Chapter 1 – A Rump in the Field
Have you ever wondered ‘why’? Why do you get out of the bed in the morning as Celestia’s sun rises above the horizon? Why do you do the things you do from day to day, and not something else? Why do some things make perfect sense when you first think about them, and only later do you understand how very, very wrong you were?
These were the kind of thoughts that crossed Sweetie Belle’s mind as she ungainly flew across a meadow. Everything around her seemed to move comically slowly, as she tumbled and spun her way forward.
Scootaloo had been wanting to practice a new flying trick she had come up with, and had asked for Sweetie’s and Applebloom’s help. The idea was to ride their trusty CMC wagon down a hill and then up a ramp they had built at the bottom of said hill. They would intentionally crash it against a wall of soft mattresses set up at the end of the ramp. Since Scootaloo was sitting at the back of the wagon, while Sweetie Belle and Applebloom would be in the front, their positioning would hopefully help Scootaloo launch over the mattresses, the whole process boosting her speed. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom would be safely deposited in the comfy embrace of the mattress pile. Many ideas were sound in theory, but failed to work in practice.
Be it a pebble on the ramp, a bump on a board, or just some cosmic force deeming their idea unworthy (or maybe it was just a bad plan from the very get go), something went wrong as they rode the ramp, and their wagon shifted unexpectedly midway. With Applebloom’s attempts to correct their course only making it worse, they wound up missing their fortress of cushioning mattresses, their wagon only clipping it and sending its occupants flying through the air.
Sweetie Belle looked up, only to see Scootaloo with her wings spread wide and a grin on her face. It still sometimes surprised Sweetie Belle to see how large and impressive looking her friend’s wings were. It seemed like barely a month ago when she was still having trouble getting off the ground and was practicing day and night to be able to fly. Which was silly, of course. Scootaloo had been able to fly for a few years now. She wasn’t a little filly anymore who rode her scooter around to get the sense of speed other pegasi could get from flying. She was a teenager now, just like Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.
Gone was the small filly with tiny wings. Once puberty hit her, Scootaloo’s wings had grown to be even larger than some adults’, long, pristine primaries adorning them. Scootaloo made sure to keep them in perfect condition, and Sweetie Belle had always thought that they were very beautiful. Scootaloo, in an effort to emulate her idol, had colored her mane and tail in different hues of purple, giving her a similar style to Rainbow Dash’s various streaks of color. Not stopping there, she had also painted the tips of her feathers with the same purple colors, making sure that everypony would recognize her when she bragged about her tricks later. Scootaloo’s body was sleek and athletic, achieved from hours upon hours of flight practice with Rainbow.
Sometimes Sweetie Belle was jealous of Scootaloo and how much her body had changed. Sweetie Belle had always been, and probably would always be, the shortest of their group, no matter how much she hoped it would change with age. While her body had become more slender and graceful, which seemed to leave some colts mesmerized, she would have gladly given it up to be just a little bit taller. At least her voice wasn’t squeaky anymore. Rarity loved to describe her developing voice as being “melodic” and “belonging to a proper lady”.
“AAAHH!”
Speaking of melodic voices.
Sweetie Belle was snapped back to reality by Applebloom’s scream. They were still in the air, but now instead of going up, they were starting to dip towards the ground. Applebloom started yelling and was frantically waving her hooves, as if it would slow down her descent. The only effect it had was to make her look very silly.
Applebloom also had very noticeable changes to her body. Owing to her earth pony heritage, she was easily the tallest of them. She was just shy of being the same size as her big sister, Applejack, if not quite as muscular. Applebloom simply didn’t have as many years of hard work on the farm behind her yet. She had also opted for a new mane style, a short, bushy look that hardly went down her neck at all and made her mane slightly wavy. Babs had recommended it to her when they visited her in Manehattan, where it was the newest trend. Sweetie thought it fit her perfectly and liked that she kept her trademark bow clipped in the back. Like her siblings, Applebloom’s coat had clear marks from working their farm, such as lighter patches of fur from harnesses and carrying heavy objects all day long, or scuff marks where the fur was thinner or shorter. She also had strong, broad legs, and…and…
A-and a very…
…very…
…nice...
...rump.
Sweetie blushed. That thought didn’t just cross her mind!
I-I mean…she is very g-good looking and…a-and I guess your r-r-rump is a…a part of t-that…and h-h-hers is n-nice and…firm and…really soft looking and…oh gosh Applebloomstopwigglingyourtail-
“SWEETIE!”
“Huh?”
“A SPELL! CAN’T YOU CAST A SPELL?” Applebloom yelled. Sweetie blinked at her in confusion.
