The Case Of The Empty Bottle
Ponyville Schoolhouse. All the foals sat quietly on their seats, staring at the glass bottle their teacher was holding on her right hoof. From a certain distance, ponies would think she was holding a mere empty bottle but, upon closer inspection, they would notice a little black arachnid on the bottom of it.
"This, kids, is a scorpion." the teacher explained. "As I told you on the last biology class, this is a very dangerous creature!"
"But it's so eety-beety tiny!" Scootaloo protested. "How can a thing so small be so dangerous, like you said?"
"The smallest things are the weirdest, Blank Flank!" Diamond Tiara teased. "Like your friend Apple Bloom!"
"Very funny, Diamon' Tiara!" Apple Bloom said, glaring at the rich filly, who simply giggled, just like her friend Silver Spoon. "If ya keep makin' fun o' me like that, Ah'll put that scorpian in yer saddlebag!"
"Don't even joke about that, Apple Bloom!" Miss Cheerilee scolded. "You have no idea how deadly a scorpion can be. Specially a small one like that! Who knows what kind of disaster it would do if released in Ponyville!"
"She's right, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle said, pointing at their teacher. "Don't you know how deadly that creature can be?"
"I suppose you're talking about the scorpion, right?" Cheerilee asked, looking at the stretched white foreleg that she couldn't tell if it was pointed at the bottle or at her face.
"O-Of course!" Sweetie Belle said, resting her foreleg on the table once again. "I would never badmouth my loved teacher like that."
"Oh, then--"
"Unless you make us do tons of homework!"
Cheerilee frowned, but she did nothing but sigh. "Anyway, as I was saying, this 'eety-beety tiny' scorpion is really dangerous. Did you know that its sting can kill even a pig?"
Apple Bloom's eyes widened and she gasped. "A-A pig?!"
"Exactly, Apple Bloom!"
The yellow filly then poked Diamond Tiara's foreleg. "Ya better stay very far away from it then, Tiara!"
"Hahaha." the pink filly laughed sarcastically while glaring at the farmpony.
"Enough of this, you two, or you're both staying after class!"
The duo groaned, crossed their forelegs and looked away from each other.
"Oh! Miss Cheerilee! Miss Cheerilee!" Sweetie Belle called, raising her foreleg as high as she could.
"Yes, Sweetie Belle, you want to ask something?"
"Can you lend me that scorpion?"
She raised an eyebrow. "And what would you want that scorpion for?"
"To show it to my big sis Rarity!"
"But... Why?"
"Because it's a thing I never showed her before, and I love to show my big sis the new things I find! Also, I want to show her how dangerous and scary it is, so she can be careful with those next time she goes on an adventure with Princess Twilight and the others!"
"But of course not, Sweetie Belle! What kind of irresponsible and negligent teacher would lend one of her students such a poisonous and deadly creature?"
"One with lots of homework to correct who would love to take a break using the excuse that she lent one of her students something that she needs to take back in a few hours?" she said, giving her teacher the slyest look a filly could possibly give.
* * *
"And remember, Sweetie Belle, you have to be extremely careful!" she said whie looking down at the trio standing in front of the open door of the school house.
"Uh-huh." the filly said while inspecting the glass bottle on her hooves.
"It can kill a small creature with a single sting."
"Right."
"And remember, I'm only lending you this because I know you're old and mature enough to know that under no circumstance you must remove the lid from this bottle. Are we clear?"
"Y-Y-Yes!" Sweetie Belle said while screwing the lid back in place. "Crystal clear, heheheh..."
Cheerilee facehoofed. "Oh, Celestia, what have I agreed to?"
The three fillies then walked away from the schoolhouse before Sweetie Belle's actions changed their teacher's mind.
"That scorpion is way past cool, huh?" Scootaloo said. "If only it wasn't so small, it would look cool too!"
Apple Bloom then noticed her older sister not too far away from them, selling apples at the apple booth on the market.
"Hey, Sweetie Belle! Before ya show the scorpian to yer sister, can Ah show it to Applejack? It won't take long!"
"Sure!" the white unicorn filly said, giving the bottle to her earth pony friend, who skipped toward her sister.
In the apple booth, Applejack had just made another sale and happily stuffed the bits in the pocket of her apron. She didn't noticed her younger sister approach her from behind and raise the glass bottle at her eye level.
"Hey, Applejack, look at this."
"What is it, Apple Bloom?" the mare slowly turned around, ending up face to face with the scorpion. "GAH!" she shouted, jumping back, landing on top of the booth and sending apples rolling in every direction. "What in tarnation is that, Apple Bloom?!"
