and simply wanted to go back to sleep, but seeing her friends on the ground made her force herself up. “Apple Bloom?” She stumbled. Her words were slurred and she could barely stand up, “Scootaloo?”
“Ugh…” came a groan, “what happened?”
Sweetie Belle looked toward the voice and saw Apple Bloom struggling to get up. She rushed over to her, “Apple Bloom are you ok? What happened here? We just left the school and now we’re all here, I’m scared.”
Apple Bloom shook her head, trying to rid herself of her weariness. “You don’t remember?” she asked, Sweetie shook her head, “we were arguing with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon when you freaked out and started yelling, then you used this weird spell and we all got caught up in it and now we’re like this, I don’t fully understand it either.” She looked at Sweetie Belle, who was looking at her strangely, “what?”
“Huh? Oh nothing, you just sound a bit different, I can’t put my finger on it, uh let’s go see if Scootaloo’s ok.” Sweetie replied. Apple Bloom nodded and the two stumbled over toward their orange, feathered friend. “Scoots, you ok?” Sweetie asked hesitantly.
“Oh my head…” Scootaloo groaned. “Wow Sweetie,” she looked toward her friend, eyes sparkling “what kind of spell was that? It was so cool!”
“I-I’m not sure, I don’t even know what happened, I don’t remember anything after coming out of the school building.” The trio then heard a groan behind them.
“Wh-what ‘appened?” The voice came from Diamond Tiara, but it sounded off. The light pink filly groaned and looked around.
Scootaloo stumbled over towards her. Sweetie and Apple Bloom winced, thinking Scootaloo was going to hit the pink brat, but instead, she simply held out a hoof, which Diamond Tiara took and used in order to stand up. “Thank ye” she replied. Her voice still sounded off but the Crusaders couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
The orange Pegasus merely nodded and walked over to Silver Spoon. “Hey, get up” she ordered.
In response, Silver Spoon groaned, like the rest had before her, and stumbled to her feet, taking the outstretched orange hoof. She looked around for her glasses, found them, and stretched her legs and wings.
…Wings? The four fillies gaped at the former earth pony and she merely stared at them. “What? What are you staring at?” she looked at Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, before her eyes rested on Diamond Tiara. All of a sudden, her pupils became pinpricks as she stared at her best friend and, with speed rivaling that of Scootaloo going full blast on her scooter, sprinted away in terror.
Sweetie Belle looked at her friends and Diamond Tiara, who was merely looking at the ground and digging around in the dirt with her hoof shyly. “Ok, we really need to figure out what just happened.” The others nodded and they set off for the library, vowing to find Silver Spoon later. Sweetie Belle knocked on the door, waiting for the familiar young male voice.
“I’m comin’ I’m comin’” he yelled. Sweetie smiled as Spike the dragon opened the door. “Oh, hello Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo… Diamond Tiara?” he looked back at Sweetie Belle, “ok what’s going on?”
“Uh, we kind of need Twilight right now, it has to do with magic.”
Spike held up a claw, “say no more. Twilight! You have visitors!” he called up the stairs.
“Visitors?” Twilight came down the stairs, trying to keep her still fairly new wings from extending and messing up her descent. As she reached the bottom she recoiled and held her nose. “Ah! That’s some magic! It smells like Spike’s breath after eating garlic knots.”
The four non-magical beings looked at each other with raised eyebrows while Sweetie Belle merely sniffed the air. “I mean it kinda does but—“ and abruptly she collapsed on the floor.
“Sweetie!” Apple Bloom yelled, startling Spike and Twilight. She and the rest rushed to Sweetie Belle’s side and examined her face. Thankfully, she was snoring.
“Alright, let’s go to my lab, I want to know what this is all about.” And with that, Sweetie started glowing with pinkish purple magic and levitated off the ground. The rest all nodded and followed. By the time they got to the lab, Sweetie was still asleep, so they decided she should go first so Twilight could figure out what was wrong with her. Twilight levitated the sleeping white unicorn into a chair and put what looked like a strainer with wires sticking out of it on her head. Abruptly, the machines sprung to life and incomprehensible data started flowing out of a printer. Twilight stared at it and nodded several times. The data collection went on for several minutes before Sweetie Belle started waking up.
“Huh? Wh-where am I?” She asked in a panicked voice.
