Romance and the Fate of Equestria

Chapter Eighty-Six

Scootaloo flapped into her usual classroom, surveying it from high above before heading for her familiar desk. With her gangly figure, she had a hard time fitting into the tiny desk chair.

"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle said gleefully. "How was Cloudsdale?"

"So amazing!" Scootaloo gushed.

"What did you do?"

"Well, the point of it all was to create a clip showing off Angel Aquamarine's acting chops," Scootaloo explained with bouncing enthusiasm. "She was in full Snowdrop makeup, and my job, along with some other kids, was to gossip about her behind her back. She just had to listen and react. And boy, did she. She's gonna be such a big star…"

"How did she react?" Sweetie Belle asked, her eyes widening.

"Just… pain," Scootaloo said softly. "And sadness. She does this thing where her eyes kind of… quiver. It's really something! Apparently, Snowdrop really did have ponies whispering about her, right there where she could hear them, just constantly, wherever she went. If it had been me… I'm not much for confrontations, but even I would have snapped and started beating ponies up. But Snowdrop suffered in silence, and so did Angel Aquamarine. I was moved."

Sweetie Belle giggled with barely-contained excitement. "So, are you going to be in the movie?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "It was just a screen test. But I think so."

Sweetie gasped.

"That's right," Scootaloo said smugly. "Princess Luna said she wouldn't dream of not including me. After all, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are her prized students. I'm gonna see, you know, if my parents will let me… but if they do, I think I'll be playing Cumulo Nimbus."

"Oh my gosh!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "That's fantastic!"

"Yep. History's most reviled schoolyard bully. It's an awesome responsibility, but the princess is all about making unorthodox casting choices," Scootaloo mused. "She thinks I can do it. Says I have a certain 'maturity'… maybe that just means I'm tall, I dunno. Either way, she thinks I'll be a very convincing Cumulo Nimbus."

"So, wait," said Silver Spoon from a row over. "Cumulo Nimbus was an actual pony? I thought it was just a generic term for a bitchy pegasus filly."

"Nope, she was the real thing," said Scootaloo. "The famous tormentor from pretty much any book about Snowdrop's childhood. And I've gotta step inside her head."

"Wow," said Silver Spoon, impressed. "So how do you think you're gonna pull that off?"

"I figure I'll do an impression of you."

"That'll work," Silver Spoon said brightly.

"So," Sweetie Belle said slyly, "are you thinking… acting cutie mark?"

"Me?" Scootaloo said in surprise. "Huh, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe, maybe not, doesn't matter. Angel Aquamarine, for sure."

"Cool."

Silver Spoon grinned suddenly at the approach of a cream-colored filly with long, silky red hair, her pink eyes outlined in black and her eyelashes extremely prominent. "Hey, good-lookin', where you been all my life?" Silver Spoon said loudly.

The filly blushed. "Hi, Thilver Thpoon."

Sweetie Belle did a massive double-take. "Twist? Oh my gosh, Silver Spoon was right! You're completely gorgeous!"

Twist giggled, self-consciously running a hoof through her newly smooth and straight mane.

"Why today?" Silver Spoon inquired. "I've been trying to get you to come to school like this for weeks."

Twist shrugged. "I don't know. I jutht didn't feel like it until now. Now, I've been thtuck in a rut… I dethided it wath time to try thomething new."

"Well, I love it!" said Sweetie Belle, hopping out of her desk to hug Twist tightly. "You're such a prettyful filly!"

Twist hugged her back, then looked over her shoulder at Truffle Shuffle, who was sitting in his desk and staring at her in stunned disbelief.

"Hi," she said, gently tapping Sweetie Belle aside and approaching him.

"Hey," he whispered. "You look…" He swallowed hard and looked her over, taking in every inch of her. After a few seconds, he looked her straight in the eye, and said with a straight face, "I liked you better before."

She nearly lost her balance in a fit of uproarious laughter. "I'll… I'll be honetht," she said when it was done, wiping a tear from her eye, "it doethn't really matter if you approve or not. I did thith for me. Thith ith what I think of me. Doethn't matter what anypony elthe thinkth…" She slid into her desk, directly in front of Truffle Shuffle's.

