Marks for Efforts: Twilight's Treatmentby DakariKingMykanChaptersAct 1: MisjudgmentAct 2: Broken TrustAct 3: PunishmentClosing act: ReconcileAct 1: MisjudgmentTwilight Sparkle was very angry with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and asked to see them in her office at the School of Friendship. “I can’t believe you’d do something like this!” she scolded, “You tutored Cozy Glow, and you’ve been setting her up to fail?!” The Crusaders were most confused. “What are you talkin’ about?” asked Applebloom, and Twilight angrily showed them Cozy Glow’s failed exam. Surely enough it was filled with horribly incorrect answers. “What are the six Elements of Harmony? “Five turtlenecks and a cheese grater…?” “Who is the princess of Friendship? “Your mom…?!” The girls were most confused, and couldn’t understand it in the least, but it was in vain that they tried to explain, because Twilight already made her decision, nor did she seem interested in anything to suggest otherwise. “I never thought you three would pull such a mean prank. I'm afraid I'm going have to ask you to stay away from my school, and my students.” With her wing, she angrily motioned for the girls to leave, and she slammed the door right as they stepped outside. Disheartened, the girls slumped sadly away. While down the hall, Cozy Glow saw and heard everything in complete shock. “Oh, no!” she groaned softly to herself. The next day, Twilight and Spike were hanging out at the Cakes’ having a muffin before heading off to the school. “So you banned the girls from the school?” Spike asked. With a deep sigh, Twilight answered “Yes, I banned them from the school and having any contact with our students, and I made sure to tell their families about this too.” The two friends left the bakery together. “I think you were a bit too hard on them.” Pinkie said. “I did what I had to do.” protested Twilight “I can’t have them setting up our students to fail their courses in friendship like this. How will every-creature learn to get along? Equestria could go into all-out war if creatures don’t know how to be friends with one another.” “I know all that,” said Spike “I’m just saying I don’t think the girls would do such a thing. We know them better than that. Sure, they did some crazy things in the past, but this isn’t like them to make a student fail.” Twilight began to think maybe that was true, “I’ve made my decision.” said Twilight “Until the girls show me they can behave, and accept that we won’t accept them into our school, they are banned from the premises.” Spike was starting to not like Twilight’s tone. It almost sounded like she wanted to start and argument with him now. On their way, the Crusaders came along on their way to school, stopping to buy some apples from a nearby fruit-cart “Hiya girls…” Spike said cheerfully to them. “Hi, Spike.” the girls responded. “Good morning, girls.” said Twilight, but she got no response back as the girls just bought their apples. “…Girls, good morning.” The girls only gave her a stern stare and walked off. “Good morning!” Twilight sneered, but the girls had already gone. Now Spike was really getting concerned. “Wow! They’re really mad with you.” Twilight snuffed and held her muzzle up high, “If they think they can win me over with this childish act, they are sorely mistaken.” They got to the school, and saw their friends, the other ponies, sitting on the front stoop, like they were waiting for someone. “Look, there she is!” hissed Rainbow Dash. Every one of the others glared at Twilight with cross faces, which made Twilight blink in confusion. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Applejack stood firmly and pointed at the doors, and said deeply “You better come with us, right now.” “You’re in biiiiiiiiig trouble.” said Pinkie Pie. Rarity huffed and walked off with a flick of her mane with her muzzle up high, and Fluttershy walking the same way behind her, but she tripped slightly and almost fell over, but regained her balance and continued walked. “This doesn’t sound good.” said Spike. Before Twilight knew it, she was in her own office, where Starlight Glimmer was waiting for her, and she, too, looked non-too-thrilled, and next to her stood an embarrassed and shameful Cozy Glow. “What is all this?” asked Twilight. Starlight motioned to Cozy and said, “Tell the head-mare what you told me.” Cozy nervously approached Twilight and explained, “I… well I…” she took a breath “…I failed my test on purpose.” Spike gasped, and Twilight couldn’t believe her ears. “You did what?!” Cozy shamefully admitted, “I was hoping that if I failed, you’d think the Crusaders would need help with friendship, and we could all attend this school together. I’m so sorry.” Twilight shook her head in disbelief. Rarity stepped forth, “Last night, Sweetie Belle came home with a face bluer than a sapphire sequin, and when I asked her why, she had told me about your actions. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but then I got this letter!” She held up a parchment Twilight had sent her, telling her about banning the girls from the school. “I got one too.” said Applejack holding up the same letter “It was no wonder Applebloom was lookin’ bummed. Twilight, I can’t believe you would do such a thing. I know for a fact the girls wouldn’t have made Cozy try to fail. I saw them when they helped out Big Mac with his chores while the tutored her.” “Mrs. Cake told me that the girls and Cozy did wonderful jobs helping her to decorate cupcakes the other day.” added Pinkie. “Scottaloo, cheat on a test?” remarked Rainbow “…That’s ridiculous, but what really gets me is how you just throw the girls out without even going in greater detail.” That same shock of guilt struck Twilight again, this time with full-force, especially now that she knew the truth. “I misjudged the girls, very badly.” “Whoa.” said Spike “That would explain why the girls looked peeved with you.” Twilight felt ready to collapse to her knees in shame. “I’ve got to apologize to them.” “That would be a good idea.” said Fluttershy “Oh, but, what if they won’t accept your apology?” “What do you mean?” asked Twilight in shock “Of course they would, they have to. I mean, I just made a little mistake in judgment, but we’re all friends, we can make up for it.” “That’s what friends are supposed to do.” said Cozy. Starlight nodded and felt proud that Cozy knew that. “I think you know more about friendship than you think.” Cozy smiled, but she really hoped Twilight could make up with the girls. Act 2: Broken TrustWhen the girls went to school, they were very upset for the whole day. They didn’t seem too hungry at lunch either and hardly touched their food. