Games Ponies Play

by lunabrony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Spike, Random, Derpy Hooves, Slice of Life, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Other
Length: 11682

Fluttershy playing pretend. Twilight defending her book fort from Spikezilla. Luna sneaking out for a late night snack. How about Button Mash and the longest day ever? All things are possible when exploring the stories of age regressed ponies!

Ever wondered what fillies and colts get up to when nopony is watching? Wonder no more! Find here short stories to warm your heart and give you diabeetus as we plunge into the various shenanigans of youth.

All ponies are Crusader aged or younger unless otherwise mentioned.

Please leave ideas for other similar short stories in the comments, if I write them you'll be credited! Just a silly idea I had.

Published 2013-08-23 16:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-13 15:53:27 UTC

Fluttershy Plays With A Box

Life was full of surprises for a filly barely out of foalhood.

A large box sat in the middle of Fluttershy's front yard. The young filly had been staring at it for a good ten minutes already, trying to figure out where it came from. It hadn'tbeen there yesterday, and certainly hadn't been there this morning. It was an extremely curious thing. Most likely left there by the mailpony or a neighbor.
. "Mama?" Fluttershy called. She and her mother lived in Cloudsdale, in a small house barely big enough for the both of them. It wasn't much, but it suited them both just fine.

"Mama's making dinner, honey, it'll be ready in a moment! Are you alright?" The older pegasus called. Well, she wouldn't be much of a help at this particular moment. If dinner wasn't ready right this second, Fluttershy would have to find something else to occupy her time.

"Uh huh!" Fluttershy called, and poked the box with her hoof. She tried to peek inside, but it was much bigger than her and she couldn't see what was in there. Fluttershy propped herself up on her back hooves, barely able to peek over the ledge of the box.

Empty. And full of potential.

Fluttershy pressed a little harder, and the empty box began to lean under her weight. Caught off guard, Fluttershy gasped and tried to run. But the box tumbled over her, completely turned upside down, and cast her into darkness with a yelp.

With the hatch in the spaceship closed, Fluttershy sat in the pilots chair and punched the power button. The entire machine roared to life, thrusters vibrating and engines idling. She pulled back on a large throttle in the dashboard, and the ship lunged, rocketing forward at a hundred miles an hour and knocking over all clouds in its path. Nothing could stand in its way, and clouds burst the moment they touched the vessel.

Fluttershy pulled even further back on the throttle, and the entire ship lifted off the ground. She squealed with delight as the clouds below fell away even further than the grass, and left Equestria entirely. Her view was filled with stars, and the filly clapped her front hooves. Mama would never find her now! She soared through the stars, a filly on the run. She gave no particular notice as to where she was going, a filly on the run from all the awful perils of parenting and bedtimes.

Clang!

A small asteroid bounced off the rocket. Then another. And another. Fluttershy yelped, finding herself diving deeper into an asteroid field. Rocks pinged off the metal like a heavy swarm of Parasprites, a particularly large one cracking the window. Another one got into the engines. They were everywhere! Smoke billowed from the ship, and Fluttershy desperately turned the ship back towards Equestria. Spiraling downwards, the filly braced herself for impact.

Thump!

Fluttershy tumbled out of her box, having rocked it back and forth a little too violently. She shook her head, unhurt, and clapped her hooves. That was awesome! This time she began to create a little hill made out of clouds, and pushed the box to the top of the hill. Clambering inside it, she rocked forward a little bit, and the box slid down the hill.

"Whee!" The filly exclaimed, tumbling about inside the box. The box slid to the ground, and hit the bottom with a loud splash.

Propping herself up against the side of the small sailboat, Fluttershy peeked out to see endless stretches of water in every direction. Kinda boring. She picked up a spyglass from the deck, and used it to scan the horizon. Water, water, water, water, ooooh, a ship! But it was so far away, she'd never be able to flag it down.

Putting down the spyglass, Fluttershy suddenly found the other ship was about to run her down, and closing in fast! She squealed and threw herself against the steering mechanism, the bigger ship causing a large wave to wash over her little sailboat. Fluttershy squealed, pitched against the side of the boat, and tumbling overboard. There was a silenced yelp, and the little filly flailed in the waves.

"FLUTTERSHY!

The young filly looked up, caught in the middle of an enormous mud puddle. The box lay nearby on its side, forgotten as Fluttershy looked into the disapproving eyes of her mother. Busted!

"I came out here to call you for dinner, but it looks like you're due for a bath first. Come on, missy, inside. Tub time."

The filly's eyes widened, a bath being the worst possible thing she could think of.

"No!" Fluttershy squealed, and raced into the house, covered in mud, with her mother close behind. But her mother was faster, and quickly scooped up the child in her front legs. Fluttershy was paraded into the bathroom and placed in lukewarm water that was quickly filling the tub. Her mother poured a generous amount of bubble mix into the tub.
"Hold still now," she said gently, rubbing shampoo into the filly's mane. She'd never understand how such a small pony could get covered in so much mud. "As soon as we're done here we'll get some food into you, you must be quite hungry," she cooed. Unlike being outside, Fluttershy's mother was more uncomfortable leaving her alone in the tub, and so only sat nearby after she had finished scrubbing the filly's mane.

Watching the towering bubbles that filled the tub, Fluttershy's gaze lifted upward as a large thrashing tentacle rose up out of the bubbles. Fluttershy narrowed her eyes. Challenge accepted! She lunged forward to wrestle with it, while her mother looked on and only wondered why her child was having so much fun with a plastic octopus.

"That girl ain't right," her mother sighed, just shaking her head in wonder.

Applejack Plays In The Clubhouse

Thanks to crystalflower0029 for the inspiration!

Young Applejack had no idea where she was being led. Big Macintosh, only a few years older than herself, led her down a twisting path near Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack had never been down this road before, she'd always played closer to the farmhouse.

"Are we there yet?" the filly whined.

"Nnnope." came the response.

"Are we there yet?"

"Nnnope."

"Are we there yet?"

"Nnnope."

"Are we-"

Macintosh glared at her at this point, then his gaze softened.

"Eeyup." He said, and pushed aside large reeds blocking a hidden branching of the worn road. Applejack looked confused, and slightly annoyed. All she saw was a large tree. Wait, that was it?!

"Ah don't get it," she said. Macintosh had promised her a surprise, and what was it? A tree? Lame! Macintosh laughed, and gave her a slight nudge, encouraging her to look up. Applejack did just that, and her eyes widened.

A treehouse?!"NO WAY!"

Applejack raced away from Macintosh and up the ramp leading into the structure. The wood was shiny and polished, sanded smooth under her hooves. It wasn't painted or decorated or anything yet, but that was alright. She continued bouncing around the interior of the clubhouse, and just so happened to land upon a loose board. The board shot up from underneath her and smacked the poor filly in the face. Macintosh rushed forward to check that she was alright, then quickly took a nail from a nearby toolbox and nailed the board back down while holding a hammer in his teeth.

"Can I play with nails too?" Applejack asked.

Macintosh shook his head.

"Aw, you're no fun. That's why you're gonna be the bad guy!"

Her brother just shook her head, picking up the toolbox and taking it outside.