"Well, it's great," he said softly. "And I do approve. I'm glad that you did this for yourself."

She turned to him seriously. "Yeah, but who careth what you think?"

"Of course," he muttered.

Twist smiled. "You know I'm kidding, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

She batted her eyelashes at him repeatedly.

"What's up?" he said, puzzled.

"Contact lentheth, they take thome getting uthed to," she explained.

"Oh." Truffle Shuffle blushed and continued staring at her. "I never realized you were so much hotter than me. I mean, I knew you were, just not… that much."

She giggled and blushed, before turning back around, looking at the surface of her desk.

"Maybe I should lose some weight," Truffle Shuffle said thoughtfully.

"You don't have to do that," Twist said hastily.

"No, I want to," Truffle Shuffle decided. "I really do."

Twist turned to him once again. "Okay, but do it becauthe you want to, not becauthe of what ponieth will think about you and me. I love you and I'm lucky to have you, no matter what we look like."

He smiled. "I love you too, Twist. I will start trying harder to look good for you. You deserve it. You always have."

She reached out to touch his hoof. "Whatever you wanna do ith fine, my very thpethial thomepony."

"Awww," Sweetie Belle sighed, getting back in her desk. "They're so lucky. I want what they have so much." She turned to Scootaloo. "Don't you?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "Maybe someday. Not right now."

Another filly entered, getting into the desk between Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Her coat was stark white, she had a black mane and tail each with small streaks of red, her hooves were black and polished, and her eyes peered out sleepily behind heavy black lids. In her mane was a large black bow covered in metal hooks, staples, and studs.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said absently, one after the other. They hesitated, then as one, whirled back on the new arrival and exclaimed, "Apple Bloom?"

"Mornin', y'all," she said cheerfully.

"Wow," Sweetie Belle gaped. "Just… wow."

"You like it?" said Apple Bloom, spreading her hooves and presenting herself. "Tell me you like it."

"It's… shocking," Scootaloo said shakily. "I would never have seen this coming. I wouldn't even have recognized you. But yeah… I definitely like it."

"Yeah, ya do," Silver Spoon said smugly.

"But Apple Bloom… why?" Sweetie Belle demanded.

"She's adopting a cynical style to cope with a cynical world, girls," Silver Spoon proclaimed gravely.

"Heh heh, no," Apple Bloom chuckled. "I just… since I got my cutie mark I've felt different, so I wanna look different. It's not that big a deal."

"Maybe not to you, but it's the most fun I've ever had!" said Silver Spoon. "Hey, Twist, come here a minute."

Twist was stretched across two desks—her hind hooves on the back of her own desk chair, while her upper body was on Truffle Shuffle's desk, her lips tenderly locked with his. She pulled away in irritation and raised an eyebrow at Silver Spoon.

"Just for a second," Silver Spoon said reassuringly, tugging Twist along and pushing her and Apple Bloom to the front of the classroom. "You see these two?" she announced to the entire class. "These are my girls!"

She pointed to each of them in turn. "I did this, and I did this! Because I'm part of this totally awesome posse of really great fillies! Oh, fillies and Truffle Shuffle, of course. Hi, buddy!" She beamed and waved to him. "You'll get your girlfriend back in just a sec—Hey, you! Camera guy! Take a picture of all of us with our awesome makeovers!"

The blue colt who took pictures for the school paper stepped forward. Silver Spoon wrapped her front legs around Apple Bloom and Twist's shoulders, and all three of them grinned into the camera as the colt took a picture.

"Yay!" said Silver Spoon as all of them began returning to their seats. "I'm gonna need the negative of that photo, incidentally. Wouldn't want you spreading it where it doesn't belong."

"So Silver Spoon did all of that?" Sweetie Belle said quietly, marveling at Apple Bloom's appearance.

"Helped me out, yeah," said Apple Bloom. She frowned. "That's okay, right?"

