Don't Ever Forget

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PAINTERS!!! YAY!" Three fillies yelled out loud.

"Applebloom, we need more blue!"

"Ah'm on it! Sweetie Belle, get us more brushes."

"Okay! Scootaloo, how's the paper?"

"It's still drying!"

Three best friends chatted about supplies for their latest scheme to get their cutie marks faster. One pony watched them from afar, a spotted colt, younger than most of the other foals in Miss Cherilee's classroom. Pipsqueak had a hard time making friends, aside from the ponies he hung out with on Nightmare Night. Those fillies were being nice to him, since he had just moved to Ponyville at the time. Pipsqueak hadn't really talked to them ever since. He had talked to and became friends with one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, an orange filly pegasus. Scootaloo had decided to become Pipsqueak's first real friend. But they didn't really get chances to hang out. Scootaloo was always busy with her crusading, so Pip didn't really have anyone to hang out with at school.

The colt sighed, "I wish I had someone to talk to."

"I can talk with you!"

"Who said that?" Pip looked around. He saw a blonde unicorn sitting at his table.

"Me! My name's Dinky, Dinky Doo. You're Pipsqueak, right?" The unicorn seemed very cheery.

"Yeah, but you can call me Pip. I think I've seen you around before, but I haven't really seen you so excited.”

"Oh, that's because I'm shy. I wanted to talk to you earlier, but I didn't want you to get picked on. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon keep teasing me, and I thought if I tried to talk to you, they'd see me and make fun of you too. But Diamond Tiara is out sick today, so Silver Spoon didn't feel like bugging me." said Dinky.

"Really? Wait, what did they tease you about?" Pip asked.

"Oh. They make fun of me because of my family. They say my mom is clumsy, dumb... embarrassing..." Dinky sniffed as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know. You don't have to talk about it." Pip tried to comfort her.

"...Thanks. But I still think my mom is awesome. She gives me a fresh baked muffin every day in my bag lunch! But... I never really get to eat it. Some colts take it away from me and promise to not bully me." She said sadly.

"That's terrible! You don't ever tell Miss Cherilee?" he asked.

"No. They tell me if I do, they'll get their other friends to bully and tease me." she said.

"They're probably just lying. Don't worry about them. At lunch today, you eat your muffin that your mom made for you, and not any bully colt. I'll make sure they won't bully you." Pip told the unicorn.

"Really? How?" she asked.

"Don't worry about how. Just know that as long as I'm here, no one will bother you, I promise!" Pp said.

"Oh thank you!" Dinky hugged Pip. "I'm so glad we're friends now... We are friends, right?"

"Of course! Friends 'till the end." Pip said with cheer.

********************

At lunch, Dinky did as Pip told her to. She unwrapped her bag lunch, took out her muffin and took a huge bite. As soon as she did, she was gripped by the flavor. No wonder the bullies wanted her muffin every day. Speaking of which, the colts began to walk towards the table Dinky sat at.

"Hey, Donky! Where's my muffin?" one of them said. Their leader stared Dinky down.

"I-it's Dinky, and I already started eating it, so I can't really give it... to... you..."

"You bit it? I see. I thought we had a deal. Guess you went back on your end of the deal, huh? Oh well, guess we'll have to teach you a lesson. Right guys?" the leader asked.

"Yeah, a lesson.” one of the other colts said.

"No. You're going to let her eat her muffin. It doesn't belong to you." Pipsqueak came over to Dinky's table, defending his new friend.

"Is that a fact? What if I say it's my muffin, huh? What are you gonna' do about it, runt?” their leader said.

Pip felt scared, but he was determined to defend Dinky. "I-I'm gonna' stand my ground. I won't let you hurt Dinky. Leave her alone, and let her eat in peace. Stop taking her muffins."

"Make me. Oh wait, you can't. You're just a little, weak, colt. Oh wait, that's not right. I should say filly." The colt sneered at Pip while his friends laughed at Pip.

"I'm n-not a filly." Tears began to well up in Pip's eyes. "I'm not weak either. Leave Dinky alone."

"Oh look! The little filly's cryin'! I'll let you in on something. You don't cry in public. It lets us know you're weak. How weak? I dunno'. Let's find out. Snips, Snails!" their leader barked.

