They walked out of the park to the back of a school where there was a big open field with various things for sports scattered about. Babs stared up at the school, small quivers running through her body as the memories of her time there began resurfacing. She considered running away again.

She came back to the present as she felt her friends tapping her and calling her name. “Y’all right?” asked Apple Bloom.

She took a deep breath. “Not really. Youse guys promise to stay with me no matter what?”

“No matter what!”

“No matter what!” her other friends chimed in.

With another deep breath she said, “Okay. Let’s go.”

They sought out the soccer field, seeing Diamond Spoon kicking a ball around.

“HEY! Diamond Spoon!” Apple Bloom called out.

She turned around, and let out a laugh. “Well, if it isn’t the blank flank brigade. I see you’ve increased in number since the last time I saw you.”

“We challenge ya ta a soccer game!”

“Excuse me?” She let out a big laugh. “Sorry, but I’m busy playing with people with real talent. So could you please remove your talentless flanks from the field?”

“Alright. Fine, then. Come on, Babs. We can go tell everyone at your new school that Ol’ Diamond Spoon refused ta play us because she was too scared of getting beat by a group of blank flanks.”

“S-s-sounds good,” Babs replied, trying to sound tougher than she felt as they all started walking away like they had won.

“WHAT?” Diamond Spoon quickly spun around, her eyes narrowed. If they started spreading that around her reputation would be ruined. With a jump and a few flaps of her wings she landed in front of the group. “You want to be humiliated that much? Fine. At least a game with you babies will make a good warm up for our real practice.

“So, six on six. Give it your best shot.”

They walked to the middle of the field. Diamond Spoon kicked the ball to them. “We’ll be nice and let you go first. Good luck, blank flank brigade.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other, nodding. “We can do this.”

“So what do you say? First to ten acceptable?”

“Sure.”

Each of them stood opposite a member of the other team, with the exception of Silver Wing and one of Diamond Spoons’ teammates. Those two were the goalies. They had each chosen a pegasus pony as their goalie because their ability to fly gave them more versatility in their ability to guard their goal.

They were staring each other down. “On your mark… get set…” Their bodies tensed, preparing to start. “GO!”

Apple Bloom ran forward, kicking the ball between Diamond Spoon’s legs, running past her and heading toward the goal. Another member of Diamond’s team went up to block her. Apple Bloom noticed that in order to block her, she had left Sweetie Belle open. “Sweetie Belle!” she cried out, kicking the ball in her direction.

Sweetie Belle missed it but managed to catch up before the others, and kicked it over to Babs.

Babs ran up, in range to score a goal. She kicked it toward the edge of the goal post. The goalie jumped, barely missing the ball.

The team cheered. “That’s one!” said Scootaloo happily.

On defense now they tried to block Diamond’s team from getting to their goal. After a couple of passes Lemon-Lime managed to steal the ball during one. With a rapid fire pass from her to Apple Bloom to Scootaloo and back to her she kicked the ball, scoring a second goal as, once again, their goalie missed it by a few inches.

Over the next five plays their team managed to either steal the ball or block their attempts to score a goal.

Another cheer went through the team. “Wow,” said Babs. “We’re really doing it. This is amazing.”

“Seven to nothing!” Sweetie Belle whooped.

“I can’t believe it!” said Apple Bloom. “Six cutie marks, here we come!”

“Oh, wow,” Diamond Spoon remarked. “I guess we’re going to have to get serious, aren’t we… girls?”

“Like it’ll help. It’s yer ball.”

Diamond Spoon looked to three of her teammates, a smirk on her face, who each nodded. “Time for our special combination move.” She kicked the ball to her teammate, who kicked the ball up into the air. The other two teammates were standing atop one another, an earth pony who used her superior strength to launch her pegasus friend into the air, and she kicked it still higher while Diamond Spoon raced to the sky, flying fast enough to become even with it. With a flip she kicked it hard as she could.

With tremendous speed the ball knocked Silver Wing out of the way with sheer force, bouncing off her and into the edge of the net.

