The Burden of Knowledge

Chapter 6

A Winter Wrap Up Surprise

In a treehouse the evening before Winter Wrap Up, three fillies were holding a sleepover meeting of their club. Raised voices could be heard, but they were not voices of argument but of two fillies getting over excited about plans.

“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about” Apple Bloom said, “If we can get more ponies to know about the cutie mark crusaders we might get more interested, we already got Babs in Manhatten. So, it’s responsbil’ty ta get our branch more expanded like she probably is!” Apple Bloom had been thinking about this a lot, especially after she last saw Babs at the family reunion. Then when she got her cousin’s last letter saying she had four other ponies. There were now five ponies in her group, while Apple Bloom’s original group hadn’t grown one little bit. It made Apple Bloom a little jealous, to be honest. She wanted to make the Cutie Mark Crusaders something huge.

“Yeah! “ Sweetie Belle agreed. Scootaloo seemed to be only half listening. They both looked to her.

“Oh ….uh…yeah…that sounds good.” She said with a shrug. Apple Bloom sighed and shook her head. Since she presented her thoughts Scootaloo had been quiet and unresponsive. She wasn’t fooled by her friend’s halfhearted attempts to look like she was participating. It hurt her a little that her friend was faking it (and doing it so poorly made it even worse)

“Scootaloo, just tell me what ya really think?” Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

“Okay, don’t get mad or anything but I think you’re forgetting why we started the Cutie Mark crusaders in the first place. “ Scootaloo said. “To find our cutie marks, not to find fifty other ponies without cutie marks.”

“Well maybe if we had more ponies we could have more ideas on how to get Cutie Marks.” Apple Bloom said, “Which means we could get them faster.”

“Let’s be real here, what new ideas will they have other than the usual ‘just stick to what you like’.” Scootaloo said.

“Kin ya just listen to my ideas for a second?” Apple Bloom said.”Now..if you had let me FINISH…” she fixed a look at Scootaloo, “I would have told ya that my plan was that we could volunteer a li’l harder with Winter Wrap Up, this year. Mah sister told me that community service stuff like this would get our club noticed, and” she noticed Scootaloo about to say something, “it might also help us find our cutie marks.”

“In what? Raking leaves?” Scootaloo snorted.

“Scootaloo, why don’t you give Apple Bloom’s idea a chance?” Sweetie Belle said, “I think it sounds fun. And besides it’s not like it can hurt any.” Scootaloo sighed.

“Fine….we’ll try it. But if it doesn’t work can we forget this expansion stuff and just go back to trying to get cutie marks like the old days?” Apple Bloom bit her lip fighting down the urge to yell at her friend. At least Scootaloo said she’d give it a try.

“Well not forever-” This led to more bickering between the two until Sweetie Belle, of all ponies, yelled at them to stop. This shocked the two fillies quiet.

“If you two don’t stop fighting I’m going to call Rarity and tell her to take me home!” She said. There was no question that she was serious; her voice cracked audibly like it always did when she was worked up and she had tears in her eyes.

“Oh-okay”

“Sorry, Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo said. There was an awkward silence for a few moments. “So we’ll give the whole volunteering thing a try, I guess.” The fillies did their Cutie Mark Handshake, although not as enthusiastically, as each of them had something on their minds. Apple Bloom was trying to think of ways to bring in more blank flanked fillies and colts to be part of the CMC, Scootaloo was trying to think of ways to get Apple Bloom stop with this expansion obsession, and Sweetie Belle just wanted her friends to stop fighting. The three of them went to bed shortly afterward.

*****

One of the Ponyville Winter Wrap Up traditions that the girls forgot to take into account was waking insanely early and being out ready to the crack of dawn. She and her friends were awoken by Applejack standing outside their clubhouse at seven in the morning. It looked like she had already done a little work.

“Y’all best be getting fixed to go now, if you’re expectin’ to help” she said, “A lot of the work’s already getting’ started!” That was all it took to get Apple Bloom up.

“Ah cain’t believe ‘am late! C’mon girls! We gotta get up!” Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo groaned.

