Scootaloo zoomed through the air faster than she ever had before. A large grin was plastered to her face as she blasted through some clouds, before turning to her partner, Rainbow Dash. The two of them were wearing matching Wonderbolt outfits, and were in charge if clearing the sky above Ponyville.

“You ready, kid?!” Rainbow Dash shouted over to Scootaloo, lowering her goggles over her eyes.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo shouted back, mimicking the motion.

The two started to flap their wings faster, and began speeding up greatly. This was it. This was the moment that Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash would simultaneously break the sound barrier. The moment that Scootaloo had waited so long for. It was all about to become reality!

“-loo? Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo’s eyes slowly began to open, and she raised her head slowly. She took a moment to figure out where she was.

“Are you back with us, Scootaloo?” Cheerilee asked, narrowing her eyes at the orange Pegasus filly, who was smiling back sheepishly.

“I-I wasn’t sleeping, Miss Cheerilee! Honest!” Scootaloo responded.

“Really? Then perhaps you’d like to answer the multiplication question I just gave you?”

Scootaloo winced, and quickly thought up a random number in her head. “82?”

Snickers could be heard from almost every student in the class, and Scootaloo felt her face beginning to heat up as her cheeks turned red.

“Scootaloo… We’re learning History right now, not Math,” Cheerilee said, before turning back to the board. “I want you to stay behind after class.”

Cheerilee continued her lesson, and Scootaloo groaned from many things. From her being caught sleeping in class, from her now having to stay behind after class, and also, from her dream of breaking the sound barrier with Rainbow Dash… Being just that. A dream, and nothing more.

‘Man, can this day get any worse?’

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle decided to wait for Scootaloo outside. They didn’t have any crusading to do today, but they still had plans, which involved all three of them together. They were going to pack for the school camping trip tomorrow, and had agreed to hold their strategy meeting after school today, in their clubhouse. They asked Cheerilee to put them in the same group, a favour the teacher (reluctantly) accepted.

“Honestly, her grades are already low enough, and yet she thinks she can afford to sleep in class?”

The two crusaders cringed at the voice behind them, but decided to try their best to ignore it. Unfortunately, the owner of said voice had other plans.

“It’s because she has no ambition that she’s still a blank flank,” Diamond Tiara said as she (purposefully) approached Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom spun around to confront the filly. “That’s not true at all! Scootaloo’s always the most eager one of us tah earn her Cutie Mark! She has plenty ambition!”

Diamond Tiara grinned, obviously pleased with the response obtained from Apple Bloom. “So she’s the most motivated of the three of you, yet she’s still a blank flank?”

“Maybe she simply doesn’t have any special talent,” Silver Spoon, standing next to Diamond Tiara, suggested, giggling alongside her friend. “No wonder she doesn’t seem to commit any in class. She must have seen how pointless it all is.”

“Scootaloo would never give up!” Sweetie Belle shouted, her cracking a little bit, causing the three other fillies to cringe a little bit. “She’s just tired because she’s always working hard! Sure, she could focus a little more on her schoolwork, but-”

“Hey! What’s going on out here?!” The four fillies turned to see Scootaloo approaching them from the side, her wings flared as she scowled at the two that seemed to be giving her friends a hard time. “You two again?! Don’t you ever get tired of making fools of yourselves?”

Diamond Tiara scoffed, and approached the Pegasus filly. “Us, making fools of ourselves? At least we don’t fall asleep in the middle of class all the time, and score less than 30 on our tests!”

“At least I don’t copy my friend’s notes just to get high grades!” Diamond Tiara flinched, giving Scootaloo a satisfied grin. “Yeah, I know, Diamond Tiara! We all do, and if you don’t get your act together, you’re gonna get caught be Miss Cheerilee real soon!”

“Oh yeah, blank flank?!”

“Is name-calling all you got, spoiled little Princess?!”

“Don’t you dare talk that way about her, you ruffian!”

“Scootaloo’s not a ruffian!”

“Yeah! Don’t insult mah friends if ya know what’s good fer ya!”

“Or what, you’ll get violent?! Go ahead! Then my daddy will sue your family for every last bit you have!”

“Hidin’ behind daddy again?! Try standin’ on yer own hooves for once, ‘Princess’!”

“I don’t know what we’re yelling about!”

The group paused for a moment, and stared at a small Unicorn filly – who they recognised as Dinky Doo – sitting nearby, who soon got up and walked away. They then went back to their arguing.

