The fall of the Crusaders
-The fall of the Crusaders Part 1
It was a seemingly average morning in ponyville, the kind of morning that would probably be good for a small walk or so.
Everypony was doing their normal activities, mailponies and weatherponies alike. Such activities include attempts for cutie marks. That is the cutie marks crusader's main goal. The crusaders, or... Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to be more specific. With their heads on the same subject. "Get the cutie marks!". But, each attempt left them disappointed. Today was different though, they were "attempting for the cutie marks" a lot harder. Each of which failing.
The crusaders grew tired and each were starting to feel a little different. Apple Bloom looked as if she was becoming more stressed, Sweetie Belle was looking like she was about to cry and Scootaloo simply looked more annoyed. It carried on until late afternoon, when Apple Bloom finally spoke up "You know, ah think we should take a break." she said sighing a little. "We can probably pick up where we left off tomahrrow".
Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement but Scootaloo thought otherwise "Tomorrow..?" Scootaloo said quietly to herself "But what happens if we don't get them tomorrow?" Scootaloo turned to Apple bloom as she replied. the bow wearing filly looked down and said "T-then we ahlways have the next day..." she said trying to sound positive. It was silent for a few minutes then Scootaloo stood up and said "I'll go get us something to drink." followed by Apple Bloom standing up and replying "And ah'll get us some snacks..." Sweetie Belle smile'd and said "And i'll go get us some-" she couldn't think of anything to get so she just sat back down and sighed "I'll just wait here." she said grinning.
As Apple Bloom departed for the snacks, Scootaloo went off to acquire the drinks leaving Sweetie Belle alone by herself.Scootaloo stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Diamond Tiara walking by.This snub little filly looked at the orange crusader."Awwww, what's the matter? Still don't know your special talent? Why don't you just look on your flank... oh wait" she giggled rather annoyingly "Blank flank..." Scootaloo simply gave Diamond Tiara a rough look, not being in the very positive mood that she is in, growled and bucked a carriage behind her.
Diamond Tiara once again laughed and walked off turning her nose up at Scootaloo. One thing she didn't know was, the wagon... she bucked it so hard it sped off down the slope now accelerating at a violent speed, everypony ducking and dodging away from the carriage.
Apple Bloom, upon returning looked at Sweetie Belle and smiled "Ah lucked out and got us some..." She looked up at the wagon and gasped "Sweetie Belle! Look out!!" she dropped everything and ran towards the white crusader. Sweetie Belle looked over at Apple Bloom "Apple Bloom! You forgot the snacks di-" before she had time to finish, Apple Bloom had pushed her away from the on coming carriage. Sweetie Belle laid on the ground for a few minutes before getting up. "Ow, Apple Bloom.. why did you" She looked over at where Apple bloom would have been standing. silence hung in the air for a very long time until Sweetie Belle began crying and trembling.
"A-Apple Bloom?" she walked over to the carriage crash site, feeling her heart sinking slowly. Scootaloo returning with the drinks, mouth dropping a little "Whoa... Sweetie Belle what happened?" the white crusader couldn't reply, she dragged out Apple Bloom's limp body. "A-apple Bloom?" she said quietly "Apple B-bloom please..." Scootaloo looked at the body and felt her legs get shaky and panic started to take over.
never has the crusader seen such a lifeless body nor has she experienced such emotion flying through Sweetie Belle. her innocent mind has now been corrupeted. A crowd of ponies started to form around the site and started cleaning up the mess, Sweetie Belle nearly had to be pried off of Apple Bloom's body and Scootaloo just stood there.. Lost in her own emotions and thoughts. A pony came up to Scootaloo, concerned about her and the situation.
"Do you know who did this?" the pony asked, Scootaloo just looked at the pony with a very confused expression. "uuh...uuuh..I-I... I-i don't know." she looked at the carriage and she managed to think about what happened. "The carriage..." she thought quietly "the carriage.. the carriage!!" She felt her eyes start to water, She felt the guilt hit her hard. It was nearly stabbing her, she closed her eyes tightly trying to think, when she did gather her thoughts, the orange crusader looked at the pony whom asked and felt the words fly out of her mouth "It was Diamond Tiara!" everything seemed to have stopped just there.
Scootaloo felt frozen, her mind wasn't working right, everything happened so fast... The poor filly just couldn't catch up to anything that was going on. All she knew was, she lost one of her friends. She is responsible for the death and she blamed somepony else whom is completely innocent from such a crime.