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon noticed this. “What’s up with you two?” asked Diamond “Usually, you’re eating like crazy.” The girls decided to at least open up to their real friends, and told them about Twilight. “She banned you from the school of friendship?” Silver asked in shock. “We also can’t hang out with her students anymore,” explained Sweetie “…Or even try to help them.” “Well, then why did you make Cozy Glow fail her test?” asked Diamond. “We didn’t.” said Applebloom “We don’t know what went wrong, but Twilight didn’t even let us explain ourselves. She just up and kicked us out like old farming boots.” Diamond and Silver felt livid for their friends. “That’s horrible!” cried Silver. “It is like, so, horrible, it’s that horrible.” agreed Diamond “Some-pony ought to do something about this.” “It’s alright,” said Scootaloo “This is our problem, and we’ll deal with it ourselves.” The other crusaders agreed, but Diamond was the kind of pony who wasn’t willing to let something like this just slide, especially not to her new friends ever since they befriended each other better. She gave Silver a soft look, and Silver got the message and nodded in agreement, without the girls knowing what they were planning. The crusaders already knew how to deal with Twilight. Later that day, since Twilight couldn’t leave the school just like that she waited until after hours, knowing the girls would also be out of school themselves and probably hanging at their treehouse. They were there, and they were playing with each other, but the second Twilight came into view, their expressions hardened to the same look of cold anger. “Hello girls,” she said politely “Can I talk with you?” The girls did not answer and turned away from her, back to their playing. Twilight expected they’d react like that, but she remained undeterred. “Girls there’s something I have to tell you,” and she explained what Cozy Glow had said, which made the girls shocked. “She failed on purpose?” asked Applebloom. “I thought something was strange.” said Sweetie. “And she was doing for us too.” said Scootaloo. Twilight thought this was it, “I came to apologize to you girls, and tell you that you are officially unbanned from my school.” She expected the girls to smile and forgive her, but they did just the opposite; they only looked cross with her again, and still turned their backs to her. “Girls?!” cried Twilight “I’m trying to apologize to you. Look, I know you wanted to come to my school, but you have to understand--” “No, Twilight-- YOU need to understand.” barked Sweetie “We don’t care about going to your school anymore.” Twilight was amazed, “You don’t?” “We know we don’t need to go there anymore,” confessed Applebloom “We just wanted to come because it looked so nice, much better than our school, but that ain’t the point. That’s not why we’re upset with you.” Scootaloo turned to face Twilight sternly, “We’re angry that you violated the very things you teach about. …Honesty!” “Trust!” added Sweetie. “…Faith!” said Applebloom. Twilight felt every blow strike her like a burning pain in the heart, realizing this was true. “We’ve known you a long time, Twilight.” said Sweetie “And while, we admit; we have done some pretty crazy things in the past, we would never pull such a stunt like that.” “Girls, can’t you understand…” said Twilight, sounding desperate “I’m sorry, I want to make it up to you.” “Forget it!” snapped Scootaloo “As far as we’re concerned, we don’t ever want to see you again, Twilight Sparkle. You’re no friend we would want!” The girls headed up into their treehouse, and Applebloom said to Twilight, “We’re going to have to ask you stay away from us, and our treehouse.” They walked inside, slamming the door shut, pulling all the shutters closed, but not before hanging a “No Twilight Sparkle” picture on the outside wall. “Girls, please…!” Twilight called “Can’t we just talk this over?” But the girls angrily opened the window and threw out pictures they had drawn of, Twilight, as well as a couple of books she had written on the subject of friendship. Twilight was furious, while she wanted to snap at the girls and leave them to their sulking, she knew that wouldn’t make things any better, and she slumped miserably away. Over the next few days, the girls kept very strictly to their word. Whenever they saw Twilight on their way to school they would completely ignore her, even when she smiled at them and bid them “Good morning” When she visited each Crusader at their specific home, they would slam the door in her face and not even let her get two words in. When Pinkie Pie invited all her friends and the girls to her birthday party, via Twilight’s request, the girls refused to attend knowing Twilight was there, and they didn’t want to ruin a good party because of their issue with her, knowing it wouldn’t be fair to the others. Now Twilight was feeling really upset. One day, she sat in the Cakes’ shop, sadly having a milkshake, with all her friends around her. “I didn’t think the girls could be this mad with me.” she said sadly “They don’t want anything to do with me.” All her friends didn’t act the least bit surprised. “Twilight,” said Rarity “Not that I’m actually supporting the girls, as I find their acts atrocious, I don’t think I can really blame them.” Even Spike was finally seeing the light and agreed with her. “Twilight, it’s bad enough you blamed them and punished them for a crime they didn’t commit, but the fact that you judged them and punished them without even hearing them out, and you’re supposed to know them better than that.” “I know!” Twilight said sounding on the verge of tears “Stop rubbing it in. Can’t you all just help me? I want to make it up to the girls.” The girls all feel silent, and they all had queer looks on their faces, but it was Fluttershy who surprisingly found the courage to say it outright “I’m sorry, Twilight, but we can’t help you with this.” Twilight looked at all her friends in shock and a horrifying stare. “How can you all say that?” “Um, technically, Fluttershy said it.” said Pinkie “…But the rest of us were thinking it.” Applejack gave her a look telling her that she wasn’t helping. Twilight opened her mouth protest that she thought they were all her friends, but Rainbow spoke up first, “We know what you’re going to say, and it’s true, we are your friends, but we didn’t make the mistakes. We can’t apologize to the girls for you.” “She’s right,” agreed Applejack “This is between you and the girls, not us, but we can at least talk to them. Soften them up a bit.” Twilight smiled softly, but she still only felt calmer, not better. As she, Starlight and Spike began to make their way back to Friendship Castle, Twilight noticed a lot of other ponies were giving her a sour glare as they passed by. “There she is.” “You heard what she did.” “How shameful…” “And I thought she was the princess of friendship.” They obviously knew what happened between Twilight at the girls, but all this sneering and anger was only making Twilight feel terrible again. Then, the big snap, when a big slop of mud splat right in her face, by Snails, or Snips, who saw her. “That’s what you get for being mean to our friends!” Snails snapped at Twilight. “Boys that was very rude and mean!” scolded Starlight. “Big deal!” scoffed Snips, “We heard the stories, that the so called princess of friendship judged the Crusaders wrong and banned them from her school.” While it was unknown if whether or not the other passers-by felt Twilight deserved the mud in her face or not, or even if any of themselves felt like doing, they all booed and hooted at her, which made Twilight burst into tears and dash off. “Twilight!” called Spike. Both he and Starlight felt horrible for her, and dashed on after her. Author's Note *Wicked snicker* I'm enjoying this (Kicking Twilight while she's down) Sure feels great to be bashing