CMC Gladiators?

[Scootaloo]

[[3rd September; morning, a little before classes begin. Closed to the Cutie Mark Crusaders]]

"Ugh. I can't figure this dumb thing out!"

Scootaloo was having trouble. While for the last two days she had gone without it, she had come to the conclusion that morning that it was about time she tried wearing her tie. More or less everyone else seemed to be wearing them, it seemed to the winged filly, and since it made the whole uniform look a bit more complete, she had decided that she was definitely going to wear the red fire circle tie that day.

Her problem was that, for the life of her, Scootaloo couldn't figure out how to tie the thing. It looked simple enough to watch other students, but when it came to trying herself, the filly didn't have a clue what she was doing. She had been doing her best to work the thing all the way down from her dorm, but had yet to achieve anything that looked even remotely like a proper knot; all she had achieved was making herself very frustrated.

"One thing I know, I'm definitely not gonna get my cutie mark in tie tying," the young pegasus groused as she wrestled to undo her eighth failed attempt that morning. They again, she wasn't sure she'd really have wanted a tie on her flank anyway... maybe she should just see if someone else would do the dumb thing up for her instead.

[Deleted]

"Scootaloo!"

Apple Bloom knew she'd recognized the voice when she'd heard it as she walked into the quad. There her pegasus friend was, apparently having difficulties with her tie, and the young earth filly could hardly wait to start hanging out with her again. But why hadn't Apple Bloom seen Scootaloo in the air tower? Something strange had to have happened, she was sure. After all, she and the others of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were as close as close could be. There'd be no reason to split them apart. So, eagerly, Apple Bloom darted forward to meet her friend.

"There ya are! Ah was hopin' ah'd be able ta see you girls again, and even if it's just the two of... WHOA!" Apple Bloom yelped. She'd stepped on her tie again, and this sent the young filly spiraling into a tumble that ended with her in front of Scootaloo on the ground. A sheepish grin formed on her face after a moment and she slowly pushed herself to her hooves.

"Sorry... Ah'm not used ta this tie yet. Ah thought..."

Apple Bloom stopped. She'd noticed the coloration of Scootaloo's accessories, and her eyes were filled with surprise when she realized what it meant. Her own accessories were sky blue, but Scootaloo's were as red as red could be.

"Yer... Yer not in the air circle? Ah thought we'd all be together..."

[Babs Seed]

"Nice job, cutie mahk crybabies."

Babs grinned, letting her cousin in on the joke. She hoped it didn't sting too hard; she was trying to make fun of the jerk she'd been to Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. She bounded up to Apple Bloom, tie gracefully following her. She was used to it. Her new private school in Manehattan had dictated uniforms were a must. But her green orbs widened as she stared towards her fellow cutie mark crusaders. Their ties; Apple Bloom's were blue, Scootaloos were red...what did that mean?

"We ain't in tha' same circle? What's up wit' dat?"

[Scootaloo]

"Apple Bloom!" Abandoning her futile tie-tying exercise for the moment, Scootaloo turned to grin at her friend - and instead, winced as the other filly stepped on her own tie and tumbled to a stop at her feet. She was vaguely aware, as she belatedly used a hoof to nudge Apple Bloom back to her feet, that the mishap seemed to have jerked her friend's tie knot pretty tight - ties sure were weird, the young pegasus decided.

"At least you can actually tie yours. I can't even figure the thing out," Scoot returned, looking faintly abashed that she couldn't manage something that clearly ought to be so simple.

And... Apple Bloom's was sky-blue? The filly blinked her purple eyes, just as puzzled as her friend. "I thought so, too... why split us up? That doesn't make any sense!" she frowned. She would have added more, but another voice intruding disrupted that particular train of thought; a voice that Scootaloo wouldn't have mistaken anywhere.

"Aw, quit gloating and help me get this tied properly," she shot back. Babs was about the perfect pony to ask, after all; one who was actually used to wearing a uniform like this. But Babs tie was green... she was in yet another different circle? This made even less sense than her being separated from Apple Bloom; the other fillies were cousins, for Celestia's sake!

[Deleted]

Babs' comment got a little eye roll out of Apple Bloom. She knew her cousin wasn't really making fun of them anymore, and was all the more grateful for that fact. However, when she did look up to face her, Apple Bloom was just as surprised as Scootaloo. Her cousin was wearing green accessories. It appeared that all three of them had been placed in different circles, and it was a little disconcerting to the bow-wearing earth pony. As she straightened out her tie to the best of her abilities, she frowned and looked between her friends. This was going to be interesting... Perhaps not in a good way.

"Good ta see ya, Babs. Ah don't get this at all, though. Why're all of us in different circles? Wouldn't they wanna keep friends together? Or at least keep family together?" Apple Bloom asked. Maybe it couldn't get any worse, though. Maybe, if Sweetie Belle was there too, she would end up being in the same circle as one of the other ponies. Yeah, that was a good thought. Maybe Sweetie Belle would be with one of them and wouldn't have to be split up entirely. On the other hoof, though, it seemed unlikely. With four friends and for circles, it was entirely likely that Sweetie could have been placed in the remaining circle.

