The Basic Sketch of life

by Knightwolf09

Rating: everyone
Tags: Spike, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Slice of Life, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Flitter and Cloudchaser
Length: 11084

An artist pegasus named Sketch lives his crazy life in Ponyville.

A new pegasus named Sketch moves to Ponyville. This new pony now has to live through his completely exciting life along with the Mane 6 and other friends around him. What could be in store for this young colt?

Published 2013-08-23 14:50:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-25 05:23:11 UTC

Warm Welcome

It was a nice morning in Ponyville . The sun was shining bright, the flowers were all in bloom, and the birds were in glorious harmony of song. Twilight Sparkle trots over to Sugarcube Corner to see Pinkie Pie to hang out with her on such a lovely day. But by the time she walks in, she sees Pinkie jumping all over the place, bouncing around like a pink, poofy rubber ball. As much as Twilight knows that when it comes to Pinkie you don’t ask questions, her behavior still peeked her curiosity. So she decided to ask anyway.

“Uh hi Pinkie what’s gotten you so-“, Twilight was then interrupted by the bouncing as she makes a perfect landing right in front of her.

“Twilight! Did ya hear? Did ya hear? Did ya hear?”

“Did I hear what?”, Twilight’s curiosity was peeked even further, wondering what could get Pinkie so excited, though that could be anything.

“There’s gonna be a new pony in town.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s gonna be so great.” Pinkie then begins to bounce again with uncontrollable glee.

“Wait, how did you know that there would be a new pony?” Twilight asked with a hint of confusion.

“Oh I heard it from this guy who heard it from this guy who heard it from this guy who heard this guy who heard it from this guy who heard it from this guy who heard it from this guy who heard it from this guy’s cousin that a new pony would be moving here soon. I also heard that he’s quite famous. We might be getting a celebrity!”

Thoughts begin to run through Twilight’s mind. Thoughts like, what kind of pony it was, was it a boy or a girl, or what kind of talent he or she had, or what kind celebrity he or she might be. It was starting to sound interesting to her, and maybe it starting to make her a little excited to meet it.

“All I hope is that he or she likes to party. Wait that’s it!” Pinkie shouts as she suddenly stops her bouncing in mid-air.

“What’s it?”

“We’ll give him or her a surprise welcome party. That totally sounds like great way to get him warmed up to the town, and by the time he or she is done, they would be so impressed that they would want to stay in Ponyville forever.”

Twilight thought about the idea for a second, and thought that the plan actually sounded like it would be nice. After all, she was given a huge welcome when she arrived in Ponyville at first. It would probably be nice to do it for somepony else.

“Okay let’s do it. I’ll get everypony in town to gather up and get ready for the surprise.”, Twilight says with a determined look in her eyes.

“I’ll prepare the party.” The pink pony then begins to bounce around the room again as she begins to prepare.

Twilight rushes off to town to tell everypony to prepare for the big surprise.

A few hours later everypony was gathered in town square. Each pony was hiding in a different spot, behind statues, even inside a water fountain………..somehow. Twilight was busy taking attendance with a clipboard floating in front of her thanks to her magic. Everything seemed to be prepared.

“Remember everypony. We only jump out when the new pony takes his first step in town. Take that as literally as you like”

As soon a yellow pegasus then flies above them, excited from what she saw in the distance.

“I see him. He’s coming.”

“Everypony hide!” Twilight said as she teleported away to her hiding spot.

All the ponies begin to hide and wait for the new pony to enter. As the streets were now clear, a brown stallion begins to walk close to the so far empty looking city, with a confused and lost look on his face. To him it was kind of weird, yet creepy that there was nopony in sight.

“Hmm…. If I’m right, this should be Ponyville . Strange, it’s kind of empty. Where is everypony?”

The stallion is starting to wonder if he somehow wound up in a ghost town, and begins to walk towards the empty town. As soon as he makes his first step into town….

“SURPRISE!!!!”, everypony that was hiding shouted as they jumped out from their hiding
spots including Twilight, who teleports directly in front of him. Each one of them had super huge smiles on their faces as if Celestia just came to town.

“GAH!!” ,the brown stallion began to shriek out of fear and then flies in the air with a frozen horrified look on his face.

Twilight then notices that stallion actually flew, meaning that he was Pegasus, obviously, but more importantly it looked like the surprise had more of an effect on him than she thought, and not in a good way.

Twilight begins to walk up to the frozen pony, worried about his still frozen expression. In order to break the tension, Twilight thinks that best way to do that is to apologize for the scare.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean for the surprise to scare you.” ,Twilight said.

The Pegasus shakes his head to snap out of his shock. Though he did look kind of embarrassed for having such an extreme reaction. He flew back down to earth to talk to Twilight.

“O-Oh. No need to apologize. I’m not much of a surprise pony.”, said the brown stallion.

“No kidding. I’ve never seen anypony looked so terrified from a surprise before. It was actually kind of funny.” Twilight snickered.

After that comment, the brown pony gained a slightly annoyed look on his face, and it sort of made Twilight embarrassed for talking too much.

“Uh, let’s start over. Let me introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle. Welcome to Ponyville.”

“I’m Sketch. Pleased to meet ya.” ,the brown pony responded with a hoofshake.

“Like wise. How about I give you a tour of the town?”

“I’d be insulted if you didn’t.”

Twilight and Sketch begin to walk together through the town. While walking, Twilight couldn’t help but notice Sketch’s cutie mark, which was a color palette and a paint brush. Twilight then begins to put up a new conversation.

“So, your cutie mark what does it mean, like what exactly do you do?”

“Oh I’m an artist.”
Twilight seemed quite intrigued with the statement, “Really? Like drawing and painting and stuff?”

“Yeah, but I like to do sketch art more than painting. I just find the coloring to be more a hassle you know.”

Twilight put on a little snarky smirk on her face and decided to tease him a bit, “Really? So I guess you’re not that impressive of an artist if you find painting to be a hassle.”

“Oooooh. Doubting my ability are we?”, Sketch replies with a cocky smile of his own.

Sketch takes out a pop out canvas and a pencil from his saddlebag and begins to draw. In seven seconds he draws a beautifully sketched portrait of Twilight.

“Well?”

Sketch is calmly waits for his response from Twilight, which by the look on her face, he could already tell what it is.

“Amazing. You did that in seven seconds flat.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve been slowing down lately.”

“What made a talented pony like you come to Ponyville?”, she asked curiously, “Not that there’s a problem, but I would think that your kind of skill could be used in places like Canterlot.”

“Actually, that’s where I just moved from. I’ve been to a lot of places. Phillydelphia, Colt Lake City, Manehattan, even Applewood.”

Twilight was actually surprised that Sketch was so well travelled. Then again she did notice that he had a bland expression on his face before he came to Ponyville, as if he’s moved to different towns before.

“I only moved from all those places because no matter where I was, it felt like something was missing in my art. I felt like I was lacking the inspiration I needed for my art, and everywhere I moved to didn’t help much. So I decided to see if I can find what I’m looking for here.”

“Well I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for here. Ponyville maybe small, but it does have a lot to offer, especially for a celebrity like you.”, Twilight responds gleefully.

