“Another playdate? But Sweetie Belle, the last time was only--”
“More than a week ago! That’s a really long time and we haven’t had a proper meeting since!” Sweetie Belle protested to her sister.
“Well, as I already stated, I’m afraid that they can’t come over today.” Rarity said, magically levitating some of her dressmaking supplies into a neat stack for use later.
“Why?” The filly wailed.
“Spa day.” Rarity chimed. “I never miss these outings with Fluttershy. You know that.”
Sweetie huffed. “Then what am I going to do?!”
“Well I’ll just have to hire a babysitter for you.”
Sweetie’s mouth went agape in horror. “A babysitter?! Not the last one again right? She smelled really funny...” She spat out her tongue in disgust.
“You really didn’t like her, did you?” Rarity sighed as Sweetie shook her head. “In that case...hm.” She looked up at the ceiling of her boutique, thinking. “Well let’s go to Sweet Apple Acres and see if Applejack can look after you, okay?”
Upon receiving a nod from her sister Rarity opened the front door and stepped to the side, letting Sweetie pass. The filly looked at Rarity, then up at the clear sky. Why the hay would Rarity want to spend this day cooped up in a really hot room? Then again, she was Rarity; Sweetie didn’t think she would ever understand her sister. Maybe Rarity was adopted. After all, she was the only one in the family to be so...posh. Not that her being adopted would change anything, it would just explain things.
Sweetie stuck close to the mare, remembering countless of occasions when she got scolded for wandering off. That was another thing she didn’t quite understand about Rarity. Despite not being her mother, she always acted like one. Maybe...
“Rarity?” Sweetie said, looking up at the mare in question.
“Mm?”
“Do you want a filly of your own?” She asked innocently.
Rarity stopped and looked down at Sweetie with a face that just screamed confusion. “Er...no. Why would you ask that?”
“Because you act like my mother all the time.” She answered, no hint of annoyance in her voice. The best way to deal with Rarity was to just do as she said. Unless she ordered Sweetie to jump off a cliff. “I wondered if you were practicing.”
Rarity unsuccessfully stifled a scoff. “Oh no no no, it is not like that at all! I’ll explain later, okay?” Then, she set the pace once more.
“Adults are weird...”
“You will be one eventually.” The dressmaker chimed.
“Well I’ll be the first non-weird one.”
While it may have seemed that Rarity did not understand her sister, it doesn’t take much thinking to prove that the opposite was true. Rarity was a filly once. Every adult was. They all had to learn about life’s lessons, some more quickly than others. Sometimes the lessons were easy and at other times, they were tough. Growing up was a class that everyone had to attend.
The two soon found themselves surrounded by fences and apple trees, a sure sign that they were in Sweet Apple Acres. Ponyville was a rural town so it embraced nature but the Acres were something else. Almost everything looked fresh, especially when the apples were ripe. Even the smell was enticing. Simply put, the Acres were so serene and a reminder of the Earth Pony roots. Rarity herself had to admit that there was a charm about the place, despite all the dirt and muck. In fact, she very much admired the Apple family’s determination at hard work.
The pair strode up to the barnhouse and Rarity knocked softly on the door. For a while there wasn’t an answer, leaving the two standing outside awkwardly. Eventually the door did open. To Rarity, it had seemed like it opened on its own accord. Nopony was in front of her.
“Howdy!”
Rarity looked down, spotting Apple Bloom standing in the doorway with a sweet smile on her face.
“Hey Sweetie Belle, ya ready for another day of crusadin’?”
“You betcha!” Sweetie cheered, hopping repeatedly off the ground.
Rarity then found herself under the watchful eyes of Apple Bloom. It was a little unnerving in all honesty. “Erm...yes Apple Bloom?”
“Aren’t we goin’ to your place?”
“Sadly not. I have an appointment with Fluttershy at the spa. I was hoping you two could stay here, if that’s possible?”