The large wooden fort was the perfect barrier against the scummy outlaws of the world. Applejack was asleep with her hat over her face, rear hooves propped up on the table. A silver star lay on the desk. It had been a quiet day, most days were. Her sleep, unfortunately was quite suddenly and rudely disturbed by a young white pegasus with an unruly golden mane who burst through the door.

"Sheriff Applejack!" The pegasus announced quite loudly, causing the other to lose her balance and fall backwards. "Whatwhatwhat?" Applejack sprang to her hooves. "...Surprise, right?"

"Yep yep yep!" The pegasus said cheerfully. Then adopted an uncharacteristically grim tone. "He's back."

Applejack turned pale.

"Big Red? He knows he's not allowed in these parts! What evil is he up to now?"

Surprise shook her head. "He's stealing all the poor little squirrelies acorn stashes and hiding them in different places so that they can't find their food in winter!"

The farm pony wasn't having any of this. "Ah'll handle this," she announced, and pinned the star to her hat. She strode outside, slamming the door dramatically behind her.

Surprise stood framed in the doorway. "Be caref-oof!" The door smacked her in the face, sending the pegasus flying backwards and bouncing off the walls like flubber.

Applejack stood on the porch of the sheriff's office, squinting into the sunlight as a large red frame appeared in her view. Face masked by a bandana, the sight of Big Red struck fear into the hearts of everypony, young or old.

"Ah hear yer causin' trouble in mah town." The filly announced.

"Eeyup." came the reply.

"While ah ain't havin' it. Leave now!"

"Nnnope."

Huh. She coulda sworn asking him to leave would have worked.

"Please leave now?"

"Nnnope."

That rascal! He'd exhausted all her options!

"Then y'all leave me no choice. Draw!"

Applejack whipped out a pistol from its holster around her waist, and aimed it with her mouth. Big Red did the same. The two young ponies stood there, face to face, several yards apart. Applejack rushed forward, determined to put an end to the crime spree that had plagued her town for so long now. She screamed a war cry, that way he would know she meant business.

"EULALIAAAAAAA!"

Big Red plunged forward as well, both ponies aiming at the other. Applejack squeezed down on the trigger of her pistol, and a stream of cold water burst forth towards her nemesis. Big Red ducked and rolled, the water splattering uselessly to the ground. "Nnnope!" He said defiantly, and squeezed forward on his own trigger. A flurry of a dozen or so large soapy bubbles burst from his weapon, and floated carelessly towards Applejack.

"Hah! Is that the best y'all can do? Y'll hafta do better than- oooh, pretty!"

Running towards her from behind, Surprise waved her hooves frantically.

"Sheriff Applejack, look out! It's a trap!"

Mesmerized, Applejack watched the dancing rainbow orbs shimmer as they drew closer and closer. So entranced, in fact, she didn't notice how close they were getting until several of them burst in her eyes.

Applejack blinked several times, and started crying. Tears fell from her eyes and splattered onto the ground. Big Red dropped his pistol and ran towards her, what evil dark magic was this?!

The scene fell away, Applejack and Macintosh standing in the renewed clubhouse, Applejack clutching her face in her hooves and bawling, several bubbles still floating in the air, now abandoned.

Macintosh nudged his younger sibling sympathetically and hoisted her up onto his back. He'd get some cold water on her face and she'd be alright. The few remaining bubbles popped in the air behind them as he carried her home. Playing was fun, but for now his sister needed him.

Scootaloo and the Best Hearth's Warming Ever

Thanks to DigitalChaos for the inspiration!

December was a challenging time for the orphans. The rooms were cold and wet, the blankets were thin and ratty. It was a difficult few months for several of the children, especially seeing as many of them had absolutely nopony at all who wanted them. Hearth's Warming Eve was yesterday, part of a week long event of days a time of joy and giving and celebration. The gifts from the caretaker of the orphanage, Miss Maneigan, were usually small and cheap. But when you you no other family to speak of, the little trinkets might as well have been bright new saddles.

Hearth's Warming came as it always did, trying to sneak up on fillies and colts who should have been sleeping. But of course they weren't. Every single one of them were up before the sun itself, propped up on front hooves and watching the snow fall outside. The morning bell rang after what seemed like an eternity, signaling that they were once again allowed to leave the main bedroom in which they all slept.

There was a massive pounding of hooves as fifteen orphans all jumped out of bed at once, racing towards the dining hall with squeals of delight. They knew that gifts would be distributed as soon as breakfast was over. Each child ran into the open area and took their place at a table, squirming in their seats impatiently.

Miss Maneigan arrived as she always did, promptly on time, serving steaming oatmeal in brightly colored bowls.

"A special treat for you this morning, children," she said cheerfully. "I managed to get alfalfa and brown sugar for today, so this morning's breakfast shall be extra sweet." This met with loud cheers, underscored only by a couple of impatient colts who were fighting over who got the green bowl.

A very young orange colored filly sat on the end of one of the benches, dressed in her usual thin clothes and earmuffs in an attempt to keep out the cold. She shoveled oatmeal into her mouth as if she'd never be fed again.

"Scootaloo!" The caretaker scolded. "Slow down, you'll choke!"

"Yes, Miss Maneigan," the filly sighed, eating at half speed then but still pushing the bowl away before all the others, having never cared much for oatmeal. It wasn't until the last bowl had been emptied, licked and collected that Miss Maneigan's voice rang out.

"Children!"

Fifteen ponies sat at perfect attention.

"I'm sure you know how this goes by now, but I'll remind you. Please remain in your seats while offerings are distributed, this will prevent accidents. We don't need another incident like last year, isn't that right, Tumbleweed?"

A small brown pony shrank in his seat.

Miss Maneigan began to give out large parcels. Surprisingly large, in fact. Normally the gifts were no more than a coloring book or a bag of marbles. But this year, attentive as she was, Miss Maneigan had been secretly watching the orphans. They were rapidly approaching cutie mark age, and she had taken it upon herself to try to help them. Each child, this year, received something that she hoped would assist them in their future skills. Shooting Star, for example, spent most of his nights stargazing out the windows, and so received a small spyglass. The look on his face was one of pure delight.

And so the ritual continued, each gift met with a squeal of joy and the pattering of hooves as the child raced off to some part of the house to play with it. At last, young Scootaloo was approached, the caretaker gazing down fondly at her.

"I have nothing for you..." she began.

Scootaloo's eyes widened.

"...In here," she finished. "Your gift is near the front door, and Scootaloo, please-"

She was talking to air, an orange blur had surpassed her and left the stool wobbling on its own.

"-don't run." She sighed.

Scootaloo raced to the front door and flung it open, gusts of snow and cold air hitting her instantly. She plunged outside, and glanced about, gasping in delight as she saw what she was looking for. A brand new scooter, tethered to a large tree by a heavy rope. She raced towards it and jumped upon it.

Miss Maneigan appeared in the doorway. "Once spring comes I'll unchain it, I don't want you racing around Ponyville with ice and snow everywhere," she said kindly. "In the meantime, you should have plenty of room to circle around the property."

