Sweetie Belle Gets An Idea
It was a chilly, late fall day in the town of Ponyville, and the dirt streets were overrun and crowded with ponies doing early Hearths Warming Eve shopping. The school yard was buzzing with young ponies running around and talking in excited voices about what they wanted for Hearths Warming Eve.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders: Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were also taking part in all the excitement; their eyes shining and their voices quick. “I can’t wait to see what I got for Hearths Warming Eve this year!” Scootaloo shouted; nearly blowing out her friends’ ear drums. Applebloom covered her ears along with Sweetie Belle.
“Me too!” Applebloom said.
“Me three!” Sweetie Belle shrieked in her usual high pitched voice.
They all grinned widely at each other and began to talk in hushed voices. “So, what do we have planned for to get our cutie marks today?” Scootaloo asked, still grinning widely.
Her yellow friend turned around and replied, “Sorry Scootaloo…but I couldn’t think up of anything for us to do…” She gave an apologetic sigh and looked down at the table. “What about you, Sweetie Belle?” She looked over hopefully, only to get another upset gaze. She looked down at the table herself and sighed.
“Alright everypony! School’s dismissed! Have a great day!” The school teacher Cheerilee cheerfully shouted out the school’s front door. Everyone shouted and bustled off of the playground, the school grounds cleared in minutes. The Cutie Mark Crusaders kept their heads bowed as they made their way towards their Clubhouse.
But before they turned onto the road, Applebloom turned around to the girls and stopped them. “There’s no use in going to the clubhouse today, girls…” She explained, turning towards Sweet Apple Acres and walked down the road before the girls protested. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other and shrugged. Then, they went their separate ways to their homes.
Sweetie Belle didn't mind that the Crusader’s meeting was cancelled; because now she had more time to spend with her big sister. She hummed a random tune as he made her way to Carousel Boutique. As she bounced through the doorway, she accidentally knocked into Rarity and made the large bundle of newly sewn clothes explode and strew across the shop.
Rarity steadied herself and angrily looked at Sweetie Belle. She ducked away, blushing at her mistake and slunk away to the kitchen. She sat down at the table and put her head down. A few minutes later, Rarity barged through the doorway and briskly made her way to the fridge.
A few moments of digging in the back, Rarity brought out a small bottle with a label that read 'Vodka' and quickly popped the cap. She threw the cap aside and chugged the drink until it was completely gone. She slammed the bottle down and it made a loud clink. She sighed and stood there for a moment.
“What’s that Rarity?” Sweetie asked. Rarity jumped and swung around.
“U-uhh! It’s nothing! Not a thing here!” Her voice began to sound slurred as she hid the bottle behind her back and galloped to her room. Sweetie Belle felt confused, but came up with a solution; she would go and see Twilight. She’s a smart pony! I’m pretty sure she’ll have the answer!
Sweetie smiled at her idea and ran out of the door towards the Golden Oaks Library.
* * *
“Wait, What?” Twilight asked.
The filly sighed. “I said there was this drink that Rarity drank and I want to know what it is,” She repeated slowly.
Twilight nodded; gesturing for Sweetie to describe it.
“Well…” She began, trying hard to remember. “It was clear like water and the name started with a v.”
Twilight thought for a moment before answering. “That was vodka. It’s alcohol.”
“What’s..vodka?” The unicorn filly asked, trying to get used to the new word.
Twilight ran quickly upstairs and back again, a book unfolding in her magic as she searched in the dictionary. “Vodka: is a distilled beverage composed primarily of water and ethanol, sometimes with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits or sugar.”
Sweetie Belle had no idea what Twilight had just said, but she suddenly got an idea and her eyes lit up. “Thanks Twilight!” She called as she ran out of the library.
* * *
She galloped to a tent pitched under Rainbow Dash's cloud home and poked her head inside. She saw Scootaloo reading a comic book.
"Psst!" Sweetie hissed, making Scootaloo jump.
"Wha? Sweetie Belle! What are you doing here?" She asked as she put her comic book down net to her.
"I came to get you!" She exclaimed like Scootaloo knew what was going on. "We're going to the clubhouse!" She said as she grabbed Scootaloo's hoof and tugged her out of her tent.
"Why?"
“You’ll just have to follow me to find out!” She called back. Sweetie knew that Scootaloo couldn't resist a surprise and she soon followed her to Sweet Apple Acres.
* * *
She knocked on the barn door and Applejack answered. "Well, Howdy girls! What can I do for ya?"
"U-uh can we speak to Applebloom? Please?"
Applejack nodded and turned to the stairs. "Applebloom! Door for you!" She called upstairs.
Applebloom came quickly trotting down the steps. "Who is it?" She asked.
