Joy// Story: The Change// by PowerLine

It was the first day of summer and we had just been released from school. I had a lot of things planned between my friends and family, most of which were just vacations of sleepovers. There was a lot of fun activities ahead, most of which I did not end up participating in.

"Scootaloo, hurry up! Rarity is almost here to take us home!"

"Coming!"

Sweetie Belle was the first on the list of ponies who I was going to hang out with. I knew we were going to have a fun time, but having Rarity there didn't help quite so much because she didn't want to adventure as much as we did. Apple Bloom was also gone on a vacation of sorts, although she left a while earlier than all of the others and had planned on returning much earlier as well. Despite her last time selling apples in town, she had been invited to go to Manehattan with Applejack to test a new marketing strategy.

"We're here girls!"

"YAY!!!" We screamed as we both ran inside and up to where Sweetie Belle whenever she came over to Rarity's.

"So Scootaloo what are we going to do?"

"We could go to the Everfree Forest."

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "No, Rarity is SUPER careful about us going out there now, especially after our last incident."

"Oh yeah, that's true... Is there anyone we can meet with in town?"

"No, I heard that everyone is going on vacations elsewhere, so we won't be able to. Unless you want to hang out with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon."

"UGH, no!" I replied in disgust.

"What about some board games? My sister just recently got Mall Madness."

"Uh, no. More like boring games if you ask me."

We both sat in silence as we thought about what we can do for the rest of the day. One suggestion after another, we ended up going through at least it dozen ideas, all of which were either not possible because we were at Rarity's, because everyone was gone for the summer, or because Apple Bloom was gone.

"OH! I can't believe we didn't think of this at first! What about going to the clubhouse?"

"Sweetie Belle, you're the best. It will be a little weird being there without Apple Bloom, but I think we'll surely find something fun to do there!"

After her BRILLIANT decision, we went to find Rarity to tell her where we were going. We found her working on a new swimsuit line, which didn't look as good as Rarity it clearly thought it looked.

"We're going to the clubhouse. Is that okay?"

"Well, I guess that's alright. Just be back before sunset, and remember not to go into the Everfree Forest! I have a lot of work to do anyway on this new line "Maillot De Bain", which will be perfect for swimming in the summer!"

"YAY! Thanks so much Rarity!" Sweet Belle said as she hugged Rarity. "See you later!"

Sweetie Belle and I trotted as fast as we could to the clubhouse! It was a rush this time around going to the clubhouse, although I'm not too sure why. I had made the trip many times before, and hadn't felt this way before. Perhaps it was because Rarity had let us go so easily, which was strange...

We finally arrived at the clubhouse, and we ran up the ramp and inside as fast as we could. We both plopped down onto the floor because we were both exhausted from trotting so far in so little time.

"What now?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Well, we could try to earn our cutiemarks in something that is in here that we haven't tried before."

"There isn't too much left to try out though, other than drawing things are putting on an opera."

"I would MUCH prefer drawing things than putting on opera. Operas put me to sleep."

"Then it's decided! What should we draw though?"

"We could draw whatever we see outside the window." I suggested.

"Sounds good to me!"

We both got a piece of paper and a pencil to draw with, and went over to the window. I started to draw the outline of the town hall, but quickly got bored and ended up complaining about it.

"UGH, this isn't quite what I thought it would be! I expected a little more excitement out of it! It's too boring!" I said as I layed down onto the floor.

"Something like this takes a bit more time and patience Scootaloo."

"But patience is LAME. I could be hanging out with Rainbow Dash or riding my scooter instead!"

"I guess we could go into town and see if we could get some more paper and a pencil sharpener, since it looks like we are almost out of paper and don't have a pencil sharpener yet."

"Sounds a lot more exciting than drawing!"

At the time it had sounded like a lot more fun, since I didn't have the patience for a talent like that at all. I was ready to hop onto my scooter and go, but almost nothing could've prepared us for what happened next.

"Scootaloo! Look outside quick, it looks like Rainbow Dash!"

I jumped up quickly and took a look outside. Surely enough, there was Rainbow Dash rushing towards our clubhouse. At first I was excited to see her, and that she possibly wanted to take me on a ride. As she got closer I could see the expression on her face; it was fear and concern. She landed on the ground in front of the clubhouse with a "THOMP!", ran up the ramp, and ran inside the clubhouse.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news guys, but Apple Bloom and Applejack are missing!"

Author's Note

In this first official chapter, I was planning on giving the reader a sense of curiousity for what happened next as well as a concern for Apple Bloom and Applejack. I hope that the next chapters will be able to give off the desired reaction as much as the Preface and this chapter.