Scootaloo was barely listening, and plunged forward on the scooter, kicking up the powder filled ground with her hooves. The distant cheers of ponies began to get louder and louder, ringing in her ears. The snow in front of her melted away, a long track replacing it. A dozen other ponies surrounded her on scooters of every shape and color, eyes all fixed on the light fixture hanging over the track.

Red.

Red.

Red.

Yellow.

Green.

A dozen ponies all kicked off at once, hooves scraping and (where applicable) wings flapping. Scootaloo's wings buzzed as hard as she could, desperate for any extra lift she could get. The other racers slammed into each other trying to get ahead, and Scootaloo intentionally fell back, allowing the others just a bit of distance. They'd take each other out. Indeed, they were so busy focused on each other that they didn't see her whip around the outer edge of the track.

The cheering of the spectators was relentless.

Scootaloo pushed forward, trying to squirm around the edge without being seen. This was near impossible, however, and a young unicorn grinned and slammed his scooter into her front wheel. She violently dove off the track and into a ditch, using every muscle she had to keep from going flying. The ditch slanted downward, sending her away from the other racers.

The unicorn grinned. One nuisance down, time to focus on another.

The race continued without Scootaloo, one lap almost completed. A particularly dedicated pegasus named Blazing Star was in the front, moments away from crossing over the starting line when he was overtaken by a shadow. He pulled up his goggles just enough to look up, nearly crashing into another scooter.

Scootaloo saluted him, having soared off the edge of a cliff overhead, violently landing down in front of him with sparks flying from her wheels. Blazing Star flipped his goggles back down and took after her, not about to let a stupid little filly take away his moment of glory. The other racers were not far behind, but for now, it was just him and her.

Scootaloo's mane whipped behind her, swerving right to cut around the inner circle of the track.

"What's the matter, Blaze? Or should I call you Smoke? Because that's the only thing you're going to be seeing!" She challenged, and took off down the track.

Blaze raced after her, swerving around to try and slam into her back wheel. It was neck and neck, and the finish line was coming up fast.

"Cut it out!"

He didn't listen, and slammed into her back wheels again. Her scooter gave off sparks, the back wheel flying off and barely missing Blazing's head. Scootaloo leaped off her Scooter, time seeming to move in slow motion. She landed on Blaze's shoulders, causing the young colt to swerve out of control. He had only a moment to throw her off before the finish line came up, but Scootaloo had other plans. She leaped off of his shoulders, soaring through the air and flapping her wings.

For the first time in her life she remained airborne, diving through the air and across the finish line, with Blazing Star seconds behind her. The filly remained hovering in the air, raising her hooves over her head and listening to the sounds of the erupting stadium.

"Scootaloo! Scootaloo! Scootaloo!"

"Scootaloo!"

Miss Maneigan's voice broke the silence of the falling snow, while Scootaloo sat on her new toy.

"Come on in, Scoots. You've been out here for an hour. Get warmed up and you can come back and play with it again. What were you cheering about?" She asked.

Scootaloo just grinned. "Nothing," she said. "Thanks for the scooter, Miss Maneigan, it's perfect." She hugged the mare, and raced back inside into the warm building, the door closing behind shortly after.

Pinkie and the Pillars of Fire

Thanks to bigMAREmac for the inspiration!

Life on a farm really wasn't all that fun. Life on a rock farm? Ponies didn't even know what fun was. From the moment the first rays of sunrise cracked across the sky to the moment that the last bit of light disappeared across the horizon, there was work to be done. Always something to be moved, or broken, or shattered. Three ponies were out in the rock quarry, two of them a dull grey color, the third a dull shade of pink. The ground was dry and cracked, a recent drought had done away with most of what little vegetation managed to grow here.

"Pinkamena!" The darker grey pony barked. "You're falling behind again, try to keep up, won't you? There's still a lot of work to do before sunset. Don't make me tell Father you've been slacking off again." Their parents were out at the moment, away at BoulderCon in Coltorado.

The young pink pony had been feeling increasingly isolated lately, and sighed with annoyance. "I've asked you to call me Pinkie, and all we ever do is work. Can we have fun once in a while, Inkie?"

Inkie blinked. "Fun? What is fun?"

"You know! It's like... the opposite of work." Pinkie honestly didn't know how to explain the concept of 'fun', it was something strange, a weird concept to her family, a weird concept even to her. But she wanted desperately to know more about it.

Inkie shook her head. "Doesn't sound like my thing. Come on, Pinkie. Be serious."

The pink pony looked hopefully at her other sister. An equally dull colored pony with a lighter mane. "Blinkie? What about you? Do you want-"

"I'm busy, Pinkie. Stop fooling around. Anything we don't get done today, we'll have to do tomorrow. Get back to work."

Pinkie sighed, hanging her head and trudging reluctantly towards her two sisters. So engrossed she was in her reluctance to work that she didn't notice where she was going until it was too late. Pinkie's hoof touched down on a large crack, and she screamed loudly and jumped backwards.

Inkie and Blinkie stared at her in confusion. "What's the matter with you?"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Pinkie cried, and the ground began to rumble and shake. Inkie and Blinkie took off in fear.

"Earthquake! Earthquake! Get inside, Pinkie! Now!"

Pinkie remained where she was, legs shaking. The ground strained and split apart, an enormous fissure opening up between her front legs. For a brief, terrifying moment, Pinkie's legs began to stretch apart, until she regained her composure and made a jump to the side. The crack widened and deepened, glowing molten rock slowly beginning to seep out from the ground. It flowed towards Pinkie, who made a run for the house. A savage pillar of fire burst out of the ground just in front of her, and she dove to the right.

Another pillar of fire burst a few inches away, and Pinkie dove towards the left. The ground was breaking apart faster than she could run, and the filly made a dramatic leap towards the front porch, hind hooves briefly scrabbling at the porch while hanging before he pulled herself up and dashed into the house.

Inkie and Blinkie were nowhere to be seen, and the house was quickly being consumed by the deteriorating landscape. Molten rock consumed the ground and flowed in underneath the doors. Thinking quickly, Pinkie leaped onto a nearby coffee table, then onto the couch.

"Don't touch the floor... don't touch the floor..." she muttered to herself. "Inkie! Blinkie!" She called. "Where are you?"

There was no answer. The route to the front door was sealed off, but perhaps she could make her way to the kitchen. Grabbing a sofa cushion in her teeth, Pinkie leaped to the edge of the couch and onto another table. The route to the kitchen was rapidly being dissolved by the glowing river of death.

"Shoot!" Pinkie exclaimed through the cushion. She flung the cushion into the hallway, then immediately leaped upon it. As the cushion caught fire and began to melt, Pinkie jumped yet again, this time onto the counter in the kitchen. The door was so close!

"I can make it... I can totally make it! It's just... just..." She wrinkled her nose. "A little space, then a little space, then a longer space... oh! Oh! I know! A hop, skip and a jump!"

Pinkie hopped over the stove onto the other side of the counter, the river of molten rock filling in the floor. She skipped across the sink towards the door, only a single leap away now from the back door. Pinkie scrunched her legs and jumped with all her might, hooves outstretched towards the door handle.

But it wasn't enough. She had misjudged the distance, and it would mean her untimely demise!