"It's called scorpian an' it's very dangerous!" she said, approaching the bottle to her sister again.
"A-Ah know it's a scorpian an' it's very dangerous, but where the hay did ya find that?" she said, now relaxing a little after seeing that the arachnid was safely locked inside a bottle.
"Sweetie Belle lent me!"
"An' what in Sam Hill is Sweetie Belle doin' with it?"
"Miss Cheerilee lent it to Sweetie Belle so she can show it to Rarity!"
The blood started to return to Applejack's face and she smirked. "To show it to Rarity, huh? Alright, Apple Bloom, give it back to yer friend. She still needs to show it to her sister, right? That will teach ya to not stuff me in no frou-frou dresses, Rarity."
Apple Bloom shrugged and joined her friends once again. She gave the glass bottle back to Sweetie Belle, who stuffed it in her saddlebag, and together they went to Carousel Boutique. When Rarity heard the bell on the door ring, she went to greet the visitor, still levitating a few of her sewing tools: a fabric roll, a couple of scissors, a box of pins and a pencil.
"Oh, hello, Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said. "How was class today? Did you had fun?"
"A lot!" she then levitated the bottle from her saddlebag and in front of her sister's face. "Take a look at that!"
"Yes, what is--" her eyes widened and a loud shriek of terror echoed throughout Ponyville.
"Calm down, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle said while the three fillies tried to hold the mare in place.
"Get that monstrosity away from me!" she shouted. "Throw it out of my boutique!"
"It's inside a bottle, it's harmless."
"I don't care, I want it away from me! Don't come any closer! Throw it in the river or something, just take it away!"
"Sheesh, okay, I'm taking it back to Miss Cheerilee." she said, rolling her eyes. "Let's go, girls!"
"Looks like Miss Cheerilee just lost her excuse to take a break..." Scootaloo said before the door closed behind them.
"Those three are umbelievable!" she said, then groaned. "And with that scare, I threw my tools all around the room. And that box was open. It will take ages for me to find all the pins!" she sighed and sat on the floor. "Ouch!" she suddenly jumped back on four hooves. She groaned again before levitating the pin on her buttock back into the small box. "Found one!"
* * *
"Well, if it isn't the Blank Flank Gang!" Diamond Tiara said. "Still haven't gotten yourselves killed by the scorpion? I'm impressed."
"Just give them, like, a few hours, Diamond Tiara." said Silver Spoon.
"Very funny, you two!" Sweetie Belle said. "But we're going to school to give it back to Miss Cheerilee, so there's no 'few hours' left!"
"You do realize ou just agreed with them, right?" Scootaloo whispered on her friend's ear.
"No-Not that we're dumb enough to end up letting ourselves get killed by it if we spend a few more hours with it!" she added.
"Giving back already?" Silver Spoon asked, grabbing the bottle from her hooves. "Then you won't mind if we, like, borrow it for a while!"
"Hey, give that back!" she said, trying to grab the glass bottle.
"Don't be, like, so greedy!" she said, trying to hold the bottle away from her reach.
"But Miss Cheerilee gave it to me!"
"If Cheerilee is dumb enough to let a bunch of slackers like you Blank Flanks borrow it, then she would surely let mature, responsible and behaved fillies like us borrow it as well. Isn't that right, Silver Spoon?"
She didn't answered because she was too busy staring at the scorpion inside the open glass bottle.
"Mature, responsible and behaved!" she hissed at her friend, who quickly screwed the lid back in place.
"Y-Y-Yes! Mature, responsible and behaved, heheheh!"
"Anyway, we'll be taking this!" Diamond Tiara said, taking it from Silver Spoon. "Don't worry, we won't release it in Ponyville and cause disasters!"
"No deal, Diamond Tiara!" Apple Bloom said, taking the bottle. "Sweetie Belle promised she would give it back to Miss Cheerilee, so she'll give it back to her. Not you, not yer lil' slave there. Her!"
"Hey, who are you calling a slave?"
"Whatever! We didn't wanted that dumb thing, anyway!"
"As if!" Scootaloo said, following her friends back to the schoolhouse.
"So? Did you do it?" Silver Spoon asked.
Diamond Tiara nodded. "I can't believe your silly plan actually worked, Silver Spoon!" she then grabbed a glass bottle in her saddlebag, which had a scorpion inside. "Those dummies didn't even noticed they took the wrong bottle. Maybe you do have a brain behind your glasses, after all!" she then trotted down the road, toward her mansion at the edge of Ponyville.
"I wonder what she meant by that..." Silver Spoon said to herself before following her friend. "So, who are you going to show it to?"
"My daddy! Maybe I can convince him to use it to give Granny Smith a scare and make her give us Zap Apple Jam for free from now on!"
