“That’s why you missed the first class?” Cheerilee said.

“It was for the greater attendance good,” Scootaloo said. “We missed one class so that Sweetie Belle could appear for so many more.”

“You wouldn’t have made a detour in the first place if that’s what you cared about.”

“Well, it was that or nothing. We improved attendance, so you should be happy.”

“This isn’t about attendance statistics, it’s about two foals missing a class for no good reason and one more defying her guardian.”

“So you’d prefer if she wasn’t here today?”

“All three of you acted irresponsibly, and I’d prefer if this had never happened.”

“So yeah, you would. ‘Oh, I’d like for her to be learning things like all the others, but it would just be so awkward.’”

“I don’t support foals ignoring a punishment and coming up with the excuse of ‘improving attendance’.”

“Hey, I came up with this excuse, not her, and I deserve the credit. And if keeping some crazy guardian who keeps her foal away from school as a punishment happy means more to you than spreading knowledge, I’m not sure you should even be here.”

“Well, I’m not convinced by your argument. I’m sentencing all three of you to one hour of detention on each of the next five school days.”

“Five hours?! That’s ludicrous! We didn’t miss anywhere near that much. I’m appealing this!”

At the headmaster’s office, they had the exact same conversation.

“This isn’t in proportion to the crime!”

“I didn’t appreciate your lie about the ‘greater good’.”

“Oh, so if I was apologetic and flattering, that would mean more than giving an actual reason?”

“You know what you’re doing.”

Two days later, it continued.

“All right,” Cheerilee said, “You passed the test.”

“Yep,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah did the thing Ah missed, so can Ah go now?”

“No.”

“Well, what’s the point of keepin’ me here? Just punishment? That’s a crappy reason.”

“I don’t want you to do this again.”

“Oh, good ahdea, teach the foals consequences. Don’t avoid it ‘cause it’s wrong, avoid it ‘cause you’ll end up in jail.”

“Well, moral arguments obviously wouldn’t work with you.”

“Yeah, well... okay.”

Speaking of immorality, Apple Bloom had an evil idea to execute, with no reasons other than revenge and a love of violence. As they left the building together, she detailed the plan.

“Ah’m gonna do somethin’ to Dahmond Tiara.”

“Like?” Scootaloo said.

“Ah dunno. Somethin’ vahlent.”

“Like?” Sweetie Belle said.

“Hurt ‘er.”

“Like slap her or chop her leg off?” Scootaloo said.

“Not sure yet. But you’ll help me kidnap ‘er, right?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t see the point,” Sweetie Belle said.

“‘Cause she deserves it and it’ll be fun. Lahke, if you just wanna lah in a room and eat gels your whole lahfe, go for it, but Ah’m gonna have fun.”

“Well... obviously I don’t care about her, so if it’ll make you happy....”

“Exactly. If you say no, you’re pretty much sayin’ that you’d rather have her have that happiness.”

“I’ll help.”

By the time she made it home, Apple Bloom still had no idea how long or severe the torture should be. During the night, she came up with some general ideas of what to do, all of which were scribbled on a piece of paper and crossed out sometime later, and she went to bed not knowing how she would track Diamond Tiara until she was alone, take her somewhere without anyone noticing, or what to do to her afterwards.

The next day, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were talking between classes, because that’s what they always did between classes. Most students of the school were firmly divided into groups of three or four friends who rarely talked to the others, which when combined with everyone’s obviously limited life experience resulted in the more than occasional extreme opinion.

“Of course anypony caught transporting beets should be executed,” Scootaloo said. “You’re acting like that’s some weird thing to say.”

“Sorry,” Apple Bloom said. “So to back to Dahmond, you said you had an ahdea?”

“I’m just wondering, what if she gets hungry? How long before you give her food?”

“Implahin’ ever....”

“Well, that puts an upper limit on how long you’re keeping her.”

“Yeah, but Ah wasn’t thinkin’ about overnaht anyway.”

With no one having any ideas, the conversation abruptly ended. Apple Bloom left school with no more ideas than before, but as she walked home, she stepped on a littered bag of crisps. “Wait a minute...” she said to herself, “That’s it! Ah’ll... okay, don’t get too excahted, you still have to work out how you’re foalnappin’ ‘er. But still!”

However, she would never figure out how to kidnap her. Over the next fortnight, her thoughts gradually dropped the subject, and she never tried to abduct anyone after all.

THE END Next Chapter: Chapter 38: Four Tickets Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 4 Minutes