0-0-0-0-0
Ice cubes.
Glaciers.
Waterfalls.
Anything of the sort with even a remote level of coolness, anything at all to think of to stave off the heat; that was where Sweetie Belle’s mind primarily lay, sluggishly tossing and turning beneath the unrelenting words of her teacher. Every sentence was jumbled together in the muggy fog, each word seemingly less important than the last. The corner of her desk even seemed more captivating to the filly.
Heat seemed to have taken on a whole new meaning than when she was smaller.
Before, heat was just something that came with the summer. A sign of freedom. There were even times when she cherished it because it meant that it was finally time to run free with her friends again.
For a growing filly, however, heat apparently meant suffering in the fires of Tartarus, because that’s the closest thing she could compare it to. The colts on the other hoof all seemed to be just fine, if a little bored. Sweetie pushed away the rather mean thought of wishing it on them instead of her. That was just not nice. And besides, the colts…
Sweetie Belle found herself shaking her head again, forcing her mind away from that thought as well. Since her ‘precious gift life gave her,’ as her grandmother had grinningly put it, it was growing increasingly difficult to ignore her… interest.
The new little brown colt near the back looked a bit silly in his favorite hat, but he was certainly cute. Not adorably so, but in the way a slightly pudgy youngling could be. He definitely had an amount of foal fat still on him, despite his age, but he wasn’t even paying attention either. And while cute enough in his own right, she still had difficulty talking to Rumble. It was hard to keep her eyes on his face when he was talking. Sweetie wouldn’t have expected any colt to be quite so fit for his age. He probably had quite a bit of stamina-
Sweetie Belle shook her head harder, yanking her eyes down to her levitating book as her cheeks flushed. The allure, the sheer strength of the urge to give in and let her mind wander was almost overpowering, but the fear of what might happen if she did so kept her in place. Barely. If she grew any more distracted she likely wouldn’t be able to magic her book up any longer. Distractions tended to make magic go awry at times, especially to unicorns. That had been drilled into her head so often that there was a point where she had even been a little afraid to try magic from the amount of caution ponies tried to instill. Mostly from non-unicorns, which she found very strange. A bit like her sudden interest in colts and their… currently unexplored bodies.
Oh, why did Miss Cheerilee’s rushed and embarrassing red-faced lecture on growing fillies’ anatomy have to be so unhelpful?
From the lack of scratching pencils and ruffling papers, it was faintly apparent that the feeling of boredom was mutual among Miss Cheerilee’s students. Even the generally noisy cicadas that were so common this time of the year didn’t seem to have the energy to chirrup very much. There was no escaping from the droning, no way out of the sweltering heat of the classroom. Sweetie Belle would probably dry up and blow away, she was absolutely sure of it. A sluggish glance over to one of her friends told her that Apple Bloom was in pretty much the same condition, resignedly fanning herself with her own book in order to get a little air.
Sweetie Belle gradually began to mimic her, though she did so without much hope that it would help.
It didn’t, really.
All in all, it was moderately unpleasant for a school day. It was that inordinately awful amount of humid from the previous night’s rain, it was nigh impossible to pay attention (for Sweetie at least) and even Miss Cheerilee didn’t seem to be interested in her own lesson. Sweetie attempted to force her eyes up to the chalkboard in meager attempt to learn something, anything at all.
She didn’t, really.
Sweetie Belle frowned when she saw the stunted pegasus beside her snoring softly on her books, slumped over behind her wooden desk without a care in the world.
“… Scootaloo,” she murmured out of the corner of her mouth, trying not to be heard. Her voice felt like it might dry up too from lack of use.
“Whuzzat?” the orange filly cracked one eye almost instantly, stopping mid-snore.
“Try to stay awake,” Sweetie whispered. “We have a test on this tomorrow.”
“I am awake,” she quipped without picking up her head. “I’m learning through osmosis.”
“MISS CHEERILEE, SCOOTALOO IS TRYING TO SLEEP!”