“Late? It’s seven in the morning…seven” she said. Sweetie Belle was yawning as well. Unlike them, Apple Bloom was actually used to waking up somewhat early. Living on a farm it was a way of life. Applejack would even wake her bright and early in the summertime so she could help. Contrary to what one might think, Apple Bloom wasn’t averse to this, or doing hard work for the family. Sure sometimes she griped, but for the most part, getting to help on the farm was more of a privilege than a chore.

When she was very small Apple Bloom wanted desperately to help, to be like the big kids. Applejack was very careful with her, since she was born and was always telling her she had to be older to do heavy lifting. So Apple Bloom helped where she could, and it meant all the more to her.

She was out and ready before all of them, fretting about what they might have missed. Would there still be ponies needing her help? She was bouncing on the tips of her hooves waiting for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

“Relax Apple Bloom, you know how it went last year, we were workin’ all day.” Applejack said.

“Plenty ‘a daylight left” Mac said.

“But if I’m too late the older ponies won’t even need me, and we’ll get stuck doin’ foal work that don’t even count as real community service.” Apple Bloom said. Last year she wound up working simple jobs with the other kids. They were given simple little tasks that were mindless busywork that made the little fillies and colts feel good. But now Apple Bloom felt silly doing these simple things. Applejack piled a few pancakes on her plate as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle trudged in yawning.

“Good mornin’ girls! Happy Winter Wrap Up! You ready to bring in spring.”

“Can’t spring wait a little bit…like…til 9” Scootaloo said.

“Nope, sorry, sugarcube. We need to get the gears rollin’ soon as possible, so all the lil’ critters can get on with their lives and the crops can grow-for land’s sakes Apple Bloom, slow down or you’re gonna choke!” Apple Bloom was inhaling her pancakes in an effort to get out the door as soon as she could.

“I’m…” Apple Bloom gasped for breath as she gulped down her juice and it went down the wrong pipe. Once she was finished she offered a very unconvincing “I’m fine.” Once she was done she went over to the door closet and threw on her scarf and boots. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo exchanged looks. As they finished their food and put on their scarves and boots Apple Bloom was about ready to go out the door.

Applejack looked up at the clock.

“I gotta get goin’ Carrot Top’s shift ended five minutes ago.” She said. Before she left she imparted a warning on the girls, particularly Apple Bloom.

“Now have a good time, and remember, community service means ya help to help, not to get somethin’ outta the deal.”

*****

Twilight had been in the middle of town near city hall since the early hours of morning, and she was just getting the feeling back in the tips of her wings. One cup of Pinkie’s hot cocoa had helped considerably. She never ceased to be amazed by how early Pinkie could be awake when she wanted to. All that energy she expended looked downright exhausting. By now sunrise had lit up the town. The pegasi were already in the air, being led by Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Twi? You gonna join us up here?” Rainbow called.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea” Twilight said sheepishly, “You know I haven’t really gotten the hang of these yet.”

“Oh, right” Rainbow laughed sheepishly. “Well don’t you worry, Twi, I got everything under control.” She gave her friend a salute, and Twilight returned it. Twilight continued on, the pegasi were all doing their jobs according to plan. She could see all the flight teams going out to guide birds back.

Pinkie traded off with the Cakes, to go work on the ice breaking, Twilight made another check on her clipboard. The Cakes were offering hot cocoa this year to warm up cold, hardworking ponies. After quite a few ponies caught colds last year, Pinkie suggested having something to warm them up. Granny Smith also signed up to volunteer, and was offering warm dandelion soup, and apple tarts.

“Now let’s go check on Applejack.” Spike, who was more awake this year, having been ready to participate, nodded. As she went about doing her rounds, she had to admit that this was completely unlike her last Winter Wrap Up. She liked having a job to do, and a place to be. It calmed her nerves a bit. Having the pieces all fitting into place as the town organizer made things simple and it calmed her anxieties. One less thing to worry about. The anxieties that crawled into her mind and caused worries had plagued her since she was a filly. They always came up when things didn’t go according to plan.

It was for this reason that she was keeping her thoughts of Shining Armor at bay for the day so she could focus on the task. She told herself that he was just having a case of the nerves and he would figure things out. It would do for today.

