Author's Note: This story is for M9d, who kindly offered, his OC, Loving Heart, to be used. I did the best I could. Sorry that Apple Bloom is a little mean in this one, but it was the only thing I could think of. In this chapter, Apple Bloom is not shipped with anypony. She brings two ponies together. How do you like that? Hope y'all enjoy!

-Novi

XXX

Loving Heart stands on his back legs, his back pressed up against the wall of the schoolhouse. Sweat runs into his thick black-and-white striped mane. Two foals are taunting and teasing him about something or other. At this point he can't remember it, as his mind is clouded with fear.

One of the colts, a brawny thing named Buff, sneers at him. "Hey freak-o! Ding-dong!" Buff mocks, lifting a heavy hoof and knocking on Loving Heart's head. "Anypony home?"

"P-please," Loving Heart stammers.

"Please what?" Buff's crony, a filly named Roller Derby, smirks. "Do you want us to go away, Lovie Dovie?"

"It's Loving Heart," Loving Heart murmurs quietly.

"Did you just correct me?!" Roller Derby snarls. She smashes a hoof into the wall of the schoolhouse, just above Loving Heart's head. "I think I know your name," she whispers.

Loving Heart stays silent, gulping and shivering.

"It's. Lovie. Dovie." She says these words very slowly, through gritted teeth. Roller Derby means business when she talks like this.

"Oh-okay," Loving Heart stammers. "It… it's Lovie Dovie. Got it. Point made."

Buff places a hoof on Roller Derby's back. "Come off him, sis," he says.

Loving Heart gapes. These two terrible tormenters are siblings?! His mind reels with shock. Now, though, he can see the family resemblance. Both of the foals have muddy brown fur, pug-muzzles, and dark, hard eyes. They're both ugly on the inside and the outside.

"Whhhhh-yyyyy?" Roller Derby whines.

"Because. It's my turn." Buff cracks his hooves and snorts a breath into the air. "Gimme a cig, Roller." Roller Derby produces a cigarette from her saddlebags and hands if over to Buff. "Lighter," Buff snaps. Roller Derby produces a lighter from the same pocket of her saddlebags, gets a flame going, and lights the cigarette hanging out of her brother's mouth. Buff takes a drag with a malevolent smile.

Loving Heart is watching this with a horrible mixture of fear and fascination. He's never seen a foal this age smoking before.

"Shut your gap before I shut it for you!" Roller Derby snaps, grabbing Loving Heart's jaw and forcing it closed.

"Y'did," Loving Heart manages from his clamped-shut jaw.

"Don't. Get. Fresh." Uh-oh. She's speaking in that one-word-sentence way again.

"I told you to lay off," Buff snaps, knocking his little sister to the side. He grabs a hoof-full of Loving Heart's mane and snarls, "You wait till tomorrow, Lovie Dovie." He forces Loving Heart's head to the left and taps the scared colt's glass eye with his cigarette. With that, the horrible siblings walk away. Loving Heart collapses to the ground, sniffling and panting. He didn't think anypony knew about his glass eye! Tears fill his right eye, his real one, and trickle down his muzzle. A pair of yellow hooves suddenly fills his vision.

"Yer thirteen," the owner of the yellow hooves notes. She has a strong southern accent.

"I know," Loving Heart sniffs. "What's your point?"

"Yer too old to be cryin' and mopin'. Ya'll need to get a vendetta goin', understand?"

"What?" Loving Heart asks, getting up and looking at the pony talking to him. She looks about his age. Her eyes are blazing.

"Ah see ya'll gettin' beat up and messed with er'y day. That ain't right. Ya'll need to take charge. Ya can't just let the bullies win, understand?"

"I… I…" Loving Heart stutters.

"Ah'm here to help ya. Tomorrow, those two foals are gonna beat the tar 'n feathers outta ya. Ah'm gonna teach ya t' fight, y'dig?"

"Oh-okay," Loving Heart stammers. He looks over at his cutie mark, a big pink heart with ribbons of gold around it. It shines starkly against his gray fur. His special talent is being kind, not fighting! But… anything that will stop those horrible bullies he'll do. His eyes harden. "I can do it."

"Good," the filly says with a nod. "Mah name is Apple Bloom. What's yers?"

"Loving Heart."

"Pansy name. Too bad you ain't named Terror 'r sumthin'. Eh, ah'll work with that ah got. First, ah'm gonna teach you a good, solid glare." She narrows her eyes and sets her jaw. "Think terrible thoughts 'bout the pony yer glarin' at, y'dig? Think 'bout all the ways they can be a-killed 'r maimed."

