Chapters "Slowly. You signed me up for some kinda really big spelling contest held in Canterlot, happening tomorrow, WITHOUT ASKING ME?" Sweetie Belle was just about to lose control and shout at her teacher.
"That about sums it up. Come on, I know you're going to perform really well. Have a nice day!"
Without even saying goodbye, Cheerilee turned and walked back out.
"But... Why? I'm not even that good and I can't prepare because it's so soon. How did she get to the idea, anyway? Like, did she overhear me quoting Mareiam, but didn't care to look at the book I've been carrying around?"
"Relax, Sweetie. It's a spelling contest, not one about etymology. You'll be fine. Besides, nopony expects you to win anything... Uh, I mean, you're in it just for fun. No pressure."
Rarity's little fauxpax went unnoticed due to the younger unicorn being busy searching for a word she had no idea what it meant.
"Et... Etiquette... Etymology. Noun. Et-y-mol-o-gy. The history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found or other means."
"Uh, yeah, that one was kind of above your level, I apologise."
"Do you see now? I know nothing! I'm doomed!" Sweetie Belle whined.
"Well, first of all, that word is way too complicated to be asked. Second, don't hide your talents, as I am informed, you're the filly with the greatest vocabulary in class. Third, you don't have to know the word at all!"
"Huh?"
"Really, do you expect any of those want to be fancy pansy ponies to really know what they're saying? I mean, as I mentioned before, you only have to know the spelling. How can you look up words you don't know that quickly?"
"Uh, they're sorted alphabetically, if you mean that."
"And to know where something is in there, you have to know at least its first three letters, if not more. Even if you shouldn't know what's asked of you, you always just deduce the word itself from its pronounciation. I've seen that happen."
"And you think I stand a chance by guessing from speaking?"
"Only when you have to, of course. I mean, you're friends with a dictionary, practically. I'm sure you'll perform as well as you possibly can."
"But why did she sign me up without even asking?"
"You know Cheerilee, she's a mare of action. You would never have agreed any other way, would you? Just look at the whole thing like a small vacation to Canterlot. Oh! We can go see Twilight while we're there. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
"Suppose it does..."
"Great that you agree. I'm sure poor Twilight will appreciate if we spend some time with her. Kind of forgot about her. It's just been so long, hasn't it? Uh, do you know where little Spike is? I'll need him to send Twilight a note."
While his mistress was away to Canterlot, where having him with her would have blown her cover, Spike had basically moved in with Rarity. It had taken repeated reminding, but he kept his claws off of her gem cabinets unless told otherwise.
It wasn't really his home. Surprisingly, even though it contained the pony of his desire, he often had sleepovers away from Carousel Boutique.
As Rarity thought about it, she noticed that Spike and her little sister had grown a bit closer than before while they shared a house to live in.
She dismissed the idea that had entered her head as overexaggerated. They were just little ones enjoying a good friendship. Nothing more.
"Ha. And ponies say I have a dirty mind. Take that!" She mumbled to herself before writing a short letter for Spike to send to Twilight. Sweetie Belle had already gone out to find him.
She found him in the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse, following a hint Rainbow Dash had given her. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were there as well. Which made sense given it was theirs.
"Wait, say nothing, let me guess. Dragon... dragon taming? Dragon anatomy analysing? Spike being bored?" Sweetie asked as she entered the main room.
Scootaloo gave a short laugh before answering. "Dragon slaying! Come on and join in if you want. But only without that book..."
"Haven't got it here. Was it so annoying?"
"Yes." Sweetie Belle could feel past frustration dripping from Apple Bloom's voice.
"Come on girls. Uh, dragon slaying... Doesn't that sound a bit, like, dangerous? I mean, we're still gonna need Spike. Oh!" The unicorn turned to directly face the box Spike was sitting on. "Reminds me, Rarity wants you to send a letter."
"Huh. Been a while since I've used that firebreath. Erm, good point, actually. What do you want to do with me? 'Cause I'm a dragon and I will show it if you try something fishy."
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Nuthin' real, of course. We're jus' gonna act like we were an' maybe tha'll be 'nuff fer our cutie marks."
"So you're going to slay me... without slaying. That's kind of calming, I suppose."
It was time. Sweetie Belle was ready. At least it was the day. There was still some time before the contest would start.
She, Rarity and Spike had met up with Twilight for some talk. Catching up and stuff. She didn't really care for that. Sweetie liked Twilight, true. But what she was talking about with Rarity as they were sitting outside a cafè was just gossip.
Thus, it wasn't hard to draw her attention away. Some pony with a pinkish mane, a bit more colorful than that certain half of Sweetie's own, kept discreetly staring at them from a distance.
