Don't Antagonize Unicorns

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.”