Apple Bloom frowned, shaking her head. “No can do. Applejack and Big Macintosh are workin’ and Granny Smith’s asleep. And you can’t leave two fillies on their lonesome can’t you?” She looked at Rarity with innocent eyes, blinking them rapidly Sweetie soon copied the gesture.
The mare berated herself for thinking so foolishly. Of course Applejack was working in the fields. That was pretty much what encompassed her life. She could have left Granny Smith to look after them but she thought it was cruel to leave an old mare to the mercy of two excitable fillies. Wait, two? There should have been three.
“Oh well...I’ll think of something.” Rarity waved her hoof in the air dismissively. “But where is Scootaloo?”
“She’ll turn up.” Sweetie answered.
“Always does one way or another.” The earth pony filly added.
“Very well then.” Rarity tapped her chin with a hoof, thinking of a solution. Then it hit her. “Idea!” She sang.
The two fillies both tilted their heads and said in unison: “What?”
“We’ll go to the library and Spike can look after you!”
The crusaders glanced at each other, sharing concerned looks. Apple Bloom was the first to speak out. “But there’s nothin’ much to do but read...”
“And is that such a bad thing? I do love a good novel from time to time. They take me to another world and I often get lost in it.”
Apple Bloom was about to object again but was stopped by Sweetie’s hoof covering her mouth. Sweetie just shook her head at her.
“Come along then!” Rarity announced, using her magic to shut the door. This act unintentionally shoved Apple Bloom outside but the mare didn’t seem to notice. The red maned filly grumbled, looking at the new mark on her flank. A bruise.
Before they left the Acres, they all heard the sound of pigs oinking in the distance. Rarity grimaced--this was exactly why she never stayed there for long.
“Sweetie Belle, ya seen Scoots lately?” Apple Bloom asked as the trio travelled.
“No...no I haven’t.” Sweetie Belle answered, thinking of where the pegasus filly could be.
“I have no clue where she goes sometimes. Probably followin’ Rainbow Dash like some lost puppy.” Apple Bloom shrugged.
“That was a rather insulting comment.” Rarity butted in.
The adult mare was about to go on but was intervened by Sweetie Belle. “But puppies are cute!”
“Exactly.” Rarity said with a smirk.
“I guess I did phrase it a lil’ ba--”
Apple Bloom interrupted herself as she could hear the repeated fluttering of tiny wings beating, as well as some small grunts. The three all stopped in their tracks when they saw a small orange pegasus slowly descending towards the ground, her wings working as fast as they could have. The result was that she was slowly going down but had moments where she would gain altitude too.
“Scootaloo dear, you can probably stop getting your wings into a tizzy. You’re very near the ground.” Rarity called out to the filly but she was too ‘in the zone’ to notice.
Finally her wings relaxed and she dropped to the ground from a distance of half a meter. “Hey guys...” She said with heavy breaths.
“Hi Scoots!” The other two crusaders both chimed. “Where did you come from?” Sweetie Belle went on to ask.
The pegasus pointed a hoof upwards at the sky, indicating a lone cloud not that high in the sky. The other three all trailed their eyes to the cloud, upon which was a familiar blue pegasus.
“I called it!” Apple Bloom burst out.
“Called what?” Scootaloo queried, eyebrow raised.
“Er...nothin’.”
“Riiiight.”
Rainbow Dash waved to the others, Rarity waving back. Before the two could exchange vocal greetings, Rainbow Dash zoomed off. Her sudden exit didn’t offend the dressmaker. She wouldn’t have had the proper time for a full length conversation anyway.
“So what were you doin’ with Rainbow Dash anyway?” Apple Bloom asked. Rarity had already set off, knowing too full well that Scootaloo would join their little troupe.
“She was teaching me flying lessons!” Scootaloo said energetically, although she was still a little out of breath.
“Oooooo!” Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sang.
“I know, it’s awesome.” Scootaloo proclaimed triumphantly. “She’s going to fly by herself now though,” she looked around, “what are we doing?”
“Going to the library.” Apple Bloom answered.