If Rarity knew that mare, she didn't show it. Then again, she hadn't really been in Canterlot all that much. Sweetie could have asked Twilight, who had been in Canterlot for a bit again, but she was looking at Rarity, in the other direction. Making her look around like that would be rude, Sweetie knew that.
So she just let it slide. Just as she attempted to lift her drink with magic, Spike grabbed her hoof under the table. A tiny gasp escaped the filly. Luckily, the two mares were still busy with their conversation.
For fun, she levitated a small orb of liquid to drink. One would think that this would be easy, due to the mass being lifted being little, but it required an orb of magic to hold all in place and thus somewhat high concentration.
Which was something that awfully romantic dragon wouldn't let her have.
As Sweetie released the droplet and let it fall back into the rest, it drew Rarity's attention.
"Sweetie Belle! Do be careful please. You'll stain yourself. You know how hard white fur is to clean."
"Yes sister..." She grumbled. Spike still hadn't let go. She probably liked it that way.
"Great magic there." Twilight set down her tea cup. It was probably just an illusion, but she looked kind of smaller to Sweetie. "Oh, we're talking and talking... how are you doing? Got anything you want to ask me? I'm not mad at you for your little... accident, by the way."
Now that she was looking at Sweetie Belle, maybe Twilight would be able to sneak a peek at the mare. However, as Sweetie lifed her look into the distance again, she noticed the unicorn had vanished.
"Ugh, how am I doing? Got entered into a contest I have no chance of winning without my consent or knowledge, one of my better friends is a dictionary..."
Sweetie would almost have noted Spike's approaches, but those weren't something she really disliked. They were their little secrets.
"I suppose I'm fine."
"Miss Sweetie Belle, your word is: Ro-bot."
This wasn't that hard. Of course, it was only an early round. Sweetie still had some doubts about the word, though.
"Robot. Could you define it please?"
"Ro-bot. A machine that looks like an equine being and performs various complex acts of an equine being, whose lack of capacity for pony emotions is often emphasized."
"Erm, sentence?" Sweetie Belle was almost sure of the word, but she wanted to hear it again.
"Robots are perfect. Robots are the future. You bleed. You are not a ro-bot."
She cleared her throat. "Robot. R, O, B, O, T. Robot."
The announcer pony hit an approving buzzer in time with the small applause and the surge of ecstacy that shot through the small unicorn filly. "That is correct."
Final round. Whoever made the first mistake now would have to take second place and let the other win all.
Sweetie was more than a bit nervous. On the other hoof, coming second would still be an incredible achievement for her. She was fine with whatever happened. That didn't really help her nerves.
"What a match, fillies and gentlecolts. Only two contestants remain. Miss Sweetie Belle from Ponyville and miss Dawn Light, coming from the very castle we're in right now. Who is going to claim this competition?"
Sweetie swallowed. So far, things had gone okay for her, as she was not yet eliminated, but the filly she was going up against was tough. Clever as she was, you could think that she was Twilight's daughter and twice as bookish as her supposed mother.
"Your word is: Dumm-kopf."
The gray filly pondered on the word for a second before going through the usual routine. "Hmm... definition please?"
"Dumm-kopf. A very stupid individual."
"Colony slang..." She muttered away from the microphone. "Can you put it into a sentence?"
"Your previous competors were all dumm-kopf-s"
Dawn Light blinked once. "Dummkopf. D, U, M M, K, O, P F. Dummkopf."
Buzzer. Sweetie's hopes of an easy victory were crushed by that simple noise.
"Perfect. Miss Sweetie Belle, your turn. Alright, your word is: Ma-nip-u-lat-ed."
Sweetie Belle had barely heard that word before. Her chances quickly fell. "Uh, definition please?"
"Sure. Changed by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose."
Letters started to clump together before Sweetie's inner eye, but they were unclear and not enough to form the full word. "Can I have that in a sentence?"
"This contest is ma-nip-u-lat-ed."
She felt confident enough to try it now. "Manipulated. M A N, N I P, U L A, T E D. Um, manipulated."
The audience moaned in disappointment, the voices of Rarity and Twilight loudest among them. With much self-discipline, Sweetie Belle managed to keep her composure and give her victorious opponent empty congratulations.
The announcer was heard again, but he sounded extremely far away to Sweetie Belle.
"Congratulations, Dawn Light. We'll work on sending you the Daring Do collection you've just won. Oh, and for little miss Sweetie Belle..."
Sweetie's ears perked up and she was drawn back into the full reality for a moment.
"You don't get anything because you lost. Go home now."