There was nary an ear inside the schoolhouse that didn’t cringe hard upon Diamond Tiara’s screech. Sweetie Belle glowered furiously at the pink filly, who was readjusting her customary silver tiara. It was plain to most others that even she had recently been asleep, but the teacher didn’t seem to notice that part.
“No she wasn’t!” Sweetie jerked wide awake as well, forcing back her angry retort in order to defend her friend whilst crossing her legs tightly. “She was… reading.”
“With her face on the book?”
“With her, um… face. In-in the… on the book.”
“… Scootaloo,” the violet mare breathed heavily through her nose and gave her a flat stare. “Were you sleeping?”
Scootaloo’s awkward shift in her seat was all the answer she needed.
“Please stay after class,” she sighed again. “Sweetie Belle, you too.”
Diamond Tiara’s triumphant sneer only made the unfairness harder to bear. As per usual.
“What?” Sweetie balked in frustration. “Why?”
“If you have to ask that then you really haven’t been paying attention,” Cheerilee frowned. “Where was… right, everypony, please turn next to page one hundred and forty-six, make sure to memorize the cultivation stages of the banana tree…”
Her words slowly faded into the background as Sweetie Belle glowered furiously at Diamond Tiara’s gleaming miniature crown. Her stupid tiara. On her stupid head. The little brat even kept watching her, gauging her reaction and staring with that ridiculously smug little smirk of hers. She refused to give the little demon any satisfaction though. The proud upward twitch of her lip only served to ignite the fire even further, and Sweetie jerked her head away to avoid letting her see how hard she was grinding her teeth.
Stupid Diamond Tiara.
Sweetie Belle ground one hoof against her forehead in agitation, trying not to meet the pitying look that Apple Bloom was giving her. It just wasn’t fair at all.
It was then that Sweetie quietly noted something that she mentally kicked herself over for not noticing before. Something that seemed so obvious it almost hurt how she hadn’t realized it. Something vitally important missing from their daily bland routine.
Silver Spoon hadn’t been in class all day.
0-0-0-0-0
“Enjoy scrubbing the chalkboard?”
Sweetie Belle ground her teeth in dismay, her heavy saddlebag growing just a little weightier when Diamond Tiara’s voice met her ears. The self-satisfied filly had seemingly appeared out of nowhere the moment she was out of earshot of the schoolhouse. Sweetie Belle temporarily considered simply turning on the spot and walking with Scootaloo, even if that meant being forced to walk all the way around Ponyville just to get home.
“What do you want, Diamond Tiara?” Sweetie said through tightly gritted teeth, forcing herself not to even look at her. If she didn’t look at her for long enough maybe she would go away. Like the safety lessons on Timberwolf attacks. Play dead and hope that they don’t eat you. Diamond Tiara seemed like the Timberwolf sort at the moment. Though thanks to the angry headache that was beginning to form, she felt more like taking her frustration out on the filly beside her regardless of how bad an idea that was.
“It’s good practice for you,” Tiara assertively walked beside her, practically prancing. She didn’t even have to look, she could hear the smug smile on her face. Her stupid, arrogant face. When Sweetie didn’t answer, Diamond Tiara leaned in a little closer and added “You know. For when your Cutie Mark proves you’re no better than a common night janitor.”
Tiara’s mirthless laugh didn’t quite echo with distant thunderclaps, but Sweetie felt that it should have.
“It’s funny,” Diamond Tiara wiped an imaginary tear away. “I mean, honestly. You, a janitor. As if you could ever amount to that.”
“What do you WANT, Diamond Tiara?” Sweetie could have sworn her teeth were beginning to crack from the sheer force of her clamping jaw.
“Oh, nothing,” she gave a little clearly false giggle. “I just wanted to warn you that you need to quit distracting me during class. I’m getting bad grades because of you, you know.”
The seriousness in her voice, the sheer stupidity of the statement was enough to make Sweetie Belle pause for a moment. Unfortunately, this was apparently exactly what Diamond Tiara was expecting.