The funeral seemed to have lasted forever, though everypony seemed to have managed it quite well. Sweetie Belle was with her big sister whom was comforting her. The Apple family was mourning the loss of their youngest member and Scootaloo sat alone, rather away from the funeral.
She was choked up on tears, her eyes felt sore and her body ached... She hadn't really slept at all since the accident from yesterday. neither had Sweetie Belle, she'd been crying all night. well..lightly, she'd been holding back her tears since then. Nopony could really tell what the apple family was going through last night. But they expected that they did quite calmly and managed everything. Then they just let it flow out today...
After everypony paid their respects and bid farewell to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo stayed for a while, even after the burial and services. Once the coast was clear, She approached Apple Bloom's grave. "Apple Bloom..." she said quietly "I-I'm.. sorry. I just feel so lost without your leadership...Even if it was just a freak accident i woulda taken your place." she stopped and tried her best to hold back her tears.
"I don't even know if you can hear me. Where ever you are... But Apple Bloom i promise, I will dedic-" "Scootaloo?" It was Sweetie Belle, She came back to submit another flower to Apple Bloom's grave. "Scootaloo, why were you not here?" her voice was soft filled with sorrow. Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle and sighed "Well..uh..you see i uh...I was affraid everypony would see me." Sweetie Belle tilted her head "uh...huh?" Scootaloo felt a tear drop flee down her cheek, she knew that was a lie and expected Sweetie Belle to know that it was a lie too, it was a pathetic lie.
Scootaloo shook her head "no no no i-i just..." She couldn't hide it, Scootaloo came out and said "Sweetie Belle as a friend I thought you might need to know that I killed Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo exploded into tears, She is relieved that she was able to tell the truth to somepony but she also felt that she had just blown her friendship with Sweetie Belle. "
You see, i-i bucked a carriage when i got really upset with Dimaond Tiara..and it.. it kinda just..I d-didn't know that-" Scootaloo stopped to sniffle, her nose flooded with mucous. Her eyes burned with tears. Sweetie Belle stared at Scootaloo, wanting to say something comforting. She wished she could say something comforting. The death of her friend was caused by her other friend. Almost causing her own death. Scootaloo settled a little, noticing Sweetie Belle was just standing there, gazing at her. "S-Sweetie Belle?" Her voice was soft. "...How could you..?" Belle replied with a tear escaping to her cheek. The chill in the air was harsh.
Sweetie Belle didn't want to say that. She didn't want to add guilt. She didn't want to scare Scootaloo. But, for some reason.. She couldn't think right. She just said it. Scootaloo backed up slowly and looked at the filly. "I-I'm sorry..." closing her apology, She fled. Again Leaving Sweetie Belle alone in the grave with Apple Bloom. Her hooves touched the gravestone. She wept quietly to herself for a while. Until looking up at the sky. "Oh Apple Bloom, what am I supposed to do?"
A few weeks passed and nothing was in order for the two fillies anymore. Scootaloo became angry with Equestria. She had committed many crimes within Ponyville making her a wanted filly. Sweetie Belle had deep depression and stopped doing things. Everyday she'd come home from school and lay in her room. Watching a blank screen on the tv while her older sister was busily working away. It was the same boring story. "Sweetie Belle? Why aren't you out playing?" "Because the wind is too cold." excuses. "Sweetie Belle? Aren't you going to finish your hay?" "I'm not hungry". Sweetie Belle was completely out of it.
The weekend finally came for Equestria, Celestia had risen the sun high in the sky. Eventually Sweetie Belle was forced to go out and be social. Though she went to a remote area and sat alone. She sat and looked around at the sites of Ponyville. The sites gave Sweetie Belle memories of her friends Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Oh the adventures they had together. "Apple Bloom..." Sweetie said to herself. "Scootaloo...I'll go get us some... some..." She sighed "I'll just wait here.".
Fillies and colts walked up to Sweetie Belle to see what is the matter. They tried to get her to play with them. A game of tag, or a round of kickball... Anything. But Belle turned them all down she did. Hours passed, eventually she grew bored of her stubborn daze and got up from her perch to walk around a bit. Up a ways, she halted in her tracks.