* * *
Meanwhile, right outside the schoolhouse, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders were having a panic attack while walking in circles around the empty bottle.
"Are ya sure it was in there, Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom asked, sounding desperate.
"O-O-Of couse!" she answered, sounding desperate as well. "It's the only bottle I held all day!"
"Maybe Diamond Tiara took it!" Scootaloo said.
"How would Diamon' Tiara take the scorpion an' leave the bottle behind? She would be dead by now! Maybe... Maybe Sweetie Belle opened it an' let the scorpian escape!"
"I'm not that stupid, Apple Bloom! Who would open a bottle with a dangerous thing inside?"
"You did it earlier in school." Scootaloo said.
"Ok, I may have opened it again." she confessed, crestfallen. "That's strange, though. I don't remember doing it a second time!"
"Now let's think: where the scorpion could have escaped?"
"Applejack's booth?"
"When Ah gave it back to ya, it was still there! Rarity's scream is proof o' that."
"She's right, Sweetie Belle!"
"Then the only other place I could--" she gasped. "The boutique! Rarity is in danger! We have to find it, quick!"
"And if we find it, what do we do?"
"We... We'll have to kill it!"
"An' what if it finds us first?"
The three Cutie Mark Crusaders shuddered and gulped.
"Howdy there!" Applejack greeted, approaching them. "What are y'all up to now? Did ya already gave the scorpian back to Cheerilee?"
"Applejack, we need yer help!" Apple Bloom said, grabbing her sister's foreleg. "Rarity is endangered."
"What happened?"
"Sweetie Belle let the scorpion escape!" Scootaloo said.
"She did WHAT?! Why the heck did ya opened that darned bottle, Sweetie Belle?"
"I-I didn't even noticed..." she said while looking down with tears on the corners of her eyes.
"What's going on here?" Cheerilee asked while coming out of the schoolhouse.
"Yer darned lil' walkin' mass murder weapon escaped!" Applejack explained.
Cheerilee's eyes widened. "W-What?! How?!"
"Sweetie Belle must've opened the bottle!"
"I didn't meant to..."
"By the Princesses!" she said. "We need to find it, quick! When was the last time you three saw it?"
"Rarity's house!" Scootaloo said.
"Then there's no time to lose!" she said before galloping at full speed toward Carousel Boutique.
* * *
"Are you absolutely sure you're ok, Rarity?" the teacher asked.
"Absolutely, Cheerilee, darlin'!" the fashionista said. "Why are you asking? Is there a reason for me not to be?"
"Because-- I-I mean... No, nevermind! Sorry for bothering you!"
"It was no problem at all. It's always good to see an old friend! Would you like a cup of tea? You look kind of... Pale!"
"Tea, yes, good idea, I'd love some, please!"
Rarity smiled and trotted to her kitchen. When she was sure Rarity couldn't see her anymore, Cheerilee started crawling through the room.
"Where are you, Sir Stingsalot?" Cheerilee whispered. "Mommy is worried! And kind of afraid." she suddenly gasped and stopped crawling when she felt something sting her belly. "No..."
The door of the boutique opened and a small unicorn filly carrying an empty glass bottle entered.
"Here, Miss Cheerilee! Applejack said I should give you the bottle, in case you--" she then noticed the expression of pure terror in her teacher's face. "Something wrong, Miss Cheerilee?"
"Sir Stingsalot... He stung me!"
"Who is Sir Stingsalot?"
"The scorpion!"
"Oh, him!" after a moment of silence, it finally hit Sweetie Belle and her eyes widened. "He... He..."
"Here's the tea!" Rarity said, placing the trail on the coffee table. "There you are, Sweetie Belle! What are you talking about?"
"N-Nothing! Nothing at all, heheheh."
"You're still with that monster? I thought you said you were going to give it back to Chee-- SWEETIE BELLE!"
"What?"
"Why is that bottle empty?! Did the scorpion escaped?!"
"Yes, and it just stung Miss Cheerilee..."
"It what?!"
"I... I don't feel so good..." Cheerilee said while slowly dragging herself toward one of Rarity's couchs. "I... I need to lie down for a bit..."
"I'm going to call an ambulance!" Rarity said before running back to the kitchen. "Don't move!"
"In a few moments I won't be able to move anymore, anyway..." she said before falling face-first on the couch.
"Why are y'all takin' so long?" Applejack said while entering the boutique. "Ah know that thing is wee tiny, but there's a lot of empty space in here. That's it, unless it's hidin' in Rarity's workshop, then we'll never see it ever again!"
"Quiet, Applejack!" Sweetie Belle whispered.