“Wait, what?”, Sketch responded confused.

“Uh, never mind. Onward.”

Twilight walks Sketch to her library as their first stop. To Sketch it was pretty neat for him to see a literal treehouse. It was definitely not something he’s seen in other towns before.

“This is my library. I have tons of books here, so if you need any, I will gladly loan you some.”

She then takes him inside.

Sketch took a quick look around the library. He was kind of amazed that there were so many books in one house. This though, clued him in that Twilight may be a bit of an egghead, even if she does technically live in a library. “Cool. Say, would you happen to have any books on Sheer Brilliance? He’s one of my most favorite artists, and I want to look up some of his works.”

“Oh, I think I have a book like that. Spike!”
Suddenly Spike comes running in front Twilight, ready for duty. For Sketch, he was a little too frightened to speak.

“Spike can you see if you can find any books on the artist Sheer Brilliance?”, Twilight asked.

“No problem Twilight.”

The little dragon then zooms off to find a book.

“Was…..was that a dragon?”, Sketch asked nervously.

Spike then stops what he’s doing a noticed the colt standing next to Twilight, but for some reason look kind of scared.

“Who’s he? Is he the new pony I heard about?”, asked Spike.

“Yes. Spike this is Sketch. Sketch this is my assistant Spike. I hatched him as an entrance exam to magic school when I was a filly.”

“Wow a dragon as an assistant. That’s…pretty awesome.”, Sketch replied after shaking his head back to earth.

“Well, well, well. I like this guy already.”, Spike said. “Ah, found the book. Here you go.”

Twilight levitates the book from Spike’s claw to Sketch and he puts it in his pack.

“Alright onward to the next stop.”, said Twilight quickly.

“Right behind ya. See you later Spike.”

Sketch waved to the dragon as he walked out the door.

“Can’t wait to hang out some time.”, replied Spike.

The next stop was Sugarcube Corner. Sketch instantly noticed how the bakery looked like a giant gingerbread house. Too bad Sketch couldn’t eat it, because he didn’t eat anything before coming to town. Twilight and Sketch begin to walk to the front door.

“This is Sugarcube Corner, the town’s sweet shop. They have cakes and all other kinds of sweet stuff you want. Not to mention it’s one of the best hang out spots in Ponyville.”

Sketch’s stomach starts growling really loud.

“Heh heh. Well I am feeling kind of hungry. I guess I’ll eat something before-“

Suddenly a pink blur bursts out the door and tackles Sketch. Turns out it was Pinkie that landed on Sketch. She then starts jumping up and down on top of him not noticing he’s there.

“Twilight! Is he or she here? Is he or she here? I want to meet the new pony, where is he or she? We have everything ready for the party and I just want to meet him or her so so so badly. Come on Twilight answer the question. Where is he or she?"

“Close.”

Twilight then points down to a badly injured Sketch. Pinkie then looks down and sees herself standing on the poor Pegasus below her. She automatically moves away with great distraught.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. Uh, one second.”

She zooms inside of Sugarcube Corner and comes back out with a cupcake on her hoof.

“Here. An apology cupcake on the house.”, she said with a very awkward smile.
Sketch, with what little strength he had, reaches for the cupcake and eats it whole.

“Mmm. Pretty good cupcake.”, Sketch suddenly said with a rejuvenated voice.
Twilight then helps Sketch up and thought that this would be a good time to introduce them to each other.

“I’ll just introduce you. Sketch this is Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie this is Sketch. Pinkie Pie is pretty much best friends everypony here. She even has the title of the #1 party pony in town. Just don’t question how she think.”

“Okay. Now that the introductions are out the way, time for the most important question.”

She slowly walks up to the stallion’s face with an extremely fierce stare. Sketch was beginning to feel a bit nervous while at the same time felt pretty sure that something unexpected was about to happen, but then Pinkie began to speak.

“Do….you like….to party?”, she said with the fierce look still intact.

“Well yeah. Who doesn’t like a good party?”, Sketch replied nervously.

“WOOHOO! I knew it. Since you were an artist coming from Canterlot and all, I thought you were going to be one of those snobby, stick in the mud, fuddy duddy, party pooper type of artists. I can already tell we’re gonna be good friends.”

Sketch then looks over at Twilight with a confused expression, not even hiding it either. He was legitimately dumbfounded with that sentence.

“How…how did she-“

“Remember what I said? Don’t question her.”, said Twilight with a smug grin.
She glances over at the nearby clock tower further down the road and suddenly begins to freak out.

“Aah!”, she screeched.

“What?! What?!”, Sketch replied worriedly.

“We’re three minutes behind schedule. We really have to hoof it if we want to get back on time.”

“We had a schedule?”, Sketch replied.

“Come on Sketch. If we run, we can make it to the next stop on time.”
Twilight began to sprint ahead, leaving both Sketch and Pinkie behind.

“Hey! Wait for me. See you later Pinkie Pie.”, Sketch shouts as he begins running off.

“Bye bye.”

Pinkie was left behind waving to the two as they disappeared to the distance.
Twilight and Sketch’s next stop was Carousel Boutique. They ran the whole way, so they were a little bit tired.

“Phew, made it.”, Twilight said while.

“Phew, geez I’m out of shape.”, Sketch said while excessively panting more than Twilight.

Sketch then notices the boutique in front of eyes. To him it looked like one of those merry-go-round rides that you would see in carnival. What kind of store could this possibly be he wondered, but he knew Twilight was going to tell him anyway.

“Okay, this is Carousel Boutique, a fashion studio. My friend Rarity makes beautiful dresses for lots of famous ponies here. I’d say she’s pretty famous herself.”

“Interesting. Wait, where have I heard that name before?”, Sketch thought curiously to himself.

Both of them begin to walk inside and see Rarity currently at work on one of her latest designs which was covered with cloth.

Rarity turns around and notices both Twilight and Sketch.

“Oh, hello Twilight. Oooo is he the new pony pinkie told me about.”

“Why yes. Sketch this is Rarity. Rarity this is my new friend Sketch. I think you’ll like him Rarity he dabbles in a bit of the arts too.”

“Really? What kind of arts?”, Rarity asked batting her eyelashes with curiosity.

“Mostly fine arts, like drawing, painting and stuff like that. I’m going to guess that you’re more into fashion? Wait, now I remember. You were that one popular unicorn that hung out with Fancy Pants back in Canterlot right?”

“Oh yes, but ho-hum that’s all in the past. I returned to Ponyville after a few days to get back to my friends and various works. You can say fashion is my passion as it were.”, she giggled while bouncing her mane. “Do you want to see the latest project I’ve been working on?”

“Sure.”, Sketch responded with a smile.

“Oh I hope it fits.”

She then levitates her project to Sketch. Suddenly, Twilight begins to remember about a certain bad habit of Rarity’s whenever she gets excited, but it might be a little too late to stop her.

“Uh…Rarity.”, Twilight hesitantly called.
Rarity suddenly pulls out a dressing curtain and dresses Sketch behind it. Though it sounded like there was a little bit of resistance from behind. When she was done Sketch had on a gold suit with a multicolored bow tie.

