The CMC had a reputation for selflessly helping others if they needed help. Lost homework, dropping grades, stuff like that. Of course, Diamond Tiara never had any problems like that, so the most contact she had with them was due to another subject the CMC liked to help other students with. Bullying.
Every few weeks, another student came to the CMC because of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Then the CMC would talk to them, they would have an argument, and in the end, Diamond and Silver would back down and look for another victim.
So when Applebloom saw Diamond walk towards her after school, she didn’t know what she expected. Some insults, maybe, or an icy glare while passing each other. What she certainly didn’t expect was, “I need your help.”
So she just stared at Diamond Tiara. Arms crossed, she tried to avoid looking Applebloom in the eyes. She looked around, apparently making sure that no other student was nearby. Why should anyone be there, though? School was over already. The only reason Applebloom was still there was that she had to work on a project for woodworking class. Even Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had already left for the CMC clubhouse. And Applebloom had seen Diamond leave the building already. Why was she here now?
“What did you say?” she asked.
“I said that I—” Diamond Tiara’s voice broke off, and she took a few deep breaths, “—I said that I need the CMC’s help. With a… a bully.”
Appleboom needed a moment to process that. Tiara still avoided looking her in the eyes. Then shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and looked at the hallways around them. She even went so far as to turn around to check that nobody was there. She was clearly nervous. And considering with what confidence Diamond Tiara was capable of telling lies—she learned that the hard way—Applebloom knew that she was serious. Oh, how the stables have turned, Applebloom thought. “Well, you gotta tell me more if you want me to help you. Who is it?” I wanna shake their hand… what, no. It’s still wrong to bully her… but maybe she will stop after having some of her own medicine.
Diamond opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated again. “Could I… could I perhaps whisper it to you?” she asked so meekly that she gave Fluttershy a run for her money.
“If this is a trick,” Applebloom said, raising her open hand in front of her, “I’ll punch you.”
“It’s not a trick! Now, could you come here… please.”
Applebloom sighed, came a step closer to Diamond and leaned forward. A bit. Diamond placed herself so she could whisper directly into Applebloom’s left ear and told her who the bully was.
Applebloom’s eyes widened. She took a step back. Diamond just stood there, hunched, looking to the ground, tears collecting in her eyes. “You aren’t kidding, are you?”
“No,” Diamond said without any of the usual pride in her voice.
“I’ll help you with all I can, and I’m sure the other two will, too.”
“Thank you,” Diamond murmured.
“That’s what the CMC’s about,” she said sympathetically, “I just have to finish something in the workshop, then we can go meet the others.”
“I… I had hoped we could leave right away. I don’t want to talk about it where someone could hear us.” Diamnod said in her usual, entitled way.
“We could have,” Applebloom responded, “But it has to be finished today and because of someone, I didn’t have the time for it yet.”
Diamond got the hint and apologized. They both went to the workshop. True to her word, Diamond didn’t say anything about her bully, just sitting in a chair at the edge ‘so her clothes won’t get dirty by the saw dust’ while Applebloom was working on her project, a little wooden dragon figure. They tried to engage in smalltalk, but they didn’t really have a lot to talk about. After a while, Diamond started to wander around, stopping in front of the workstations with the heavier machines. And she asked questions.
“What’s that?”
“A circular saw.”
“What’s it for?”
“It saws things.”
Applebloom heard a few steps.
“And these things?”
“Drill bits.”
“Why do you need more than one?”
“For different sizes and materials.” How can’t she know that? And why bother asking? She doesn’t sound interested anyway.
Whatever her reasons, Diamond continued. After she questioned Applebloom about half of the tools in the room, costing her time with every question, Applebloom said, “Look, you don’t need to ask about stuff we both know you don’t care about. Just let me finish this and--- where’s my sandpaper?” She didn’t ask Diamond, just thought out loud. Applebloom was sure she had took it with her to her table. She looked around, but couldn’t find it. She must have forgotten it.
“That stuff here?” Diamond Tiara asked, suddenly standing beside her, holding a piece of it.
“Yeah, that's it. Thanks.” Applebloom took it and continued to work. She noticed that Diamond was still standing there, curiously watching the piece of wood.
“Are you polishing it? The paper seems a little bit too rough for that,” Diamond asked curiously.
“It’s not really polishing, it’s to make it smoother. You can get splinters if you don’t do it. And paint won’t hold as good.”