“If you don’t stop I might have to take further action,” Diamond Tiara bobbed her head a little to the side smarmily. The same plastic little smile stuck on her face hardly seemed to move though.
“What are you talking about?” Sweetie Belle scowled, immediately wishing that she had just carried on and vainly tried to ignore her again.
“Oh, please,” Tiara rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. “Seeing you drooling and fawning all over those poor colts is disgusting. Can you not control yourself or something, or do you just masturbate in class when nopony’s looking like one of your filthy friends?”
Perhaps it had been her tone, or perhaps it had been the loaded question. Perhaps it had been because she managed to insult her best friends and herself at the same time, or perhaps Sweetie had just reached her limit. Either way, Sweetie Belle could have sworn that she heard something behind her left eye audibly pop from the sheer unadulterated rage.
“I – not – you-!” Sweetie spluttered in outrage, her face steadily growing a violent shade of red. The worst part was that she tried her hardest to fight it back, to show no sign of weakness, and that Diamond Tiara was eagerly lapping it up like nourishment.
“Oh ho, who are we kidding?” Tiara snorted. “I make it sound like you’ve never touched a stallion before. I’ll bet you do it way often. Hey!” she giggled. “That sounds like a career you could be mediocre at!”
It’s not worth the assault charges. It’s not worth the assault charges. It’s not w-
“Oh, and take some speech classes,” Diamond Tiara haughtily flicked her tail at her head as she sharply walked away, her satisfied chortle punching Sweetie Belle in the ears. “Say it, don’t spray it!”
0-0-0-0-0
The walk home was about as she expected it to be.
It was long, hot, and just the right amount of quiet that she couldn’t quite shake off the angry thoughts. The floating faces in her memory only served to make the dragon in her belly claw angrily at things that weren’t there. Getting somepony in trouble was bad enough, but sticking around after school specifically to rub it in?
Raw, concentrated evil in the body of a filly.
Stupid Diamond Tiara. With her stupid face. Why was it that she didn’t ever get detention? What made her so special?
Nothing, that’s what, Sweetie scuffled along angrily, trying to ignore the weight of her saddlebag as she trudged toward Carousel Boutique. The extra homework that she had been given was just adding insult to injury, and Diamond Tiara would surely have some smarmy quip about it in the morning. Sweetie clenched her teeth together tightly, trying to think of anything that would push the smug, arrogant visage of that awful brat out of her mind. Though what she really wanted to do was push the smug, arrogant awful brat off a cliff.
Her next thought was of Featherweight, and she almost preferred Diamond Tiara over that. Almost.
Thinking about colts was perfectly natural according to most of her elders, excluding her mother. A bit on the old fashioned side she was. And also prone to abandon her at her sister’s.
“Huh,” Sweetie Belle remarked aloud at her own rather nasty thought. “Wonder where that came from.”
She then resumed clamping her jaw shut, refusing to sound any crazier than she was by talking to herself further.
But it was Diamond Tiara’s fault, surely it must have been. The little runt was literally driving her crazy, even when she wasn’t there!
A helpless shrub alongside the cobblestone road found itself utterly at her mercy as she kicked it with all her might. Unfortunately, it did nothing to relieve her frustration, and the shrub seemed to be utterly unaffected. This only served to make the heat in her belly boil even hotter, crawling up to her chest and making her feel a little sick. She pictured Diamond Tiara’s face on the plant and kicked it again, to no avail.
And the heat. Oh, Celestia, the heat. The itch was even worse than before, and she couldn’t scratch it. Why didn’t Diamond Tiara seem to be affected by it? Had she eaten the soul of a colt or something? It seemed like the sort of thing she might do. Maybe that was why she didn’t appear to be at all bothered, like estrus was no problem at all to her. Or maybe she had a secret way to deal with it that wasn’t sitting on a horridly uncomfortable ice pack or chilled water bottle. Though the thought of Diamond Tiara struggling to cool her own-
Stop thinking about her stupid… face! Just her face!