An orange filly was in the distance. "Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle said to herself. The orange filly shifted her eyes to her left and to her right, When she detected that nopony was watching, She quickly snagged an apple from a barrel and darted. Sweetie Belle gasped and tailed Scootaloo from behind "Scootaloo!" She called out, her voice echoed across the town. Scootaloo looked back at her follower, bumping into ponies and stands. She turned her eyes back in front of her. Before turning left into a bush. Sweetie Belle tried her best to keep her eyes on that filly. But she wasn't quick enough. She'd lost sight of her friend. "Scootaloo?" She called out. "Scoota-" She felt a tug on her hoof, She gasped and looked up at an angry looking stallion.
"Did you take my Apple, young'n?" panting as he asked Sweetie Belle. "N-n...no..." She answered softly. Realizing that he'd been chasing her misunderstanding that she'd been running after her friend. "No!" She answered again. The stallion looked very crossed with Sweetie Belle. "Do you realize those apples were grown in the finest farm in equestria! The apple family grew them!" Sweetie Belle looked at the stallion. "A-..Apple.." The stallion tightened the grip on Sweetie Belle. "What?" Sweetie Belle shook her head.
"Never mind! If the apples are so important you, why aren't you manning the stand?" The stallion let loose of Sweetie Belle and muttered "foals these days..." as he departed back to his stand. The filly sighed before turning around and heading for home, but before she could take a step, she felt something hit the back of her head. "Oww!" She groaned rubbing the impact spot.
turning around to look at the projectile, it was an apple core. Looked fresh too. The filly looked up to see an orange hoof signaling to come over from a bush. Curiously Sweetie Belle approached the bush and jumped in it. "Scootaloo!" She exclaimed, but her excitement turned to shock.
The orange filly was covered in dirt, Her mane was a wreck, she had scars and bruises everywhere... It wasn't a nice sight. Never has Sweetie Belle ever expected to see her friend like this, nor did she really want to. "Scootaloo! What Happened to you? Why did you steal that apple? How are doing? Wh-" Scootaloo shivered a bit, "Sweete Belle..." whispered the filly. "I haven't done anything good recently... I've stolen things, I've broken objects, I've.. I've... beaten up other fillies." She seemed to be opening up to Sweetie Belle like she did a few weeks ago with the death of Apple Bloom.
Her eyes started to water. "Sweetie Belle, I've done terrible things...You're the only friend I have left. What should I do?" Sweetie Belle sat there in fascination, She didn't know what to say, or what do. She just sat there...
Scootaloo looked down at the ground quite ashamed of herself. "I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle... It's just that... I don't know anypony that I can get help from." She rubbed her eye a bit, clearing the on coming tears. "What happened to Rainbow Dash?" Sweetie Belle asked as she brushed off a little dirt from the rough filly. "Rainbow D-Dash..." She said quietly to herself. "She probably hates me now..."
"Why?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I caused her to crash after I took one of her prizes. I couldn't help myself... it was..right there... and...It looked really cool... I thought it was cool that it was Dash's prize. Then I guess i slipped. The feeling of having something that was owned by Rainbow Dash... I- I'm her biggest fan I just..." She stopped to catch her breath. "Apple Bloom would be disappointed in me."
Scootaloo threw her hooves over her eyes. She understands that she's grown a criminal mind. But she couldn't quite explain it to Sweetie Belle. Scoots just sighed "I guess my special talent is wrecking things." The white filly patted her friend on the back. "It'll be al-" Before Sweetie Belle could finish, she was interrupted with her Sister's sudden appearance. "There you are! You naughty little thing!" the voice was filled with rage but still well controlled. "I just got the word that You've been stealing apples from the market!" Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo frantically
The orange filly was frozen in terror. Her heart racing. Rarity grabbed Sweetie Belle and dragged her out of the bush. "And what an awful place to go! Why would you even remotely think of going in that dirt infested waste." Both fillies stared at each other, Sweetie Belle looked at Rarity. "But-" "No buts, Sweetie Belle! I'm extremely surprised and disapointed in you. Is that why you stop touching your dinner? Because you came here to fill up on other junk? You're in big trouble, Sweetie Belle. Big trouble. The price of stealing must be paid full."
Sweetie Belle and Rarity were out of sight for Scootaloo. Her heart still racing a bit. When she gathered herself, which wasn't very long to do so. She came out of the bush and looked around. She saw the stallion whom she stole from, smiling a bit. Satisfied with the justice that had been done. Or so he thought. Scootaloo closed her eyes and wept a bit, Overwhelmed with guilt.
For once again, the consequences of her actions, had turn to befall on her friends. Or, the only friend she had left.
-end of part 1 out of 2.-