"No..." Pinkie whispered, her jump falling short, and fell into the flowing magma a few inches from the door in a burst of streamers.

Inkie and Blinkie entered through the back door, looking at their very odd sister twitching and writhing on the floor of the kitchen. They exchanged a glance of concern, a look they had shared many times before.

"Pinkie, get up."

Pinkie stood.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying not to touch the floor! The magma is everywhere!"

Inkie and Blinkie looked around, there was no sign of magma anywhere. But the living room and kitchen was a mess.

"Why are the cushions on the floor?"

"I had to escape the magma, duh!"

"Get back to work, Pinkie." They chorused together.

"You guys are no fun..." Pinkie sighed, and returned to the rock quarry through the open door.

Luna and the Raiders of the Lost Pantry

Authors note: This chapter presumes that alicorns have an average lifespan, and for the sake of complexity, ignores the events of Nightmare Moon in favor of cuteness. So please do not worry yourself with canon continuity, as it is disregarded here.

Night had fallen over Equestria.

Night was a peaceful time, a time of rest, relaxation, and preparation for the day ahead. Only a few creatures were awake at this time, while the majority of others were safe in their beds. A few creatures who preferred the night time. Skunks, badgers, owls, Luna...

Wait, what?

Indeed, the young filly who resided in the high tower of Canterlot Castle should have been asleep. Everypony else was. The guards who kept her and her sister safe, her parents who ruled Canterlot and loved their daughters with unrivaled intensity. Luna lay in her bed, wide awake, listening to the sounds of the night.

The chirping of crickets, the occasional hoot of an owl, the rumble of her stomach. She placed a hoof against her belly, sighing and looking across the darkness of the room towards the other side, where her older sister slept in a bed of her own. Luna wasn't supposed to wander around the castle by herself, it was a large place and it wasn't safe. But she was so hungry!

Sliding silently out of bed, Luna was careful not to make noise. Easier said than done for a pony, the echo of hooves in a silent room was louder than an explosion. She carefully shoved her pillow under her blankets, positioned in such a way that it appeared as if she was still sleeping. Crude, but it would have to do for now. Luna knew that several alarms had been set around the castle to catch intruders, easily bypassed by a unicorn with royal blood. But she didn't know much magic yet.

Nudging the door open with her nose, Luna slipped out and made her way down the spiraling staircase. The light of the moon illuminated things just enough for her to see, which she was thankful for. She'd always liked the moon and its soothing glow. Downstairs, Luna peered out into the hallway, confronted with her first obstacle.

A laser grid.

Harmless green lasers crisscrossed the hallway leading towards the kitchen, Up and down, left and right, barely enough room to move between them. There was always the option of turning back, but Luna's stomach rumbled again. Onward it was. Luna pressed forward, inching on her belly underneath the first few lasers. Easy enough. She slid towards the wall, but soon found herself met with a series of beams that could not be gone underneath. She knew if she broke one of the beams she'd be teleported right back into her room, under enchanted time-out until her parents could remove the spell.

Unacceptable.

Scrunching her hind legs, the little filly leaped over several beams, feeling the air rush by underneath her in slow motion. She arced her back, the final hairs of her tail just barely grazing the light of the laser. There was the slightest sizzling of hair, but the beam was not broken, and Luna landed safely on the other side. From there it was a matter of dodging and weaving, and the filly was out. She puffed up her chest with renewed determination, and continued onward.

Luna made her way through several more hallways, entering the final one which would connect directly to the kitchen. The problem was, there was only supposed to be one door.

There were twelve.

Luna stared in confusion at the semi circle of identical doors which surrounded her. All a gentle white color, painted with the royal family crest in blue. Choosing a door at random, perhaps hoping to get lucky, Luna was immediately confronted by an enormous tidal wave rushing towards her. Contained within said tidal wave was a violently thrashing shark, which was about a second away from eating her whole. The small filly screamed and slammed the door shut.

There was a moment of fear, and time froze. Luna waited. Nopony was coming. She breathed a sigh of relief, and opened another door at random. A rush of hot air flowed over her, and she stared through the door into the sandy hills of an endless desert. Huh. Well that wasn't scary at-

"Return the slaaab..."

Luna blinked, staring at a flowing figure in the distance. "Huh?"

"Return the slaaab... or suffer my cuuurse..."

Retcon. Curse was bad. Curse was definitely bad. Luna slammed the door shut again. This wasn't getting her anywhere. Had to be a trick to this. She stood in the center, and focused intently on her horn. She had only done magic once or twice before, and always with the guidance of her older sister. She channeled her power like Celestia had taughter her, and nothing seemed to happen at first.

Then the first door slid into the second one.

The second door slid into the third one.

One by one, the doors slid together, becoming one. Until eventually only one door remained, cracking open and revealing the interior of the kitchen. Luna stifled a cry of delight, stomach rumbling in agreement, and she rushed forward into the room. It was an orderly mess, boxes and foods sitting out in preparation for the next morning's breakfast crew. But Luna wasn't concerned with that.

The attention of young Luna was completely taken over by a single blueberry muffin sitting forgotten on a plate, out of reach. Luna squealed with delight and pushed a chair up to the counter, standing upon it. She frowned. This was too easy. Swiping a potato from a nearby bag, Luna furrowed her brow with concentration, hooves poised over the muffin. In a single motion, the potato replaced the muffin, and Luna jumped down with her prize.

Taking only a few steps, Luna hadn't even made it out of the kitchen before the ground began to shake. A few cracks opened up in the tiles. Crap! She broke into a run, sparing only a quick look backwards following an enormous crash.

An enormous bowling ball was picking up speed and racing towards her, Luna had no choice but to run. She ran out of the kitchen and down the hall, knowing that if she slowed down for even a moment, she'd be crushed. She ran faster, down the hall towards a door at the end. She leaped for the handle, grasping it in her hooves, but found it locked. The giant bowling ball barreled towards her, and Luna had no choice but to stuff the entirety of her precious prize in her little mouth, cheeks bulging. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

"Lulu?" A voice asked.

Luna cracked her eyes open. She recognized that voice.

"Tia?" She squeaked. "Where's the bowling ball?" Well, that was what she tried to ask, but with a mouth full of muffin it came out more like "Whafababul?"

"The... what?" Celestia asked.

Luna peered past her sister. There was no sign of damage of any kind. No bowling ball. No anything.

"I didn't see a bowling ball. I followed you and chased you out of the kitchen before we got caught. Why are you sneaking around, Lulu?"

Luna put a hoof on her belly. Thankfully, it had stopped rumbling. "Was hungry," she said through mouthfuls of muffin.

Celestia just smiled and shook her head. "We can't be running around the castle like this, come on. Let's go back to bed. I'll read you a story."

Luna smiled and nuzzled into Celestia's forelegs. A story sounded good.

Gummy Versus the Swamp Monster

Crack.

A hairline fracture had appeared in the outside of the final egg lining the nest belonging to a pair of proud parents. Seven eggs had been laid in all, and all the other ones had hatched several days ago. The two adults had almost given up hope that this one was ever going to hatch. But they were relieved that the egg was not... well...