Diamond Spoon flew back to the ground, an arrogant grin on her face at the six open-mouthed looks of surprise on the faces of their competition. “That was our most powerful play, the Atomic Slam. You didn’t think we were taking you babies seriously, did you? I told you before. This is only a warm-up for our real practice. Seven is a good enough handicap, I think.

“Well, your move. Don’t worry. We won’t need to do that again. It’s much too powerful a play to use on you kids.”

The tables had turned. Over the next plays Diamond Spoon’s team easily blocked every attempt to get to their goal, stealing the ball. It was like they were playing an entirely different team now.

Soon, the score was tied up at seven to seven. Shortly after that, despite their best efforts, it was nine to seven.

Babs was feeling that same overwhelming despair that had overtook her before. This was utterly hopeless. There was no way they were going to win. It was just as she had thought from the start. They should never have messed with Diamond Spoon. All they did was make themselves look like fools. She was never going to live this down.

Apple Bloom could see her cousin was on the verge of breaking down again, and all of them felt a trace of it too. Once Diamond’s team started playing seriously they hadn’t been able to score a single point. “Time out!” she called out.

Diamond Spoon just laughed. “If you must. Not like it’ll make a difference. Do you need a diaper for Baby Blanky Babsy because she wet herself from fear?” All of her team cracked up. “I mean, don’t you kiddies know when to give up? It’s obvious you’re not going to win. Why waste time when you know you’re not going to score three points before we can score one?”

“Because we’re never gonna give up ta you! Even if we can’t win we ain’t gonna quit.” With that Apple Bloom turned her back on Diamond Spoon as the rest of the team huddled around her.

Babs had a hopeless look on her face. “Why bother? What’s the point? She’s right! We can’t win! We never should have done this! I shouldn’t have listened to you! We’re going to lose just like I knew we were all along! She’s too good.” She fell to the floor like she had before, her tail once more pressed to her side.

“Maybe she’s right, Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo, her head down.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just give up than make ourselves look even more stupid?” ssked Silver Wing.

Apple Bloom could see all of her friends were being infected by Bab’s pessimism, and she didn’t like it. She felt mad and more determined than ever to win. “So, what then, Babs? Is that what ya really want? Ta be a coward who never stands up fer what she believes in? If we keep playing we may lose, but it we quit now we’ll definitely lose. And if all a y’all are going to say it’s hopeless then it’s certainly going ta be. We all need ta believe in ourselves and not give up. We all love and trust each other more than they do, so I refuse ta give up. If we’re going ta lose I’m going to do it fighting ta the end.

“Ya kin try ta hide yer flank all you want, but you have two sides to yer flank and only one tail. And even if ya had two tails all ya’d be doin’ is drawin’ attention to yer blank flank.Stop tryin’ ta hide what ya are! Ya just haven’t figured out yer special talent yet, and that’s okay. Our lack of a cutie mark is what brought us tagether as friends, and it helped get ya some new friends.

“Babs, we all chose to do this together so we could help ya. Ya have ta make a choice. Ya kin can either sit there on the ground and cry and complain about how yer worthless, and believe a total jerk who cares nothin’ about ya, or ya can raise yer head high and believe in yer friends who all see yer potential and love ya with all their hearts. So which one is it going to be?”

For the next minute Babs didn’t move and didn’t respond, but finally she stood up, her tail returning to normal. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Well, there’s only one more round to go if the worst happens. No matter what the outcome I’m going to give it my best. Let’s show them our teamwork.”

Her cousin still looked conflicted, but she was at least ready to fight again. And as Babs regained her fighting spirit she could see the rest of them had it too.

Apple Bloom had them all huddle around her. “Okay, everypony. Listen carefully. They may have a lot more skill than we do, but we’re gonna take advantage of our own lack of skill ta take them by surprise.”

“Huh?” all of them responded.

“I have a few plans that will only work because they think we’re so weak and unskilled. These plans will rely on our teamwork. So listen up carefully.”

As Apple Bloom explained her idea’s all of them began snickering. It was brilliant. Diamond Spoon’s team wouldn’t know what hit them.