"An' why? Will the scorpian be offended?"
"Shhh! Respect the poor mare who is dying!"
"Dyin'?" she looked at the teacher lying on the couch. "Aw, hay! Don't tell me...?"
The filly nodded. Applejack closed her eyes and removed her hat.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't wanted any of this to happened!"
"Don't be so hard on yerself, young'un!" Applejack said, placing her hat on top of her head once again. "Ah know ya didn't meant to, but--" she placed her hoof on the floor once again, and her eyes widened when she felt the pain of something stinging right on the soft part of it.
"What happened, Applejack?" she asked. "You suddenly stopped talking!"
"A-Ah think it got me too..."
"Big sis!" Apple Bloom called after entering the boutique. "Scootaloo said that-- Why are ya lookin' at me like that?"
"Apple Bloom, listen! Ah want ya to be strong. Take good care of Granny, Winona and yer big bro. Yer the mare o' the house now, ya hear me?"
"Why are ya talkin' all that weird stuff?"
"Sir Stingsalot stung her!"
"Who's that? Is he new in town? Ah don't remember Pinkie throwin' him a party!"
"He's Miss Cheerilee's scorpion!"
She gasped. "No!"
"Yes..."
She hugged her sister's foreleg. "Don't die, big sis, please! If ya don't die, Ah'll make yer chores for a whole week, Ah promise! Jus please, don't leave me!"
"Ah think it's too late for me, Apple Bloom... Can... Can ya help me go to that couch? Ah'm feelin' mite dizzy..."
Apple Bloom nodded and wrapped her sister's foreleg around her neck before leading her toward the couch Cheerilee wasn't lying down on, helping her sit.
"I'm so, so, so sorry, Apple Bloom."
"It's ok, Sweetie Belle, it's not your--" she sat on the floor. "Ouch!"
"No!" Applejack said. "Darn you, scorpian, you demon! Not mah lil' sis! Take anything, but not her! Not mah precious Apple Bloom!"
"What happened? I heard screams!" Scootaloo asked, entering the boutique as well.
"Sir Stingsalot already got everypony!"
"Who?"
"The scorpion!"
"Oh! Everypony, really?"
"Well, except you, me and Rarity." she then walked toward the same couch Applejack was sitting and jumped on it. "But we need to be very careful, we don't know where he might be hid--" she sat on the couch and suddenly jumped, standing on her four legs once again. "Great! And now he got me too." she faceplanted on the floor.
"It's ok, I already called the ambulance!" Rarity said while returning to the room. "They will be here in a few minutes." she looked around at the five ponies in her lobby. "Why does everypony look so... Dead?"
"The scorpion already got all of them!"
"All of them?!"
Scootaloo nodded. "All of them."
"Sweetie Belle!"
"Big sis..."
She levitated the filly toward her and gave her the tightest hug she could. "NOOOOOO! NOT SWEETIE BELLE! WHY NOT TAKE ME INSTEAD?"
Scootaloo sighed. "Might as well go call a hease." she said, leaving the boutique.
"There she is!" Diamond Tiara said. "Hey! Blank Flank!"
"Now is not the time, Diamond Tiara! I need to--" she finally noticed the glass bottle on the pink filly's hooves. "Oh, no, not another one!"
"That's the same, featherbrain! You really didn't noticed that I swapped the bottles? Anyway, I already showed it to my father - he didn't wanted to use it to make Granny Smith give us Zap Apple Jam for free - and Silver Spoon already showed it to her mother - my ears are still ringing after that scream. So here it is, I'm giving it back!" she placed it on the ground in front of Scootaloo and trotted away. "By Luna's moon, those Blank Flanks are dumber than a mule."
"But if Diamond Tiara was with him all along, then who...?" she simply shrugged and returned with the glass bottle to the boutique, where everypony was moaning in pain, except for Rarity, who was still hugging her little sister, her mascara ruined by the tears running down her face.
"Here's the scorpion!" she said, presenting the bottle triumphantly.
"Doees it still matter?" Rarity asked, letting go of her sister, who faceplanted on the floor once again, and dramatically raising her foreleg to her forehead. "They're all doomed, about to suffer the most tragic and painful of all deaths! Oh, the pain!" she then fell on her Fainting Couch. "The pai-- Oww, that hurts!" she said, quickly getting up.
"You too, Rarity?" Cheerilee asked.
"Something stung me, yes, but it was one of my pins! You wouldn't believe it, but earlier today I was carrying a box full of those, but when Sweetie Belle showed me that scorpion, I--" realization suddenly hit her. She clutched her stomach with her forelegs and fell on the couch once again, but this time to laugh.
