It was a sunny day down in Canterlot yard, and the Crusaders were hard at work shunting the trucks. At the controls of their shunters, they moved wagons from siding to siding, marshalling them into long trains to be taken to places far away.
A chunky J52 pushed the last remaining vans for the first working into position, and the lead locomotive whistled, pulling away as it did so.
In the cab of the engine, Scootaloo wiped her forehead. “Phew, that was hard work!” she exclaimed.
“Well, me and Sweetie Belle-”
“Sweetie Belle and I.”
“Sweetie Belle and Ah moved more trucks than you did.” Apple Bloom smirked.
“Did not!” Scootaloo replied.
“Did to!”
“DID NOT!”
“DID TO!”
“Please, stop arguing!” Sweetie Belle interrupted. Both girls looked at her before she continued. “How about we just say we shunted equal numbers of trucks together?”
There was a brief murmering, until Apple Bloom spoke up. “But one thing is certain,” she grinned.
“Namely?” asked Scootaloo.
“Last one back to the depot is a mouldy apple!” she cried, before hopping out of the cab and sprinting toward the main building.
Scootaloo laughed. “You’re on!” She sped after the other girl, determined to get there first.
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Guys, we need to put these engines away!” She shook her head in frustration. “Those two.”
“Who left these engines here?” asked a voice, that of Mr Discord as he walked over.
“It wasn’t me!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, from the cab of her P Class tank engine.
“I know,” Discord sighed. “It was probably Apple Bloom or Scootaloo. For all their enthusiasm, they can be very unhelpful at times.”
“I honestly don’t understand why they see absolutely everything as some sort of competition. It’s not a very healthy attitude to have, ultimately,” Sweetie Belle answered.
“I suspect they get it from their siblings,” Discord told her. “After all, Rainbow Dash and Applejack are rivals in most universes.”
“Most universes?”
“Sorry, just thinking out loud.”
Sweetie Belle walked into the control building to see Scootaloo and Apple Bloom helping themselves to coffee, which was greatly appreciated in the cold weather.
“Well, there’s the mouldy apple!” Scootaloo laughed.
“Why are you two competing?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Because,” Apple Bloom replied, “However cleans the yard fastest is the most useful.”
“It’s not about how fast you clean the yard!” Sweetie Belle replied. “It’s how WELL you clean the yard. Sometimes, you two are...are no help at all!”
Scootaloo looked pained. “Really? From a friend? You need to loosen up a bit.”
“Yeah!” Apple Bloom replied. “Sometimes, yer...no fun at all!” And off she and Scootaloo went, laughing.
Sweetie Belle shook her head, and went to get a coffee.
Meanwhile, the yard manager, Mr David, was looking at the timetable and sighing. “I never thought I’d say this, but the yard at Cloudsdale needs another engine crew.”
“But we already have so many engines!” said a fellow driver.
Mr David shook his head. “I know. But with two diesels out of action, there’s only three engines up there. But that yard is busy once again, so Pipsqueak, Rumble and Button Mash are being rushed off their feet!”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo overheard this, and grinned. “Why not send Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom suggested.
“We don’t actually need her most days,” Scootaloo added. “To a certain degree she’s...no help at all.” And the two girls vanished before anyone could say anything else.
“They're just being silly,” the driver said.
“Hmm,” thought Mr David. “That could actually work, if what I’ve heard about Sweetie Belle is true.”
Up at Cloudsdale yard, the three boys-Rumble, Pipsqueak and Button Mash-were all hard at work clearing the sidings. They backed their engines up to take a short rest, when a loud whistle attracted their attention.
Pulling into the yard was a P Class, driven by none other than Sweetie Belle.
“Hey!” called Rumble. “You made it!”
“I hope you don’t mind the workload,” said Pipsqueak, “as there’s lots of trucks to shunt!”
“Not at all!” Sweetie Belle replied. “At least I don’t have those two competing with for quickest shunter up here.”
“Let’s get to work!” called Button Mash.
With the four of them working together, the yards were cleared in no time. Mr David came up to see how they were getting on, and he was most impressed.
“She’s brilliant!” called Pip.
“She may not drive the most powerful engine we’ve got, but she knows how to get the most out of it,” added Rumble.
“And she’s amazing,” Button Mash added, blushing as he did so.
Mr David smiled. “This was a truly excellent idea. I must thank Scootaloo and Apple Bloom for their suggestion.”
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Was it their idea?”
“Well, yes,” admitted Mr David. “They said you were no help at all.”
“Oh dear,” Sweetie Belle sighed.