Sweetie groaned in absolute misery as she pushed the door to her sister’s shop open, tinkling bell ignored and already feeling the dreaded extra homework pulling her to the center of the world. Fortunately, it was swiftly dumped on the floor, where it surprisingly did not break through the ground.
“Rarity, I’m home,” she called tiredly, as if the bell hanging above the door signaling her entrance wasn’t already enough. The shuffling noise emanating from the back kitchen drew her toward it, and Rarity wasn’t quite fast enough to hide the bottle she’d been attempting to conceal.
“You’re late again,” the cream colored unicorn coughed into one hoof uneasily, cheeks brightly flushed.
“You’re drinking again,” Sweetie stated unemotionally. Rarity awkwardly pushed the bottle a little further away from herself, the half empty glass before her doing little to obscure her discomfort. Rarity was very quick to recover though, which Sweetie noticed.
“Special Occasion. Detention once more, I assume? I was, er… just about to come check up on you,” Rarity tried to look very interested in a newspaper that clearly hadn’t been touched all day. She leaned back a little in her seat at the table, watching as her younger sibling joined across from her. Sweetie didn’t bother confronting the blatant falsehood from her sister.
“Yes…” Sweetie Belle blew out a long breath through her nostrils.
“Diamond Tiara?”
“Diamond Tiara,” she declared with blatant disdain.
“Again?” Rarity sighed.
“What are you drinking this time?”
“Special Occasion,” she repeated. Surprisingly, that was exactly what it claimed on the bottle.
… Huh. I’ll bet Miss Cheerilee drinks that too.
Rarity’s lips pursed as her mouth wriggled back and forth, like she was having difficulty deciding what to say.
“I just lost about six regulars,” she admitted after a while.
“At the same time?” Sweetie stared.
“Yes, at the same time. Some – oh, who am I kidding, all of whom happen to be quite wealthy in their own rights and have a number of connections. Who we happen to know.”
It seemed that Rarity was trying to imply something, but Sweetie didn’t get what it was. If this bothered the elder mare, she didn’t show it, and Sweetie was unperturbed by that.
“And… they just… don’t want to come anymore…?” Sweetie started slowly.
“No,” Rarity frowned, glaring into her glass. “It seems to be that they were strongly advised against our business – my business – on the grounds of inexistent corruption of unbelievable… gah!” she pounded the table, startling Sweetie. “Some of the rumors, it’s mad! It was that whore-de-lis, I just know it!”
“How come you think that?” Sweetie poured herself a glass of whatever her sister was having. She was silently hoping that the quietly fuming Rarity wouldn’t notice. Instead of reacting angrily or stopping her, she just magically grabbed the glass for herself.
“You’re not old enough for that,” Rarity deadpanned. Oddly, this deeply enraged Sweetie, but she was quick to hide it. “And I think it was Fancy Pant’s wife who started it, she’s had something against me ever since I patched the rip in her wedding dress instead of making her a new one with rubies,” she finished in mild disgust as she downed the drink. “I mean, honestly, rubies on a wedding dress. Just how tacky can you get?”
Sweetie braced herself for another self-pitying longwinded rant from her sister, but it didn’t come.
“Do you have any idea just how much of our income we just lost today?” Rarity muttered bitterly, swilling the remnants of her drink around in a circle.
“Hang on…” Sweetie blinked. “This was all…?”
“Just a bit before you got back, yes,” Rarity nodded unhappily. “All six frequent customers, all usually very generous. This was no coincidence, Sweetie. Somepony with good connections wants us out of the picture. This was a tactical strike, mark my words. I’ll bet it was that bum from Bits and Bobs, probably because I turned him down-”
I might have to take further action.
Might have to take further action.
Further action.
Her sister’s words were lost on her ears. Sweetie found it difficult to hear well through the sheer overwhelming rage.
