The Smiling Warrior

Jack could feel something was wrong as he got closer to the park. Not horribly wrong but definitely someone is going to get hurt wrong. As he reached a tree over looking the park the branches above started to snap and fall followed by three screaming girls. He did his best to catch them but their weight together brought him down onto his back. "Ow." He groaned. "Should have figured it would have been me." He grumbled to himself as the girls got off of him.

"Wow Jack yah showed up just in time." AppleBloom said after everyone was standing up again.

"Yeah, also what did you have to do anyways?" Questioned Scootaloo buzzing around already.

Jack rubbed his back before replying "You girls will find out soon enough okay. Now did you find a good spot to set up the stage?"

The three grabbed his arms and pulled him to an empty section of the park where they thought it would be the best spot. Looking around he could see they chose right as the ground was solid so no worries about the stage and plenty easy for a crowd to be here. "It's perfect girls. Now on to helping you three." He said turning to the wild cards. "You AppleBloom will be first up." He stated pointing to the country girl.

"What do ya mean by that?" She asked looking confused.

"You like to build things. Well why not help in building the stage and show everyone your skills. Hell I'll even show you some building techniques from my old world." He said, his smile growing when her eyes grew to the size of saucers and she began vibrating. "But first we need supplies so follow me children it is shopping day." He stated walking back to town at a good pace making the girls lightly jog to keep up.

"What do we need?" SweetieBelle finally asked once they entered the main square.

"Well for starters wood and lots of it. I've been saving up from work and various other things along with favors so I should be able to get everything we need. But yes first wood." Jack replied resting his hands on his hips as he remembered where the wood cutter brothers were.

So for the rest of the day the group went around town collecting all the materials they would need for the project that by the end of the day a nice pile of supplies were waiting in the park to be assembled.

Jack clapped his hands together once everything was in place. "Ok AppleBloom time to build." He said. walking over to one of the piles.

"What about us?" Scootaloo questioned walking next to him.

"You girls need to start thinking of either tricks you'd like to show off." He said pointing to the orange Pegasus. "Or write a song that you'd like to sing." He added shifting to Sweetie making the two look at each other.

"How are we supposed to do that though?" Said SweetieBelle scratching her head.

"Hm it would help if you two had certain people you look up to like oh I don't know sisters that would like to help." Jack said offhandedly hiding his smile as the two bolted away with gasps when they realized who he was talking about. When he looked back he saw AppleBloom already had a good start on the base of the stage going. Walking up he held the next piece she needed ready. As they worked on the stage Applejack strode up pulling a cart with more material that Jack had ordered.

"Howdy ya'll, I see ya guys are making good progress on this here show." She complimented whistling at how far they already were at the piece. "Here are the last of the supplies ya needed Jack." She said unhitching the cart.

Jack walked up and kissed her cheek. "Thanks honey, you are the best." He said laughing at her reaction as she pulled her hat down to hide her face. "Also was wondering If you thought of a date yet. I know the others have to go before you if I remember right." He asked tapping his chin after taking a few steps back so she could breath.

Before Applejack could reply Bloom let out a cry as she fell off one of the high beams for the lights. "Help!" She shouted.

"AppleBloom!" Cried Applejack trying to run and catch her falling sister but was quickly overtaken by Jack who dived past catching the girl before she could reach the ground. "Oh heaven above are you ok?" Applejack asked running up to the pair to see Jack slowly unwrap around the little girl, revealing she was unharmed.

"Ah'm okay sis thanks to Jack here." AppleBloom replied standing up shaking still.

"Next time Bloom let me handle the higher stuff unless I'm close enough to help okay?" Jack said brushing off some dirt from the girl. He felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist from behind with a body pressed to his.

"Thank you Jack for saving Bloom." Applejack whispered her voice muffled slightly by his clothes. He could feel her heart beat racing from the scare.

Jack turned so he could face her. "Think nothing of it hun, just doing my good deed of the day." He said calmly to help the mare's beating heart calm, lowering his voice to a slight rumble. "Why don't you take Bloom home. We made a lot of progress already and the show isn't for another three weeks." He said pushing the filly closer to her sister. Both simply nodded and walked home, leaving the cart for another day. Jack cleaned up the area before heading for the castle to go sleep.

Scootaloo stood in front of Rainbow twitching with nervousness about asking for help. "Um Rainbow can I ask you something?" She finally said tugging on the athletes sleeve.

"Sure squirt, fire away." Came the reply when Rainbow looked down at her.

"Could you maybe um..." She tried getting out but failing.

Rainbow smiled before squatting down to the girls height. "You know you can ask me anything right so lay it on me." She encouraged ruffling the little girls already messy hair.

"Could you help me come up with a routine for the talent show. I'm not very good with my wings but I can go fast on my scooter. Maybe you have some way to help me practice tricks and all that cool stuff you do." Scootaloo got out after hearing her idol's words.

Rainbow stretched back up and smiled. "Of course. Come on lets find a good place to see what you can do and work from there." She said waving her arm for the little girl to follow who was quick on her heels, buzzing with joy.

Sweetie had just stepped through the door to the Carousel when Rarity swooped over and dragged her to the modeling stage with a rack of clothes. "Perfect timing darling, let's get you a nice dress for the show." Rarity said excitedly.

"Wait you are coming to the show?" Sweetie asked almost forgetting about what she was about to be forced into.

"Of course dear, I'd never miss the chance to see my little sister perform on stage especially if it's with your wonderful singing." She replied cheerfully pulling a lime green dress off the rack. "Hmm no not a good color." She said after giving it some thought.

Sweetie stood there blushing before getting her big sisters attention. "Actually I was wondering if you could help me with making a song and getting the right music together." She asked kicking her foot on the ground with her head bowed down shyly.

Rarity let out a squee on the news and rushed over to hug her sister. "Of course silly. I would love to help you and I know just the people to get the right beat to back you up. But first lets get this dress on you." She said putting her sister down and picking up a dress similar to the style worn in the Crystal Empire.