Cutie Mark Lovers

by ShyReaper

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Random, Slice of Life
Length: 10507

The Cutie Mark Crusaders decide to try their hands on love to find their Cutie Mark

Like me other stories, I no own MLP:FIM, them being long to Lauren Faust (Who's last name makes me think of her as a grand wizard), Hub, and Hasbro.

Kind of obvious but warning: Contains TeenagersxAdults.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders are now young teenagers and they still don't have their Cutie Marks, to their disappointment! After walking around Ponyville, they find their new aspirations from a few certain individuals. They decide amongst themselves that if they manage to get these particular ponies to fall in love with them that they will finally attain their Cutie Marks!

This is a spinoff 'prequel' to my Alternative Story of Scootalove.

Hiatus like my other story.

The first chapter was re-edited with special thanks to DoctorAnatomy!

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-10 09:01:29 UTC

Aspirations

Operation: Love, Yay!

It was a few years later and the teenage Cutie Mark Crusaders still didn’t have their Cutie Marks. The three of them huddled in their secret hideout, trying to figure out this conundrum.

“I jus’ don’ get it!” Apple Bloom complained. “We been at this f’ever now! We should have gotten our darn Cutie Marks by now!”

“I know, right?!” Scootaloo raised a hoof to her face to wipe away her annoyance.

“Maybe it’s because we keep trying too many different things too quickly?” Sweetie Belle pointed out intellectually.

The other two had a figurative light bulb pop above their heads. “That’s it!” They both exclaimed, “We just need to work at one thing for a little while longer!"

“That makes us one step closer but we’re still no where near our goal…,” Sweetie Belle sighed, popping the balloon before it could float.  “Besides, what are we going to do next?”

All three of them had their heads down, they couldn’t think of a new idea to try. They’ve tried so many things they couldn’t even think of something that they DIDN’T do yet. Even if they did decide to repeat something that they had already done, what should it be?

“Break up!” Scootaloo shouted. “I think we should cool our heads for a bit before coming up with any new plans.”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders! Break time!” They all high-hoofed before splitting up.

XOX

“Dag’Nabit!” Apple Bloom kicked a rock in her way as she walked home. What in the world were they going to do to get their Cutie Marks? Her mind felt like it was going to explode. She was never the type to do all of that heavy thinking, she was more like her brother, Big Macintosh, in that way.

She saw a random apple laying on the ground and picked it up. The yellow filly wiped it on her coat before absentmindedly taking a bite out of it. Apple Bloom let out a deep sigh before tossing the half eaten fruit behind her.

“Oy!” A somewhat quiet scream could be heard from behind.

The young farm filly opened her eyes in shock and quickly turned around. “I’m so s’arry—!” She saw a large yellow pegasus laying on her butt with her hooves above her head. It was somepony that she was more than familiar with! “Fluttershy! I’m so s’arry!”

“Eep!” Fluttershy made her trademark sound. “It’s okay, Apple Bloom, I wasn’t watching where I was flying.” She apologized even though she was the victim, typical Fluttershy behavior.

Apple Bloom grabbed one of the older pegasus’s foreleg and pulled her to her feet.

“I’m so s’arry! I should’na have thrown that apple at ya!”

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy smiled and patted Apple Bloom on the ribbon atop her head.

Apple Bloom made a frown when she noticed a visible red bruise on the older pony’s canary yellow forehead. “I wish I could do something to help….”

“It’s fine, I just need to go home and get out my medical kit.”

“Wait!” Apple Bloom smiled, “Why don’ ya just go home with me? My family has a stash of ointments and bandages in the basement!” She could use this as both an apology and a way to make amends with the shy pegasus.

“Oh, okay, then.” Fluttershy couldn’t say no to the wet puppy dog eyes that Apple Bloom was giving her.

XOX

A few hours later, there was a mummified Fluttershy sitting on a red couch. Only her eyes and mane were visible from under all of those wrappings. There was an ‘eep’ as the yellow pegasus felt her muscles become sore from being so frozen stiff.

“I think it needs more tape!” Apple Bloom reasoned to herself. “Are you okay, Fluttershy?” She couldn’t hear Fluttershy’s protest since the mare’s mouth was shut tight but took it as a sign of approval, nonetheless. “I’mma get more tape!”

“Hold up in here!” A familiar and older voice rang out. Applejack came into the room with a look of annoyance. “What’s dat racket, Apple Bloom!” She gasped when she saw Fluttershy come into her view. “What the hay are you doing to that poor pony?!”

Applejack quickly rushed to Fluttershy’s side and started ripping off the bandages, tape,…and tree sap? “I’m so sorry ma’am! The little filly doesn’t know better, ya’mo?” She mumbled the last one as her mouth was chewing out the bandages. “F-Fluttershy?!” Applejack opened her mouth in shock just as the bandages just popped out around the pegasus and dropped to the floor.

“Hi….” Fluttershy looked down, blushed, and crossed her forelegs near her waist for no apparent reason. An ‘eep’ could be heard.

“At first I dun thought dat you kidnapped one of the neighbors, again!” Applejack groaned while wiping her face with a hoof, “But you kidnapped my best bud, Fluttershy?! What was going through your mind?”

“It’s…okay….”

“She was hurt! I could’na jus’ leave her there!”

“I’m fine…really….”

“What you were doin’ there was no better! You were just making things worse!”

“Please…stop fighting!”

“At least I did somethin’!”

“Sisters shouldn’t fight…!”

“Well, I bet that you were the reason she was hurt in the first place!”

“Ugh!” Apple Bloom stopped for a moment and dropped her head.

“I was apple-bucking right! You put her in that condition in the firs’ place! You should feel bad for being like—”

“STOP!” Both earth ponies turned to look at Fluttershy who immediately blushed and looked away from their piercing eyes. “I’m fine, I just needed a bandage…on my forehead.” She gestured weakly to the bruise on her forehead.

Applejack opened her mouth with an ‘o’ and went over to one of the fresh bandages that were still unused. She picked one up and placed it right on Fluttershy’s bruise, “There you go, pardner!”

“T-Thanks,” Fluttershy blushed. She turned to look at Apple Bloom who shied away in embarrassment, “And, thank you, too, Apple Bloom.”

When the pegasus sheepishly left, Applejack turned to chastise her sister. “Apple Bloom!… Have you learned your lesson?”

Apple Bloom was blushing, still staring at the door where Fluttershy had left for 5 minutes. “Wa-Waah?” She drooled as she looked up at her sister with a dull mind. “U-Um! Yeah!” Apple Bloom jumped up in joy when she realized something. “I have a new idea for our Cutie Marks!”

The young filly dashed out the same door that Fluttershy left through.

“That girl!….” Applejack sighed as she tilted her hat over her eyes with no intent on chasing her.

XOX

“I guess we can try sewing again?” Sweetie Belle sighed as she walked down the dirt road to her sister’s house/store. She was about to open the door to Rarity’s boutique until the door slammed opened on her. She flew back and hit the ground. “Ow!” She held her bruised forehead in pain. It was not really that painful but the surprise really knocked her off her hooves.