“Well? What do you think? I rarely make suits, but I think it turned out marvelous don’t you think?”, Rarity asked eagerly waiting for her answer.

“I…uh…uh.”, Sketch stuttered with a very nervous face. It was as if he wanted to tell her what he thought without hurting her feelings.

Instantly her face began to frown and she began panic.

“Oh you don’t like it. Maybe it’s the tie. Don’t worry I can fix it.”

She tries to take off the tie and accidentally strangles him in the process. Then she just completely takes the suit off of him. Rarity then stresses about remaking the suit and begins working. Sketch was left on the ground coughing and gasping for air.

“Maybe we should go. Bye Rarity.”, Twilight said with an awkward laugh.
Twilight and Sketch begin to walk out of the boutique and prepared to go to the next stop.

“I’m sorry about Rarity. She can be really serious when it comes to her outfits. Alright. Our nextstop is out of town so it will be quite a walk.”

“Ow. My neck.”, Sketch moaned under his breath.

Suddenly something speeds past the both of them with a rainbow trail left behind, causing them to be spun around and left dizzy.

“Woah. Did somepony catch the number of that rainbow?”, Sketch said.

After Twilight shook her head to regain her vision, it turned out to be none other than Rainbow Dash.

“Oh that’s just Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash flies back down to Twilight.

“Sup Twilight.”, Rainbow turns around to nice Sketch next to her. “Is he the new pony I heard about?”

“Yeah. This is Sketch. Sketch meet Rainbow Dash. Rainbow this is Sketch. Rainbow is pretty much the fastest flier in Ponyville, if not all of Equestria. Her dream is to become part of the Wonderbolts.

“Wait. Rainbow Dash…Rainbow Dash. Ah, I know you. You were a classmate of mine back in flight camp, and if I remember correctly you were the pony that preformed the legendary Sonic Rainboom.“

“Oh yeah. You look kind of familiar now.”, Rainbow exclaimed, “So you were also there to witness some of my awesomeness, huh?”

“Actually, I didn’t. I was sick on that day, but you probably mostly remember me from my nickname Sketchie.”

“Sketchie?”, Twilight asked confusingly.

“Yeah, I kinda had a lonely foalhood as a colt, and I got that nickname because I…uh…stared at other ponies from a distance. Anywho…”, Sketch said while a scratching his head and blushing. “You remember that Rainbow.”

“I think so, yeah.”

“Well I hope so. Cause you were the one gave me the name.”, Sketch responded at first with a smile that quickly turned into a straight face.

“Oh. Heh heh. Yeah.”, laughed Rainbow awkwardly.

“So what have you been doing lately?”

“Oh you know, hanging out, napping, practicing my moves for the Wonderbolts. The daily routine. And you?”

“Oh drawing, painting, traveling across Equestria, the usual. Wait, the Wonderbolts? Are you really that good enough to join them?”

“Do I hear doubt in that voice? Want a demonstration?”

“Thrill me.”, Sketch said smugly.

Rainbow Dash then flies high into the sky and begins perform her routine, which involved tons of flipping and barrel rolls.

“Woah! She’s pretty good.”, Sketch said.

“She usually is.”, Twilight responded.

“Now check out this new move. I’ve been working on it for a while now. I call it the Spectrum Twister.”, Rainbow shouted from above.

Rainbow Dash then begins to spin around top speed and creates a multicolored tornado. At first the trick looked like it went off without a hitch, but then something didn’t look right, like the tornado was unstable.

“Uh oh. I can’t stop!”, Rainbow shouted.

The tornado goes out of control and zigs and zags all over the skies all until it descends and crashes both her and Sketch into a brick wall.

“Well that went well.”, Rainbow grunted.

“Could’ve fooled me. Sketch are you alright?”, Twilight asked worriedly.

“Tuesday is…Applesauce Day.”, Sketch responded dizzily.

That sounded like that was no. Twilight then looks at the clock tower again while ,not so long after, panics again.

“Ah! We’re late.”, Twilight shouted.

Twilight uses her magic to levitate Sketch and runs off with him.

“Wah! Wait a second!”, Sketch shouted.

“Uh….okay. See ya later Sketch.”, said Rainbow.

The next stop was at Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight was exhausted from the running by the time she made it, but thanks to Sketch being levitated he got to go there first class.

“We…..made it………So…….tired.”, Twilight panted.

“Well I wouldn’t know since you carried me here with your magic. Sooooooo…”, Sketch teased.

Twilight suddenly gains her shocked face again.

“Oh my gosh! I just remembered. I never showed you to town hall. How could I have possibly
forgotten? It’s the most important for newcomers!”

Sketch was starting to worry for Twilight, but out of nowhere Applejack comes from behind

Sketch and looks down at Twilight on the ground flipping the heck out.

“Well hey Twilight. You look terrible.”, Applejack stated.

“Gee, thanks. Oh right, this is-“

“Let me guess. The new pony right?”

“Yup.”

Twilight then slaps her face on the ground to return to her disappointment.
Applejack walks up to Sketch grabs his hoof and started shaking it so hard that she picks him up off the ground.

“Howdy do there. I’m Applejack. I work here on the farm of Sweet Apple Acres. Anything you need we’ll be more than happy to offer.”

After that extremely long hoofshake, she finally lets go of Sketch’s hoof, causing it to throb after being shaken with such force.

“I’m Sketch. Quite a hoof shake you got there.”
His stomach then randomly growls. It growled even louder than it did back a Sugarcube Corner.

“Guess that cupcake I ate wasn’t enough to fill me.”

“Lucky for you, we’ve prepared for that.”
She grabs Sketch and takes him to a picnic table right next to the barn with the apple family standing on each side. The table had tons of treats such as, pies, fritters, candy apples, and even apple tarts, one of Sketch’s favorite. Just the sight of the food made Sketch even hungrier.

“Here ya go. Courtesy of the apple family. Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and Applebloom. You may think about it as a welcomin gift.”

“Why we were so plum excited when we heard somepony new was comin, we wanted to show em’ how big of a welcome we can give. We always love ta see new faces.”, Granny said.

“Eeyup.”, Big Mac responded.

“Woah, thanks.”, Sketch replied with a warm smile.

“You want something Twi-“

Applejack still sees Twilight throwing a fit to herself trying to correct her messed up schedule. Of course this was not unusual behavior for Twilight, so Applejack decided to leave her be.

“Okay we are ten minutes behind schedule, but that’s alright. If I just take out some of the stops I had in mind, I might just be able to put this back on track. Now if we cut off a few minutes from here-“, Twilight muttered to herself.

“Ah well. More for me.”, Sketch says in response to…. whatever’s going on back there.

Applejack grabs a slice of apple pie and shoves it into Sketch’s mouth.

“ Might I recommend our famous apple pie.”

“Mmmmm~”, Sketch responds with a full mouth

She then grabs an apple fritter and shoves that in Sketch’s mouth

“Our apple fritters.”

“Mmmmmmm~”, Sketch responded again.

Then shoves an apple tarts in Sketch’s mouth.

“Our apple tarts.”

“Wai a schecond.”, Sketch said with a full mouth.