Such pointless rudeness made Sweetie want to do just that. Fighting a lost battle against her upcoming emotions, Sweetie Belle charged off the podium towards her friends and her sister.
Surprisingly, Rarity didn't actively take the role of comforting Sweetie Belle. Instead, Twilight was the main speaker in the conversation, with Spike occasionally speaking in, his true motivations unknown to two of the three unicorns present.
"Don't take it too bad. You came for some entertainment, you got that, now you can forget the embarassment and go back to life."
Sweetie kicked up a small cloud of dirt before answering, her head hanging low and her voice sounding extremely demotivated. "Yeah, I suppose I will."
"Come on. I want to see a smile on that cute little face you have. Besides... you do realise I have every Daring Do book in my library, right? Spike'll be able to get them for you."
She was still a bit disappointed in herself for losing the contest, but hearing that she could enjoy what she would have won anyway brightened Sweetie's mood a bit.
"Oh, yeah, that'd be really nice of you."
Spike put an arm over Sweetie Belle's shoulders, a gesture which was almost impossible for ponies to perform while walking, but fairly easy for him since he was bipedal.
"You almost got 'em. Even if you had gotten eliminated in the first round, you'd still have beaten everypony else in my opinion."
Rarity's eyes met Twilight's over the young ones, their movements suggesting that they should watch the two more closely. Twilight responded by rolling her eyes, as if to say: "Don't bother."
As they were approaching a small house with a balcony sticking out about fifteen feet above the ground and a photograph of a mare with a lit candle in front of it, Twilight quickly pushed the other three into an alley, passing the house by the side instead of directly going in front of it.
When Sweetie Belle asked for the reason of their detour, Twilight spluttered something about this being a shortcut to the train station.
Sweetie Belle crawled into her bed. The day had been long and tiring for her. Fortunately, she could sleep in if she wanted as the next day would be a Sunday.
As she got comfortable, she found something waiting for her, still cold despite lying under the blanket for some time due to inability to produce own body warmth.
The sharp edges slightly poked Sweetie Belle, but the gaps in its pattern tickled her.
Sleepy as she was, Sweetie didn't feel like talking much. "Ah, it's you again. Have a good night, Mareiam."
Sweetie Belle trotted through Ponyville. She was headed to the CMC clubhouse where Scootaloo had ordered her and Apple Bloom to give finding their cutie marks another approach.
Just after she blinked, the earth was about two feet closer to her face than before.
With a second of delay, Sweetie felt some pain in first her leg, then chest and head. She picked herself up and looked to see what had made her fall.
Sweetie was a big filly, she didn't stumble over her own hooves anymore. At least usually.
On the ground just behind her, she spotted a book lying on the ground.
"What's that?" She asked herself. On the cover, she could see the words 'Mareiam and Webster' imprinted.
Judging by the fact that it reached higher than her hoof, Sweetie could derive that this had to be a dictionary. Her decision was somewhat forged by the word 'Dictionary' below what appeared to be names on the cover, though.
"But where do you come from?" Sweetie Belle looked around. There was nopony anywhere near that could have dropped this. She also knew that Twilight was out in Canterlot doing something since and for a month.
She hadn't listened when Rarity had tried to explain the issue to her.
Since she couldn't see the owner anywhere and there was no name written inside it, Sweetie decided to keep the book for a while. Who knew what it could be good for?
After only ten minutes of waiting for Sweetie Belle, the other Crusaders arrived. It was odd that she, living farthest from the clubhouse, was first there, but she didn't mind.
Her earlier find had proven to be an amazing toy for the young filly. It simply contained anything she'd ever wanted to know! Given that she wanted to know about words and their meaning.
"Hi Sweetie Belle!"
Scootaloo didn't get an answer from the unicorn as she was too deep in her lecture.
"Sheesh. When didya get so bookish?"
The pages flipped until they reached the letter B. Sweetie had used a magical technique she had picked up from Twilight to quickly move through books while levitating only a single page at a time.
"Bookish. Adjective, boo-kish. A: Of or relating to books. B: Fond of books and reading. Also refer to: Nerdy."
"Eh, ya sure yer fine?"
Sweetie lifted her head out of the dictionary. "Never been better, 'Bloom. It's just that there's so much to know in here, right under my nose!"
"Check if it's got something under 'Scootaloo'."
"Probably not, but I think I actually saw a picture of you in here somewhere. Let me... Here."
Scootaloo didn't care to look at what page Sweetie was pointing at. "Under 'Cool'?"
"Silly you, that's where Rainbow Dash's is. No, under 'Ratite'."