Cheerilee sighed as she watched the scene outside the window. The sight of the five fillies fighting just outside of the school, shortly after school let out, had become an all-too-familiar sight for her, and it seemed that the fights were getting more and more frequent as of late.

When she saw Apple Bloom throw a dirt clod at Silver Spoon in a fit of anger, she felt like she should run outside and break it up. But she knew that it would be pointless; they would be fighting again very soon, she was sure of it.

What she needed was something to make them stop fighting altogether, or at least something to calm them down, so that their squabbles were less violent.

“That’s it!” Cheerilee shouted sternly as she saw Scootaloo tackle Diamond Tiara to the ground. Luckily, Sweetie Belle was able to hold the Pegasus back, and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon decided to withdraw before the situation escalated too much.

“This has gone on long enough! It’s time for drastic measures!”

Cheerilee opened her desk drawer, and pulled out a sheet of paper. It was the group assignments for the camping trip. She scrolled across the page to group 5, where the three crusaders had their names written down. Next to them, in group 6, were five other names. Cheerilee crossed out two of the names in that group, and moved back to group 5.

She hesitated for a second, but convinced herself that it was a good plan, and that it would definitely work. Underneath Sweetie Belle’s name, Cheerilee wrote down Diamond Tiara, and under that, Silver Spoon.

“By the end of this trip, hopefully the five our will at least be less hostile towards each other.” Cheerilee stared at the sheet for a few seconds, before letting out a deep sigh as she put it away. “Hopefully…”

Scootaloo gritted her teeth as she watched Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon fleeing the scene as quickly as they could. “Yeah, you’d better run!” she shouted, still being held back by Sweetie Belle. Once they were out of sight, she took a few moments to calm down. ‘Think happy though, Scootaloo… Flying with Rainbow Dash… Cooking with Rainbow Dash… Talking with Rainbow Dash…’

When Scootaloo seemed to have calmed down, Sweetie Belle cautiously released her, and waited for one of her friends to say something.

“So…” Apple Bloom finally said, “… We should probably get goin’. Applejack said the farm needs ma help today, so I can’t stay out too late.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Scootaloo said, stretching her hooves and her wings.

Sweetie Belle nodded, but then blushed as she felt something in her body. “Uh, actually, girls…” The other two crusaders turned to their friend. “I have to… Visit the little fillies’ room.”

Scootaloo sighed, and fell down on her back, laying down on the grass beneath her. “Fine! Just hurry it up, ‘kay?”

Sweetie Belle nodded again, and rushed off towards the school building, which was thankfully still open.

Sweetie Belle rushed down the school corridor, not wanting to make her friends wait too long for her. She got to the restroom, and walked inside. Once she did, however, she almost bolted out again, after seeing what – or rather, who – was in there.

“Gah!” she shouted, startled to see another pony in the school’s restroom this long after the final bell had rang.

Silver Spoon was clearly just as startled by the Unicorn’s sudden appearance, almost jumping out of her skin herself when Sweetie Belle suddenly yelped at her. “W-What?!” she shouted, before turning to see who had just entered. “Oh, it’s just you…”

Sweetie Belle looked down at the floor, and shifted uncomfortably on her hooves. “Um… What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Silver Spoon responded sarcastically. “I had to visit the little fillies’ room, and now I’m washing my hooves.”

“Oh… Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” The two fillies stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds, before Silver Spoon broke the gaze by turning her head away, focusing her attention back onto her hooves.

Sweetie Belle walked past Silver Spoon, and headed towards one of the stalls behind her. After doing her business, she left the stall feeling refreshed, and headed towards the sinks to wash her hooves. She was surprised to see that Silver Spoon was still there.

“How long does it take you to wash your hooves?” she asked, looking at her questioningly.

Silver Spoon didn’t respond, but instead continued to focus on her hooves… An awful lot more than Sweetie Belle thought was necessary. Curious, Sweetie Belle leaned over to examine Silver Spoon’s hoof, and let out a loud gasp when she saw blood dripping from it.

“W-WHAT?! What happened?!” she asked, now entering full-on panic mode.

“I just cut myself. It’s no big deal… Except I have no bandages, and Miss Cheerilee seems to have left already.”

“What do you mean it’s no big deal?! We have to treat that right away!”

“I said it’s fine!” Silver Spoon shouted. “I just have to wait for it to stop bleeding! That’s all!”

“How did that even happen?”

“… I cut myself… When I was running from you three,” she said, turning her head to the side, to avoid any contact with Sweetie Belle’s gaze. “Diamond Tiara would hate me if I got blood anywhere near her coat or mane, so I excused myself to take care of it.”

