Don't Antagonize Unicorns

“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…”