“Our apple turnovers, apple cobbler, apple dumplings, apple fries.”

Applejack wouldn’t stop feeding Sketch. In fact, she kept feeding Sketch so much food that by the time she was done, Sketch’s stomach ended up huge.

“Oooooooooooooooh~”, Sketch moaned.

“Uh….maybe I went a bit overboard. Oh nuts n’ shoes.”

“Okay I found a way to fix the schedule so we should leave- Aaah!”, Twilight screamed.

“Oooooooooooooooooooh~”, Sketch moaned again.

“Oh no. Maybe we should go.”, Twilight said worriedly.

Twilight levitates Sketch with her magic, and it was off to the next stop.

“See ya. And sorry for the overfeeding.”, Applejack shouted to two ponies

The next stop was Fluttershy’s cottage. Twilight was starting to feel uneasy, considering all of the accidents that happened at each stop. She didn’t want to give the supposedly famous pony a bad impression of Ponyville. Overall, she was determined to make sure that nothing would go wrong with this stop.

“Okay there were alot of…minor casualties in last few stops, but this one is will be much better, trust me. All the others might’ve disappointing to you, but please don’t taken Ponyville the wrong way. I know it can be crazy almost daily, but it’s a pleasant town once you get used to it.”.

“Actually, I don’t-“

“Ah, we’re here. This is my friend Fluttershy’s cottage. She takes care of animals, and if you ask she might give you a pet if you like. Though she is very shy, so she might not talk much. Also, you see that forest over there?”

"Yeah."

"That's the Everfree Forest. It holds many dangerous and mysterious creatures inside and it doesn't get any better after dark so be careful."

“Got it. Hmm, Fluttershy. That name sounds familiar too.” ,Sketch thought.

As both of them walk to the front door, Twilight knocks on it leaving Fluttershy slightly hesitant to answer.

“Uh……hello.”, Fluttershy whispered.

“Hi Fluttershy. Hope I’m not disturbing you, but I got someone I would like you to meet.” Twilight said pointing to Sketch.

“Hi.”

“Eek!” ,the shy pony squeaks as she slams the door with massive force.

“Excuse me a second.”

Twilight walks into the cottage to get Fluttershy

“(Not only is her name familiar, but she looks familiar too. Where have I seen her before?)” Sketch pondered.

Twilight finally manages to get Fluttershy out herself in a way that looked pretty forceful.

“Fluttershy this is the new pony, Sketch.”

“….Hi…….I’m……Fluttershy.”, She whispered.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“....I’m….Fluttershy.”

“One more time please.”

“ ……………”

“(Okay, this is getting awkward REAL fast. Please let ANYTHING happen.”,Twilight thought.

Breaking the awkward silence Angel Bunny comes out from the cottage and runs on top of Sketch’s head.

“Well who’s this cute this little guy?”, Sketch said.

“Oh, his name is Angel Bunny. It looks like he likes you.”

“Now you talk. Well I’m glad I made another friend. It may be a bunny, but hey, what do I care?”

“Wait, did she say your name is Sketch? As in “Sketchie” Sketch?”

“Now I remember. You were also in flight camp with me. You were that super quiet one that could hardly fly.”

“………”

“(And now I just made things awkward again.)”

Suddenly Angel grows upset look on his face and takes Sketch’s bag and runs off with it.

“What the hay. He took my bag!”

“Oh no.”, Twilight muttered.

“Angel, come back! Bad boy!”, Fluttershy shouted.

The three of them gave chase to the little rabbit all over the cottage. All over the field, through the chicken coop, even up to trees until they were finally catching up to the little troublemaker…….then he ran inside the cottage and slammed the door on Sketch’s face. The others were right behind him, so they crashed into Sketch as well.

“That’s it. I give up. So far every stop we had was nothing but a catastrophe.”, Twilight moaned.

The rest of the gang had then arrived and they didn’t look to happy. By the look on their faces not only did it look like they came for same reason, but they looked they witnessed the little chase scene as well.

“I guess we ruined your joy and view of Ponyville for you, and it gets crazier by the day sometimes. We understand if you want to move elsewhere and avoid all of it.”

Everypony then dropped down their heads in disappointment, afraid of what Sketch might say next.

“Leave? Are you kidding? This was most fun I had in ages."

“Huh?!”, everypony gasped.

“But ever since you arrive, you’ve been through nothing but painful ordeals. I’m actually surprised you had enough patience to go through with the rest of the tour.” ,Rarity exclaimed.

“Please. It was a lot less boring than the other places I lived in. Plus I got to meet some old classmates while I was at it.”

“But what about the time I used you like a trampoline? By the way has anypony ever told you that you’re really soft?” ,Pinkie asked.

“Hey, accidents happen. I’m quick to understand. Plus, you gave me a free cupcake, which, may I add, was awrsomely delicious .”

“What about that suit I made for you? You acted said it was the most abominable, tackiest, utterly horrifying piece of fashion you have ever been forced to witness. Oh yes, and I accidently choked you to near death.” ,Rarity said.

“Okay, One: I never said that, and Two: I liked it. I just didn’t know how to comment on it, since I don’t know much about fashion.”

“What about my trick gone wrong? I’m pretty sure I crashed into you hard.”

“Nah, I got the head of a buffalo. I’m willing to forgive. Awesome trick by the way. You just need a little more practice.”

“So I guess you’re not mad ‘bout that force feedin I gave ya earlier?”, Applejack asked as she took off her hat in embarrassment.

“After tasting that apple pie? Why would I be mad? Best I’ve ever tasted.”

“But, Angel became a bad little bunny and took your bag.”,Fluttershy said.

“Actually, I can see why he did it. I think he just took it back in defense for that “hardly able to fly” remark. I apologize for that. I gotta admit it’s kind of nice that you have a little friend willing to stand up for you at anytime.”

Suddenly Angel came back outside and gave back Sketch’s bag, but not without a little kick to his chine as the last bit of payback.

“See? He was just making sure that I wasn’t teasing you.”

“So overall you didn’t mind all the things that’s been happening to you? Even when we were super behind schedule?”, Twilight said.

“Again, we had a schedule?”

“Yeah. She sometimes schedules everything. Even schedules to make a schedules.”, Rainbow whispered.

“Funny. Anyway, when it comes to making new friends you gotta learn to live with their quirks and flaws. That’s just who they are. There’s nothing more friendly than being true with yourself. There was no need to impress me or anything. I’d be more comfortable with the craziness than a town that was just perfect. I live for crazy and originality.”

“So does this mean you’ll stay?”, Pinkie asked with the impossibly biggest smile.

“Yes, I’m staying.”

“ALRIGHT!”, Rainbow shouted.

“Now that I think about it, why were you guys trying so hard to impress me anyway? I doubt you do this for everypony that comes to town.”

“Well, we kind of heard that you were a famous celebrity and-“, Twilight muttered.

“Wait, I’m a celebrity?”

“You mean you’re not?”

“Well, not exactly. I’m just a regular up and coming artist. You know, if you ever mentioned my name there’s a chance that somepony might guess who I am. If anything I just know famous celebrities do to business.”

