My Little Heartbreak: Gaming Guardians

by Jet_Black1980

Rating: teen
Tags: Profanity, Adventure, Slice of Life, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, My Little Pony Comic, Original Character
Length: 20171

It's time for an adventure with Heartbreak and Rainbow Dash!

Following from last month's adventure, Rainbow Dash is tasked by Twilight to be Heartbreak's teacher this month. Sounds easy enough, right? But this is H.B. we're talking about here, and Rainbow Dash is the reason she's currently in a cast!
Can Rainbow Dash, as awesome as she is, be able to teach Heartbreak a lesson about loyalty without falling to her more well known less than awesome character traits? Will either of them have what it takes, or will everything end in heartbreak? Read on, true believers to find out!

Published 2025-02-04 13:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2025-02-04 13:40:01 UTC

Summer's End

Chapter One:

Summer’s End

The August breeze that went through the Ponyville park oak and willow trees was a hot and oppressive thing, like a rebellious young yearling who had discovered that he could back into his elders to make them move. It swirled and whirled and caused ponies to gasp and lather, sending them for whatever form of refreshment they could find.

If it had a face, it would be the brightest, sunniest, and most defiant, as if it couldn’t be reminded that Summer Wrap Up wasn’t just a few weeks away.

Yet for all this breeze’s hot headed spunk, there was an irregular chill in the air... It lived near a tree that was not quite near the center of this place of recreation.

There sat four ponies: A mature mare and three little blank flanked fillies. Such tempting targets to attempt to part for the August Breeze...

If it was not for that odd, unnatural chill that is... and if said sultrily breeze had things like will and feelings, it would give a girlish giggle and vow to remind the four that summer was still not at an end!

That is if it had any of those things.

“Now that we’ve called this meetin’ of The Cutie Mark Crusaders an’ all members are here an’ accounted fer-”

“Honorary member...” Heartbreak interrupted, raising her hoof off what appeared to be a modified ice chest of some kind before she used that same hoof to awkwardly adjust the knot of her crusader’s cape.

“A Crusader is a Crusader,” Apple Bloom said, a pencil between her teeth and a booklet in front of her. “Now, as the Leader of the Cutie Mark-”

“Why are you the leader?” Scootaloo interrupted, looking up from an object most uncharacteristic for the filly: A schoolbook full of many math problems.

“Ah’m the one with this here ledger, so fer now, Ah’m the one actin’ as the leader.” Apple Bloom asserted.

“I thought it was because you are the one with the bow,” Heartbreak bemusingly interjected.

“Say what?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head.

Heartbreak’s amused grin quickly vanished as she cleared her throat and adjusted her still cast leg. “Nothing, nevermind, just a little private joke from... uhm, Minneighsota... Ah... So! Let’s start the meeting?” she asked, awkwardly.

“Uhm... Yeah! What have ya been up ta ta help earn yer...” Apple Bloom’s voice went down to a hushed whisper as she looked around to check that no pony else was watching. “...Real cutie mark?”

Heartbreak stifled a giggle. “Uhm... well... I mean...”

“Have ya been tryin’ anythin’?” Apple Bloom asked, resting a hoof on the stump of one of the three trees that once called this valley-esk park home.

Heartbreak gave a sheepish guffaw, then rolled her eyes so hard that her head went along with them before she pushed up her purple rimmed glasses. “Well... That is a question... whose answer is ‘not... exactly’.” She stiffened up due to the interrogative glances being shot her way at the admission. “But! It isn’t for a lack of trying! I’ve just been... busy is all...” she said, tapping on the lilac cast.

“Doin’ what?” questioned Apple Bloom.

“Hey, maybe tone down the ninth degree?” Scootaloo asked, frowning as she looked up from the book and problem sheet before her. “But yeah, what have you been up to, H.B.?”

“In the last month since you three initiated me into your club- as an honorary member-” Heartbreak interrupted herself to reiterate that point. “Or since the last meeting which was...” She paused and tapped her chin, her hoof eventually flipping her lower lip as her eyes glazed down at a small spot of blue and red in the sea of green under her...

“H.B.?” Sweetie Belle asked, tapping the mare’s shoulder to bring her back from whatever world she had got lost in for those few seconds.

Heartbreak startled, making a whickering noise before snapping back to reality. “Huh? Right! Sss- You’ll have to excuse me, I was trying to recall what happened before that week I got sick and whether or not we had a meeting... Being ill with every f-foalhood illness really messes with your sense of time and reality, girls.”

Apple Bloom looked over the book of loose leaf papers in a simple binder that acted as the CMC’s ledger. “Le’me’check...” she murmured. “Uhm... nope, Ah dun’t think we did!”

Scootaloo looked over at Heartbreak, a curious, incredulous glimmer in the little filly’s eyes. “Every foalhood illness?” she asked, her pencil threatening to fall from her lips.

“Heh... Yeah... Apparently, the first thing I should have done when arriving in Equestria was... uhm... not talk to Twilight, but get all my shots because after interacting with the Summer Readers...” She covered her mouth and cleared a little phlegm. “I caught everything.”

“Everythang?” Apple Bloom echoed, the pencil actually dropping from her mouth.

Scootaloo snorted in disbelief. “Like... everything-everything?” she asked once again.

Heartbreak nodded and her shoulders slumped, the memory of that hazy week only highlighted by the very lack of clear and coherent memories that didn’t involve Angel Bunny’s schemes to permanently remove her from the Equestria Census.

“Everythi-” Sweetie Belle started, hovering over the odd white chest-like thing that seemed to be just a touch colder than the ambient surrounding air.

“Please don’t... mess with that...” Heartbreak hesitantly requested, trying not to sound like many a hen pecking adult that she was sure had scolded the three for their perfectly normal innate curiosity.

“Sorry...” Sweetie Belle apologized, eyes still transfixed. “What is it?”

“Oh! Does it have to do it us bringing our favorite drinks to your house yesterday?” Scootaloo asked, her attention now turning away from her textbook.

“Are our drinks in there?” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

Heartbreak took a deep breath through her nose and then let it out, calming herself. “Yes, you three remember what you all brought?”

“Sarsaparilla!” Scootaloo said, moxy in her voice at her drink of choice.

“Ah brought apple juice!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“I got cream soda from Rarity!” Sweetie Belle bubbly beamed before looking a little ashamed. “But if she asks, it was Scootaloo’s idea to take it...”

“Heeey!” Scootaloo scowled. “I wouldn’t do that!” she grumbled.

The group gave her an incredulous questioning collective glance.

“I mean, I’d maybe take one...” she admitted begrudgingly. “But! I would return it!” She shuffled her hooves and her little wings flitted uneasily. “Your sister has good taste in drinks...”

That had made her curious as to how the filly knew how good Rarity’s brand of cream soda, taste’s. “How would yo-” Sweetie Belle began.

“Girls?” Heartbreak cut in, clearing her throat. She pointed to the white chest. “I would like to show you what I got going on with this, and timing is kind of the essence...”

“Sorry, H.B...” The three apologized, slightly out of unison.

“It’s alright. Now,” As Heartbreak tapped a button on the chest’s lid, there was a sharp hiss as it opened followed by a fog spilling out as the drinks that had been placed within, rose upon a stabilizing platform of sorts. “This. This, girls, is a self chilling, uhm, ice chest.” She said, pushing up her glasses and giving the very aw inspired curious fillies a wide grin.

“Self chillin’?” Apple Bloom asked.

Heartbreak nodded. “Yeah,” she said, shifting in the grass. “You hear about the ice wood sliver that got stuck in my skin?”

Apple Bloom slowly nodded. “Yeah... A.J. told me about that last month when she was checkin’ Big Mac an’ Granny Smith over...” She gave the tan mare an apologetic look. “Ah’m really sore’eh that happened ta ya.... What with ya almost turnin’ into a pony popsicle an’ all...”

“Oh, it’s alright, Apple Bloom, t’ain’t yer fault,” Heartbreak said, waggling her hoof before clearing her throat of the accidental country drawl. “Anyway, the doctor let me keep that ice wood splinter and with the help of Pepper Pocket, I incorporated it into this chest design! But! That’s not the cool thing I wanted to show you three!”

“It’s not?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Scootaloo tilted her head. “Yeah, cause that’s pretty cool!”

“What in the whole of Equestria could be cooler than a self coolin’ ice chest?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Lots of things, I’m sure,” Heartbreak tapped her chin. “None of which I can think of off the top of my head, however, currently, the thing that’s ‘cooler’ than that is these three drinks... and my drink.” She shook her head. “Anyway, see how they’re still liquid?” she asked, excitedly.

The three nodded, a bit of confusion mixed with anticipation on their faces to see where this could possibly be going.

“Well. Right now, these drinks should be colder than ice!” Heartbreak exclaimed, a broad smile on her face.

“Colder than ice?” Scootaloo asked, once again dropping her pencil and walking up to join her friends in expecting the frosty looking beverages.

Apple Bloom tilted her head. “None of that makes a lick of sense, H.B.!”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “If they’re below freezing, shouldn’t they be... like...”

“Frozen?” Scootaloo finished.

Heartbreak just continued to look excited. “Yes, you’d think that! But! Uhm...” She looked as if she was trying to find the right words.

“Buuuut what?” Scootaloo asked.

“Give me a second,” Heartbreak took a deep breath. “Right, how do I put this... the water in your drinks wants to freeze, but due to the lack of nucleation sites, as the insides of your bottles are super smooth, it can't!”

“What’s a... nuucle- nu-clea-” Scootaloo tumbled on the words.

“Nucleation site?” Heartbreak asked.

“Yeah! That...” Apple Bloom answered, breathing in some of the chilled air from the chest.

“It’s just a fancy way of saying, ‘an imperfection from which ice crystals can grow’. Well... any crystals really. However, we won’t need any of that to make our drinks freeze!” Heartbreak said, still grinning.

“We won’t?” The three asked, curious.

Heartbreak almost puffed up her chest. “Nope! All you need to do is pick up your drinks by the necks- carefully I might add- and give them a good solid shake!”

The three little fillies each went over to their respective drinks and as instructed, using their forehooves, carefully picked them up. Momentarily, they all eyed Heartbreak, who currently had such a foalish twinkling her eyes that it was kinda scary. The mare then made an awkward shaking motion with her forehooves in an attempt to get the idea across as to what she wanted them to do.

With a shrug, the CMC gave the bottles a good solid shake and much to their amazement... something magical began to happen.

Small white chrysanthemum-like blooms appeared at the tops of the liquid inside the bottles, and then it began slowly spreading through their drink as the crystals grew outwards and down towards the bottom...

“Whoooa...” came the collective voice of awe.

Heartbreak could only giggle in glee over the reactions. “Go ahead! Open them!” she said, seeing that the bewilderment hadn’t worn off and was starting to give way to wary side-eyes. “But... carefully. There might be some spillage due to the carbonation in your drinks.”

Apple Bloom applied the frog of her hoof to the cap of her friend's drinks. “Applejack done an’ showed me this trick!”

“Car-” Heartbreak started, her eyes going wide, hoof reaching out, pulling back to cover her mouth with an anxious anticipation as the collective carbonated drinks both let out a sharp cracking ‘pssst!’ This was followed by bubbles fighting their way through the not fully frozen drinks and small condensation clouds coming out of the bottles mouths as Apple Bloom cautiously pulled the caps off with her hooves.

“Ah know what Ah’m doin’!” She said, smiling confidently, only flinching as the frosty fizz foamed and frothed over the bottle’s openings a bit.

Quickly, Scootaloo snatched her drink up before any of it could spill over, leaving Apple Bloom to give a sheepish giggle.

“Mostly...” She said, rubbing the back of her head. “Sorr’eh.”

“It’s fine...” Scootaloo replied, licking up her new treat. Her eyes went wide. “Whoa! You two got to try yours!” She insisted, holding the quickly condensating bottle in her hooves. “It’s amazing!”

Sweetie Belle delicately licked the frozen froth off her cream soda. “Oh wow!” her voice squeaked. “That is really good!”

“It’s... It’s all...” Scootaloo lifted her bottle up and over her mouth, only to be startled as a glob of her drink fell fast into her mouth faster than she expected!

“Slushy?” Heartbreak asked, smirking as the three fillies revealed in the refreshing refreshments.

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom piped up now that she had uncapped her bottle and joined her friends to see what the fuss was all about. “It’s like that one time A.J. caught me eatin’ snow... but better, ‘cause Ah’m not gettin’ a talkin’ to about ‘the dangers of eatin’ yeller snow’!”

Heartbreak painfully held back a snort. “Uhm... what was it again... ki yuki wa... tabe.. nai..de...fet... kudasai...”

“Huh?” Scootaloo asked before her mane shot up, and a pained expression passed her face. “Ack! Ice headache! Ice headache!”

“Haw! That’s what’cha get fer drinkin’ too fast!” Apple Bloom chortled. “It’s like cousin Carmel’s deep-fried ice cream! Ya gotta take yer time!”

“Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth.” Heartbreak advised looking pensive while at the same time trying to hold in any errant laughs.

Scootaloo’s pained expression soon melted away, only for her to go right back to almost taking another big gulp of her slushed sarsaparilla.

Thankfully, Apple Bloom put up her hoof and gave her a mindful side-eye.

“Heh, right... I almost forgot...” The filly sheepishly said, feathers in her wings once again fluffing. “It just tastes so good!”