Oh…right… They were still in the air and about to crash in to what looked like some sort of bramble bush.
Broken from her daydream, Sweetie quickly focused her magic and cast a spell to slow their descent. They were too close to the ground, and she wouldn’t be able to stop them anymore, but she could make sure they wouldn’t get any nasty injuries.
“AAAHH!” Applebloom yelled one more time before they crashed in to the bush with a mighty thump. Pain lanced through Sweetie’s left hind leg as it hit something hard and jagged, but otherwise the landing only knocked the air out of her. The two of them tumbled forward a few meters through the bramble bushes, entwined together the whole way, before stopping and collapsing in to a pile of sore limbs.
“…Ooooww…” Applebloom muttered, pulling her forehoof from beneath her but otherwise not making any effort to move. She was lying on her stomach and comfortable enough to take a small breather.
“…Sweetie?” Applebloom coughed. “Are you okay…?”
“…Yes.”
“Good…” Applebloom sighed. “That spell you used really saved us.”
“…Yep.”
“Gosh. You’d think that now that we’re older, we wouldn’t get in to same kind of trouble anymore as we did when we were trying to get our cutie marks,” Applebloom giggled to herself.
“…Yeah.”
“And our ideas aren’t that much better!” Applebloom said as her giggle turned to a short laugh.
“…Hehehe…yeah.”
“…”
“…”
“…Sweetie?”
“…Yes?”
“…Are you hugging my rump?”
“…Y-…yes?”
“…Oh…why?”
“…I…landed this way...?”
“…Okay…”
“…”
“…”
“Could you move off me?”
“…Sure…give me a moment…”
Sweetie slowly shifted her hooves under her, and pushed from one side to roll off her friend. She unceremoniously flopped onto the ground next to Applebloom, neither of them moving. The leg Sweetie had bumped still hurt like crazy, and she was not in a rush to aggravate the pain any further.
“…I wonder what happened to Scoots…” Applebloom pondered.
“I saw her take off… Don’t know if she succeeded with her trick.”
“Ah… What was she even trying to do?”
“I’m not sure… She said something about a ‘rising triple corkscrew maneuver’, but I don’t know what that is.”
“Mmh.”
The pair lapsed in to silence again as they took a few more moments to gather their strength. They both knew they would have bruises from this, and would probably be sore in the morning.
“Ow…” Sweetie winced as the pain in her left hind leg hadn’t subsided much. She propped herself up with her forehooves so that she could take a look. “Ouch… That’s not good.”
“What’s wrong?” Applebloom asked and made an effort to get herself up.
“I bumped my leg a little as we landed…”
“Rattlesnakes in a hay bale… That’s more than just a little! Let me take a closer look.”
Sweetie winced as Applebloom carefully felt around the wound on her leg. There was a nasty cut right below the knee, and there were streaks of red in her usually snow-white fur.
“How much does it hurt?”
“It stings pretty b-ah-AHH-dly,” Sweetie exclaimed and shot Applebloom a dirty look as she pressed around the wounded area. Applebloom gave an apologetic smile back.
“Hmmh… It doesn’t feel like it’s broken, and it would probably hurt much more if it was. Still, we need to get you to the Ponyville Hospital to get it cleaned and bandaged. In the meantime…” Applebloom concluded and took off her bow, removing the clip and putting it back in her mane for safekeeping.
“But…your bow will get dirty…” Sweetie noted as her friend was about to bandage her leg. Applebloom stopped for long enough to give her a flat look.
“Sweetie, I have like, a hundred more of these,” she said and smirked. “You should know. You are the one who gives me a fancier one every year.”
Sweetie blushed and looked away as Applebloom dressed the wound. She did her best to clean it before bandaging it with her ribbon.
“Can you stand?” she asked.
“Maybe…” Sweetie Belle slowly turned around and tried to stand up, but any weight she put on the leg sent a jolt of pain up her body. “Owowow!” she gasped, but managed to stand up, relying upon her three healthy legs. “Ah…I don’t think I can walk much with it…”
“That’s okay. Here, let me carry you,” Applebloom offered, and lowered herself to the ground so that Sweetie Belle could get on her back. Sweetie Belle blushed again.
“I-it’s okay. I can wait here while you get our wagon.”
“Nonsense, I can easily carry you. Besides, I don’t think our wagon is operable right now, if that loose wheel is of any indication,” Applebloom responded, while pointing at a lonely wheel about dozen meters away. The rest of their wagon was probably somewhere nearby, but they couldn’t spot it.
“Uuh…it’s…m-maybe if you let me lean on you, I can probably walk to Ponyvi-“
“Oh for landsakes,” Applebloom exclaimed with amusement, before wiggling herself closer to Sweetie Belle. “Come on, I can carry you, it won’t be a problem at all.”
