"C'mon, Babs, it ain't gonna be that bad..."
"You don't know that, Sunflowah! Why couldn't I o' just stayed in Ponyville? I coulda gone ta school with Apple Bloom an' her friends..."
"Oh, horsefeathers. Now come on, you're gonna be late."
Babs sighed and followed her big sister down the noisy street reluctantly, a brown knapsack on her back tilted to inconspicuously cover her plain golden flank. This was her first day back to Manehattan Elementary since spending a week with her cousin in Ponyville. It had been a wild week, but by the end of it she and Apple Bloom had become friends -- she had even been invited to join a special club. By the end, however, she had to go back home to Manehattan to face the problems she'd been running away from in the first place.
She couldn't help but cringe, thinking about how she had bullied Apple Bloom and her friends that week just to fit in. Now that she was back, she would have to face her own bullies. Those fillies and colts never let her forget that she was one on the only foals in the entire school without a cutie mark. As they approached the large brick building, the front yard crowded with schoolponies, Babs considered faking a heart attack, or maybe an aneurysm. If she thought about something gross enough, could she make herself throw up?
"I had Mom talk to yer teachers after cousin AJ told me you were having trouble," Sunflower said, nudging her little sister forward. "They'll make sure the kids don't give ya a hard time, okay? Now go get 'em!" Before Babs could protest, she was trotting off.
Babs looked around wildly for a place to hide, but it was too late. Flipsy Flop, a fat grey colt with a wrinkled-up face, reared back on his hind legs and pointed a grubby hoof right at her. "Look, everypony! It's Babs! She came back!"
The chatter started instantly. "Hey, Blank Seed, guess you couldn't hide for long!" "Did you go looking for a cutie mark, you big dummy?" "Babs Seed, Babs Seed, whatcha gonna do? Got no markings near your tail, better hide, ya better bail!"
Fighting back tears, Babs yelled out "Hey! Y-you betta cut it out, or imma tell the teachas about th-this!" Her words, however, were drowned out, and the distressed filly raced through the crowd to get into the school building. It had been different before... the two prissy ponies against her, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Here she was outnumbered a hundred to one. The song they had been singing was still being hollered from outside, and it seemed almost to chase her as she ran.
"Babs Seed, Babs Seed, whatcha gonna do?
Got no markings on yer tail, better hide, ya better bail!
Babs Seed, Babs Seed, you know that it's true
Gotta run, you gotta flee
Without a mark you're nobody!
Babs Seed, Babs Seed, you're just a bad, bad seed!"
Finally she found an empty hallway. The school was quite massive, so it wasn't very surprising to see a hallway deserted, especially before classes started. She curled up near the locker, resting her head on her knapsack, and started to cry.
When Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the two prissy fillies from Ponyville, started to give her a hard time, she threatened to tell their mothers about their bad attitudes. That had been enough to stop them, but these ponies were different. They were tough, and didn't care about little threats like that. Ol' Flipsy Flop spent three days a week in detention anyway, what would he care if she told a teacher he was calling her names?
She started shuffling through her knapsack, looking for a hoofkerchief to wipe her nose on. Class would start soon, and she didn't want the other ponies to know she'd been crying. When she thought she'd found it, she pulled -- but instead, out came the beautifully sewn maroon cape her cousin had given her. On it was the emblem of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, her cousin's special club. It was for ponies like them, who had no cutie mark, and it was a way to band together against the bullies.
"Except here, it's only me and this dumb cape..." Babs muttered to herself. She dabbed her eyes with it and stuffed it back into her pack. Lifting herself to her hooves, she gave a great sigh and prepared to walk to class.
"Blank flanks, blank flanks!!!" came a shrill voice from nearby. Babs whirled around, but there was nopony in sight. It seemed the call wasn't directed at her. "Blank flanks, look how silly you look! Why don't you just leave school, like the other one did? You don't belong here!!!"
Babs gasped. Nopony had ever said anything that blunt to her before. She raced towards the voice, and turned a corner to see three tall fillies cornering two foals against a row of lockers. The one doing the insulting was a pastel unicorn with a curled mane and an even more curled lip. She stepped toward the foals -- a gray pegasus colt draped protectively over a very short pink unicorn filly, who was sobbing uncontrollably -- and said with an incredibly nasty sneer "You stupid blank little crybabies! Babies like you should go back to a nursery! At least then your butts will fit in, and you can wear a diaper to cover them anyway! It'd be less embarrassing, if you ask me!"
"Good one!" the fillies behind her snickered in typical yes-pony fashion.
Babs had heard enough. Gathering her strength and all the bravery she could muster, she cantered forward. "How dare ya!!!" she hollered, taking the unicorn filly off guard.
"Oh, ew, you're back..." the filly sneered. "I thought you were gone for good."
