Marks of Sorrow

Bloom's hoof brought the hammer down onto the podium with a resounding crack, stilling the idle conversation of her friends. It was a rusty old metal thing her sister had wanted to throw out, not a wooden gavel like a proper president of a club would use. Still, it served its purpose, and Bloom brought it down two or three more times just to make her point. She cleared her throat while silence fell over the CMC clubhouse, her gaze sweeping over the two other members.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat back on their haunches surrounded by juice boxes and snack wrappers scattered about the plank floor. Despite the soon to be sticky floor, they'd been careful to keep the mess clear of the blue and gold Crusader capes that served as the uniform during formal club meetings. The fancy fabric shimmered beautifully, but it was also real hard to clean and they didn't want to get another scolding from Rarity if they needed a replacement.

Once Apple Bloom was sure the other two were waiting attentively she kicked things off "Ah hereby call this meetin ta order. Crusaders Ponyville Chapter 1, will the secr'tary read minutes from last meetin?"

Sweetie Belle smiled primly as she levitated several note cards up, only to have Scootaloo shove them back down to the floor impatiently. "Forget the minutes! Let's get to whether or not we're getting a new member!"

Sweetie's crestfallen look got a sympathetic nod, but it seemed wiser to press on than tempt the further frustration of an energetic pegasus.

"First on the schedule, the matter of Silver Slice's prospective application to the club. Floors open to arguments for and aginst, girls." Scootaloo's hoof shot into the air, practically vibrating with restrained emotion. Bloom rolled her eyes with a good natured grin "Scoots?"

"Did you see him at the schoolyard? He was like 'shoom' and then the other guy was like 'aaah!' before 'wham'. After a..." the outpouring of language left Bloom struggling to keep up. Every couple words were punctuated with a jab or a leap, as if to illustrate emotion that could not be properly conveyed in mere language. Scootaloo paused, and took a brief inhale to get herself under control, "That colt knows how to kick some serious flank." she concluded with a nod.

By the look on the unicorn's face, Apple Bloom could tell her friend had something to say, though she seemed like it'd need a poke to come out. "Sweetie Belle? Whatchu think?"

"Well." it wasn't normal for Sweetie to hesitate like this, "That's kind of the problem. I heard Snails had to go to the hospital for a cracked horn." She brought a hoof to her own horn and grimaced in sympathy. "What if he gets angry like that again, only at us?"

"Come on! Those colts picked a fight with him!"

"A fight he could have avoided!"

The fillys locked eyes and glared at each other, neither giving an inch as the argument escalated. Bloom hung back to see if anything pertinent might come of it, but was disappointed as the minutes wore on and the argument devolved into a wrestling match.

Time to play peacemaker, it seemed. Apple Bloom's voice had a stern edge to it, borrowed from her sister's most disappointed lectures. She jammed it into a single exasperated word. "Gals."

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle froze, each having grabbed a hoofful of the others cheek in the fracas. Toothy, distorted faces slowly turned to regard Bloom, who struggled to maintain her frown of disapproval while staring at the silly sight. Finally Scoots and Belle broke contact, and each had the grace to look shamefaced. A mumbled apology later and order was restored enough that they could proceed.

Bloom ran a hoof under her muzzle, "Ah can see yer point, Sweetie, but I got the feelin that Slice was holdin back, and he did give those two a chance to back off. He don't seem the type to start buckin at the drop of a hat."

"That's not the only thing about him that's worrying!"

Scootaloo gave a noncommital grunt, but Bloom just raised an eyebrow, waiting for her friend to continue.

Sweetie wore a pinched look, as though the words she was about to speak pained her. "My sister's always saying that a pony is judged not only by her own actions, but also by the company they keep. Regardless of the why," there was a hint of heat to her words, "that fight has gotten him on the whole school's bad side! Especially Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who are just going to keep making it worse for him. And us! I don't think our reputations can survive having him in the Crusaders!"

"Anyone who annoys those two can't be all bad, right?" Scootaloo pointed out. "He only got on their nerves the first time by sticking up for us, remember?"

Bloom shook her head "Ah don't expect those two ta stop pesterin us whether we make friends with Slice or not. If anything, dealing with him is the first time I've seen em on the back hoof. Could be useful ta have around..."

"Don't forget how strange he acted after he 'stuck up' for us... I just wish we knew more about him." The unicorn seemed on the verge of relenting, but something held her back.

Apple Bloom knew she just needed some time to get used to the idea. "Maybe we could keep him under observation? Make a Crusade out of it?" All eyes were drawn to the big board which dominated one wall of the club house. Scrawled on its surface were ideas for their next attempt at getting their cutie mark, some crossed out and others underlined.

Sweetie's soft green eyes twinkled. "Ooh, like a Private Eye?" The thought seemed to catch her imagination. Little did her friends (or her sister) know that she'd been secretly reading the Shadow Spade novels Rarity kept in her room for years and had always wanted to try being a detective.

"Yeah, that sounds cool!" Scootaloo was on board. "We can take turns keeping an eye on him, and report whenever he does something suspicious, awesome, or suspiciously awesome!"

Apple Bloom ambled up to the board and grabbed a piece of chalk, rapidly scrawling a new entry. "Alright, gals, sounds like we got a plan. Operation Silver Slice Stakeout is a go!"

And so it began.