“Spike’s going to babysit us.” Sweetie Belle added. Scootaloo hung out her tongue, rolling her eyes. “Oh it can’t be that bad.” Sweetie chided, in a manner similar to that of her sister.
Rarity looked at Scootaloo, noticing how bored she looked already. “Rainbow Dash is quite the reader these days you know.”
“Well of course I know that! But do you really think that just because I’m her number one then that means that I have to like everything she does?” Scootaloo didn’t get a response. Everypony else was just looking at each other in stunned silence. The pegasus sighed. “Never mind...”
The group of four kept heading onwards and without any more interruptions, they reached the library quite quickly. Rarity strode up to the front door and rapped it three times with her hoof. In only a few seconds, the door opened, revealing Twilight.
The filly looked up at Rarity, smiling. “Hi Rarity,” her eyes then trailed to the Crusaders. She blinked, gulping. “And hello you three...”
“Hello Twilight.” Rarity replied.
“Hey there!”
“Hi!”
“Hey!”
Twilight tried not to shy away from the other fillies and instead focused on Rarity, who asked: “Is Spike home?”
Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Yes but erm...he’s asleep.”
“Asleep?! It simply must have gone midday by now! That lazy...” Rarity snorted, barging into the library. She stomped up the stairs, peering as Spike. He was still in his bed, his arm hanging off the side.
“Spike, get up this instant!” Rarity commanded.
Spike waved a lazy claw at the mare. “Don’t wanna...” He turned around, his back now to the dressmaker.
“Oh stop acting so childish. Get up now.”
“Five more minutes...” Spike groaned.
Spike’s head slipped as a pillow was taken from under him but he remained motionless. Then the pillow was above his head. And then it proceeded to whack him repeatedly.
“Hey! Stop it!” Spike rolled out of bed, trying to escape the pillow’s wrath. He fell onto the floor and slowly raised himself to see Rarity, her horn glowing. “Alright alright...you win. Geeze.”
“Lovely.” Rarity efficiently used her magic to tidy Spike’s bed. “Now Spike, I am afraid I must ask a favor of you.”
After the pillow thrashing, Spike thought better than to object. “Okay then...what?”
“It’s simple in theory but in practice...” She sighed, just getting on with it, “I need you to look after my sister and her friends.”
“You don’t mean...?”
Rarity nodded. “Yes, I do mean them.”
Spike gulped, his eyes widening in terror. He had hoped that today would be a relaxing one, considering yesterday’s events. Now this day seemed even more chaotic than the last. He’d rather go through with the Crusaders than suffer the wrath of Rarity, so he reluctantly agreed.
“Fine, fine.”
“Ah, excellent! Thank you so much Spikey Wikey! I’m very grateful for this.” Rarity chimed, trotting down the stairs. Spike grinned sheepishly. The mare’s nickname for him never got old.
“Well then, have fun you three. I’ll see you all later.” Rarity said, passing by the three fillies and heading out of the door. Everyone was a little surprised by sudden exit but then again, she had places she needed to be.
With Rarity gone, there was a long awkward silence between Twilight and the Crusaders. Both parties stared at each other, unsure of what to say. Twilight had seen the Crusaders before but she had never engaged in a full conversation with them. In fact, she hadn’t with any other pony her age.
To everyone’s relief, it was Spike who broke the silence. “Come on in then.”
The Crusaders blinked, realizing that they were still standing in the doorway. They all entered, not one taking a lead, and Spike closed the door behind them.
“Well,” he clapsed his claws together. This was different. “There’s books...lots of books...obviously.” Oh well done Spike, you’ve made yourself look like a complete idiot. Just smile and laugh so it looks like you were making a joke. He acted on his thoughts, laughing. Except it sounded completely forced and awkward.
The blank faces of the fillies, including Twilight, made him want to leave. “Er...I gotta have breakfast and stuff...have fun!” He quickly retreated into another room but not before noticing the anxious look on Twilight’s face. He mouthed the words ‘you’ll be fine’ before disappearing.
Twilight frowned at her scaly friend, then turned back to face the Crusaders, putting on a brave smile. “Soooo...” she began, pacing nervously on the spot, “You like reading?”