The huddle broke up as the team returned back to the middle of the field.

“About time!” cried out Diamond Spoon. She glanced around at the team, confused by their sudden change in attitude. Each and every one of them, even Babs, now looked confident. They surely didn’t believe they stood a chance, not after nine straight goals against them?

She dropped the ball in front of Apple Bloom, noticing that Apple Bloom’s team didn’t have a goalie, which perplexed her at first. Then it dawned on her what was going on. They were going for broke. Unless she pulled their own goalie into the action that made for six on offense verse five on defense, meaning one pony would be uncovered at all times. They figured they had nothing left to lose at this point. She found that interesting. It wasn’t like it would make a difference but at the least they finally smarted up enough to change tactics.

“You remember our plan right?” said Apple Bloom.

Her team all nodded.

“Bring it on!” said Diamond Spoon. “Show me your last desperate attempt.” Apple Bloom glared at Diamond Spoon, who met her gaze as the rest of her teammates ran into position. “Anytime you’re ready to lose. I do still have a practice to finish.”

“Fine, then.” Apple Bloom glanced over to one side of the field, seeing Scootaloo was open.

“Scootaloo!” she cried out, kicking the ball.

Diamond Spoon laughed. They really were amateurs. They always called out to the teammate they were kicking the ball to, making it easy for them during the early plays to find out each of their names. This game was over.

Diamond’s teammate jumped in front of Scootaloo, but to his surprise the ball didn’t come in his direction, but to another one of Apple Bloom’s teammates.

Silver Wing got the ball, running towards the goal as a different pony went to block their way. Babs was now open. “Babs! To you!” she cried out as she kicked the ball.

Like before, one of them went to block the player they called out to, only for it to go to another pony entirely. This time to Apple Bloom.

“Lemon-Lime!” she called out as Diamond Spoon went to block her.

This time the ball went to Sweetie Belle, who gave it a hard kick to the edge of the goal post, the confused pony missing it from expecting a different one.

Apple Bloom’s team cheered as they all met up, hugging each other.

“It went just like you said, Apple Bloom!” said Sweetie Belle excitedly.

“Yeah, that was an awesome plan!” said Silver Wing.

Diamond Spoon was trying to figure out what had just happened. How had they managed to score a goal like that? What was their game?

Her eyes narrowed again as she looked angrily at the little kiddies celebrating their point. Eight to nine now, but they weren’t supposed to have gotten any real points.

Her eyes went wide as she suddenly understood. They had used the fact they always called out the names of their teammates to their advantage. Each time they called out a teammate one of her own teammates would go to block the one they called out, leaving the one they actually wanted the ball to go to undefended. In order for them not to get confused they had to call out the other pony of the same race on their team.

She had to give it to them. It was a clever move, and it had momentarily shook them up, but that was over now. She was on offense now, so she would take care of this. She wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice.

She told her teammates what she had figured out. It only meant that they couldn’t just jump to whoever’s name was called out.

As the teams got back in position Diamond Spoon looked down at Apple Bloom with an amused smile on her face. “I’ll give you credit for that. It was a good plan. I hope you know that won’t work again.”

“I know that. That’s why we have a new plan for this round.”

Her mouth went thin. “I hope it’s enough,” she said in an annoyed voice. There was nothing more pathetic than ponies that just didn’t know when to give up.

She would end this quickly. She’d pass around the ball a few times, and then slam it in the goal for the final point. Simple.

She kicked the ball to a pegasus, who kicked it to an earth pony, her getting into position to strike. He passed it back to her. She drew her leg back, smashing the ball with all her strength. ‘Game over!’ she thought as the ball flew.

Her eyes went wide as she saw all six of them gather, three of them on top of their other three, completely blocking the net. With all of them combined they stopped the impact of the ball.

Sweetie Belle took it as the rest of them scattered. She kicked it to an open Lemon-Lime, who quickly kicked it over to Apple Bloom and then to Scootaloo. They were only half way down the field when Scootaloo kicked the ball with all her strength, but it went way too high and was going to go out of bounds so no one on Diamond Spoon’s team even tried to block it.