“Oh good! You’re awake!” Twilight began, “Now—“
“Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cried out in unison, jumping onto their friend and hugging her. “You just collapsed, what happened?”
Twilight cleared her throat, causing the two hyperactive fillies to blush and remove themselves from their friend. “Now, do you want to know what happened to Sweetie Belle or not?” The ponies in the room, as well as Spike, nodded. “Alright, it looks like Sweetie Belle used a strange and powerful spell known as a Palomoth Spell. It’s only usable by unicorns who aren’t able to use conventional magic yet and usually only in times of intense emotion.”
“So what does it do?” Apple Bloom asked.
Twilight gave her a strange look, as if she just realized Apple Bloom was there and continued. “I was getting to that, now the strange thing about Palomoth spells is that the effects are entirely random. Whoever is affected has two random aspects of themselves changed. For Sweetie Belle here, one of them appears to be that she developed narcolepsy.”
“What’s narcolepsy?” Scootaloo asked. “It’s not some horrible fatal disease is it?”
Twilight smiled “no no it’s nothing like that. Narcolepsy usually causes a pony to be exhausted and fall asleep all the time, though Sweetie Belle’s condition appears to only include the second part. Please watch over her Scootaloo.”
“Hey! What about me?” Apple Bloom huffed indignantly.
Twilight gave her that look again for a few seconds before shaking her head vigorously and responding “right, sorry Apple Bloom, you too of course.”
Apple Bloom looked unsatisfied but Twilight continued, “the second affliction is a bit more…” Twilight gulped “scary.”
“Scary?” Scootaloo asked, shivering.
“She appears to have been given access to dark magic.”
“Dark Magic?!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “Wait, does this mean I can use magic now?” her eyes shined.
Twilight shook her head, “no you should still have trouble with normal, conventional magic” Sweetie’s ears drooped at this and her eyes stopped shining, “but you will be able to do things that other ponies can’t. I’ll have to mentor you on it,” she smiled “I hope you’re a good student Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie’s ears perked up again and she nodded happily.
Apple Bloom, while shocked about the Dark Magic thing, decided to butt in. “Alright, so we know what happened to Sweetie, what about the rest of us, I want to know why Scootaloo helped Diamont Tiara up back there, it’s so out of character for her!”
Twilight gave Apple Bloom the look again while Scootaloo responded, “hey, she needed help, of course I helped her.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gaped at this. “B-but, she’s Diamond Tiara, she’s been bullying us for forever now!” Sweetie Belle replied. “We hate her!” Diamond Tiara winced at this.
Scootaloo shrugged, “I don’t think hate is the right word… come to think of it, I can’t really think of anything that I hate.”
Apple Bloom looked back at Twilight pleadingly, “please get her in that machine!”
Twilight nodded, though she stilled looked at Apple Bloom strangely, and ordered Scootaloo onto the seat. The Pegasus complied and put the strainer on her head. “Alright, ready Twilight.”
The lavender alicorn nodded and the machine whirred to life again. She continued looking over the data and frowned. “Well, she lost her ability to hate and… something else but I can’t tell what it is, it has to do with her memory.”
“Lost her ability to hate?” Apple Bloom asked, “is that even possible?”
Twilight gave her the look again and, after a few seconds responded, “basically, whenever she would normally feel hate, she feels compassion or acceptance. This explains her reaction to Diamond Tiara, who bullies you tw—“ she coughed “sorry, you three so much.”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow at Twilight’s slipup but said nothing. “So what was the second one then?”
Twilight turned back to the machine, “I’m not entirely sure, I can only tell that it has to do with her memory. The rest is just gibberish, sorry.” She turned back to the group, “would you like me to examine Diamond Tiara as well? She smells like she was affected too” Twilight wrinkled her nose.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked over toward the cowering earth filly and shrugged. This was, admittedly, un-Diamond-like behavior, not that that was really a bad thing. Timidly, Diamond Tiara shuffled over to the chair, and, once Scootaloo was off, stepped onto it herself and fit the strainer on her head. The machines whirred to life and Twilight looked over the data.
“As I thought, she lost her confidence.” The Crusaders gasped. Diamond Tiara, the overconfident bully who made their lives miserable lost her confidence?
