A few hours passed, and everything had settled down a bit by mid-afternoon.

Mimu was flapping her fairy wings, hovering well enough she was eye level with the lightpost. The object-pony flashed her a warm smile and patted her head with a lanky foreleg before she giggled and flew to the table. The object-pony then made its way upstairs, yawning as if preparing to go to sleep.

The little filly landed on the table, earning a glance from everyone sitting in the chairs surrounding it. Mimu folded her wings and trotted off the table in short order, landing safely on the floor. Before anyone could speak, Scootaloo suddenly burst into the room via the front door, little wings spread as wide as her grin.

Everyone glanced at the filly, and she ran up to Nagare and promptly blew him a raspberry. On her once-blank rump sat a dull wooden sword.

The green pegasus’s eyes widened. “W-What...how?!” He cried, his jaw shaking from how baffled he was.

“Me and Truffle Shuffle played with wooden swords. Turns out I’m good at them too.” Scootaloo taunted, grinning slyly with a hint of innocence in her smile. “Maybe I can get a real one day.”

Nagare slowly turned his gaze back to his friends, his wide eyes and hanging jaw telling them what it was that had been running in his head. Everyone else merely shrugged back at him.

“Just be glad they weren’t actual blades. Steel does more damage than wood, unless you’re Hercules or something.” Rekka stated, sighing himself afterwards.

“Hey, mister, can we play-fight with wooden swords sometime?” Scootaloo asked, once more getting stared at by everyone else.

“When you get bigger than you already are. I have an unfair size advantage against you.” Nagare replied, his face relaxing as he spoke. A small, warm smile came upon his muzzle.

Scootaloo smiled back, eyes glinting with hope and joy. She seemed to beam with enthusiasm at this point, her little wings buzzing in excitement. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom also barged in on short notice, and unlike their pegasus companion, they took the time to shut the door behind them.

“Scootaloo,” Applebloom spoke, “how’d you get your cutie mark faster than us?”

“Truffle Shuffle and I played with wooden swords at recess when it appeared.” Scootaloo answered, turning to her friends and flashing them a smile. “And if I got my cutie mark, then you will too, right?”

“She does have a point.” Sweetie Belle agreed with a nod, pointing at Scootaloo for reference as she exchanged a glance with Applebloom.

“I wonder what my cutie mark will be?” Applebloom wondered aloud, putting a hoof to her chin.

“Cutie mark shenanigans aside, what brings you three to simply barge into our house like a hellhound was nipping at your tails?” 01 asked, blinking as he crossed his forelegs.

“Well, the two of us followed Scoots here because we were wondering why she’d come.” Sweetie Belle answered with a sigh.

“That, and we’d rather avoid Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon today. They looked especially grouchy.” Applebloom added with a nod.

“Diamond Tiara? Silver Spoon?” Tenmei wondered aloud, blinking a few times.

“Sounds to me like a pair of spoiled rich foals.” Rekka groaned. “Just the names alone imply that.”

“You bet!” Sweetie Belle began, a frown on her face. “Diamond’s daddy, Filthy Rich, gets her everything she wants and she always brags about it when she isn’t making fun of me and my friends for being blank flanks!”

“That sounds even worse.” Rekka murmured, shaking his head.

“You said the two...ahem, bullies looked really ticked off today?” Nagare asked, and the three fillies nodded. “Why is that?”

“Miss Cherilee gave them a detention each. That, and we saw their dads come into the school and scold them before the bell rung.” Scootaloo answered, sitting on her rump.

“Detention for...what?” Koto inquired, blinking.

“While Cherilee was away for a moment, I saw the two go up to the chalkboard and write ‘school is boring, why don’t they burn it?’ before putting our names under that message. They also put a few other nasty things on the board.” Sweetie replied. “They even tried beating Scoots up when she was horsin’ around with Truffle.”

“Sounds like their punishment was well-deserved.” Kaguya sighed. “Things like that would get them a lot more flak had they been adults.”