some characters again. I just love revenge, sweeter than chocolate. Act 3: PunishmentAuthor's Note I do wish people would WAIT UNTIL THE STORY IS FINISHED before asking questions or judging. Answers often follow as the story unfolds Act 3: Punishment ACT THREE Once back home at the castle, Twilight was weeping most miserably. She still had a few bits of mud on her face. Her long stream of tears seemed to help wash some of it off, dirtying her face. “Twilight, come on.” said Spike. “Let us at least wipe the mud off.” added Starlight, and she levitated a wet cloth and gently scrubbed Twilight’s face clean. “They were booing me.” she sobbed “They were sneering at me, like I committed a serious crime.” “That’s ridiculous.” said Spike “Every-pony is overreacting, and I intend to find out why.” Spike then marched straight out of the castle to begin his quest, and he didn’t care if he had to go door-to-door all night. He knew Twilight didn’t deserve this treatment. Starlight decided to stay and keep Twilight comforted. “Are you going to be okay?” she asked. Twilight sadly looked up, “I don’t know, but I’ll try.” Starlight put a hoof on her back, “Don’t worry, we’ll fix this.” Twilight smiled sadly and wiped the tears from her eyes, and Starlight left her to go make her some tea to help calm her. All Twilight could do was slump onto the sofa, and she honestly didn’t know what she felt more upset about; the fact that she made a mistake and misjudged the Crusaders, they wouldn’t talk to her, accept her apology, or have anything to do with her, or the fact that now every-pony in town was treating her like a pariah because of her simple error in judgment. She began to sing a soft and sad song to herself lamenting it all, and remembering how well she got along with the girls. How has it come to this, we used to have so much fun But now we’re at such odds, is all of that friendship done Why can’t we just look up and beyond and start all over again, Why does it have to be this way, all this fussing and pain? We all make our mistakes and we learn To be better friends that we yearn But now I… don’t know why It’s all crashed and burned I try to make good but it wasn’t enough to go Now every-pony hates me more than I know How do I let it be known, how do I make them all see …I’m sorry. I just want to make things right I don’t want to yell or fight How do I let it be known, how do I make them all see …I’m sorry. The poor pony lay down miserably and fell asleep. Soon, she was awoken by the faint sound of yelling coming from outside, and it got louder and louder. “What’s that?” she wondered. She looked up at the window and noticed an ominous glow coming from the darkness. She got to the window and saw a huge and very angry mob calling to her, holding up signs badmouthing her, and holding flaming torches as well. “There she is!” “The so-called Princess of Friendship!” Boos, hoots and hisses were thrown at her, and the ponies began throwing rocks and tomatoes at the window, forcing Twilight to put up a small barrier. She then shouted through the sparkling magic, “What is all this?” The Cutiemark Crusaders then stood at the head of the mob. “It’s called punishment!” called Applebloom. “Sometimes in life,” added Sweetie Belle “A pony’s got to answer for her errors!” Twilight gasped, and then she saw Scootaloo signaling in a bunch of pegasi who were all working together to bring in a large tree-trunk they intended to bust through the castle gate with. “HO!!!” Scootaloo shouted, and the pegasi charged forth to smash the gate. Twilight yipped and quickly powered-up to conjure a barrier around the entire castle, knocking the ponies and their rammer back hard. “Your little stunts won’t save you this time!” shouted Sweetie, and she motioned for a bunch of unicorns to gather together, and enchant the rammer with their magic. “HO!!” shouted Scootaloo. The pegasi began to ram again, and with the magic enhanced on it, it was able to make cracks in Twilight’s barrier, much to her horror. “Where are all my friends?!” she cried, but then she realized “Why am I even staying in here?” She teleported out of the castle and began to soar off into the night. “After her!” shouted Applebloom. The Earth ponies began to stampede, and throwing their rocks and vegetables up at her, forcing Twilight to fly even higher up. “Please, can’t we just talk about this?” she begged and pleaded, but the ponies continued to chase her, and soon the pegasi were all on her tail. She tried to teleport anywhere to safety, but found ponies, ponies, and more angry ponies everywhere she went, and it wasn’t long before she was captured and bound with magical bindings and solid chains with iron balls, and anti-magical seals that prevented her from using any magic. Worse than that, she was brought the edge of a cliff overlooking a large body of deep water, like an ocean, which Twilight had never seen before and never knew there was, and she thought she knew all the lands. Twilight got the idea of what was coming now! “You wouldn’t?!” she cried “You can’t!” “We can…” hissed Applebloom “We would…” added Sweetie. “…And we’re going to!” snickered Scootaloo. The massive crowd of ponies cheered them on, and Twilight was then strapped onto the pole of a raft on the water, and all her friends were all bound and strapped in with her, all with anti-magical seals to prevent them from using any special abilities. “We tried to reason with them!” cried Rarity “But they deemed us as traitors for trying to help you after what you did to them. Trai-hay-hay-tor-her-hers!” Applejack looked sternly at Twilight, “That’s what we get for trying to help YOU out!” “Thanks a lot, Twilight!” sneered Rainbow. Pinkie stuck her tongue out at her, and Fluttershy wept, “I don’t want to be cast out to sea!” “We won’t!” said Twilight. “And what makes you so sure?” asked Starlight. “Because, I’m sure Princess Celestia would never allow this to happen.” “Um… Twilight…!” peeped Fluttershy and she motioned with her head at the crowd, where Twilight could see Celestia there, and looking down at her ever so crossly. “It can’t be!” she cried. Celestia stepped atop a large rock and declared, “Princess Twilight Sparkle, for your heinous crime of misjudgment, and you defiance and disregarding of the very friendship you were crowned for, I hereby strip you of your title, and banish you and your cohorts out to sea and away from Equestria, FOREVER!!” The crowds shouted with joy. “This… this isn’t happening!” cried Twilight “My friends didn’t do anything, it was my fault!” The crowd didn’t care, and Celestia gave the Crusaders the honor of launching the raft off its ramp, and she then used her powers to force the craft far, far away over the waters. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!!” screamed Twilight. It was no use! Still tied tightly to their posts, the seven ponies floated further and further out to sea, rocking back and forth against the waves. “Ugh! Oh!” groaned Applejack “I feel greener than Granny Smith with a stomach-ache.” Then her tears began to fall “…And I’m never going to see her again, or Big Mac, or the animals!” “I’ll never get to play with the Cake Twins again!” cried Pinkie. “You’ve really ruined our lives now, Twilight!” snapped Rainbow. All the others looked at her ever so angrily, and Twilight, she couldn’t have felt more sick to her stomach than ever. She and her friends were homeless, and lost out at sea with no food, and nowhere to really go. “What else could go wrong?” she asked. “…SHARKS!!” screamed Rarity. A group of sharks, with their fins sticking out of the water began to surround the raft, and one of them jumped over the group, roaring and snapping its large teeth, just barely missing them all. The other sharks began to bite and snap away the raft, piece-by-piece, and the ponies, still bound tightly and unable to use magic or any abilities, were hopeless! The sharks made a great big leap, heading straight for the gang. All of them, especially Twilight, screamed in terror as the view zoomed into the darkness of Twilight’s mouth and her scream echoed in the darkness! Closing act: ReconcileTwilight landed with a thud on the floor, having off the sofa, and a blanket fell over her head. She frantically got up and brushed the blanket off to reveal she was in her own castle, and it was morning as the sun was starting to shine through the windows. Starlight and Spike rushed into the living room, having heard her fall and move around. “Twilight, are you okay?” asked Starlight. “We heard you, you were yelling in your sleep.” added Spike. Twilight slumped into the sofa and sighed heavily in relief. “It was all a dream. There was no angry mob!” Starlight and Spike gawked at one another with strange expressions. Starlight then spoke to Twilight, “Spike found out why the group of ponies were mean to you the other day.” Spike stepped forth, “It turns out that the girls told Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon about what happened, and Diamond told her mother what happened. Naturally, Spoiled Rich and her gossiping and blowing it all way out of proportion is never a good thing.” Starlight felt just as upset about it when she found out, and she personally wrote to Princess Celestia and asked the whole thing be straightened out at once. “Every-pony felt really bad about the way they overreacted at you,” she then motioned over at a table where sat an open mail sack of apology letters from every-pony who was mean to her yesterday. Twilight felt warm inside. Just then, there was a knock at the doors of the castle. Twilight answered it and found Snails and Snips, and they looked very sorry and very ashamed of themselves. “We… we’re very sorry for throwing mud at you yesterday, Princess.” said Snails. “Our folks sent us to apologize,” added Snips “But we were going to come anyway, and they said if there is to be any punishment, we’ll accept it, and we will. We’ll do anything!” Twilight felt touched by their sincerity, and she decided to go easy on them, by having them help her prepare her lesson plans for the school of friendship that day… Fetching books, and getting parchment and ink, and reading to her aloud from scripts and scrolls so she could write them down as part of her lectures. Then when it was time to open up the school of Friendship, Twilight was very relieved as students passed by her and bid her “Good morning” and no one was the least bit scornful to her. Twilight was really feeling her luck was starting to change, but then she looked sad again. “What’s wrong now?” asked Spike. “I just still wish I knew how to make it up to the Crusaders, but I don’t know if they’re still too mad at me.” Starlight thought, and remembered about what the girls had done that started all this in the first place. “I’ve got an idea.” And she whispered to Twilight, which made her smile widely “Yes, I’ll do it. I owe it to them.” Spike was confused, “You’re not actually going to let them into the school are you.” “Nope, something even better…” It wasn’t long before the Crusaders were brought before Twilight in her office, and they surprisingly didn’t seem as mad at her as they were before, thanks to Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack. “We all had some long talks last night.” said Applejack “The girls admitted that maybe they were a bit harsh on you.” “And when we told them of how horribly you we’re treated by all those other ponies,” added Rarity, and then she sniffled “They cried…! Well, at least I did.” The girls actually stepped forward towards the desk. “We were mad at you, Twilight,” said Sweetie “But we told Diamond and Silver we wanted to handle things on our own.” Applebloom nodded, “We weren’t speaking to you, but you didn’t deserve all that you got last night, and we’re… well…” “…We’re really sorry that you got hurt.” said Scootaloo. “You’re apology is not accepted, girls.” said Twilight. The girls felt downtrodden, but then Twilight informed them “…Because you’re apologizing for something that you didn’t do, and believe me I know you better than that.” The girls looked up at her, and of course it was true. They didn’t tell other ponies to hate on Twilight, and they were not the ones who threw the mud at her. Though they did tell Diamond, who told her mother, who twisted and turned a whole bunch of gossip to make it look worse, it still wasn’t their fault. “But why are we here?” asked Sweetie. Twilight grinned and said “Cozy Glow retook her test today, and this time she did it properly, and she got a straight A-plus, all thanks to you girls. For this, I’d like to give you these.” She levitated three large parchments at the girls. “They're honorary diplomas,” said Applejack “Makin' y'all official graduates of this here school.” “You've more than earned them.” said Rarity. “…Without even having to study!” added Rainbow. The Crusaders were speechless, and didn’t know what to say, but Twilight said to them. “And if you're interested, I think Starlight has a place for you at my school after all.” “We could use some friendship tutors on staff. And I hear you're the best out there.” The Crusaders were beaming, as they leapt about cheering and hollering. To them, this was even better than being students at the school, it was practically a job! “Um, just one last thing…” Twilight said, and she approached the girls and looked them ever so deeply in their eyes. “Girls… can you ever forgive me?” She gazed at them so deeply that the girls could see their reflections in her remorseful and sincere eyes. They looked back and forth at one another, and agreed. “If there’s one thing friends do…” said Applebloom. “…It’s forgive one another.” added Sweetie. “And we forgive you.” said Scootaloo, and they hugged her warmly, and she hugged them back with tears rolling down her face. The other ponies all were teary-eyed too, and Spike gave the girls a thumb-up. Then Twilight led the girls off to meet their first students whom she felt could use their tutoring. Starlight could only sigh, “I love being councillor here at this school.” Author's Note Oh, Gag! even though I made it so myself, it sickens me that they made up (I don't forgive and forget like that) I made this fic to show I CAN make normal MLP fics, without all my Starfleet stuff. Still, I'm glad I did this, I really needed to kick some character ass and torture them, (this busy season has been hard and still much to do) now I can get back to my busy season and prepare for THE FORCE OF HATRED where I can really kick some pony butt, and more. PS: Maybe next time you'll WAIT AND LET THE STORY UNRAVEL before you ask questions or judge as badly as Twilight did?