“Uh, what exactly do you mean by that?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Well look at her, she’s cowering and obedient, she even came to my library, she’s never done that before. I recall her being absent whenever your class took visits here.” Twilight explained. “Try not to take advantage of this state, she’s a lot like Fluttershy right now.
Diamond Tiara looked down at her hooves, shuffling them together. “I’m sorry…” she mumbled.
The Crusaders looked at each other and nodded. Scootaloo walked over to her and offered a hoof to the timid pink filly. “Don’t worry, we’ll fix everything.” She smiled warmly, which caused Diamond to tear up.
“I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done to you” she sobbed, “I didn’t know what it was like to be so… beaten down… I hate this, is this what I do to ponies?” she looked up at Scootaloo, who nodded. This caused her to stare at her hooves again and cry.
Apple Bloom looked back toward Twilight. “So… that was one of the things that happened to her, what was the other?”
Twilight, who by this point Apple Bloom just assumed was giving everyone that look, replied after a few seconds. “Haven’t you noticed? Listen to how she sounds.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle complied and listened to the sobs. “Uh, she sounds kind of like Green Sleeves, that musician stallion” Sweetie Belle mused.
Twilight nodded, “she’s developed a Coltic accent, though it’s a bit hard to notice. Diamond?” she asked sweetly.
Diamond Tiara jumped at this, “y-yes ma’am?”
“Say ‘ladies’” Twilight ordered.
“Lassies” Diamond replied, before blinking in confusion, “lassies, huh?”
Twilight turned back to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, “that’s the easiest word to recognize, her accent isn’t that thick but still, a few words get caught. That’s ok now Diamond Tiara, you can stop.”
Diamond Tiara, who had been trying to sound out “ladies” looked back toward Twilight and nodded.
“Now, I think it’s time you girls go home, Sweetie we’ll train and figure this ou—“
“Hey!” Apple Bloom yelled. “What about me?”
Twilight blinked and gave her that look again before replying “oh! Right, you haven’t gone yet, I’m sorry Apple Bloom, I don’t know why I forgot you.”
Apple Bloom grumbled but stepped onto the chair and fit the strainer over her head. The machines whirred to life and Twilight started looking at the data before she just started to walk away.
“Uh, Twilight? Where are you going?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Twilight looked back at them, “huh? What do you mean?” she looked back at Apple Bloom on the machine. “Oh! How silly of me, I’m sorry Apple Bloom,” she went back to the data and read it. “Oh that explains it…” She turned to the Crusaders and Diamond Tiara. “Well, I’m not sure how to explain it but Apple Bloom’s presence is severely diminished.”
“Presents? Like for Hearth’s Warming?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“No no presence, as in, it’s as if she’s not there.” Twilight explained.
“Huh? Yes I am, I’m right here Twilight!” Apple Bloom responded indignantly.
Twilight turned back toward her “yes but it’s difficult for other ponies to recognize that fact. Every time I turned away from you I forgot you were there” she blushed slightly, “sorry.”
Apple Bloom gaped, “s-so… will my family forget about me?” she asked, tears coming to her eyes.
Twilight gulped, “I… don’t think so, after all your connection to them is a lot stronger than your connection to me, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo haven’t forgotten about you yet though that could also just be because they were in the same magical field. Though they might forget to give you chores sometimes” she winked.
Apple Bloom giggled softly, “th-thanks for that Twilight. Uh, what was the other thing?”
Twilight looked at the data, “you haven’t noticed yet either? Your accent?”
“My accent?” Apple Bloom asked. “Ladies, see I’m fine.”
Twilight shook her head, “you don’t have a Coltic accent, you have a Northern Equestrian accent, like the rest of us. Say ‘y’all’.”
“You all” Apple Bloom said, and blinked. “Huh? You all…” she proceeded to do the same thing Diamond Tiara had been doing several minutes ago with similar results. “H-how am I supposed to talk to my family sounding like this?” she whimpered.
“They might not notice, after all your presence is really small right?” Scootaloo offered.
Apple Bloom nodded unhappily, “oh this is a mess, I want to go back to normal fast, I don’t want everyone to forget me…” she started whimpering but felt herself getting drawn into a group hug with her two best friends.
“Hey we’d never forget you Apple Bloom” Scootaloo grinned, “we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders and we stick together.”
Twilight smiled at this display, “well girls, it’s starting to get late, I think you should head home.”