Twilight then gives Pinkie an upset looking glare.

“Hey, don’t blame me. It’s not my fault if that one cousin gave the wrong information.”, Pinkie replied.

“You know, I guess I was bored in all my past homes because I didn’t have any friends there. I mean Manehattan was full of jerks and Canterlot had a lot of snobs. Wait. That’s it. THAT’S IT!” ,Sketch shouted.

“What’s it?” ,Twilight replied.

“That’s what I was missing in my art. I was missing friends to inspire me. Now that you guys are my friends, my head is overflowing with tons of ideas right now. Seriously, I need a pencil and paper fast.”

“I guess you did find what you needed in Ponyville afterall. This will make a great letter to Princess Celestia.”

“Letter to Princess who now?”, Sketch asked surprised.

Everypony then ends that off with with a big laugh.

Later that night, not long after Pinkie’s wild welcome party, Twilight begins to write her letter to Princess Celestia.

“Dear Princess Celestia. Today I learned something important about making new friends. When you try to make new friends, you don’t need to try so hard to impress them. Because if you really want to them be your friend, then just be yourself. Because they just might accept you for who you are. No matter what quirk or flaw you have.”

A random knock comes from Twilight’s door. When she answered ,it turned out to be Sketch.

“Hey Twilight. Do you have any books on home decor? I didn’t think about what my studio would look like when I moved in.”, Sketch grinned awkwardly.

“Oh brother.”

THE END

Taking the Lead

It was midmorning in Ponyville. Everypony was out doing their usual business in town, except for the new resident, Sketch. So far it has been two days since he moved to Ponyville, and right now he is finishing his latest project, his own house/art studio. All that was left for him was to put up the sign.

“Phew. I’m finally finished. Sketch’s Pad is now open for business.”

Twilight Sparkle then shows up to see how Sketch was doing on his newly improved house. So far it looked nice. It looked quite simple compared to the other houses, yet it still looked unique in it’s own way. It was almost as if he built it in a way that it represents him.

“Hi Sketch. Wow. I like your improvement to your place. You must’ve been work hard on this on this place.”

“Hey Twilight. Yup, pretty good job if I do say so myself. You know it’s funny, I don’t know anything about housing or interior design either.”

“Could’ve fooled me. Well let’s go inside and see how you did.”

“Wait just a second. Don’t come in yet.”

Sketch quickly zoomed inside of his house as Twilights waits a few seconds, waiting for what was going to happen next.

“Okay, you can come in now.” Sketch shouted.

Twilight then walks in and sees his studio which had a little bit of bookshelves with books for different kinds of art and designs, a giant canvas at the other side of the room with a wonderful illustration of Ponyville, and three canvases on each side the room.

“Welcome to Sketch’s Pad where imagination’s loud, proud, and open to the crowd. How may I help you?” Sketch says with a little hammy acting voice.

“Wow Sketch. This place turned out really nice. Really hard to believe that this was the most rundown house in town.”

“You think so? I only bought it because I saw potential in it. All I did was make it bloom into the beautiful masterpiece it is now.”

“Of course. So, what exactly do you do here?”

“Okay, you know how art studios just mostly exhibit art? Well instead of that I not only exhibit my own art, I also let other ponies create their own, or they can purchase mine. That’s not all. When other ponies create their art, they have the choice to take their masterpieces home with them, or hang them up on the personal Wall of Fame for everypony to see.”

“It really does sound a bit different from any art studio I’ve heard of. You could make great business here.”

Suddenly the front door slammed open and three little fillies Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo run to Twilight with super eager smiles on their faces.

“There you are Twilight. We’ve been looking all over for you” Scootaloo said.

“Come on, come on. We only have one lifetime to get our cutie marks.” Sweetie says hastily.

“Oh, that’s right. I was supposed to watch over you three today while everypony else was busy today.” Twilight said surprised from her realization.

“Hey Applebloom.” Sketch said waving to the young filly.

“Hi Sketch.”

“Oh I’m sorry girls. I can’t watch you today. I got some research for a time rewind spell I need to work on. Maybe you can find somepony else.” Twilight explained with the highest regret.

“But that’s the reason why we were sent to you. Because everypony else was too busy.”Scootaloo replies with a bummed out face.

“I could watch them.” Sketch announced.

“Really?!” everypony reacted with great shock.

“Yeah. I don’t have any customers yet. So I have tons of free time on my hooves. Plus I’m great with kids.”

Twilight felt really uncomfortable leaving the three with Sketch. It wasn’t that she didn't trust him, he really might be good with children, but it’s the fact that it was a special case with those three. She felt like she could at least give Sketch a little warning about them.

“You’re sure you can handle them? They’re kind of a rowdy bunch.”

“Shh, shh, shh. Twilight…..I can handle them.” Sketch whispers as he placed his hoof in front of Twilight’s muzzle.

“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Girls I’ll leave you to Sketch. Be sure not to give him any trouble okay?”

“Okay!” replied the crusaders

“Bye Sketch. ( And good luck)”

Twilight began her exit. As soon as she walked out the door, the crusaders already started to work on their plans.

“You hear that girls?” Sweetie asked.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PLANNING SESSION AT SKETCH’S HOUSE!!!! YAY!” all of them shouted.

All three of them run around Sketch’s house with excitement as began to plan on what crazy antic to do next.

“Okay, so they’re a little loud, but I’m sure I can handle them. Remember Sketch, you’re great with kids.”

Sketch goes to the three huddled together fillies to listen on what they were planning.

“You know girls? Lately I’ve been wondering. In our attempts to get our cutie marks, what is the one thing that we seem to lack?” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“Our cutie marks?” Scootaloo replied sarcastically.

“No. Actual planning.”

“Whaddya mean?” ,Applebloom asked.

“I mean that everytime we fail to get our cutie marks, we just always jump to something randomly before thinking. So I thought maybe we should have a leader to make plans for what to do next. That way we could be more organized and maybe get our cutie marks faster.”

“I like that plan, and I will be more than happy to be the leader.” Scootaloo said proudly.

“Wait. Who said you’ll be the leader?” Applebloom replied with an upset tone.

“Yeah. We all know it’s going to be me.” said Sweetie Belle

“No way. It’s goin’ to be me.” Applebloom again replies angrily.

The three fillies then began to get into a little tussel for their supremacy. Sketch decided that he should break up the conflict by bringing up another topic.

“So….. I heard that you three were part of this group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. What’s that all about?”

The three immediately stopped their fighting and stare at Sketch.

“Well our main goal is to discover our cutie marks to find out true destinies.” Scootaloo explained.

“So we do tons of different stuff ta find out our special talent.” said Applebloom.

“Sounds interesting.”

“But most of our attempts so far didn’t turn out so well. We think we could do better if we had a leader, who we all know is me.” Sweetie Belle stated.

“No way it’s me!”

The three of them looked like they were about to fight again until Sketch brought up this comment.

“You know, all those activities that you mentioned you’d be doing sound like it could be alot of fun. You know what? I’m gonna help you girls.”

“Wait, you will?” Scootaloo responded shockingly.