Sweetie Belle titled her head in confusion, and was now staring at the back of Silver Spoon’s head. She had always wanted to ask Silver Spoon a certain question, but always felt that she would just bother her, or that it wasn’t her place to ask it. But now, she really had to ask.

“Why are you…” she began, before hesitating for a moment. Silver Spoon turned to face her, with a bored expression on her face. “Uh, if you don’t mind me asking… Why are you and Diamond Tiara friends?”

Silver Spoon arched an eyebrow at the strange question. “I don’t see how that is any of your business, blank flank!”

Sweetie Belle cringed a little at the name, but shook it off. “You keep calling us that, but never in a truly hostile way,” she said, confusing the other filly even more. “Whenever you pick on us, I always feel that… I dunno, maybe you’re just doing it for fun? Like a harmless prank?”

“Is that so?” Silver Spoon asked, in a uninterested tone.

Sweetie Belle nodded, and continued. “But when Diamond Tiara does it, I get the impression that there’s more to it than that. She’s doing it to spite us, but you don’t mean any real harm towards us. So, why-”

“Again, I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Silver Spoon responded bitterly. “I will be friends with whoever I want. In any case, she’s much better than those losers you hang out with.”

Sweetie Belle frowned as she fell silent, starting to lose her patience with the other filly… Something that rarely happened to the usually cheery Unicorn. In fact, to date, the only pony she can remember ever being truly angry with was her sister.

After she finished washing her hooves, she shut off the water and dried them. She was about to head out, but noticed Silver Spoon still holding her hoof under the water, waiting for the bleeding to stop. ‘For somepony at the top of her class, she sure can be pretty silly sometimes,’ Sweetie Belle thought to herself, a little giggle escaping as she remembered one or two times where common sense seemed to elude Silver Spoon.

Silver Spoon glared at Sweetie Belle upon hearing the barely suppressed giggle. “What?” she demanded.

“Huh? Oh, nothing! I, uh…” Sweetie Belle wanted to simply run past Silver Spoon and leave the restroom, but unfortunately, her sister’s lessons on proper pony etiquette wouldn’t let her. ‘It’s not polite to ignore somepony when they ask you a question.’

“If you have something to say, then say it.”

“Um… I was just… Wondering how you got your Cutie Mark?” Silver Spoon clearly didn’t believe the Unicorn, but didn’t say anything. “Well, I thought hearing how you got it, might help me to find mine?”

Silver Spoon turned her attention back to her hoof, completely shutting Sweetie Belle out of her mind now. Behind her, she heard hoofsteps walking by, slowly. Curious, she lifted her head up to look in the mirror before her, and saw Sweetie Belle walking away looking… Sad?

“… I got it when I visited my father’s business,” she said, causing Sweetie Belle to stop and turn back to face her. “I realised my special talent in business management, when I watched my father work, and as he taught me the secrets of a successful business.”

Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her chin as she titled her head in confusion. “Wait… What does that have to do with spoons?”

Silver Spoon rolled her eyes. “It’s not the spoon itself; it’s silverware, which is a symbol of wealth. It shows that I can bring in good profits for any business I decide to run.” Silver Spoon noticed that Sweetie Belle was still staring at her in confusion, and let out an annoyed groan. “Did you want something else?”

Sweetie Belle quickly snapped out of her thoughts, and smiled and she shook her head. “Um, no. Thanks,” she said. Silver Spoon simply nodded, and got back to her hoof. Sweetie Belle suddenly remembered that she had her saddlebags with her, and in them was…

Silver Spoon heard the click of a saddlebag, and the sound of somepony rustling through some items. She didn’t bother looking up though, not until she saw something in the corner of her eye. She turned to see what it was, and saw Sweetie Belle offering her a plaster. She raised an eyebrow at the sudden gesture.

“You’ll be here for a while if you just wait for the bleeding to stop on its own. I always carry spare bandages with me, so you can have one, if you’d like.”

Silver Spoon stared blankly at Sweetie Belle for a few seconds, before turning off the tap and accepting her offer. “… Thanks,” she said, drying her hooves before applying the plaster.

The two stared at each other awkwardly for a bit, before Silver Spoon decided to break the silence and leave. “Well then, I’ll be on my way. Unlike you and your friends, I actually have important business to attend to.”

“You mean like letting Diamond Tiara copy your notes? Or visiting the spa so you can make yourself feel more mature?” Sweetie Belle said mockingly, before she realised what she was saying, and quickly shut herself up. ‘Whoa, where’d that come from?’