“Can I…” Diamond reached out to the statue, and Applebloom reluctantly gave it to her, after telling her to not drop it. Diamond looked as if she was holding an egg while she let her hand run across it. “It’s really impressive how much difference it makes,” She said while handing it back.
“You are interested in this kinda stuff, aren’t you?”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen it up close. Of course it’s interesting to me. Not that that would matter, my parents wouldn’t allow me to take woodworking, anyway.”
“Why not?”
“‘It’s no proper thing to do for a lady of class.’” Diamond said in the most mocking voice she could muster.
“But why not? It’s honest work.”
Diamond sighed. “I think that’s exactly the problem.”
After Applebloom dropped the statue off at the office and got the confirmation that she was still on time, they left the school and started walking to the Orchard. Diamond Tiara was not delighted about having to walk there, but for a lack of alternatives had to agree. Applebloom took her phone out to text the others.
AB: I’m on my way
Sweets: were wondering when it would be done
Scoots: What took you so long?
AB: New client, bringing her along. Can you start the fire?
Scoots: Complicated one?
Sweets: Who is it?
AB: Yes
Applebloom looked at Diamond walking beside her for a moment.
AB: You wouldn’t believe me anyway.
A little bit over half an hour later, they arrived at Applebloom’s home, where they left their backpacks. Applejack was surprised to see Diamond Tiara, but didn’t press Applebloom about it after she told her older sister that it was about the CMC.
Applebloom offered Diamond a pair of her old rubber boots.
“And why would I need them?” Diamond asked with a scoff.
“The clubhouse is on the orchard,” Applebloom said matter-of-factly, “That means there's dirt and high grass on the way. You can either ruin your oh so expensive shoes, go barefoot or—” She held a pair of green boots in front of Diamond “—wear the rubber boots.”
Tiara looked at them for a moment before reluctantly grabbing them. She noticed Applebloom looking at her with a raised eyebrow and added, “Thanks.”
A few minutes later, they could see the CMC clubhouse, a small shack on the edge of the western, abandoned part of the orchard. Smoke came out of a window in the roof.
Applebloom stopped, turned to Diamond and said, “You have to promise me to not tell anyone else about what you see in there, ok? It’s only fair considering we won’t tell anyone anything about what you tell us, either.”
A little bit nervous, Diamond promised.
Applebloom entered the shack first. Shelves packed with jars and bowls containing all sorts of herbs and salts lined the walls. Flasks hung from the ceiling on strings, high enough to not be in the way but low enough to grab. A table stood in a corner, a bronze sickle, knife, mortar and pestle on them, as well as a leather bound tome. A copper cauldron with a red rune on the front, filled with simmering water, was hanging from a chain connected to a rail, fire burning underneath it. Sweetie Belle sat in front of the book, reading through it, while Scootaloo tended to the fire. “I’m here,” Applebloom said to her friends.
“Finally,” Scootaloo replied smiling, “You really took your time.”
Sweetie Belle stood up and looked at the now entering Diamond Tiara, who looked around the room with a perplexed expression. She asked Applebloom, “What is she doing here?”
Applebloom sighed. “I told you you wouldn’t believe who needs our help.” She walked into the shack, behind the cauldron.
“You’re right, I would have thought you were kidding,” Sweetie said coldly.
“What is this place?” Diamond asked.
“It’s our clubhouse,” Scootaloo said.
“It looks like…”
“A witch’s hut?” Scootaloo asked with a grin.
“Did you never ask yourself what ‘CMC’ stands for?” Sweetie Belle was grinning as well.
“I thought you were the Cutie Mark Club.”
Applebloom, now wearing a dark blue witch hat with a rose coloured bow, stood behind the cauldron, Scootaloo to her right and Sweetie to her left. “Close, but not quite.” She threw salt into the cauldron, causing green steam to rise from it. With a wicked grin and giggle, she said, “We are the witches of the Cutie Mark Coven.”
Diamond looked at them for a moment. “You’re witches.”
“We are,” Applebloom said.
“Seriously? Witches? You expect me to take you seriously?”
“Yup. But if you want to make jokes about it, the door’s behind you.”
“No, sorry, I’m just a little bit… surprised.”
“Alright, then tell us your problem.”