Diamond Tiara.
It had to have been Diamond Tiara!
Who else could have been responsible? It seemed just like the sort of thing she would do. Sweetie could envision it now, the miniature monster whining and groveling to her ridiculously wealthy father as he reclined in a smoking jacket in front of a fireplace with the heads of shop owners decorating it like some demonic hunter. That was almost assuredly what had happened. The tiara flaunting beast wasn’t just trying to make school a living Tartarus, now she was trying to ruin her sister’s career.
Sweetie’s hooves trembled in rage, unmindful to the overly dramatic spiel Rarity was giving on the importance of proper connections. Diamond Tiara was a menace through and through. The question remained of just why she had suddenly tried to pull a stunt like this. Something so devious, so downright malicious without even needing a reason.
Then again, it was Diamond Tiara. Maybe she was just so evil that she didn’t need a reason.
That thought alone nearly made her start frothing at the mouth.
“I need to cool off,” Sweetie interrupted, sliding promptly out of the seat. “I’ll be back later.”
“Don’t you have homework?” Rarity called after her. She didn’t make much of an effort to stop her though. She needed to meet with the others. She needed to think.
“No,” she lied without turning back. “I’m just taking a walk. I have something I need to… take care of.”
0-0-0-0-0
“But do you know where she went to?”
“I dunno,” Apple Bloom shrugged, enjoying what little breeze through the nearly empty playground there was as she gradually swung back and forth on the swing set. A dying and weak breeze, but a breeze nonetheless was still welcome. “I think Silver Spoon did something last Friday. I haven’t seen her. How come you’re so interested in her all of a sudden?”
“You realize that Tiara and that little sh- uh, booger got us framed for stealing out of Miss Cheerilee’s desk, right?” Scootaloo scowled, the memory of her punishment still fresh in her mind.
“Yes, I know,” Sweetie Belle paced back and forth in agitation. “I remember. I just wanted to know why she’s gone all of a sudden.”
Scootaloo kicked back on the wooden post she sat against, giving the unicorn a bizarre look. To be fair, Sweetie’s sudden interest in Diamond Tiara’s missing crony did seem a bit odd.
“Who cares?” she shrugged. “So long as she’s not our problem. Now if we could just get rid of Tiara…”
“Scoots,” Apple Bloom frowned dangerously. She tapped the bow atop her head out of habit, trying to keep it in place. “That’ ain’t nice.”
“Neither is Diamond Tiara,” Sweetie scowled, dropping into the empty swing set seat next to the farm pony. “Miss Cheerilee gave us both extra homework and detention.”
“Again?” Apple Bloom sighed in exasperation.
“And I think she might be trying to put Rarity out of business,” Sweetie Belle seethed. Scootaloo gave her a curious look, but she only shook her head. “My sister just lost a bunch of customers; like, important ones. I think Diamond Tiara might be behind it.”
“She what?!” Apple Bloom gaped.
“That’s sounds just like something she’d do! It’s Diamond Tiara’s fault!” Scootaloo kicked at a pebble with all her might, utterly incapable of sending her fury with it as the rock was cast away. “She was snoozin’, too, and she gets off scot-free… she can get away with just about anything just ‘cause her dad’s rich!”
“I’m sure that’s not the only reason,” Sweetie Belle rubbed her chin thoughtfully with the flat of her hoof. Her boiling anger hadn’t quite dissipated, but it wasn’t nearly as consuming as it had been. Perhaps the pleasant little breeze was better than she thought. “I think everypony’s just given up by this point.”
Apple Bloom seemed slightly confused, but Scootaloo nodded seriously.
“You know, I think you’re right…” the pegasus furrowed her brows slowly.
“What’cha mean?”
“I mean,” Sweetie huffed. “I mean… you know, nopony wants to deal with her anymore because it always leads to her being a bigger brat.”