"That might not be a bad idea Sketch." said Applebloom

“Yeah. And that way you’ll be having a responsible pony watch over you three.”

“And as soon as we find that responsible pony, we’ll be in buisness. Alright girls let’s have a deal. We’ll have a competition to see who will become the leader. Whoever gets their cutie mark first, wins.”

“Yeah!” all three of them exclaimed while they seal the deal with a three way highhoof.

Suddenly all their enthusiasm disappeared as they now had a blank expression on their faces.

“So what should we do first?” Applebloom brought up.

“Might I suggest one thing?” Sketch asked.

Later that day, the crusaders and Sketch are found on top of a large, steep hill outside of Ponyvile with snowsleds on hoof.

“Grass sledding!” Sketch eclaimed.

“You sure this will get us our cutie marks?” asked Scootaloo sketchily.

“I don’t know. I just wanted to go grass sledding.” Sketch replied

“Wait, did you agree to watch over us so you wouldn’t have to work on the first day of your job?” asked Sweetie Belle

“Pretty much. 1,2,3 GO!! GERONIMO!!!!”

Sketch was the first to go down the hill. He zoomed down like a rocket all the to the grounds below. While Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Scootaloo were hesitant to go down, but they finally decided to go down. While going down the hill at high speed Sketch was having the time of his life while the other three looked more scared for theirs. By the time Sketch finally made it to the bottom he was busy laughing while he heard a crashing sound behind him. He sees the crusaders in a pile but no marks on their flanks unfortunately.

“Is there something there?” Sweetie Belle asked writhing in pain.

“Sorry, nothing.” Sketch sighed.

All of their heads go down in disappointment.

“Ah well. Wanna go down again?” Sketch asked eagerly.

“What’d be the point? We didn’t get our cutie marks.” Applebloom whimpered.

“Okay, so you didn’t get your marks, but you gotta admit it was fun, right?”

“Yeah, I guess it was a little fun.” Scootaloo replied hesitantly.

“Then what are you waiting for? Race ya to the top.”

Sketch immediately flew back to the top of the hill with the crusaders slowly making their way back with their disappointed faces till intact. About an hour later it was on to their next attempt. They were inside the Ponyville wreck center with a ping-pong table in front of them and paddles at the ready.

“Table tennis!” Sketch exclaimed “First to 5 points wins the game. I’d say it’d be best if you teamed up against me.”

The four of them then begin to play game. First game began with Scootaloo versus Sketch, who obviously had the advantage over the poor little pegasus. The game went back and forth until Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo decided to actually gang up on Sketch. Even with the two against him he was still doing pretty well on his own, but finally Applebloom joins the game and all three fillies go up against Sketch at the same time. As the game continued it finally ended after the fillies accidentally took out Sketch with a ball to the head. The three then celebrated and checked their flanks to see if they’d gotten their just rewards, but sadly there was none. Just more disappointment.

“Awww. Still no cutie mark.” Applebloom whined.

Sketch got back up in a daze from that attack, and shakes his head in order to stop his world from spinning.

“Alrighty then. Maybe you’ll get your marks if you face me one at a time next time. So who’s going first?”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were wallowing in their disappointment while Applebloom went back up as if she already forgot about her disappointment. It seemed like she was enjoying the game more than just focusing on not getting her mark. While the other two were still confused, they just shrugged their shoulders and waited their turn. For the rest of the day it was nothing but fun. Sketch and the crusaders were busy doing any activity that can pop into their minds, like Jet skiing, painting, and even dancing. Even though the three fillies didn’t get their cutie marks, they were still having fun everything that they did. By the time they came back to Sketch’s Pad, it already became sundown.

“Today was so much fun!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed

“Yeah. Ah had so much fun, ah almost fergot that we didn’t get our cutie marks.” said Applebloom.

“Well I’m glad that you enjoyed yourselves today. I thought maybe doing all this fun stuff would help you get your marks.” Sketch said.

“Really? How?” asked Scootaloo curiously.

“You see, finding your special talent can be found a lot easier in something you enjoy doing. So the better you enjoy yourselves, the closer you are to finding your talent. So next time try to make some fun out of your attempts for now on. *Yawn* Phew, I’m beat. Gonna hit the hay. Night.”

“Good night Sketch.” The crusaders replied.

Sketch and the crusaders went their separate ways and it was time for a good night’s sleep after a long and exhausting day. The next day the crusaders gathered together again to plan for their next attempts to get their marks.

“Hey girls. Ready to get our marks today?” said Sweetie Belle.

Both Scootaloo and Applebloom eagerly shook their heads in agreement.

“So what should we do today?” Scootaloo asked.

“Hmmmmmmm……I have no idea.” Applebloom shrugged.

“Well let’s remember what Sketch said yesterday. He said to make some fun out of our attempts. So let’s just do what we normally do except we’ll try to make it more fun.” Sweetie Belle explained.

“Yeah!”

All three had their signature three-way highhoof to seal the deal.

“We’re still having that competition, right?”

“Oh, big time.”

The crusaders then set off to start their attempts. Having their minds set on not only marks, but also becoming leaders. The first attempt of the day was hang-gliding. They climbed on the biggest they could find and stood on the edge as they prepared for launch.

“Scootaloo, ya sure this is safe?” Applebloom asked nervously.

“Since when were any of our attempts safe?” Scootaloo replied.

“Well…………..Huh.”

“Now if we’re done. TAKE OFF!!!”

The three of them began to suck in their guts and charge straight off the cliff. For a short while, they were beginning to glide, but suddenly the glider begins to tear and they began to slowly plummet down to the earth below, crashing into a tree.

“Everypony still in one piece?” Scootaloo groaned.

“Yeah, but I think that was as fun as I thought it wouldn’t be.” Sweetie Belle answered.

“Did we get anythin’?” asked Applebloom.

All three of check their flanks, hoping to find a reward for that experience, but instead found more disappointment.

“Nope.”

“Maybe we should get Sketch to help us.” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“No way. We can still do this on our own. We just gotta step it up a little.” said Scootaloo.

The crusaders then proceeded to move on to their usual attempts. They move onto more shenanigans such as jet skiing, bungee jumping, as well as water diving, which surprisingly ended up in a lot of belly flops. So far the entire day wasn’t even close to being fun like it was with Sketch. Though, as expected, they haven’t received any cutie marks of sorts. The three little began to fall into a slight depression. They couldn’t shake the need to just give up for that day.

“I can’t believe this!” Scootaloo shouted. “What the hay are we doing wrong?”

“Ah don know.” Applebloom replied. “We tried to put fun into ar attempts like Sketch told us to. Did he just give bad advice? ”

“How about we give up? I say we give up.” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“Come on girls. We have to keep on going.” said Scootaloo.

“There’s gotta be something we can do to make it more fun.”

Scootaloo scans the premise to see if there was anything they can do. Off in the distance, she noticed a pink pony walking away from a hot-air balloon tied to a post. An idea suddenly surges through her brain, and she grew a smirk on her face. This idea made the other crusaders afraid that it might lead to trouble.

“Girls, I think I have an idea.”

The three fillies run toward the balloon to talk to the owner, but it seemed like she was already gone.