Loving Heart tries to glare at Apple Bloom, he really does. But imagining her hurt or killed makes his eyes well up. In the end, he ends up with a tearful grimace.

Apple Bloom shoots him a death glare. "Try. Again."

"Okay," Loving Heart says shakily. Apple Bloom's meanness is getting to him a little bit. He imagines somepony being really nasty to Apple Bloom. Making fun of her accent, of her fur-color. Of the fact that at thirteen she's still a blank flank. He now imagines that he's the pony yelling at Apple Bloom. His eyes somehow manage to narrow and his jaw sets stubbornly. He shoots Apple Bloom a look of pure acid.

Apple Bloom breaks out into a sweet grin. "Nice one!" he crows. "Good job, Lovie Dovie! Ya'll are doin' it!"

Loving Heart is confused. She just managed to go from looking like she wanted to kill him to looking like she wants to kiss him. He blushes, thinking such thoughts.

"Next, you need to learn 'bout stances." She crouches down, leaning most of her weight on her front legs. Her bottom sticks up in the air, and her head is close to the ground. She snorts out of her nostrils, managing to look like a bull.

Loving Heart, feeling a bit more tough, crouches like Apple Bloom does, practicing his new death glare and snorting. "Like this?" he growls through gritted teeth.

Apple Bloom keeps her stance and her imposing look, snarling out, "Perfect!" She goes back to normal. "That's a real good stance. Next thing: how t' hit." Seeing the look of dread pass through Loving Heart's eyes, she smirks. "Yer such a wuss, Lovie Dovie. Ah hear the names those bullies call ya. 'Baby.' 'Wimp.' Some 'a the bullies think you might be a colt-lover. That true, Lovie Dovie? You a colt-lover? Maybe ah should spread it a'round. Tell everypony that Lovie Dovie is a colt-lover."

"I'M NOT A COLT-LOVER!" Loving Heart roars, leaping foreword and aiming to plant his hoof in Apple Bloom's muzzle as hard as he can.

Apple Bloom steps nimbly out of the way, giving another one of her sweet smiles. "Ah approve," she says, nodding sagely. "The bullies are gonna get y'all fired up. And-" Apple Bloom stops speaking abruptly, peering into the distance. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Loving Heart mutters wearily.

"Looks like 'ol Buff and Roller Derby 'r back fer a second round." She pats him roughly on the shoulder and kisses him on the cheek. "Good luck, Lovie Dovie." With that, she scuttles away.

"Wait!" Loving Heart shouts after her. Too late, though, she's gone.

Buff grins cockily. "Talkin' to the air, stupid?"

"No," Loving Heart stammers. He takes a deep breath. Apply what that screwy filly taught you, he thinks. He whips out his glare. "Of course not! Funny that your name is Buff. You brain sure isn't."

"You callin' me stupid?!" Buff growls. He leaps at Loving Heart, who steps out of the way like Apple Bloom did when he tried to punch her in the muzzle.

Roller Derby sees this and shoots him a glare even more acidic than his.

"What's wrong, Roller Derpy?" Loving Heart sneers. "Didn't expect 'ol 'Lovie Dovie' to come out on top?"

"Don't call me Derpy!" Roller Derby cries.

"Why? Worried that everypony will see your stupid derp-eyes?"

Then something weird happens. Roller Derby's perfectly straight eyes well up. "I… I…" she blubbers. "Don't be mean to me!"

Buff walks over to his sister. "Man up, you wimp!" he roars, cuffing her on the side of the head.

Loving Heart feels his meanness cracking. What did he just say?! What did he just do?! Did he really spend thirty minutes learning how to fight?! "Um… I'm sorry," he says quietly. "Roller Derby. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have been mean about your eyes. They're not derpy."

Roller Derby looks up from where she is now lying, knocked over by her brother's cuff. "It's okay," the filly says quietly. "I'm sorry for being mean to you every day." She gets up and glares at her brother, pouring a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her pack. "I'm done being with you!" She steps up next to Loving Heart. "I'm tired of being mean."

"It's a lot easier to be mean than nice, Buff," Loving Heart says softly. "Forgive and forget?"

Buff looks from his sister to the foal he bullies every day. "N-no way!" he stammers. "You're still a wimp, Lovie Dovie. A-and you too, Roller Derby. I'm done with both of you!" With that, he runs away.

"There's still hope for him," Loving Heart says.

Roller Derby nods. "I really am sorry."

"It's alright. Me too."

And from the bushes, Apple Bloom nods. This is the way things were meant to go. Just another good deed done.