Sweetie Belle was the first to answer. “Yeah!”
“Sure,” The other two both mumbled.
“You want to read then?”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo exchanged unimpressed looks and Scootaloo was the first to voice her concerns. “Er, I don’t know if you noticed but reading isn’t really a social thing to do.”
“W-Well I disagree,” Twilight objected, a little afraid of what the result of her words would be, “Reading in a group with friends can be nice.”
“The only time I ever read with other ponies is when Applejack or Big Mac reads me a story before I go to sleep. Come to think of it, I’m not even readin’ then!” Apple Bloom added.
“The principle is the same thou--nevermind.” Twilight peered at all three Crusaders. Did they even know her name? “Anyway, I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced,” the purple unicorn cleared her throat, “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I think I know all your names...” she pointed at Applejack’s sister, “Apple Bloom, right?”
“Yep!” the red maned filly nodded.
Twilight then brought her hoof to point at the white unicorn, “Sweetie Belle.”
“Mhm!”
Finally, she pointed at the pegasus Crusader. “And you must be...” then she got stuck. Did she even know any relations of this filly’s?
“Scoops?”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and facehoofed, groaning. The other Crusaders couldn’t help but burst into a fit of giggles.
Twilight bit her lip. “Oh, I’m sorry!”
The pegasus managed to keep calm and soon shrugged off the mishap. “It’s fine...my name’s Scootaloo.”
“I’m gonna call you Scoops from now on though.” Apple Bloom snickered, receiving a glare from Scootaloo.
“What is it with you and nicknames?!” The orange filly cried.
“What is it with ya and not lightenin’ up?!” Apple Bloom retorted, beginning to push her head against Scootaloo’s. The two looked like fighting deer.
“What is it with both of you and arguing?!” Sweetie Belle yelled, her voice cracking. She pulled the two away from each other, “We’ve already been through this girls, we’re not gonna get our cutie marks from arguing.”
Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sighed, defeated, and both said: “Yeah, you’re right.”
Twilight stood there awkwardly at the scenario, both impressed and scared at how easily these girls could blow up and then calm right down. Her awkwardness passed on to the Crusaders and everyone went back to silently staring at each other.
“I’m not hearing any explosions so...good job!” Spike called out from another room.
“Hmm...what to do that doesn’t involve explosions...” Sweetie Belle pondered, absent mindedly tapping the floor with a hoof. The other three all became lost in their thoughts.
It was Scootaloo who broke the silence, grinning excitedly and raising a hoof. “I know!”
“What?” All the others asked.
Scootaloo’s smile went from excited to devilish. “Book forts.”
“Beware General Bloom, the evil Unicorn army is about to attack our glorious fort!” Scootaloo shouted from the safety of her and Apple Bloom’s fort. It was crude in design, and was just four walls of books stacked up against each other and an entrance. Book forts looked easy to do but in reality they took a lot of time and effort...the real skill was finding books equal to each other in size.
Apple Bloom raised herself, looking across the room. On the other side lay Twilight and Sweetie Belle’s fort. “Aha, so the cowards finally decide to attack eh? Corporal Scoops--”
“Scoots.” Scootaloo interrupted her in a deadpan tone.
“Eh heh heh...yes, Scoots, fire the catapults!”
Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom a swift salute. “At once Commander!” She took a book from a pile inside the fort and chucked it across the room. It spun through the air and landed flat on the floor, mere metres away from the unicorn fort.
“I must admit...this game is a little...unnerving.” Twilight admitted, ducking down to avoid any possible collisions with books.
“You get used to the chaos.” Sweetie Belle replied, chucking a book at the enemy. A very near miss would have been a gross overstatement. “Looks like it’ll be really hard to hit them...”
“Can’t you use your magic? They never said you couldn’t.”
“That’s because I can’t use magic. Not yet anyways.” Sweetie chucked another book, carrying on.