Shyly, Sweetie Belle relented and got on to Applebloom’s back. As soon as Sweetie Belle was positioned, Applebloom effortlessly got up from the ground again, and started walking towards Ponyville. Sweetie Belle had to wrap her forehooves around Applebloom’s neck to make sure that she wouldn’t fall off. If Applebloom would have turned her head around now, she would have seen her friend’s blazing red face. Sweetie, despite her apparent reluctance, was actually quite happy about her current situation. Even her leg didn’t seem to hurt as much as she lowered her head and nuzzled in to her friend’s neck.
“Aaahaha…Sweetie, could you be a bit more careful? I’m really ticklish there.”
“Oh…okay,” Sweetie said and filed the information away for later. She let out a small, content sigh as Applebloom’s scent filled her nose.
After a minute of walking, Applebloom spoke up again. “Hey…is that…”
“Hmm?” Sweetie lifted her head.
“Is that Scootaloo in that tree?” Applebloom asked and pointed upwards. Sweetie craned her neck, and as they walked closer to the tree, she could see their missing friend high up in it. All they could see was a pair of desperately wiggling hind legs, but there was no question it was Scootaloo. Applebloom was the first to start giggling, soon joined in by Sweetie Belle, which turned to chuckling and then full-blown laughter. Applebloom’s laughter was pleasant to hear, and combined with how her whole body was shaking, it suddenly made Sweetie feel very hot.
“Hey, Scootaloo!” Applebloom yelled up towards the tree between chortles. “Are you making a nest up there?”
“Mmmrh!” was the mumbled response they got, and Scootaloo’s legs started to wiggle even more.
“I think she needs our help. Maybe she got stuck in the branches?” Sweetie said.
“Maybe…I could try to buck her loose,” Applebloom responded while eyeing the tree.
“She isn’t an apple, Applebloom! Here, let’s see if my magic is enough,” Sweetie insisted and concentrated. She used her telekinesis to grab Scootaloo’s legs and pull her away. After a few moments of struggling, she managed to get Scootaloo loose enough that she ripped herself out of the tree branches and flew down to them.
“Pthoi! Bleh!” Scootaloo spit out tree leaves as she descended. “That did not go at all how I planned it… Who put that tree right in the middle of my path?” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both rolled their eyes.
“Are you hurt? Everything still in one piece?” Applebloom asked.
“Yeah yeah, everything’s okay, although it seems I have grown some extra feathers,” Scootaloo remarked and shook leaves out of her wings. “Shoot, I guess that trick is a bust… Couldn’t control my flight all that well.”
“It wouldn’t be much of a trick if you needed to build a ramp and hire two ponies to help you every time you wanted to try it,” Applebloom pointed out.
“Yeah, I guess… Hey, why is Sweetie Belle on your ba- …oh ponyfeathers,” Scootaloo swore as she spotted the makeshift bandage around Sweetie’s leg.
“It’s okay Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle reassured. “It’s not that bad.”
“No, I’m sorry that you got hurt,” Scootaloo’s ears went down.
“It’s fine. Just make sure that next time your plan is not quite so…grandiose and perilous.”
“Heh, what are you, a dictionary?” Scootaloo asked with a smile, and the three of them shared a laugh.
********************
“Just remember Ms. Belle, try not to engage in any strenuous activity with that leg for a few days.”
“Okay, Nurse Redheart. Thank you.”
Sweetie Belle gingerly got up from the bench and tested her now properly bandaged leg. Nurse Redheart had given her a painkiller before disinfecting and bandaging the wound, and it had done wonders. The wound was only stinging lightly now, but putting pressure on it still sent a jolt of pain up Sweetie’s leg.
“Are you okay, Sweetie? Can you walk?” Applebloom asked, having waited in the reception area with Scootaloo while Sweetie got her leg treated. She had a worried look on her face, and it made Sweetie Belle feel butterflies in her stomach to have Applebloom so worried about her.
“I-it’s okay! I’ll be fine,” Sweetie Belle said flustered.
“If you say so. If it starts to hurt too much, you can lean on me,” Applebloom assured as they walked out of the hospital.
“O-okay.” Sweetie would have accepted Applebloom’s offer in an instant, if Scootaloo hadn’t placed her wing over her.
“I’m really sorry, Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo apologized with clear remorse. “How about I treat us all to milkshakes at Sugarcube Corner?”
“That would be nice. It’s such a hot day outside, and my throat is parched!” Applebloom excitedly agreed, her tail swishing happily with the promise of a strawberry milkshake. Sweetie Belle wasn’t really in the mood for a milkshake, but she was too mesmerized by Applebloom’s tail to complain.