“Hey Twi!” Twilight waved back and Spike made another check. Applejack trotted over to meet her calling to her fellow workers that she would “be back in a jiffy” “So how ya doin’ lately? Things okay…with…you know?”On the one hoof Twilight appreciated that she was concerned but on the other, she wished Applejack hadn’t brought up that can-of-worms topic again.

“Oh yeah…I’m just telling myself it’s nothing too big.” She said. “I need to just focus on one thing at a time.” She stopped when she noticed a few ponies watching them with baited breath. Some of them whispered things about the ‘Princess’. Applejack sighed in annoyance.

“Why don’t you make yourselves useful and get back to workin’” She said sharply. The ponies looked rather abashed and went back to working heads hanging. Even though the scolding wasn’t directed at her Twilight was surprised at the sharp tone of her friends’ scolding.

“You think that was a bit harsh?”she asked.

“Nope” Applejack said, not even remotely ashamed. “You’re my friend and I ain’t gonna let ponies treat you like a sideshow attraction.” Twilight smiled a little, reminded again why she loved her friends. She continued to walk around checking on everypony. For the moment it seemed like this Winter Wrap Up was going just as according to plan. But little did she know it wouldn’t last long, due to some very over-competitive fillies.

*****

The Cutie Mark Crusaders weren’t the only ones looking to do some more grown-up work on Winter Wrap Up. Silver Spoon, like Apple Bloom was thinking a lot about growing up lately. She had met ponies who introduced her to things, hobbies that while sometimes seeming dorky, made her feel more like her. For years since she had met Diamond Tiara she couldn’t help feeling like she was nothing but a ‘Yes-Pony’. A handful of times she had disagreed with Diamond Tiara and instead of an agreement to disagree, she had to deal with Diamond’s rage. When she applauded for Granny Smith’s speech on Family Appreciation Day , Diamond cornered her later to have cross words with her, and made Silver have to ‘make it up to her’. Soon she was afraid to disagree with Diamond. She never knew when she would get off with a shrug or a look, or when she would get the brat’s rage.

This left her feeling resentful, and made her resort to passive aggressive spite. When made her feel just plain awful, and soon she was begging to spend more time in Maanehatten with her father’s family. She talked to her stepsister about it, and her stepsister told her that it sounded like she didn’t really like Diamond anymore, and she was probably going to continue feeling miserable until she talked to Diamond.

But that wasn’t that easy. When she got home she tried to talk to Diamond and tell her how she felt and about how she felt like she couldn’t be herself. Diamond told her she was oversensitive and being a foal. Sometimes Silver wished she had the courage to end things right there and then. But she didn’t She was afraid of the cruel words Diamond would have for her when faced with her rejection. But she did manage to send a message when she turned down an invitation for a sleepover (more like a demand) in favor of time with her family.

Diamond Tiara, to her credit, wised up after hat and started being a little nicer. Or, more likely she started the honeymoon phase of their relationship, passive-aggressively making Silver Spoon feel guilt for being mad at her. Silver wasn’t even sure anymore. She only stayed with Diamond after the Gabby Gums incident because she still wanted to get back at Apple Bloom and her friends. Not because they didn’t have their cutie marks. She couldn’t care less about that. But one of the ponies that Gabby Gums gossiped about was her mother and father’s personal business. They hurt someone Silver cared about and she could not forgive that. So she put up with Diamond. Otherwise she’d be left alone in her class.

That morning Diamond spotted the three of them huddled together talking. Silver was thinking about other things. She may have a score to settle with them, but she wasn’t obsessed like Diamond was sometimes. As Silver walked around looking around for a real job to do. Things like putting welcome cards in nests was a childish and stupid task that kindergarten foals did, birds couldn’t even read! But still adults told them it was the thought that counts. She saw Ms. Amethyst Star and Ms. Fluttershy talking. Maybe she could talk to them. She knew older fillies and colts helped lead the animals that sounded useful. She figured that Diamond was probably off getting a hot cocoa and bragging to the adults about her new …something or other. As Silver Spoon approached, she remembered that Ms. Fluttershy might not take to her well, after what Diamond Tiara had pulled last fall. It made Silver cringe with secondhand embarrassment. It was one thing one Diamond picked on other kids, but poking fun at an adult’s stuttering was seriously out of line. Silver wished she had the courage to say something afterward, to apologize. But she lost her nerve.