Diamond Spoon went to laugh but it was quickly cut short as Silver Wing jumped on top of the net with her front hooves, doing a hoofstand and catching the ball between her back hooves before swinging backwards to throw the ball into the net to the surprise of all of Diamond’s team.

Apple Bloom’s team cheered again. “This is great, Apple Bloom,” said Lemon-Lime. “Your plan worked again. We’re using our weakness at soccer as a strength.”

“Yer ball,” said Apple Bloom with a condescending grin. “It’s nine ta nine now.”

Diamond Spoon growled, gritting her teeth as she shook with anger. “These damn stupid little upstarts, thinking they’re so clever with their little tricks. I’m done playing along with these weaklings. We’re going with the Atomic Slam.”

“On them?” asked one of her teammates.

“Yes! It’s time to show them how pathetic they really are. They never had a chance to win to start with, and it’s time to show them that.”

Her teammates gathered around Apple Bloom. “Well, here it comes,” said Apple Bloom. “We knew this was coming. This is the last round. It’s us or them. The game is about ta end. We got her so mad she’s going to use that special move of hers. Well, we’ll show her we can do it just as well. It will just take us a few more ponies. Here’s where our teamwork will really show through. I’m countin’ on you, Babs.”

She nodded. “Win or lose, I’m giving it my all. I felt ready to give up before, but you’ve come up with some great plans. I’m really starting to believe we can actually win.”

“Good.”

Both teams got into formation. A unicorn on Diamond’s team took the ball, ready to kick it into the air as two more of her teammates stacked up like before.

On Apple Bloom’s side they were separated into three groups. Lemon-Lime, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom were also in a three pony stack, Scootaloo was on top of Babs and facing Diamond’s team while Babs was faced the opposite direction, and in-between them was Silver Wing standing alone.

Apple Bloom felt a little heavy with two fillies on top of her but she was still an earth pony and thus had greater physical strength.

She ran as best as she was able, and then jumped up into the air. Babs was running toward Silver Wing, who was tensing her body in preparation for her part in the plan. Babs jumped on top of her, going along with Silver Wing as she jumped again just as Silver Wing did to get extra air.

Sweetie Belle jumped from on top of Apple Bloom just as she hit the peak of her jump, and Lemon-Lime followed suit.

Babs hit the peak of her jump, landing on top of Lemon-Lime and jumping off her. Finally, she launched Scootaloo off her back into the air towards the high flying ball.

Diamond Spoon looked surprised at how well they had coordinated their ragtag team as both of them rushed toward the ball.

Scootaloo flapped her wings hard to get more air. She was ahead of Diamond Spoon so all she had to do was get there first. However, it wasn’t enough. Despite some lessons from Rainbow Dash in flying she still hadn’t mastered flying alone. She just wasn’t high enough before she stopped ascending.

Diamond Spoon let out a condescending laugh as she paused for a brief moment. “I guess in the end you babies still came up short.”

Sweetie Belle looked up with anger. “We’ve come this far! We can’t lose now!” She focused all her energy on her friend. “Come on, Scootaloo. You can do it.” She focused and focused, hoping Scootaloo would be able to bring them to victory. Suddenly, she felt a weird sensation coming from her horn.

Apple Bloom saw Sweetie Belle’s horn begin glowing green, and then at the gasp of her friends looked up to see Scootaloo zooming upward toward the ball.

Sweetie Belle was using magic! Her desire to help her friend had unlocked her power.

Scootaloo didn’t know what was happening. All she knew at that moment was that she was suddenly rushing upward toward the ball to a dumbfounded look from Diamond Spoon.

Not wanting to use the same name as their rival, and thinking of how there were six of them like just like there were six of Rainbow Dash and her friends, she came up with the perfect name for their own original move. Scootaloo flipped her body, giving the soccer ball a mighty kick as she yelled out, “Harmony Kick!”

