Through the Cavern

"Well, whaddaya think? Isn't it the coolest?"

"Uh....." Ricky honestly had no idea what to say about the girls' clubhouse. It had to have been at least ten or fifteen years old, but seemed to be standing well. It was badly in need of a paint job, however. There were a couple of shingles missing from the roof, and one of the shutters was loose.

"He's speechless. He obviously thinks it's the greatest clubhouse in the history of Equestria!" Scootaloo said happily. She ran up to the door and tried to open it. It seemed to be sticking a little. Giving a final grunt, she managed to get it open "Well, come check it out!" she called. Apple Bloom could see Ricky's hesitation "I know it needs a few repairs, but do you really think ma sister would let us play in a dangerous one?"

"Well, I guess you do have a point there. Alright, let's have a look"

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom cheered at this and ran up to join Scootaloo inside "Hurry up, Ricky!" Sweetie waved at him.

"Hold on, I'm coming. Hold your horses..." Ricky panted, catching up to them. He was really starting to hate all the hills in this town, but he decided to keep that one to himself.

"Ok, watch your head, Ricky!" Apple Bloom said. Ricky could see that he had no choice, given the low height of the clubhouse door. Even as he ducked, the back of his head lightly scraped the top of the door frame.

"Wow...you weren't kidding. Any chance I could sit down, here? Back's starting to hurt." Rubbing his back, Ricky glanced around in silent desperation.

"Oh! Sorry!" Scootaloo ran to grab him a stool, while Sweetie Belle went over to a mini fridge in the corner. Apple Bloom came over and took his hoodie.

"Ah, much better." Ricky leaned back, while Sweetie brought him a can of soda "Oh, thanks. What is this, exactly?"

"Vanilla cola."

"Really? Sweet! I thought they discontinued this stuff years ago!" RIcky said excitedly, only to be met with blank stares.

"What do you mean? This stuff's been around for ages." Apple Bloom said, confused. Ricky quietly cursed himself out "Sorry, I keep forgetting how similar our worlds can be sometimes."

"No need to apologize. It's an honest mistake." Sweetie said, then turned to her friends "Okay, girls! How do you propose we try to get our cutie marks today?"

"YEAH!!" Scootaloo crowed happily "Cutie Mark Crusaders!!!"

"What? Cutie Mark...ooohhhh no, I don't think so! I promised Applejack that I would look after you three, and that means none of this...crusading, or whatever the hell it is. What is it, anyway?" Ricky took a sip of his soda, which was tasted even better than Vanilla Coke ever did.

"Oh, it's nothing serious. We're the last ones in our class to get our cutie marks, you see, so we spend all of our free time trying out various activities to see what our special talents might be!" Sweetie Belle said helpfully, Ricky nodding understandably.

"Oh, well, when you put it that way, that doesn't sound TOO bad..." he began, but the girls weren't listening.

"So, have we tried fire-eating yet?" Sweetie asked, Scootaloo shaking her head no "That's an awesome idea! But don't forget, I wanted to try parasailing as well."

"I think Twilight may have left her lab unlocked again..." Apple Bloom said thoughtfully. Upon hearing all this, Ricky tried his hardest to interfere, but to no avail.

"Um, seriously girls, I'm in charge here. And I REALLY don't think Applejack, let alone Rarity, will be too pleased if you three were...and they've run out the fucking door on me. Great." Ricky groaned and got up to chase them. He dropped his head to get through the door.

"GIRLS!! Wait up already!!!" The CMC had approached the barn, and within seconds had gone inside. Winded, Ricky stopped to catch his breath.

"G-god d-d-d-damnit...HEY!!!!!!" Legs burning, Ricky pushed himself until he too was inside.

"Ok...I...got you now." Ricky gasped "You...shouldn't have...run... off...li-hey, what do you think you're doing with those haybales?!"

"We're gonna try and get our cutie marks in parachuting!" Scootaloo said, standing on top of a large stack of bales, a potato sack in hand.

"Okay, that is IT!!! There is NO way I'm gonna stand here and let you...DON'T!!" Ricky dived to catch the filly, who landed on his back hard.

"Ugh...." he groaned. Scootaloo got up angrily "What'd you do that for, Ricky? You totally ruined my awesome landing!" The little Pegasus pouted, hooves crossed.

"Are you insane?! You could have broken a leg, or even worse!!" Ricky sat up, his back throbbing from the impact "How would I have explained it to your parents?"

"They wouldn't care, to be honest. They're not even around half the time, so Rainbow Dash keeps an eye on me usually." Scootaloo went to start climbing the haybales again, but Ricky caught hold of her tail.