"Well… I would've been able to help…" Sweetie Belle pouted.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Apple Bloom said hastily. "Even for Silver Spoon; she just told me what to do, didn't get to see anythin' 'til just now."

"Oh… okay," Sweetie Belle submitted.

"So Scootaloo, how was your trip to Cloudsdale?" Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo started to answer, but was interrupted by Cheerilee entering the classroom. "I'll tell you later," she muttered.

"Good morning, my little ponies!" said Cheerilee. "Twist, Truffle Shuffle, no making out in class."

Twist slid off of Truffle's lap and back into her own desk in a single fluid motion, blushing red.

"Oh!" Cheerilee said in pleasant surprise at the sight of Twist's face. "You look very nice, sweetheart." She glanced at Apple Bloom and did a double-take. "Apple Bloom, is that you?"

"Eeyup."

Cheerilee smirked broadly and nodded slowly. "Tubular," she stated.

Apple Bloom giggled.

"Well, everypony, I guess we're—"

Diamond Tiara walked into the room, slowly making her way toward her desk. Cheerilee scowled.

"Diamond Tiara?"

"Yes, Miss Cheerilee?" she said back in smarmy tones.

"That's the ninth time this semester you've been late," Cheerilee stated gently. "That counts as three absences. If you don't wish to repeat this grade, I would recommend trying to make it in on time for the rest of the foreseeable future."

"Sure thing, ma'am," Diamond Tiara said casually, leaning back in her seat, her front hooves behind her head and rear hooves on the desk.

"Right," Cheerilee muttered. "Where was I?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Outside that afternoon, the Cutie Mark Crusaders ate their lunch under the shade of a large tree, while Twist and Truffle cuddled up against its trunk.

Diamond Tiara marched toward them, Silver Spoon in tow. "Hello, girls," she said.

"Hey," Apple Bloom responded.

"Hi?" Sweetie Belle said doubtfully.

"Nice makeovers, you two," said Tiara, nodding to Apple Bloom and Twist.

"Thank… you?" Apple Bloom said uncertainly.

There was a heavy silence. Scootaloo leaned in and whispered to Sweetie Belle. "Oh my gosh, you realize what just happened? She's got nothing. She actually can't think of anything bad to say about the makeovers!"

"Holy cow," Sweetie Belle breathed.

"Um… yeah," Diamond Tiara said suddenly. "Nice try, uh, disguising yourselves. Too bad everypony at this school already knows who you are." She pumped her hoof in the air. "HA! I knew I had something. Didn't I tell you?" she said to Silver Spoon. "Didn't I say that if you lit a fire under me, I'd come up with something? I do my best work under pressure." She grinned wickedly at the group under the tree one last time before sauntering off.

"Yep, you pulled it off," Silver Spoon agreed. "Nicely done." She winked at the Crusaders before following Diamond Tiara off.

"I don't get it," said Truffle Shuffle. "She was just parading you around in front of the whole class, but now she's being covert? Wait… is Diamond Tiara the only one who doesn't know Silver Spoon is cheating on her?"

"Sure looks that way, don't it?" said Apple Bloom. "I guess so. Silv wants to stay friends with Tiara. She's tryin' to get her to ease up, get her used to the idea. I think she's hopin' to see Tiara hangin' out with the rest of us someday."

Twist snuggled closer to Truffle Shuffle. "Well, thtranger thingth have happened," she said.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Endnotes

It's kind of hard, on top of everything else in this fic you have to remember, keeping track of all the visual changes that I've been applying to the Crusaders and their peers, be they cutie marks, makeovers, or just plain growing up. I guess it's kind of ill-advised. It'd seem like a better idea if this story was told in some kind of visual medium.

Which, incidentally, I'm actually working on, assuming a novel with a detailed illustration at the beginning of every chapter qualifies as a visual medium. If you haven't already, go to my profile and check out the link to my deviantArt account. There you'll find concept art, cover illustrations—an in-progress visual guide to the Romance and the Fate of Equestria world. (Plugtastic!)