“That’s most likely due to the fact that you’re tasting more of the flavoring and sugar in the drink,” Heartbreak explained, pushing herself up to look inside the self cooling ice chest, before bending her head in to retrieve her own drink.

“Ya need any help with that there, H.B.?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head.

“Ah’m ‘ood!” The stubborn tan mare insisted, her lips starting to feel a bit numb from the cold. She then proceeded to set the bottle down in the grass and inched her way back into the grass with the glass container betwixt her hooves. “Though... I could use help opening it...” she frustratingly admitted. “Apple Bloom could you-”

“Eeyup! No problem!” The filly beamed, nodding between a gulp of her drink before placing her forehoof on H.B.’s bottle and giving it a twist that was then followed by that same classic hissing and white whips of oddly floral-fruity scented carbonated clouds. She sniffed the air, the smell oddly familiar. “What... what is that?” she asked.

“It smells like peaches!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “Rarity has some really expensive perfume that I’m not allowed to touch...”

“Really?” Heartbreak asked with a sardonic chuckle. “I would have never guessed. Yeah, I was in the market the other day, and ponies were showing off their ‘artisanal sodas’ or pops or whatever, and I decided to take a case of a few things home with me... This one is ‘Peachy Dream’, created by the aptly named ‘Jinkies Peachy Keen’,” she was saying this while narrowing her eyes in order to read the homemade label.

“Better not tell Apple Bloom’s sister!” Scootaloo advised, bobbing her bottle above her head -yet again- due to the mass of slush being trapped on the bottom of it. “She really doesn’t like other fruits...” Suddenly, and much like last time, the miniature glacier in a bottle came sliding down and almost caught the filly off-guard! Thankfully, this time, she caught it in time to prevent her from choking.

“Ah, that ain’t true!” Apple Bloom grimaced, pointing her hoof, upon which the bottle cap from Heartbreak’s drink somehow still clung, up and towards the trash can that was at least a few feet away. Holding that foreleg with her other hoof, she closed one eye, took aim, and somehow sent it sailing on an arc through the air and into said receptacle, whereupon it clattered with a metallic triumph! “Yee-haw! Bullseye!” she cheered. “It’s just apples is the best!”

Heartbreak blinked, both taken aback and envious at what had to be somewhat a basic skill for even a colt or filly: holding things with one’s hooves. Though she tried her hardest to obfuscate that little green-eyed emotion, despite the three before her knowing about her ‘condition’.

“That was really impressive there, A.B.,” she said, trying not to eye her own perforated forehoof.

Apple Bloom grinned. “That ain’t nothin’!” she said, blowing on the tip of her hoof. “Applejack can buck the caps clean off a bottle without taking their tops off!” she beamed.

“Yeah... that’s pretty neat...” Heartbreak looked wistfully at her drink, or at least she pretended to as she rolled her free appendage. “ Doing things with your hooves like that... must be nice...” She muttered the last part under her breath.

Apple Bloom’s ears drooped. “Ah’m sore’eh there, H.B. Ah didn’t mean ta-”

Heartbreak shook her head and pushed her glasses up to rub her eyes. “It’s fine, it’s fine... I’m just being insecure.”

Apple Bloom nodded and tried to think of a way to steer the conversation back to something relevant. “Right, so, uhm, what if anythin’ have ya been doin’ ta find yer true special talent?”

“Oh... right, back to this now? Well, I haven’t given it much thought,” Heartbreak tilted her head and pushed up her glasses, yet again.

“Ya could be a science pony! Mixin’ tagether different fancy brews ta show fancy theories an’ get sparkly prizes!” Apple Bloom excitedly suggested.

“Or an inventing pony that draws out super awesome blueprints for ponies to follow and create amazing... uhm... stuff-devices!” Scootaloo said.

“Or... or... uhm... Spellcraft! You could write fancy poems that could help other ponies create spells!” Sweetie Belle suggested, shrugging as her two friends gave her a look at her idea.

“Girls... Girls... All of those are... valid paths to take... I guess... I don’t know, I just like doing things that are more... creative. Not that any of what you’re suggesting isn’t creative! It’s just I like... doing all of that- science, design, and stuff and things- and things and stuff, along with things like art, learning random trivia, drawing... uhm... nature... being creative...” she repeated. “Math... that’s another fun subject I can be creative with...”

“Math?” Scootaloo’s feathers ruffled in disgust. “How can math be fun let alone ‘creative’?” She sat up and crossed her forehooves while walking back to her books and papers before she flopped in front of them, frowning.

Heartbreak’s ears perked at the subject of the small gamboge filly’s ire. “Is that what you’re working on?” she asked, leaning over to get a better look.

Scootaloo nodded and rolled her eyes while huffing. “Yeah, Miss Cheerlee said that I wasn’t doing well in math at the end of last year and gave me homework to do over the summer! Can you believe it?! Who gives out homework for the summer!”

“Maaaybe if you didn’t wait till the last month to do it, you wouldn’t be so stressed about it!” Sweetie Belle said, munching on the ice from her slush.

“But it’s sooo boring!” Scootaloo complained.

“I could help you if you want me to...” Heartbreak offered, peering over at what looked to be rows of simple multiplication problems.

“You’d do that for me?” Scoots asked, looking up hopefully.

Heartbreak nodded. “Yeah, sure, bring it over here. What’s giving you trouble?” she asked. “Oh, do you have any scratch paper?”

Scootaloo looked confused. “Scratch... paper?”

“Nevermind,” Heartbreak said, looking up. “Sam... Sam... Sam!”

“Who’s-” Sweetie Belle began, only to be cut off as a small brown head with little yellow eyes popped out of the wavy curly sea of H.B.’s mane. “Eeek! What is that?!” the head ducked back into dark brown waves.

“Oh... Right... I should have warned you...” Heartbreak recoiled from the sudden high-pitched filly noise. After recovering, she pointed up. “Sam?” The rodenty face peered out once more, this time with much trepidation. “Girls, this is Sam. Sam, these are the Girls: Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.”

“Whoa!” Scootaloo piped up. “Do you have a pet rat now?!” she asked.

Sam gave the filly an indigent chuff and crossed his little arms.

Heartbreak chuckled. “She didn’t mean anything by it, Sam.” She looked at Sweetie Belle. “Sam is my companion rat. He’s agreed to help and protect me from things.” Looking up, she saw that the rodent was no longer up in her mane but now next to her cheek, this resulted in a sudden shock of surprise as a tiny tongue licked her nose. “Gah! Saaam! Staap that!”

“Aw... That’s sorta cute...” Apple Bloom admitted. “Is he friendly?”

“I would have to say that sometimes he’s a little too friendly.” Sam looked mildly offended and chittered before doubling upon his efforts for affection. “Gah! Sam! I need you for something!” Heartbreak almost squeaked out. “Can you dig around in my saddlebags and find some scratch paper?” she requested.

Sam tapped his little chin and looked thoughtful before hopping out of the chestnut locks. He was momentarily distracted by a food-like smell, as he snuffed around the air at a strawberry like scent, he then remembered his task for his pony, turned and climbed into the saddlebags. After rummaging around, he then popped back out, having retrieved a square of white paper. Paper that he happily delivered to his pony.

“Thank you, Sam.” Heartbreak Twilight’ed, smiling and placing her pencil into the hole through her hoof. “Now, what did you say you were having trouble with?” She put the scratch paper next to the math problems.

“Uhm... Oh, nines.” Scootaloo said once she recovered from what she had seen.

“Nines? There's actually a really neat trick you can do with nines...” Heartbreak began.

Scootaloo hid her grimace over the fact that H.B.’s hoof looked like a fancy pen had just embedded itself all the way through and out the bottom... After all, if she could learn something that could help her with her math, or better yet, was a nifty workaround... that would mean more time to do the things she loved the most: sick tricks on her scooter, the Rainbow Dash Fan Club, and most importantly- crusading for her cutie mark with her best friends! “And... what’s that...?” she asked.

“If you can count up, if you can count down- then you can count by nine.” Heartbreak said in a matter of fact tone- a tone that only elicited confused ‘uhh’s’ from the three before her. “Leeet me show you...” she said, putting pencil to paper.

=========

The wind ran through Rainbow Dash’s mane as she sped through cloud after cloud!

Each time there was a ‘pomph!’ Each time there was the brisk feeling of ice crystals, water vapor, and a tingle of static that ran through her as the cloud evaporated away.

“Aw, yeah!” Here comes Rainbow Dash to beat Equestria’s cloudbusting record, and it’s also her personal record too, I might add!” she boasted, zipping through eighteen more clouds. “Can she do it?!” Twenty-seven more pomphs! And a victorious buzzer went off!

“Yes, she can!” Cheered a Flutter-willow tree.

A cotton candy Pinkie Pie hovered over a cotton candy making machine, forming herself out of strands of the sticky sweet stuff only to consume parts of her tail and let them form again. She nodded to her arboreal accomplice. “Was there any doubt?!” she fairy-flossed.

“Ah reckon that there shouldn’t ever be!” Applejack affirmed from what looked like a cereal box. “She’s had herself a hearty breakfast after all!”

Rainbow Dash began to bow to the much deserved praise. “Thank you... Thank you... I know, I know!” She landed on the tastiest of grass, little colorful round candies with tiny ‘RD’s printed on them crunching below her hooves. “I’m awesome!”

A collection of tiny books proceeded to self assemble themselves into the vaguest appearance of her egg-headed friend Twilight Sparkle. Only for some reason she couldn’t put a hoof on, there was a massive open tome on her back, the title of which was ‘Lost Flight Feathers’ by Luminous Marrow Astar.

“That’s really great, Rainbow Dash,” the book-book horse typed into the air, the book she had instead of a mouth, flapping its pages. “But have you seen Mallowity? She was going to give you your completely earned and awesome cloud buster rainbow sash so you could fly around and show how totally awesome you and your cloudbusting skills are! Especially to those hardhats in Cloudsdale!”

Rainbow looked around and tapped her chin. “You’re right. Encyclopedia Sparkle! Where is-”

Just then a terrified scream traveled over the twirly grass and bobbling cider filled flowers. On a small hill with three trees was a melty marshmallow Mallowity!

Her face seemed to be sliding down her head, her normally stay puff fluff was dripping wet, the air fizzling out causing it to deflate! The culprit? Rain!

Dash wasted no time and sped the sticky mass that was her friend through large black crying teardrop shaped rain drops to a much drier location.

“Ah’m here ta help!” AppleJacks said, pulling out a sun on her packaging in an attempt to chase away the wetness.

Willowshy reached her branches towards AppleJacks box. “Oh, that’s so warm and feels so nice! Mallowity will be dry in no time!”

An orange chicken and two books, one of them with an apple and one with a musical note came trundling towards the hero and the drying distressed damsel.

“Wow! You’re so awesome, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaboo clucked, making her best effort to flap her wings and fly, only to become a bouncing earthbound butterball around her hero.

“When Ah look up ‘Awesome’ in mah pages, there’s a picture of you!” Appleictionary said.

“Amazing! Astonishing! Astounding! Awe-inspiring! Breathtaking! Imposing! Inspiring! Magnificent! Majestic! Miraculous! Spectacular! Staggering! Stunning! Stupefying! Sublime! Wonderful and wondrous! These are all words that describe you Rainbow Dash!” Shouted Thesaurus Belle.

“Thank you, thank you, you’re too kind,” Rainbow said, soaking up the praise. “But what caused this!? My sash is wet...” she said, inspecting the ribbon of cloth. A small pang of self awareness went through the pegasus. “Oh, and my friend has nearly melted! What did this?!” she asserted, posturing about.

“That! That did this!” Mallowity bemoaned, a melty hoof nearly sticking to her forehead as she expressed her dismay in a particularly dark direction.

Dash turned and readied herself to face off against a horrific villain... only to see a small black, heart shaped cloud growing on the horizon, down the middle of which was jagged white lightning bolts...

“Looks like you missed one...” a giant tank of a tortoise named Tank slowly said.

Dash felt a cold fear creeping into the back of her mane at the sight of that one dark storm cloud, but sensing that her friends needed her to face this aberration, she snorted, hooved the rainbow pebble candy ground, and took to the cold, icy sky.

Zooming past a pine tree splashed with Hearth’s Warming decorations of Winter’s past, bits, bobbles, and a spider with her webs, she careened towards an ever-growing fractured ebony heart whose craggy lightning bolt crack kept changing and jumping from place to place...

“What the hay?!” Rainbow gasped in disbelief as the cloud now appeared to no longer be in the air, but rather on the massive snow dusted tan hillside that was once part of the landscape.

A dark brown collection of brambles shifted behind this hill, a hill that then shuddered and shambled, its mass increasing before the horrified cyan pegasus’ eyes.

Atop the hill a boulder of immense depth and breath turned to the ever shrinking Rainbow dash, carved upon which a morose pony face, eyes that formed strange sharp black VoYdS all pointed to where one would expect irises. More brown, thorn covered brambles whipped and whirled into a mane as more and more detail chiseled its way over the figure forming. A single sharp-toothed mouth, massive hooves- one with a deep black hole drilled into its side, covered in tan-brown dead grass that resembled fetlocks...

In the sky, she swore she saw a blur of a colorful alicorn... it was flying over Canterlot... but the capital city wasn’t... right... Gone were the vibrant colors and lights, it felt more like an artists’ sketch, pencil lines covered with smudges of graphite with the barest of water colors...

