After an hour had passed, Butter was heading towards the school with a tray of cupcakes strapped to his back. His head was down low as he made eye contact to the ground. I feel so stupid with this thing on. I look like a pack mule... Unfortunately for him, it was the only way he could get the cupcakes to the school. Mr. Cake was busy because he had to open Sugarcube Corner and Pinkie was helping Mrs. Cake with the two twins. So he was all on his own on this journey.

He glanced up a bit at the road in front of him to make sure he didn't run into something or somepony like last time and noticed that he was almost at the school. Butter bit his lip and looked down at the ground again, his pace slowing a bit. Oh ponyfeathers, I forgot about those two bullies. What am I going to do when they see me? He looked back up and saw the school was only a few meters away. He peeked his head through the doorway and saw that neither Diamond nor Silver were present.

Sadly, neither were the Crusaders.

They're not here yet? Come on! I need them to protect me! Butter yelled in his mind. He turned around to see if they were approaching the school. Instead of a desired trio of fillies, however, were a duo of the same fillies that tantalized Butter yesterday. Oh manure, they came here first! Butter panicked and quickly rushed to his seat. He put the tray of cupcakes on his desk and sat down. He tried lowering his head to hide his face so that they wouldn't notice him. He peeked out a bit from the right of his desk to see when they were coming. In a half of a minute, they were already in the classroom. And...OH CELESTIA, NO! THEY'RE COMING RIGHT FOR ME!

"Oh look, Silver Spoon! Somepony let a pig into the classroom!" Diamond paused for a second before adding, "Oh wait, I was wrong. It's just Butter." This got a giggle out of Silver as Butter winced.

"Sh-Shut up!"

"Or what? Your little friends aren't here to protect you, and I don't think you'd put up much of a fight!" Diamond looked down at Butter's tray and asked, "What's that, fatty? Your lunch?"

"I-It's none of your business!"

Silver Spoon took a closer looked at his tray and exclaimed, "That's a pretty big lunch!"

Diamond snorted softly and added, "What did you pack to eat? Your refrigerator?" Both started to giggle as Butter got even more upset.

Then, that sadness slowly shifted into anger, as Butter had finally reached his breaking point. "Well, you're ugly!"

Silver and Diamond both stopped laughing immediately as Diamond quickly snapped over to Butter. "What did you say?"

"You say that I'm fat, but I can exercise! You can't fix ugly!" At that moment, Butter saw Diamond wince a bit. Butter grinned a bit at Diamond's reaction. Oh, a weak spot?

Diamond shook her head and scowled at him. "I am NOT ugly! You got that fatty?!"

"What's the matter, Diamond? Did I strike a nerve?"

"Shut up!"

"Why? Is it because I'm pointing out the obvious?"

"I-I said shut up!"

"Why should I listen to an ugly filly like you?"

"B-Because...I...I-I'M NOT UGLY!" she yelled. She huffed loudly and stomped away before Butter could insult her anymore. She sat down in her desk with her head down as Silver sat down next to her, counseling her. As Silver moved away, he noticed that the Crusaders were all standing there in shock, obviously catching the whole thing.

"Wow..." admired Sweetie.

"That was amazin'!" Applebloom exclaimed.

All three smiled as they sped over to Butter. "You actually stood up to those three, Butter! Awesome!" commended Scootaloo.

"Heh...th-thanks," blushed Butter. Before the Crusaders could give him any more attention, the bell rang, and the Crusaders all sat down in their respective seats.

Cheerilee walked in and sat at her desk. "Good morning, everypony! I hope you all had a nice evening..."

Butter's mind drifted off almost immediately as he suddenly felt a small soreness in his gut. Agh...why do I feel so bad? He glanced around the room until his sight was locked onto Diamond, who still had her head covered up by her arms. The soreness worsened as Butter grunted a bit under his breath. Am I...feeling guilty? For HER? She treats me like manure and now I feel bad for her when I get back at her?