“Hey, blank flanks!” Called a high-pitched child’s voice. Everyone glanced to the window, seeing a pink-pelted filly with a wavy purple-and-white mane. Her ice-like eyes glared at the trio of fillies in the house, narrowed dangerously low. “You owe us for getting us in trouble today!”

Kaguya rose onto her legs and sighed. “The both of you may want to move out of my way.” She said, and Sweetie Belle and Applebloom nodded and skedaddled to the couch in short order. The white-pelted mare trotted to the door and swung it open, closing it behind her as she went outside. She could see the pink filly’s cutie mark, a literal diamond tiara.

With the pink filly was a grey-coated filly, braided mane grey and near-white in color. She had purple-rimmed glasses, and a spoon of silver with a little pink heart on one end was her cutie mark.

“I assume you two to be Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, correct?” Kaguya asked.

“Yes.” The pink filly replied with a nod. “Why do you have those blank flanks in your house? Why are YOU a blank flank? You should have your cutie mark by now!” She seemed to hiss, eyes narrowed upon noticing the elder mare’s lack of a cutie mark.

“I’ve not had the time to find it, simply put.” Kaguya answered, an eye beginning to twitch ever so faintly. “I’ve been busy with a lot of things.”

“Like what?” The grey filly spat, eyes narrowing further than those of her companion.

“Slaving over a lot of jobs to make sure I and the ponies who I happen to live with have food, shelter, and the like. I also have to juggle two fillies, around your age, and the occasional guest. On top of that, there’re five young adults who like to raise a fuss every now and then.” Kaguya replied curtly, a vein making itself known on her cheek. Her eyes narrowed at last. “And I simply have no time to tolerate any of your charades.”

“You can’t touch us.” Diamond, the pink filly, said. She sat on her rump and crossed her forelegs together. “Daddy will put you in jail faster than you will blink.”

“That’s only because of the absurd amount of money I hear he happens to have.” Kaguya replied swiftly, face beginning to darken as she spoke.

“So, you big crinkly blank flank, why don’t you just walk away into the streets?” Silver, the grey filly, taunted.

A guitar seemed to have loudly smashed against a floor in Kaguya’s mind as she heard the insult. The ‘blank flank’ she didn’t mind, but she was not crinkly the last time she checked. Despite being overworked to hell and back usually, as well as worrying constantly, she looked relatively young. Her face darkened even more, and it hardened into a stone-cold glare that could rival that of a royal guard.

“And what, pray tell, drove you to call me crinkly?” She inquired, her voice as cold as her face.

Silver Spoon broke a sweat upon hearing that cold tone of voice. She stammered for a little bit, unable to form words despite her jaw working up and down.

“Well?” Kaguya asked once more, her face so dark her eyes seemed to glow at this point.

“S-Silver,” Diamond stuttered, shaking a little bit, “maybe we should get our daddies.” Silver quickly nodded, and both took off running in the opposite direction.

“Last thing I needed…” Kaguya mumbled under her breath, composing herself before re-entering the house.

“What happened this time?” 01 asked, scratching the back of his head with a hoof.

“Diamond and Silver decided to get adults involved, and took off running like a pack of wolves after a caribou. Something tells me they’re going to fabricate lies about me.” Kaguya answered, sighing afterwards.

Mimu had trotted over to Scootaloo. “That cutie mark is pretty.” She said, smiling warmly.

“Just got it today. Thanks.” Scootaloo replied with an equally warm smile on her muzzle. She noticed her fairy wings. “Hey, those those wings are pretty.”

Mimu chuckled. “I can fly with them.” She said, beaming.

“Really?” Scootaloo asked, eyes widening.

“Yeah.” Mimu replied with a nod. Her smile faded a little bit upon noticing the pegasus’s wide eyes. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah…” Scootaloo sighed, eyelids drooping and her smile fading into a frown. She glanced at her own wings. “I can’t fly with my wings…”

“You...can’t fly?” Yuuki asked, causing the orange pegasus to look at her. The filly nodded and sighed. “For a good while,” The purple mare began to half-lie, “I couldn’t fly either.”