A sharp frigid breeze shocked her attention back to the mountain pony before her. One that had taken on far more detail than before... if she didn’t know any better she swore it was...

“H-Heartbreak?” Rainbow Dash asked, recoiling from this ever looming... thing? At this angle she thought she could make out two other heads in the distance...

The heap that was Mount Heartbreak stared deep into Rainbow’s soul, its ears, if you could call them that, pinned, cold wind running off its cliff faces before opening her cavernous maw...

“H.B.-eeep! Beeep! BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP!”

“Wha-

=========

“Gah!” Rainbow Dash found herself being flung from the safety of her cumulus bed as her wings splayed out in fright. She hit the floor with a soft ‘thump’ sound. Though the landing itself was anything but soft, for you see dear reader, despite what unicorns or earth ponies would tell you, Equestrian clouds are still made up ice, water vapor, and a dash of ambient magic that gives them just a hint of almost sapience, for a pegasus going at the right speed, slapping against a cloud is like hitting a nonneightonian fluid rather than anything gaseous. The sting in her face reminded her of these facts.

“Geez... What a dream...” she muttered to herself.

“Beep! Beep! Beeep! Get up and get ready for adventure!” Blared the Daring Doo alarm clock.

Normally, Dash would greet that daily cheer of affirmation with an enthusiastic ‘Aww, Yeah!’, but all she could muster was an irritated grumble before pushing herself up off the floor.

Waving her hoof over the cool and confident looking Daring Doo figurine attached to the device whose only job was to rouse her from slumber, she fought the urge to slam the hard appendage down to silence the sound.

She shook her head.

“I can’t do that to somepony as awesome as you, D.D. I mean, what would A.K. Yearling say if I broke this one of a kind collector's clock?” Rainbow asked, lightly tapping the treasure chest-shaped button cutting Daring’s catchphrase off at ‘Get u-’

She yawned, stretched her forelegs up in the air before leaning forward and doing the same with her wings while giving them a flap to shake out any loose feathers.

“Geez, what a crazy dream...” she groggily repeated to herself, still not having fully shook the sleep away. “Wonder what brought that-” She was interrupted by the scattered pile of junk mail, business envelopes, still sealed tax forms and two letters- one opened, one unopened, sliding off a cloud chair and onto the floor. The only thing keeping them from falling through the cloud cover was the enchanted paper they were made from.

The open letter was from Fast N’ Fit giving his best regards, however felt that she wasn’t the best fit for the Wonderbolts Reserves, and had she just given a little more effort and helped him with his start up business, really, it only would have cost her one hundred and forty-four bits for a demonstration pack of supplements! She could have been rolling in dough! Her pack could even come with an official brand new never before seen ‘Elements of Harmony’ approved stamp or sticker! If she only-

Rainbow Dash snorted and grabbed the offending thing before crumpling it up into a tight ball and three point hoof flinging it into her rather full trash bin. Miraculously, the wad didn’t fall out.

“Aw-yeah!” She trotted over to her dresser and looked at herself in the mirror. “You are the mare!” she cheered to herself. “Yeah, I know! Nopony is gonna get me to fall for a scam!...” She looked around. “Again that is...” She embarrassedly admitted out loud. “But that’s why you are awesome!”

A little self pep talk never hurt anypony, though it had become much more routine ever since Heartbr-

“Whoa-whoa... Remember what Fluttershy said- ‘Her name is Heartbreak, but she likes to be called ‘H.B.’” The rainbow maned mare reminded herself, momentarily adopting the mild-mannered mellow yellow mare’s mannerisms.

She shook out the Fluttershy in her voice.

“Wait, what was I thinking about just no-” Her words once again were cut off by the presence of that one unopened letter. A letter that shouldn’t have caused her ears to pin and give her resting disapproving mare face... but it did. “Oh... right. That.”

The normally self-assured pegasus wouldn’t be so... what word would Rarity use? ‘Reluctant, Darling.’

“Yeah, that.” Dash replied as if her friend was actually there.

However, this letter was from Twilight.

Usually, Twilight was indeed all about sending the letters, and more than not, they were about the most trivial of things- where to meet up, who to bring, though it could be something really important and exciting, like the newest update on the latest Daring Doo book!

“However...” She began rumbling. “Ever since Heart- H.B.! H.B.! Arrived, it’s been literal literary letter silence!” She glared at the letter addressed to her from Twilight and marked ‘Important! Urgent! Open right away!’ “I can already guess what you are going to be about...” Dash grumbled.

Why was this bothering her so much? Was it because she had barely taken the time to interact? That she had actively avoided and now it might feel weird? Did what happened last month finally make it back to Twilight?

“Grrr! Why does this have to be so complicated!?” Rainbow bemoaned. Just then she spied with her cerise eyes something highlighted on her calendar that made her spirit soar!

‘Cider Tasting Day!’

It was in bright letters and decorated with a smiling cartoon Applejack and, of course, Rainbow Dash holding up mugs surrounded by apples!

“Aww! Yeah! Cider Tasting Day? How could I forget that? Count me in-” The letter from Twilight ruffled from a faint breeze going through her window as if to remind her of its existence. She snorted... What to do... What to do... On one hoof, delicious cider. On the other hoof, a letter that she was sure to be Twi’ telling her that it was her turn to teach H.B...

Dash’s hoof casually flicked at the edge of the fluttering letter, and it fell behind her dresser.

“Oops, where did that go? Guess I’ll have to look for it later! In the meantime? Cider Tasting Day! I’m on my way!” She exclaimed, making a quick look at herself in the mirror to make sure she looked awesome, which of course she did, before zipping out the door, away from Trotsdale, to the skies above Ponyville, and towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Author's Note

Book Six Begins! And with it, a new adventure! Scared Ghost and Psychopath are still with me, helping me crank out where this is all going to go! The artist Sen helped me with the cover art and the chapter art can be found here! It's good to be back!

Setting up the Pieces

Chapter Two:

Setting up the Pieces

From the sky, despite everything looking so very small, with Rainbow Dash’s keen pegasus eye, she could take in everything that she did spy as she flew by.

A piebald unicorn pony stallion with glasses and two colts in tow was out and about, greeting an orange unicorn mare with a blue mane and clocked themed cutie mark. She was wearing a hat similar to Applejack’s cousin Braeburn from Appleloosa and pulling a cart with what had to be loaded with all her possessions: tools, gears, an assortment of books, knick-knacks, what looked to be candles, and a small clock that looked to be an owl.

Two mares that looked vaguely familiar: a thin yellow pegasus, her mane and tail a teal color, and a fluffy tan-ish earth pony with a mane and tail that were red-orange. They were talking with... Marmalade? About something. There was a little orange colt hiding in the bushes, holding a blue, pink, and white ribbon of fabric, he was anxiously looking around...

The unicorn from the tea shop -What was her name again? Something...Brew? Subtle Brew... Yeah, that sounded right- was walking to the Pens and Quills shop. She seemed to be offering a bag of tea to the pale white unicorn who then exchanged it for super black ink blocks.

Lyra Heartstrings was trotting up to P.B. & J.J.’s Games and Puzzles Emporium, there was a small collection of ponies waiting?

Rainbow Dash recognized Poindexter and 8-Bit, but the tan mare with the brown mane with a strawberry stripe going through it and green eyes? No... Then, there was the green stallion with a red-orange mane that looked to be stuck in a permanent perm... His wings flapped and he gave a hoof wave that told her that while she didn’t know him off the top of her head... he somehow knew her. In the nearby alleyway, she swore that there was the outstretching of the bat-wing... but it most likely was just a nightmare night decoration that was stashed in the back. No way a soarin’ pegasus' would be out in the daytime. Especially out here in Ponyville...

A sleek, bone-white unicorn mare with a mane so black that it looked almost blue was at the Ponyville bulletin board in front of the town hall, she had a cutie mark that looked like a fly in a trench coat, at least that’s what Dash thought it was, there really was no time for a closer look, not with Cider Tasting Day on the line! She was putting up a wanted-missing poster of what looked to be a morose picture of Trixie Lulamoon... It was placed between advertisements of ‘Come One, Come All! The Fantastic Ballet Dancer Fabio at the Gallopi Theater!’ and ‘This Sunday! Come see the WonderBolts performing at the Mall of Equestria in Whinnyapolis! Tickets Still available!’

Only one of those three things made it into Rainbow Dash’s long term memory.

Puzzle Box and Joyful Jubilation, two ponies she only knew because they had Daring Doo figurines, were walking away from the post office with packages, no doubt brand new games and puzzle books based on the size and shapes of the stacks on their backs, all while a ferret dove about his owners' mane.

Passing the Ponyville Schoolhouse, Dash could just make out the Orphanage, and if she had taken a bit more time to scan the decrepit place, she would have seen the face of a filly momentarily brighten at the dissipating rainbow trailing behind the pegasus. She would also see the foul red maned mare with far too much makeup on giving the most sour glare possible.

Two fillies that were almost always seen together: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were at a local magazine rack. With the former instructing her butler to take several different publications. This would hardly be odd, had they not been for the titles being so... what’s the word Rarity would use to sound fancy? ‘High-Horse-born’?

Just then a shimmer caught her eye and just in the nick of time, Rainbow Dash swerved to avoid a rather large spider’s web that itself held an equally unnerving large blue spider!

“Whoa! That was close!” she gasped, giving a signature Rainbow Dash™ laugh. “Don’t know why I didn- Ah!” Suddenly and almost without warning, she almost crashed into a... flying muffin?

Dodging the massive flying mini-cake bread, she did a double take, only to see that it was an oddly shaped cloud that only looked like a muffin.

“Whew, for a second there I thought that I was still dream-” That’s when Rainbow Dash did find herself colliding with something, familiarly soft, elastic, and worst of all, feathery and fluffy?

Sent into a tailspin, it didn’t take her long to right herself, after all, she was awesome like that. However, before she could even get out an ‘Are you okay?’ She was greeted with a hostile ‘Watch where you’re going!’ from a frazzled looking fellow pegasus.

Dash looked at the pegasus whom she had flown into: She was a white pony with a windswept brown and tan speckled mane, upon her flanks was a swirling whirlwind, in her forelegs there were instruments that the rainbow maned one recognized for measuring detailed weather patterns.

“Uhm... Yeah, sorry about that... I’m a little preoccupied...” Rainbow apologized awkwardly. “IIIII didn’t catch your name.”

“Hmph. I didn’t tell you my name. It’s Dust Devil,” the pony all but growled. “And you should be! I’m trying to predict this week’s forecast!”

Rainbow looked confused. “Don’t we... like... control the weather?”

Dust Devil frowned, her wide wings flapping hard as she looked away from the sextant and other odd looking weather measuring device she had. “You should know that there are things that are even beyond our control when it comes to the weather! One misplaced breeze, a single sneeze, or wing flap can throw everything out of whack!” She flew right into Dash’s face. “I’m telling you... There’s a storm a-brewing... Something in this area is throwing all my calculations out of sorts!”

“Is it something that I should be worrying about?” Dash asked, only a little concerned. “Cause I got this thing that I have to do today and-”

“Pah!” Dust Devil threw her hooves up into the air, dropping her instruments, which she then dove down and caught. “Go ahead and go do whatever it is you were going to do and leave the real work to the professionals!” Just then, a small watch on her wrist started going off with a beeping alarm. “Speaking of which...”

Just like that, as quickly as the weather pony had entered her day, she was gone, leaving Dash a bit flustered, confused and more than a bit miffed.

After that short, heated encounter, nothing sounded better than freshly squeezed tangy, spicy, frothy, delicious, sweet Apple Acres Apple Cider!

“Yeah! I got cider to sip!” She exclaimed.

So, she continued zipping unimpeded to her destination and the mare that could quench her thirst.

=========

Applejack wandered her family’s orchard, eyeing each tree with a practiced gaze that only fame from generations of experience and years of dedication on account of hafin’ ta take on said responsibilities at such a young age.

Some would say that such determination and grit may have robbed her of her fillyhood, denied her experiences with others her age, and made her a little more than ‘stall-bound.

“But those ponies wouldn’t know a hickory from a hawthorn, let alone an Empire from an Evercrisp!” she mused.

She, of course, was very much right.

A.J. knew these orchards like the back of her hoof- she could tell so much about a tree by placing an ear to the trunk and giving it a light, apt, loving tap-tap to listen to the resonance from within.

Everything from age, health, how the sap was flowing, if they were suffering from stress, even a good idea how well the harvest would go or how sweet or tart the apples were to turn out could be determined this way.

‘Along with if any... fettin’ insects goin’ an tryin’ ta make a meal outta trees like Ol’ Bethany here...’ she thought looking at the lush green foliage. Thankfully, this tree was spared the problem that she wished she had caught earlier... One that the whole Apple Family was scorched and frozen with last month.

She pushed her ear against Bethany’s trunk again, this time closing her eyes while she rap-a-tap-tapped.

‘Ah ought to know whether or not ah wanna thank Fluttershy’s varmint of a pet or call fer him ta be made an example fer the others ta stay outta the Orchards! On the one hoof, he did almost try an’ get H.B. roasted alive... an then forced us ta freeze the fire ants out...’ She pulled back and then took a deep smell of the apple tree for her inspection. ‘On the other hoof, all that did lead ta us findin’ out about them fire ants... Still... sum of ma best trees got cooked! An’ frost bitten!’ She bitterly smiled.