"...Butter, you go first"

Butter snapped back to reality at the mention of his name as he looked up quickly. "Huh?"

"Your name is first on the class list, so you may present your essay first."

Alphabetical order, you fiend. "Oh...al-alright." Butter slowly sat up and reached into his bag for his essay. He pulled it out and walked to the front of the room. He looked around, looking for something to place his essay on to read it. Eventually, he gave up and just spat it on the ground.

"Um...this report is about somepony I appreciate. The pony that I appreciate is my dad. My dad works at Donut Joe's and makes pastries and other sweets." Butter stopped a bit and coughed nervously. He continued in a monotone voice, "My dad is also a pegasus but lives on the ground with my mom because she is an earth pony. The reason why I appreciate my dad is because he is a baker and he is very well known because he makes cupcakes for the princesses."

That apparently got everypony's attention as he heard the sound of almost everypony in the room sit up in their chairs and some collective whispers. Cheerilee heard this and instructed, "Everypony, please don't interrupt!" Everypony stood silent obediently as Cheerilee asked, "Your dad truly makes cupcakes for the princesses?"

"Um...y-yes...ma'am."

"Well, I didn't know that. It must feel really good knowing that your dad's a celebrity!"

"Yeah..heh..." Even though I just found out yesterday. "A-Anyways, um...I have some cupcakes here with me that are the same as the ones my dad makes the princesses. Oh...uh..." He trotted over quickly to his desk and grabbed the tray with his mouth. He laid them down on the ground and opened the tray, exposing a batch of chocolate cupcakes. "Is it okay that I give them out, Ms. Cheerilee?"

"Well, I'd say if there's enough for everypony, why not?" Cheerliee looked at the class and said, "Everypony, if you would like a cupcake, you may receive one from Butter over here."

The whole class, unable to refuse a sweet, got up and walked towards the cupcakes. Butter looked down and in a few seconds saw that most of the cupcakes have disappeared. He heard a bunch of other foals say things like, "Mmm..." and "This is delicious!" The compliments made Butter's face shine a bit redder than it already was. Even Cheerilee was curious and decided to try one for herself. After taking a bite, she exclaimed, "Oh my, Butter this is one of the best cupcakes I've ever had! I can't believe your father made these!"

"Well, actually...uh...I made them."

Everyone froze as many of his classmates hung their mouths open. "Y-You made these? On your own?" asked Cheerilee.

"Y-Yes. I-I've always wanted to become a baker. And my dad inspired me to become one. He's such a great cook and just...well...I want to be just like my dad when I grow up." Cheerilee couldn't help but smile as Butter finally concluded, "And that's why I appreciate my dad."

"Butter, that was a terrific essay! You get a check plus!"

Butter smiled before looking confused. "I...usually got letter grades from my old schools...so is that good?"

"That's equivalent to an A+, so yes."