Act 1: MisjudgmentTwilight Sparkle was very angry with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and asked to see them in her office at the School of Friendship. “I can’t believe you’d do something like this!” she scolded, “You tutored Cozy Glow, and you’ve been setting her up to fail?!” The Crusaders were most confused. “What are you talkin’ about?” asked Applebloom, and Twilight angrily showed them Cozy Glow’s failed exam. Surely enough it was filled with horribly incorrect answers. “What are the six Elements of Harmony? “Five turtlenecks and a cheese grater…?” “Who is the princess of Friendship? “Your mom…?!” The girls were most confused, and couldn’t understand it in the least, but it was in vain that they tried to explain, because Twilight already made her decision, nor did she seem interested in anything to suggest otherwise. “I never thought you three would pull such a mean prank. I'm afraid I'm going have to ask you to stay away from my school, and my students.” With her wing, she angrily motioned for the girls to leave, and she slammed the door right as they stepped outside. Disheartened, the girls slumped sadly away. While down the hall, Cozy Glow saw and heard everything in complete shock. “Oh, no!” she groaned softly to herself. The next day, Twilight and Spike were hanging out at the Cakes’ having a muffin before heading off to the school. “So you banned the girls from the school?” Spike asked. With a deep sigh, Twilight answered “Yes, I banned them from the school and having any contact with our students, and I made sure to tell their families about this too.” The two friends left the bakery together. “I think you were a bit too hard on them.” Pinkie said. “I did what I had to do.” protested Twilight “I can’t have them setting up our students to fail their courses in friendship like this. How will every-creature learn to get along? Equestria could go into all-out war if creatures don’t know how to be friends with one another.” “I know all that,” said Spike “I’m just saying I don’t think the girls would do such a thing. We know them better than that. Sure, they did some crazy things in the past, but this isn’t like them to make a student fail.” Twilight began to think maybe that was true, “I’ve made my decision.” said Twilight “Until the girls show me they can behave, and accept that we won’t accept them into our school, they are banned from the premises.” Spike was starting to not like Twilight’s tone. It almost sounded like she wanted to start and argument with him now. On their way, the Crusaders came along on their way to school, stopping to buy some apples from a nearby fruit-cart “Hiya girls…” Spike said cheerfully to them. “Hi, Spike.” the girls responded. “Good morning, girls.” said Twilight, but she got no response back as the girls just bought their apples. “…Girls, good morning.” The girls only gave her a stern stare and walked off. “Good morning!” Twilight sneered, but the girls had already gone. Now Spike was really getting concerned. “Wow! They’re really mad with you.” Twilight snuffed and held her muzzle up high, “If they think they can win me over with this childish act, they are sorely mistaken.” They got to the school, and saw their friends, the other ponies, sitting on the front stoop, like they were waiting for someone. “Look, there she is!” hissed Rainbow Dash. Every one of the others glared at Twilight with cross faces, which made Twilight blink in confusion. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Applejack stood firmly and pointed at the doors, and said deeply “You better come with us, right now.” “You’re in biiiiiiiiig trouble.” said Pinkie Pie. Rarity huffed and walked off with a flick of her mane with her muzzle up high, and Fluttershy walking the same way behind her, but she tripped slightly and almost fell over, but regained her balance and continued walked. “This doesn’t sound good.” said Spike. Before Twilight knew it, she was in her own office, where Starlight Glimmer was waiting for her, and she, too, looked non-too-thrilled, and next to her stood an embarrassed and shameful Cozy Glow. “What is all this?” asked Twilight. Starlight motioned to Cozy and said, “Tell the head-mare what you told me.” Cozy nervously approached Twilight and explained, “I… well I…” she took a breath “…I failed my test on purpose.” Spike gasped, and Twilight couldn’t believe her ears. “You did what?!” Cozy shamefully admitted, “I was hoping that if I failed, you’d think the Crusaders would need help with friendship, and we could all attend this school together. I’m so sorry.” Twilight shook her head in disbelief. Rarity stepped forth, “Last night, Sweetie Belle came home with a face bluer than a sapphire sequin, and when I asked her why, she had told me about your actions. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but then I got this letter!” She held up a parchment Twilight had sent her, telling her about banning the girls from the school. “I got one too.” said Applejack holding up the same letter “It was no wonder Applebloom was lookin’ bummed. Twilight, I can’t believe you would do such a thing. I know for a fact the girls wouldn’t have made Cozy try to fail. I saw them when they helped out Big Mac with his chores while the tutored her.” “Mrs. Cake told me that the girls and Cozy did wonderful jobs helping her to decorate cupcakes the other day.” added Pinkie. “Scottaloo, cheat on a test?” remarked Rainbow “…That’s ridiculous, but what really gets me is how you just throw the girls out without even going in greater detail.” That same shock of guilt struck Twilight again, this time with full-force, especially now that she knew the truth. “I misjudged the girls, very badly.” “Whoa.” said Spike “That would explain why the girls looked peeved with you.” Twilight felt ready to collapse to her knees in shame. “I’ve got to apologize to them.” “That would be a good idea.” said Fluttershy “Oh, but, what if they won’t accept your apology?” “What do you mean?” asked Twilight in shock “Of course they would, they have to. I mean, I just made a little mistake in judgment, but we’re all friends, we can make up for it.” “That’s what friends are supposed to do.” said Cozy. Starlight nodded and felt proud that Cozy knew that. “I think you know more about friendship than you think.” Cozy smiled, but she really hoped Twilight could make up with the girls.