Applejack shook her head, tsking at the information she had gathered. “Oh, Beth... The good news is that yer roots are soundin’ healthy an’ ya were spared all that fire an’ ice.. The bad news? One of these years, yer gonna help me win a blue ribbon for sure, but... not this season. Maybe we try again next time? Ah’ll be sure ta give ya some serious T.LC.!”

She looked at her lovely orchard, a pained expression marring her face.

“It’s just been a hard year so far...” Applejack said, sighing sadly. “What with what happened last moon an’ all the things goin’ on with H.B...” The leaves of the apple trees seemed to rustle sympathetically. “Now don’tcha go an worry yer crowns about me. Ah’ll be alright.” She sniffed hard. “Heh,” She rubbed her eyes. “Can’t be cryin’ an’ havin’ ya all’s apples lookin’ an’ tastin’ all sad now! Keep them tears for the barn, A.J.!”

She took a deep breath, and steeled herself up again before moving on to another tree, once again applying her tried and true method of listening to the trunk and giving a good old ‘knock on wood’ in hopes that this one would also be spared any damage.

That’s when the leaves of all the trees quivered in the most subtle way, this was accompanied by the bright, happy, joyful yip-yaps of Winona zooming down the orchard paths, bounding into the air and snip-snapping at nothing as if there were very specific things floating or fluttering on the dog days breeze. All of this of course was a sign that Applejack had learned meant one thing.

That one thing arrived with a rush of hot summer air, a blue blur, and the fading of a variegation trail as the pony who it all belonged to dropped out of incomprehensible speeds and appeared mere hoof steps in front of the brilliant gamboge pony.

There was barely a reaction in the mare’s expression, save for her left forehoof reaching up to secure her father’s light brown stetson hat from that arid gust that continued onward without the one who had brought it.

“Hey, A.J.!” Rainbow Dash cheerfully exclaimed, her normally brash attitude was tempered with that of a young filly’s excitement just before the opening of Hearth’s Warming presents. “Funny seeing you here!”

Applejack couldn’t help giving a quieted chuckle that playful statement, especially as the pegasus hovered in the air, wings flappy slowly to keep her aloft, forehooves crossed in a ‘I’m too cool for school’ pose. “Is that right now?” She asked whickering and adjusting her hat before moving on to the next tree to check. “Now where else did ya expect ta find me?”

Dash felt a little thrown off by the question. “Uhm, I mean... here but, I don’t know... more around the...” she landed and tried to hide her lip smacking. “... the cider mill?” she asked with a parched anticipation.

“Oh yeah...” Applejack dusted the bark of a tree from Cosmic Crisp before tapping the trunk. “Ah would be there by this time, wouldn’t ah...”

Rainbow nodded eagerly, her tongue threatening to loll out of her mouth.

“Ah would be...” A.J. Trailed off a bit before tapping once again before she nodded, turned and bucked the trunk of the tree, sending down speckled fruits into waiting baskets.

“You would be... buuuut?” Rainbow Dash anxiously asked, lowering her head and looking up at her friend, her ears drooping.

“Huh? Oh right.” Applejack replied, mulling something over about the next tree. Cousin Jazz had sent this one. “But Ah’m a bit behind on account that Ah’m bein’ a touch more thorough with Ma tree checkin’. Pullin’ them fire ants out last month gave us a good look at the nest that them varmints had set up! Now we’re lookin’ ta see if there was any damage ta our orchard’s roots!”

Winona, sensing her owner's distress, bound about the pony’s hooves, mouth opening and closing between playful panting, her lovely black eyes filled with no thoughts other than A.J.'s wellbeing.

Dash’s eyes were anything but that.

“Wait! Fire ants? Damage? Extra time? A bit behind?... Fire ants!?” She asked all in rapid succession, her wings starting to flitter about uneasily.

“Yeah... ya remember last month when Fluttershy was havin’ a time teachin’ Heartbreak-”

At the mention of that name, Winona’s demeanor changed, she looked around sniffing the air while whimper-whining between soft growls.

“-H.B.” A.J. corrected herself, petting her dog for comfort. “When she was here?”

Dash tried hiding embarrassment under an extended ‘Uuuuhm...”

Applejack sighed and nuzzled Winonia’s head to reassure the pup before continuing on with the trees. “Right, before Flutters asked you fer help, she asked me fer help. Ah thought that by showin’ her the farm’ fixin’s that she might get herself a better diet." She gave a couple more pats to her pet who still seemed to be sniffing the air, staring towards a place near the Everfree Forest, and then looking back at her master. “Turns out that little... fettin’ varmint that Fluttershy calls a ‘pet’ had gone an’ convinced the moles ta dig tunnels leadin’ off ta the front door of them there fire ant’s nest!”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped. “Wait... that’s what happened?”

“Eeyup!” Applejack replied, about to knock on wood once more only to stop and give her friend a look. “Ya didn’t know about all that?” she asked in disbelief.

“I knew about the fire ants, the burn, the uhm...” Dash folded feathers on a wing down trying to recall the events that transpired. “The cat bite!” she exclaimed. “How do you know about all of that? I mean, about Angel being the one doing that?”

Applejack whickered disapprovingly. “Cause Ah felt the need ta do a check-up with her after she got back from the hospital, ya know, after she fractured her foreleg?”

Dash snorted. “Hey! That was totally not my fault! Me and Fluttershy caught-”

“Fluttershy an’ Ah,” Applejack corrected, the skin on her shoulders twitching.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and tossed her mane. “Flutters and I caught her just in the nick of time before anything serious happened!”

A.J. took a deep breath before letting it out. “Yeah... ya did...” She wiped her brow before pulling a water bottle from her saddlebags and hydrating herself. “Ah’m sorr’eh there, Dash...” She once more sighed before placing the nice cool bottle on her forehead. “Ah guess Ah’m just a bit sore at Maself on accountin’ ta what happened at the hospital after the whole bike thing is all...”

“Wait, something else happened at the hospital?” Dash asked, her face twisting in confusion.

“Ya really don’t stay in the loop, do ya?” Applejack’s question was only met with a guilty side eye.

Rainbow’s mane got a hoof going through it for yet another time as shameful eyes looked at the ground. “You know that gossip and Ponyville news is more of Rarity’s thing...” she postured herself as to defend her lack of knowledge. “Besides! I’ve been busy!”

Applejack’s head dropped disappointedly and she sighed. “Alright, ya might wanna have a sit while Ah filly ya in then...”

=========

“So... The numbers... the ones that are... in the ones? They’re the ones on the right?” Scootaloo asks, her face doing all sorts of gymnastic flip-flops and twists as the gears and springs in her brain grind and shake.

It’s... frustrating for both of us. I can see that she’s honestly trying. She really is!

However...

My pattern seeking brain is dying to blurt out the answers. Thankfully, or maybe not so much, I’m not the only one, as Apple Bloom also has a similar expression adorning her face.

“Mmm, Huh, and all the numbers in the left-hooved column are ‘the ten’s’.” Be patient, H.B. She can get it.

“Now that you’ve written zero to nine going down on the left side, the ‘tens’ and nine to zero going down on the right side, the ‘ones’, say the two sides as if they were one number.” Fuck. I hope that wasn’t too confusing...

“Uuuh...”

Fet. Locks. I suck as a teacher.

“Here.” I use the cast on my forehoof to cover all but the top set of numbers. “Zero-nine, which is...”

“Nine?” she asks with an all too familiar uneasy laugh.

“Yup.” I lower my cast to uncover the next number. “One-eight is...”

“Eightteen...” Scoots taps her chin and is chewing on her pencil almost aggressively.

“And this would be?” I slide that lilac cylinder encasing my... arm... leg... whatever, now’s not the time for insecurities. Another number gets uncovered.

“Twenty... seven?” She asks, looking for approval.

“Yup, that’s right!” Apple Bloom interjects. Sweetie Belle has been rather quiet, opting to watch in a somewhat detached fascination- I think- while her lips seem to be mouthing some secret song that’s playing in her head.

“Thirty-six... forty-five... fifty-four... sixty-three... seventy-two... eighty-one... ninety!” Hoofston, we have a breakthrough. Let’s see if she can get what I have to lay on her next!

“That’s right, now here’s a little something neat to notice...” I write down the digits one through nine next to each of the numbers Scoots just rattled off. “Look here, each of the tens is one less than the numbers you’re multiplying it by... and if you add the digits of said number together... you are always going to get nine! It’s nine’s all the way down!”

Now the three of them are looking over my shoulder and at the page as if they can’t believe what I’m saying.

“Two and seven is nine!” Sweetie Belle squeaks pointing at the third set of numerals.

“Six an’ three is nine!” Apple Bloom beams, little hoof on the seventh set.

“And... and... nine and zero is nine...” Scootaloo mulls over. “What does it mean?”

My brain screeches to a slow stop at that question.

“Uhm... well... nothing really...” Great, now I sound like an idiot... Come on, find a way to save this! “Ooother than it’s a property of any multiple of nine and can be used to determine if a number will divide evenly by nine or not!”

“Huh... really?” Scootaloo asks.

“Totally for sure! Take my favorite number, one-hundred and forty-four!” ...Good grief. Is there something in this ‘Peachy Keen’ soda? I sound way too happy. Especially when talking about something as seemingly dry as the subject of numbers. ... Whatever. Maybe I’ll get to make the joke.

“You have a favorite number?” Scootaloo is asking this with disdain and confusion in her voice.

“Yes... It’s my favorite number, because not only is it a square number...” I line up for the pitch... “But it’s also a gross number!”

The joke goes as I expect it to- three confused little fillies giving me that look... You know the one that says-

“Oh!” Apple Bloom bursts into fits of laughter. “Ah get it! Cause a ‘gross’ is a number of sumthin’!”

“Huh... It is?” Scootaloo asks, looking at her friend.

“Yu-huh! Granny Smith uses it a lot!”

“Huh... so, anyway...” Gotta try herding them back to the point of what I’m trying to show them. “If you add the digits of one-forty-four-” my hoof is gonna be sore from all this writing, but fet it. This is sorta fun. “You get...”

Scootaloo seems to look up at me for a moment. “One... plus four... is five... and five and four is... nine!”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are giggling more than they are cheering their friend on in her academic pursuits. I can’t help wonder why... Until I see a ratty shadow adjoined to my mane being cast on the paper.

That little ratty shadow with little ratty fingers that are all up- save for what it has for a thumb.

“Saaaaam...” I feel my newly acquired companion’s body stiffen up atop my head, and there’s a panicked yet curious little high-pitched squeak. “Are you helping Scootaloo with those little fingers of yours?”

There’s an... iffy teeth chattering sound and Sam’s shadow gives a shrug.

“You aren't mad at him are you?” Scoots asks with a worried tone. Geez, I hope I don’t come off as a po- ... an individual that would get that mad with their pet. Yeah, Sam is insisting on being called a ‘companion rat’, but that’s still some form of pet. Not that I’ll tell that to him...

“Nooo...” I say after a little chewing on the thought. “He’s just trying to help and if it gets whatever it is that I’m trying to show you into your head... then what works works.”

“That’s what Applejack is always sayin’! Ya might not buck as hard as Ah do, but ya still bucked the tree so whatever works works!” Apple Bloom pipes up quoting her sister before taking a good drink of her slush, which I am amazed to see has remained still partly frozen in this heat.

“Yeah...” Simple wisdom from an honest pony.

‘Too bad it doesn’t work in fixing all your problems...’

Aaaand good morning to you too. Didn’t know that your pink fluffy butt would be up this early!

“How did you learn all this stuff about numbers, H.B.?”

Scootaloo’s question catches me off guard. Like, it’s not a question that I would expect from the filly. It doesn’t feel all that right. I shake myself from that moment.

“I... guess just playing around with the numbers and seeing the patterns that they all have- cause that’s what numbers are: patterns. A way to describe the world around us. Otherwise, they don’t exist.”

Uh-oh... that might have been the wrong thing to say because the girls are giving me those wide-eyed flabbergasted looks to indicate what was uttered into the air just... broke them and shattered their existences.

“If numbers don’t exist, why am I putting so much work into learning about them!?” Scootaloo exclaims throwing her hooves into the air.

“Because...” Come on! Quick! Quick! Think! Why! “It’s...” Yeah... yeah... what. What is it? “It’s useful stuff that doesn’t exist?” Great, you’ve really set yourself up here, H.B. Maybe think of an example where numbers are useful that’s also fun?

========

Rainbow Dash held her head against the dog of her hoof, attempting to take in everything that Applejack had just told her.

"Right, so, after I went to meet up with... Fast N' Fit..." she grimaced and rolled her eyes, feathers fluffing at having to say that pony's name...

"Ya mean after ya up an' left?" Applejack asked, eyeing her really good friend.

"Hey! I had to meet up with him!" She crossed her hooves. "Even if it turned out to be a scam..."

Applejack gave her a pointed side eye.

Dash puffed up defensively. "It could have happened to anypony!" She protested.

The only response she got was a miffed 'mmmhum...'

"Ugh, so after I went to do that, and H.B. was at the hospital, she got her x-rays, then the squirt-"

"Cream Puff."

