“Are we there yet?” Archer whined from the back of the group.
“Almost, and everypony better be on their best behavior, we don’t want any accidents, right girls?” Cheerilee said while looking at three fillies in particular.
“Yes ma’am” Apple bloom sighed.
“But this is a glue factory, what could possibly go wrong, if anything this will be a snoozefest.” Scootaloo replied.
“Aw come on, this could be fun.” Sweetie Belle said trying to reassure her cohorts this field trip wasn’t a waste of time.
“Yeah right, how can a glue factory be fun?” Scootaloo asked.
“Wait, maybe we could get our cutie marks girls!” Applebloom shouted in excitement.
“Oh Celestia, not today of al-” Before Cheerilee could finish her sentence the three girls inhaled deeply and shouted, “Cutie mark crusaders glue makers!” They shouted as they arrived at the facility’s front entrance.
“Now all of you be on you stay with the group and no talking during the tour.” Cheerilee said before talking to the guard pony at the front gate
“Excuse me mister…”
“ Toll Gate.”
“Mister Gate, we are here for the tour scheduled at noon, a Ms. Paste said to meet her here.”
“Oh yeah, she said something about a tour earlier come on in, shes waiting for you in the lobby.” After Gate said that he opened the gate and ushered in the fillies colts to the front of the building before returning to his post to doze off for the rest of his shift.
With the guard asleep at his post and Cheerilee and the foals inside they patiently awaited their guide, well, most of them did.
“Scootaloo stop jumping up and down on the chairs! Apple bloom, no playing tag in the lobby! Twist for Celestia’s sake don’t eat all the candy in the dish, and Snips and Snails stop eating the paste!” With over twenty children growing rowdier by the second Cherilee prayed for salvation from these ill mannered children.
And thus her prayers were answered when a business mare walked out of the double doors from behind the desk in the waiting room.
“Now if you will all please gather ‘round we can begin the tour.” The mare says politely.
“So you are Ms. Paste, right?” Cheerilee asked.
“No, I am Sticky Hooves, or Ms.Hooves for short.” Ms. Hooves said, some of the children giggled at her name, but it didn’t bother her, she had heard all the sticky hooves jokes before, especially in high school.
Once the giggling died down she began to speak again, “Now if you will please follow me we can begin the tour of our facility. For safety reasons please put on the helmets that were prov-”
“What helmets?” Sweetie Belle asked only to be answered by a hoof pointed to a row of shelves in the back of the room covered with varying sizes of helmets. “Oh.” Sweetie squeaked as her and the rest of the children went over to put on their hard hat.
“Now that that’s done, follow me.” She announced as she lead them all through the double doors she came through.
Thirty Minutes Later
“And that is the entire history of paste products and various types of glue, from bookbinding glue, to arts & craft paste. Are there any questions?”
Diamond Tiara raised a hoof. “Yeah, why should I ca-” She was swiftly cut off by Ms.Cheerilee putting a hoof over her mouth to silence the rude filly.
“Can you show us how to make glue, it sounds fun.” Snips asked
“No no no no, not you , you and Snails already proved you can’t handle chewing gum, let alone glue, remember last week?”
“Awww” The two colts fell silent after their dreams of playing with glue were dashed by their teacher.
“Don’t worry, you can still join the tour of the manufacturing plant, and samples will be given at the end of the tour.” Ms. Hooves said, cheering up the colts slightly.
“Wait.. We’re three short… Oh no…”
“Hurry up ya slow pokes, I wanna get mah cutie mark!” Apple bloom said as she eyed the large mixing pot.
“It can’t be that hard, nopony is even working right now, how hard could it be.”
“Umm girls, this gaugy thingy doesn’t look so good.” Sweetie Belle said, looking at the pressure gauges for the mixing container of paste.
“Oh what's the worst that could happen?” Scootaloo asked rhetorically.
“Remember tha taffy mixer?” Apple Bloom reminder her fellow crusader, they both shuddered at that memory.
“Fine, just start filling the mixer full these bags.” Scootaloo ordered.
“Why would you need sugar ta make glue?” Apple Bloom asked eyeing the large bag of sugar among the bags of flour, and containers of vinegar and water.
“Who cares, just dump them in, we might get our cutie marks. Scootaloo said.
As the fillies began to dump untold amounts of the ingredients into the mixing pot the gauges started to draw closer to the danger zone with each bag of flour and jug of vinegar they added.
“Girls, what are you doing?!” A familiar voice shouted from across the catwalk
“Getting our cutie marks, whatcha think we’re do-ahh!” Apple Bloom screamed as her tail got caught in the mixer’s beater. As her tail wound tighter and tighter pulling her into the machine, she instinctively grabbed onto Scootaloo for help, who then grabbed onto Sweetie Belle who was then also pulled into the machine which was now shaking and rattling beyond control.
“Somepony turn it off!” Ms. Hooves shouted.
“We’re trying, but it’s gonna blo-” Before they could finish their warning the side of the mixing container burst open sending foal sized chunks of glue flying in all directions, including the clump of glue with the cutie mark crusaders mixed in.
“Girls, this is why we can’t have nice things…” Cheerilee said from the bottom of the glue wad the entire class was stuck in.
The End
Author's Note
The challenge was to write a single story that at length was exactly 1,000 words if you have any other ideas for a challenge leave a comment below.