“Huh, I wonder where the pilot went.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Guess she left.” Sweetie Belle said, “Maybe we should wait for her to come back.”

“I’ve done enough waiting for my cutie, and I’m not gonna wait any longer.”

Scootaloo climbed inside of the balloon and was about to prepare for take-off. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle climbed in after her to stop her from doing this crazy stunt. As they were squabbling they happened to notice Scootaloo holding on to the rope tethering them to ground in her mouth.

“Scootaloo, this is crazy.” Applebloom said , “You can’t just drive a hot-air balloon by yurself.”

“Yeah.” Sweetie Belle agreed, “Besides, do you even know how to fly this thing?”

“I don’t need to know how to. If I’m able to fly it without-”

As Scootaloo was about to retort, she noticed that she accidentally let go of the tether, and they begin to ascend to the sky.

“Ah great. Now look what you did.” said Applebloom.

“What I did? If you guys didn’t try to stop me, you wouldn’t have had to worry about being up here.”

“How can you even get a cutie mark of flying a balloon if you don’t even know how to drive on?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“I know how to drive it. You just gotta…um… pull on this rope thingie…and I think that’ll make the balloon go higher, and you just let the wind do the rest of the driving.”

“Don’t ponies usually get lost like that?” replied Applebloom.

As they keep slowly rising to the skies above Ponyville, a sudden gust of picks up and begins to carry the balloon close to the edge of town.

“Okay Scootaloo, you know how to make this thing go up, but do ya know how to make it go down and stop?” asked Applebloom.

“Maybe these bags on the side are like anchors.” said Sweetie Belle.

“NO!!” shouted the other two fillies.

Sweetie Belle takes three of the sandbags off of the balloons and drops them down below, only resulting in the balloon rising even higher.

“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo shouted, “Those were the only things that were keeping us from going any higher.”.

“Well how was I supposed to know? I’m not a balloonatoloigist.”

“That’s not even a thing!!”

“Will yall just calm down?!” Applebloom intervened, “Yellin’ at each other won’t get us back down.”

“Neither will Sweetie Belle at this rate.”

“Shut it. Now how exactly are we gonna lower the balloon?”

The three little fillies sat and began to think. Scootaloo was mostly scratching her head as hard she could, and Sweetie Belle kept poking her head with the same amount of force. Applebloom looked out the side of the balloon and sees that they were flying towards the entrance of the Everfree Forest. She was begging stress out and couldn’t think of any single clue of stopping balloon as well as lower it. Suddenly, something bumped the back of Applebloom’s head. It turned out to be a rope. Applebloom was confused since the rope Scootaloo grabbed was on the other side of the balloon. She looked up and noticed a lid on the top of the balloon connected to the rope. She pulled on the rope and opened the lid causing the balloon to lower.

“Girls, I think I have an idea. If this works, we’ll right in front of Flutterhy’s cottage.”

“How do we know if Sweetie Belle isn’t just going to just make it worse again?” Scootaloo scolded.

“It’s your fault that we’re up here in the first place.” Sweetie Belle angrily replied.

“Well you didn’t HAVE to jump in after me.”

“It was a stupid idea to fly a balloon you didn’t know how drive anyway.”

“Are you calling me stupid?!”

“No, but thank you for thinking it first.”

“STOP!!!” Applebloom screamed. “That’s enough. Fightin’ aint gonna help us get down from here. Look, ah know all of us are only up here because one of us just wants to be leader, and thanks to that, all we’re doin is just screamin our heads off at each other while on the verge of floatin away from Ponyville. Maybe Sketch just didn’t give us good advice, and we went overboard with it. Can’t we just act like the friends we were before we made this silly contest, and work together to get us to safety?”

The other two fillies lower their head in shame for their pointless arguing. They looked at each other, and gave a little smirk, knowing that they didn’t have to say their sorry to prove it, but they thought it probably be the best thing.

“I’m sorry if I called you stupid Scootaloo.” Sweet Belle said.

“Yeah. And I’m sorry that I got us into this mess in the first place.”

“Alright. That’s better.” said Applebloom as she nodded in agreement. “Now, are we ready put this oversized bag of air down to the ground?”

“YEAH”

“So how are we going to do that?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Ya see this rope? When ah pull it, it must let some of the out. If ah let out enough air, along with a little bit weight, we can probably land right in front of Fluttershy’s cottage before we go above the Everfree forest.”

“But where are we gonna find something to weight it down?” Scootaloo asked as she sat down.

Scootaloo suddenly realizes that what she was sitting on was a small chest. Inside was a couple of extra sandbags.

“Why didn’t we notice this?” Scootaloo asked.

“Alright, that’ll work. Scootaloo you tie the bags to the side of the balloon.” commanded Applebloom.

“Oh oh oh. What can I do?” Sweetie Belle asked excitedly.

“Uh… No offense Sweetie Belle, but ya might be better off keepin an eye out for the ground to make sure we land safely.”

“Can do.”

“We can do this, girls. We can do this!” exclaimed Applebloom.

Meanwhile, not far from Fluttershy’s. An enthusiastic Sketch happily flies in the clear blue skies on the way to Fluttershy’s, humming a tune he thought up in head.

♪Oh oh oh. Oh I’m on mah way to Fluttershy’s. To play with some animals. And maybe in the process I’ll get an idea to draw a portrait of- ♪

“Of…Darn it what rhymes with animals? Bah, I was never good with making songs anyway.”

Just then he happens to notice a floating object further down.

“Hello? Look at that. They have hot air balloon rides here? Wait, why am I getting excited if I can already fly?”

Sketch takes a closer look and sees the three small fillies piloting to balloon as it slowly descends.

“Wait a second. Isn’t that…”

Back at the cottage, Fluttershy was tending to her daily routine of tending her animals. Today happens to be the day she lets her birds go for an hour long flight so they can get their exercise.
“Alright my little birdies, now make sure that you be careful out there and to come back before dinner time. Now have fun.”

Fluttershy walked back inside the cottage to tend to the rest of her animals. As all of birds begin take off, they headed straight for the crusader’s balloon. The swarm of birds fly completely through the crusaders, seemingly without leaving any damage. Suddenly the three hear a strange sound coming from the top of the balloon. They looked up and spotted a crane whose beak got stuck in the balloon when it flew at it. It pulls it out and flies away, leaving a hole that quickly lets the air out, and causes the balloon to plummet down to earth.

“OH JEEZ!” Sketch shouted as he dashed towards the falling balloon.

“Girls, if somehow live through this, Ah just want yall to know that you are the best friends a pony can ask for.” Applebloom confessed.

“And I’m sorry that I even made this stupid competition idea.” said Sweetie Belle.

“And Applebloom that prank when you were covered in maple syrup and feathers so you would look like a chicken was actually me. It was revenge for that one chicken call joke.” Scootaloo admitted with a nervous grin.

“Wait, that was you?! Ah’ve been givin Snips and Snails dagger eyes for months!”

