I whizzed through Ponyville’s market, my tiny ginger wings going a mile a minute to propel the tiny blue scooter as I tried dodging the mares and stallions alike.
“ ‘Xcuse me! Sorry! Whoops…” I hollered at ponies in the crowded marketplace and my did her best to weave and dodge through the tangled masses that made up the typical Ponyville marketplace crowd. I managed to avoid all but that flower trio, Daisy, Lily, and Rose. They seemed good enough at dodging though and I did help them pratice ...
I was on my way to meet up with the rest of my friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, for a sleepover at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was even willing to let them sleep out in the tree house, which never happened! Sweetie Belle’s sis was out of town and needed someplace for Sweetie Belle to stay so when Applejack offered, I of course had to go to, if two went why not all three? After all they were the most inseparable group of friends! And they planned on doing all sorts of daring tricking and tricky stunts tonight, sleeping out in the tree house would be almost like no parent supervision…why we could be like ninjas., sneaking around after dark, not getting caught by the nefarious bedtime. CUTIE MARK CRUSADER NINJAS, YEAH!
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“Come on Apple Bloom!” hissed an annoyed Sweetie Belle her white face scrunching up.
“Ah’m a coming! It’s just these statue thingies are creepy in the dark…”
“They’re not statues, they’re ponniquins. Rarity uses them when she’s making a dress for a client.”
“Cough, cough, dictionary.” I muttered in the dark as a reference to one of our little groups most popular jibes.
“Dontcha you think you can try to make some light? It could make it a wee bit less creepy and we could find that black fabric much easier” Suggested the yellow filly, trying to lead and control her friends from fighting while she was trying to control her own fear. I could see the outline of her bow trembling.
“ Fine…”
Sweetie Belle grunted in an uncouth manner, bending her soft front legs forward, her green eyes closed, she was putting her whole self into summoning just the teeniest tiniest bit of magic. I knew her big sister Rarity made it seem so natural whenever she used her magic. But Sweetie Belle just could never seem to get the hang of magic no matter how often she tried. Then she found it. I saw a glow start to appear around her horn. With a sizzle and fizz the Carousal Boutique lit up. For just the merest second it seemed brighter than Celestia’s sun in the small creation room at the famed Carousel Boutique, my eyes burning with the brightness. Then with a pop, not unlike the sound one of Rarity’s champagne bottles would make, and a slight surge of magic the retina burning light was out , leaving it darker than before.
“Oh, come on! What kind of unicorn can’t use magic!”
My friend just let her head droop. I felt bad, though even the Cakes' baby Pumpkin had a better grip on magic then her. I hadn't meant it like that...
“Hey! That isn’t any way to treat a friend, plus you’re a Pegasus and you can’t fly! And remember when Miss Twilight told us how she got her cutie mark? She could barely even lift a page after weeks a studying and practicing! Ah’d say you’re getting better Sweetie Belle!” Piped up Apple Bloom , while trying to glare at the pegagus whom she knew to be somewhere to the left of her. I could feel those angry orange eyes glaring into my soul. I shivered.
‘Yeah…’ murmured the soft voice of the unicorn, not sounding convinced. I felt my heart melt.
“Hey, nothing combusted this time” I muttered, nudging Sweetie Belle’s shoulder, trying to cheer her up. “I’m sorry too, that was a bit harsh of me. It really does look like you’re getting better and that’s more than I can say about my flying. Or lack of flying actually.” I sighed, thinking of my scraped up knees from yesterday's attempt.
“ You really think so?” asked Sweetie Belle, lifting her head to look in the direction of both of her friends.
“I know so! Why I bet by the end of the week you’ll be rivaling Twilight Sparkle’s abilities”I Encouraged while trying not to think about my own failures as a pegagus now.
We went back to rummaging around in the dark for the black fabric. Sweetie Belle went through the rolls of cloth nearest the floor while Apple Bloom held on to my hind legs while the young pony searched the top shelves. I furiously flapped my tiny wings to stay light as I pulled out rolls to see, my choppy purple tail accidentally brushing Apple Bloom’s snout on occasion. Finally, in a back corner of the very top shelf did I find the desired black cloth we had been searching for. Forgetting to be careful I pulled it out too quickly, causing a sneeze from the amount of dust that had been gathering on top of it. I quickly started to lose balance, wobbling this way and that, I felt sick. My hooves flailed out, dropping the heavy bolt of cloth on to Apple Bloom’s foot. That was the end of it. Apple Bloom and I crumbled into a pile getting Sweetie belle in the process. Between muffled ow’s and not so muffled crashes it was probably best that Rarity was out of town for the night. With lots of squirming and kicking the Cutie Mark Crusaders detangled themselves from various fallen bolts of cloth, though not with out a few new bruises for each filly. Soon we were on our feet and raring to go.
“ Cutie Mark Crusader Ninjas! Yay!” Shouted three excited filly voices in harmony.
Without a backwards look we raced out the boutique and into the starry night. I knew tonight would be sure to get our cutie marks.
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But behind them all was not still as it should have been. There were of course the random flappings of fallen fabrics left unpicked up and left willy nilly…but there was something else too. Something was there. Had a pony happened to walk into Rarity’s boutique at the time of night, sometimes called the witching hour, they would have felt it. But there were no ponies to walk into the small store for all but a few had already hit the hay for the night and others were too preoccupied with their own going ons to think about going in to a closed store at midnight.
Too bad.