Twilight blinked. “Really? I can’t either!” she said, perhaps a bit too excitedly given the subject but it felt so good to her that she knew another filly with the same lack of magical talent that she had. Ok, so she could levitate some things but that took too much effort to be considered real skill. Perhaps Sweetie Belle was the same.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get there one day.” Sweetie gave Twilight a delightful smile, one which the purple unicorn readily returned. Out of all the Crusaders, Twilight had bonded with Sweetie Belle the most.
However happy the filly’s words were, they reminded Twilight of the truth. One day would be soon. Very soon. Sweetie Belle would be completely unaware of it...but would Twilight? She shook her head, getting rid of the question with no answer. She had to get her head in the game!
The battle was a complete stalemate. Books were thrown and always missed their intended targets. They were near misses though and that’s what kept both teams going.
Twilight reached down to pick up a book but found herself grabbing at only air. “Oh no.”
“What?” Sweetie Belle asked yet she didn’t need an answer to see what the problem was. They had no ammo left. “What do we do?!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.
“There’s only one thing we can do, Sweetie Belle.” Twilight said rather dramatically.
“What’s that?”
“I have to go out there myself and crash into their fort.” It was a risky strategy but not against the rules.
“No! You can’t do that Twilight!” Sweetie Belle pleaded.
“I have to Sweetie Belle!” Twilight grabbed the filly and shook her, “It’s the only way!”
“Wow...those two are really getting into this aren’t they?” Scootaloo questioned, looking curiously over at the unicorn’s fort.
“Eeyep.” Apple Bloom replied, rather stunned by the melodramatics.
“There has to be another option! There just has to be!” Sweetie Belle could only watch as Twilight let go of her and set her sights for the enemy fort.
“It was an honor serving with you Sweetie Belle.”
“Celestia speed, brave brave unicorn.” Sweetie Belle gave Twilight a swift salute as Twilight galloped out of the fort.
Twilight’s heart began pumping faster and faster as she picked up in speed. Books flew and landed to the left and right of her but none of them would hit her. She could not fail in this mission. Something that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo realized all too well.
“Aah horseapples.”
“You said it Apple Bloom.”
Before they knew it, Twilight burst through the wall and books were sent everywhere, the structure quickly collapsing. The battle had been won.
Twilight got up from the rubble and peered around, a sheepish grin on her face. “Um...maybe I took that a little too far.”
“Maybe you did,” Scootaloo got up, books sliding off her body, “but that was awesome!”
“Probably the most heroic thing I’ve seen all day.” Apple Bloom fiddled with her bow, which had gone askew. “Or maybe the most stupid.” she joked, chuckling. Both Twilight and Scootaloo joined in with the laughter.
“That was great!” Sweetie Belle chirped, trotting over to the three. “Twilight was all like ‘pwoooooosh’! And then she was like ‘raaaaaaaaaargh’! And then the fort was all like ‘boom’!”
“Hehe, I guess I was pretty--”
“What the heck happened in here?!”
All three fillies turned their heads to see Spike, dismayed and annoyed over the mess of books scattered across the floor.
“I leave to nap--erm, go read for just a bit and then I come back to this!” he slowly wiped a hand over his face, sighing deeply. This would take a while to clean up but he couldn’t really stay angry at them for long. “Doesn’t matter...I’ll just clean them up myself.”
All four fillies sat there, watching as Spike picked up the books, grumbling to himself all the way. “We’re sorry Spike.” they all said in unison.
“It’s fine. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it...but would it kill you all just to read a book?”
The fillies nodded, silently and swiftly grabbing the nearest book and reading it. Or at least pretending to read. The only one interested in the book’s subject--the biology of birds--was Twilight.
“I’m baaaaack!” Rarity sang, looking as gorgeous as ever. She stood in the open doorway, watching the surprisingly calm scene before her. Spike was on a ladder, lining some books on the shelves and the fillies were all huddled around a book. However, instead of reading they were simply chatting.
Spike slotted the last book into its rightful place and then spotted Rarity. “Hey Rarity.”