“Get out of here, Pinkamena Diane Pie!” She heard Rarity roar as she continued looking at the offending pony in her shop so she didn’t see that she threw her little sister into the dirt.

“But you need more colors! And cupcakes! And frosting for more flavor!” A bubbly voice could be heard along with a ‘boing’ sound. Sweetie Belle wasn’t sure whether Pinkie Pie was talking about food or something else entirely. It was more than likely that she wasn’t talking about food.

“I don’t care if the Gates of Tartarus is at my doorstep! Get out of here this instant!” The fashionista commanded.

“Oh, don’t be a silly filly!” Pinkie Pie giggled. Sweetie Belle watched as her sister ran back inside to stop the pink madness, leaving the door wide open.

Curious, Sweetie Belle got back up and entered the shop while wiping some dust off of her coat.

To her (sort of) surprise, there were cupcake batter all over the dresses and a giant blob of…chocolate? floating on the ceiling. Hopefully that dripping concoction was chocolate and not something else of similar texture and color. It couldn’t be, Pinkie Pie wasn’t half monkey, the young unicorn reasoned.

“Argh! I’ll destroy you!” Rarity roared in the background, Sweetie saw her sister run in one of the hallways.

Sweetie Belle smiled at the typical Pinkie Pie Crazies. She went over to one of the ruined dresses and gave it a lick. Raspberry jam, yum!

“Come on! That’s not how you play tag!” Pinkie Pie popped into view, bouncing, just as a vase was thrown overhead passed her.

The pink earth mare jumped really high and ran right through the giant blob in the ceiling, leaving a hole the shape of Pinkie Pie in it. Her cheeks were swollen as she noisily chewed and swallowed while jumping like nothing had happened. “Yom Mn Mmm! Ehe, tasty!”

A chair was lifted by a blue hue just as it was thrown at Pinkie Pie. This one actually made its target but it just went straight through Pinkie Pie as if nothing had happened. The large wooden chair had an impression of Pinkie Pie similar to the blob on the ceiling, which was amazing considering that it was physically impossible for the chair to still stand with a large hole like that in it.

“Are we playing dodge ball now?!” Pinkie Pie squealed in glee as she picked up a random bouncy ball and tossed it at Rarity, still bouncing around the room like a maniac.

Rarity angrily caught the ball with her magic and burst it into flames. “I may be a lady but that doesn’t mean that I won’t rip you to pieces if you don’t stop your shenanigans this instant!”

Sweetie Belle just watched on in amazement at how…trance-like…the chaotic scene seemed to her. Rarity was definitely angry but she just seemed so…in sync with Pinkie Pie. The young unicorn didn’t notice that her sister finally took notice of her presence within the shop.

“Sweetie Belle?!” She heard her sister call her and everything froze. It was almost as if there was somepony caught with their hoof in the cookie jar!

Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing and Rarity stopped being angry.

Rarity blushed heavily and tried to not look at her sister in the eye. “My, I-I cannot believe that you caught me at such an impromptu moment, my dear Sweetie Belle. I was just so caught up in this…madness that I forgot to act like the proper lady I am.” She glared at Pinkie Pie who just stood there smiling.

“This was so much fun, Rarity! We should totally do this again!” Pinkie hopped towards the door but stopped when she saw something. “Oh, silly filly! You got some cupcake on you!” Pinkie got close to Sweetie and licked her cheek of any frosting with a giant wet tongue.

“That is so unsanitary, Pinkie Pie! You really should learn to act more prim and proper, we are not living in a heathen age, darling!”

“Adios, muchachos! Or is that muchachas?” Pinkie Pie waved goodbye and tilted her randomly acquired sombrero over her eyes. She bounced out of the ruined shop with a glee in her hops.

Sweetie Belle raised her hoof to her wet cheeks in stunned amazement. She smacked her lips and noticed that she tasted bubblegum alongside the raspberry. ‘But I didn’t eat any bubblegum-flavored jam…!’

She looked back up at the pretty surrounding with the mix of flavors and colors. Then a cord struck in her mind as she thought of a new idea for her Cutie Mark Crusades!

Sweetie Belle ran towards the open doorway but stopped midway. “Sis, there’s a big blueberry jam on your head!” She called from behind before she disappeared from Rarity’s sight.

“What?” Rarity looked up to see a blue goop fall over between her eyes. “My-My beautiful mane!”

“Tasty!” She heard a voice that she didn’t expect so soon and didn’t want to hear. Rarity found a giant tongue smacked her in the face as it trailed up and down, removing any and all pasty treats off of her person.

“Grr…! I’ll destroy you!”

XOX

“If there’s anypony who knows the best way to get a Cutie Mark, it’s Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo smirked as she buzzed by on her scooter. She remembered that during this time of the day, Rainbow would usually be sleeping lazily on a random cloud but recently the blue pegasus would use this time to visit Twilight Sparkle at her library.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo slammed the door open without even knocking when she got to the library.

“Oh, hello, Scoots!” Spike waved to her as he continued on with his business, a large stack of library books that were twice his height were wrapped in his claws.

“’Sup, Spike.” Scootaloo said nonchalantly. She looked around to see that the library was vacant of any individuals.

It was strange that nopony actually seemed to borrow any books except for every other week. Most of the time, it’ll just be the librarian who would spend her time reading the books, or at least some of her friends. Very few ponies actually came to borrow a book. More ponies had read the books in the library and even that was a very rare occurrence, in and of itself.

Speak of the devil, when she went further into the library, she saw a purple unicorn laying down, intently reading a rather large book on the floor. Scootaloo noticed a few other books floating around Twilight, held by purple magic.

She buzzed around Twilight before approaching her, face to face. “Heya, Twilight!” She screamed out in a loud shrill voice. This shocked Twilight, making her yelp as she dropped the books that she held with her magic on her own head.

“S-Scootaloo! W-What are you doing here?” She gasped as she tried to catch her breath, ignoring the slight bruise growing on her head.

“Have you seen Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo smiled, her wings were buzzing like bees as she looked up at Twilight Sparkle with lovesick eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry, my little pony.” Twilight shook her head. “Dash said that she couldn’t make it today because some of the Weather Ponies were sick and she needed to pick up their jobs.” Twilight felt pity swell up in her stomach as she watched the elation in Scootaloo’s face drop. Hard.

“Awww!”

“But! She said that she’ll be here in a few more hours!” Twilight exclaimed, happy to see Scootaloo cheering back up. “She said that she wouldn‘t miss our reading play date for the world. Rainbow Dash was just upset that she couldn‘t be here on time.”

“Yay!”

“So, just come by in a few hours and you’ll get to talk to Rainbow Dash.” Twilight told the young filly.

“Nah, I’m good!” Scootaloo smirked. “I’ll just read some books with you while we wait for Rainbow Dash to show up!”

“You sure?” Twilight asked with worry. She didn’t want to bore the young girl, many ponies had already told her how plain and boring she was, it was still something that she tried to work on. Poorly.