"Ok, then, what would Rainbow Dash say?" He got up and stood in front of the three fillies, blocking their ascent.

"No pain, no gain!" Scootaloo said happily. Ricky facepalmed in frustration.

"Don't freak out...don't freak out..." he muttered, fumbling for a smoke "Ok, that's it. While you three are under my supervision, there will be no, repeat NO cutie mark crusading, you got it?"

"WHAT?! Come on, that's not cool!" Apple Bloom cried, but Ricky shrugged "I don't care. Your sisters trusted me, and I'm going to make damned sure you three stay out of trouble. Now, out of the barn. All of you."

"Please let us stay, Ricky! We promise not to do anything TOO dangerous." Sweetie smiled, but Ricky was completely unfazed.

"Nice try, but I'm not Rainbow Dash. March." He pointed out the door, narrowing his eyes. The three fillies dropped their heads in shame and went outside. Following them, Ricky thought maybe he had been a bit harsh.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so mean, kids. I just don't want to see you three getting injured. Now, unless I'm completely stupid, I don't recall Applejack saying you couldn't do low-key crusades."

At these words, the girls perked up "You mean like...Pet Grooming Cutie Marks?" Apple Bloom asked hopefully. Ricky shrugged "I guess so. We could wash your dog."

"Are you kidding us?" Scootaloo said "We know a place where we can wash all sorts of animals!" She started walking up the road, her friends close behind.

"Really? Is there an animal shelter nearby or something?" Ricky asked, tossing his smoke to the ground and crushing it. He then started jogging to catch up to the CMC.

"Sort of. It's not an OFFICIAL animal shelter, per say." Sweetie Belle replied. Ricky was becoming intrigued.

"Okay, I'll bite. Where exactly is this place?"

"Well, have you met Fluttershy yet?" Apple Bloom asked. Ricky nodded "I met her briefly at my welcoming party, but I haven't really spoken to her much."

"I'm not surprised. She's a bit of an introvert, you know?" Scootaloo said "She's not the most interactive pony out there."

"If that's the case, then why do you want to go over and bother her?" Ricky asked. The four of them were walking through the front gates of Sweet Apple Acres now.

"Oh, she loves having company, but she prefers it if it's ponies that she's been around before." Sweetie Belle explained.

"I'm a little confused. Wouldn't that mean that she doesn't want me to be there? I mean, we've only spoken for like, ten minutes. If that." Ricky was starting to get a little apprehensive about the idea.

"Would you stop being such a wuss already? Look, Fluttershy loves it when we stop by. I mean, she's usually the one who fillysits us." Scootaloo sounded frustrated at this point.

"Really? How come she isn't watching you today? Not that I have a problem with it."

"Applejack said she had a lot of animals to wash and groom today, otherwise she would have loved to have us over." Sweetie replied.

"Wait...if she's already washing and grooming, how come you girls didn't think about trying that out in the first place? I would have been happy to have walked you over and helped out." Ricky asked incredulously, happy on the outside but yelling his head off internally.

"Well, we were planning to do that from the get go, but we figured you might not want to walk all the way over there." Apple Bloom said innocently. Ricky stared at her, his eye twitching ever so slightly.

"That and we REALLY wanted to try parachuting 20 feet off the ground inside the barn." Sweetie said happily, as if it was no big deal at all.

"You...I...I'm NOT going to freak out on you girls, but...look, let's just drop the subject entirely, alright? Lead the way to Fluttershy's." Ricky lit another smoke.

"So...you're not mad?" Scootaloo asked.

"Nope."

"But you're not happy with us either."

"Yep."

"So...you're willing to turn the other cheek, not tell on us and let us carry on crusading like this anytime we're under your supervision?" Sweetie asked, an adorable smile on her face. She batted her lashes.

"Sweetie Belle?" Ricky said slowly and tentatively.

"Yes?"

"I am going to ask that for the duration of this walk, none of you discuss cutie marks, crusading or me turning the other cheek. In fact, we are going to play the Quiet Game."

"What? Why?" Apple Bloom began to complain, but Ricky shushed her "Because there is a good chance that I am going to lose my temper, so it'll help me calm down if you three don't talk until we get to Fluttershy's. Got it?"

Scootaloo opened her mouth to protest, but Ricky silenced her with a sharp look. After pausing for a moment, he saw that the girls were more than happy to comply, he smiled.

"MUCH better." he said "Shall we continue?"

They carried on, and once Ricky was just out of earshot, Apple Bloom leaned toward Scootaloo and muttered "Some afternoon, eh? I TOLD you we should have gone with Pinkie Pie..."