“Hello Spike. Thank you so much for looking after them all, I hope they weren’t a bother.”
“Nope. Not a bother at all!” It was really difficult for Spike to prevent himself from covering that sentence with heavy sarcasm.
“Lovely!” Rarity replied, turning her attention to the girls while Spike climbed down the ladder. “Come along now my little ponies, we’re leaving.”
“Aaaaaw!” All the fillies wailed.
“So soon?” Sweetie Belle asked, receiving a firm nod from Rarity.
“Hey Rarity, at least let them say goodbye.” Spike advised, noticing the glum looks on all the fillies’ faces.
“Well of course I was going to let them do that!” Rarity protested, rolling her eyes.
The three Crusaders then looked at Twilight, before huddling in a group circle and whispering to each other. Twilight tilted her head, unable to make out what they were discussing. Soon enough though, they all broke up and stood next to each other.
Sweetie Belle cleared her throat. “Twilight Sparkle, we,”
“The Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Scootaloo added, saying their title with pride.
“Would like ya to join our ranks!” Apple Bloom finished.
Twilight’s mouth went agape. She had no idea how to respond. She didn’t expect this at all. Yes, she was a blank flank but...to be accepted by other fillies her age? This was a breakthrough. No, more than that. A dream come true.
“Y-Yes! Of course I would! Thank you all so much!”
“Very well, then say after me--” Apple Bloom ordered but was cut off by an impatient Rarity.
“We don’t have time for this girls, hurry it up.”
“Fine, fine.” Sweetie Belle sighed. “We’ll do the abbreviated version.”
All three of the Crusaders put their hooves out towards Twilight, just waiting for hers to make contact with theirs. Twilight put her hoof forward and as she as she touched theirs, a loud chorus of: “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS YAAAAAAY!!!” Filled the room.
“You simply couldn’t say goodbye without screaming at the top of your lungs couldn’t you?” Rarity muttered, raising her flattened ears. “Now come along. We must get going now.”
“Fiiiiiiiine.” Sweetie Belle groaned but changed her tone immediately towards Twilight. “Bye Twilight, see ya later!”
“Bye fellow Crusader!” Apple Bloom cried, following her white filly friend.
“See ya...um...uh...okay I can’t think of a silly nickname for you. I guess that really is Apple Bloom’s job...anyway, bye!” Scootaloo waved with a wing, catching up with the leaving Crusaders.
Rarity nodded in satisfaction as the three fillies went outside. “Goodbye you two, have a lovely evening. And Twilight?”
“Yes Rarity?”
“I’m sorry that we didn’t get to talk much but we simply must have a playdate with your newfound fellow Crusaders soon, yes?”
Twilight nodded quickly. “Yes, I would love that!”
“See ya Rarity. Try not to pull your mane out over those three.” Spike snickered.
“Oh I could never do that, no matter how troublesome they got.” Rarity gave Spike a playful smirk. “Take care now!” And with that, she left and closed the door behind her.
Spike then looked at Twilight. “So I guess you had a riot, huh?”
“Mhm...although just between you and me, I wouldn’t mind reading a book in peace after all that.” Twilight winked and went over to the shelves.
“What a surprise.” Spike said sarcastically but it was all in good fun. So Twilight had become a Cutie Mark Crusader. Spike definitely didn’t expect that to happen. That said, he hadn’t expected to look after the Crusaders either...except he really didn’t. He wanted a lazy day and he got it. It was only fair that he’d receive bad karma for it, having to clean up the books. Even so, they were just fillies. If Spike wasn’t so...in charge--for he really wasn’t old--he could have joined in.
Spike sighed, which Twilight didn’t seem to hear, and headed to the library balcony. Now that he had seen the other side of the coin, he found it funny how all children want to do is run their own lives...yet when it does happen, they want to shed their responsibilities and just be carefree again. He wondered what that happens. Does the world just suddenly turn mean when you grow up? No no, it wasn't the world just...perspective. It changes and you see things far differently. That had to be it. Spike shook his head and leant on the railing.
He really wanted to be a kid again.