“Yep!”

“Like, read, read? Like with me?”

“Yep!” Those words struck a cord in her heart. She felt almost as happy as the day that she made five best friends and defeated Nightmare Moon.

The only other pony who seemed to want to read with her was Rainbow Dash and that was only recently after the whole hospital debacle! Even then, it wasn’t like they were reading together, together. Rainbow Dash just sat in the same room reading a separate book, that was all. They weren’t reading aloud to one another or reading the same book together and sharing ideas on it but here was Scootaloo, who seemed to want to do exactly that with her!

XOX

Hours went by as Scootaloo and Twilight shared a tome and read it together. Unsurprisingly, Scootaloo chose a Daring Do book, which was no problem for Twilight since she also enjoyed it, even though this was one that she had already read five times, herself.

Scootaloo had to stop every now and then to ask Twilight to explain what a word meant or how to pronounce it but it was still fun to read with the young orange pegasus. The only other time she read a book aloud with somepony like this was when she was nursing a sick Spike and reading him an encyclopedia to help him go to sleep. That always seemed to make him fall asleep quickly.

“Hello, everypony!!!” Rainbow Dash’s loud voice rang throughout the quiet library. In another part of the library, Spike screamed as an avalanche of books fell on him from the quake but that was not important. A burst of rainbow colors filled the room as Rainbow landed in front of the two fillies.

“Oh, heya Scoots!” Rainbow Dash smiled as she watched Scootaloo and Twilight look up from their book.

“Hiya…Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo stopped reading and hopped up to Rainbow with stars in her eyes.

Twilight inwardly groaned when her reading session was interrupted but smiled and got up to greet Rainbow Dash. “Hi, Rainbow.” She said and nuzzled the blue pegasus.

“Hi…!” Rainbow turned red and had a wide smile that showed all of her teeth.

“Oh, yeah, little Scootaloo here wanted to see you!” Twilight stepped back and looked down at Scootaloo.

“Hiya…Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo repeated with the same star struck eyes.

“Okay, Squirt, watcha need?” Rainbow flexed one of her forelegs like the awesome pony she was.

“I just wanted to ask you about how to get my and the other Crusaders’ Cutie Marks!” Scootaloo squealed, happily. “Any idea, at all, that you can give?”

Before Rainbow could speak, Twilight raised a hoof to cover her mouth and looked at Scootaloo. “Please, Scootaloo these things take time, you’ll find it when you find it.”

Rainbow Dash smirked under Twilight’s hoof and pushed it out of her way. “I have an idea for a Cutie Mark, Squirt!” The blue pegasus looked at Twilight with a mischievous grin, “Why not be a librarian like Ponyville’s own residential egghead? I’m sure Spike needs a helping hoof with how crazy Twilight is!”

“I’m not crazy,” Twilight said pretty defensively. “Besides, you and I both know that her being a librarian is not going to get her, her Cutie Mark!” Twilight turned to look back at Scootaloo but found only dust. “—Ignore her, Scootaloo…?”

“Ooh! Is that the next series for Daring Do!?” Rainbow Dash ignored Twilight Sparkle’s comment and flew over to the book and began reading it.

Twilight sighed as she went to grab another book. She didn’t hear the plea for help from her Number One Assistant as he struggled under the pressure of the Historic Archives of 5,000 Years of Writing Super BigHistory Books all of them written in bold, 20 font, capital letters. History was literally painful for some.

XOX

“Girls, girls!” Sweetie Belle was the first one to enter their secret tree house. A few moments later, Apple Bloom joined in.

“I have an idea for our Crusades!” The yellow earth pony squealed.

“Me too!”

After 10 minutes Scootaloo came buzzing by.

“Girls, you will not believe the idea that came to me!” She smiled as she took off her helmet.

“Us, too, Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom smiled from ear to ear.

They all gave each other a knowing look that said that they knew what the other was thinking.

“Okay, on the count to three, we should scream out our ideas together!” Sweetie Belle tossed out.

“Yes!”

“One!” Sweetie started, her lips were quivering.

“T‘ah!” Apple Bloom started chewing her teeth and wagging her tail.

“Three!” Scootaloo made a buzzing noise with her wings.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS—”

“LOVE N’URSES!”

“LOVE PAINTERS!”

“LIBRARIANS!”

“…Yay?” They all looked at each other as a cold silence fell over them.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders: Love Nurses?” Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom in shock.

“Love Painters?!”

“LOVE?! What’s wrong with you two?! That’s so eww!!!” Scootaloo interrupted her two friends.

“Oh, come on Scootaloo! I have this ah’some idea where we try an’ get a certain pony to fall in love with us by being medical nurses!”

“No, we should get the pony to fall in love with us by being colorful painters!” Sweetie Belle countered.

“Girls! This is no time for love! This is serious, we need to get our Cutie Marks!” Scootaloo stuck out her tongue in disgust, shaking her head at her two friends.

“Aww! Come on, Scootaloo!” They both looked at her sadly with watery eyes. “It’ll be like two birds with one stone. Please?!”

They both made sad puppy dog eyes and quivered their lips at her, their eyes were getting bigger every second. If she waited long enough, their entire face would have been covered completely by two big watery orbs.

“Alright, we can be Cutie Mark Crusaders: Love Nurses/Painters/Librarians!” The orange pegasus sighed. She found herself glomped by her two friends as they both screamed ‘Yay!’ and hugged her.

“I’m gonna regret this, aren’t I?” Scootaloo shook her head and groaned.

Chapter End

D.I.S.A.S.T.E.R.

Sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter. (Not sorry for not uploading quickly, sorry for not uploading when i "finished" writing it.) This may have some grammar issues among anything else you grammar nazis so love finding and complaining to me about. (I'm not perfect and I'm trying my best, okay?) I gave my proofreader, DoctorAnatomy, 38 days to check it but he didn't so much as touch it seeing as he went on vacation, I forgive him. Honestly, I would forgive him if he was just lazy.

Ironically, I was going on vacation around the same time that DoctorAnatomy was. I had fun and suffered some bits. Being a bred and born U.S. citizen, I never knew how hot Asia was, how the freaking cockroaches can fly, and how everything seems to be out to kill, maim, poison, or mutilate my little spoiled suburban body. But while I suffered many physical "accidents" and numerous fevers, knock outs, and skin dryer than a cracked desert and don't get me started on the effects of drinking rainwater, I learned a lot about my roots, met my other family members, climbed a couple mountains, rode a motorcycle and made some friends, so it cancelled each other out. As a side note, I'm bringing sturdy soldier boots (or at least rain boots) and a can of bug spray next time I go.

I thought that I only needed sunscreen, go figure.

D.I.S.A.S.T.E.R.

“Awww~!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom moaned as they watched Scootaloo with teary eyes.

“No buts!” Scootaloo held her head up in an air of superiority with her two friends trailing a few feet from behind.

