The Cutie Mark Nuisances

After a long walk, Twilight finally arrived at her house. She was glad, being exhausted from walking and pulling Scootaloo's wagon and scooter, but was also filled with silent dread. Inside, she knew that her house would be nothing like how it was when she left it. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were cute, but she knew how troublesome they could be. Twilight was afraid to even open the door, but her fur made the hot sun even worse. She swallowed her fears and opened the door...

Only to have them come true. Books were scattered everywhere. Plants were knocked over, dotting the ground with roots and leaves. All she could do was stand there and sigh.

"HEY TWILIGHT!" The two fillies erupted simultaneously from behind her. The startled Twilight whinnied and reared back.

"Hey, did we frighten ya?" Applebloom excited looked at her flank. "No, no scarin' cutie mark. What about you, Sweetie Belle?"

"No, me neither." Sweetie looked up at an exasperated Twilight. "While you were gone, we've been trying to get are cutie marks."

Twilight sighed. "What else is new?" Twilight looked around the library. "Let me guess: you tried acrobatics?"

"Uh huh. How'd ya guess?" Applebloom looked proud. "We also tried high-diving, jumping, running, trampoline, studying, writing, reading, mathematics, science, astronomy, organization, amputation, time-travel, murder, and wrestling."

"We even tried..." Sweetie Belle crouched down, haunches up, flank in the air, "POUNCING!"

The air-borne Sweetie Belle hit Twilight with enough force to knock her onto her back. She stood on Twilight's stomach and began bouncing up and down.

"No, stop!" Twilight flailed about trying to get the small white unicorn off of her but to no avail. "Quit! Your. Making. Me. Nauseous." Twilight paused between each word, being unable to talk as four little hooves not the wind out of her. As the nausea increased, a belch escaped Twilight, causing a beam of magic to shoot out of her horn, knocking a framed picture of Spike off of the wall. This scared Sweetie enough to cause her to fall of of Twilight's underside. Twilight immediately flipped back over onto her hooves.

"What in tarnation was that? Some kind of magic burp?"

Twilight blushed. "No, that happens to every unicorn when they burp. Also sneeze, hiccup, or, um... other things."

"Wow!" Sweetie Belle was in awe. "I'm gonna try that!"

"Ew, don't do that Sweetie, it's gross! What would Rarity say?" Twilight raised an eye-brow at Sweetie Belle.

"It's not like she doesn't do it! She just tells everybody else it's uncouth!"

"Now, Sweetie Belle, what people do when they're alone or with people who are close to them is sometimes less, well, filtered."

"Well, I'm with my friends now, and I'm gonna try burp magic!" Sweetie Belle had her mind made up. She started gulping down air.

"Do what you're gonna do." I'm going to Sugarcube Corner to pick up some lunch and made sure that Pinkie hasn't killed anyone."

"Oh! Can ah come too?" Appleboom looked excitedly at Twilight. "It smells all dusty in here and ah want to see the Cake twins! Big Macintosh told me they were really cute!"

"Sure, but- wait, Big Mac told you?"

"Yup. Last month, when Pinkie was sick, he baby-sat 'em. He really loves baby ponies. Heck, he loves all sorts of cute things. He has a little doll collection and sometimes ah see him around Rarity's shop looking at dresses and sometimes he even-"

"Okay, Applebloom. I think I understand." The whole situation was very awkward. "Sweetie Belle?" Sweetie seemed preoccupied.

"We should probably leave without her. When Sweetie get's into something, by golly ya can't get her out of it."

Twilight's stomach growled. "Well, I guess it's time we went down to get some lunch."

Applebloom and Twilight started up the dirt road of Ponyville towards the sweet shop.