At that last word, Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “Uh Twilight? I think I figured out what I forgot about.” She turned to the rest of the group, “I don’t remember where I live!”
The rest of the crusaders looked at each other uneasily, “I’m sure you could stay at Sweet Apple Acres” Apple Bloom offered, “come to think of it, I’ve never been to your house, I don’t even know your parents.”
“Me neither” Sweetie Belle realized. “Who are your parents anyway Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo blinked. “I… I don’t know, I can’t remember my family at all.”
That one where the ponies have to go home
“What do you mean you can’t remember your family?” Apple Bloom asked,. They had since moved from Twilight’s lab to the more comfortable ground level area of the library, in order to discuss the events.
“I don’t know, I just can’t think of them. Whenever I think back to being raised and stuff it’s just a blur.” Scootaloo looked down sheepishly, “any chance I could stay at one of your houses?”
“U-um, excuse me, Scootaloo?” came a small voice from behind them. The Cutie Mark Crusaders turned around to see Diamond Tiara standing there, rubbing a hoof against the ground. “W-well, y’could stay at my house if y’like. It probably has the most room so we won’t have to impose on Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom’s families.”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other and shrugged. It was bizarre to see the pony who had been bullying them mere hours ago offering to let Scootaloo sleep over, but they weren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Scootaloo turned toward Diamond Tiara and smiled, “alright, I’ll take you up on that offer.”
The pink filly squealed and grinned “alright! I’ll go ask my dad!” and with that she scurried off.
Sweetie Belle poked Scootaloo and asked the question that had been on their minds. “Uh, why is Diamond Tiara acting so nice? She lost her confidence, not her personality.”
“Maybe she really is changing” Scootaloo shrugged. “Oh yeah, we should try to figure out what happened with Silver Spoon too, she ran away remember? I wonder what she was so scared of.”
The others simply shrugged. Diamond Tiara was certainly acting very nice right now, but they had no idea what Silver Spoon would be like when they saw her again.
“So, did you girls figure out what you were going to do?” Spike asked, coming up behind the crusaders.
“Scoots is going to stay at Diamond Tiara’s house” Apple Bloom explained.
“Oh cool, where does she live?”
“…”
“None of you know huh?” Spike asked, while the Crusaders facehoofed.
Meanwhile, a gray Pegasus filly sat on a cloud. While she instantly fell in love with the softness that rivaled her own fancy bed at home, she was shaken by the events that recently took place. For one thing, she was a Pegasus. She looked at her wings, “how am I going to explain this to dad?” she wondered. Silver Spoon sighed, that wasn’t the worst of her issues anyway. The worst of her issues was still haunting her.
“I’ll try again, it won’t be as bad this time.” Silver Spoon closed her eyes and thought of her best, and really only, friend. The pink fur, the purple and white mane, the tiara atop her head, the fangs, the fire, the evil, the cackling! Her eyes snapped open and she had to push her face into the cloud again to prevent anyone from hearing her screaming. Her heart pounded and she shook with fear. “Why?... Why did this happen?” She looked at the sky, tears streaming down her face, “why am I afraid of Diamond Tiara?”
Speaking of Diamond Tiara, she was having significantly less issues. Her father wasn’t entirely attentive and her accent wasn’t very thick, so she was able to hide it enough for him to not ask questions, though he did raise an eyebrow when she asked if one of the “lasses” in her class could stay over. Thankfully, he agreed anyway. All she had to do now was wait for Scootaloo to show up. Right? Come to think of it, Scootaloo had never been to her house before. She gulped, she would have to go back to the library and go pick her up. What if she changed her mind? What if she wasn’t at the library anymore? “Oh why did I have to speak up? Me and my big mouth…”
Diamond Tiara took a deep breath. “I’ll just have to go and do it” she nodded and stepped outside her house. That is, until she opened her eyes and saw how dark it was. “Deep breaths DT, you haven’t been afraid o’ the dark since you were a wee foal.” And with that, she trotted down the road towards Twilight’s library, subtly staying as close to light sources as she could.
By the time she reached the library, she was extremely paranoid. The pink filly nearly crashed into the door in her desperation to get to a place that was safer than outside. She knocked rapidly, tapping her hoof impatiently and looking around uneasily. When Spike opened the door she nearly crashed into him, causing him to fall down.