Scootaloo gave the book a look of extreme disapproval. "What. The?"
"Ask Mareiam, not me. What was it you wanted us here for?"
"Mucking!" Scootaloo announced.
"As in, dirtyin' everythin' wit' mud?"
"To muck. Verb. A: To clean up; especially: To clear of manure or filth. Usually used with out. B: To clear of muck."
"A dictionary with its nose deep down a dictionary... No, I didn't mean that. What do ya call that tailoring kinda thing?"
"Macking? Wait, that's not a word, Scoots."
"Whatever, it's what I meant. Wouldn't that be fun?"
"Ugh, I don't know. You saw how I am with fabric and all that."
"Aw c'mon, don't ruin tha fun. We'll be fine, Ah'm sure!"
Later that day, the Cutie Mark Crusaders ended up releasing Discord, Queen Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon at once. Fortunately, Celestia got off her lazy rump FOR ONCE and saved the day.
Actually, she made Twilight do it. Whatever.
Sweetie Belle went to school the next day. In recess, she met back up with the Crusaders and some other ponies nobody cares about.
Her new friend was still always at her side.
"Tha' much fer mackin'." Apple Bloom stated.
"Oh, please, let that one slide. How should I have seen that coming?" Scootaloo responded, slightly aggravated.
"Aggravate. Verb. A-ggra-vate. 1: Obsolete A: To make heavy: Burden B: Increase. 2: To make worse, more serious, or more severe: Intensify unpleasantly 3: To rouse to displeasure or anger by usually persistent and often petty goading."
"You doing something with your live friends or are you going to spend the rest of your life reading from that book there?" Scootaloo asked.
"Well, do you have any suggestions that won't destroy Equestria as a whole?" Sweetie Belle looked up from her reading, still lying on the ground.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders Book Incinerators, for instance..."
The unicorn filly skimmed through the pages. "What do you mean by that? It's not in the dicti... Oh. Why would you do that?"
"Because yer constantly busy with yer words an' not payin' attention to nopony!" Apple Bloom called out. Looking over Sweetie Belle for a second, she noticed Cheerilee standing by the window. The look on her face was unreadable.
"Well, what's wrong with a bit of education?"
"That you're overdoing it. You're already smarter than all the others in class and you still won't get some things books can't teach you. Come out and learn the life!"
The school bell rang just as Scootaloo had finished her sentence.
Trotting back into the classroom, Sweetie Belle could have sworn she had seen an odd grin on their teacher's friendly face for just a second while passing by.
"Ah, Sweetie Belle, you're back. Mind giving me your opinion on how to arrange those garnets?" Rarity called across her workroom, sceptically looking and rearranging gemstones on a project of hers. As usual when she was at work, various fabrics, threads and tool were spread out around her, waiting to be cleaned up.
"Aren't those tourmalines?"
"Hum. Now that you say it... That'd explain why they don't fit in. Oh well, I'll work those into something later." The elder unicorn produced a box of green gems from a nearby shelf filled with such small boxes and dropped her current selection into it.
"Since when are you filing tourmalines with emeralds? Didn't you scold me pretty hard only recently for doing that?" Sweetie Belle asked confusedly.
"What? Th... How come you can tell everything apart with a single glance, anyway? Better than me, even?"
"There's four pages showing gem colors and sorts in here. Look!" Sweetie leafed through the pages until she was nearly at the end of the book.
"Why, that'd be useful to have..."
"Don't you know those by heart?"
"Not necessarily. To be honest, why should I bother? If I miscategorise a shiny, what are the odds of my client knowing it better? Granted they're not a dictionary on four legs like you..."
"That's kinda mean of you."
"But it's merely an observation of reality, sweetie. I'd long be out of business if everypony around here was a petrologist."
"Petrologist... P, p, pet..." Sweetie Belle began searching for the word to look up its meaning.
"Ponies who know stuff about stones and gems."
"Ah. Yeah, that's true, I suppose..."
Suddenly, the door bell rang.
"I'll get it. Probably another customer. Although, shouldn't those just come in since the door's always open anyway, like, boutique and such? Um, whatever, we'll see. Coming!" Rarity got up and went to open the door.
Sweetie Belle knew she wasn't interested in whoever was at the door. So she just stayed where she was and thought about Rarity's earlier request. If she concentrated really hard, she would even be able to levitate some of the smaller gems.
Small as in 'Could swallow by accident'. But that didn't discourage her. She'd just keep practicing. So Sweetie sat there and played a little with the green garnets (She had looked them up to make sure those were the right ones) until her sister would return.
No two minutes later, she did with Cheerilee at her side.
