Mixed Reactions

"Ewwww, tree sap!" screeched Sweetie Belle. Sweetie looked down at herself, attempting to wipe some of the sap off her hooves. She, however, failed completely and only mixing dirt into the tree sap. "I thought you said we wouldn't get covered in sap for at least a month, and now it's happened twice today!"

"Hey! It's not my fault that AppleBloom said we should try to get apple bucking cutie marks! Don't blame me for getting tree sap instead of apples at a job that's meant for grown mares!" Scootaloo yelled in response to Sweetie's rant.

"What?! Ah didn't say anythin' about actually bucking until we're bigger! Just like Big Mac told me about 'is cutie mark, ya'll see when he was a little colt he was too small ta get 'is cutie-" AppleBloom was cut off by Scootaloo splashing her in the face  to shut her up.

"I told you. I only wanna hear about Rainbow Dah's cutie mark! It's cool and lightning fast just like her!" Scootaloo continued fantasying about her idol as she splashed around in one of the apple family's bucket's. She climbed out satisfied that the tree sap was washed away allowing Sweetie Belle to wash herself as well. They'd learnt how to quickly wash their manes and coats pretty quickly every since the incident with Babs. Sweetie was quickly out and Apple Bloom jumped inside.

"Just because she's like a sister to ya...." whispered AppleBloom as she began to scrub her newly washed hoof in the soapy water.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Scootaloo blushed as she screeched back at AppleBloom.

"Ah'm just saying that she's not yaur real sister-" AppleBloom realized what she'd just said as Scootaloo began to tear up and become silent.

"Oh, ah'm sorry, Scootaloo, ah'm really sorry for saying that-"

"No," Scootaloo wiped her eyes and put on a serious face," you're right, I don't have a sister. But Rainbow Dash already said she'd be like on to me!" She began to tear up again but this time still continued to speak," and I will always be loyal to her and protect her just like she said she'd do for me!" She sniffed and sat in the silence waiting for the response of anypony else.

"Scootaloo, ah'm sorry 'bout it " AppleBloom slipped out of the bucket and landing on her face.

" Phhhhhhh HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" All signs of sadness left Scootaloo's face as she and Sweetie Belle walked over to AppleBloom to help her up.

"Thank Scootaloo..."

"No problem, no hard feelings, ok? Come on, this is too sappy for my liking. Let's go back to the clubhouse and think of ways to get our cutiemarks! This time something that we can do at our own age." The destitution was for all three of the cutie mark crusaders but AppleBloom felt like it was oddly directed at her.

The CMC galloped through sweet apple acres towards their club house located in the center, but as they approached the ladder leading to it ,they noticed that the clubhouse door was wide open. They however let this matter slide for they thought that it was probably just the wind that had freed the door from it's stationary position. They simply thought no more of it as they set hoof inside.

"Hey, since when was it so messy in here? Didn't we clean up before we left?" Questioned Sweetie before looking over to the other crusaders who just shook their heads in response. " Rarity wouldn't even step hoof into here with this mess!"

"Ah thought I told you, you have your sister and ah have mine. Ah let you be her sister for one day 'n' no longer!" AppleBloom stared at Sweetie Belle as she spoke every letter.

"Wait a minute..... It wasn't actually AppleJack back then! It's was Rarity covered in mud!" Sweetie Belle was thinking it through when she realised that she'd been tricked out of a day with AppleJack, and still AppleBloom was that anxious to get it over and done with. Sweetie began to think about what she would've been like if AppleJack was with her throughout all of the sister-hoof-social. However she never began to get an image in her head because she was distracted by Scootaloo walking over to what looked like and over-sized book in the middle of the mess. She was obviously not listening to their conversation, which was likely to be because she wasn't there at the time.

"Um... Girls, I don't remember having this book before... Did you girls get it from Twilight? It's called "Cupcakes", whatever that's suppose to mean!" Scootaloo asked the other girls however they shook their heads in response. "I guess we should read it if it's here anyway...." The others sat next to her as they held up the unusually large book and turned the first page.

"Just as planned..." Mocked the looming figure that stood behind an apple tree, happy that their deed was done as they trotted off into the distant town.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Tia, what are were you doing in Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Oh nothing Lulu, nothing that should concern you at this moment..."

"You know what happened last time you kept a secret from us, and now the ponies will always know about our birthday cake that they caught you eating! On our birthday! We were greatly saddened!"

"Really Lulu, I thought I told you I was sorry, you should be over it by now, and besides I only had one piece!"

"You ate every last bit Tia. EVERY. LAST. BITE!"

"Well, Lulu it's getting late, I'll tell you when I come home, now you must be leaving, it's nearly time to raise the moon." And with that Luna was gone. (Really Luna had used a teleportation spell with such power that it seemed invisible to the naked eye.)

"Ahem?" Twilight Sparkle was standing next to Princess Celestia, a little confused about what she had just said. "Not to be rude.... but why did you come and check into a hotel here?"

"Oh, my most fateful student Twilight!" Celestia had been caught off guard and had forgotten about leaving Twilight with Luna as she went on her little trip to Sweet Apple Acres. "I came to observe my subjects as they went about they're daily lives without seeing all the decorations they always put up."

"Ok.... If you don't mind me asking, why did you come to PonyVille?"

"Twilight, don't act like you've never look out at Canterlot and see the same thing everyday. But from what I've heard PonyVille can be a rather exiting place for young ponies." There was a brief  pause as Twilight thought about what Celestia had said as she thought about any time in Canterlot that she wasn't studying and looked over the capital.

"Now Twilight this is my stop," They had already arrived at the hotel when Twilight looked up. She hushed her voices so that nopony wondering by could hear they're conversation. "Now Luna will be running Canterlot while I have a short time here in PonyVille. As for me, I shall use one of the spells only to be used by alicorns, it transforms them into any being that they decide. I shall become a unicorn know as Lyra heartstrings. I asked her personally and she allowed me to look like her."

"Oh, okay, bye Princess. I will come and visit you often during your stay!" With that she left without another word. The door shut behind the princess as she walked inside. She looked around as she found nopony else inside. She, however, was not worried about this. That was because it she'd bought the entire hotel with a hefty bag of solid gold bits that very morning.  Celestia walked upstairs and stepped into the first door on her left where Lyra was to be found while Celestia was in her place. However once inside the room it told a very different story. Celestia took a step inside the room and locked the door shut encase someone stopped by for a visit. Lyra was strapped down to a thick metal sheet where the bed should've been. Knives were placed outside her reach and the lights were dimmed.  Lyra lay there slipping in and out of consciousnesses. It was obvious that when she opened her eyes that she'd look for any other pony in the room but the only pony she found was the one that had assaulted her, staring at her from the door.

"Princess, tell me please. Why are you doing this? Whatever I did I'm sorry!" The fear was evident in her eyes as she chocked at every word that fell out of her mouth " We can talk this out! You could tell Princess Luna about anything that's going wrong! I won't tell anypony about what happened here!"

"So," whispered the earily low yet feminine voice, pretending that she hadn't heard the pleading unicorn " I take your place and live your life for a while, you know, ruin any respect or relationships you had, and in return." She took the first step towards Lyra from the other side of the room. "I let you live."