Act 2: Broken TrustWhen the girls went to school, they were very upset for the whole day. They didn’t seem too hungry at lunch either and hardly touched their food. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon noticed this. “What’s up with you two?” asked Diamond “Usually, you’re eating like crazy.” The girls decided to at least open up to their real friends, and told them about Twilight. “She banned you from the school of friendship?” Silver asked in shock. “We also can’t hang out with her students anymore,” explained Sweetie “…Or even try to help them.” “Well, then why did you make Cozy Glow fail her test?” asked Diamond. “We didn’t.” said Applebloom “We don’t know what went wrong, but Twilight didn’t even let us explain ourselves. She just up and kicked us out like old farming boots.” Diamond and Silver felt livid for their friends. “That’s horrible!” cried Silver. “It is like, so, horrible, it’s that horrible.” agreed Diamond “Some-pony ought to do something about this.” “It’s alright,” said Scootaloo “This is our problem, and we’ll deal with it ourselves.” The other crusaders agreed, but Diamond was the kind of pony who wasn’t willing to let something like this just slide, especially not to her new friends ever since they befriended each other better. She gave Silver a soft look, and Silver got the message and nodded in agreement, without the girls knowing what they were planning. The crusaders already knew how to deal with Twilight. Later that day, since Twilight couldn’t leave the school just like that she waited until after hours, knowing the girls would also be out of school themselves and probably hanging at their treehouse. They were there, and they were playing with each other, but the second Twilight came into view, their expressions hardened to the same look of cold anger. “Hello girls,” she said politely “Can I talk with you?” The girls did not answer and turned away from her, back to their playing. Twilight expected they’d react like that, but she remained undeterred. “Girls there’s something I have to tell you,” and she explained what Cozy Glow had said, which made the girls shocked. “She failed on purpose?” asked Applebloom. “I thought something was strange.” said Sweetie. “And she was doing for us too.” said Scootaloo. Twilight thought this was it, “I came to apologize to you girls, and tell you that you are officially unbanned from my school.” She expected the girls to smile and forgive her, but they did just the opposite; they only looked cross with her again, and still turned their backs to her. “Girls?!” cried Twilight “I’m trying to apologize to you. Look, I know you wanted to come to my school, but you have to understand--” “No, Twilight-- YOU need to understand.” barked Sweetie “We don’t care about going to your school anymore.” Twilight was amazed, “You don’t?” “We know we don’t need to go there anymore,” confessed Applebloom “We just wanted to come because it looked so nice, much better than our school, but that ain’t the point. That’s not why we’re upset with you.” Scootaloo turned to face Twilight sternly, “We’re angry that you violated the very things you teach about. …Honesty!” “Trust!” added Sweetie. “…Faith!” said Applebloom. Twilight felt every blow strike her like a burning pain in the heart, realizing this was true. “We’ve known you a long time, Twilight.” said Sweetie “And while, we admit; we have done some pretty crazy things in the past, we would never pull such a stunt like that.” “Girls, can’t you understand…” said Twilight, sounding desperate “I’m sorry, I want to make it up to you.” “Forget it!” snapped Scootaloo “As far as we’re concerned, we don’t ever want to see you again, Twilight Sparkle. You’re no friend we would want!” The girls headed up into their treehouse, and Applebloom said to Twilight, “We’re going to have to ask you stay away from us, and our treehouse.” They walked inside, slamming the door shut, pulling all the shutters closed, but not before hanging a “No Twilight Sparkle” picture on the outside wall. “Girls, please…!” Twilight called “Can’t we just talk this over?” But the girls angrily opened the window and threw out pictures they had drawn of, Twilight, as well as a couple of books she had written on the subject of friendship. Twilight was furious, while she wanted to snap at the girls and leave them to their sulking, she knew that wouldn’t make things any better, and she slumped miserably away. Over the next few days, the girls kept very strictly to their word. Whenever they saw Twilight on their way to school they would completely ignore her, even when she smiled at them and bid them “Good morning” When she visited each Crusader at their specific home, they would slam the door in her face and not even let her get two words in. When Pinkie Pie invited all her friends and the girls to her birthday party, via Twilight’s request, the girls refused to attend knowing Twilight was there, and they didn’t want to ruin a good party because of their issue with her, knowing it wouldn’t be fair to the others. Now Twilight was feeling really upset. One day, she sat in the Cakes’ shop, sadly having a milkshake, with all her friends around her. “I didn’t think the girls could be this mad with me.” she said sadly “They don’t want anything to do with me.” All her friends didn’t act the least bit surprised. “Twilight,” said Rarity “Not that I’m actually supporting the girls, as I find their acts atrocious, I don’t think I can really blame them.” Even Spike was finally seeing the light and agreed with her. “Twilight, it’s bad enough you blamed them and punished them for a crime they didn’t commit, but the fact that you judged them and punished them without even hearing them out, and you’re supposed to know them better than that.” “I know!” Twilight said sounding on the verge of tears “Stop rubbing it in. Can’t you all just help me? I want to make it up to the girls.” The girls all feel silent, and they all had queer looks on their faces, but it was Fluttershy who surprisingly found the courage to say it outright “I’m sorry, Twilight, but we can’t help you with this.” Twilight looked at all her friends in shock and a horrifying stare. “How can you all say that?” “Um, technically, Fluttershy said it.” said Pinkie “…But the rest of us were thinking it.” Applejack gave her a look telling her that she wasn’t helping. Twilight opened her mouth protest that she thought they were all her friends, but Rainbow spoke up first, “We know what you’re going to say, and it’s true, we are your friends, but we didn’t make the mistakes. We can’t apologize to the girls for you.” “She’s right,” agreed Applejack “This is between you and the girls, not us, but we can at least talk to them. Soften them up a bit.” Twilight smiled softly, but she still only felt calmer, not better. As she, Starlight and Spike began to make their way back to Friendship Castle, Twilight noticed a lot of other ponies were giving her a sour glare as they passed by. “There she is.” “You heard what she did.” “How shameful…” “And I thought she was the princess of friendship.” They obviously knew what happened between Twilight at the girls, but all this sneering and anger was only making Twilight feel terrible again. Then, the big snap, when a big slop of mud splat right in her face, by Snails, or Snips, who saw her. “That’s what you get for being mean to our friends!” Snails snapped at Twilight. “Boys that was very rude and mean!” scolded Starlight. “Big deal!” scoffed Snips, “We heard the stories, that the so called princess of friendship judged the Crusaders wrong and banned them from her school.” While it was unknown if whether or not the other passers-by felt Twilight deserved the mud in her face or not, or even if any of themselves felt like doing, they all booed and hooted at her, which made Twilight burst into tears and dash off. “Twilight!” called Spike. Both he and Starlight felt horrible for her, and dashed on after her. Author's Note *Wicked snicker* I'm enjoying this (Kicking Twilight while she's down) Sure feels great to be bashing some characters again. I just love revenge, sweeter than chocolate.