A small green claw burst forth from the egg, followed soon after by a second one. The creature inside wriggled desperately, trying to escape the prison, and lashed out with a thick tail. Alligator egg hatchings were very rarely a fun experience, it was just get out when you can, however you can.

With the parents supervising, within ten minutes or so the newly hatched alligator had almost completely managed to escape the egg, but could not shake the last bit off his head. The parents exchanged a glance. Not very bright, this one. Something seemed wrong with him. Perhaps a side effect of being in the egg for so long. The young alligator shook the final remnant of shell off his head, and looked up into the light.

"Aw, look, he's got your eyes," the male said fondly. He said nothing regarding the feeling that something wasn't quite right.

The female agreed. "He's completely adorable, completely-" She, however, noticed it first. And wasn't about to let her opinion remain silent.

The hatchling grinned, displaying a complete lack of teeth.

"-useless..." The mother finished in disgust. It wasn't that she didn't love the new hatchling, quite the opposite. She loved all her eggs very much. But they were carnivores, and a carnivore without teeth was of no use to any of them. What sort of life was that?

"...Gummy, darling, why don't you go down to the swamp and see if you can't catch a fish or two?" The mother asked sweetly. A ruse, most likely just to get rid of him.

"...Gummy?" The father asked in a low voice. He didn't hold back on his surprise or disapproval.

"You have a better name?" The mother hissed back.

Gummy, eager to please and oblivious of his condition, made his way down the embankment. Like most alligators, the nest he'd hatched from had been located near a wetland, a swamp in this case. He lost his footing on the way down the hill and slid right into the muck, annoyed at first, but quickly that finding he liked it. He dove underwater, if you could even call it that, large eyes blinking in the murky abyss, trying to find something to eat.

This went on for some time, and he found nothing.

Annoyed, Gummy pulled himself back onto land, and immediately found himself confronted with the strangest creature he'd ever seen. Completely drenched and dripping with an infinite supply of mucus, the beast towered over him, making horrible gurgling noises.

"Graaaaaaaaaahhhhhh..." It growled.

Gummy, who wasn't having any of this, burst between the creatures legs, and bolted back up the hill. The monster followed him, slow and wobbly. It didn't appear to have any eyes, which just made it all the more frightening. In fact, it didn't appear to have anything except slime. Gummy ran for his life, terrified but not showing it. In fact he hardly showed any emotion at all, save for the occasional frantic blinking.

The monster was relentless, and Gummy tried to lose it by diving into a hollow log. He was breathing heavily, and not sure why this creature was pursuing him. But at least he was safe here.

Safe until the log was lifted up on its side, and he went rolling out onto the ground again. Once more he was on the run, little legs moving as fast as they could. His parents didn't seem to have any desire of helping him, but that was nature sometimes.

He was on his own.

Poor gummy raced deeper into the swamp, past a few bubbling hot pools. Steam rose up out of them, indicating that if he was to fall in, he likely wasn't getting back out. He found himself at a dead end, and still the monster approached. There was nowhere to run now, and Gummy covered his large eyes in preparation for the inevitable.

But nothing happened.

Gummy opened his eyes, and found something quite surprising. The monster had solidified. The heat and steam surrounding them in the hot springs had hardened the mucus that made up the monster, resulting in a statue effect. Gummy breathed a sigh of relief, and jumped upon the statues head in an effort to get back home.
Crack.

The young alligator could only watch in fear as a large crack deepened down the side of the monster, and the hardened slime burst into a million pieces as a bright pink fireball rocketed out of it.

"Whee!"

Gummy was very confused, and hung onto the things head for dear life.

"I can't believe it!" She was saying. "I just came out here to see if I could find a new type of rock for my sisters and Twilight told me not to come out here or I'd fall in the swamp, and I said don't a silly filly Twilight, of course I'm not going to fall in the swamp! And so I came out here anyway and wouldn't you know it, I fell in the swamp! And I couldn't get all this stuff off of me and I was like "Grr!" and you were like "..." and I was like "Grr!" And you were like "..." And why is there an alligator on my head?!"

Gummy felt very confused, and his head was starting to hurt.

"But I guess I owe you for getting me out of that, do you wanna come home and have a super duper big party with me?" She was was asking.

Gummy didn't know what home was, but he blinked in agreement.

Home sounded fun.

Applejack and the Shopping Mall

Shopping was not anypony's idea of a good time. It was dull and tedious, and especially when you were a little pony, your legs tired easily. Applejack was out on a standard shopping trip with her mother, trying to pass the time by looking at all the cutie marks the other ponies had and trying to think of what hers might be. She liked to thing it would be something cool, like an apple peeler, but Macintosh liked to scare her by saying she might wind up with a cutie mark of an orange or a pineapple and get kicked out of the family.

He'd gotten scolded for telling her such stories. Applejack had been assured that no matter what her cutie mark was, she would always be part of the Apple family.

Applejack stayed close to her mother, who weaved in an out of a crowd of ponies all with the same intention of visiting the Canterlot Mall. The mall was really just a large open field filled with tents and kiosks were ponies were selling their wares, but she didn't get to go to Canterlot all that often, and it exciting to see all the new things that Canterlot had to offer.

The two of them made their way down a particularly busy row of tents, with her mother nudging the filly inside. This particular tent was filled with empty jars and containers of every size and shape color.

"Now you stay nearby, Applejack." Her mother warned. "Zap Apple season is coming up, and ah need to make a new order'a jars after you an' Macintosh decided to destroy our supply at home," she said.

Applejack felt her ears burning red. It wasn't like they'd purposefully decided to break all the jars, they'd been racing garbage can lids down the hill after a heavy rain left the slope covered in mud. They hadn't any mechanism to steer the things and had wound up careening directly into the storage barn. It was amazingly fortunate that nopony had been hurt, glass had shattered everywhere. But their supply of Zap Apple Jam jars had been decimated.

"Ah din' do it on purpose!" Applejack insisted. That was the truth, they really hadn't. But she quieted down as her mother engaged the salespony in conversation, and stood around for what felt like hours. She was bored out of her mind, and her mother just kept talking. As children tended to do, her attention was stolen away by the tent across the field, just within sight of the jar tent.. Surely she'd be able to be found over there, and she slipped away to investigate to see what was in there.

Entering the new tent, Applejack's eyes beheld a wondrous sight. Hats. Hundreds of hats, all on display. But her attention was focused on one particular hat, a cowgirl one positioned high up on a shelf. Eyes glued to it, she wandered closer, and reached her little hoof up closer in the hopes of trying it on.

Not even close. It was far too high up for her to reach.

"You like that one, do ya?" A salespony asked, having watched a young filly enter the tent without a parent, and become understandably concerned. He reached up and plucked it from the shelf, placing it on her head. It was far too big, and fell over her eyes. Oh, how she wanted it. But she had no bits! So she did what ponies her age tended to do, she threw her own version of a tantrum. Which instead of acting out, meant she planted her flank right in th e middle of the floor and refused to move until the hat was hers.

It was a foolproof plan!

Time crawled slowly forward, the salesponies whispering amongst each other and trying to spread word about the parentless child in the hopes of somepony coming to pick her up. Applejack meanwhile was giving a bit of taffy to keep her occupied and carefully watched over.

