Cutie Mark Crusader Friendship Fighters, Yay?

[Babs Seed]

(September 5th directly before the fights. Open to the CMC's.)

Scootaloo was going to get her butt kicked.

Not that Babs wanted to kick Scootaloo's flank but if it came down to it, the bullied female would probably whoop the smaller filly out of the arena. She lived in Bucklyn for petes sake! The dangerous borough of Manehattan often had things that the filly had to fight. And because she was bullied for having a blank flank she'd had to gain a rep at her old school for being a fighter. Yeah it had gotten her in trouble but the teasing had just turned verbal. She had pushed around her cousin's friends before. 

But this was going to be different. She LIKED Scootaloo now. She was a good buddy, a good pal.

And now she had to fight her.

Babs let out a sigh, placing a caramel hoof on the locker with her name on it. "Dis is gonna suck," she whispered.

[Sweetie Belle]

"What are you going to do?!"

Sweetie was practically panicking when she came upon Babs in the locker room. In the morning, she had scanned the list for her name, thankful to see it wasn't there. But then she scanned it for each of her friend's names. She couldn't believe it when she heard Babs and Scootaloo were fighting each other. On the very first friday, no least! This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. They hadn't even had a chance to try to change the names like they had planned.

"I mean, are you going to really fight?" Sweetie squeaked slightly, frowning. Even when Babs had been teasing her and the others, they never got into any physcial contact bullying except when Babs pushed the three of them off their float. Sweetie wouldn't want to see bruises on either one of her friends, and definitely not caused by either one of them.

[Deleted]

"Babs?"

Apple Bloom wasn't going to be participating in the fights, but that didn't mean she didn't want to poke her head in and wish her friends luck. She'd gotten a look at the list and discovered that Scootaloo and Babs were supposed to be fighting each other. That didn't bode well for the two friends. Maybe her coming to check on the two of them would give them a bit more courage before they went to try and fight. Or maybe she'd make things harder. The yellow filly didn't know for sure, but Apple Bloom wanted to wish her friends luck. It wasn't a fight to the death this time, so maybe things would be okay in the end. Apple Bloom could only hope so.

"Ah saw the list... Heard y'all gotta fight each other today. Ah hope things go well fer you an' Scootaloo," Apple Bloom said. It wasn't the most encouraging of beginnings, but she could hope her cousin at least appreciated that much. Tentatively, Apple Bloom rubbed her hoof against the floor and glanced down for a beat. What else could she even say? It wasn't as if Babs or Scootaloo could get away with trying to escape. Scootaloo couldn't fly, and Babs... Well, Apple Bloom couldn't remember how fast her cousin actually was. Not this time, anyway. Apple Bloom would just have to keep trying to encourage her friend and cousin... Wherever said friend was. She hadn't seen Scootaloo just yet.

"Ah mean... Maybe it'll be okay. You could always... Uh... Fake it? Maybe?" Apple Bloom asked.

[Scootaloo]

She couldn't recall ever feeling this sick before.

Scootaloo felt as though her stomach was doing flips - and distinctly not the pleasant kind - as she paced the locker room. Back and forth. Back and forth. Her flightless wings fluttered with agitation, and her eyes were squeezed tightly shut as though she believed that would somehow help her think. The little filly had been preoccupied ever since she'd entered the room - too preoccupied for it to even occur to her to change out of her uniform before the fight - desperately trying to think of some way out of this predicament.

She didn't want to fight Babs.

She even less wanted to have her tail handed to her by Babs.

And so she paced.

Thus far, however, inspiration was failing to come. Scoot was just too frantic to think clearly; none of her ideas were coming to anything, and finally the little filly stopped. Opening her eyes, she turned to face Babs - and blinked in mild surprise as she saw her other two friends there as well. The pegasus foal tried to give Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle a smile, but it came out as more of a grimace instead.

"I... guess we've got to. I don't think they're going to let us off just because we ask nicely." As she answered Sweetie, her voice was a faint shadow of its typical self; and Scoot was sure her friends must notice that she was looking oddly green at the simple thought of the fight.

[Babs Seed]

"What are you going to do?!"

"Arg, I don't know what ta do!"

She turned to watch her friends gather. Insecurity set in. Apple Bloom and Sweetie would probably cheer for Scootaloo. They were friends. Babs was the outsider! The bully! Her ears folded back as she whimpered. This was going to suck. She placed a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "I'm sorry we gotta do dis, Scootaloo. I...I'm really sorry." She winced pushing back off of Scootaloo.

"L-look, I won't got too hard on ya, okay? I promise. I promise I'll be super careful."

[Deleted]

Apple Bloom's ears drooped and her expression softened. She didn't like seeing her cousin like this. Sure she'd picked on her, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, but that all had been forgiven and forgotten. Truthfully, she didn't want to see either of her friends fighting each other. Scootaloo and Babs both were her friends, and the fact that they'd been put together in a fight just made things awkward for all of them. If only there was some way to get them out of the fight. If only...