“Silver Spoon!” She jumped as she heard the demanding voice of Diamond Tiara. The little brat came over wearing a sparkly hat and a scarf with beaded tassels. “You’ll never believe who I overheard on the way over here.”

“Let me guess Apple Blunder and her dorky friends, right” Silver sighed. The farmer girl was always so full of dumb ideas for their club. She didn’t know why any sane pony would join a group that advertised their lack of cutie mark.

“Apple Blunder. That’s a good one” Diamond giggled, “But yeah, they were talking about some community service mess to promote their loser club.”

“Yeah…so?” Silver asked. It would crash and fall apart on its own, all their plans did. Diamond made a noise of impatience.

“Well isn’t it obvious what we have to do? We have to do better than her and show everypony that we can do much better than a bunch of blank flanks” she said. Silver stared at Diamond wondering if she really realized what she was saying.

“Diamond….that involves work, you do realize that, right” She said.

“WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?” For a moment Diamond almost looked demonic in her anger.

“Nothing! Just……” Silver Spoon sighed and then spoke words she knew she’d regret. “Okay, let’s do it.” And that was how it started. Diamond led Silver to where the other fillies were, because of course, she had to beat them and be able to rub their face in it. The two groups of fillies traveled from group to group aggressively “helping’ and taunting one another. Silver was actually trying to do the best she could, and actually accomplish something positive, even if they were doing it in mean spiritedness.

Diamond Tiara, just as Silver Spoon predicted was not used to working hard. Silver was also spoiled true, but she had some experience with working, having to do chores for her stepmother in Manhattan. She had hated it at first but now she found herself so very, very thankful that she had, and thankful that she had a father who knew how to speak sternly to her. She wanted to shudder at the thought of turning out as spoiled as Diamond Tiara.

Silver could have kicked her “friend” for throwing a hissy fit and yelling at the animals they were trying to lead. She wanted to gag and roll her eyes as Diamond shed crocodile tears when Amethyst corrected her and acted like a little drama queen about being criticized. Of course she didn’t show any of this because then she would end up spending weeks being forced to grovel and plead for forgiveness while Diamond Tiara acted like she had been wounded deeply and “didn’t think she could get over it.”

*****

What was meant to be a possibly fun day of helping out and celebrating the coming of spring was ruined when Diamond Tiara caught wind of what they were doing. Every time they would go somewhere to try and help some pony, whether with helping animals to planting and organizing seeds, to skating on the ice with Pinkie, to making nests with Rarity, Diamond and Silver would show up and try to work faster and do better, or when the adults back was turned , try to sabotage them.

“Just ignore them” Sweetie said when they met up after leaving Rarity and Spike to make nests with Diamond and Tiara.

“But they’re ruinin’ everythin’!” Apple Bloom stamped a hoof. She felt furious tears on her face, but quickly wiped them away. She didn’t want to risk the two seeing her and knowing they got to her. She told herself that she would just have to do better than them.

“Why don’t we just go home?” Scootaloo said.

“We can’t, cause then they’ll think they can get to us! Besides, you’re not a quitter are ya?”

“No, I just think it’s stupid to keep competing with them and making them feel important” Scootaloo said.

“Let’s try plantin’ seeds, ain’t no way Applejack will let them get away with anythin’ there.” The three of them agreed and made for the fields. Applejack set them to working on sorting seed packets. Of course Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were drawn in soon after and played the ‘innocent filly’ act.

“You know this is work, right girls?” Applejack asked, eyeing them with distrust. Apple Bloom barely looked up from her sorting but she grinned to herself, proud of her older sister. However another one of the adults bought their act.

“Let them work Applejack, what can they hurt?” she asked.

“You don’t know these girls like ah do, Carrot Top” Diamond however was good at pouting and playing innocent.

“Oh, don’t be childish, you’re the adult and they’re only children.” Applejack shot an annoyed look as Carrot Top gave the girls instructions on how to sort seeds. When nopony was looking Diamond shot a smirk at the Crusaders. She took over monopolizing the workstation and harshly criticized the three blank flanked fillies on their seed sorting, which led to a heated argument between her and Apple Bloom.