Applejack had been in the store for almost two hours by the time her mother found her, and rushed forward to claim the filly. She was not angry, but worried out of her mind.

"Applejack! Oh thank goodness... I told you to stay nearby!" She scolded, but hugged the filly. "Come on, we're going home. Ah finished making m'order right before ah realized y'all were missing, Ah've been searching for ya ever since!"

The salespony coughed. "With respect, ma'am, the filly really does love that hat. She ain't moved since she saw it."

Applejack looked up and gave her mother a pleading look.

"Well, ah ain't one ta reward foolishness, but we did just get Macintosh that new yoke, ah s'pose y'all deserve somethin' too. Ain't nothin' proper about favoritism." She gave the salespony a few bits, and the latter removed the tag from the large brown hat, which now sat precariously on Applejack's head.

"It's all yours, kid," the salespony said.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Applejack bounced in circles around her mother, but couldn't see where she was going and fell right on her face. Her mother shook her head and placed the hat in a saddlebag, ushering Applejack out of the tent.

"Come on, let's go home."

Applejack was more than happy to leave with her mother, but on the way out her eyes locked on an absolute eyesore of a hat in the entrance display. A bright purple pointy hat, which nopony in their right mind would call fashionable.

Her mother followed her gaze and made a face. "Ugh, how tacky. What sort of flamboyant egotist would even consider wearing such a thing?" The two left, harmlessly passing a small blue unicorn filly who just so happened to notice the purple hat, and gasped.

The unicorn grinned, and rushed into the tent.

Dashie and the Wonderbolts

An enormous crowd of ponies of every color lined the streets, guards blocking off corridors, alleys and intersections. Pegasi sat on clouds that had been arranged in rows near the street, over which floating barriers had been put in place to prevent fly by attacks. A rare event was taking place, and ponies were riding, teleporting, walking and flying in from all corners of Equestria to see it. Such an event only happened once in a while, and it was always a big deal when it did. The ponies' attention was focused on a large raft in the middle of the street, decorated with banners and insignia. The raft was being pulled by several strong stallions.

On the top of the raft stood several ponies dressed in uniforms, all of them grinning and waving to the large crowd. In the middle of the crowd was present a small blue filly with a brightly multicolored mane, perched on top the shoulders of her father. Her eyes were wide, and her father grunted several times as her small hooves pressed down on his head as she struggled to get higher for a better look.

"This is so awesome!" She was squealing.

"Do you see the new Wonderbolt, Dashie?" The father asked. "It's not very frequently that they initiate a new member."

"Uh-huh!" Dash pointed towards the street. "She's up there! Her name's Spitfire!"

"Is that right?" Her father smiled, enjoying her excitement.

"Yeah!" The filly exclaimed, and climbed higher to get a better look. Or tried, at least. She lost her balance and wobbled a bit, losing her balance and tumbling down to the ground.

"BWAH!" Dashie exclaimed, rolling a few feet between several ponies legs before coming to a rest. Dashie had hit her head, and sniffled a bit, looking up at all the strangers. "Daddy?" she called.

No answer.

"Daddy?" A bit louder this time,a voice full of fear. Ponies were shuffling all around her, and the little filly quickly moved in the direction from which she thought she'd fallen, her head hurting and eyes watering. She didn't recognize anypony. No. this wouldn't do at all. She had to get higher!

Dashie flapped her wings and took to the air. Her teachers all said she was a natural born flyer, progressing faster in her lessons than the other children and knocking down records left and right. But she still couldn't stay airborne for very long, as her primaries weren't fully developed yet. She flew for several feet, casing the area in slowly widening circles as she searched desperately for the familiar colors of her father. Her wings began to hurt after about ten minutes of this, and she landed in frustration next to a cyan colored filly talking to another filly with purple and pink hair.

"I'm not making things up! I saw it in a book!" The cyan one was insisting.

"Sure you did," her friend replied, sounding as if she didn't believe the other one whatsoever.

Sighing with annoyance, the blue filly locked her gaze on Dashie. "Hey! You! Do you believe in-" She was silenced with a cream colored hoof stuffed in her mouth.

"Don't drag others into this, you're embarrassing yourself," the second one said, and the two wandered away, still arguing.

Rainbow Dash had no idea what that was all about, but didn't concern herself with it. She weaved through a few more ponies legs, wishing that they would get out of her way. And then quite suddenly, they were. She found herself in a clearing, and sighed with relief.

"Hey, somepony get that filly out of the road, she's going to get hurt!" Somepony called.

Dashie looked around, seeing nopony in the road. Someone was obviously crazy. She turned around, and her eyes widened, quite by chance finding herself moments away from being flattened by charging stallions with nowhere near enough time to slow down. She instinctively screamed and ducked beneath her own hooves, almost as if doing so would erect a force field of some kind. She knew she should be running out of the way, but her legs seemed to be rooted to the ground.

"Hey, look up there! What is that?"

"It's a bird!"

"No, it's too big for that."

"It's a plane!"

"What's a plane?"

"No! It's the new Wonderbolt! That's Spitfire!"

Dashie saw only a bolt of orange and blue as a streak of lightning slammed into her, scooping her up off the ground. She felt that sensational rush of air pick her up and flow across her wings, finding herself once more on solid ground. Upon being set down, she looked up at the new recruit in awe and wonder, while the crowd behind her burst into cheers.

"What were you doing?" Spitfire scolded.

"Trying to find my daddy, he's out here somewhere," she replied. "I'm kinda lost."

Spitfire's gaze softened. "Aw, well we'll find him in ten seconds flat, alright?"

Rainbow Dash grinned. She liked the sound of that, she'd have to use that later.

The near unfortunate accident had attracted quite a bit of attention, and it was not surprising that they had barely begun their search before a familiar stallion burst out of the crowd.

"Daddy!" Dashie exclaimed, reaching her hooves out.

The stallion sighed and picked her up. "Don't you ever do that again!"

Rainbow Dash felt her ears go back. "But I didn't mean-"

"You could have been hurt! Or worse!" He shook his head. "Come on, we're going home. I'm just glad you're safe."

Spitfire called after them. "Hey, go easy on the kid. She's scared."

Dashie protested. "I'm not scared of anything!" She said, puffing her chest out.
***

At flight lessons the next day, the entire class was abuzz with excitement over their classmates adventure. The teacher had a heck of a time getting everypony to be quiet. She coughed a bit louder.

"Alright, alright, everypony settle down. We have a new classmate joining us today, and I want all you fillies and colts to be on your best behavior. Why don't you introduce yourself, honey?" She smiled kindly, and tried to nudge a small yellow filly out from behind a chair, but the filly just squeaked and remained clinging to the back of it.

"What's your name?" The teacher asked.

The filly mumbled.

Rainbow Dash sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Waifu Twilight versus Desu Spikezilla! FIGHT!

Thanks to Decepticon Soundwave for the inspiration!

Even at a young age, Twilight Sparkle had always loved books. She was somewhat of a local legend at the Canterlot Library, where she spent hours almost every single day with Shining Armor. Sometimes he would read to her, other times she would curl up in a corner with a stack of books and just read by herself. She had only recently discovered her cutie mark a few months ago, and her time to read since then had been rather disrupted by the ongoing care of the baby dragon she'd hatched.