“Woah! You could have waited for me to get out of the way” Spike grumbled, picking himself up. “Realized the girls don’t know where you live?” Diamond nodded, “thought so, they’re in the kitchen… speaking of which… Sweetie Belle don’t touch anything!”
“Aw come on! I’m not that bad at cooking!” came a cry from the other room. Diamond shook her head and smiled while Spike frantically scrambled into the kitchen to stop whatever disaster the filly was cooking up.
When Diamond Tiara made it into the room, the walls were covered in soot and there was a bowl of bubbling black liquid sitting on the counter near a proud looking unicorn filly, a dumbfounded dragon, and two horrified Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“How?... I-I was almost done with my gem cake… this… defies all logic, I don’t.” Spike stammered. “I was making a gem cake, was gone for seconds, and now it’s this.”
“I thought it was a little undercooked” Sweetie Belle replied.
“It was a solid!” Spike snapped. “It wasn’t even in a bowl, where did you get this bowl?”
At that point, Sweetie Belle noticed Diamond Tiara standing there. “Oh! There you are Diamond, hey Scoots, Diamond Tiara’s here.”
Scootaloo merely nodded, eyes still wide and unblinking while she stared at the black gooey mess Sweetie Belle had somehow created. She stumbled in Diamond’s direction and walked out the door. Diamond Tiara followed, casting a nervous look back at the destroyed kitchen.
As she caught up to the Pegasus filly, Diamond asked “so uh… what happened in there?”
Scootaloo merely looked at her, eye twitching, and repeated under her breath “don’t let Sweetie cook, never let Sweetie cook, tell everyone she ever dates not to let her cook, tell her family, tell Celestia, tell Discord, wait no don’t tell Discord, tell everyone but Discord.”
“Uh… ok, sorry I asked.” Diamond mumbled. “Um, so, let me show you my house.” And she led the way to her family’s mansion. “My mom’s not uh… around anymore so it’s just me and m’dad and the servants” she stuck out her tongue “ugh, this accent feels so awkward.” She looked over at Scootaloo, who was gradually coming out of her stupor. “Uh, so, we’re here now” she announced as they neared the gate.
Scootaloo looked up at the mansion and turned back to Diamond. “Let’s go inside” she said.
Diamond blinked, she’d assumed Scootaloo would be amazed at how big her mansion was. Then again, this was Scootaloo, not necessarily the kind of pony to be entranced by wealth. Diamond merely nodded and opened the gate.
The duo walked into the Rich manor’s yard, saying nothing. After a few moments, Scootaloo decided to break the awkward silence. “So uh… big place you got here.”
Diamond nodded, “uh, yep, um…”
“Oh there you are miss, is this your friend?” came a motherly voice from inside the manor.
Diamond’s face brightened, “Feather Duster!” she cried, jumping into the hooves of an elderly-looking light pink mare with a white and purple mane, the opposite of Diamond Tiara’s own.
“Feather Duster?” Scootaloo asked, an eyebrow raised.
Diamond nodded enthusiastically, “Feather was my nanny since I was a wee lass, my parents chose her because she looks like me and she ended up being the best nanny I could ask for!”
Feather smiled, “wee lass? Seems you’re taking after that Green Sleeves fellow, come in now, and make sure to invite your friend,”
“Right!” Diamond cleared her throat, “won’t you come in Miss Scootaloo?”
“Oh you’re so kind Miss Tiara, I’ll gladly enter your humble abode” Scootaloo replied. She looked at the two shocked pink ponies. “It was just a joke” she mumbled, and walked inside the Rich manor.
Diamond quickly composed herself and followed Scootaloo inside, leaving Feather Duster outside. Eventually Feather managed to close her gaping mouth and shook her head thoughtfully, “I wonder who that filly is, she seems to have good manners for someone who looks so… rough.” And with that, she entered the house as well and closed the door.
Diamond trailed behind Scootaloo nervously. She had been planning to show off her big, nice house and all her fancy, expensive possessions but became flustered when Scootaloo showed herself to be knowledgeable of proper etiquette. Besides, the orange Pegasus didn’t appear to be too interested in the fancy house at all, sure she was looking around but Diamond heard neither an “ooh” nor an “ahh” come from Scootaloo’s mouth.