It was unbelievable! How could Diamond act like she knew more about anything relating to farming than Apple Bloom who had actually lived on a farm. What right did she have to say that she could do better when only weeks prior she had said that she wouldn’t touch a hoe if she was paid to. These were the things on Apple Bloom’s mind as she raised a hoof and smacked the pink pony right in the nose. This led to an all out seed flinging fight until the girls were told to leave by Carrot Top.

“Let them help, ya said. What could they hurt, ya said.” They heard Applejack hiss.

“Why don’t you face it , anything you can do we can do better.” Diamond said.

“That ain’t true!” Apple Bloom said, “we were doing just fine til you came along and ruined everythin’ by pickin’ fights.” Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes and sighed.

“I feel sorry for you Apple Bloom, I really do.” She said shaking her head, “I’m sure that telling yourself you’re good at sorting seeds will make you feel better, even in light of the fact that you’re so slow you don’t even have a cutie mark at almost eleven years old. Come on Silver, let’s go. We need to help some of the others, and fix the mess these losers made.”

That little- that little….

Well there were a lot of words on her mind right now but all of them were three-drops-of-soap-and-no-dessert words.

“Come on girls!” She didn’t see Sweetie and Scootaloo exchange looks and face hoof behind her. For the next hour the original reason for their helping was long-forgotten in favor of “beat Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon at anything”. The two bullies managed to pull Scootaloo into it by mocking Sweetie Belle and making her cry. They left quite a bit of disarray, confusion and grumbling in their wake.

The worst of it came when Diamond challenged Scootaloo on the ice, calling her a “penguin pony” because she couldn’t fly. The two of them started racing laps around the lake , fierce enough to make most of the older ponies, even Pinkie Pie want to get off the ice. Scootaloo by the final lap was doing well, beating Diamond Tiara. It looked like she was going to “win” and anyone who knew Diamond knew she couldn’t have that. So just as Diamond pulled up to a very focused Scootaloo, she held out one sharp blade ice skate right in front of the filly’s hooves. The two skates got entangled and in a moment both were sent flying.

Scootaloo gave a cry of pain and Diamond Tiara gave a blood curdling screech.

Apple Bloom watched helplessly while several ponies flew to the girls’ aid. Pinkie Pie watched looking shaky while a pair of unicorns lifted Scootaloo out of the crack she was caught in and tended to Diamond’s hurt leg. Silver Spoon looked panicky as well as she watched, muttering something under her breath. Ponies surrounded the lake, and all went quiet as the crowds parted to allow Princess Twilight through.

Apple Bloom tried to push down the lump in her throat.

“What happened here?” Twilight did not look happy at all. Apple Bloom felt her mouth go dry.. Sweetie sniffled and started stuttering apologies.

“The girls were going really super fast” Pinkie said, “I mean I tried to tell them to slow down.” Apple Bloom remembered Pinkie shouting at them to slow down. They had ignored her and kept cheering Scootaloo on. They should have told her not to race, but Apple Bloom was so caught up in beating Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

There was something terrifying about an angry alicorn. Especially when they were angry at you.

“Racing? “ Twilight said glaring at the fillies. “You were racing? Does this look like a race track to you?” Applejack was somewhere behind her, shaking her head angrily.

“N-no” Apple Bloom said feeling ashamed. However Diamond Tiara didn’t seem to have any shame. She leaned forward against the warnings of the ponies patching her up.

“It was Scootaloo’s idea! She challenged us when we only wanted to help out, and then…then when she tripped me-“ Scootaloo interjected

“I tripped you?? Even in spite of being soaking wet and limping, she still looked a little scary as she tried to lunge toward Diamond raising her non-injured hoof, “You…you….you LYING BRAT!” Diamond just started fake-crying again.

“ENOUGH!” Twilight shouted. “Girls, Winter Wrap Up is not a race. You’re here to help. And, so far your competing has been causing nothing but trouble.” She sighed “I’m sorry but, I’m going to have to ask you to go home and let the adults work.”