"Any of y'all seen Sweetie Belle?" she decided to ask as a last minute question.

[Babs Seed]

Babs rolled her emerald eyes, blowing upwards to get her hair out of her face. "A'ight, a'ight," she whistled, walking up towards Scootaloo, "Lemmie help ya." Before she answered Apple Bloom she lifted a hoof to explain how to tie the tie. It had taken her WEEKS of getting her father to show her and her mother losing her mind over how disheveled she looked for her to get herself together.

"Wide end ova' the otha' side," she said, "Den, take dat wide end and pull it t'rough the neck. Pull it down to da left, den turn it around the back end a da' tie. Up in da front den through the neck loop again. Ova' da front again, den up through da neck loop, through dat tightened knot and voila!"

She blew up towards her hair again before turning to Apple Bloom. "You t'ink good people are runnin' dis thing? You think they were gonna keep us togetha'?" Babs shook her head. "I just hope we ain't gonna have to fight each otha'."

[Scootaloo]

(ooc: Oh, Babs uses a posh proper knot, does she? XD When I was at school, everyone just used the simpler 'four-in-hand' knot )

Scootaloo could only grimace as she tried to follow Babs' instructions, working as fast as she could to keep up with them. It went wide end through and round and over and what then? Somehow, though, the winged filly succeeded in following her friend's instructions to the letter; although she was sure the resulting knot could have stood to look a lot neater, the way Babs' own did. Still, it was tied, at least, and she knew what to do next; taking the thin end of the tie, she used it to slide the knot up to sit tightly against her collar.

...maybe a little too tightly. She almost felt as though she was choking for a moment, before managing to use a hoof to work it a slight bit looser. Okay, that felt better.

"I have no idea how I'm meant to remember all that," she admitted to Babs, her tiny wings fluttering sheepishly through the specially-cut holes in the back of her shirt. Having it tied properly today was all well and good, but short of seeking Babs' help every day until she had learnt it herself - or just not taking the uniform off at all, which she supposed she could do - Scoot felt as though she was pretty much stuck. But with both her present fellow Crusaders having chosen to wear the ties, she sure wasn't going to stand out by going without her own.

Babs' next words, however, completely wiped her mind of ties and all problems relating to them. "Fight each other?" she repeated, expression of horror crossing her face. She wished she could say Babs was just messing with them again, but it only took one look at the Manehattan Crusader's face to tell her that she was completely serious. The pegasus filly glanced from Babs to Apple Bloom, feeling an uncomfortable lump settle in her throat that had nothing whatsoever to do with her tie. Apple Bloom, Babs, and Sweetie - whom she was sure must be here somewhere - were her best friends; Scootaloo was sure that she wouldn't be able to lift a hoof to hurt them.

"We need to come up with some sort of contingency plan; some way we can get out of it if they do try and make us," she suggested. "I haven't seen Sweetie Belle yet, but I'm sure she'll be here too; we'll need to find her so we can come up with something."

[Babs Seed]

(ooc: I just went on a tie tying website and chose the one I thought was the nicest XD I tied my dad's ties for fun when I was a kid but alas have lost the ability.)

Babs shrugged. "Eh there's probably an easier way ta do it but dat's the way they taught us in school," she said, waving a caramel hoof towards Scootaloo, "Look a-okay ta me. Prolly be easier with some unicorn magic though. Bet'cha Sweetie Belle's got it down." Her ears folded back as she gave a sigh as she mentioned the name of the only CMC not present. Fight each other. The Apple Family never fought unless it was a game or something so fighting Apple Bloom would have devastated her. She couldn't possibly harm Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo either. They were her fellow crusaders for Celestia's sake! They'd taken her in when her blank flank had gotten her shunned.

She couldn't.

"What can they do if we refuse?" She asked, "Like if I say I ain't fightin' you or you. What happens then?"

[Deleted]

"Y-Ya never know, Babs. Maybe the folks 'round here ain't so bad," Apple Bloom said. She was grasping at straws, of course, for she had no way of knowing whether or not the people in charge were terrible or not. They already could be classified as such because they were making them fight one another. But... Maybe they wouldn't have to fight. She perked up a bit at Scootaloo's suggestion of coming up with a plan. That was a good idea, at least in the earth filly's mind. If they could come up with some way of getting out of fighting each other, then things wouldn't be so bad. Maybe they could even skip out on the fight days all together!

"Ah got it! What if we hide out in our rooms when the fightin' days come? Then they can't possibly make us fight each other," Apple Bloom said. Babs had a good point, too. What was the worst that could happen if they said no when it came time to fighting? She didn't know, and neither did her friends. So what was the harm in just saying no?