Diamond Tiara took a few deep breaths. “Ok, I need your help because I want to confront a bully. Yes, I know how strange that must sound coming from me, but I just don’t see another way. The bully in question is my… my mother.”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gave her the same shocked expressions as Applebloom earlier. Diamond Tiara continued. “She’s the reason I’m still bullying others, you know? Because she likes it when I tell her how I ‘put the lower classes in their place.’ I never was really happy about it, but I thought that was normal. My mother always seemed at least a little bit unhappy, a little bit stressed, a little bit angry, and she always took it out on those beneath her in the food chain. Staff members, contractors, you get the idea. When Sunset first joined the school and effectively became head bully, she displayed the same thing. Always angry, always taking it out on others, so I kinda thought that's what life in a powerful position is like.
“But then Sunset changed her ways and was… happy. Which got me thinking. She was still popular and respected, but happy. Of course, mother resents her for it. I wanted to change, but how could I go against my mother’s wishes? So I continued, at least enough to make her happy. And she always gets impatient if I don’t tell her something like that after a few weeks. So I just look for a student that seems like they can take a few days to have something to tell her. A foul theatre to keep my persona alive.
“But I’m sick of it. I just want her to leave me alone. But I’m too scared to tell her that.”
“That’s… quite a story,” Sweetie admitted.
“And how do you think we could help? Do you want us to talk to her or what?” Scootaloo asked.
“No, of course not. But I know no one else that could help me. I just need a little bit of encouragement.”
Applebloom asked, “Do you need to get home soon?”
“No, I have time. Father is away on a business trip, so he’s not coming back until next week, and mother is attending a gala tonight, which means she won’t be home till midnight, either.”
“Good.” Applebloom walked over to her tome and looked through it. “I think there’s something in here to help you…”
“You expect me to believe that you can help me using witchcraft?”
Sweetie Belle scoffed. “Would that be the strangest thing to happen? Our school was attacked by magical creatures three times already.”
“Or the mirror thing, or the magical watering can, or whatever that was in Equestria Land,” Scootaloo pointed out.
Tiara looked at them with doubt. “And your cauldron is possessed by equestrian magic as well?”
Scootaloo shrugged. “Could be.”
“There it is,” Applebloom said, the tome in hand, “A courage potion. But we need the light of the moon to perform the spell that goes with it. We need to gather a few ingredients, anyway.”
“Does this stuff always take so long?”
“If you rush a ritual, It won’t end well, you’re just likely to waste the ingredients for the spell,” Applebloom recited.
“Huh, I never thought you cared much for poetry,” Diamond commented.
“It’s not from me, its from the witch that introduced me to the craft,” Applebloom explained, “She also taught me that the person the potion is intended for—that’d be you—needs to help gather the ingredients.” She wrote something in a notebook, then grabbed a belt with special straps for it and a sickle to be stored in it and put it on. Applebloom then handed Diamond a wicker basket to carry the gathered the ingredients in and said, “Let’s go then.”
They went deeper into the abandoned orchard, which, after being left alone for over a decade, was halfway back to being a forest. The list of ingredients was really short, much to Diamond’s relief. Lavender was the first they ran into. Applebloom handed Scootaloo the sickle, Scoots kneeled down, cut a bunch of flowers, stood back up and gave them to Diamond, who put them into the basket.
Next on the list was valerian, which grew in a meadow close to the forest along a small rivulet. Sweetie Belle harvested the herbs and pretty much dropped them into the basket herself before handing the sickle back to Applebloom.
On their way back into the forest, they found the third ingredient, hawthorne. Applebloom harvested this one. She placed them gently in the basket, giving Diamond a little smile while doing so.
“We need four ingredients, right?” Sweetie asked Applebloom while the group continued their way into the forest.
“Yeah, why?”
“And the forth one is the usual?”
Applebloom nodded.
“You want to bring her to the tree?”
Diamond had to bite her lip to not protest at Sweetie Belle’s condescending tone. It helped that Scootaloo let herself fall back a little bit to walk beside Diamond while the other two bickered in the front.
“The potion is strongest if she collects the most important ingredient, and from the sounds of it, she needs that.”
“You never took another one there. It took you weeks to show it to us.” Sweetie pointed at herself and Scootaloo.
“I know, but it's necessary.”
“Well, it’s your tree.”
Diamond didn’t want to ask what they were talking about. After all, she could understand why Sweetie Belle was reluctant about her. She would find out what the last ingredient was soon, anyway.
After a while, Diamond reckoned she already walked more on this day than she normally did in a month. She noticed that the trees changed. Until now, most trees had been apples, but the forest was abruptly dominated by pear trees.