“B—”

“I said no buts!” Scootaloo yelled at her two childish friends. “Since I am clearly the only one that is not trying to woo some idiot pony, we are going ahead with my plan first!” ‘Who are they trying to woo anyway? Those morons, Snips and Snails? They’re so stupid, what’s so attractive about them, ugh?!’

“So there!” Scootaloo reasoned.

“If there’s anypony that she’s trying to woo it’s Rainbow Dash!” Her two friends mumbled under their breaths.

“I’m surprised that she didn’t try to propose to that rainbow tom-colt!” Sweetie Belle was struggling to stifle a giggle, badly.

“Ya’h, she’s always Rainbow Dash t’is Rainbow Dash t’at! I sw‘are I could see dozens of hearts ov‘er her head!” The two friends were laughing from behind Scootaloo and quickly stopped when the orange pegasus stopped to glare back at them. Both of them had halos over their heads and were whistling an ‘innocent’ tune. She gave one raised eyebrow before turning her head back.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both sniggered once they saw that Scootaloo was no longer looking and was looking star struck, probably due to some sort daydream involving a certain rainbow maned pegasus.

XOX

“Here you go, Twilight.“ Spike said as he dropped a tray of cookies down beside the unicorn who was well absorbed into her book, nary a care in the world. She absentmindedly turned a page, completely ignoring the cookies and Spike. “Oh yeah, the Cutie Mark Crusaders mentioned that they were coming by today for one of their Crusades.”

“Wait, what?!” Twilight dropped the book faster than any Sonic Rainboom. This was a more important matter than reading about the moving speed of the continents. “Why didn’t you tell me?!” She nearly screeched.

“I…I just did?”

“Spike! This is serious business!” A few strands of Twilight’s mane started to spring out of place. “I can’t handle another Cutie Mark Crusade!”

“Oh, come on, it won’t be that bad. They’re not kids anymore, I’m sure they learned some self-control.”

“May…Maybe you’re right…!” Twilight slowly took a deep breath before she straightened her mane. “I mean, they’re not young and naïve anymore. It’s been almost 10 years now, they couldn’t have gotten worse. It‘s only logical that they would learn, for them a bit slowly, but the point is that they learned from their mistakes.”

“Exactly.” Spike nodded in agreement. He stood still for a moment in thought as something struck him. “Uh oh, I should have gotten more ingredients to cook something for them!” He looked at the clock before going to fetch a small basket.

“Spike…? Where do you think you are going?” Twilight couldn’t help but bite on her lower lips as she dreaded his words.

“Oh, I was thinking about heading for a quick trip to the market, we were out of groceries anyway.” Spike said before he took a hat from the stand and walked away. “I’ll be back in a few.”

“B-But, what about the Crusaders?!” Twilight called out but her words were unheard as the door slammed shut.

Spike’s right!

They shouldn’t pose any real problems, they’re older now. And Spike knows them more than any other ponies, so he should know what to expect from them, right?

Right?!

Not moments after Spike had left, the door to the library reopened with the three Crusaders coming in.

“Hello, Twilight Sparkle!” Scootaloo and her friends cheered as she led them further in.

“H-Hello!” Twilight stuttered, she looked up at the clock as its hands slowly ticked in an agonizing slowness. Thunk! Thunk! The sounds were booming in her ears louder than they had before. It was like the clock was mocking her!

“Hey, Miss Twilight, are you okay?” Sweetie Belle waved a hoof in front of Twilight’s eyes, getting no response.

“I t’ink y’ah bro’k ‘er, Sweetie Belle.” Apple Bloom tried to withhold her laughter. The purple unicorn was as stiff as a statue, maybe even more so.

“Great, now how are we going to be library assistants when the librarian is broken?!” Scootaloo huffed. “Hey!” Her face turned red in rage as she watched Sweetie Belle drape a cape over Twilight’s shoulders, “What are you doing?!”

“I think the Crusaders’ Cape would look nice on her, besides she looks cold. She‘s shivering!” The loud clacking of teeth chattering soon accompanied the young mare’s words. All three looked at Twilight with a worried look.

“Hmm, I guess you’re right. You girls start on the librarian duties while I take Twilight to her room. Some sleep should do her good.” Scootaloo grabbed one of Twilight’s hooves and guided her up the stairs.

Thankfully, even though Twilight was stiff and seemed to be lost in mind, her legs moved on their own so Scootaloo didn’t have to carry the bigger mare to bed.

That would have been awkward and weird!

Sure, Scootaloo was a lot stronger now since she’s been practicing her flying everyday but she doubted that she could carry a full grown mare like Twilight. Honestly, she probably would have tripped on the stairs and sent the both of them tumbling down. Not saying that Twilight was chubby or anything…!

It’s just that the idea of helping somepony and instead you and them both end up in the hospital seems more than a little embarrassing, especially over something so small as tripping down the stairs.

“Okay, here we are.” Scootaloo found herself talking in the same way that one would when talking to foals or the sick. “Here’s your bed.” Twilight got into her bed and closed her eyes in peace while Scootaloo draped the covers over her. “Now sleep tight while me and the girls handle your duties. Sweet dreams!”

With that, Scootaloo gently shut the door while Twilight slumbered away in a soft snore.

“Good night, mommy…!” Twilight replied while taking a deep long yawn. “Don’t forget to…keep Spike away from the gem jar….”

“Now, with that out of the way, we can finally start being librarians!” Scootaloo trotted happily down the stairs, envisioning her Cutie Mark. A book would be lame for a Cutie Mark but an ink and quill would look nice, or even a flaming brain! Flames always make everything 20% cooler!

But by the time the orange pegasus had gone down the stairs, she noticed that her friends were gone! “What the!? Of all the conniving - Where in the blasted?!” She looked around angrily. They just went up and left her here to do the chores by herself!

How selfish!

Suddenly, she heard a muffled noise. Her ears perked up as she listened closely, realizing that it was her friends in the distance. But where?

“-ash!”

“-ight!…-no!”

“Girls?” Scootaloo turned a corner as she found the voices getting louder.

“I wonder…do!” The sounds of something heavy and metallic falling made her jump. Hopefully, that noise was too far to wake Twilight up, the poor librarian looked like she really needed some rest.

“-ey! Why you gon’ an’ do that!” She heard Apple Bloom yell at presumably Sweetie Belle.

“I’m so sorry!”

Scootaloo finally found the door where the sound was coming from, she slowly cracked it open to look inside. “Isn’t that the door to Twilight’s basement?” She remembered Twilight chastising Rainbow Dash once for going down there, something about ‘fragile equipment’ or something like that.

“Hey, Scootaloo, what are you doing?” A voice surprised her and nearly made her jump out of her skin! She thought that she was alone! The orange pegasus quickly shut the door and turned to face the speaker.

“S-Spike? What are you doing here?” Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel like she was caught doing something bad as she pressed her back against the door as if to shield it from Spike‘s eyes.

“I live here? And I asked you first!” He gave her an awkward look. “Anyway, what do you wanna eat? I just got back from shopping and I’m about to cook something.”

“Hmm, I think I’ll have carrot cake or maybe some chocolate pie!” Scootaloo blushed after her stomach growled when she was thinking about food.