"It's your friends." Applejack said before walking into the kitchen.
Applebloom nodded and walked to the open door.
“Howdy girls. What's up?” She asked.
“Come with me to the clubhouse and I’ll tell you!” She replied.
"The clubhouse?"
“Yeah! Come on!” She shouted, tugging on Applebloom's hoof.
Applebloom tugged her hoof away. "Alright! Alright!" She exclaimed to the two excited fillies standing on her doorstep as she closed the door behind her.
Sweetie Belle trotted faster than the two behind her as they all made their way to the clubhouse.
"Do you know what this is about?" Applebloom whispered to Scootaloo.
"Not a clue."
* * *
When they finally reached the Clubhouse and went inside, Applebloom and Scootlaoo were desperate to hear what had gotten Sweetie Belle so excited.
“Come on, Sweetie Belle! You better spill the beans or I’ll go crazy!” Applebloom said.
“I have a new idea for a cutie mark!”
Her friends’ eyes lit up immediately. “Well? What is it?” Scootaloo asked impatiently.
“I don’t exactly know what it is..b-but I know it has to do with something called alcohol.” She explained quickly.
Scootaloo cocked her head. “What’s alcohol?” She asked curiously.
“It’s a type of drink a-and I think it would be so cool to have as a cutie mark.”
The other members thought for a while before answering. “I-I don’t know, Sweetie Belle…” Applebloom said.
“But it might be our last chance to earn our cutie marks!” Sweetie said.
“Hmm…I’m game!” Scootaloo agreed, turning her head to Applebloom.
“Uhh…well if it’s alright with you, Scootaloo, then I’m in too!”
They jumped up, clapped their hooves together. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Go!”
They sat down and tried to put together a plan. “First, we gotta know somepony who could help us with this mission!” Applebloom states.
“That’s right!” Sweetie agrees. She got up and paced around the room as she thought. None of them come up with anypony.
“Maybe Pinkie Pie will know. She does know everypony in town, after all…” Scootaloo suggests.
They all shrug and make their way to Sugar Cube Corner. When they arrive there, Pinkie Pie pops up out of nowhere. “Hey girls!”
The fillies smile.
“Hey Pinkie Pie.” Applebloom replies back.
“What’s up?” Pinkie asks.
“Oh, we were just wondering if you’d know a certain pony that would be able to help us with a crusading mission.”
Pinkie thought for a moment.
“Well sure! What do you need them for?”
The Crusaders look at one another. “We don’t know, but it has something to do with alcohol.” Applebloom replies.
Pinkie tilts her head up and rolls her eyes to the ceiling as she thought. Suddenly she gasps. “I do know somepony who can help you!” She said excitedly.
The crusaders look up at her impatiently.
“You should go and see Berry Punch! She does lots with alcohol!”
A customer from a nearby table gestures for Pinkie to come over. “Sorry, but gotta run. She lives in the run down house at the edge of the town to the east. Hope she’ll be able to help you with whatever you’re doing!” She happily bounces off to treat the customer, leaving the Cutie Mark Crusaders excitedly talking to one another.
“Berry Punch! Of course!” Sweetie Belle says. “I always hear Rarity talking about her to her friends over the phone!”
“I can’t wait to meet her!” Scootaloo breathes excitedly.
“Well, we should go prepare!” Applebloom says. Sweetie nods.
"Let's meet up at the Library in ten minutes!" They jump up and yet again clap their hooves together. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Go!” The three little fillies gallop their seperte ways to their homes before they set out.
* * *
"Hi Rarity!" Sweetie Belle says briskly as she gallops to her room and back with a saddle bag across her back. "Bye Rarity!"
* * *
"Howdy Applebloom!" Applejack greets her sister.
"Howdy sis!" Applebloom replies back, galloping in to the house. She quickly grabs her saddle bags and runs back out the door.
"What're those for?" Applejack asks.
"It's for a crusading mission!" Applebloom shouts over her shoulder.
* * *
"Hey, Scoots!" Rainbow Dash says as she waved at Scootaloo from a cloud.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" She says cheerfully.
"What's got you so worked up about?" Rainbow asks.
"Just a crusaders meeting on the east end of town!" Scootaloo replies, her head swerving from side to side as she searched for her saddle bags in the tent she called home. The tent was planted right under Rainbow Dash's cloud home in the sky.
"The east end of town?" Dashie says, her tone sounding worried. Scoots nods and gave a little squeak of satisfaction when her search came to an end and she spotted her saddle bags. She threw them onto her back and grabbed her scooter.
She jumped on and sped on her way to meet the other crusaders at Golden Oaks Library, her heart racing at the thought of finally earning her cutie mark.