"... Cream Puff gave her a muffin- but the muffin had sunflower seeds- and she’s allergic to those- so then she got shots- which caused her to panic- and that panic caused a magic sliver to nearly freeze her to death- but they were able to pull the sliver out in time with the help of 'Brick House'?" She blinked and trotted back and forth. "Then, after all that, it turned out that everypony found out that it was Angel- Fluttershy's cute little bunny rabbit pet, that was going around sabotaging her lessons in an attempt to..." Dash rolled her hoof and looked elsewhere, attempting to find a less grim phrase...

"Knock her off the wagon?" Applejack suggested, standing up and walking over to a tree worth a small tag marked 'Paula Red'.

"Yeah, let's go with that, but he failed at every attempt, so the white puffball got a hawk-"

"Ah reckon it was a falcon," Applejack interjected, huffing at the tag before performing her tree doctoring magic.

"Whatever! The white rabbit hired a hit bird to attack H.B. only for them to be foiled by... and I just want to know that I heard you right... a spider, a snapdragon vine, and... a rat?"

Applejack tapped her chin. "Come ta think about it, there was a cat, fox, an' a mole there too, though the mole wa'n't there ta help an' Ah dun't think they stuck around..." she said, looking over the tree one more time before giving it a sturdy buck with her back hoof, causing more fruit to be collected.

"I feel like I missed out on a really awesome Daring Doo story... if Daring Doo was a rat," Dash amended.

"Yeah, well, that's what happens when ya go out on the hollow promises of Fibs N' Fat..." She picked up the tag on the tree right next to the last. She scowled once more. "Cornel Red..." Applejack muttered.

"Hey it was Lt. Fa-" Dash felt a hard glare from Applejack as she bucked the tree, causing it too to give up its fruit. "Ha, yeah, even I have a hard time arguing that..." she admitted, rubbing the back of her head. Just then she noticed the scowl hadn't lifted off her friend's face. "Uhm... something wrong?" She trotted over to one of the baskets and picked an apple from the Paula Reds before proceeding to take a bike of the sweet, tangy, crunchtastic treat. "Can't be these! They're awesome!"

Applejack pondered telling Rainbow Dash what had her in a snart. After all, though the pony was arguably the element of loyalty... she sure wasn't the element of paying attention. "Hmph... tain't nothin' important..."

Rainbow took another bite. "Ah come on!" she said with a mouthful of apple particulates following her words. She swallowed and finished off the juicy refreshment before trotting up to A.J. and giving her what she believed to be an assuring pat on the shoulder. "You know that you can tell me anything!"

"See these trees here?" Applejack asked with an uneasy sigh.

"Uh... yeah?"

"A few of the old timers in the orchard did suffer from root damage on account of them fettin' fire ants an' then sudden freezin'..." She tapped the two trees. "After we found out, we reached out ta cousins an' family fer some replacements..."

Dash looked confused. "And... you're upset that you got them?"

"Ah was hopin' that Great Uncle Wealthy or Great Aunt Duchess would be sendin' some help..." she snorted and hooved at the ground. "Fet, Ah'd even take a few from Keepsake an' Centennial Crab, an' C.C. is a fancy marine biologist or whatever, but instead Ah got a couple from the Reds!"

"IIIII'm still confused. Is there something wrong with the trees?" Rainbow reared up on the Cornell tree and imitated Applejack's tree checking, only to realize that she had no idea what she was doing and was getting bark bits in her ear.

"The trees are fine! Healthy and prolific producers! Like Ah said, the problem stems from them comin' from the Reds!" Applejack snorted frustratedly.

"Why's that? Aren't all members of the Apple family like..." Dash flicked the apple bark out of her ear with her forehoof. "One big happy orchard?"

"Not every Apple is a goodin'! Sometimes even the prettiest of Apples can be hidin' a worm or water bound core!" The old craggy creaky croak of Granny Smith.

Rainbow Dash jumped into the tree, startled that somehow the old graymaned, pale green, geriatric mare had managed to stealth her way right up next to her!

It didn't help that her voice sounded like the Mad Mare of the Weeping Willow Wood said to be in the darkest, loneliest part of the Everfree Forest, come to snatch up colts and fillies with her silver sorrow cord!

"Geez! How did you-?! You shouldn't sneak up on a pony like that! You're gonna give them a heart attack!" Dash shouted prying herself from the tree branch.

Granny Smith held a hoof to her ear. "Huh? What's that there little missy? Yer gonna have ta speak up!"

"I said-"

"Heart attack? Ha! Not today! This ticker of mine is still going strong! You on the other hoof might wanna learn ta relax, don't wanna get sent to that great apple pie in the sky too soon, ya hear?" Granny Smith chuckled and gave a wry wink before looking lost for a moment. "Now what were y'all gabbin' about? Oh yeah, the Reds." She shook her head. "Them two might act all nicey-nice, givin' ya gifts, and sweet dipped apples- though it ain't poison- though ya might prefer that when they're done with ya, on account that there's always some sort of strings attached, even with their most innocent of gifts!" she growled.

"Good... to know..." Rainbow Dash said feeling like her ear was chewed off.

"Now what was I doing..." The wizened one wondered. "Oh yeah, Ah was comin' back with the mail!" She smiled a dentured smile as she proceeded to pull out a stack of stuffed envelopes, advertisements for old pony ailments, and junk mail. She then took out her thick glasses whose lenses looked more at home on the bottoms of Colta Cola bottles than her face. Licking her lips, she began to hoof through it once she donned her spectator spectacles that made her eyes look three times too big.

"H.Bills... H.Bills... cat catalog... H.Bills..." She shook her head. "Why in tarnation are we gettin' H.Bills mail?!"

Applejack walked over to her granddame. "Let me see that there, Granny Smith..."

Granny Smith pulled away defensively. "Yooou implyin' sumthin' about Ma eyes there, young filly? Ah have half a mind ta-"

"No! Not all all, Ma'am!" Applejack could sense the signs of exhaustion in her grandmother. "Ah just thought that maybe a second set of eyes wouldn't hurt is all..."

Like a nanny nanny goat, the elderly mare stock her face out judging before snaking back to a softened expression.

"Oh, alright, if ya wanna look at it like a big filly then here ya go..." She gave the hefty stack of things, save the cat catalog, to Applejack, almost smacking her in the chest causing her to make a squeaky noise. "But yer gonna have ta be the one that brings it back ta the house, ya hear? Now!" The old mare's vigor revitalized as she started mildly trotting back to the farm like house. "Seein' Ah've done Ma duties fer the day, Ah'm gonna go clip me some coupons!" she exclaimed with as much enthusiasm as a mare her age could muster, her newly acquired treasure being stuffed into her saddlebags.

Winona barked and then walked alongside her hoping for some treats or kibble once they had returned to the house.

Applejack sighed watching the matriarch of the family trot away thinking that she just got one over her granddaughter. She turned her attention to the mail clasped in the crook of her hoof.

"Who's H.Bills?" Dash asked, finally finding her voice to sate her curiosity.

"H.Bil-: Applejack clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes giving a nickering chuckle as her tail swatted a fly at seeing the real name the letters were addressed to. "H.B.'s House."

Dash looked over the envelope, and it was indeed addressed to 'H.B.'s House. However, the mouth writing was heavy in ink, with sharp outlines, and some letters too close together; almost to the point of fusing. It was a wonder it got to the mailbox of Sweet Apple Acres and not near some forgotten realm called Demon Pigomination or 'The Florpus'.

"Who's Dib?" Dash asked, the curious little critter in her mind wanted to be satisfied before she inquired about the real question relating to the actual reason she flew out here in the first place.

"Oh... that's H.B.'s nickname fer Crab Apple." Applejack gave her an over the shoulder side eye. "Ya remember him, right?"

"Uuuhm..." came the uncertain answer.

"Red an' green coat? Black weird lookin' mane, glasses, an' a magnifyin' glass cutie mark?" Applejack asked, only to be met with the same list chin tapping. "He wanted a detailed map layout of Cloudsdale, cause he thought the reason we can't find Big Hoof is cause he can turn invisible and can fly?"

"Ooooooh, yeah..." Dash recalled with a bemused smirk. "He was like... the most un-Apple Apple."

"Family's family, even if Professor Maluskin's kin down in Hoofthorn have been a little on the far side of the orchard..." Applejack said, detached as she hoofed through the rest of the mail.

"Yeeeah..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, choosing not to go further down a path that would end up with her insulting A.J.'s family. "So! Anyway!"

"Whoa, Nelly! Would ya look at that!" Applejack pulled out a rather thick looking envelope with a star shaped wax seal. "Call me Princess of The Apple Orchard, cause Ah got a letter from Twilight!" She gave a whinny that was accompanied by the sound of a breaking seal.

Rainbow Dash watched her friend begin to read the letter disinterestedly. "Sooo, about Cider Testing D-"

Suddenly she was caught off guard as something flat, rectangular, and paper thwacked her in the chest, causing her to flinch. Looking down at what now landed in the dusty dirt ground of the orchard she found herself staring down the long side of a particularly familiar looking letter...

"Looks like Ah'm not the only one she sent a letter to," A.J. said looking over a rather fancy piece of scrolling paper. "That there is fer you."

Dash's face turned to a barely concealed grimace. "Thanks..." she said through a smile that was more teeth than grin. "Why'd Twilight write to you?"

Applejack gave a small chuckle as she read her scroll. "Ta make sure that ya got yer letter out would seem!"

"Of course she would do something like that," Dash griped, taking the letter. She was about to tuck it away in her tail when Applejack gave her a disapproving 'eh-em!' "What?"

"Ain't ya gonna read that?" she asked, her left eyebrow raised a little.

"I'll read it..." Dash said, sheepishly, still trying to tuck it away, only to receive an even greater raised eyebrow of even greater disapproval! "Really, I wi-" She bit her lip, her eyes shutting tight to avoid the glare of- her wings splayed out in defeat and she stomped on the ground with her forehooves. "Fine! OK! Geez!"

It seemed that there were few things in the wide world of Equestria that she couldn't bare- oh yes, Dash could stare down dragons, perform high-flying feats, help defeat armies of some of the most dastardly villains known to ponykind!

However, when it came down to meeting her friend's down, especially when facing Applejack's 'Mom' face- the one that said 'Ah ain't mad, Ah'm just dis-'

"Well?" Asked a voice laced with tartness and who was also wearing a hat. "Ya gonna read it already or am Ah gonna have ta get the rope an' hogtie ya dow-"

"I'll read it! I'll read it!" Dash protested, turning to hide any flush on her cheeks. It didn't take much effort to gingerly rip the top off and pull out the so-called prize within.

Unrolling the paper, the normally self-assured pegasus had her head turned and eyes closed, as if that would change what was on the paper or make its contents disappear.

"Ya need me ta read it fer ya?" Applejack coyly asked, practically scooching beside Dash.

"No!" Rainbow Dash protested, pulling away. She took a deep breath and reacted down to that dash of confidence that she was well known for... her uhm, Dashidence? Rainbowidence? 'Whatever,' she thought before clearing her throat, her mane taking on a semi-Twilight style.

"Dear Rainbow Dash,"

"Geez, Twi, didn't think that we were that close..." she said, only to be met with Applejack's questioning gaze. "Yeah... Right! E-hem!"

"Dear Rainbow Dash,

As you know, I am currently on my way to the Crystal Empire Archives in order to continue my research in assisting H.B. with her branding issues, (if she asks about this, please use the cover story about me taking an exam for unicorns). I was informed by Fluttershy that she was successful in her lesson about kindness, (which is very good!)... with that said...”

Rainbow sighed. “Oh, great... Here it comes...”

“I learned that her lesson was not without some... shall we say...
hiccups? Look, you’re a very good friend and I’m sure that your heart was in the right place, but your execution was... Well, it could have been better from the information that I was supplied with.”

“Ooof, thems harsh words comin’ from Twi’,” Applejack interjected. She was then met with an irritated snort from Dash. “Sorr’eh... keep readin’.”

“As such, I think it would behoove you both for you to take the reins and be her teacher for this month’s lesson. Not only so you can instruct her in your Element of Harmony, but so that you can also (hopefully) smooth over any animosity between the two of you. After all, we don't want any unresolved feelings left to fester that could possibly interfere with our efforts to rehabilitate our little Heartbreak- er H.B.

I know you can do it. Best regards, and good luck!

Twilight
Sparkle

“Gotta really make it super fancy by signing it like that. Eh, Twilight?” Rainbow gumphed, her mane returning to its normal wind swept form.

Applejack gave Dash a hearty slap on the shoulder. “Ah’d be more worried if she didn’t!” she said, smirking before getting another long drink of water.

“Yeeeah...” Dash grumbled, rolling the letter back up and stuffing it in a spot in her mane. “Buuut it can wait till after Cider Tasting Day...” She attempted to look cute by resting her chin on her hooves while fluttering her eyes at her sweet juice connection.

Applejack let out a huffing snort of disapproving disappointment before plucking up the empty envelope that Dash had dropped on the ground. She put it in her saddlebags along with the rest of the mail. “Ya outta take this a bit more seriously, Sugar Cube. H.B. is just as stubborn as any Apple worth their cider, an just as difficult ta manage. She’s the pony they talk about when they say ya can lead a pony ta water but ya can’t make her drink.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “So I’ve heard... but that doesn’t answer my question!” She zipped up to A.J. and desperately squished her face between her hooves while looking directly into those green eyes. “What. About. Cider. Tasting. Day?!”

