Rarity headed down the road in a nervous canter, her mind spinning with what might have happened. All she heard was that something serious was going on with Sweetie Belle and her friends and that she had to go to the school building right away. Now it couldn't be anything disastrous, otherwise she would have been called to the hospital or the police station, but it was serious enough that it had to be settled right away and Sweetie wasn't just sent home with a note.
She was turning down the dirt road leading away from the town centre when she heard hoofbeats behind her, fast approaching. Turning her head, she saw Applejack catching up with her in an effortless gallop, slowing down to match her pace when she caught up.
"You too? Did you hear anything?" Rarity asked nervously.
"Not more than you, Ah reckon," AJ answered more calmly, but with a serious frown, looking ahead as they approached the building, "We're 'bout ta see."
Applejack pushed open the gate and held it briefly for Rarity as they entered the school grounds. They headed up to the open door and quickly entered the classroom. Miss Cheerilee was sitting behind her desk, grading papers by the looks of it, stoically keeping watch over the three fillies sitting in the chairs in front of her.
Rarity's heart sunk immediately. Sweetie Belle was a dishevelled mess, her mane tussled and caked with mud, dirt clinging to her coat in smudges. A nasty bruise was forming on the side of her snout. She was visibly upset, her snout scrunched up and glaring at the floor.
"Sweetest, what happened?" Rarity asked gently as she quickly got to her little sister's side, starting to smooth out her mane while soothingly petting her head.
"How did ya'll get so banged up?" Applejack added, looking over Apple Bloom quickly, her bow halfway undone and two bandaids underneath her eye. She then turned to Scootaloo who was in a similar state, nudging her head a bit to look at her black eye.
"I'll tell you what happened," Cheerilee said with exasperation, putting her paperwork down, "These three got into a fight."
"Well, that's all for today then, kids. Have a good weekend!" Cheerilee smiled as her charges all excitedly got up from their chairs and started barrelling out the door. About half of them remembered to set their chairs back properly.
She waited around a bit, ordering the essays she had just collected, to see if any of the foals would still need something from her. Any questions, a walk home, things like that came up on occasion, though today it seemed like everypony was just excited to get to their weekends.
She was just about ready to pack up, when she heard shouting from outside. With a sigh, she quickly put all the papers aside and started trotting out the door, following the shrill voices to the back of the building. Just one more fight to break up, nothing out of the ordinary.
The noise rose into yelling and a few colourful words. Anxiety set in and Cheerilee quickened her gait, falling into a gallop when she heard the first wet sounds of mud and a loud yelp of pain.
"I don't know why it took me so long to notice. By the time I arrived, these three" The teacher gestured to the downtrodden fillies. "were already on top of the other girls in the mud."
Rarity looked between her sister, her friends, and the teacher, in a pondering pause. Only now did she notice the smudges in Cheerilee's coat as well, evidence of her physically breaking up the fight. "Which other girls?" she finally asked.
"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon," Scootaloo muttered from the side.
"And where are they?" AJ asked firmly.
"Their parents were already on the way to pick them up. They marched them out before I could have a proper word with them. Don't worry, I'm not just letting this go, I'll get their side after this." There was a fire in the teacher's eyes, the kind of anger she never unleashed on foals, only on parents.
"Alright. Apple Bloom, be honest now. Who started it?"
Apple Bloom shot a look up at her sister. "Why ya askin' me like that? It's like ya already decided it's our fault!"
"If it's not, why are ya avoidin' the question!?"
"Now, now, Applejack, calm down." Rarity gently put a hoof on her friend's side. "Let's hear their side of the story first, alright?"
"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were making fun of us!" Sweetie Belle finally spoke up, her voice squeaking slightly.
"That's no reason to attack anypony, Sweetie Belle. You're usually so composed about this."
"Are you gonna let me explain or not!?" Rarity put a hoof on her chest, taken aback not by her sister shouting, but by how angry she genuinely sounded. "They made fun of us and we were about to walk away, but then she said--"
"No wonder your parents are never home." Diamond Tiara sneered. She knew she had hit a nerve by the way all three crusaders had stopped in their tracks. "I bet they want nothing to do with a blank flank loser like you."
"My parents are just... busy!" Sweetie Belle turned fully around, trotting back over, her friends quickly following while shooting each other a worrying look. "Besides, Rarity looks after me!"
"Oh, yes, Rarity," Silver Spoon picked up, "that wannabe, pretending she knows anything about high class culture."
"But she's dirt poor, just like the rest of you," Tiara emphasised.
Sweetie Belle looked struck, before she suddenly boiled over. "How dare you!"
"Hey, that's enough, you two," Scootaloo tried to step in, spreading her small wings.
"Oh, do you have anything to say about it?" Silver Spoon smirked as she casually stepped in close to her. "Where are your parents? You don't even know, do you?"
"Well, I..." Scootaloo's ears folded down and she took half a step back.
"Okay, ya'll, this ain't funny no more." Apple Bloom pushed her way between them, shoving Silver Spoon firmly back. "Ya'll can make fun of us all ya want, but pickin' on our folks is too far."
"Easy for you to say, Apple Bloom," Diamond Tiara laughed. This was it, her finishing blow. "You don't even have parents!"
She had barely started her triumphant laugh when Apple Bloom's hoof caught her in the chest, sending her tumbling backwards into a puddle of mud.
Applejack's jaw tightened visibly. "Alright. Ah understand why ya'll were upset. They had no right to say anythin' like that. But ya really should know better, too. Violence is never the answer."
"Ooh, when I get my hooves on those little--" Rarity caught herself. "I will, um, have a very stern talk with their parents. Is what I mean to say."
"Besides, there are three of ya'll and two of them. It wasn't a fair fight, no matter how they provoked ya'll."
"That's not fair!?" Scootaloo chimed in, her little hoof thudding against the chair. "So one of us is just meant to stand back and watch!? Rainbow Dash told me to always back up my friends!"
"And we would have stopped!" Apple Bloom added, "But they started hittin' us back! Diamond Tiara scratched me with her tiara!" She pointed at the bandaids on her cheek.
"Silver Spoon threw mud in my mouth!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"Okay, girls." Cheerilee rapped her hoof against her desk. "You had your reasons for doing what you did. But you understand that none of you five were in the right, don't you?"
The fillies cast their eyes down. "Yes, Miss Cheerilee," they intoned in unison, though judging by their expressions none of them were fully accepting.
"Then I hope you see why I have to keep you three after class starting Monday. Rest assured that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon will not get away unscathed for what they said, either. But in the future, whether you like it or not, take that kind of thing to me, or any other adult. Don't take these things into your own hooves."
"Yes, Miss Cheerilee," they repeated, a little more relenting.
"Very good. Applejack, Rarity, if you or another family member could come back on Monday, we can all have a conversation with the other adults and--"
A gust of wind blew into the room, sending a few of the essay papers scattering across the floor, as a pegasus made an abrupt landing in the doorway.
"Scoots!" Rainbow Dash hurried over and turned the foal's head, nudging her side and prodding her wing, examining her injuries with a worried glance, before gently putting a hoof in her mane. "Did you win!?"
"--with the other responsible adults," Cheerilee re-emphasised, "and clear this up properly."
Author's Note
Sorry for the lack of proper resolution, but I had this scene pop into my mind and felt the need to write it out. Hope you enjoyed?