“Yeah, the weather team is going to bring the temperature down this evening. A nice rain and a bit of cloud coverage tomorrow is going to keep it cool,” Scootaloo piped up. “In fact, Rainbow promised me that I could help the team setting up the rain today as practice.”
“That sounds really nice, Scootaloo. Wish I had something as exciting to do,” Applebloom muttered, her ears going down.
“W-we could do something together, if you umm...want to?” Sweetie Belle offered, spotting her chance to get some time together with Applebloom.
“Sorry, Sweetie Belle. I didn’t mean that I had nothing to do. I’m supposed to go replace Bic Mac at our stand in an hour or so. Not really looking forward to that,” Applebloom apologized.
“Oh…” Sweetie sighed disappointed.
“Don’t get me wrong. I understand that it’s an important job, since we have to sell our products somehow, but sitting there doing nothing for hours is not my idea of a good time,” Applebloom shook her head.
“Yeah. I couldn’t stand something so boring for that long,” Scootaloo admitted.
“Hah. If it doesn’t involve either flying or Rainbow Dash, you find most things boring,” Applebloom chuckled.
“That’s not true!” Scootaloo challenged. “I like other things too.”
“Like Daring Do?” Applebloom asked with a smug smile.
“Erm…well…”
“It is a very good series of books,” Sweetie half yelled from behind them. She had fallen behind (and totally not because she was staring at Applebloom’s well honed-…nevermind). Scootaloo and Applebloom had picked up speed amidst their banter, leaving Sweetie Belle limping after them. They slowed down so that Sweetie Belle could catch up.
“I like cloud sculpting. That doesn’t always require lots of flying, if you are making small ones, atop a cloud or on the ground. And Rainbow doesn’t like it too much because she’s…um, not very good at it,” Scootaloo lowered her voice for the last part so that nopony else would accidentally hear her and start rumors.
“Fair enough,” Applebloom conceded.
“I wish you would do those more often. I think you are quite skilled,” Sweetie Belle said, and it was true, Scootaloo was exceptionally good for somepony so young. Sweetie Belle had even managed to convince her take part in an amateur cloud sculpting competition last summer, and she had placed second.
The three of them entered the Sugarcube Corner. The place was half full of ponies seeking shelter from the sun and cold drinks to ward off the heat. Pinkie Pie waved to them happily from behind the counter once she spotted them.
“Hey girls! How are you today?” she asked.
“Hey Pinkie,” they greeted her, and walked to the counter.
“We would like three milkshakes please, I’m paying,” Scootaloo explained as she hoofed over slightly more than required amount of bits to cover the cost.
“Okie dokie loki.” Pinkie Pie grabbed a notepad and a pencil.
“I want a strawberry one,” Applebloom said.
“I’ll take a strawberry one too, with some chocolate chips,” Sweetie piped up.
“And I’ll have a cherry milkshake,” Scootaloo finished.
“Okay, three milkshakes coming right up,” Pinkie said cheerfully.
Applebloom and Scootaloo turned around to find an empty table while they waited for their milkshakes. Sweetie Belle leaned against the counter for a moment to stretch her injured leg.
“Got hurt chasing love, huh?” Pinkie asked her.
“W-what?” Sweetie snapped her head towards Pinkie in panic.
“Your leg is hurt. I bet you got that while trying to impress somepony special” Pinkie said and winked at her conspiratorially.
“I…I…uhh…”
“It’s okay. I won’t tell anypony,” Pinkie promised with a giggle, before leaving to prepare the milkshakes while humming to herself.
Of course Pinkie would notice, Sweetie calmed herself. Although, I guess even she can’t know all the details.
“Just try not to get caught staring too much!” Pinkie happily advised over her shoulder as she disappeared in to the back room.
Drat.
Sweetie walked to where Scootaloo and Applebloom were sitting. She couldn’t help but glance at Applebloom as she sat down. They sat there in relative silence, Applebloom and Scootaloo pony watching the other customers. Sweetie Belle tried to take her mind off of Applebloom, who was sitting just next to her, her sweet scent filling her nose, and oh Celestia, if she just leaned in a little bit closer they would be almost shoulder to shoulder, and maybe Applebloom wouldn’t mind if she leaned her head against hers, and then Applebloom would wrap her in a hug, and then they would look each other in the eye, and then she would-
“Here’s your milkshakes!” Pinkie announced and placed each of their orders on the table, jerking Sweetie Belle away from her daydream.