Then they reached what Diamond could only assume to be ‘the tree’. An apple-pear tree with a heart shape.
Applebloom stopped underneath it and fell silent for a moment. Then she said, “Diamond, you’ll need to get up there and bring me some mistletoe.”
“Ok,” Diamond said confused, “is there a ladder or…”
“You can just climb. They don’t grow that high, you’ll reach it from the fork in the middle.”
“Applebloom, I hope this won’t shock you, but I can’t climb.”
“I’ll tell you what to do—” Applebloom held the sickle to Diamond “—so just trust yourself a little bit, alright?”
Diamond set the basket down and took the sickle.
“Great. So, just remember, don’t drop the mistletoe. It loses its powers if it touches the ground.”
Diamond nodded and started to climb the tree. Thanks to Applebloom’s instructions, she reached the fork in the tree reasonably fast. The mistletoe was rooted in the middle of the hole, both on apple tree and on pear branches. She was just so able to reach the lowest branches of it and cut a little bit off. “Is that enough?” Diamond asked.
“Yes, now you just have to come back down." Applebloom noticed that Diamond reached out to the left trunk with her right hand, so she quickly added, "I know your instinct tells you to turn around so you can see where to step, but your instinct is an idiot."
Back in the shack, Scootaloo put more firewood under the cauldron while Applebloom threw the hawthorne in. Then they went into position for the ritual. Behind the cauldron, the CMC took the same places as before, with Applebloom in the middle with the mistletoe, Scootaloo to her right with the lavender, and Sweetie Belle to Applebloom’s left with the valerian. Diamond stood on the other side. She was supposed to stir the potion while it was brewing.
After a moment, Scootaloo recited, “Lodernde Feuer, Kalter Wind, Mut erfülle dich Geschwind!” She threw the lavender into the cauldron in tandem with the last word and kept her hands extended over the cauldron, as if she wanted to let magic flow out of her hand and into the concoction, which caused it to bubble. Diamond noticed that Scootaloo continued to mouth the words of the spell.
Next came Sweetie Belle. She gracefully placed the valerian in the cauldron. Then she recited her part of the spell, “Der Leuchtende Mond, in dunklster Nacht, behüte dich in dieser Schlacht!”
The contents of the cauldron took on an awful brown-ish colour.
At last, Applebloom did her part. She held the mistletoe over the centre of the cauldron as high as she could and paused for a moment, during which Diamond hoped Featherweight wasn’t nearby. Him having a photo of Applebloom holding a branch of mistletoe between them was the last thing Diamond needed now. Then Applebloom said, “Nach hellem Tat, im Zwielicht, gib acht, haben Freundschaft und Liebe dir Hoffnung gebracht!”
She let go of the mistletoe, and as soon as it landed in the cauldron, the concoction started to glow, as did the rune on the cauldron. The CMCs continued to chant their spell, so Diamond continued stirring as well. The contents of the cauldron started to slowly change colour.
Fives minutes later, the whole potion shimmered a dark purple colour and stopped simmering. Applebloom took her hands down, shortly followed by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “You can stop now,” Applebloom said to Diamond.
“Oh, thank goodness.” Diamond gave Applebloom the big wooden spoon back and proceeded to shake her arms out. “I would have had to give up soon. But it's legit equestrian magic then, right?”
“Again, we don’t know. Could be. But we aren’t using it for anything evil, so it ain’t a problem.” Applebloom filled four glasses with the potion. Everyone grabbed one, they raised their glasses and downed it.
Diamond started to cough. Don’t vomit. Just breathe, but don’t vomit, she thought. Once she no longer had the fear of losing her lunch, she asked, “Does everything you brew taste like that or was I just lucky?”
“Ya got lucky. That wasn’t even a bad one. Potions ain’t about tasting good, after all.” Applebloom shrugged. “The important question is, does it work?”
“I think it does, yes. I don’t feel that afraid anymore about confronting her. Thank you. All of you.”
“You’re welcome,” Applebloom said.
“It will be worth it once we no longer have to deal with you bullying others every two weeks,” Sweetie Belle mumbled.
Diamond didn’t know how to respond. She just looked away in shame. Applebloom said to Sweetie Belle, “I’m sure she will stop once she has cleared things up at home. Am I right?”
“Yeah, I promise,” Diamond responded after she realized that the last part had been directed at her. “Is it ok if I go home now?”
“Sure, we would have gone back soon, anyway,” Applebloom said.