Their goalie tried to block it but was too surprised to pay attention fully and it knocked him out of the way as the ball flew into the net.

Everyone on Apple Bloom’s team let out thunderous cheers. They hugged each other and a few of them were crying in happiness.

Scootaloo flapped her wings to slow her fall and Apple Bloom ran up to catch her as she came down.

“We did it! We won!” cried out Babs. “You were amazing, Apple Bloom!”

“ALL’a y’all wer’ amazin’! It was our teamwork that did it.”

An angry voice cut into their celebration. “I refuse to accept your victory!”

Apple Bloom looked over towards Diamond Spoon. “Why’s that?”

“You cheated! That point doesn’t count.”

“Cheated?”

“That one!” she cried out, pointing to Sweetie Belle. “She used magic! That’s cheating.”

“Ya never said we couldn’t use magic. Besides, I thought we were only practice. Don’t tell me y’all is a sore loser. If ya hadn’t held back ta show off then we’d only have three points right now anyway, right? Its yer own fault for underestimatin’ us and thinkin’ we was losers.

“We’re out of here to celebrate. We ain’t like ya, so we don’t need to go braggin’ about our awesomeness to everypony else, so we won’t go tellin’ everyone that we beat ya. It’s enough ta know that no matter what ya say from now on ya still got beat by the 'Blank Flank Brigade,' and nothin’ is gonna change that. Isn’t that right, Babs?” Apple Bloom gently pushed her cousin forward.

Diamond Spoon looked ready to burst. “You… you… you think you’re BETTER than me? Because you won a silly practice game by cheating and stupid tricks? Who do you think you are?”

“I could ask ya the same, fer thinkin’ yer so superior.”

A frenzied look appeared on Diamond Spoon’s face before she let out a strange sounding laugh. “Oh, this is just rich.” They may have won the battle, but she wasn’t going to let them win the war. “So do you feel better now, Babsy Wabsy? Now that you got your silly friends around? You haven’t changed at all, have you? You’re still a teeny baby blank flank and a talentless loser!” Bab’s tail twitched, moving over near her tail. Diamond Spoon liked that reaction. Babs was still scared of her.

Scootaloo went to speak up, but Apple Bloom put her hoof out to Scootaloo without averting her eyes from her cousin. Scootaloo looked questioningly at Apple Bloom, who shook her head, a dead serious look on her face.

Apple Bloom stared determinedly at Babs, knowing that now was the point of decision. It was time to see what Babs was going to do, who she would choose to listen to. They had helped her as much as they could; now it was time to see if Babs would believe in her friends or her bully. After all, they couldn’t always be right there whenever a bully was around. She needed to learn to speak up for herself. If Babs didn’t take this opportunity now to take back the power she had let Diamond Spoon take from her then she’d never change on the inside.

“You’re clearly no good at soccer, needing your worthless friends to feed you tricks and cheap shots for victory.” Diamond Spoon continued her tirade, continuously berating Babs as the other five of them watched. Each of the other four found it increasingly difficult to just stay silent when clearly Babs was getting upset over it. Apple Bloom believed in her cousin, though, and had no problem keeping her mouth shut.

Babs was having flashbacks of being back in her old school, of back in the days when every day this was the way it was. Diamond Spoon was always a jerk, but she seemed to seek Babs out specifically. Every time they saw one another she made sure to say something nasty. Because Diamond Spoon was popular and powerful, everyone else found it easier to go along with the crowd and bash her too. At first it had seemed reluctant, but soon enough they seemed to enjoy tormenting her too. Her parents were no help, and her older sister, while supportive, lived on her own and was too busy with school and work to always be there when she was needed.

She had felt so alone in the world. Every day was a torment. The entire world seemed to be against her. No one was on her side to tell her it was alright. Every day she was shoved, hit, laughed at. It was so painful. Her heart was at the point of breaking completely in two, never to recover again. Everything had felt like it was turning pitch black.

Suddenly… there was light. “Babs! It’s me, yer cousin Apple Bloom! And this is Scootaloo! And this is Sweetie Belle! And we are SO SO GLAD you’re here!”