"Well, I'm not. I'm back to stand up ta the like o' youse!" Babs huffed. "Who do you think you are, anyway? Bein' so cruel ta these two!!!"
The filly tossed her mane back haughtily. "Not surprising that a peasant pony like you hasn't heard of me, but I'm Shimmering Crystal, of the Crystal Construction Company. My family built this school, so I basically own it. That means I can do whatever I want, and that includes convincing these blank flanks to leave!"
"You got a problem with blank flanks, do ya?" Babs snarled. She took a step forward, coming in between Shimmering Crystal and the two foals. "Then in that case, you got a problem with ME."
Shimmering Crystal rolled her eyes. "Oh no, the big scawwy bwank fwank is twying to intimiditate me! I'm so scared!" She gave a wry laugh. "I've seen ponies half your size make you cry, you big fat baby!"
"Yeah!" the fillies behind her chanted in unison. "Big fat baby!"
Babs steadied herself and stood as tall as she could, taking deep breaths to keep herself calm. "Oh yeah? Well, guess what? I ain't cryin' no more, and you're STILL half my size!"
She could see Crystal getting nervous, which gave her a boost of confidence. "You ponies always hafta put us blank flanks down, and for what? Do you really think yer betta than us, or is it maybe that yer just jealous? After all, I can be whatever I wanna be, whereas you're stuck with... whatever that is." She gestured with her hoof to Shimmering Crystal's cutie mark, which appeared to be a cup with white rocks in it.
"Wh-- th-that's from when we grew crystals in Science class last year!" Shimmering Crystal stammered, obviously flustered. "I was the best at it! It's a good mark, and a good talent!"
"Oh sure, you can grow rocks in a beaker!" Babs scoffed. "I'm sure that's waaaay better than having a world full of opportunity like we do!"
"Y-yeah!" the colt behind Babs suddenly piped up. "I could be a surgeon, or an astronaut, or a member of the Wonderbolts!"
"I..." the sniffling unicorn filly muttered. "I could be a... a florist or a teacher if I wanted..."
"You see?" Babs said with a smile, happy for the backup. "You ponies are jealous of us. And you know what? You can deny that all ya want. Call us names, joke about us, do whatevah... but you ponies can't shake us anymore, and that's that!!!"
Shimmering Crystal looked at Babs, then at the ponies behind her, who were now standing up with their chests puffed out bravely. Before she could say a word, a loud ringing erupted all around them. It was the school bell; class was starting.
"Th-this isn't over!" She stammered. "Come on, girls, let's get to class and leave these... these losers alone for now!!!
"Y....yeah..." the two echoed, following behind her slowly as she left.
Babs took a second to catch her breath. She felt exhilerated, and happier than she had ever felt before. She had stood up to a bully, really stood up for herself, and these two foals as well. She turned around to introduce herself, but the colt spoke first.
"Thank you," he said with a smile. "Nopony had ever stood up to Shimmering Crystal before." The filly beside him nodded, wiping her eyes.
"Ahh, it was no problem," Babs shrugged off the compliment. "Us blank flanks, we gotta stick together, huh?"
The colt nodded with a giggle. "I'm Comet Tail, and this is my best friend Heartsy."
"Babs," Babs said, sticking out her hoof. "Babs Seed." She shook Comet's hoof, and then Heartsy's, before reaching into her knapsack again. "Hey, Heartsy, you don't wanna go to class all sniffly like that. Lemme find my hoofkerchief, okay?" She dug around before pulling out a cloth -- but instead of her hoofkerchief, she again found herself clutching her maroon Cutie Mark Crusader cape.
Comet gasped. "Wow, what's that?"
"It's beautiful," Heartsy breathed.
Babs smiled. "This is my cape for a special club I'm in... it's called the Cutie Mark Crusadahs. We go around tryin' out different things, like sky divin', lion tamin' an' synchronized swimmin', searchin' for our special talent so we can get a cutie mark." She suddenly remembered how Apple Bloom had asked her to extend the Crusaders and make a Manehattan branch, and smiled even wider. "Comet Tail, Heartsy... you want in?"
"Oh boy, do we!!!" Comet crowed, and Heartsy squealed with delight. "A club to help us get our cutie marks... that sounds amazing!"
"I'll get my cousin Apple Bloom to mail us some more capes, and maybe a banner or somethin'," Babs nodded as the three started to walk together. "She's the founder, an' she an' her friends in Ponyville have a clubhouse where they meet."
"A clubhouse!" Heartsy beamed. "We should get a clubhouse!"
The three ponies talked and laughed all the way to their respective classes, feeling more confident than any of them had ever felt before. A few passersby tried to sneer at them, but were studiously ignored. The three friends heard nothing but one another, and all three knew they wouldn't have to face the day alone ever again.
THE END