“You think Miss Cheerilee’s deliberately not giving her detention?” Apple Bloom gawked in disbelief. “That’s a bit of a stretch there, ain’t it?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it at all,” Scootaloo scowled. A single vein above her eye began to throb visibly. “Seeing as how she’d probably go straight to her daddy and whine ‘til she has the whole schoolhouse shut down, I wouldn’t want to put up with her crap either. Remember that time last year when she did the same thing ‘cause she didn’t get to be the ‘star’ in the school recital?”
Sweetie remembered clearly the multitude of terrible songs about dental hygiene. She did not do so fondly.
They stewed in their own silence for a while. A couple of amicably chatting colts meandered into the far end of the playground, and Sweetie swiftly averted her gaze. Now was neither the time or place.
“… It just makes me so darn angry!” Scootaloo kicked viciously at a patch of dirt, sending it flying. Sweetie closed her eyes as she sighed sympathetically. “It’s not fair, it’s not! I just wanna punch her fat stupid face in!”
“I know,” Apple Bloom nodded sullenly, paying far more attention to the oblivious colts. “It’s not like we can do much about it though. Nopony cares what Diamond Tiara gets away with.”
And then it clicked.
Just as before, it fell into place. So swiftly, so perfectly that she wished that she had thought of it before. Something so obvious, yet so brilliant. Silver Spoon had been gone and hardly anypony cared.
“… I have an idea,” Sweetie Belle began slowly, a dangerous gleam shining in her eye.
“Let me guess,” Scootaloo began furiously. “It’s punch Diamond Tiara until she stops being a little c-“
“Let’s meet up later!” Sweetie cut her off, earning equally baffled looks from the both of them.
“What-?”
“We can’t talk about it here,” she lowered her voice. “Private. Let’s meet up at the clubhouse. Ten minutes. I’ll tell you there.”
Although confused, they both nodded in understanding. Sweetie broke away without another word, her mind abuzz with excitement and ideas. If they managed to pull this off… No, when they pulled it off, it would likely be the greatest accomplishment of their young lives. They might even finally get Cutie Marks from the effort; yet strangely, Sweetie Belle cared a little more about her plan than that. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
A chance for retribution.
And by Celestia, she would have it.
0-0-0-0-0
It feels like a storm is coming.
Sweetie Belle watched the clear blue horizon through the window, a couple of puffy white clouds drifting lazily away. It looked absolutely nothing like a rainstorm was on the way. And yet, that was still how she felt. The slight prickle of electricity in the air that made her mane stand a little on end just before a huge storm, the slowly building excitement of watching an enormous bolt of pure plasma ripping through the sky, the raw, unmatched power of natural energy. It excited her in a way like no other, far outmatching the ‘thrilling’ enjoyment of helping her elder sister complete a project in record time. She could feel it in the air. She could feel it in her horn. She could feel it in her teats.
She liked the feeling quite a lot.
“That is literally the most insane thing I have ever heard,” Apple Bloom still hadn’t managed to blink. She had tried, but there was a small part of her that still thought she’d wake out of her dream if she did, and she must have been dreaming. Most likely.
“Foalnap Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo repeated for the third time, her jaw hanging a little bit. “Sweets, that’s… wow. That’s just… wow.”
“I know, right?” Sweetie Belle answered eagerly. “What do you think?”
“That’s…” Apple Bloom started, clamping her jaw shut. Scootaloo, however, merely continued to pace at an irregular speed. “I mean… foalnapping?”
“I don’t know…” Scootaloo said at last. “It seems kind of… extreme.”
“That’s just it,” Sweetie turned to face them both. “It’s just what we need! Diamond Tiara isn’t going to quit being Diamond Tiara unless somepony makes her. Do you think anypony is ever going to do that unless we do it?”
The silence that she was greeted with was an uneasy one.
“Think about it,” Sweetie Belle pressed on cautiously. “If we manage to do this, we can tame the shrew. Nopony else is ever going to bother. Ever. We are the only ones that can stop her before she gets completely out of hoof. My sister might lose her business because of her. She has to be stopped!”