“So uh, whaddaya think o’ the place?” Diamond asked nervously. She suddenly felt very self-conscious. Well, she’d been feeling self-conscious since waking up after Sweetie Belle’s spell but she felt extra self-conscious at that moment. What if Scootaloo thought she was parading her riches like some spoiled filly? What if she decided to stay at Apple Bloom’s farm instead? What if she felt uncomfortable in such an expensive mansion?
“It’s nice” Scootaloo replied without much emotion behind her voice. “I don’t know, it kind of weirds me out, er no offense.” She looked back at the pink filly and saw her shuffling a hoof cutely. She smiled, she had to admit, Diamond Tiara was pretty adorable when she needed to be. “How ‘bout you show me your room?”
Diamond perked up a bit at this, “o-ok!” she smiled and led the way up several staircases and down numerous hallways to her room.
“Wow, long walk to get to your own bedroom, guess that’s how you stay in shape huh?” Scootaloo remarked.
“I-in shape?” Diamond blushed, looking at herself.
“Well you’re better in P.E. than Sweetie Belle. I originally just sort of chalked it up to you being an Earth Pony but if you have to walk a mile to get a glass of water maybe I can understand.”
“Wait I’m better in something than Sweetie Belle? But you guys are always running around and doing stuff!” Diamond replied.
“It’s mostly me pulling them in a wagon y’know. You guys have made fun of my wings for not getting me off the ground before but they act as a pretty good motor.”
Diamond Tiara looked down, “sorry about the wing stuff…”
Scootaloo waved a hoof dismissively. “It’s fine, I’m not mad or anything.”
“Well you can’t be” Diamond pointed out.
“Hey I can still get mad! I’m pretty sure I can at least, what’re you laughing at?” Scootaloo yelled, amid playful giggles.
Diamond giggled in response and opened the door to her room. Scootaloo looked inside and immediately recoiled at how… pink it was. Despite Sweetie’s spell’s effect on her, Scootaloo at least realized that she normally hated that color, however, due to the spell, she was unable to act on this realization, and simply walked into the room.
“Uh, nice room” Scootaloo commented nervously.
Diamond looked back toward her, suddenly realizing how foolish it was of her to show this obvious tomcolt her pink, girly room. “I’m sorry” she mumbled, looking at the floor.
“Huh?” Scootaloo remarked. “What do you have to be sorry about? You’re letting me live in your house for tonight after all.” She flopped on the bed, “besides, it’s not too bad, kind of reminds me of Sweetie’s room, also this bed’s really nice.”
Diamond looked down, “uh, you didn’t seem all that impressed by the house like most ponies are” she commented.
“Yeah I don’t know why that is, none of it seemed all that great, it was like I’d been in this house before.” She rubbed her chin with her hoof, “weird, huh?”
“U-uh yeah” Diamond mumbled. “W-well I guess we should get some rest, I want to find Silver Spoon tomorrow.”
Scootaloo frowned, “oh yeah, what do you think happened with her?”
“I don’t know… when she ran away she looked so… afraid” Diamond sobbed, “of me.”
Suddenly, Diamond felt a hoof on her back, rubbing her comfortingly, “don’t worry” Scootaloo said reassuringly, “we’ll figure this out, hay I bet by tomorrow Twilight and Sweetie will have this spell reversed and we can go back to normal.”
Diamond Tiara looked back towards Scootaloo, “normal? Like, with all the bullying and hatred?” her lip quivered.
“Y’know if you didn’t bully us we wouldn’t hate you.” Scootaloo remarked.
“I know… uh, when this is over do you think we, like, all of us could be, uh…”
“Friends?” Scootaloo offered.
Diamond nodded and felt a pair of hooves wrap themselves around her body. “I’m sure we can be” the orange Pegasus said with a smile. “Now c’mon, we should get some rest before tomorrow, I’m sure that whatever Twilight and Sweetie have planned will take a lot out of us, and we’ll have to come up with some excuse for school anyway, especially for Silver Spoon if she shows up.”
Diamond yawned and nodded. The two fillies climbed into Diamond’s fluffy, expensive bed and went to sleep.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle left the library soon after Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara.
“Do you trust Diamond Tiara at all Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked.
Sweetie shook her head. “She may have lost her confidence but it still seems weird that she’d just suddenly become a nice pony.”
