“Remember, Scoots, we gotta be firm but calm when we confront Sweetie Belle. She ain’t never been too strong when it comes to this stuff.” Apple Bloom was probably telling herself that to steel her own nerves just as much as she was telling her pegasus friend. Scootaloo only nodded tersely in reply. The two fillies waited just inside the doorway of the schoolhouse for their friend and fellow Crusader—if they could even call her that anymore—to arrive. As if harkening what was about to come, the sky darkened as the storm scheduled for that day was making its way toward the school.

A few minutes later, Sweetie Belle walked in, blissfully unaware of what her friends had learned about her. She smiled at them and went to set her bags down. When she returned, Apple Bloom rushed her and pinned her neck against the wall.

“You gosh darn TRAITOR!” Apple Bloom yelled. The buzzing classroom fell silent. Sweetie Belle choked,

“A-Apple Bloom, wh-what are you—” Apple Bloom lightened her hold, only to slam her right back onto the wall. A poster fell.

“Y’all know exactly what you did! I can’t believe you! I can’t believe you’d do that to us!” Apple Bloom’s voice began wavering and her eyes welled up with tears. Stark realization struck Sweetie Belle. She couldn’t believe it. She had completely forgotten about the day at the lake she promised her best friends. If that weren’t enough, she and Diamond Tiara had been found out. Sweetie didn’t have time to think or ask how or why before her girlfriend scampered in, barely escaping the first drops of rain.

Diamond Tiara surveyed the scene. It only took a second for her to piece together what was happening.

“Don’t hurt her,” Diamond breathed. Her expression was one of regret and concern. Apple Bloom read this and snapped out of her rage, releasing Sweetie Belle and kicking her hoof in disgust at the ground.

“’M sorry, Sweetie,” she mumbled, not entirely sure if she meant it or not.

“You betrayed our trust,” Scootaloo spoke up, looking between Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara, “Both of you did.” Scootaloo went over to Sweetie Belle, who was still slumped against the wall.

“It’s one thing to give her a chance. It’s a whole other thing to go behind our backs and just… just…”

“Just what?” Sweetie Belle heaved, “Just be her friend? Like for real? It’s a whole other thing to treat her with respect and see that she’s a good pony no matter what she’s done to us? It’s a whole other thing to go out with her? Just what, Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo shut her eyes tight and reared to rub her forehooves in her mane in frustration. “Grah! I don’t know! It just makes me so mad I want to scream!”

“Then scream,” Diamond Tiara said. Thunder rumbled overhead, enough to make the windows rattle slightly. “Scream at me because I wanted Sweetie Belle to make me feel special. I said I liked her and I meant it—”

“Then why didn’t you tell us you were dating? Don’t you think that might have gotten the message across?” Scootaloo threw a hoof in the air.

“It was because of how you were treating me! It felt like you were training me to be your friend—like I wasn’t worthy of even being called a decent pony without the almighty Cutie Mark Crusaders’ approval! Sweetie was the only one of you to even let me be the pony I wanted to be.” Scootaloo’s visage softened, but her scowl returned just a few seconds later.

“You don’t know what it was like to be targeted by you. My wings, Apple Bloom’s family—you can’t just attack that and expect us to forgive you when you ask for it.”

“I wanted Sweetie Belle to have everything, including you. That’s the other reason why we decided to wait.”

“Oh, is that why you kept buying her things? You think Sweetie Belle can just be bought if you throw enough bits at her? Do you think anypony can? That’s not how love works, Diamond Tiara!”

“And how would you know?” Diamond snapped back. The rain outside intensified, accentuating the silence between the ponies. Diamond Tiara knew exactly what she could say next. She knew exactly what would send the pegasus over the edge. It was a weapon she never got the chance to use as a bully. It was a knife that Scootaloo always had pointed at her own heart.

“Don’t you dare say it,” Scootaloo shook her head slowly and warned her. She had been down this road one too many times.

“No one ever loved you.”

Scootaloo’s right-front hoof connected with Diamond Tiara’s chin, lifted her off the ground and sent her sprawling onto her back. Some foals in the classroom gasped in surprise. Diamond Tiara slowly lifted herself up. Her mouth was bleeding. Pure fury filled her eyes. She charged at Scootaloo with a scream, and the brawl was on.

Diamond tore into Scootaloo, swinging wildly at her face and landing several hits. Scootaloo caught a break and headbutted Diamond in the side, knocking her over and allowing Scootaloo to position herself over the earth pony. Scootaloo’s forehooves punched Diamond’s face back and forth until Diamond bucked with her rear hooves into Scootaloo’s abdomen, knocking the wind out of her. When Scootaloo recovered, she screamed again and grappled Diamond, putting the two in a tight wrestling match. Diamond bit Scootaloo’s flank. Scootaloo growled through the pain and jabbed Diamond’s face repeatedly with her elbow.

Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and even Silver Spoon pleaded for the fillies to stop, but their ears were full of blood and rage, and would hear none of it. They continued to battle until several desks were turned over, a shelf was broken, and their classmates were thoroughly terrified of their savagery. Then, the only thing that could have stopped them at that point walked in, bearing a face none of the schoolponies had ever seen before—and never wanted to see again.

Using her earth pony strength, Cheerilee broke Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara’s hold on each other and sat them down hard. The fillies’ animosity turned to abject fear as they saw their teacher looming over them.

“Children, there will be no class today. Take an umbrella and get home safely.” Cheerilee’s voice was flat. It was the sort of flat that only the deepest of anger hid behind. It was the sort of flat that none of her students questioned. The foals were gone in a moment. Even Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Silver Spoon only dared a single look back before they hastily took their leave. It felt as if even the smiles on the flowers of Cheerilee’s cutie mark could not show themselves.

Cheerilee turned her back to Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo. She sighed at the chalkboard.

“I had hoped you would mend your wounds before you opened them even further,” she said, “You’ve always been so good at solving problems with others using friendship. This, though… To say I’m very disappointed in you is an understatement.” Outside, thunder rumbled. The battered and bruised fillies said nothing. They only looked at the floor in shame.

“I certainly hope you’ve got all of that out of you, because if you’re worried about how Filthy Rich and Rainbow Dash will react now, just imagine how they might punish you if you ever fought like that a second time.”

Tears welled up in Diamond Tiara’s eyes. They stung against her cuts. Scootaloo wasn’t faring much better.

“Scootaloo, I…” Diamond began, but she was cut off by a small stamp of the pegasus’ hoof.

“I hate you,” Scootaloo hissed. Cheerilee turned around.

“Neither of you will return to school until this entire situation is sorted out. Scootaloo, you may pass that on to the other Crusaders. Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon should count herself lucky she was not as involved as she could be, but you owe her an apology.” Cheerilee took a deep breath.
“It is entirely unfair to the other ponies to have your personal squabbles undermine the safety and peace of mind of the schoolhouse. Once this is all over, it will not happen again. Do I make myself perfectly clear?” Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara nodded. “I will stay here and repair the classroom. Go home.”

Author's Note

I've had this chapter written for months. In fact, I had it done before I even wrote the first chapter of the fic. Something had to lead up to it, though.