“Hey Sweetie Belle, mind passing me those screws from up there?” Scootaloo called to her unicorn friend from the other side of the barn.
“Sure thing!” She replied. The air fizzled as the horn atop her head came to life. A light green aurora circled the box of screws on the second level of the barn and began levitating towards them, wobbling a bit in the air. She placed it in the pegasus’ outstretched hoof and as Scootaloo put the box by the piles of wood they had collected, a muffled kaput sound came from outside the barn causing them both to turn their heads towards the open doors. Once they saw the state Applebloom was in, both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had to put their hooves over their mouths to stop themselves from laughing out loud. Her face and mane were lightly covered in a layer of black soot and her bow was nowhere to be seen, her face deadpanned.
“Yeah, you two can go ahead and laugh, but ah got this potion working an’ that’s all that matters!” She announced as she approached them holding a small vial of purple liquid, a sly smile growing on her face. “Which is still more work that you've done. How come it ain't ready yet?”
Scootaloo scoffed. “Well, it would be ready if Sweetie Belle hadn't gone to Twilight to make the blueprints.” She said, holding one of the blueprints upside down. “Just look at them! They’re so unnecessary and over complicated that I can't even understand them!” She moaned, letting the plans drift onto the floor. Sweetie Belle used her magic to turn the plans the right way up and put them back in Scootaloo’s face, which turned a light shade of pink. She turned away and walked towards the materials without another word.
“Well done for getting the potion done, even if it did mean you got messy.” Sweetie Belle said, using a levitating cloth to wipe Applebloom’s face.
“Thanks. I don’t think I coulda done it without those instructions you got me from Twilight.” She said, high-hoofing her.
“It’s nothing. It only made sense to get all that while she taught me the spell we need for the machine.” Sweetie Belle replied.
“Yeah, you’re right. How’d that go, anyway?”
“Well…”
~~~
“Alright! Now that we've covered all the theory, lets do some more practice!” Twilight proclaimed. Sweetie Belle took a quick moment to clean the nacho residue on her muzzle with the back of her hoof before stepping towards the small toy train. The train was resting in a track marked with popcorn kernels which circled the table in the centre of the library. “Now remember, you've got to concentrate on imagining the route it’s going to take while you channel your magic towards it. Once the spell is complete you don’t even have to think about it again, it’ll just repeat the route over and over again until you use the counter-spell. Give it a try!”
Sweetie Belle glared without blinking at the train for a moment, strain visible on her face. Sweat trailed down her forehead as the tip of her horn lit up weakly, sparks flying in all directions. As her horn lit up further, the frequency of the sparks increased and Twilight’s eyes and smile grew wider every second. After a bright, white flash, the train began steadily moving around the track and building up speed, to both Sweetie Belle and Twilight’s delight.
“Alright!” Spike shouted from behind a wall of books, dropping popcorn from the bag in his hand. “Go Sweetie Belle! Knew you could do it!”
“Thanks!” She squeaked in reply, turning to Twilight. “Thank you for teaching me all this, but I gotta get going now! Important Crusader work to do!” She tried to run out of the door but was stopped by a magical force pulling on her tail.
“Sweetie Belle, you need to stop the train first. Just quickly show me you can do it and you’re good to go.” Twilight said, giving her a quick wink. Sweetie Belle approached the train again, which was calmly travelling in the track. Her horn once again lit up and cast a beam of light, which struck the toy. “Alright, now that you’ve got that handled, you’re free to—” Twilight was interrupted by a series of loud thuds as the now speeding toy raced into books, shelves and a baby dragon, sending them tumbling to the ground. Twilight fired off the counter spell multiple times before hitting her target, damaging several books in the process. The train came to a gradual stop at Sweetie Belle's hooves, who smiled nervously at Twilight who was looking around at all the destruction, mouth agape.
”I-I'll just... Umm... Yeah, thanks Twilight, um... See ya next week!"
~~~
Applebloom was rolling on the floor, laughing uncontrollably.
“Aww, c’mon! Magic is super hard!” Sweetie Belle protested.
“Yeah, ah’m sure…” Applebloom replied, giggling.
“There! I’m done!” Scootaloo announced, walking over to the others.
“Woah, that was fast!” said Applebloom.
“Well I couldn’t leave it tomorrow, that potion needs to be in the fields soon, right? Otherwise the apples won’t just grow overnight.” Applebloom nodded in response, turning her gaze to the contraption behind Scootaloo. It was a four wheeled wooden platform no bigger than any of the fillies with a metal funnel in the centre.
"Let's get on with the show then, girls!"
~~~
The three fillies pulled the covers over their bodies, fidgeting a little as each of them tried to find a comfortable position.
"Applebloom, you might wanna consider getting a bigger bed soon. It's too small now... Ahh, Scootaloo! That's my leg!" Sweetie Belle complained.
"Sorry, but maybe I wouldn't be nudging you so much if you didn't take up so much space!"
"Shh! You two stop that, I don't want anypony to wake up this time of night because Sweetie Belle sleeps like a eagle in flight." Applebloom cautioned.
Sweetie Belle folded her forehooves, grumbling. They each exchanged glances for a moment, before giggling and then yawning. Applebloom reached over to her bedside stand and blew out her light before the trio let their heads rest on the pillow, almost ready to leave the busy day behind them.
"Psst! Applebloom, you asleep yet?" a voice whispered.
"Of course I ain't Scootaloo, I only just put my head down."
"Yeah... Well, still, I was just thinking..."
"Since when did chickens have brains?" a third voice asked.
The sound of a hoof meeting it's owner's face rang through the room.
"Well, I was thinking about all the cool stuff we've done recently. We won the chance to carry the flag for Ponyville in the Equestria Games, we got Twilight to help us learn lots of new things and right now a machine we created is spreading a growth enhancing potion on the farm which could help everypony in town... Does it feels as awesome for you as it does for me?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yeah, I reckon it does. Maybe we're even getting closer to getting our Cutie Marks!"
Sweetie Belle sighed. "Y'know, this is the first time in ages I've really felt like we've really got something special about us. It's like we don't need to know our special talent or even need our Cutie Marks to be special..." Sweetie Belle trailed off, leaving only the sound of light snoring.
"Yeah... Maybe you're right." Scootaloo whispered. Applebloom smiled and hummed a tone of approval before sleep claimed them both.
~~~
A rooster's call pulled Applebloom away from the comfort of her slumber, the sun warming the room with a calm, honey coloured glow which highlighted every piece of dust idly floating around the room. After spending a moment or two admiring the scene she closed her eyes and continued embracing the nearest still-dormant body to her, the fur and heat of her friend amplifying her own comfort. She ignored the sound of hooves echoing throughout the house and the opening of a door, but couldn’t ignore the sound of her elder sister bellowing her name.
"APPLEBLOOOOM!"
Author's Note
I'd like to give a shout out to Shotgunmerc for being an awesome editor. Really appreciate it!
And also to you, fine reader, for taking the time to view my... Thing. Thank you for that and I hope you enjoyed it!
This is the first time I've ever tried writing anything lighthearted/comedy/slice-of-life-y which was pretty weird and new for me so I dunno if it's even any good, so... Yeah! Practicing new things! Good stuff.