“Thanks, Pinkie,” Applebloom replied gratefully and greedily drank from her glass, not bothering to use the straw. Pinkie smiled happily and went to serve the other customers. Sweetie noticed that Pinkie added a small heart made of strawberry syrup on top of the whipped cream to Applebloom’s drink, which Applebloom thankfully had not seen. A little bit of whipped cream found its way to on top of Applebloom’s nose, and Sweetie so wished she could have licked it off. The thought alone caused her blush to return with vengeance.
“Geeze Applebloom, you’ll get brain freeze at that rate,” Scootaloo chuckled. “Uh, Sweetie Belle? You alright?” She asked her friend who was leaning against the table, face hidden behind her forehooves.
“YepI’mtotallyfine!” she said nervously from behind her hooves, almost going back to her old squeaky voice.
“If you say so…your ears are kinda red…”
“She’s really hot! I mean, I’m really hot! No, uh, it’s really warm in here!” Sweetie rattled off in embarrassment, before grabbing her glass and downing half of it in one mighty gulp. Scootaloo and Applebloom shared a look, before going back to their milkshakes.
“So uhh…you are going to go do weather stuff with Rainbow today?” Applebloom asked Scootaloo to break the awkward silence, as Sweetie Belle started to regret her rash decision.
“Yeah. I’m not old enough to be an official member of the weather team yet, but she promised I could help her today to gain some experience. Setting up weather is actually a lot more complicated than you’d think.”
“Yeah?”
“Mmhm. You have to do a bunch of calculations on how much rain you want to have and what the cloud density needs to be. What the wind’s going to be like and stuff like that. It’s really difficult, and you need to know this stuff if you want to be a good weatherpony.”
“Is Rainbow helping you with that too?” Applebloom asked, while glancing at Sweetie Belle who was now holding her head in her hooves and moaning pitifully.
“She is. Rainbow is actually really good in math, which is why she is the lead weatherpony here in Ponyville.”
“Huh. I’d have thought she would consider that to be something…what’s the word she likes to use…something an egghead would do?”
“Not really. If it’s something every pegasus who wants a career working in weather needs to know, it can’t be something for ‘eggheads’,” Scootaloo explained and grinned. “Besides, the last I heard, her date with Twilight’s secretary had gone pretty well, and if that stallion is not an ‘egghead’, then I don’t know who is.”
“No way! So, it’s really true that Rainbow is dating Quill Keeper?” Applebloom asked, suddenly very interested in some juicy gossip. She kept her voice low enough that the other patrons wouldn’t hear them.
“They totally are! I saw them heading to Cloudsdale together, and then I heard some of the members of the weather team talking to each other about it.”
“Darn. And I was so sure she was going to ask Twilight out instead.”
“Well, you almost got it right.”
“Right. Sweetie Belle?” Applebloom turned towards her friend and gently rubbed Sweetie’s back.
“Leave me alone,” she mumbled, still holding her head.
“That’s what you get for drinking your milkshake too quickly,” Scootaloo pointed out.
“Not helping,” Applebloom frowned.
“Hey, it’s not my fault.”
“Today has not been a good day,” Sweetie complained, while taking a smaller sip of her milkshake.
“Aww. I’m sure it’ll get better,” Applebloom comforted and gently leaned against Sweetie Belle, who felt too happy and nervous to say anything else.
“Well, I should probably go soon. I still have flight practice to do before I meet up with Rainbow,” Scootaloo flexed her wings while looking out of the window.
“And I need to go too. Those apples are not going to sell themselves,” Applebloom muttered uninterestedly while poking at her empty glass. Sweetie Belle saw an opportunity to do something nice for Applebloom and repay her kindness throughout the day.
“You can share the rest of my milkshake with me, if you want,” Sweetie offered while bringing the glass closer to Applebloom, who smiled brightly.
“Thanks, Sweetie!” she said while plucking the straw from her glass and putting it in Sweetie Belle’s, happily humming to herself while enjoying the treat with her friend.
Well, maybe it hasn’t been all bad, Sweetie thought to herself as Applebloom leaned closer in a half hug, pressing their cheeks together.
Author's Note
Hey look, it's a new story, with all new plot! 
Hehehee... 
...
This is my second story on this site. I'm not going to be updating this as regularly as my first story, Stranger in the Forest, simply because I don't have the time to have constant focus on two stories at a time. Maybe for every 3-4 chapters of Stranger in the Forest, there's going to be one of this.
However, if you do want to motivate me to write more, I have a Patreon, where one of the goals I have set is that I'll start writing this more often. Also, You'll be able to view the next chapter early if you become my patron, as I'll put a link to the non-final versions of them in there. 
Hopefully you'll have fun reading!