Down at Canterlot yard, things were not going at all well. Discord shouted as loudly as he could.
“Could somebody PLEASE clear this siding?” he asked, exasperated. “This siding is full. Well, as a matter of fact, it is very full-indeed, too full! THIS YARD IS FULL TO OVERFLOWING!”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were getting hopelessly confused. “Remind me, do the tankers go in sidin’ 1 or 2?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Siding 2!” Scootaloo replied. “No, wait, siding 1!”
Apple Bloom moved her engine forward, only to collide with a mass of jammed wagons.
“Oops.”
Discord walked over. “This mess needs to be cleared up, pronto. I can’t do it all myself!”
Apple Bloom sighed. “Yeah, yer right. But do ya know who isn’t helping?”
Scootaloo grinned.
“SWEETIE BELLE!” they cried in unison, before setting their engines into reverse and whizzing off out of the yard.
“Get back here!” shouted Discord.
The two girls brought their engines to a halt at Cloudsdale yard, where Sweetie Belle had just finished her shift.
“Sweetie Belle, can ya come back to Canterlot yard?” asked Apple Bloom.
“We need your help!” Scootaloo cried. “The place is in a terrible mess.”
Sweetie Belle sighed. “I’d like to, but if I did, these three would have to work on their own.”
“Well, we’ve been workin’ on our own,” Apple Bloom countered.
“That, I suspect, is the problem,” Pip added, drawing his J72 up alongside. “You need to work together.”
Scootaloo pouted and crossed her arms. “Fine!” she said. “Be like that!”
“But if the yard is in a big mess when ya get back,” Apple Bloom added, “ya know who’s fault it’ll be.”
As they sped off, Scootaloo shouted, “have fun with your boyfriend!”
“He’s not my-!” Sweetie Belle sighed. “Oh, I give up.”
Not long after, a diesel shunter pulled into the yard, and Thunderlane poked his head out of the cab. “I’m back!” he said.
Whilst Sweetie Belle was partly glad that things were back to normal here, she dreaded what Canterlot yard was like.
And she was right to dread. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were wedged in via a mass of jammed wagons.
“We need another engine,” Apple Bloom observed.
“APPLE BLOOM! SCOOTALOO!” boomed a voice. They looked over...to see Mr David approaching. They tried to move their engines out of the way, only to bash into waiting trucks.
“What is going on here?” asked Mr David. “How did Canterlot yard end up in such a mess?”
“It’s Sweetie Belle!” called Scootaloo. “We asked her to come back, and she wouldn’t!”
“But it was you two who suggested sending her to Cloudsdale!” Mr David observed, confused. “You told me she was no help at all!”
“Yeah, yer right,” Apple Bloom replied. “It’s Scootaloo’s fault!”
“WHAT?” Scootaloo replied. “No, it was not! You’re just trying to reapportion the blame off yourself!”
“Says the girl who just blamed Sweetie Belle, ya big hypocrite!” the farm girl shot back.
“Loud mouth!”
“Idiot!”
“Jerk!”
“Chicken wings!”
ENOUGH!” boomed Mr David. “You two need to get this mess cleaned up, NOW.”
“Y-yes sir!” Scootaloo stammered. “We’ll get onto it right away.” Just then, she fell back and knocked the regulator, causing her engine to shoot forward and smack into some trucks. Apple Bloom reset the reverser on hers, and crashed into some more trucks behind her.
Mr David sighed. “Good grief.”
Just then, a familiar whistle rolled through the air. And a P Class rolled around the bend into the yard.
“Sweetie Belle!” called Apple Bloom and Scootaloo together.
“Hi!” called Sweetie Belle. “What happened here? How did this place end up in such a mess?”
Mr David looked back. “Well?”
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “Never mind. At least we can clean it up-with a little bit of help from my friends.”
Three more engines appeared from behind them, driven by Pip, Rumble and Button Mash.
“With their help, we’ll get this place cleaned up in no time!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“With your permission of course,” Scootaloo added.
Mr David nodded.
With the six of them working together, the yard was clear in no time at all. After stabling their engines, the Crusaders met up in the canteen.
“Hey,” Scootaloo said, “sorry for sending you away.”
“Ah guess we bit off more than we could chew,” Apple Bloom admitted. “Can we be friends again?”
“Sure!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. They quickly stood up.
“CANTERLOT MOVIE CLUB REUNION, YAY!”
Author's Note
Mr David is a nod to Jay David, a fellow writer on this site who recently retired from writing. Discord is a return appearence from my good friend, Discord the Narrator.