Applejack frowned and pushed the hooves away while shaking her head. “Ah’m afraid that due ta the questionability of these here trees, not ta mention that the cider presses need some readjustin’ ‘n maintenance...” She paused pensively at what she had to say next. After all, when it came to the matter of cider? Save for the Apple Family themselves, none were more serious than Rainbow Dash. “We’re gonna have ta postpone Cider Tastin’ Day.”

Dash’s hooves dropped in dismay as her eyes widened and her mouth opened with an audible ‘ah!’ escaping. “What?! Postpone Cider Tasting day?! Are you crazy?! This is my one chance to get cider!”

“What’chu talkin’ about?” Applejack asked, her ears misaligning to express her clear confusion. “Cider Season is next month an’ we’ll have everythan’ sorted out by then!”

“My chance to get cider before Pinkie Pie!” Dash exasperatedly rephrased.

“Ah’m sorr’eh but, nothin’ can be done about it, Sugarcube!” Applejack apologized. “An’ it ain’t helpin’ none with ya... doin’ whatcher doin’! Now why don’tcha go an’ do what needs ta be done there with what Twi’ told ya ta do with H.B., an’ Ah’ll do what needs ta be done here!”

“How long is that going to take?” Rainbow Dash asked, flapping her wings to hover, crossing her forehooves.

The apple pony rested herself against a tree and huffed. ‘Fer somepony who can be so lazy, she sure can put a day’s work in when her cider is on the line!’ she thought.

“Ah dun’t know, three-four days, possibly a week-”

“A week?” Rainbow’s mane stood up in fright over the prospect of being denied her delicious cider!

“Ah just told ya that there’s nothin’ doin’ about it, an’ the longer ya keep me from doin’ Ma jorb, the longer it’s gonna take!” Applejack nearly snapped, her mane coming undone a bit at the ends.

“But what am I sposta do for a whole week?” Dash asked, only to get the most incredulous ‘are you serious?’ eyebrow raise from Applejack. The pegasus gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her multi-colored mane. “I mean... other than-”

“Ya oughta be choosin’ yer next words before finishin’ that there sentence, Sugarcube.”

“Ugh... But!”

Applejack raised a hoof and put it on her friends’ shoulder. “Ah get it, waitin’s hard an’ startin’s hard but if ya never start ya’ll never get anywhere,” she said, switching up her tactics with her longtime friend. “An’ Ah know ya there, Sugarcube. You can do this cause yer, uhm, awesome. An’ yer not alone. Ya got the knowhow of five other ponies ta help ya if ya need it. Now, go get an’ before ya know it, H.B. will have learned her lesson, Ma work here will be done, an’ ya’ll be back here for some cider tastin’. Fet, ya might be findin’ yerself wantin’ ta bring her along with ya!”

‘The simple country Apple charm strikes again...’ Rainbow Dash’s internal prism of voices thought.

“Yeah... Maybe you’re right...” she admitted, looking away, a blush on her cheeks. “But I don’t even know where Hea- H.B. is right now! How wi-”

“Ah think Apple Bloom an’ her friends said sumthin’ about havin’ a meetin’ in Weepin’ Willow Wood Park!” Applejack said over her shoulder as she trotted back to the trees. “Ah’m sure they’re still there!”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and nodded before running a hoof through her mane. “Thanks.” She said, trying to sound more grateful for the idea of where the mystery tan mare could be located, but the two of them knew it was for the roundabout prep talk they just had. She flapped her wings to get airborne and looked as if she was going to just dash off, however she stopped midaction. “You’ll let me know when the cider is ready for tasting, right?” she asked over her shoulder.

Applejack chuckled while shaking her head a little as she laid hooves on another tree. “Eeyup.. Now get, an’ good luck.”

Author's Note

And the second chapter is done here! Again Scared Ghost and Psychopath helped me with this. The chapter art is here! Let's keep this train arolling!

Lofty Ideas, Learning Holiday

Chapter Three

Lofty Ideas, Learning Holiday

.

Heartbreak took a deep breath. She was in no way equipped to deal with her own existential crises, let alone three hyperactive little fillies who had yet to even earn their cutie marks or
form their identities.

“For fun?! Numbers aren’t fun!” Scootaloo crossed her hooves and frowned. “How can something be useful and not exist?” She asked while glaring at the worksheet that she had put so much effort into already!

“Lots of things that are useful ‘don’t exist’,” Heartbreak said, her voice trying to panic as she tried to think of a way out of this. “Outside a concept,” she quickly tacked on. “Lots of things that are useful don’t exist outside of concept.”

She hoped that repeating the full phrase would somehow get the idea across to these young, highly impressionable, fragile minds. However, the chin tapping, ear dipping, and head-tilting though cute as it was seemed to convey the opposite.

“Right... Math can be used to describe things- how long, how fast, how much-” Heartbreak tap-tap-tapped her hoof on the ground. “Like... if you’re going down the street on your scooter, how long is it going to take to get from one end of Ponyville to the other?”

“Uhm... It depends?” Scootaloo said, uncertainty in her voice.

Heartbreak cocked her head and smiled a bit. “Depends on what?”

“What road are we talking about? What time of day is it? Am I in a hurry?” Scootaloo asked back.

Heartbreak nodded. “All those are great questions, but why are they the questions you’re asking?”

Scootaloo frowned. “You’re the one asking me!”

“... Yeah... I’m trying to get to a point by showing how you get from point A to point B. The first things you asked were ‘which road’, ‘what time’, and ‘am I in a hurry’ which is sorta like ‘how fast am I going?’” Heartbreak said thinking about how she was going to get somewhere with all this. “Right now, you’re doing math without even thinking about it! Which road? There are different roads with different slopes and shapes that you’d have to think about how you’re going to maneuver about. What time? Different times of the day have different challenges and different amounts of traffic to compensate for. And if you’re in a hurry, if you’re going faster, then you’re going to get there faster, and thus it’s gonna take you less time!”

The three fillies paused to process the progress of information that had just been dumped on them.

“Huh... I never thought about that before...” Scootaloo said. “I’ve just always... done it.”

“Yeah! You’re relying on muscle memory because you’ve done those things so many times that it’s like second nature to you, right?” Heartbreak asked. “You’ve done it so often that your brain is already ‘doing the math’ without you even thinking about it! We use math to describe the how’s of everything. It’s in everything and can be used to calculate everything. Even living things like trees or even the complexity of abstract art!”

“Calculate livin’ things?” Apple Bloom asked with a disbelieving tone. “How would that work?”

“Uhm... how to...” Heartbreak looked around frantically before looking up at the large oak nearby. An idea popped into her head. “A tree is made of more trees.” Heartbreak said, feeling as if she were grasping at straws.

“What?” Scootaloo asked, clearly baffled.

Heartbreak quickly turned to Apple Bloom. “What happens when a tree falls down and the roots are still in the ground?”

Apple Bloom guffawed. “We go an’ get Big Mac ta pull it up an out!” she said as if it were the answer to the silliest question ever. She then took a drink from the now mostly melted apple juice.

Heartbreak held her tongue in frustration for a moment before trying again. “Right, but let’s say for the sake of this thought experiment-”

“What’s a thought experiment? It sounds like an experiment that you just think about...” Scootaloo chuckled, partaking in her drink which she had to sadly admit did taste more than a little watered down.

“Actually, that’s pretty close!” Heartbreak said willing to take any win at this point. “It’s an experiment that you run in your head based on the available information. In this case, a tree that’s been knocked over, has its roots in the ground, and-” she looked at Apple Bloom again. “Has not been pulled up by Big Mac. What will happen to the branches of that tree?”

Apple Bloom paused, then looked down at the ground, tapped her chin, and scratched her head. “Ah ought to suppose that they’d still keep growin’, countin’ on nothin’ else terrible happin’ to that poor tree...” she said, swirling the content of her drink before raising it to her mouth and finishing it off.

“And thereby becoming the ‘new’ tree,” Heartbreak said. “Now, let’s say that this hypothetical tree grows to the height of the old tree, and by some bad luck, it too gets knocked over with the roots in the ground, it too will do the same thing again- it’s a tree made out of trees.”

The three little fillies blinked before going wide-eyed at that rather odd revelation.

“Whoooa...” They said in unison.

“Things like this happen all the time in nature; everything from trees to clouds to even songs follow these patterns, and when they do that where the big thing is self similar to small parts of itself, it’s called a fractal!” Heartbreak said with a great deal of restrained glee. “You yourselves can even make fractals!”

“What? Really?” Sweetie Belle asked, pulling herself out of the fog of ideas and numbers.

“Eeyup!” Heartbreak pulled the rectangular scratch paper that they had been using for Scootaloo’s homework.

“Great, are we going to do more numbers?” Scootaloo asked a bit snidely.

Heartbreak shook her head. “Actually, no. We’re going to be doing some folding.”

Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Foldin’?”

“Oh! I’m really good at folding!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “Rarity has me folding reams of fabric all the time! Or when she’s really busy...” She laughed a little, an odd sadness in her body language.

“Well... Uhm, are you ok with folding the paper? It has be done in a very particular way.” Heartbreak said, desperately wanting to avoid sibling drama. “

“Ok!”

========

“So, fold the bottom corners to the top corners.” Yeah, there’s a powder keg best avoided. Don’t need to go into Rarity’s best and worst qualities as a sister. Nor do I feel like badmouthing any of the sister figures in these girls' lives. Last thing I need is to cause CrAcKsSs to form in their relationships.

Just show them this neat little trick.

‘While avoiding talking about the fact that you aren’t keeping your word to them about ‘crusading’ and using this all as a distraction to keep them from asking questions about the thing you can’t get rid of!’

‘Why not say it louder for the readers in the back, Gothy? I don’t think you hit that with your mallet hard en-’

“Like this, H.B.?” Sweetie Belle asks, a face full of approval seeking smiles.

I nod. “Yup. Now, can one of you two help her by creasing it down the middle so that everything is sharp and flat?” Crap, they’re looking confused again, here I go again having to expl-

“Oh, you mean like this?” Scootaloo steps up and makes a sharp crease down the middle of the paper. She turns to look at me for, you guessed it: My approval. “That’s what you mean, right?”

Give her a soft smile and nod, H.B.!

“Yeah, exactly like that... now... unfold it.” I’m sure they’ll find this next part boring... Well, the next few steps are boring, but it’ll ramp up pretty quickly. Like a good story really. Build off the base and then... “But keep the two sides perpendicular to each other.”

“Per... pen... di-” Scoots tries her hoof... yeah. Her hoof at the word. Thankfully, it’s Apple Bloom to the rescue!

“Perpendicular!” She says that with that country twang. “It means that one side’s up an’ one side’s flat! Like a pole in the ground!”

Scootaloo nods. “Oh... right. I knew that...” she chortles in a way that characters do when they clearly did not know that.

“It’s a bit of a mouthful to say, but it’s kinda fun once you get the hang of it... like a single word tongue twister.” That’s right, be gentle and encouraging and kinda fun, H.B.! Who’s gonna stop you?

‘You know who can stop you-’

“Per-pen-dict-ular... Perpendicular! Perpendicular!” Scootaloo sing-says, swaying side to side as if this one word was its own song.

“Right. So! This doesn’t look like much, just maybe just a corner, so the next step is to fold it again. So fold it back up and then just like before, fold the bottom to the top.” I hope I’m explaining it right.

“Like this?” Sweetie Belle asks, bringing my hope... fruition. I’m gonna use that word.

“Yup! Now, Scootaloo, crease down the middle again.”

There’s something oddly satisfying about watching her hoof almost glide down the paper, turning what was a round shape flat and taking on a clean, sharp, defined line...

“Like this?” She asks, jarring me out of my semi-fugued state.

“Yeah...!” I nod, blinking a few times. “Just like before, unfold it- completely that is, while keeping all those folds at right angles!”

“Perpendicular!” Scootaloo enthusiastically parrots doing as instructed. “Huh,” She tilts her head at the resulting folds. “Is this what it’s s’posta look like?”

“It looks like... a measurin’ cup from Granny Smith’s kitchen!” Apple Bloom ascertains. “That there bit on the end is the handle!”

I really have to wonder about the etymology of words in Equestrian vernacular and how they come to be. I mean, come on! The root of that word is hand! How the fet-fuck could it have come to be unless ‘hand’ was somewhere in the old pony lexicon!? ‘Handle’ obviously has the word ‘hand’ in it. I try thinking about saying it. Can I say it? Ugh... there’s an itchy-anxious feeling coming over me when I try even thinking about that.

Then again, what do I know? What with how many ‘horse sounds’ I've been making, every single equid has been making whinnies, nickers, and neighs while my brain is auto-translating! No... Life can ever be that simple.... Not for a pony named Heartbreak...

“It could also be a sports hat with a long bill!” Scootaloo suggests taking her turn to refocus my back to the exercise that I’m having them do.

“Or a fancy modern art chair!” Sweetie Belle suggests rotating it around.

I smile and nod, and Sam, seemingly feeling left out, scurries about my... muzzle-face and starts gesturing with his tiny clawed paws. I still don’t know what he’s saying. If I were to take a guess... something about...

“A place to hide?” I ask, feeling more than a little crossed-eyed.

Scootaloo giggle. “I would think that if you were a rat, every place can be a place to hide.” she says, before guzzling down what’s left of her drink. “Ah!”