“Right-o, then, captain.” Spike chuckled before heading into the kitchen with his basket of groceries.

“Now to see what those girls are up to….” Scootaloo took a deep breath before reopening the door and heading into the foreboding basement.

“I t’ink y’ah bro’k it! Oh, Celestia, y’ah bro’k it!” She heard Apple Bloom screaming in what seemed like terror.

“No! This big thing isn’t broken, see?” A loud shattering crash erupted from down the stairs. “I-I mean I can fix it. It’s no big deal!”

“Scootaloo is gonna be so pissed a’ht us!”

‘Heck yeah I’m gonna be angry, you two are ruining all of our chances at getting our Cutie Marks, again!’

“What if Miss Twilight sees this? We are going to be sent to the moon!”

“She can’t do t’at! She’s not the Princess!”

“But she is the Princess’s ex-student!”

“Oh no!” Both roared in an ear piercing screech.

“Hold your horses, you two. What do you think you are doing down here?!” Scootaloo had heard enough and marched down to interrogate her friends.

When she got down there, she saw a giant metal box with multiple blinking buttons. For some reason Sweetie Belle, who was standing atop the strange machine, was covered entirely in tree sap and Apple Bloom was tied up nearby in bandages.

“What the hay was going on down here?!”

Both fillies looked at each other, hesitantly, before looking back at Scootaloo. “Spring cleaning?” They both replied, sheepishly.

“It’s in the middle of July, you knuckleheads!”

XOX

“And, so, that’s what happened.” Scootaloo sighed and held her head down in defeat as she explained it all, along with her two friends, to Spike who was wearing a pink apron with a girly heart on it complete with the kitchen ware in his claws. He was standing there with a frozen expression on his face while the batter on his wooden spoon was dripping.

“Okay?” He looked at the three ponies in front of him, ludicrously. “So what do you want me to do about it?”

“Twilight Sparkle’s going to be mad! And we won’t get our Cutie Marks!”

“Y’ah, you brake a lot of ‘er stuff, you must kno’ ‘ow to fix ‘em or at least lie ah‘bout it!”

“We need you, Spike! You‘re the only one that we can turn to!”

He wasn’t sure if he should feel honored or offended by his friends’ comments, so he opted to ignore it. “If Twilight is happy or angry, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t really affect if you get your Cutie Marks, ya know. Besides, I still need to finish cooking, I’ll help once I’m done. Unless, you three don’t want anything to eat?” After he asked, he heard a loud uproar come from out of the three ponies’ stomachs. All three had a giant blush on their faces as their tried to feign innocence.

“Thought so.” Spike smirked before heading back into the kitchen. “You three can help make things right by not messing with anything. Twilight can fix whatever you broke, depending on the damage….”

“So, what do we do now?” Sweetie Belle broke the silence.

“I dun kno’.”

“Wanna check and see if Twilight is okay? I’m sure we’re just fussing over nothing and she’s not going to be (really) mad at us.” Scootaloo swallowed the lump in her throat as she said this.

Apple Bloom’s stomach started gurgling and she blushed, “I kinda want to get somethin’ to eat.”

“Spike’s just started cooking, it’ll be some time before he finishes.”

“Who?”

“Spike.”

“Who?”

“You know, the purple dragon?”

“Who?”

“Now, you’re just doing that to get on my nerves, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo turned and screamed at the white unicorn.

“I didn’t say anything!” Sweetie pleaded innocence.

“Who?” Suddenly, an owl floated down and plopped itself right on top of Scootaloo’s head.

“Look, it’s a chicken!”

“I’m not a chicken!”

“Not you, Scootaloo, t’at thing on y’ah head!”

“Oh my gosh, it’s a chicken!”

“You two, that’s not a chicken! It’s an owl, I think his name is Owloysius, he’s Twilight’s pet.” Sweetie Belle shook her head at her friends. “He’s another of Twilight’s library assistants.”

“Why have I never seen this chicken before, then?” Scootaloo grunted.

“He’s not a chicken and that’s because he usually sleeps all day outside in one of the tree branches. Owls are nocturnal animals, after all.”

“AAAHHH!” A loud voice screamed throughout the entire library. The sound seemed to frighten Owloysius as he quickly took off and flew away, disappearing from view.

“What the hay?” All three ponies looked up at the stair that led up to Twilight’s bedroom.

“Was that Twilight?”

“Think she found out about the broken thingymajiggy down in the basement?”

“It’s probable, but doubtful.”

“Let’s go check out what’s going on.”

“Last one there has to wait before eating after everypony else! If there‘s any table scraps left, hahaha!” Scootaloo laughed as she burst straight upwards, propelling herself.

“Hey! No fair!” Sweetie Belle vanished in a blink of purple light before appearing at the top of the stairs.

“Y’ah both cheating crooks!” Apple Bloom groaned as she watched Scootaloo fly off and Sweetie Belle vanish but she followed suit, anyways.

“First!” All three of them somehow managed to arrive at the same time, they were all crammed into the doorway, a bit stuck. Each one tried to get into the room but their sides were squeezing too tightly against one another.

“Darn it, let me through, Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo yelled at her yellow friend.

“Sweetie Belle’s in my way!”

“Nuh uh, Scootaloo’s fat flank is blocking me!”

“I’m not fat, sister! This is all muscles!”

“Squirt?” A familiar scratchy voice interrupted the group. All heads turned up to see Rainbow Dash crashed into the floor with Twilight tangled in her legs, covered in a blanket.

“R-Rainbow Dash?!” Scootaloo busted out of her predicament, knocking her friends into the room in a demeaning manner. The way her friends were sprawled out all over the floor made them look like they were in the aftermath of a major beating. “What are you doing here?”

“Here we go again.” Sweetie Belle muttered into Apple Bloom’s ear, after the two of them got up, as they noticed Scootaloo’s eyes fill with stars.

“Umm, this isn’t what it looks like!” Rainbow chuckled lightly.

“If it isn’t what it looks like…get off of me!” Twilight’s horn was surrounded in a purple aura before the blue pegasus was wrapped in a similar color and thrown off of her. “Geez, Rainbow you need to stop coming into my house through my bedroom window like that!”

“I-I didn’t know that you were sleeping in your bed!” Rainbow said, defensively. She thought back to what happened moments earlier with her jumping from the window to bounce on the bed. The ensuing scream, panic and shuffle made Rainbow Dash blush heavily.

“So,” Rainbow tried to veer away from the current subject and turned to face the Crusaders. “Squirt, what are you and your friends doing here?”

“Oh, we’re jus’ here because of w’at y’ah told Sco—” Scootaloo immediately raised a hoof over Apple Bloom’s mouth to prevent her from saying anything else.

“Shh! Don’t tell her!” Scootaloo whispered. “It’ll be embarrassing as hay if she knew!”

“We came for a book study group! Yeah!” Scootaloo smiled similarly to Applejack whenever she was trying to tell a lie.

She eyed her friends out of the corner of her peripherals, begging them silently to help her with the charade.