Suddenly, before the balloon made impact to the ground, Sketch appears next to the balloon, swiped the three fillies out of the basket, and quickly flies them to safety. The balloon finally kissed with the dirt and left nothing but scattered pieces of the basket and the tarp on the ground. Sketch and the crusaders looked back and witnessed the wreckage of the balloon. They couldn’t help but imagine what would’ve happened if Sketch didn’t make it in time. It was not a pleasant thought.

“Is everypony okay?” Sketch asked while panting.

“Yeah. I think we’re okay.” Scootaloo replied.

“Good. Now, WHY THE HAY WERE YOU THREE FILLIES DRIVING A BALLOON WITHOUT A DRIVER?!?!”

The three fillies turned away their heads to hide their shame.

“Well, we were just tryin’ to figure what to do next for our leader competition, and the Scootaloo-”

“Lemme guess. She thought you could get your cutie marks in balloon flying.” Sketch interrupted Applebloom. “Do you even know what could’ve happened to you three if I haven’t happened to be just strolling by? That was a dangerous stunt and I’m sure you know it.”

“Well, i-it’s not completely our faults.” Sweetie Belle hesitantly replied.

“And whose fault is it?” Sketch replied as he gave a scolding stare.

“I just…thought of what you said, and tried to have a fun hot air balloon ride.” Scootaloo answered.

“Then would you please tell me where’s the fun in jacking a balloon that you know you can’t drive? Cause I don’t see it.”

“Why are you lecturing us anyway?” Applebloom asked. “It’s not like you’re our dad or nothing.”

“I’m just a little upset because you scared me half to death when I saw that balloon falling like a rock. I can see now why you three have to be watched over sometimes.”

Sketch paused for a brief moment and slowly breathed in and out before continuing.
“Look, as you can tell, not me or anypony else can always keep an eye you 24/7, but promise me that if you’re planning on doing something that you think might be dangerous, try to think it over before you take the risk, or walk away that works too.”

“We promise.” All three of the fillies replied.

“We’re sorry Sketch.” Scootaloo apologized. “We were just trying to follow the advice that you gave us and try to put more fun in our attempts like you said to.”

“Alright, maybe I said it wrong or you just took it the wrong way, but that’s not what I meant. What I meant was to find your talent in stuff you enjoy doing. For example, I like drawing, but I don’t just like it. It is my passion, a main part of me if you will. By the time I discovered that, I realized that the thing that I loved doing turned out to best thing I was good at, and then I got my cutie mark.”

Suddenly, Fluttershy comes outside of her cottage and happens to notice the decimated balloon on the front lawn.

“Oh my goodness. Sketch, what happened?”

“Not now Flutters, I’m in the middle of teaching children an important life lesson. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that if you want to find out what your talent, you have to look for it things that you already enjoy. You just mostly did what you were already doing, but hoped that your attempts would turn out fun. You girls getting what I’m saying?”

“Yeah. I think so.” Scootaloo answered.

“We’re sorry for causing so much trouble.” Applebloom said sincerely.

All three of the small fillies bowed their heads to truly show their sincerest apologies.

“Alrighty then. In that case, I’ll let you three slide for today. I won’t tell your sisters of this mess. So I’m gonna clean up this mess and find the owner of this thing to see if I can get her to go easy on you. I expect for you to give a real apology later. Why don’t you girls just head on home?”

“Wow…um…Thanks, Sketch. You know, you’re actually pretty cool.”

The three fillies then began trot on back home to finally put an end to such a crazy day. Sketch and Fluttershy just sat back and watched as the three fillies gallop down the path to town.

“They’re gonna forget about the lesson I taught them before the end of the day aren’t they?”

“Probably.” Fluttershy replied with a small sigh.

“Ah, kids.”

The next day at Sketch’s Pad, Sketch was sprucing up the work area with a determined look in his eyes.

“Alright Sketch, no more goofing around this time. Today you’ll really get down to business and start working…right after a slow paced breakfast.”

He then heard a sudden knock at the front door. To no surprise it turned out to be the Cutie Mark Crusaders, with a surprisingly serious look on each of their faces.

“Oh, what’s up girls? Did you apologize to the owner for the balloon? Lemme tell ya, that chick was screaming all the air out of her lungs after I showed her the wreckage. But hey, it wasn’t all that bad. She was actually kinda cute when she was mad. Actually I think she might have a-“

“Yes, we apologized, but that’s not what we’re here for.” said Applebloom.

“We’ve been thinking about yesterday, and we came up with an idea. The reason why we were competing to be leader was that we thought if our group had more guidance, we’d be able to get things done more efficiently. But as you can see we still have a lot to learn about guidance ourselves.” admitted Scootaloo.

“What are trying to say?”

“Our sisters mostly gave us advice, but they never went out of their way to actually help us in our like you did.” said Sweetie Belle.

“Not to mention you find ways to make them more fun that we could ever think of.” said Applebloom.

“What we’re trying to say is, Sketch it is with great pleasure that we, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, like elect you as the first leader.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom begin to make trumpet fanfare noises to compliment the mood of this sudden election.

“Wait. Me? The leader of the crusaders?”

The three fillies nodded their heads in definite agreement. They were utterly serious about this decision.

“You know, I’m actually honored that you would even think of me as the leader. Hmmm…Alright, I accept the position.”

The crusaders then jumped for joy, elated that he accepted it a lot better than they expected. As they finally stopped they huddled around Sketch awaiting their first order.

“As my first decree, I shall now make the new rule that…”

The three fillies eyes widened, awaiting what he could have possibly have in mind.

“there shall be no leaders.”

“WHAT?!?!” the three small fillies shouted.

“Yup, there shall be no leaders in the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“What kinda first rule is that?” Applebloom asked angrily.

“Yeah, it’s like you made this whole competition pointless.” responded Sweetie Belle.

“Look girls, I really am honored that you would want to make me your leader, but I’m afraid even I wouldn’t have enough time to hang with you girls anyway. My job is kind of an all-day thing. Sometimes I might even have to travel sometimes. So I’m afraid I won’t always have time to be a leader of a group.”

“But what are we going to do about getting a leader then?” Scootaloo asked as she slowly falls into a slight depression.

“There’s another thing, I don’t think you three even need a leader.”

“Huh?”

“When I noticed you three in the balloon yesterday, at first I was going to help out, but then I noticed you three lowering the balloon by yourselves. If anything, you girls work better as a team.”

“Actually girls, I kind of noticed it too when we stopped arguing. I liked it a lot better when were just working together.” said Sweetie Belle

“Yeah, Ah guess. Not to mention it wouldn’ be as fun if one of us was just bossing each other around.” replied Applebloom.

“You’re right Applebloom. You know girls, who needs a stupid leader anyway? The Cutie Mark Crusaders started out as a team and will forever stay a team!” exclaimed Scootaloo.

“YEAH!!”

The three little fillies then jump into the air with great vigor and gave one great big high hoof.

“That’s the spirit girls.” said Sketch, “Glad you figure that out. Now I have to get to work. So why don’t you start off on your attempts.”

“Alright, thank you Sketch.” said Scootaloo, “Okay girls, where do you think we can find a cannon at this hour?”

Sketch gave Scootloo a quick glare right before they walked right out of the door.

“Or we can do something a little safer like hiking, maybe?”

“That’s better.”

THE END