Act 3: PunishmentAuthor's Note I do wish people would WAIT UNTIL THE STORY IS FINISHED before asking questions or judging. Answers often follow as the story unfolds Act 3: Punishment ACT THREE Once back home at the castle, Twilight was weeping most miserably. She still had a few bits of mud on her face. Her long stream of tears seemed to help wash some of it off, dirtying her face. “Twilight, come on.” said Spike. “Let us at least wipe the mud off.” added Starlight, and she levitated a wet cloth and gently scrubbed Twilight’s face clean. “They were booing me.” she sobbed “They were sneering at me, like I committed a serious crime.” “That’s ridiculous.” said Spike “Every-pony is overreacting, and I intend to find out why.” Spike then marched straight out of the castle to begin his quest, and he didn’t care if he had to go door-to-door all night. He knew Twilight didn’t deserve this treatment. Starlight decided to stay and keep Twilight comforted. “Are you going to be okay?” she asked. Twilight sadly looked up, “I don’t know, but I’ll try.” Starlight put a hoof on her back, “Don’t worry, we’ll fix this.” Twilight smiled sadly and wiped the tears from her eyes, and Starlight left her to go make her some tea to help calm her. All Twilight could do was slump onto the sofa, and she honestly didn’t know what she felt more upset about; the fact that she made a mistake and misjudged the Crusaders, they wouldn’t talk to her, accept her apology, or have anything to do with her, or the fact that now every-pony in town was treating her like a pariah because of her simple error in judgment. She began to sing a soft and sad song to herself lamenting it all, and remembering how well she got along with the girls. How has it come to this, we used to have so much fun But now we’re at such odds, is all of that friendship done Why can’t we just look up and beyond and start all over again, Why does it have to be this way, all this fussing and pain? We all make our mistakes and we learn To be better friends that we yearn But now I… don’t know why It’s all crashed and burned I try to make good but it wasn’t enough to go Now every-pony hates me more than I know How do I let it be known, how do I make them all see …I’m sorry. I just want to make things right I don’t want to yell or fight How do I let it be known, how do I make them all see …I’m sorry. The poor pony lay down miserably and fell asleep. Soon, she was awoken by the faint sound of yelling coming from outside, and it got louder and louder. “What’s that?” she wondered. She looked up at the window and noticed an ominous glow coming from the darkness. She got to the window and saw a huge and very angry mob calling to her, holding up signs badmouthing her, and holding flaming torches as well. “There she is!” “The so-called Princess of Friendship!” Boos, hoots and hisses were thrown at her, and the ponies began throwing rocks and tomatoes at the window, forcing Twilight to put up a small barrier. She then shouted through the sparkling magic, “What is all this?” The Cutiemark Crusaders then stood at the head of the mob. “It’s called punishment!” called Applebloom. “Sometimes in life,” added Sweetie Belle “A pony’s got to answer for her errors!” Twilight gasped, and then she saw Scootaloo signaling in a bunch of pegasi who were all working together to bring in a large tree-trunk they intended to bust through the castle gate with. “HO!!!” Scootaloo shouted, and the pegasi charged forth to smash the gate. Twilight yipped and quickly powered-up to conjure a barrier around the entire castle, knocking the ponies and their rammer back hard. “Your little stunts won’t save you this time!” shouted Sweetie, and she motioned for a bunch of unicorns to gather together, and enchant the rammer with their magic. “HO!!” shouted Scootaloo. The pegasi began to ram again, and with the magic enhanced on it, it was able to make cracks in Twilight’s barrier, much to her horror. “Where are all my friends?!” she cried, but then she realized “Why am I even staying in here?” She teleported out of the castle and began to soar off into the night. “After her!” shouted Applebloom. The Earth ponies began to stampede, and throwing their rocks and vegetables up at her, forcing Twilight to fly even higher up. “Please, can’t we just talk about this?” she begged and pleaded, but the ponies continued to chase her, and soon the pegasi were all on her tail. She tried to teleport anywhere to safety, but found ponies, ponies, and more angry ponies everywhere she went, and it wasn’t long before she was captured and bound with magical bindings and solid chains with iron balls, and anti-magical seals that prevented her from using any magic. Worse than that, she was brought the edge of a cliff overlooking a large body of deep water, like an ocean, which Twilight had never seen before and never knew there was, and she thought she knew all the lands. Twilight got the idea of what was coming now! “You wouldn’t?!” she cried “You can’t!” “We can…” hissed Applebloom “We would…” added Sweetie. “…And we’re going to!” snickered Scootaloo. The massive crowd of ponies cheered them on, and Twilight was then strapped onto the pole of a raft on the water, and all her friends were all bound and strapped in with her, all with anti-magical seals to prevent them from using any special abilities. “We tried to reason with them!” cried Rarity “But they deemed us as traitors for trying to help you after what you did to them. Trai-hay-hay-tor-her-hers!” Applejack looked sternly at Twilight, “That’s what we get for trying to help YOU out!” “Thanks a lot, Twilight!” sneered Rainbow. Pinkie stuck her tongue out at her, and Fluttershy wept, “I don’t want to be cast out to sea!” “We won’t!” said Twilight. “And what makes you so sure?” asked Starlight. “Because, I’m sure Princess Celestia would never allow this to happen.” “Um… Twilight…!” peeped Fluttershy and she motioned with her head at the crowd, where Twilight could see Celestia there, and looking down at her ever so crossly. “It can’t be!” she cried. Celestia stepped atop a large rock and declared, “Princess Twilight Sparkle, for your heinous crime of misjudgment, and you defiance and disregarding of the very friendship you were crowned for, I hereby strip you of your title, and banish you and your cohorts out to sea and away from Equestria, FOREVER!!” The crowds shouted with joy. “This… this isn’t happening!” cried Twilight “My friends didn’t do anything, it was my fault!” The crowd didn’t care, and Celestia gave the Crusaders the honor of launching the raft off its ramp, and she then used her powers to force the craft far, far away over the waters. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!!” screamed Twilight. It was no use! Still tied tightly to their posts, the seven ponies floated further and further out to sea, rocking back and forth against the waves. “Ugh! Oh!” groaned Applejack “I feel greener than Granny Smith with a stomach-ache.” Then her tears began to fall “…And I’m never going to see her again, or Big Mac, or the animals!” “I’ll never get to play with the Cake Twins again!” cried Pinkie. “You’ve really ruined our lives now, Twilight!” snapped Rainbow. All the others looked at her ever so angrily, and Twilight, she couldn’t have felt more sick to her stomach than ever. She and her friends were homeless, and lost out at sea with no food, and nowhere to really go. “What else could go wrong?” she asked. “…SHARKS!!” screamed Rarity. A group of sharks, with their fins sticking out of the water began to surround the raft, and one of them jumped over the group, roaring and snapping its large teeth, just barely missing them all. The other sharks began to bite and snap away the raft, piece-by-piece, and the ponies, still bound tightly and unable to use magic or any abilities, were hopeless! The sharks made a great big leap, heading straight for the gang. All of them, especially Twilight, screamed in terror as the view zoomed into the darkness of Twilight’s mouth and her scream echoed in the darkness!