Twilight didn't entirely mind this new development, as dragons were an exotic species that gave her an excuse to read even more. The only difference was she was reading more books lately of a biological nature than usual. She'd been up on the third floor of the Canterlot library with Spike, after her brother had dropped her off to go find some mystery novels. That had been almost an hour ago.

Twilight had her back turned when a familiar voice addressed her.

"Twily? What are you doing?"

The lavender filly turned to face her brother, who had a look of confusion on her face. Surrounding Twilight was a half completed fort of sorts, with lots of free standing books standing upright surrounding it.

"I'm making a book fort!" She announced. "A solitary and secure place where I can do my reading!"

Shining Armor facehooved. "Twilight, first of all, you can't just be taking books off the shelves of a library to make a fort."

The filly's ears pinned.

"Secondly, you're going about it all wrong. You have no structural support in place, an attack from the back could knock out your whole foundation," he grinned.

"I haven't built the foundation yet, I'm building it alphabetically!" Twilight protested. "The alphabet starts in front, and works its way towards the back. All the books in the back will be about Zephyr and Zebras and Zoology."

"A book fort doesn't have to be alpha-"

"A proper one does!" Twilight insisted.

Shining sighed. "Alright, just make sure you clean up when you're finished. And keep an eye on Spike, don't let him wander off."

Shining Armor departed, and Twilight quickly gazed about for the baby dragon, who was chewing on the spine of a particularly large book. Twilight stomped her hoof down, and the whelp knocked the formerly upright book to the floor.

"Oh, Spike, look, you've destroyed one of my buildings! Now the townsponies will have nowhere to buy fresh asparagus," Twilight said, and closed her eyes to focus on righting the book. In the meantime, her imagination plunged into overdrive, and Twilight was immediately assaulted by screaming ponies who ran past her in the opposite direction.

Opening her eyes, Twilight found the Library was on fire. Of all the worst possible things that could happen, a destroyed library filled with burning books was certainly at the top of the list! An angry roar directed her gaze upwards, where a massive baby dragon was clawing at the remains of what had once been a perfectly sturdy roof.

"Run, Twilight! Spikezilla is on the loose!" yelled a green mare as she passed.

Twilight was unphased, and stomped her hoof down again. "Nopony destroys a library on my watch and gets away with it!" She fired a warning bolt from her horn towards the rampaging monster, which bounced off his scales as effectively as one throwing a bit at a concrete brick. The dragon roared in annoyance.

Not in the least ready to give up, Twilight roared back.

"...Grawr!" Well, that was a fail.

Spikezilla just laughed, and lunged forward to swipe at her with his claws. Twilight knew that if he grabbed onto her she would never be able to escape, and dove for her life underneath a nearby table. Spikezilla was too big to fit inside the building, but that didn't mean he couldn't knock the building down.

"Ha! You'll have to try harder than that!" She announced, retaliating with a spell of her own. A flaming ball of fire shot from her horn, although no sooner had it left her horn then she blinked in realization. "Wait, aren't dragons immune to..."

The monster swatted her attack away as if it was nothing, and returned fire on his own terms. Quite literally, in fact, a much more impressive ball of white flame shooting from his mouth like a cannon. The roof was collapsing in on itself, and Spikezilla continued to tear the library apart with his bare claws, wooden beams snapping in half like toothpicks. He was after Twilight now.

Twilight raced away from Spikezilla, ducking and weaving between falling debris. She found herself up against what used to be the staircase, a gaping hole which blocked her progression. The stairs were nowhere to be seen, and Spikezilla was closing in fast. Twilight spun around just in time to see heavy purple claws grab hold of her tail, and lift her up into the air. She thrashed and cast spell after spell, but none of them seemed to be doing any good.

Spike threw her with all his might across the room, sending the unicorn crashing into the crumbling walls with debris clattering down on top of her. Twilight barely had enough time to erect a force field before the behemoth grabbed her yet again, this time bringing her closer to his gaping jaws and jagged teeth.

Spikezilla just roared with victory, dropping the terrified pony through the air into his waiting jaws, and-

"Twilight, what are you doing?"

The purple unicorn lay on the floor in the middle of an enormous pile of books. Spike lay contentedly next to her, chewing on her mane and drooling all over the floor.

"Twalot!" The dragon cooed.

Twilight looked up to see Shining Armor, glaring down at her disapprovingly. Even as he did so his horn glowed, beginning the long and laborious process of putting books back where they belonged. Treating books in such a manner was completely uncharacteristic of her.

"Twilight, look at this mess. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The young filly looked at the oblivious dragon.

"You win this round..."

Button Mash and the Big Day

I'm on fire.

Sleep mode activated.

There you are.

I don't hate you.

The verbal alarm that was going off next to Button's bed continued its spouting of semi-nonsensical phrases from his favorite video game as his hoof searched blinding for the alarm box. Upon making contact, his hoof slammed down on the button to disable the alarm until tomorrow.

Button sprang out of bed, a bit wobbly at first, shaking sleep from his eyes. He glanced at the clock. 6:30 am. Same time every weekday to get ready for school. His eyes next wandered to the calender, most of which had large X's through the dates. But not today. Today had a big red circle around it, and he found himself awake almost instantly.

"It's here! It's here! It's here!" He rushed to get dressed, which consisted only of throwing on his favorite spinner hat, and began to rush downstairs.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth!" His mother called from downstairs.

Button raced back upstairs, did just that, and went downstairs again, bubbling over with excitement.

"Mom! Mom! Can I-"

"No." She knew exactly what he wanted, it had been all he talked about for the last week.

"But-"

"You are not skipping school to pick up some silly game. You can get it after school, like always."

"But the day is gonna drag on forever!"

His mother gave him a look. "School comes first. The game will still be there when classes are over," she said kindly.

"Alright, alright..." He grabbed his lunch, hugged his mother, and made for the schoolhouse as quickly as he could.

His mother looked alarmed. "Don't you want any break-" realizing she was talking to an already empty house, she sighed.

The first class of the day was Magical History, and the accomplishments of Shooting Star were just as dull as they had been yesterday. Button didn't know much about her, only that she was some mare who'd lived a long time ago and had done a lot of things that were apparently important. He usually paid attention and was very good at his classes, but today other things were on his mind.

Button's eyes kept wandering to the back of the room, where his saddlebag hung on a hook. Inside, carefully concealed, was 50 bits. He'd worked a lot of little jobs and extra chores for a long time to get that amount, as his mother had encouraged him that any game would be much more rewarding if he worked for it. He'd kept the bits in a jar under his bed, and counted them almost every day before bed, feeling his pride grow as he got closer and closer to his goal.

"Button!" The teacher suddenly said.

"Forty Two!" Button exclaimed, snapping out of his daze. A large portion of the classroom snickered. The teacher shushed them.

"Button, please pay attention. Many of the things we discuss will be on the quiz next week."

"Yes ma'am," he said. And he tried, he really did.