“Really?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah. It was a hassle for me. I...had a bit of a problem.” Yuuki replied, sighing again. “Let’s not get into that.”

“Hey, when Rainbow Dash can’t teach me, can you teach me how to fly?” Scootaloo asked, eyes once more brimming with a sort of hope in their voids.

Yuuki’s ears twitched. “Like, flying tricks, or the basics?” She asked, blinking.

“The basics. Some tricks if you can manage it.” Scootaloo answered, faintly smiling again.

“Alright, I think I can do that. But not too often, you hear?” Yuuki stated, chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “I tend to get injured sometimes, so, yeah, I think you know what I’m saying.”

“Injured, like in fights?” Sweetie Belle asked, brow arched.

“All sorts of things; fights are only one of them, and they aren’t too often.” Yuuki answered, putting her hoof down and letting off another nervous chuckle. She paused suddenly, eyes widening and face quickly flushing in red, and then winced and grit her teeth as a pang of pain made itself present in her midsection, close to the stomach but not quite.

“What’s wrong?” Applebloom asked, blinking at the display.

“I need to go upstairs for a few moments. Pardon me…” Yuuki grunted, spreading her wings and taking a detour to the second floor quick as a whip. A door was heard opening and then slamming in the same second.

“I began to notice a smell as she flapped her wings…” Nagare sighed, a hoof slowly coming up and up until it rested upon his forehead. He shook his head, eyes shut tight as he moved, and he sniffed the air a bit.

“You mean she’s…?” Rekka started, slowly turning to his fellow stallion with jaw hanging ajar as he trailed off. The pegasus only nodded back once, and sighed again after that.

“I hope she doesn’t have any anger issues this time. It’s bad enough...I’ll mind my tongue since there are youngsters present.” 01 sighed, shaking his head solemnly as all the terrible, horrid things he had been informed of four or five months ago played an equally unsettling image in his mind.

“Did something happen?” Sweetie Belle asked, drawing the attention of the lot at the table.

“Yes. Something...terrible befell Yuuki. It was really bad--the kind where you want to kill someone at the mere mention of it.” Nagare answered, his voice as grim as his appearing frown. “I don’t think the three of you would comprehend it, so I will not answer any questions regarding it. It’s just...awful.”

“We’re sorry to hear that.” Scootaloo sighed, eyelids drooping once more.

“You don’t have to apologize. We understand how you feel; the awful something has affected us too.” Koto stated, ears flattening on her head for a mere second. She recalled her torment, shifting a bit in unease as that ran its course in her head. The unicorn felt a slight pain as her gut twisted in a way it seemed to have agreed with her subconscious.

“Let’s not mention it again. I’d rather not have an excuse to break something.” Kaguya murmured, rubbing a foreleg with a hoof.

“Say, what would my cutie mark be?” Applebloom wondered aloud once more, putting a hoof on her chin again.

“I’m not sure. Hey, I see a four-leaf clover and a cup…” Sweetie Belle commented, looking at Kaguya as she said this.

“What about a four-leaf clover?” The elder asked, turning to the unicorn filly with a brow arched. Scootaloo got off her rump and trotted to her, raising a hoof to point at a rear leg. Kaguya looked and found a four-leaf clover plastered on a light grey teacup had just become her cutie mark. Her eyes widened. “I...I didn’t do anything to get this…?” She murmured, disbelief evident in her face and voice.

“Don’t four-leaf clovers bring good luck?” Tenmei asked, eying the new addendum Kaguya had received from seemingly nowhere.

“I can hear those jokes now…” Rekka murmured, ears flat on his skull as he spoke.

“Let me recount here...fillies barge in, friendly chat, rich fillies show up and get scared off while threatening to tell their daddies…” Kaguya thought aloud, and when it had occurred to her the supposed Filthy Rich and whoever Silver’s parents were had yet to show up, that was when something clicked into her head. “Perhaps lady luck’s on my side??” She asked, once more glancing at her new cutie mark.

Author's Note

The reason I failed to mention a cutie mark when Kaguya was first introduced was because she simply had none.

~Dragon