Sweetie Belle sighed with a vacant expression upon her face, they used to hurt her feelings, used to make her cry but now the two fillies only served as an annoyance if anything.
They continued on in the traditional cycle they all shared, funny how repetitive bullies are. Time and time again they repeated the same tired lines to the three fillies, was it for the lack of better things to do or was it simply that their posh brains could only come up with a mere one or two insults?
At this point Sweetie was leaning towards the later of two choices. The only thing they had was they were all blank flanks, Twilight already said its a good thing that it gave them more time to discover who they are.
Come on now, how cool and special can be a talent that's wearing a tiara? Monkeys can be trained to write after all, you can dress up a rock.
It never ceased to make the orange Pegasus grin as she pondered just how lame they really were, considering her sidekicks talent was a spoon. Silver was rich so what? If that is all they can amount to what happens when the bits run out? They will be the laughing stock of Equestria.
Now the girls were not the type to get cross or think ill thoughts about others but the evidence was sort of piling up against the bullying duo. They had peculiar marks,never showed there special talents off, and despite being amazingly wealthy... only had each other as friends.
Now it was common place for the wealthy to accumulate a click of sorts, have an herd of followers at their beckon call but this was not the case. Every time they were spotted it was always just the two of them, curiouser and curiouser.
Apple Bloom was the first to break their silence as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon continued on with their routine shtick.
" Are yall quite done? We have important things to do today...yea we aint got no cutie marks but we get to have fun filling it in."
Apple Bloom smiled to Diamond and attempted to move out of the way.
The pink filly scoffed and smiled down at them." Oh puhlease...whats the best your gonna have? Apples? Your whole family is nothing but farmers there is no great and grand mystery about your talent...in manual labor." She snickered along side Silver Spoon.
Apple Bloom was tired of this most of all, she had put up with them for far too long and she thought it was high time that somepony told these two the good honest truth.
"I am proud of my family, without my family you gals wouldent be sittin pretty in luxury neither..I would rather have a mark for a hard worker than a lame one like yers."
The pink and grey fillies gasped at her words in unison, Diamond being the one to go on the offensive.
"Lame!? What exactly are you implying hillfilly?"
"Yall heard me...what kind of talent is having jewelry on yer head? Its not one..." The yellow filly leaned in and took the tiara from her head, placing onto her own. "See? Look everypony I have a special talent I can wear a tiara...." she took it off and tossed it at Diamonds feet with a cross look on her face.
" I may be a 'Hillfilly' but at least I will be a special one. Face it girls you have no talent."
This was the only act of cruelty Apple Bloom was capable of and as soon as the rage subsided and the calm returned she felt untold regret in her heart. Before her the look on Diamonds face was a broken one, she sat there staring down at her tiara the tears forming silently in her eyes as Silver hid her face in her friends mane.
The next day school went on as usual except for something felt off. None of the crusaders could put their hooves on it but it felt as if something or somepony was missing from their Tuesday afternoon. That is when they saw the two empty desks.
Their tormentors were not in class, the girls smiled to one another in glee. The truth had indeed set them free, hopefully the next time they showed up they would be better ponies and they could all be friends.
The days lugged on and the desks remained vacant, it was a week before Cheerilees concern was more than evident on her face. True while they were the meanest little fillies they were also good students. One would never have guessed it but Diamond for all her heckling and defiant appearance was a straight A student and Silver close behind.
"Class, I am going to ask everpony so be honest. When was the last time anypony saw Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon? They have been absent for little over a week." She was hoping to hear some good news but the blank expressions meant nopony had seen the duo sense the last week.
The next day it happened, it was revealed to the class they had gone missing after their altercation with Apple Bloom. Neither of them came home that day. Their parents were used to them vanishing off the map for days at a time, usually to coax them into getting whatever trendy saddle was in stores. They never ran too far tho, they kept a secret clubhouse of their own that Filthy Rich stumbled upon one afternoon.
He knew if they ran there it usually meant they were upset or scared of something. But this time there was no light lit in the club house, no shadows on the wall for their story time.
They were nowhere to be found.
Apple Bloom stared at the poster holding the image of their once proud bullies. The picture provided was one of them together at the rodeo with Braeburn.It showed a different side to them, a happier side.
They had always seen such a dishonest smile from the duo so to see such honest ones caused them to doubt how they viewed them.
The hunt for the duo was in full swing,there was no place left untouched by the royal guard and the concerned citizens of Ponyville. It no longer mattered how mean they appeared at times, they were now two of their own lost and alone and they would do all they could possible to bring them home safe and sound.
'If you look in the mirror and don't like what you see, you can find out first hand what its like to be me.'
There is nothing like such sorrow to show you what is really important.
Days turned to weeks...and weeks into months until finally the crusaders were mares with marks upon their flanks. The search never ended for some even as hope seemed to run dry the search continued for the crusaders and the duos families.
They were but a mere memory to many now, fading away in the back of their minds into nothing. Only those who pressed on, who hoped could recall their faces or place their names.
The farm had become barren,half of the acre had rotted away the spring after the duo vanished. Apple Bloom thought of it as a reminder, a punishment of what she had done to them without knowing them...
They had searched their rooms several times to no avail but it was when they searched the secret clubhouse they found a small treasure hidden under a floor board. It was a diary that they shared. Every day sense finding it the contents haunted Apple Bloom, she never had the heart to share it with Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo.
She wanted them to remember the duo as the proud girls they portrayed. Only she would bear this weight upon her shoulders.
Every page revealed dark secrets of the duo and an untold sadness that flowed into their lives like a river.