“Yeah! We were just getting special lessons from Miss Twilight!” Sweetie Belle interjected.

Twilight had a stern look on her face that told them that she thought that their lie was less than perfect. All three turned to look at Twilight eagerly with anticipation, hoping that she would follow along with their little white lie.

Taking a deep sigh, Twilight said, “Yeah, the three needed help with tracking the paths of the celestial bodies that appear at night. I was helping them map everything when I suddenly felt weak and decided to take a nap while they were assisting Spike with my duties while I was out of commission.” There was a small and quiet cheer from the three ponies near her but Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to hear it.

“Wow, doing homework? With Twilight Sparkle?!” The blue pegasus held her fore-hooves to her chest and laughed. Tears were swelling in her eyes, “You are all such eggheads! Muwhaha!”

Scootaloo became crestfallen when she realized that her idol was thinking less of her. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were also feeling down when they noticed that their friend was disappointed. The ever-growing laughter did not help them feel better, either.

Twilight looked at Rainbow, shocked, and glared at her for being so inconsiderate. She knew that Rainbow Dash didn’t mean anything rude but she really was a tactless pony.

“And, what, pray tell, brought you to a library, Rainbow? To make fun of eggheads? Like some kind of bully?”

The rainbow-maned mare quickly halted her laughter and froze for a long moment. Her eyes turned huge and her cheeks started to add a more reddish hue to her blue coat. “I-I—”

“Wanted to read another Daring Do book?” Twilight snickered in triumph.

“There’s no crime against reading a book!” Rainbow’s cheeks started to lose some of its red color, although a few still remained.

“No, I guess there isn’t. Right, egghead?” Twilight smiled on the inside, that was the first time that she ever used the word on Rainbow Dash and it felt right. Revenge: complete!

“I-I’m not an egghead!” Rainbow Dash cried out, shamelessly.

“Oh, don’t like it when the table’s turned, egghead?” Twilight got closer to Rainbow to the point that their heads were touching. She kept pushing a bit more with each step. Even though Rainbow Dash was stronger than her and wouldn’t have budged under normal conditions, in her current state she was weak and frail so the pegasus was forced to take a step back each time.

When Rainbow Dash was pushed up against the wall, Twilight took a step back and started laughing. “Wow! Rainbow, hahah, you-you, hahaha!” She fell onto her belly and was smacking her hoof in the floor, unable to control her joy. “That’s the first time that I’ve ever seen you so feeble and docile!”

“Hey!” Rainbow tried to cut in, she wasn’t ‘feeble’ and ‘docile’, whatever that meant!

“It’s cute!” Twilight laughed, getting up, as she wiped a tear from her eye. Rainbow’s face steamed as she turned her head around in annoyance. “I think it looks good on you, it’s a nice change of pace.”

“Wha—R-Really?” The blue pegasus quickly switched to red as her body got hotter.

“Wow, Twilight Sparkle’s soh good!”

“Think Miss Twilight can teach us a thing or two?” Sweetie Belle whispered into the young farm mare’s ears.

“Dun t’ink so, I t’ink she’s a natur’el. It just comes t’ah her. Nuthin‘  t‘ah teach.”

‘What’s going on?’ Scootaloo looked at the exchange between Twilight and Rainbow to the exchange between her friends. What the hay is going on here?!

“So, the book you saved for me is downstairs, r-right? At my usual hangout spot?!” Suddenly, Rainbow Dash took off into the air and shot passed the Crusaders in a burst of bright colors.

Twilight shook her head at her friend before turning to face the Crusaders. “I’m sorry that Rainbow was making you three feel so bad. She still thinks I’m an egghead and tries to get every chance to call me out on it.” ‘Even though she hang out with me a lot.’ “She’s still immature at this day and age, I just don’t get where she gets all that energy.”

“It’s alright, Miss Twilight. We understand, perfectly. It’s no biggie.”

“Y’ah, I’m made of sterner stuff din t’is!”

“But thanks for looking over us, all the same.” Scootaloo smiled, earnestly.

“Dinner’s ready!” Spike’s voice called out.

Twilight smiled as she watched the cloud of dust float where the three Cutie Mark Crusaders used to stand. They must be really hungry. A tumbling in Twilight’s stomach made her gasp. “I guess all of that sleeping made me hungry, too!” She blushed at no pony in particular before following the young mares’ steps in a slower fashion.

“Umm,” Spike looked at the group of ponies as they started crowding the kitchen table. All of the ponies were munching away at their food with gusto right after he laid them down. Even Twilight seemed to be a bit lost in the craze. “Do I really need to ask?” No pony replied. “Where the hay did Rainbow Dash come from?!” He started to yell.

All the way at the end of the table sat a large tower of food with Rainbow wearing a bib, drooling. She was slamming her hooves on the tabletop demanding more food as she finished one dish after another.

‘She’s going to eat us out of house and home!’ Spike thought, nervously, as he handed her two more stacks of food.

Even the starving and ravenous Crusaders didn’t eat near as much as Rainbow Dash. Put together plus Twilight Sparkle! This is why they kept running out on food!

“My precious bits…!” Spike moaned and shook his head.

“I don’t see what the big deal is, Spike.” Twilight looked up from her daisy sandwich to look at Spike. “We’re not short on funds or anything. Besides, no pony told you to use the money that you earned working part-time. The town gives us a steady flow of bits. Plus, I still have a lot of bits left from Princess Celestia‘s birthday gift to me.”

“I can’t use Ponyville’s tax payer bits to buy groceries! And those are the Princess’s gift to you, you should only use it for something really important.”

“You’re so serious, sometimes, Spike.” Twilight sighed and went back to eating her sandwich.

“That coming from you.” He crossed his arms and shook his head.

“Quit talking, more cooking!” Rainbow declared after finishing her last dish.

Spike grunted as he took the tower of dishes in his arms and walked away.

“He talks a lot but he really knows how to cook!” Rainbow laughed.

“Yeah, I don’t know what’ll I do without my Number One Assistant. He really took care of me when I was little even though I was the one who hatched him from his egg.”

“Are you guys talking about me?” Spike asked as he came in with another set of dishes. He gave a look at them before handing them the dishes.

“Yeah, you’re an awesome cook! I gotta say, you, Applejack, and Pinkie should compete with each other. It’d be awesome!” She envisioned all the foods that they would make in the competition and started to drool again.

“Heh, I’m not that good….” ‘Applejack would kill me if I somehow managed to beat her, though. Not sure about Pinkie, I’m too afraid to imagine that.’

“Well, I’m stuffed!” Twilight wiped her lips before leaving the table. “I need to finish my work and that nap didn’t really help, either.”

The three Crusaders stopped and looked at each other, hesitantly. They quickly swallowed the contents in their mouths before following after the lavender unicorn. They were in such a rush that they didn’t even clean up the mess on their faces.

When Rainbow took her head from out of the food she noticed that only she and Spike were left. “Eh, where did everypony go?”