Apple Bloom looked at the ground, “hm I don’t know, what if the whole mean thing was just an act and now she feels she can’t keep it up?” The earth filly looked at her unicorn friend, “think it’s possible?”
“Maybe… I don’t know, we’ll see how it works out when we can break this spell, I’m sure Twilight will have it fixed by tomorrow.” Sweetie sighed, “I’m just glad I haven’t passed out again yet, I think it’s just rand—“ she suddenly fell forward and collapsed on the ground.
“Sweetie?!” Apple Bloom yelled, rushing over to her friend only to see her snoring away. She smiled, “guess I’ll have to take you home.” After some struggle, she managed to put the unicorn on her back. “Huh, you’re pretty light Sweetie Belle” she remarked. “Then again you are a marshmallow.” Giggling, Apple Bloom trudged toward Carousel Boutique.
When she arrived, she looked up at the dress maker’s shop. “Huh, weren’t Sweetie’s parents supposed to pick her up sometime? She just kind of lives here now.” She shrugged, “not my place to interfere in her business.”
Apple Bloom walked toward the door and knocked on it. “Coming~” came a distinct voice from inside. Opening the door, Rarity remarked, “Oh, Sweetie Belle, there you are. Hm? Sweetie Belle? Are you asleep?” she chuckled and levitated her sister inside. “Did you fall asleep on the door step dear?” she said to Sweetie Belle’s sleeping form.
“Uh, Rarity?”
Rarity jumped at the mysterious voice and looked around. “Who is it? What do you want from me?!”
“Uh, it’s Apple Bloom, look down” said the voice.
Rarity turned her eyes toward the annoyed earth filly and blushed in embarrassment , “so sorry dear, I don’t know what came over me there, I must have just been worried about Sweetie Belle is all.”
Apple Bloom sighed, “it’s ok, I’ll be going home now, see you later Miss Rarity.” She started walking off when she heard a sound from behind her. She turned around and her eyes widened. Sweetie Belle was surrounded in a dark aura, which appeared to be coming from her own horn. Little streams of purple and green energy were flowing from her eyes and she was levitating. Apple Bloom rushed back to the boutique and put a hoof on Sweetie Belle’s chest.
“Sweetie Belle! Do you hear me? It’s Apple Bloom, just calm down now, it’s ok, just reign in your magic, you can do it, do it for Rarity, for your sister, for me!” She kept shouting words of encouragement until, slowly but surely, the dark aura around Sweetie faded and she floated gently to the ground. Apple Bloom breathed a sigh of relief and turned toward Rarity, grinning sheepishly. “Ok I guess I kind of owe an explanation.”
Rarity nodded and the two sat down in Rarity’s living room. “Where should I start? Let’s see, it was a pretty normal day, but Sweetie seemed kind of down.” Rarity lowered her head at this, realizing that part of the story at least was likely partially her fault, “when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came by to bully us, Scootaloo and I defended Sweetie Belle and got into a fight, then she got angry and cast this weird spell that affected all five of us.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow, “Sweetie can’t do magic yet dear, you know this.”
Apple Bloom nodded, “it’s not the kind of magic unicorns can cast once they’re actually able to, it’s kind of like with the Cake twins, being able to do spells no other unicorn is capable of. Anyway, it did something different to each of us but for Sweetie Belle, she got nar— narck— uh I don’t know the word but it makes her fall asleep and she also got dark magic.” Rarity’s eyes widened at this as she looked at the peaceful, sleeping form of her little sister.
“Dark magic? I can’t imagine that coming out of Sweetie Belle.” She remarked.
“Well to be fair, it just did” Apple Bloom pointed out, referring to the hovering with the black aura. “Anyway, different things happened to all of us. I’m really hard for ponies to notice and remember unless they’re looking right at me. I also have a different accent now.”
Rarity blinked at this, having just realized how different Apple Bloom sounded than her usual Southern self. “So… how long will Sweetie be like this?”
Apple Bloom shook her head, “hopefully Twilight will be able to remove the spell and we’ll all go back to normal soon. As for the sleeping, she seems to just sleep for random amounts of time. I think she’s waking up right now actually” she gestured toward Sweetie Belle, who was slowly coming out of her sleep.
“Ugh, did it happen again? I really hope I’m not going to have to try to get used to that.” She grumbled.