"...Or we could just say 'No way!' like Babs just said," she said.

[Deleted]

Sweetie Belle had been having various problems with her tie, as tried as she might she couldn't get it to go the right way like she had seen other students have them. So she had tried magic. That, was a mistake, unlike her sister, Sweetie Belle had no control over it. So the tie, ended up tied in a very messy bow on her head instead of her neck. "Stupid tie." she had tried several times to get it around her neck. But no luck.

The small unicorn walked through the hall, head down thinking of how to get her tie around her neck when she heard familiar voices. She picked up her speed. "Girls!" she called out. "I was wondering where you wen..." her eyes widened, all her friends were wearing different uniforms. That wasn't right. They were all supposed to be together. "H...hi girls."

[Scootaloo]

"Don't you think they'd force us if we refused?" Scootaloo frowned. She wasn't exactly sure what the people in charge could do to make them fight if they refused - and quite honestly, she wasn't sure she wanted to know either. Or maybe they'd punish them for not fighting; either way, she doubted it would be pleasant. The winged filly shuffled her hooves as she tried to think.

She was distracted, however, by the arrival of their final member. Sweetie... well, it looked as though she had been having even more trouble with her tie than Scootaloo had been having with her own. At least she'd managed to keep it around her neck, if nothing else; looked like the unicorn could use some lessons from Babs, too. At this point, it didn't fully surprise Scootaloo that her third friend's tie was blue; though she had hoped otherwise, it had almost been expected when she had realised that none of the rest of them had ended up together. "Hey, Sweetie Belle," she greeted her, deciding the tactful thing to do was pretend she hadn't noticed that the white filly seemed to have gotten her tie wrapped around her horn somehow. "We were just trying to figure out how to get out of fighting each other."

A thought occured to her, and Scootaloo quickly waved one hoof to get her friends' attention. "They've got to have a list of who ends up fighting who, right? What if we find wherever that's kept, sneak in, and change it so that we're not against each other?" She looked at her fellow crusaders expectantly. As long as they weren't caught, no-one would be able to prove anything against them; it seemed a much safer option than simply refusing to show up for the fights, which was something she was sure would have unpleasant consequences.

[Deleted]

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment, trying to think. Scootaloo's idea sounded pretty good, but there was one problem. "The chances of finding that list is pretty slim, we don't even know who runs this place." she shook her head. 'This school is huge, the chances are that the person in charge, keeps the list on him or her at all times." This was a very big problem. "Maybe...maybe one of the teachers could help us. There has to be one that is against this whole fighting..." She didn't want to fight her friends especially not Babs, she seemed like she would be a good fighter no matter what.

"I...I guess if we have to fight, we should maybe just go easy on each other. Or find a different opponent if we can."

[Babs Seed]

"Heya Sweetie Belle," Babs said with a whistle, "How's it...uh...." Babs almost cracked up when she saw Sweetie Belle's tie. "Here, lemmie help ya." She trotted over to the unicorn as the girls spoke. She lifted her hoof to help untie her tie. She frowned. Her friends were so optimistic; painfully clear they'd never get along in Manehattan. She blew her hair up as soon as she got Sweetie's tie untied.

"Yeah sure, they're gonna let us do dat," Babs said with a roll of her eyes, "I don't wanna fight you guys no more than you do. I still don't see how they can force us though..." She shook her head.

"We don't even know who's behind all dis stuff," she said.

[Deleted]

Apple Bloom glanced Sweetie Belle's way, grinning for a moment, but then her expression fell slightly. Navy blue; the four of them had successfully been split up. She'd have started rambling about how unfair it was, but what could she really say about it? They'd suspected something was up when she saw that the first three of them were wearing different accessories. If only they were together in the same circle. Maybe they'd have more success in going about finding out how to keep from fighting friends. ...What if Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were there, too? The last thing Apple Bloom needed was to be picked on by the two stuck up earth fillies.

"Ah think we'll be able to get through this all right. ...Maybe. Ah mean, as long as we don't gotta fight each other, or at least avoid fightin' each other if we can, maybe it'll be okay. But ah thought of somethin' else, girls. What if... What if Silver Spoon an' Diahmond Tiahra are here, too?" Apple Bloom asked. What would they do if their supposed rivals were there, and what if those girls were in the same circle as one of them? It would be a nightmare!

"Even if we ain't in the same circle, we still gotta worry about whether or not they're here! What if we end up bein' in the same circle as one of 'em? Or both of 'em?"

[Deleted]

Sweetie Belle's eyes saddened. "But girls, what if we have to fight each other." she said, sitting down sadly looking at her hooves. "From what I heard is that the list of people chosen to fight is posted before the day of the fight." She didn't want to fight her friends, if they were in the same circle they wouldn't have to fight each other. "At least from what the other members of Water are saying, it cold be a rumor." she sniffed, as tears started to come. "I don't want to fight anyone! This is not how i want my cutie-mark to appear."