“I don’t even wanna know.” Spike declared as he took all of the dirty dishes and began cleaning. He left Rainbow Dash alone with a puzzled expression glued on her face.

“Huh?”

XOX

“Miss Twilight, Miss Twilight!”

“Hey, do you need anything that we can help you with?!”

“Y’ah, we wanna help!”

Twilight tried to ignore the small voices as the Crusaders hopped around her in a circle while she was reading an important document. Their voices seemed to get louder and louder with every growing second, making it nearly impossible for her to concentrate.

“Honestly, girls. I don’t need any help.” Twilight told them, still reading her piece of paper.

“Pwease…?!” The three of them chorused, their eyes growing larger and welling up with tears.

Twilight dropped her document and took a long and deep breath as she prepared to voice her opinion. “Hwaah!” She stopped and looked at them with a deadpanned expression, “No.” She said so softly that it was almost inaudible.

“What?! Why not?”

“Girls, I’ve told you a million times, you need to be patient for your Cutie Marks. And I know assuredly that pretending to be librarians isn’t going to help you achieve your goals.” ‘Not to mention I know what your talents are, even if you seem to not know. Are they really that ignorant?’

“PWEASE?!!” They still continued to insist, turning on ‘the look’ with more apprehension.

“-sigh- I know that I’m going to regret this…but okay. I can get something for you three to help me with.”

Twilight plucked a few books off of a high shelf with her magic and plopped them in front of the three ponies.

“I need you three to read these books and organize them according to date, subject, page color, age of book, cover’s color, condition, author, publisher, copyright date, and to area of importance. All in order. After that you can probably go home for the day.” Twilight took her document and headed to her room for some peace and quiet.

“Is she s’irious?” Apple Bloom looked at Twilight’s fleeting flank before turning to look at the others.

“I don’t know, sounds impossible.” Sweetie Belle rubbed the temples on her forehead in an attempt to relieve the pain on her senses.

“Can’t be too hard, I mean if Spike and a flying brown chicken can do it we should be able to, too, right?”

“He’s an owl!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed with a deep frown but then a smile slowly crept up to the white unicorn’s lips as her sense of foreboding started to wane. “But I think you’re right. We just got to believe in ourselves!”

“Le’s do it! For h’our Cutie M’arks!”

“Yeah, for our Cutie Marks!”

They all placed a hoof in front of each other, laying their hooves on top in a small pile. “One, two…three! Cutie Mark Crusaders! Yay!” They broke the formation with their hooves in the air and shot out to the corners of the room.

“Brown book here!” One of them yelled and threw the book into the center of the room.

“Yellow page here!”

“980 CR here!”

“A’ther: Nammy Pammy, here!”

With every passing second, a new book was messily added into the slowly forming mountain in the center of the room. Books were flying all over, it was a surprise that no pony was looking where they were throwing but somehow managing to stack the books without much damage.

“Hey, you fillies really seem to have gotten good at this kinda stuff!” Spike came in with shock and awe. “I honestly didn’t think” Suddenly, a large and familiar history book came flying and whacked him beside the head. His eyes turned into crazed spirals as he fell down for the count.

The book, in its massive glory, magically floated back in a blue aura as it laid beside some of its brethrens in the pile. Sweetie Belle unconsciously grabbed the book and placed it into its proper place but didn’t take notice of the downed baby dragon.

A few hours had passed when they finally finished their long and arduous chore.

“Done!” They all cheered simultaneously, sweat and exhaustion protruding from out of their pores. Perhaps, Spike could make them some lemonade for all of their hard work, they thought? That was until they noticed the still downed dragon with spinning eyes laying on his back, muttering some ‘Lady Rarity’ nonsense.

“You broke another one of Twilight Sparkle’s stuff, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo looked down at Spike before sending a glare at the young unicorn mare.

“W-What?!” Sweetie took a step back, appalled at the accusation. “I didn’t do anything!” Technically, it was Scootaloo who threw that giant history book without a care at Spike but none of them were really paying attention to see the crime that was commited.

“Come on, girls!” Apple Bloom shook her head at her arguing friends. “I’ll go an’ make us some lemonade! I’m tired an’ I’m sur’ that you two are, too!” With the mention of cold liquid refreshments, the two Cutie Mark Crusaders soon forgot about their argument. And about the source of their argument: Spike.

“Of course I would be willing to let you braid my mane, Lady Rarity~!” Spike sighed as the three shut the door and locked it from outside.

“I can’t believe it’s dark now. I would have never imagined myself staying at the library for such a long time.” Sweetie Belle commented while she was watching Apple Bloom, who was for some reason covered in flour, stir the giant pitcher of lemonade.

“Y’ah, I’m not one o’ ‘em scholar-y types, either.”

The two of them looked off to the side at Scootaloo who was off in her own world. They snickered, saying to each other about how Scootaloo was the last pony in the world that they expected to be willing to stay at a library by her own choice. It was especially amusing to them that Scootaloo was the one that wanted them to start here for their Crusade.

“I wonder if Rainbow Dash is still here?” Scootaloo sighed to herself. It’s getting dark, even if Rainbow was still at the library, she and her friends should be going home soon.

“’Ere you go, Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom shoved a fresh glass of lemonade into the orange pegasus’s face.

“Oh, thanks!”

“Well, we didn’t get our Cutie Marks, today!” Sweetie Belle turned to look at her flank to make sure before sighing.

“But we’ah much closer to it now than we e’vah were!” The farm filly cheered, loudly. “I can f’il it in mah bones!”

“Yeah!”

The three Blank Flank Crusaders smashed their glasses together and started chugging its lemony contents all down in one breathless gulp. After the glasses were empty, they slammed their cups down on the tabletop and headed out of the kitchen together.

XOX

“Hmm, I should go thank Miss Twilight for sharing her time with us today. Especially, since we came uninvited and on such short notice.” Sweetie Belle stopped and looked at the stairway leading up to the unicorn’s room. ‘I should also apologize for wrecking that machine down in the basement.’

“Nah!” Scootaloo smirked and wrapped a hoof around her friend’s neck, casually. “I’ll go and do it, for you! I’m sure Rarity must be losing threads at the thought of where you are!”

“Oh my gosh!” Sweetie Belle’s face turned blue as she remembered her curfew. She quickly glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that she was a few minutes before bed time! “Thanks so much, Scootaloo!” The white unicorn dashed as fast as she could out of the door. “And tell Miss Twilight I’m sooo sorry!”

“Same goes for me, pardner. Same place, same time, right?” Apple Bloom chuckled and gave Scootaloo a high hoof before trotting out the door in a more casual manner unlike Sweetie Belle.

“Heh, those two will never change!” Scootaloo looked up at the stairs before heading up to find Twilight. In the corner there was a small banging that was coming from a locked room but she didn‘t take any notice.

When Scootaloo got to the top of the stairs, she noticed that Twilight’s room was empty with no sign of the lavender librarian.