"Yeah boss?" the two colts said in unison.

"Hold him to the ground. I'm gonna' teach him a lesson about cryin'."

"B-but won't that hurt him?" Snips asked.

"It's either him or you. I got more than one colt to help me out. You refusing to help only means more lessons to be taught. Now do it!" their leader ordered.

"Okay... sorry Pipsqueak, we don't wanna' get beat up." Snips said to the spotted colt. Snips and Snails grabbed Pip's hooves, holding him to the ground.

"Let go of me! You guys don't have to do this. You can help me!" Pip yelled.

"Shut up!" their leader kicked Pip. Pip let out a sharp yelp of pain. He began to let tears fall.

"Leave him alone! You guys can have the muffin. I'll ask my mom for more tomorrow, just let him go!" Dinky pleaded. By now, a crowd had formed, witnessing the young colt being beaten, but not doing a thing about it. One pegasus, however, seemed to be missing.

"It's not about the damn muffin anymore! It's about teaching him a lesson to not cry in public, and it looks like it’s not working!" the leader kicked Pip again, causing more tears to come out of the little colt. "Shady, hold her back. I'm not done teaching him."

"...Okay." Shady Daze, another one of the leader's minions, grabbed Dinky.

"Let me go!" Dinky screamed.

"Sorry Dinky, can't. I wanna' help, but I don't wanna get beat up either." Shady held Dinky back from Pip.

"You don't have to! If you and Snips and Snails join forces with me, we ca-AHH! Please stop! I can't breathe." Pip was suffering, groaning, crying. The leader wouldn't let up.

"I said shut it! You still crying? That's nothin'! Rumble, come help me! Let's show this brat why you don't mess with us!"

The leader called out to another member of the group, a pegasus named Rumble.

"Okay." Rumble began to walk through the crowd and joined his leader.

"Go ahead Rumble. Take a shot. Hit him with everything you got, or I will. On the both of you." he snarled.

"Please help." Pip was silently crying now, in so much pain he could barely keep his eyes open. By now, Snips and Snails were looking away, too ashamed of how they were helping, of how they were being cowards.

"I'll hit him with everything I got. And more." Rumble glared at Pip.

"Good to see you don't hesitate. Go ahead." the leader looked upon Rumble in a proud way. "Him him as hard as you can!"

Rumble raised his hoof. He swung. Pip flinched, but heard a different pony yell out in pain. He also heard everypony gasp. Rumble had punched his leader, hard in the eye.

"What the buck is wrong with you!?" he yelled at Rumble.

"You said hit him with everything I had, so I did. Just a different him. I'm not gonna' let you beat up Pipsqueak over a muffin." Rumble said with fierce eyes.

Both Pip and Dinky stared in disbelief, silently thanking Rumble for standing up for him.

"Why you little-"

"That's enough!" Miss Cherilee had entered the lunchroom, with Scootaloo at her side. The crowd opened up, letting Miss Cherilee through. "Lance, you're coming with me. So are Snips, Snails, Shady Daze, Rumble, and Pipsqueak. Scootaloo, thank you for telling me about this. I only wish you came sooner so that I could've prevented these injuries."

"You’re Welcome, Miss Cherilee. I wish I told you faster, too." Scootaloo was staring at Pip and his injuries.

"Come on boys, let's go." Miss Cherilee escorted the colts out of the lunchroom, putting an end to the scuffle, leaving a very saddened unicorn behind.

********************

A week after the fight, Dinky was alone at a lunch table, silently eating her lunch. Pip had been taking to the hospital after Miss Cherilee contacted his parents. He didn't tell Dinky that he was very frail, so Lance's beating left him severely injured. Rumble, Lance, and the other colts were all suspended. Lance was expected to be sent to an academy for young colts on account of his violent behavior. Dinky felt guilty for bringing Pip into this whole mess. She was comforted by Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle, whom she befriended a while after the events. But she still felt terrible. Every day that Pip wasn't at school, she was reminded of what happened. She only wished Rumble could come back sooner so she could thank him for standing up for them. She wished  even more that Pip would get well faster, so she could apologize for the whole mess.