In huge letters emblazoned on the side of the schoolhouse it read, 'SWEATY BELL SUX DONGS IN TARTARUS!!!' Three exclamation marks. Nopony needed that many marks of exclamation. Why was her name misspelled? And what did it mean? The whole thing made no sense whatsoever. Sweetie Belle literally did not understand the meaning behind the graffiti, if there was one.
She stood there, eyes welled up with tears, when along bounced Pinkie Pie. "Hiya Sweetie," she beamed, then noticed her friend's glum demeanor. "Aw, what's got ya down?"
"Pinkie, somepony wrote bad stuff about me on the wall," Sweetie sniffed sadly.
"Geez, that's no fun at all, let me go get some paint and we can get that all gone, no harm done!" Pinkie smiled her widest and Sweetie Belle even managed to crack a grin. As she hopped and skipped away leaving Sweetie to contemplate the writing on the wall, none other than Twilight Sparkle walked up.
"Sweetie Belle! I am so disappointed to see you smiling after writing such awful things. Defacing public property is very serious!" She scowled at the young filly, and Sweetie Belle was aghast at the implication.
"No Twilight, I didn't write this stuff about myself on the school, somepony else did!" She implored, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
"Then why is your name up there? Graffiti artists often sign their names to their work, and let me just say I am extremely disappointed. Both in your poor spelling, as well as the foul language you've used here. You better clean this up, and right away," she demanded.
"But, Pinkie's getting the paint right now—"
"Oh, so you managed to get somepony else to volunteer to clean up your messes? When she gets back here, you just tell her that you'll be painting over this filth by yourself. I won't tell Rarity or your parents—this time—but if you make a habit of this I'll be left with no choice," she said sternly, shaking her head.
Sweetie Belle was devastated, but what more could she do? She already said she didn't write the graffiti, and Twilight didn't believe her. AND now she was expected to clean it up on her own, AND she hadn't even been the one that wrote it in the first place!
Resigned to her fate, she simply nodded and shed a few more tears as Twilight walked away. She really hoped Pinkie Pie came back soon with that paint.
"Golly, that sure ain't somethin' for a young filly to see," Applejack's voice broke her from her thoughts, and Sweetie nodded, eyes puffy from crying and getting undeservedly chewed out.
"Applejack, what's it mean? I know its bad but, I don't even understand why it makes me sad," she pouted.
Applejack hemmed and hawed for a moment before finally saying, "Well, I don't rightfully know that I can say for sure myself, but what I do know is that Tartarus is a bad place where bad ponies go. After they've done bad things." She scratched her head, unsure of what more she could say. Taking the young filly's silence to mean she was satisfied with the answer, Applejack slipped off to go buck apples or do some other apple-related chore.
When Sweetie Belle looked up next, she saw Fluttershy gazing at the wall with a frown on her face. "That's not nice at all," she shook her head, and gave Sweetie a reassuring smile.
"Um, Fluttershy, what's that mean? I don't think I've ever done that or been there, so I don't even know what the graffiti even means but I do know that it's bad, and it makes me feel bad," she said, a solitary tear streaming down her cheek.
"Oh, well uh, that's a special kiss that um, mares give to stallions when they're their special some-pony," Fluttershy stammered, her cheeks flushing a deep red. "But uh, young fillies like yourself should never do that, even if somepony asks you nicely, because it's just for grown-up ponies."
"Ah, well then yeah I've definitely never done that, or been to Tartarus, but still I find it really rude," Sweetie nodded as she spoke.
Pinkie Pie showing back up with lots of buckets of paint in tow provided the perfect opportunity for Fluttershy to slip off, lest she be asked another awkward question...like how she knew what that special kiss was, or if she had ever kissed a stallion that way.
Even though Sweetie Belle explained that Twilight wanted her to paint the wall by herself as punishment, Pinkie brushed it off with a chortle and helped paint over the graffiti anyway. Together they replaced that vile, senseless act of vandalism with a beautiful mural dedicated to the memory of Six-Pack Shaker and Tiny Large, two beloved deceased musicians.
Sweetie Belle never felt so much pride. "Aww, what? You painted over it?" She heard from behind. Spinning around she found Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash was just teaching me how to 'tag,' saying that maybe I could get my cutie mark," Scootaloo smiled from ear to ear, not picking up on Sweetie silently fuming to herself, indignant at having a friend write such crude remarks about her AND THEN being forced to clean it up as well.
"Well, it was just meant as a harmless prank," Rainbow Dash started, but Sweetie cut her off.
"You know I don't find much fun in this prank, and it did hurt my feelings, and Twilight even yelled at me thinking I was the culprit cuz my name was on it!" Rainbow Dash bit back a smirk at the thought of Twilight lecturing her, and the irony of having to clean graffiti just because your name was on it. What pony would write bad things about themselves?
"I'm sorry it hurt your feelings Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo said softly, laying a paint-stained hoof on her friend's shoulder. "But look, I wrote lots of other stuff not about you, all over Ponyville!" She gestured out to the thoroughfare, and sure enough, everywhere were small phrases crudely painted out from one wall to the next.
'APPLEBLOOM SMELLS.' Smells what? That doesn't make sense, Sweetie Belle thought to herself.
'SCOOTALOO EATS BUTTS.' Rainbow Dash started to tell her that the object of tagging wasn't to write bad things about yourself, but just covered her face with her hoof in shame. Sweetie Belle was similarly ashamed, having unwittingly associated with a self-proffessed eater of butts for such a long time.
'DIAMOND TIARA AND SILVER SPOON LICK EACHOTHER.' That's actually probably true, Sweetie pondered, and turned her gaze to the next wall.
'RECALL MAYOR MARE.' Okay, that one has merit, but it really only serves to highlight her lack of understanding regarding the proper venue for airing political grievances. Not to mention that, as a building, the side of Sugarcube Corner is a poor means of communicating one's dissatisfaction with the current administration, as you cannot field arguments against your position when it is scrawled on a wall. Ugh, Scootaloo, the disservice you've done to discourse this day is just appalling.
"You know Scootaloo, I think I just figured out why you can't fly," Sweetie Belle deadpanned.
"How's that now?"
"It's because you're retarded."