“Ain’t that the truth!” Apple Bloom chimes in. “Ah remember this one time? A whole nest of them infested the barn! A.J. had ta callin’ exterminator pony named Buzz Killin’ton ta take care of ‘em! He had this big ol’ cat that when he went in the barn just a heapin’ helpin’ flood of most of even-”

Ope. I’m sure that A.B.’s Sudden silence has nothing to do with how Sam’s tiny claws have found a new home in my face-flesh or the trembling of my little rat buddy as her friends give her a bit of side eye while Scootaloo, of the three of them, coughs and gives her a small elbowing!

“Wa-” She doesn’t even finish that before her ears droop and her eyes go all sad. “Ah’m sorr’eh.... Ah didn’t mean ta upset Sam!”

========

“I’m sure that he’s alright...” Heartbreak reached up and poked about her mane. Right, Sam?” She asked, the hoof snaking about before giving up. “He’ll be back, I’m sure. Just gotta give him some time and of course, some treats.”

At the mention of treats, a little whiskered face popped out and chittered.

“See? He’ll be okay...” Heartbreak said, a little unsure. “Sssooo! Wanna see what happens when we fold the paper one more time?”

‘Sure’, ‘I guess so’, and ‘Okay!’ were the answers from the three fillies. They were more than a little surprised that H.B. wasn’t... too upset with them. After all, many adult ponies had scolded them for bothering their pets for less! Maybe H.B. was just like that... and the three of them collectively had to confess they were still interested in seeing where the mare was going with all this paper folding...

Sweetie Belle took the paper and refolded it back up before yet again, folding the bottom to the top. “There!” She nodded to Scootaloo who then began to do the crease.

“Whoa...” She said, her hooves pressing down just a little harder than before. “This feels...”

“More difficult?” Heartbreak asked, bemused as she siphoned the last of her drink through a straw. “Just wait until we do the final fold next time. It’ll be super hard and that’s because you can only fold a piece of paper on itself so many times.” she said with a satisfied gasp. “Don’t quote me on that, but I think it’s nine times...” She paused and tapped her chin munching on a little peach flavored ice. “I think. I could be wrong...”

“Alright... That oughta be enough...” Apple Bloom said, eyeing her fellow Crusaders hoofmareship. “Let’s see what we got here now...”

Upon unfolding, the once simple design took on a shape that only resembled the previous one if you were to look at a portion of it.

“Huh...” Scootaloo balanced the paper on her hoof. Now with more folds, the once flimsy and wobbly material now took on a more stable and rigid shape... “It... reminds me of... a snake?”

“Or... sort of the curls of a ribbon?” Sweetie Belle asked, tilting her head.

“Ah think it looks like a riverbend!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, tilting her head, poking at a corner of the results of their efforts.

Scootaloo looked at H.B. who had gained a bit of a smirk on her face. It felt almost odd for a mare of her age to delight in something so... simple as folding paper. ‘Then again, I know ponies with weirder fixations...’ she thought. “Let me guess, ‘One more time’?”

Heartbreak nodded. “Eeyup! Next verse, same at the first, just as... uhm, clean, and hopefully not worse!” the tan mare almost sang-said. “... not sure I like that... but I’m not going to include that in the book...”

“Book?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Something that Cream Puff and Pipsqueak suggested I do.” Heartbreak said, rolling her eyes a bit while waggling her hoof. “Write down stories, songs, or whatever to help me with my singing...”

Sweetie Belle looked excited. “Singing?”

“Uhm, I’ll tell you more later or after this. For now...” Heartbreak pointed back at the paper.

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Oh, right.” She said, once again folding the bottom to the top.

Scootaloo proceeded to apply her hoof to the middle of the paper to make the fold, only this time as H.B. had foretold, making the nice neat flush crease in the paper was so much more difficult! “Alright... I think I got it!” she said exasperatedly, letting go.

“Alright...” Heartbreak said, a bit of unease in her voice. “Let’s see it.”

Unfolding the paper the final time, the members of the CMC noticed that it went through all the prior stages: line, right angle, cup, snake, and finally...

“What in tarnation?” Apple Bloom asked quizzically.

The girls looked at what was a nearly confounding eye-boggling collection of right angles that, while containing some semblance of an ordered form, it wasn’t anything automatically recognizable.

Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “It... Looks like... a street map? But one that somepony didn’t finish, or from a really small town?” she finally decided.

“What... What is it? Is this that...” Scootaloo paused trying to recall the new word, this strange pony of many odd facts that she had dropped into her young impressionable brain. “Uhm... Fractcal?”

“Heh, close.” Heartbreak said, pushing up her glasses with the tip of her pencil that was still lodged in the hole in her hoof. “Fractal, and yes. This particular fractal is known as ‘the dragon curve’. On account that it looks like a dragon and it has... uhm... curves.”

“Yeah... It kinda does look like Spike if he was all curled up an’ his claw was above his head or sumthang...” Apple Bloom mused.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes tried to follow the paper’s edge, but every twist and fold and turn made her feel like the world around her was just as warped as that sheet of WhYtE. “That’s really... complicated!” she nearly cried out, heat between her hooves as she shook off Equestria’s tailspin.

“Oh, that’s nothing.” Heartbreak replied, still alit over this one interesting apt, repetitive mathematical exercise. “If we were to fold it upon itself again, it’d get even more detailed!”

The three fillies, though intrigued, found themselves starting to tire of all the folding and creasing and shared a fretful look between themselves.

“Buuut, I don’t wanna put you girls through any more folding, this was meant to be a crusader and honorary crusader member meeting after all,” Heartbreak said, once more reaffirming the ‘honorary’ status.

The girls let out the quietest of tiny sighs of relief.

“So I’ll draw it instead!” Heartbreak excitedly exclaimed, her muzzle going towards the marshmallow flap of her saddlebag.

“Oh! Uhm! Why don’tcha let me help with that, H.B.?” Apple Bloom asked, trotting up to the mare’s side.

“That’s very nice of you, Apple Bloom, but-”

“I want to help!” Scootaloo said zipping up and flipping the flap of the saddlebag up.

“What about me?” Sweetie Belle asked, attempting to push a small spark of magic out of her horn, only to get frustrated that nothing happened and grabbing for the sketchbook.

“Uhm, girls, you really don’t have to-”

It was however, too late as the three fillies each grabbed for the book, a book that after a small tussle, jumped out of the saddlebags and flew into the air!

Heartbreak let out a muted squealing not-quite-scream as her sketchbook fell to the ground on the spine causing it to fling open at a random spot, that unfortunately was covered in a number of odd drawings, and before she could even utter a ‘don’t!’, six curious filly eyes were already peering in.

Beholden unto them were sketches of ponies: some of them were earth ponies, five of them, but... among the group there were also a pegasus, a unicorn, and even an alicorn!

While each bore a different name that was drawn stylistically next to them, they all shared several common themes: brown messy manes and tails, tan coat, blue eyes, and an ominous pitch black broken heart cutie mark with varying WhYtE CrAcKsSs down the middle.

“What’s all this now?” Apple Bloom asked, narrowing her eyes at a pony in particular... a much larger, muscular... stallion? Who bore a striking resemblance to her brother Big Mac, that is if he hadn’t kept up on his mane and tail routine and hadn’t shaved for at least a month. “Heartache?”

Heartbreak gave an uncomfortable laugh, looking away. “Heh-haa... uhm... well-” She started biting her lower lip making an uncomfortable face. “It’s like a page of.... ‘What if’s,” she hesitantly said. “You ever wonder what it would be like to be... well... uhm...”

“Something other than what you are?” Scootaloo asked, pangs of sympathy in her voice. “Whoa! This CrashingHeart is using a cloud to get around?”

“Oh wow!” Sweetie Belle gasped pointing at the alicorn. “This...” She narrowed her eyes at the almost calligraphy nomenclature of a moniker as if it dared her to even attempt to pronounce it. “Princess La- La-”

“Lachrymose.” Heartbreak chuckled embarrassedly. “It means ‘to be sad’, like ‘melancholy’ or the like...” she explained, almost reaching out for the sketchbook in order to snatch it away.

“Princess Lachrymose is really pretty! I like the blue and gold in her mane!” Her eyes drift to the unicorn of the bunch, who bore a panicked wide-eyed terrified expression, as she seemed to be swarmed with an aura of black broken hearts suspended by a magical twinkling of the saddest blue. “Aw... Why’s... Heartacorn? Look so sad?”

“Ha-oh...” Heartbreak giggled in a questionable tone. “That’s because Heartacorn can’t use her magic without causing emotional damage to others.”

Sweetie Belle looked horrified. “She can never ever, ever use her magic... or she hurts other ponies?” she asked in a hushed tone.

Heartbreak nodded. “Emotionally, but yes. It’s like an extra power that I gave them. I gave all of them something extra.” She pointed at ‘CrashingHeart’. “Crashing here? Whenever she flaps her wings, it causes cracks in reality that take her to places she doesn’t wanna be, oh and any weather stuff she does also causes ponies to be super sad.

Scootaloo looked at her own little wings suspiciously. “That sounds... terrible.”

“Well... Princess Lachrymose needs ponies around to be sad otherwise her magic doesn’t work, and Heartattack writes poetry that when read out loud causes ponies, mostly unicorns, to suffer accidents.” Heartbreak moved her hoof over to the little filly. Around her left hoof was attached a black balloon with a white malicious face of cracks on it. “This is Young@Heart and she uses her balloon to inflict great sadness on those who cross her. Like... uhm... traumatic things from when they were young... but the balloon is like my... you know...”

“These drawings are really good, H.B.!” Scootaloo complemented, trying to steer things in a different direction.

“Pffft, hardly,” The tan mare almost said in a dismissive tone, only to have a rat tongue tickle her ear. “I mean, they're better than a couple of months agoooo-Gah! Sam! Stop that!” She sighed. “I mean, thank you, Scootaloo.”

“Ah dun’t understand sum’thin’” Apple Bloom began reading the tiny blurbs written next to each character.

“What’s that?”

“All these powers feel like curses... if these are like other yous, why make them all suffer too? Why give’m powers at all?”

“Well,” Heartbreak looked spaced out for a moment. “I guess... maybe for something to be different from me... or...” She paused contemplatively. “Maybe it’s a control thing. Like... I feel like I have had so little control in everything that’s gone on in my life... especially with last month... that wondering about a version of myself with added abilities or even an ability to retaliate,” She pointed at Young@Heart. “To have just a little more confidence,” her pointer pencil tip tapped on Sidheheart, “Or not even having to worry about... all of this... anything of this...” She sighed, pointing to Amoreheart. “It gives me some... semblance, an illusion of control... I guess…”

Apple Bloom head tilted, a sad somewhat confused look on her face. “Oh... Ah guess that there makes some sort of sense.” she said.

“I just think these are super cool, H.B.!” Scootaloo interjected.

Heartbreak sniffed and wiped some tears that were collecting in her eyes.

“Sum’than’ wrong, H.B.? Ah di’n’t upset ya did Ah?” Apple Bloom panicked, not wanting to add to the storm of whatever else was brewing in Heartbreak’s heart.

“Ah...” She sniffed. “No... just an intrusive thought from a rather unpleasant bright pink bunny living in my head is all.” Heartbreak admitted rolling her eyes before her face screwed up, an unexpected giggle ushering forward. “Saaam! Stop playing with my ears!”

“What’s an... ‘intrusive thought’?” Scootaloo asked.

Heartbreak looked away while tapping her pencil against the page of the book. “It’s... a thought that comes along that... uhm... well you think... but you know that you shouldn’t think... I think.”

Scootaloo’s ears drooped. “Oh... yeah, Those,” she said with dismay. “I know what those are like.” She glanced back at her wings and gave them a few quick flaps before looking back at H.B. “I wonder if I'll ever fly like Rainbow Dash... Or any normal pegasus.”

“I’m sure you will!” Heartbreak said with a rather sad smile on her face. “Just... uhm... gotta give it time is all.”

“What was your... intrusive thought?” Scootaloo inquired looking up at the mare who jumped at the attention suddenly drawn back to her.

“Oh! Uhm... It’s nothing important...” she mulled. “I’m sure you wouldn’t want to hear about it.”

“Sure we do!” Sweetie Belle piped in.

Heartbreak tried to brush it off with a dismissive scoffing sound. “Really, it’s stupid and pretty depressing.”

“Part of bein’ a Cutie Mark Crusader- even an Honorary Cutie Mark Crusader is sharin’ with yer fellow Crusaders!” Apple Bloom interjected matter-of-factly. “An’ besides,” her little ears drooped. “If ah said sumthin’ that hurt yer feelings, Ah would like ta know- so that Ah can be a better leader!” she said, a beaming smile brightening her face.

Heartbreak grimaced and bit her lower lip cagily, however the little faces, bright, seeking eyes and sympathetic smiles seemed to be the exact key to unlocking that cage. “Fine...” she muttered looking down at the mix of grass and clover in front of her, prepping the words she would use to explain herself. “The thought was ‘You’re cool... for now’,”

“For now?” Scootaloo asked, her head tilting.

“Heh, yeah...” Heartbreak looked up distantly. “It’s like... When I was young, I didn’t have too many... fffriends... At least those that were my age. I would hang around with many of the older folk and talk with them. Most who were my age tended to... treat me poorly,” she confessed. “I was always about learning new and interesting things. Like what you’ve seen here, I’m like a storage bin of interesting if sometimes useless facts, thoughts, and ideas. Those I did befffriend? It wasn’t long before... They found me either too much or just too boring.” She hooved at the leaves a clover with the tip of her pencil. “It’s like... I was stuck at one age and everyp-pony else was able to grow up and grow out of all my little hyperfixations...” She sniffed and pushed up her glasses to rub her eyes.