‘Where could she have went?’ Scootaloo thought before taking another path down the hall. Twilight should be somewhere around here. She heard a small thump in the slightly dark halls and almost jumped out of her fur. A hissing noise erupted from a nearby door and she saw steam and streaks of light pour out from it. ‘Is that her personal bathroom?’

“Twilight…?“ She took a step closer and peeked her head in through the door to notice a silhouette of a unicorn leak out from behind the plastic curtains.

‘Oh, she must just be taking a shower!’ Scootaloo smiled and shook her head. This was so silly, she could have just waited for the mare to show up instead of almost ending up in an embarrassing situation. ‘I should just wait for her to finish before thanking her.’

Just as she turned to leave, a raspy voice stirred from behind her. “Squirt, what are you doing out here?” The young pegasus jumped up in a panic. It was slightly dark and the illumination from the spread candles were poor at best. The sudden voice didn’t help with the atmosphere, either!

“Hwaah!” Scootaloo fell on her back, surprisingly making no sound, as she looked up to see Rainbow Dash staring down at her. “Oh, it’s you, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo laughed at her surprise. “I thought you were a burglar or something.”

“Really? A burglar?” Rainbow’s voice was really low and quiet when she said this which was extremely unusual for the loud blue pegasus. The blue pegasus remembered a time when ponies thought that she was stealing slippers even though she was actually ’stealing’ a book. “Hahaha! So what brings you up here?”

“Oh, I wanted to thank Twilight for spending some time with me and the Crusaders.”

“She must have been very helpful with your schoolwork, huh?” Rainbow really swallowed that lie. “Ha ha, she’s an egghead, but she’s my egghead.” The rainbow-maned pegasus‘s eyes turned cloudy as her maroon eyes hovered in the corner of her peripherals, in thought. Scootaloo didn’t notice that her eyes were peering in Twilight’s direction.

“Huh?”

“You can always tell her from out the bathroom doors. Save yourself the wait.” She decided to steer the subject in another direction.

“No, I can wait. She can’t take that long.” Scootaloo turned and walked away, heading back to Twilight’s bedroom to wait for her there. “Besides, this is something that’s better up close and personal.”

“Whatever you say, kid. Whatever you say.” Rainbow watched Scootaloo’s fleeting flank as she bit her lower lips. The sounds of the shower nozzle quickly turning off got her attention as she turned to face the soon opened door.

“R-Rainbow Dash, what are you doing out here?” Twilight looked at Rainbow suspiciously.

“Oh! I was just passing by!” A wide nervous smile crept up across her face, from ear to ear.

“Are you going to be sleeping over again?” Twilight asked, raising a brow at the pegasus, large vats of steam was pouring out from the open doorway behind her. It made the cool hall warmer by the second. The librarian mare must have turned the heat on high.

“It does seems a bit late and I still need to finish Daring Do: A Mystery in Time.” Rainbow chuckled, weakly. “So, if you don’t mind?” She couldn’t help but gulp as she watched the trinkets of water drop down her purple mane. It seemed to glistened even under the dim lights as if by magic. Argh, her hair was just so smooth and soft!

“No, I don’t mind at all, Rainbow. We’re friends, after all! And I do love spending time with you.” The librarian sighed while magically wiping herself with a towel. “Though, I swear I see you more here, nowadays than anywhere else, not saying that I hate your company, Rainbow.”

“I understand, perfectly!” Rainbow nodded her head up and down several times before she headed down the opposing hallway.

After waving her friend goodbye, Twilight Sparkle headed to her bedroom, filled with sleep in her eyes. She could have sworn that Rainbow was reading A Mystery in Time for the last 3 months now. Did that mare ever finish it? It’s only 300 pages and with the rate that Rainbow kept coming over, she should have finished that book already. Even if she was an extremely slow reader!

But she couldn’t chastise somepony for loving books. Not to mention, seeing the look on Rainbow Dash’s face when she came over made it worthwhile. That look of longing, love, and being flustered! It told her that she, as a librarian, was doing her job and that she taught another lost pony in the art of book enjoyment.

Although, if Rainbow Dash really wanted to finish it, she could always just borrow the book to read during her free time. It was a library, after all.

“Twilight!” The lavender pony nearly jumped out of her skin and fur at the small voice when she entered her room. She had almost forgotten about the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Eh, Crusader.

“Oh, Scootaloo, it’s you!” Twilight held a hoof to her heart, easing her shock. ’Pegasi sure love to scare the daylights out of me!’ “I’d have thought that you and the girls would have headed home by now.”

“Oh, we did. Eh, they did.” The orange pegasus smiled. “I just wanted to personally thank you for sharing your knowledge with us and giving us dinner. We had so much fun!”

“It’s not like I did everything but I’m glad that you three enjoyed it here.” She couldn’t help but swell in pride.

“I just wanted to ask you, formally, if we could come tomorrow again.”

“The library’s always open, Scootaloo. You don’t need to ask for permission.” Twilight said with a chuckle.

“Oh, see you tomorrow, then!” Scootaloo smiled and nuzzled the larger mare before saying goodbye. “Goodnight and sorry for the broken black box in the basement!” Twilight could barely make out Scootaloo’s last words as she zipped away.

“W-What?!” Twilight’s smile quickly turned into a panic once she fully absorbed the details of what was being said. “The Dilating Transmorgafication Device is broken?! I‘ll never be able to make perfect toast now!”

XOX

Everypony went to sleep well that night. Even Twilight, despite worrying about the latest of her ‘projects’ that got ruined had managed to send herself to a blissful sleep. They all cuddled into their blankets and sighed a deep breath of relaxation and relief.

“No! Not the candy cane…! It’ll make my teeth rotten….-Zzz-.”

“-Zzz- Mommy, I wanna eat…a carrot!”

“Rainbow Dash…Rainbow Dash…-Zzz-Dash…is the greatest!”

All except for Spike, who was still locked in the room that the Crusaders had left him in. He sat down in defeat with his back against the door.

“Oh, come on! Can’t anypony hear me or at least open the door?!” He groaned.

He longed for his bed that sat a mere meter away from where he laid trapped. Eventually, he too fell asleep as the Sandpony’s hold on him became too strong.

Sleep well, ye mighty ponies. For tomorrow, lies another adventure. Or maybe not.

Chapter End

Was thinking of just deleting this story and my others altogether but my sister convinced me to try (horribly) to finish what I started. This story should be about 15 chapters? And it may or may not have a happy ending depending on which route I decide on.

I guess I'll add a little word here about the story origins. I always saw the C.M.C.s as loving little sisters who purposelessly annoy the hell out of their older sisters and wanted to imitate them. A thought occurred to me, why not do the same with their relationships? So the little sisters (I see Scootaloo as Rainbow's sister-friend), unconsciously fall in love with their sisters' lover potentials (some of them may or may not like the other pony in that way) as a story-line. And to loosen the knot a bit, the love is not between any of their sisters as you can tell from my prologue (who a few had said was too fast pace but aren't most intros like that, at least mines are).

While I hate comments like "Story bad!" or "Your grammar sucks!" I do appreciate it if you catch something off about what I write and telling me to fix it.