After they had extinguished the bonfire and tidied up the shack, they all went back to Applebloom’s house. When they reached the door, Scootaloo asked, “Diamond, how will you get home?”
Diamond stopped dead in her tracks before muttering, “Dammit.”
“What?” the CMCs asked in unison.
“I didn’t think about that,” Diamond admitted.
“Where’s your house?” Scootaloo wanted to know. Diamond told her the address and Scootaloo checked on her phone how far it was away. “That’s not too far off… I could drop you off with my scooter, if someone lends you a helmet.”
“She can have mine,” Sweetie Belle said, “Just don’t forget it when you pick me up next time, Scoots.”
Applebloom looked at Sweetie Belle. “But if Scoots brings home Diamond, how do you get home?”
“I’ll just ask Applejack to drive me home. I bet she won’t mind an excuse to visit Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said grinning.
“That’s it!” Diamond said while pointing to one of the mansions on the right side of the road. She knew Scootaloo probably didn’t hear her over the revving scooter—Diamond was really surprised about how much noise such a small thing could make—but luckily, she still understood and stopped in front of the gate. Diamond waited until Scootaloo had driven off before going in.
The potion the CMC had made her helped her feel more confident, but not stupid. She still had a lot to prepare before talking to her mother.
Applebloom was playing Tirek’s Revenge when she noticed someone opening her door. “Let me guess, it’s midnight?”
“Eyup,” Big Mac responded.
“Granny says I should stop playing?”
“Eyup.”
“You won’t tell her that I’m still playing as long as I stop soon and stay quiet?”
“Eyup.”
“AJ isn’t back yet?”
“Nope.”
“And probably won’t be anytime soon?”
Big Mac giggled before saying, “Nope.”
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” Big Mac closed the door again.
A few minutes later, she got a message on her phone. From Diamond Tiara.
DT: It went horrible. Can I stay at your house tonight?
AB: What happened?
DT: I’ll tell you in person.
DT: I just couldn’t stay there tonight.
AB: Where are you?
DT: At your door
Applebloom paused the game and walked to the front door, and sure enough, Diamond stood there, tears in her eyes, a bruise resembling a hand on her left cheek. Applebloom just stepped to the side to let Diamond in. Applebloom led her into the living room and gave her an ice pack. Diamond started sobbing.
Granny Smith appeared in the room, saw Diamond and Applebloom, and just asked, “What happened?”
“My mother—” Diamond couldn’t say more, she just briefly took the ice bag away to show the bruise and continued sobbing.
Applebloom told Granny Smith what she knew about the situation between Diamond Tiara and Spoiled Rich. “And we know how it went. She can stay here tonight, right?”
“Of course she can,” Granny said, “She can stay here as long as she doesn’t feel safe at home, but she can’t hide here forever. I can’t stop Spoiled if she comes to get her.”
“But I can,” Diamond said. She was still in tears, but had stopped sobbing. Her eyes were filled with determination. “I recorded it. All of it.”
She took out her phone and showed them the video of the fight. Lots of shouting, eventually followed by Spoiled slapping Diamond full force and yelling, “Get out of my sight!” before storming off.
“She won’t risk that going public,” Diamond said with a cold voice, “She can’t afford her oh so spotless reputation to get damaged.”
Two days later, Filthy Rich showed up at Sweet Apple Acres, looking for his daughter. Diamond had texted him what happened and sent him the video. He, Diamond, and Granny sat down in the kitchen to talk about what had happened. Filthy apologized, said he talked to Spoiled and that she promised it would never happen again, but Diamond didn’t want to hear any of it. Diamond just said, “If she really would be sorry, she would be here. I’m not coming back. And if you force me, I’ll publish the video.” And with that, she left the room.
Diamond went to the living room to wait with Applebloom. They had decided earlier that Granny had the biggest chance of convincing Filthy to let her stay. Both were too nervous to talk. So they just waited, Applebloom sitting on a couch and Diamond pacing back and forth. Finally, Granny and Filthy entered the room.
Filthy asked, “You really don’t want to come home with me, do you?”
“Not as long as mother is there forcing me to become like her, no,” Diamond replied.
Filthy’s shoulders dropped. He sighed in resignation and said, “I understand. Well, I talked with Granny Smith and we came to an agreement. You can stay here as long as you want, I’ll even pay for building a new room for you here, but I’ll come to visit whenever possible and call regularly. I want you to be happy, I always did, and if that is what it takes, I’m more than willing to do it.”