That was how she had first met her cousin and her new friends. Even though she had let herself be tempted into bullying them to avoid being bullied somewhere else they still risked themselves to save her, and forgave her for the horrible way she had treated them. Then when she transferred into her new school she had met Lemon-Lime and Silver Wing. She had gained true friends just like Apple Bloom did.

“Don’t forget, Babs. Yer not alone. Not anymore.”

That was right.

“Yer our friend and family, and so all of us will share some of yer hurt.”

She had five friends willing to put themselves on the line for her. Even if she felt terrified when Diamond Spoon first showed up today Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo each stood up for her without a second thought. Things weren’t the same as they were back then. She had friends now. She wasn’t alone. They believed in her and wanted the best for her.

“Stop tryin’ ta hide what ya are.”

Even if she hid the truth with her tail it wouldn’t change what she really was. She couldn’t change herself into an entirely new pony. All she could do was try to change what she could and help her friends the only way she could in this situation: by believing in herself! By believing in the Babs that her friends saw!

“It means she’s totally not special.”

“No! It means she’s full of potential!”

Potential. Did she have a ton of that too, waiting inside her? It was time to find out. She didn’t know how far she could take it, but she was going to stand up for herself for once, because she knew if she started getting overwhelmed her friends would all be there for her if she needed it. She would take her chances flying towards the sun, knowing if she fell they would catch her.

Coming away from herself her tail returned back to its normal position. Staring at Diamond Spoon she said in a steady voice, “Why don’t you shut your big mouth for once, Diamond Spoon? You don’t know a thing about me! I have more potential in one hoof than you do in your whole body!”

“Really?” she said sarcastically.

“That’s right! You’re right. We stink at soccer and had to use tricks and magic to win. But Apple Bloom was right. If you hadn’t been so busy messing around you would have won. If you had played seriously from the start we would have lost easy.

“But so what that soccer isn’t what we’re good at. It’s enough that we beat your smug flank and I won’t ever let you forget it the next time you try to make fun of me.

“I’ll admit it. I’ve been a sniveling coward and I let you convince me that I’m talentless and worthless, but my cousin and my friends all helped me to see who I really am. Fine, we’re a blank flank brigade, but even so we still beat you. And, you know what, maybe I’ll be 'Baby Blanky Babsy' for the next few years until I find out what my special talent is, but that’s fine too. My lack of a cutie mark is what led me to all of them.” She gestured with her head to the rest of them. “I have some of the best friends around, and I wouldn’t trade them for a hundred cutie marks!

“Now I have to go! I have better things to do than spend my time picking on the losers that couldn’t even beat a team of worthless blank flanks.” With that she turned around without a second glance and began walking away.

Diamond Spoon tried to retort, but whatever it was she was saying wasn’t important, and Babs didn’t feel like listening to it. All she wanted to listen to now was the words of her friends, and the words of herself in believing she was worth something.

When they left the schoolyard and Diamond Spoon behind Apple Bloom and the rest all gave her a big group hug, congratulating her and praising her endlessly for finally having the courage to just accept herself and stand up to her greatest bully.

Babs felt herself the happiest filly in the world at that moment, tears coming down her eyes.

They all decided to go back to her house to celebrate. When they got there they were all balls of uncontained energy as they told Applejack and the Oranges about what had happened.

As soon as they were done with their tale they all got hyper, roughhousing and playing.

Applejack felt embarrassed again. “Apple Bloom! Girls! Don’t-“

“It’s alright…” said Mrs. Orange in a strange voice. It had lost the haughty tone she usually spoke in. She looked at her daughter, the mile-wide smile on her face, the twinkle in her eyes, laughing away. “This is… the first time in a long while that I’ve seen her looking so happy. For today… it’s okay.”

Applejack could see that despite what she said about Babs that her aunt did care a lot for her daughter.

For all of them it felt like too short a time they got to play together before Applejack told them it was time to get back on the train to head home. All of them said their goodbyes, pledging to visit each other again soon as the train pulled away from the station.