"Oh! Well...good! Thanks!" Butter's smile returned as he picked up his cupcake tray, which now only contained a single cupcake and made his way back to his seat. Well, not only did I pass my essay, but I get a treat to go with it! He was about to eat his delicious reward when he noticed that Diamond had not moved from her seat. In fact, she was in the same place she was when the bell rang. A twinge of guilt was sent through Butter insides as he looked at his cupcake. Ergh...what is wrong with me? We're even now, I should feel satisfied! Butter thought for a moment before covering the cupcake up to save for later. Fine, guilt. You win.

~~~

Recess had begun and all the foals had ran outside, except for a certain, miffed-looking pink filly who was angrily stomping out the door. Butter noticed her behavior as she left and picked up the tray of cupcakes with his mouth. The fillies had joined Butter by his side as Scootaloo gushed, "That was a great essay, Butter! I never knew your dad was famous like that!"

Butter continued walking as he simply said, "Thanks." He wasn't really paying attention to them as he was focused more on Diamond, who was talking to Silver.

He continued to trot towards her as Applebloom asked, "What are ya doin'?"

"Just...give me a second." The fillies looked at each other and shrugged before backing off and letting Butter talk to Diamond.

Butter finally reached Diamond as he asked gently, "Um...Diamond?"

Diamond turned her head towards Butter and flinched a bit. "Wh-What do you want, f-fatty?!"

Butter didn't reaction to her insult this time as he laid down the tray. "I just...wanted to say I'm sorry for insulting you. I didn't mean to call you ugly."

She twitched a bit as she tried to remain calm. Butter expected another insult, but surprisingly Diamond just simply stated, "It's fine."

Butter coughed nervously before opening the tray. "I...have one last cupcake. I was going to eat it but I noticed you didn't come up and get one."

Diamond looked at the cupcake before taking it slowly. She took a small bite out of it as she looked away from him. "Hmph..."

"If...you want to talk about anything-"

"I don't want to talk to you at all. Please go away," Diamond declared in a harsh manner.

Butter said nothing more to her and just nodded. He took the tray back and walked back to the fillies, who all looked at him like he had a massive tick attached to his head.

"Butter, why'd ya give her a cupcake? I thought ya hated her!" exclaimed Applebloom.

"Did you do anything to the cupcake?" asked Scootaloo.

"Did you add laxatives to it as a prank?" inquired Sweetie.

"Look," Butter said, interrupting them, "I did it because I felt guilty!" All three of them looked at him even more confusedly. "You see, I learned something today. I learned that bullying somepony for revenge only makes you look like a bully in return. In those few seconds I called her ugly, I was becoming the thing I hated. So I apologized and tried to make up for it so I wouldn't look like her."

"So you're sayin' that instead of being mean ta her, we should try to be nice to her?"

"If it means we don't stoop down to her level, then yes."

The fillies looked at each other skeptically before Sweetie finally said, "He's right. We should at least try to be nice to them. Maybe they're just misunderstood. I mean, Butter practically reduced Diamond to tears with just a simple word."

Butter's ears lowered as he mumbled, "Thanks for making me feel better..."

Applebloom groaned and looked down. "Ah guess you're right."

"Yeah..." Scootaloo added.

At that moment, Butter felt like a heavy burden was lifted off his shoulders. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Friend Makers?" he asked in a slightly enthusiastic manner.

"Um...we tried that already," declared Scootaloo. "Not good results."

"Oh...um...right."

A few minutes of awkward silence passed until the bell rang, breaking the silence and allowing class to resume once more.

~~~

"And class, there will be no homework tonight because it's the weekend. So have a nice, relaxing two days!"

The class cheered at the announcement as they all ran outside with glee. Butter made his way outside with all his materials and joined with the Crusaders. "Alright, so what are we going to do the rest of the day?"

All three looked at each with a slight smirk before Scootaloo quickly put something around his head. Confused, Butter moved his hoof up and felt it. A sweatband?

"Remember when you told me you wanted to lose weight?" asked Scootaloo.

Oh Celestia, no.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FITNESS TRAINERS!" the three cheered in unison. Scootaloo got on her scooter while the other two got on with her.

"Try to keep up!" taunted Scootaloo as she buzzed forward, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

Butter groaned the loudest groan he made since he got to Ponyville and followed them, huffing with each step.

This was going to be a long couple of months for Butter.

Author's Note

This feels a bit rushed (mostly with the ending) and I apologize, but here it is!

A couple of small notes about this chapter, there were actually a few scenes I had planned where Butter and Diamond have a "final face-off." One of them was a longer version of Butter insulting Diamond, one was Butter being polite to Diamond and then backstabbing her with laxative-injected cupcakes (referenced as you can see here), and the current ending. I chose the current one not just because I felt like that would be too jerky even for Butter, but because I want to do a short story in the future where Butter tries to patch things up with Diamond and eventually friend her.

But that's in due time. For now, I will enjoy a nice relaxing break before preparing the next story I have planned. Toodles, and happy late Thanksgiving!