“Glad you’re awake Sweetie” Apple Bloom smiled “now I should get home before Applejack starts worrying… hopefully.”
Sweetie put a hoof on her glum friend’s shoulder, “Bloom, this is Applejack we’re talking about, there’s no way she’ll forget you no matter how forgettable you get!”
The farm filly smiled weakly, “I hope you’re right.” With that, Apple Bloom bid the sisters a good night and exited the boutique.
“AJ, Big Mac, Granny… please remember me,” she pleaded as she approached Sweet Apple Acres, after a long and drawn out shuffle from Rarity’s boutique. Taking a deep breath, Apple Bloom opened the door to her home.
“Oh, there ya are sugarcube, was wonderin’ where ya got off to” Applejack remarked.
Apple Bloom smiled at this, “sorry sis, I was just out crusading.”
Applejack frowned, “why do ya sound all different? Like Rarity on a bad day.”
The smaller filly winced, “guess I can’t hide anything from you…” taking a deep breath, Apple Bloom relayed the story all at once.
AJ blinked, “yeah ah didn’t follow any of that sugarcube, start from the top.”
Sighing, Apple Bloom told the whole story in a manner that normal ponies could follow.
“Aw you know ah could never forget ‘bout you sis” the older mare hugged her little sister, “remind me not to forget ‘bout your chores though, ah don’t want you takin’ advantage of this.”
Apple Bloom giggled, “thanks AJ.” She hugged her sister back.
“Uh, sugarcube? Ya never answered, remind us y’hear? Sugarcube?”
Meanwhile, Rarity was sitting awkwardly with her sister. She looked over at the tiny unicorn sitting on the other end of the couch. Neither really knew what to say, but Sweetie Belle spoke up first. “So I have some homework I should probably do so…”
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity blurted, “um, about this dark magic of yours…”
“Twilight’s going to help me with it sis, don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t be like this for much longer, Twilight’ll fix everything” she smiled, “good night sis!”
“Good night…” Rarity mumbled.
Sweetie Belle flopped down on her bed and closed her eyes. She was really tired, especially after using so much magic and passing out twice. After about ten minutes of lying there, unmoving, she opened her eyes. “So… I can’t sleep when I want to, but I can when I don’t want to? Wonderful” she remarked sarcastically. Sighing, Sweetie Belle got up out of her bed and wandered around her sister’s house. Sweetie spent more time at the boutique than at her own house, at times it seemed like her parents had simply dropped her off here and left forever. Of course, this allowed her to be closer to her friends and Rarity, but it was still weird for her.
“Sweetie Belle? Is everything alright?” Rarity remarked upon seeing her sister wandering aimlessly around her home.
“Can’t sleep” Sweetie grumbled.
Rarity smiled, “well don’t worry dear, Twilight will fix all of this tomorrow.”
Sweetie sighed, “yeah… tomorrow…”
Meanwhile, Apple Bloom was sitting on her bed. While Applejack had stayed true to her word and hadn’t forgotten her sister at any point, she could still tell that she was the last member of the family on her mind. The same thing went for Big Mac and Granny Smith. She sighed, “it’s ok, it will all be fixed by tomorrow.” She looked out the window at the moon. “Tomorrow…”
For Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara’s house was nice, but it wasn’t very homey. She couldn’t remember what her home was like, so she was going off of those of her friends, as well as the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse, as reference. Compared to them, this place was cold and unfeeling, but it seemed eerily familiar as well. Oh well she thought I’ll be able to go home tomorrow. She mumbled aloud, “tomorrow…”
Diamond Tiara was having an equally uncomfortable experience. She and Scootaloo had always been enemies but now it felt like they were being forced together. Granted, not being hated wasn’t a bad thing, and she had to admit, without all her bravado and arrogance it was a lot easier to be nice to people. Still, she knew it was wrong, that she and Scootaloo had lost a part of themselves. She looked over toward the filly sharing her room. Tomorrow, things would go back to how they were, but maybe, just maybe, they could remain friends. “I’ll find out tomorrow” she mumbled under her breath apprehensively. “Tomorrow…”
And on her cloud, having expelled all her tears, Silver Spoon decided that Sweetie Belle would be punished. “Tomorrow she’ll pay. Tomorrow…”
