Ghost POV

"Ghost Ghost get up get up!" Applebloom yelled in my ear, startling me awake.

"Huh wha!?" I gasped, looknig around. Applebloom's grin was as wide as Princess Celestia's wingspan, and she was hopping around as if she was crazy. "What's going on?"

"We gotta go to school early today! Ah gotta show somethin' to the class!" Applebloom explained. It wasn't until now that I noticed that Applebloom was wearing her crusader cape, as I fumbled out of bed.

"Does it involve your cape in any way?" I asked, grabbing the Red Bow on the nightstand and tying it around my neck. She nodded up and down excitedly, bouncing around just like Pinkie Pie would.

"Yep! Now c'mon! We gotta get going!" Applebloom exclaimed, grabbing my hoof and dragging me out of our room and downstairs. I managed to catch a glimpse of the wall clock and saw that it was 7:10, way to early in my opinion. As we rushed through the kitchen, catching the bewildered glances of Applejack and Granny Smith, I heard Applebloom holler a quick farewell before we were out the door.

"Applebloom! Hold on for a second!" I yelled, barely able to thrown on my disguise before we were in the public eye. "What are you in such a hurry for? We have all of lunch and recess to show off whatever you did with your cape!"

Applebloom didn't slow down or make indication that she heard me, so I just groaned and tried to keep up with the energetic filly.

"Here we are!" Applebloom yelled, coming to a screeching halt a bit of a ways away from the Schoolyard. "Let's find a good hiding spot!"

I blanched at those words. "Hiding spot? For what? Are we trying to scare somepony?"

"Course not! Ah jus' wanna make sure that everypony is here before I show them what ah have!"

"And what did you get? Why didn't we just show up a bit later!?"

Applebloom didn't respond that time, continuing to look around for a hiding spot. I sighed and teleported us both to the top of the closest house to the school, giving us a good view of the Schoolhouse and the surrounding area.

"So... how was bowling yesterday?" I asked, trying to prevent an awkward silence from setting in. Applebloom sighed and shook her head.

"No luck there. All we got were lousy gutter balls and sometimes we accidentally let them fly backwards." Applebloom groaned. "There was this group behind us with one big stallion yellin' 'bout who this wasn't war, there were rules, but I didn't listen to him."

I chuckled at that, seeing the ridiculousness of the entire situation. "What happened after?"

"Well... ah was in a bit of a bad mood after that, so a bunch of ponies tried to cheer me up. None of it helped, so ah was goin' to see Zecora if she could do anythin' about it."

She continued to tell me about how she chipped her tooth and how Zecora was able to fix it, but I felt she was omitting a few parts from me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to question her about it because as we were talking, we failed to notice that almost all of the other colts and fillies had arrived, and were running around the schoolyard before the day began.

"Oh! They're here! Git us down there Ghost! Git us down there!" Applebloom yelled excitedly, tugging on my hoof. I nodded and my horn began to glow. With a large green flash, I teleported me and Applebloom down to the ground, and she immediately went dashing off to find Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

I let her run off, a bit more concerned with finding Diamond Tiara. I looked around and found the filly in question underneath one of the trees, speaking with Silver Spoon in a hushed tone. I walked towards them, only to be cut off by Rumble. "Hey, I'm trying to walk here." I grunted, trying to move around him.

"What happened at Diamond Tiara's house? Ponies around town were saying that she almost drowned." He asked, a bit more forcefully than necessary.

"I don't think that's any of your business. Now if you'll excuse me..." I went to move around him, but he extending his wings and blocked me off.

"I know you were there with here, I saw you 3 walking away from school together. One of her servants said how the 'strange green colt' got her out of the pool." He continued to question.

"This matters why?"

"I don't know... But I think I've heard someponies talk about how close you're getting to Diamond Tiara..."

I was about to yell at Rumble to go fly through a thorn bush, but simultaneous yells caught my attention. "Aah! Apple Bloom! You got your cutie mark!"

I turned towards the yells to see that Applebloom was proudly displaying her flank, showing a cutie mark of a... circular object? I realized that was why she was wearing her crusader cape, to hide her cutie mark. Unfortunately... I saw right through it...

As a changeling, I knew how to spot anything that was out of place or false. I had to be careful that whenever I morphed, everything had to be spot on. Applebloom's cutie mark had a strange magic radiating from it, not harmonious or chaotic even. It felt malicious in general, as if it came from unnatural means.

Of course I wouldn't just expose her like that to everypony, she just had to learn her lesson over time. All of the foals were cheering for Applebloom as she spun a loop-de-hoop around her waist, eventually spinning it with her tail and hooves too, when Ms. Cheerilee came walking out of the schoolhouse and towards all of us.

"Apple Bloom?" Cheerilee said with a very stern tone of voice. Applebloom immediately stopped showcasing her talents when she heard the mare speak. "I want you to take your loop-de-hoop into the yard... and give us all a lesson in your amazing loop-de-hooping!"

Everypony cheered, but I was pretty sure that was just because they got to get a day out of class and play around with loop-de-hoops. Ms. Cheerilee brought out a wagon filled with plastic loop-de-hoops, and I took them out with my magic and began to give them to everyone.

As I went to go and give one to Rumble, he just grunted and swatted it out of the air, standing off to the side away from everyone. Not wanting to deal with his attitude, I just put his on the ground and walked away, going towards Applebloom who was continuously spinning her loop-de-hoop on her tail.

"Wow... that cutie mark just.. came out of nowhere didn't it?" I asked, a hint of teasing behind my voice. "Almost as if by... magic."

She scowled at me and poked me in the chest. "Are ya accusin' me of somethin'?" She questioned, and I just waved my hoof.

"Of course not! It's just that, when you were telling me about your day up there on the roof, you told me you went to Zecora, who you told me was one of the best potion makers in Equestria. And you never mentioned playing with a loop-de-hoop that day either. Just a bunch of strange coincidences that don't add up." I whispered.

"Well ah didn't tell ya about the loop-de-hoop because ah wanted it to be a surprise!" She covered, her eyes darting back and forth like her sisters did. I guess the Apple Family just had a tell.

"I guess that's believable. Have fun loop-de-hooping!" I laughed, walking away from Applebloom.

This was going to be funny to watch fall apart.