The classes that followed were just as distracting. Near the end of the day, after lunch, he had Study Hall. Well, it wasn't entirely a study hall, it was Flight Practice, but the students without wings were allowed a free period to read and study. Some days he would bring a comic book with him, but today he was contented to draw in his notebook.

During the last class of the day, Creatures of Equestria, his eyes were glued to the clock. 2:47. 2:48. 2:49. Almost there, he looked down for a moment, wondering if that would make time go any faster, and looked up again after a few minutes. 2:30. He nearly fell out of his chair. That wasn't fair! Or even possible! He looked again, reading 2:55. His mind was playing tricks on him. At last they were allowed to leave for the day, after fidgeting while the teacher instructed the classroom to read Chapters 3 and 4 in their Beastiary tonight, he rocketed out of his chair as if he was on fire and excitedly ran towards the only video game store in Ponyville. Several other colts were there as well, presumably for the same reason, but he didn't know any of them.

Taking his place in line, Button patiently waited. Almost there. In a few minutes, Quest for the Golden Hydra would be his! He distracted himself momentarily by counting the tiles on the ceiling of the store.

"Next."

"Wha?"

"Next, kid, come on."

"Oh!" Button ran towards the counter, placing his small pouch on the counter. "Golden Hydra, please!" he announced, even his hat seeming to spin faster than usual.

The attendant took a moment to count up the bits. "You're short," he said. "Sorry."

Button Mash felt like the entire world was crumbling inward. "But... but there's fifty bits there! I counted! It costs fifty bits!"

"There is indeed fifty bits here, but this game is imported. That means tax. You'll need fifty five bits. If you don't have it, I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep the line moving."

Button began to back up, feeling his eyes start watering. It wasn't possible! "But...I waited... for so long..."

"Here." A new voice, one he hadn't heard before. Quickly wiping his eyes, he looked up. A strange unicorn filly with a curly purple and pink mane was setting five more bits on the counter.

"Don't worry about it," she said, and began to leave.

"Lucky kid," the teller said, and slid the bits into a pouch, depositing the bulky arcade game on the counter. Since none of the ponies had knowledge of the complicated gaming consoles which dominated a certain other realm, Button was perfectly content with the self contained mini-arcade game that was presented to him. "Have fun."

Button was in shock, unable to move for several precious moments, and grabbed the game, mumbling a thank you, and raced out the door, looking around.

The filly was gone, having turned any number of nearby corners on the busy street.

Button Mash clutched his game tighter, but began to wander back home with his prize. He didn't know who that filly was, but even if he had to search all of Equestria, he'd find her again.

Sweetie Belle and the Dreadfully Horrid Grounding

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sighed at the same time, both looking out of their respective windows. One window had recently painted shutters and torn curtains, overlooking a barn which sat nearby on a hill. The other was elaborately decorated and had designer curtains wafting within. The two windows were miles apart, separating two friends who were both understandably annoyed.

"I hate being grounded..." Sweetie Belle muttered, crossing her front hooves and burying her head in her pillow. It was the middle of the school day, and two young fillies had both been grounded, which in this instance meant they weren't allowed to go to school or participate in any Crusading activities for a whole day. It really wasn't fair! The two of them had tried to get their cutie marks in float building for the Fall Festival parade, but in doing so had accidentally used up all of Rarity's decorations and Applejack's paint for THEIR float.

Pacing around the room, Sweetie Belle had done just about everything she could think of. She had read a book, wrote several new songs (although these wound up in the trash bin because song writing was a waste of time), even done her homework for next week. It was nearing the end of the school day, and time was absolutely dragging. Sweetie looked out the window, which normally she could have escaped through, except Rarity had installed temporary magical bars after the escape during a previous grounding.

Sweetie scooted back and forth on her flank, dragging herself forward with her hooves. There was nothing to-

"Psst."

Sweetie looked up.

"Psst." There it was again! The young unicorn looked over at her door, and was quite surprised to find Scootaloo standing there. Scootaloo, fortunately, had not been grounded. "Let's go!"

"But... I'm not supposed to be out!"

"Yeah, come on. Rarity is out in town, so we'll only be gone for a little bit."

"But I'm not supposed to-"

Scootaloo grabbed her by the hoof with a wide grin on her face. "She'll never know! Let's go!"

Once the two had left the Boutique, Sweetie Belle calmed down significantly. She began to lighten up, become a bit more adventurous. She was still quite nervous about Rarity finding out she'd snuck out, but nothing of that sort ever happened. The two fillies visited the candy shop, each purchasing a taffy, and the Ponyville Aviary, where the ooohed and aaahed over a rare Phoenix.

The two actually had a fairly fun afternoon, and several minutes became several hours. Neither of them should have been out, but they were just having so much fun that the grounding was soon forgotten. Forgotten, at least, until a sharp voice penetrated the pleasant environment.

"SCOOTALOO!"

Upon turning around, Scootaloo suddenly paled. It was a mare she recognized, a pegasus to be exact, and the last one she wanted to see at that particular moment. "Oh, sh-"

"WHERE. HAVE. YOU. BEEN?" The mare demanded.

Scootaloo sputtered. "It's not what you think, mom! I-"

"Two small fillies wandering around Ponyville by themselves? Do you know how dangerous that is? I come home to find the house completely empty. No note! Scooter gone! You could have died!"

"But I had to get Sweetie Belle, mom! You should have seen it! There were bars on her window and everything!"

The pegasus was not amused. "Well you'd best hope I don't put bars on your window, Scootaloo. Come on, let's go. Now."

Sighing, Scootaloo said farewell to Sweetie Belle, and left with her mother. Now all three of them were in for it. Deciding to make her way back home, Sweetie Belle began quickly walking in that direction, not wanting any more trouble today. She wished she could just teleport, but her horn wasn't developed enough yet. Rarity said it would happen soon enough.

Sweetie passed by the marketplace, and turned a corner. She passed by the arcade, which doubled as a video game store, just in time to see a strange brown colt in tears at the counter. She'd never seen such a spectacle, so headed inside to see what was going on.

"But... but there's fifty bits there! I counted! It costs fifty bits!"

"There is indeed fifty bits here, but this game is imported. That means tax. You'll need fifty five bits. If you don't have it, I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep the line moving."

The colt began to back up, tears falling down his face. "But...I waited... for so long..."

At this moment, Sweetie Belle walked up. She only had five bits left, but if she wanted to make it home before Rarity, she wouldn't have time to purchase anything else. She placed five bits down on the counter, allowing the sad young colt to make his purchase. Their eyes locked for only a moment, and she smiled at him, and immediately left. She was in such a hurry that she didn't see who she'd bumped into outside the gaming store until she looked up.

Rarity was furious.

"Sweetie Belle! I've been looking absolutely everywhere for you!" Rarity scolded. "I thought something happened to you, I was so frightened! Can't you ever even ONCE think of somepony else besides yourself?"

"But-" the unicorn protested. Her words were cut off, however, as Rarity's horn glowed and the two were magically whisked away back home.

Seconds later, the colt from the gaming store rushed outside, looking around, seeming confused,

Back in her room, Sweetie Belle sighed once more. Rarity hadn't believed her story, but had been more worried than angry.

She didn't know who that colt was, but even if she had to search all of Equestria, she'd find him again.