When her spectacles were back in place, when she felt her little rat buddy hugging on her ear, and the emotional moment making its final pass, she looked at her fellow Crusaders whose faces told her that they were on the very verge of bursting into tears.

“See? I told you that it would be really sad,” Heartbreak sniffed and wiped her nose. “I can almost hear my mom’s voice saying that I’m having a ‘poor pity me’ mome-”

“We’ll never outgrow you, H.B.!” The three fillies said in unison glomping onto Heartbreak’s shoulders in a well meaning hug.

“Ope! Uhm thanks girls, but maybe don’t hug for, uhm, too long?” Heartbreak said panic in her voice. “You all do remember what happened last time, right?” her eyes glancing towards the ever present and looming branding.

“Oh... Right...” Scootaloo said, as she and her friends pulled away.

“Sorr’eh, H.B.” Apple Bloom said, walking backwards and almost stepping on the sketchbook.

“Uhm... Watch it there.” Heartbreak gently said. “So! Anything else you want to know about these?”

Apple Bloom looked thoughtfully at the open sketchbook. “Ah got another question... if all the them there are different...” She, much like her sister, rolled her hoof while tapping her chin. “Yous,” she highlighted, failing to come up with something better. “Then what powers does Heartache have?”

Heartbreak blinked and looked away. “Oh... uhm... none. He’s just me... but a stallion,” she replied rather anticlimactically.

This answer, however, didn’t dismiss the gear grinding on the little filly’s face.

“You... but like a colt?” Apple Bloom puzzled.

Sweetie Belle looked over at her friend, her ears folded with concern. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with a version of you but a colt?” Scootaloo asked, tilting her head at the rather scruffy, scraggly, messy looking stallion detailed in lightly smudged graphite and colored pencils.

Apple Bloom’s ears suddenly perked up and it was as if a light went off in her head. “Hold up an’ apple buckin’ minute!” She clopped her front hooves before looking Heartbreak dead in the eyes, a smug grin on her face. “Skeeter roll learns ta shiver!” she exclaimed with no reference.

Scootaloo jumped back before looking confused at the bowed one. “What are you going about?”

“That bedtime story H.B. told us when we spent the night at her house! It was about us!” Apple Bloom said accusingly, while looking pointedly at the tan mare.

“Well, I mean, I don’t know,” Heartbreak sheepishly, waffling while pushing up her glasses and fighting a smirk. “I... well...” She bit her lower lip, but soon found herself crumbling under the gaze of the three fillies. “Yeeeah...” she finally admitted.

Apple Bloom, once again clopped her hooves together, this time pointing at H.B. triumphantly. “Ah knew there was sum’thin’ familiar about them characters!”

“Wait... how?” Scootaloo asked befuddled. “They all had different names!”

“Ah, come on now,” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to tell her fellow crusader that this slow uptake was the reason she was lagging in school. “Skeeter-roll, Scootaloo, Silver Bell, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bud- Apple Bloom?”

Sweetie Belle’s face lit at the realization. “Oh yeah! And something that’s Elusive is a Rarity!” she looked up at Heartbreak. “Didn’t Skeetaroll look up to Rainbow Blitz?”

“Ah bet diamonds ta detrots that there Bud has an older brother!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, placing her hooves on H.B.’s cast to look her in the face expectantly.

Heartbreak nodded at Sweetie Belle’s inquiry while scratching an itch on the side of her face with the pencil nub. “Yeeah, his name is Apple Jack...”

Apple Bloom’s face dropped in shock and disappointment. “Fer reals?” she asked.

“Hey, I said that I like being creative, not... original.” Heartbreak half whimpered. “‘Apple Jack’ is a pretty gender-neutral name, but if it makes you feel any better. I haven’t any idea what ‘Big Mac’ would be named. Nothing I can think of really rolls off the tongue,” she lamented.

Apple Bloom looked pensive and thoughtful for a moment. “Uhm... Big...”

“Macantosh...a?” Suggested Scootaloo.

“Macarainia?” Sweetie Belle interjected.

“Nah, what would even a ‘Macarainia’ be?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at Sweetie Belle as if she had grown four more legs. “Big... Big...”

“Maybe change it to Large?” Heartbreak suggested.

Apple Bloom’s eyes once more lit up. “Wait! Ah got it!” She excitedly giggled. “Madeleine! Also known as Margret!”

Heartbreak blinked and nodded. “That’s actually pretty good. Ponies could call her ‘Large Marge’,” she smiled. “Seems we got the whole Apple family: Apple Bud, Apple Jack, Large Marge, and Ol’ Grampy Johnny Smith!”

“Oh! Can we do my family next?” Scootaloo asked, jumping in the air being caught up in the excitement of it all.

Heartbreak’s jaw dropped and she was stunned into silence for a few seconds. “Wait... you have a family?”

“Scootalooooo!” shouted a mare’s voice from afar.

“Uh, yeah,” Scootaloo sighed. “And there they are right now...” she replied, her ears halfway pinning as her name was called out once more.

=========

Holy shmits. Whelp, that rings the death bell for half a dozen fan theories that were living in my head. RIP Homeless Scootaloo! (Which honestly didn’t have much of a chance seeing that I’ve seen her room in that one episode), Orphan Scootaloo, and ‘Scootaloo is actually a mutated parasprite’, never stood a chance.

“Scootaloooo! Where are you?!” Calls out... a second mare’s voice?

The filly in question gets a panicked look on her face as she scrambles to gather her books and assignments. She places them in front of her before flopping in the grass, trying to look as if she’s been casually doing homework the entire time.

That’s when two mares who I definitely don’t recognize, trot up to the grassy knoll into view.

How best to describe them... Matching contrasts?

The mare on the right’s coat could almost be a near match for my own, but there’s a touch of more red... to it? Her mane is styled to be big with lots of curls that frames her face with a two toned red-orange. I would call her eyes a ‘smoky auburn’ maybe. She’s wearing simple flower earrings and of all things, especially in this weather, a scarf.

She has a skippership on the sea with a sun cutie mark and she’s... how to put it?... She’s roundish. I wouldn’t say ‘fat’ or ‘pudgy’ or whatever, but she’s... Oh there was a short story form webcomic that would fit these two to a T. Something about a lonely lady who was talking with a market researcher and the two eventually met and got into a relationship... Either that or the cat from one of my childhood favorites: ‘Catundra’... Geez, that’s a long and forgotten memory uncovered.

The other mare, a pegasus of white-pale-yellow, with a mane that I think is a mix of tones of cyan and the arctic blue color that you sometimes see in deep drifts of snow when they’ve melted just so-with eyes to match- has attributes that complement the other- that being that she’s tall and thin with a face that’s a little long and tired looking. Adorning her flanks is a spool of blue thread and a needle.

“Oh! There you are, slugger!” the more rotund one says, putting a hoof to the knot of her scarf. “We were looking all over for you! We were starting to get worried!”

Scootaloo looks a bit confused, her ears doing that one ear up and one ear down as she tilts her head. “Why? I left you both a note on the table.”

I feel a burning question in my brain about these two, but I don’t want to just outright ask it, just in case I’m wrong- I have been wrong about similar situations before, after all...

‘Like that one time at the werewolf larp when you thought that the transwoman was playing a gender bent character because she was early in her transition and then when she explained that she was trans, you wanted to curl up in a corner, cry, and then die? Haaaa... That was... Delicious...’

I can’t hold this in anymore. If I do, Goth Bunny will recall something else that will make me want to burrow into the ground.

“Sooo, Scoots got two moms?” I whisper to the side at what I hope is within Apple Bloom’s hearing range.

I hear an indignant snort and a hoof stomp on the ground.

“Excuse me,” the more motherly looking one says. “We’re Scootaloo’s Aunts!”

Whelp, I didn’t expect Scootaloo lore drops today, but here we are.

“Scootaloo has aunts?” Wait, wait, wait, wait! Excitement causes my hoof to jut up to the side of my face. “That means she has parents!” I suddenly feel the eyes of all the ponies gathered here looking at me as if I’m the craziest creature in the corral... and really? Who could blame them?

‘Yeah, you just fangirled over one of your favorite ponies getting a confirmed backstory! Oh, wowie! Goodie-goodie-gumdrops! Rapture! Joy! Equestrian Delights!’

Careful there, G.B... You’re really using up all your snarky ammo for the day... Really oughta save some for later in the afternoon...

“Oh course she has parents!” the yet to named warm color coated mystery aunt chides. “What, did you think she just popped into existence from nothing??”

Shit, shit, shit, ffffetlocks! I’m failing at making any sort of good first impression.

“Holiday, hun... maybe... tone down a bit?” The thinner and cooler color coat coded aunt asks, almost dutifully doting on the other aunt, a slender wing falling delicately on her back. “Scootaloo might not talk about us to her...” She hesitates when looking at me, and I can’t blame her. Even though I’m a mare... in appearance, I’m a strange adult that they don’t know. “Friends...”

‘Yo, dingbat, strange and ‘don’t know’ convey the same meaning. What, does your author get paid by the word or something?’

Can it, G.B.

Scootaloo gives a very preteen groan of embarrassment. “H.B. This is my Aunt Holiday-”

Holiday nods looking over the small mess we’ve made in the park. “Charmed,” she says curtly.

“And my Auntie Lofty.” She points to the respectively thin mare. “Aunt Holiday, Auntie Lofty, this Heartbreak, but she likes to be called ‘H.B.’”

“Yes, we’ve heard about you...” Holiday says, a suspect gleam in her eye.

“All good things, I hope...” comes the whimpering, hopeful pleading that is my voice.

Holiday gives me what is one of many of the plethora of responses that you learn to fear when moving to the midwest: A disapproving ‘Hmmm...’

“So...” She swirls her hoof at the little dragon curve, self cooling chest, and open sketchbook. “What’s all this now... and... how...” She turns to Scootaloo, who is at this point, grinning like the cat who ate the canary- wait, is that the right term? Whatever, her ears are folded down and her smile is accompanied by uneasy chuckles. “How is it helping Slugger here do her schoolwork? Schoolwork that she really ought to be doing in her room, I might add...”

“Well, uhm, I...” What the fet? When have I been this afraid to speak my mind? Normally I have a good sarcastic quip or retort or rebuttal!

This time however, I’m floundering!

“Beggin’ yer pardon, Missus Holiday, Ma’am...” Apple Bloom to the rescue, it seems! “But taday is a Cutie Mark Crusader-”

An almost involuntary ‘Ehem shoves its way out of my lungs.

“An’ honorary C.M.C. member meetin’ ‘n we thought it would be a good idea ta have it out here in the park, on an account of it bein’ a nice enough day an’ all.” She then turns on the charm and gives her that ‘cute’ smile. “Ma’am.”

Holiday hmmm’s again. “I can’t argue that it’s a nice day, a bit hot, however, that doesn’t answer my question about...” She picks up our dragon curve project... balancing it on her hoof... “All this and how it’s helping...” as she unfolds it, I can’t help but feel a pang of grief. All that effort the girls put into it! Gone in a few seconds... “This isn’t your homework is it?” she sternly asks.

“No!” Scootaloo exclaims defensively. “It’s just...”

“Scratch paper!” Sweetie Belle chimes in, popping into Holiday’s view. “H.B. was showing us a trick with it to... uhm-”

Guess it’s my turn to defend my actions in teaching- gasp! Mathematics! The scandal! Might I be pressed with stones for what could be witchcraft in this world?

“Multiplication by nines. Scootaloo was having trouble with it and... I showed her a trick that could help her figure it out.” Yeah... nothing malicious or dangerous going on here!

“Hmmm...” She gives the paper to Scootaloo and reaches for... My Sketchbook?! Oh-no-no-no-no-no-no! “And what about-”

“Wai-” My words almost leave my mouth, but fail to depart as I feel the sensation of something tiny thumping off my skull- there’s a fuzzy black- no, brown, object that flies through the air and lands on the open pages of the book being reached for. The hoof doing the reaching quickly pulls back and there’s a squeal of panic as Sam starts angrily chittering at her.

“Was that a rat I saw?!” cries out Holiday, who is now practically clinging on to the leg of equally startled Lofty.

Huh. They must be really good fffriends.

Before any of us can say or do anything, there's a sudden blur of rainbow and blue, a strong blast of wind that sends papers and pencils flying, my little furball being flung back into my hooves, and an all too self-assured sounding voice coming from the center of it all.

That voice of course being from none other than, sigh... Rainbow Dash.

“No need to fear!” she proclaims, strutting and flapping her wings, oh so... so... self-assuredly. I can’t think of another word for it. Confidence. Her wing flapping has an overconfidence to it. “Because, that’s right, I’m here!” she says this while almost stepping on my sketchbook!

Thankfully, I’m just able to snatch it by the corner with my mouth- ngh! -in the nick of time before she can crumple up my precious drawings or bend the cover, or worse; the spine, with her hooves!

Finally opening her eyes, she was able to read the room and see the hostility in the air. At least that’s what I think. With widening eyes, folded down ears, and her wings have lost their confidence before flapping with unease.

“Uhm... Did I miss something?” she asks.

Author's Note

And Chapter Three! Again, Scared Ghost and Psychopath were the ones to help me! The chapter art is here! More to come soon enough!!!