"It's too bad y'all can't just fake sick," Apple Bloom said woefully. Faking sick probably wouldn't have gotten them out of fighting, anyway. Unless they could produce vomit somehow, it didn't seem likely that they would be able to get out just by telling someone they felt sick. But what else could they do? Fake an injury, maybe? No, that wouldn't do... There had to be something Babs and Scootaloo could do. Anything! Anything to keep her friends from actually hurting each other.

...Wait. There was something they could do!

"Wait a minute, y'all. What if you guys only make it look like yer fightin'? Like... Scoot, remember those dance moves we used fer our talent show performance? The ones that looked like karate? Why don't y'all do that?"

[Sweetie Belle]

Sweetie glanced over at Apple Bloom, biting her lip slightly, her ears folded back as she looked at Babs. It wasn't fair for either of her friends. They shouldn't have to fight each other. They were the Cutie Mark Crusaders for Celestia's sake. They were supposed to stick together... not be forced to fight against each other. It was so unfair... just because they had different personalities, at least according to their circles, that didn't mean they didn't belong together. Sweetie shook her head slightly, frowning as she raised one hoof off the ground, and tugged on her tie. Stupid navy blue...

Bringing back her attention, she looked over at Scootaloo, and could clearly hear the change in Scootaloo's usual confident voice. After all, Sweetie had known Scootaloo longer than the other crusaders. "We should have just stayed in Ms. Cheerilee's class..." Sweetie said, a small whimper almost breaking her voice, lowering her head slightly. Sweetie wasn't even the one fighting, and she was feeling like she was being torn. How was she even going to watch the fight? Cheer for both of them? What happens when one of them get the upperhoof? Sweetie could only squirm at that thought.

"What if you guys only make it loo lile yer fightin'?"

Sweetie suddenly lifted her head from the spot where her green gaze had rested as she looked over towards Applebloom, her mouth gaping for a second, before bright joy on her face. "Applebloom, you're a genius! And... um... you can look like your hitting each other hard, but you'll only be really poking them!" Sweetie said, giving a smile as she turned around towards Babs and Scootaloo. "I mean, they can't expect us to really um... hurt others real bad."

[Scootaloo]

"Do you really think they'd buy it?" As much as she wished the answer would be yes, the orange filly shook her head. She'd suggested that very idea to Babs earlier; but even then, Scoot hadn't really expected it to float. Now, just minutes away from having to step into the arena, it seemed even less likely that anyone would go for it. She felt too sick to put on a convincing show; the best she could manage would be to throw some genuine kicks and hope Babs didn't completely flatten her.

She looked at Babs, uncertainty and fear dancing in her purple eyes. The other filly's reassurance helped some, but not much. How careful could you be when pounding somepony into the ground, after all?

"We could give it a try," she suggested at length, reflecting on Apple Bloom's suggestion. "But I'm sure they'd know if we weren't doing it properly." They; whoever they even were. Scoot didn't usually fancy herself the pessimist of the group, but she simply felt as if there was no way out of this, no matter how hard they thought about it. Perhaps if they'd had a spot for great ideas, like their one back in the clubhouse, somewhere here, they might have come up with something. Without that, though, she was doomed to be pumelled by Babs and the little pegasus knew it.

"What if we just refuse to leave the locker room at all? If they can't get us into the arena, they can't make us fight, right?"

She fully expected that idea to be shot down as swiftly as the rest they'd come up with, but it was the only thought Scoot could come up with at the moment. Without really meaning to, she mimicked Sweetie's action of giving her own tie a tug with one hoof. If only she could just switch her bright red tie for a green one like Babs' and trick them into thinking they'd made a mistake by pitting two circle members together...

[Deleted]

"Well, ah... Ah dunno," Apple Bloom finally confessed. She'd only thought that maybe, to the spectators, the fake karate would look convincing. Maybe it wouldn't, though. She honestly didn't know. Her bow, through some power of its own apparently, drooped a bit and she rubbed a hoof against the floor. All she wanted to do was help Scootaloo and Babs somehow. Could she even do that? It didn't seem likely. A sigh followed and Apple Bloom let her head tilt to the side for a moment. What were they going to do? If they could get the karate thing to work it would have been great, but now she had doubts since Scootaloo had questioned it.

"If y'all are standing close enough to each other, then... Oh, ah dunno. That was the best idea ah had. But... Y'all could still try it if ya wanted," she said. Scootaloo had mentioned just refusing to leave the locker room, but this time it was Apple Bloom's turn to be the pessimist. The fillies were small enough to be pushed around. If they refused to leave, then who was to say that someone wouldn't try to just shove them out?

"That could work, Scoot, but... What if they just tried to push you outta here?"