Silver Spoon harrumphed and left the room. Usually, she would have accepted the filly’s challenge to throw verbal assaults at each other. But for some reason, she didn’t feel up to it right now. No, not that… She simply chose not to. ‘I must just be tired or something,’ she told herself.

Sweetie Belle felt something in her stomach as Silver Spoon left. It was something she’d never felt before, and she couldn’t tell whether it was good or bad. “I hope I’m not getting sick, not when the camping trip is tomorrow,” she thought aloud, before remembering that her friends were waiting for her. “Oh no! I’ve gotta get back to them!”

“Okay crusaders!” Scootaloo shouted as soon as her friends were sitting down in the clubhouse. “Time to make sure we have everything we need for tomorrow’s camping trip! Now remember, we need enough supplies to last us the weekend, but we can only carry so much, so we’ll have to choose wisely what we pack!”

“Right!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shouted in unison, before joining their Pegasus friend in sorting through a pile of randomly accumulated items, and throwing practically every other item they came across inside their bag.

“We have ta do this quickly!” Apple Bloom stated. “We got here later than ah expected, and ah’ll have ta go back to the farm real soon!”

“Well, maybe if somepony hadn’t taken forever going to the bathroom,” Scootaloo said, narrowing her eyes accusingly at Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle didn’t say anything, and it was then that Apple Bloom noticed that she had stopped throwing random things into their bag, and was now just staring at the pile with a blank look on her face. “Sweetie Belle? You okay?”

Scootaloo turned her attention from the pile and back to Sweetie Belle, and groaned in annoyance at the spaced-out filly.

Sweetie Belle didn’t hear Apple Bloom’s question. Her mind was thinking back to her encounter with Silver Spoon earlier, and the strange feeling she felt after Silver Spoon had left. When did the feeling start? Was it when she first saw Silver Spoon in the restroom? No… When she asked her about Diamond Tiara? No. The Cutie Mark story? Giving her the plaster? When she-

Sweetie Belle’s eyes shot wide open, and she felt the same feeling in her stomach again. It reappeared at some point between offering the plaster to Silver Spoon, and Silver Spoon leaving. It didn’t take long to pinpoint the right moment – it was when Silver Spoon said “thanks”.

‘What’s going on? Why am I feeling this way? Is it ‘cause I wasn’t expecting Silver Spoon of all ponies to thank me for anything? Or is it…’

“Equestria to Sweetie Belle!” Sweetie Belle snapped out of her thoughts, and turned her gaze to Scootaloo, who was glaring at the white filly. “’Bout time! C’mon, we don’t have time for your to be dozing off again!”

Sweetie Belle stared at Scootaloo for a few moments, before remembering why she was there. “Oh, right! Sorry,” she said, blushing as she turned her attention back to the pile.

Applejack made her way up the stairs to the crusader’s clubhouse, ready to take Apple Bloom back to the farm. “Well, ah think we did quite well!” a voice called out from inside. Curious, Applejack peeked through a window, and saw the three fillies looking at their packed camping bag… Which looked ready to explode at a moment’s notice.

“Whoa!” Sweetie Belle shouted, startling the others. She lifted up a pack of three toothbrushes – a white one, a yellow one, and an orange one – and laughed as she carried to over to the bag. “Almost forgot these! That would have been bad!”

“Geez, don’t scare me like that!” Scootaloo said. “I thought you’d seen a ghost or something.”

Apple Bloom shot Scootaloo a playful grin. “Aww, are you afraid of ghosts, Scootaloo?” she asked in a teasing voice.

“W-What?! Of course not!” she shouted, but Apple Bloom wasn’t convinced. Before she could protest any further, though, a loud yelp was heard from Sweetie Belle, and the two fillies turned to see an explosion of all the things they had packed flying towards them.

Applejack looked impressed… She didn’t know it was possible to pack so much stuff into one bag.

The three crusaders emerged from the pile, rubbing their heads and groaning slightly. Sweetie Belle looked at the other two with a sheepish grin. “Eheheh… Maybe we packed too much?”

“Ugh… Y’think?” Scootaloo shot back, taking the frying pan off of her head and throwing it to the side.

Author's Notes:

As stated in the description, this fic was inspired by Your Antagonist's 'The Serenade of Silver Belles' (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/42124/The-Serenade-of-Silver-Belles-). If you enjoyed this (or even if you didn't), you should all totally go and check this out.