“She is kinda right…” Scootaloo nodded, deep in thought.
“You ain’t – you aren’t actually considering going along with it, are ya?” Apple Bloom scrutinized the pegasus.
“Do you have a better plan?” Sweetie said.
“Well…” Apple Bloom shrugged awkwardly. “I mean, we could just, y’know… embarrass her real bad or sommat.”
“And how would that stop her for good?” Scootaloo pried, whom Sweetie Belle was proud to see seemed to be taking her side at last. “Sure, it might get her for a little bit, but I’m willing to bet my last bit that she’d be right back as bad as ever.”
“If not worse,” Sweetie nodded.
“You know she’d try to get revenge,” Scootaloo added thoughtfully. “Heck, she’d probably still do it even if she didn’t know it was us.”
Apple Bloom fell silent from that, frowning.
“It’s not enough to just embarrass her…” Sweetie Belle rolled her hoof through the air, meeting her friend’s eyes. “We’ve got to humiliate her. We’ve gotta knock her off her high horse so hard that she can’t get back up on it, so she’ll never try to mess with us ever again.”
Sweetie could see the uncertainty in her eyes, and that was perhaps more troubling than an outright refusal. She didn’t need her going soft and messing up her plans halfway through, she needed her friends to be in it wholeheartedly. Sweetie Belle looked to Scootaloo for help, but the pegasus seemed to be preoccupied in her own thoughts.
“And with Silver Spoon out of the way, she walks home by herself ‘cause nopony else can put up with her. No witnesses. This could be our only chance we ever get. And besides that – who even knows whose family she might try to go after next…” Sweetie Belle coaxed her further toward anger.
“Not mine,” Scootaloo scoffed, but was seemingly unheard. The mention of her family seemed to touch a nerve with Apple Bloom, and her brows furrowed downward in a sharp slant.
“She’s got the connections, too,” Sweetie struck while the iron was hot. “Who knows what she might do if we let her go unchecked.”
“I think… you might be right…” Apple Bloom stated at last, and Sweetie almost whooped with relief.
“Darn skippy,” she nodded seriously. “She’s downright evil is what she is. She deserves anything and everything that happens to her.”
“What do we even do though?” Apple Bloom started to shy away again.
“Just what you said,” Sweetie confirmed. “We humiliate her so bad that she can’t even think about trying to hurt anypony else.”
“And we could kick her whenever we want,” Scootaloo rubbed her hooves together gleefully. “It’d serve her right.”
Apple Bloom looked back and forth between her two friends, her very best friends.
She could see the same hurt in their eyes that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had so often brought to her, to countless other colts and fillies that she bullied every day. Their possibly only chance at making Diamond Tiara get a taste of her own medicine, their only opportunity for reciprocation. To put her down before she went after anypony else’s lives, before she tried to destroy any more families.
“Let’s fucking ruin that bitch,” Apple Bloom cast her hoof forward firmly. “I’m in.”
“Me too,” Scootaloo laid her hoof atop her friend’s. “Let’s do it.”
“Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Sweetie Belle warmly joined hooves with them, determination in her eyes. “Better start calling us the demolition crew, ‘cause we are gonna wreck Diamond Tiara.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stared hard at her for a long moment. The farm pony sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“… What?” Sweetie frowned.
“You went and killed it,” Scootaloo rubbed her forehead.
“I thought it was good!” Sweetie Belle shot back defensively.
“Sweetie Belle, you’re my bud and all,” Apple Bloom sighed again. “But as far as memorable one liners go, you are just terrible.”
“Oh, shut up already,” Sweetie grinned wryly and pushed away the snickering pegasus. “Prep time, gals. Here’s the plan…”
0-0-0-0-0
Author's Note
I'm actually not too sure whether or not I should publish the rest of this.
I am, however, open to (and often susceptible to) suggestions and always welcome feedback, and please let me know if there are any glaring grammatical issues.