Closing act: ReconcileTwilight landed with a thud on the floor, having off the sofa, and a blanket fell over her head. She frantically got up and brushed the blanket off to reveal she was in her own castle, and it was morning as the sun was starting to shine through the windows. Starlight and Spike rushed into the living room, having heard her fall and move around. “Twilight, are you okay?” asked Starlight. “We heard you, you were yelling in your sleep.” added Spike. Twilight slumped into the sofa and sighed heavily in relief. “It was all a dream. There was no angry mob!” Starlight and Spike gawked at one another with strange expressions. Starlight then spoke to Twilight, “Spike found out why the group of ponies were mean to you the other day.” Spike stepped forth, “It turns out that the girls told Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon about what happened, and Diamond told her mother what happened. Naturally, Spoiled Rich and her gossiping and blowing it all way out of proportion is never a good thing.” Starlight felt just as upset about it when she found out, and she personally wrote to Princess Celestia and asked the whole thing be straightened out at once. “Every-pony felt really bad about the way they overreacted at you,” she then motioned over at a table where sat an open mail sack of apology letters from every-pony who was mean to her yesterday. Twilight felt warm inside. Just then, there was a knock at the doors of the castle. Twilight answered it and found Snails and Snips, and they looked very sorry and very ashamed of themselves. “We… we’re very sorry for throwing mud at you yesterday, Princess.” said Snails. “Our folks sent us to apologize,” added Snips “But we were going to come anyway, and they said if there is to be any punishment, we’ll accept it, and we will. We’ll do anything!” Twilight felt touched by their sincerity, and she decided to go easy on them, by having them help her prepare her lesson plans for the school of friendship that day… Fetching books, and getting parchment and ink, and reading to her aloud from scripts and scrolls so she could write them down as part of her lectures. Then when it was time to open up the school of Friendship, Twilight was very relieved as students passed by her and bid her “Good morning” and no one was the least bit scornful to her. Twilight was really feeling her luck was starting to change, but then she looked sad again. “What’s wrong now?” asked Spike. “I just still wish I knew how to make it up to the Crusaders, but I don’t know if they’re still too mad at me.” Starlight thought, and remembered about what the girls had done that started all this in the first place. “I’ve got an idea.” And she whispered to Twilight, which made her smile widely “Yes, I’ll do it. I owe it to them.” Spike was confused, “You’re not actually going to let them into the school are you.” “Nope, something even better…” It wasn’t long before the Crusaders were brought before Twilight in her office, and they surprisingly didn’t seem as mad at her as they were before, thanks to Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack. “We all had some long talks last night.” said Applejack “The girls admitted that maybe they were a bit harsh on you.” “And when we told them of how horribly you we’re treated by all those other ponies,” added Rarity, and then she sniffled “They cried…! Well, at least I did.” The girls actually stepped forward towards the desk. “We were mad at you, Twilight,” said Sweetie “But we told Diamond and Silver we wanted to handle things on our own.” Applebloom nodded, “We weren’t speaking to you, but you didn’t deserve all that you got last night, and we’re… well…” “…We’re really sorry that you got hurt.” said Scootaloo. “You’re apology is not accepted, girls.” said Twilight. The girls felt downtrodden, but then Twilight informed them “…Because you’re apologizing for something that you didn’t do, and believe me I know you better than that.” The girls looked up at her, and of course it was true. They didn’t tell other ponies to hate on Twilight, and they were not the ones who threw the mud at her. Though they did tell Diamond, who told her mother, who twisted and turned a whole bunch of gossip to make it look worse, it still wasn’t their fault. “But why are we here?” asked Sweetie. Twilight grinned and said “Cozy Glow retook her test today, and this time she did it properly, and she got a straight A-plus, all thanks to you girls. For this, I’d like to give you these.” She levitated three large parchments at the girls. “They're honorary diplomas,” said Applejack “Makin' y'all official graduates of this here school.” “You've more than earned them.” said Rarity. “…Without even having to study!” added Rainbow. The Crusaders were speechless, and didn’t know what to say, but Twilight said to them. “And if you're interested, I think Starlight has a place for you at my school after all.” “We could use some friendship tutors on staff. And I hear you're the best out there.” The Crusaders were beaming, as they leapt about cheering and hollering. To them, this was even better than being students at the school, it was practically a job! “Um, just one last thing…” Twilight said, and she approached the girls and looked them ever so deeply in their eyes. “Girls… can you ever forgive me?” She gazed at them so deeply that the girls could see their reflections in her remorseful and sincere eyes. They looked back and forth at one another, and agreed. “If there’s one thing friends do…” said Applebloom. “…It’s forgive one another.” added Sweetie. “And we forgive you.” said Scootaloo, and they hugged her warmly, and she hugged them back with tears rolling down her face. The other ponies all were teary-eyed too, and Spike gave the girls a thumb-up. Then Twilight led the girls off to meet their first students whom she felt could use their tutoring. Starlight could only sigh, “I love being councillor here at this school.” Author's Note Oh, Gag! even though I made it so myself, it sickens me that they made up (I don't forgive and forget like that) I made this fic to show I CAN make normal MLP fics, without all my Starfleet stuff. Still, I'm glad I did this, I really needed to kick some character ass and torture them, (this busy season has been hard and still much to do) now I can get back to my busy season and prepare for THE FORCE OF HATRED where I can really kick some pony butt, and more. PS: Maybe next time you'll WAIT AND LET THE STORY UNRAVEL before you ask questions or judge as badly as Twilight did?