“…but we didn’t mean-“ Apple Bloom started.

“I’m sorry, but you’ve already caused enough trouble for one day.” Apple Bloom kept her gaze stubbornly on the ground. She wasn’t going to cry…she wasn’t going to cry, she wasn’t going to…oh buck it.

Scootaloo was patched up and the three of them started on their way back to the club house, leaving Twilight to deal with a defiant Diamond Tiara. The ponies slowly started going back to work now that the spectacle was over. Apple Bloom didn’t want to think about the words her older sister would have for her tonight.

*****

Things soon went back to business as usual; a few of the groups had to do some extra work to make up for the mess the fillies made which would take a few hours of work. Fortunately Rainbow Dash didn’t have that problem. She continued to call out commands and send out teams to bring back the birds. Sometime in the afternoon things seemed to get back on track. Even in spite of the mess made it seemed like they’d make a good recovery. Rainbow Dash wasn’t entirely sure what happened, nor did she want to know because from where she was looking it looked a bit messy.

“RAINBOW!” Rainbow Dash nearly jumped at the sound of two panicked voices and then turned around. Derpy Hooves and Cloud Kicker were looking very panicked.

“What?” Rainbow asked. She hoped this wouldn’t be another distraction.

“W-we found something….I-I think you should-“ Derpy started.

“We were leading some of the birds back, and as we were reaching Ponyville, Derpy spotted some blood spots in the snow.”

“Yeah….I think some of the kids took a spill by the lake” Rainbow Dash said impatiently, “Youd didn’t just leave the birds did you?”

“No” Derpy shook her head, “Not there, outside the town! I promise I’m not making this up.” After a moment she added, “And it’s not my fault either!” Many of the weather team tended to be impatient with Derpy’s clumsiness, which came from her eye problem, and blamed her when things went wrong. She used to be oblivious but lately it seemed like not only was she aware, she was particularly sensitive about it.

“No one thinks you did it Derpy” Rainbow said. Below her she saw some earth ponies running over, Applejack was following.

“Rainbow we got trouble” she called, “Some ponies found something mighty strange-“

“Yeah, yeah I heard.” Rainbow said. “Look, just show me where you found it okay? “ She sighed, was more than one normal Winter Wrap up every five years too much to ask for? She followed both the weather ponies and the pegasi to the spot where they found the drops. It was, unmistakably blood. The snow nearby was marred by dirt and skid marks. “Maybe it’s an animal or something.” She said.

“Ah don’t think so, Rainbow.” Applejack had been following the disturbance in the snow out to a hill right by the Everfree Forest. “Ya’ll better c’mere and take a look at this.” She looked a little pale and sickly. Rainbow followed her to a fairly large clearing.

Bodies.

Six ponies were laying out in the snow. Rainbow Dash lowered herself to the ground and tried to get a closer look.

They were all well in one piece, thankfully and looked like they were sleeping, or unconscious. They were positioned in pairs nearby one another, probably to preserve body heat. They were fairly bruised looking, but it was hard to tell from whom exactly the blood came from. It left Rainbow feeling a bit disturbed.

She looked closer at the ponies who were laying there. They didn’t look like anyone anypony recognized so far. Rainbow knew she certainly had never seen any of these ponies. As she looked closer she realized the ponies were younger than her. One of them was a colt no older than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Six ponies, all of them kids, were out here lying on the ground for Celestia only knew how long.

“Who in Equestria would so somethin’ like this?” Applejack said quietly. Rainbow shook her head.

“I don’t know Applejack.” She looked back to the other ponies. “Send for a doctor. They might still be alive.” Applejack nodded and she and the two other earth ponies took off. Rainbow continued circling them. The colt was a bright yellow pegasus, lying near a stocky light blue unicorn. She suddenly jumped as one of them made a small sound. An older pegasus, probably about as old as Pinkie Pie at most made a small raspy noise as his body moved up and down.

They were alive!

Applejack made it back with Twilight in tow, along with Doctor Horse and Nurse Redheart, and a couple other volunteers. The strange young ponies were taken to the doctor, and the rest of the ponies, Rainbow Dash included went back to working, many in numb shock.