Chapter 2- A Catering Disaster
Apple Bloom woke up the next morning buzzing with excitement and energy. She burst out from her house and ran through a few rows of apple trees before arriving at the barn, to see that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were already there and Pinkie Pie had just arrived with the catering order.
"Okay girls! I have a dozen cupcakes, a jar of big lollipops, rainbow swirl cakes, fizzy laces, ten bags of bonbons and lots of marshmallows!" She said, unhooking herself from the cart, and getting a big crate out from it. Using her hoof, she kicked the side of the crate and it burst open... To reveal Pumpkin Cake gumming on a cupcake! Her belly was swollen, and there was nothing but crumbs and leftovers around the foal. "Oh no! Pumpkin Cake!" Pinkie gasped, and picked up the little filly. "I'm sorry girls, but Pumpkin Cake climbed into the crate somehow! And, well... It's really busy at Sugarcube Corner today so I won't be able to get you another order! I'm so sorry..." She put Pumpkin Cake on her back, hooked herself back up to the crate and disappeared into the forest of apple trees towards the town.
"What are we gonna do now?" Sweetie Belle screamed and watered up with tears. "Without the food, it's gonna be hectic, and all the ponies are gonna starve! And then we'll be blamed for MURDER!" She fell to the floor in tears, kicking her hooves and crying like a newborn.
"Hey! HEY! Pull yourself together, Sweetie Belle! I can always ask Applejack t' whip up some apple treats!" Apple Bloom picked her friend up from the floor and shook her.
"I'm sorry... I don't do well in emergencies..." Sweetie Belle wiped her eyes with a hoof and sniffed, acting like nothing happened.
"Well, what are we waitin' for? Let's go and get Applejack! Come on, everypony!" Apple Bloom smiled and set off into a canter towards her house, and burst through the door with muddy hooves. "Applejack! Applejack!" She shouted.
Applejack looked startled, she poked her head out from the kitchen and frowned as she saw the muddy hoof-prints Apple Bloom had left. "Apple Bloom! I just cleaned this floor, here! Now what in tarnation is goin' on?"
Apple Bloom told her sister about the catering dilemma, and how Pumpkin Cake had managed to sneak into the crate and had eaten all the treats by the time Pinkie Pie had gotten to Sweet Apple Acres, and that all the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Equestria were coming to the Barn in a few hours.
"In the name of Celestia! Ponies from all around Equestria are comin' to OUR farm?! Well why did ya not say so? I'll whip up as many treats before you can say 'Apple'!" And what Applejack said was true! She was like lightning as she whipped around her kitchen with flour, sugar, and of course- apples, and in less than two hours she had piled the counters high with apple pies, apple fritters, apple lollipops and even an apple tower cake! And lastly, she gave the girls a few apple marshmallows to serve. "There y'are girls! I'll make some apple juice to serve at the meeting to... I better be there with y'all as well, I'll just be at the table servin' the treats to your Crusader pals." She smiled, and loaded the treats onto a cart, and told Big MacIntosh to take them to the barn.
"Eeyup," He nodded, and pulled the heavy cart to the destination.
"This is gonna be rad! It'll be the best gathering that the whole Equestria has seen!" Scootaloo smiled, as she bounced around the barn.
"Hey, look! There's a taxi carriage heading towards here!" Sweetie Belle pointed out to the end of the dirt road, which you could see a stallion pulling a black and yellow carriage.
"It's Babs! It's my favourite cousin Babs!" Apple Bloom squealed, and started running towards the carriage. "Babs! Babs!"
The Manehatten filly leapt out of the carriage with two other fillies, she smiled and shouted back to her cousin. "Apple Bloom! I bought you my friends who form... The Manehatten Branch of the CMC!" The three came running over, and they bounced up and down in excitement. "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo... I want you to meet my new friends and also my partners in the CMC. This is Berry Pinch..." She signalled her hoof to a pink unicorn on her left, who had a dark pink mane and pale green eyes. "And this is Peachy Petal." She signalled her other hoof to a peach-pale coloured pegasus filly who had a teal mane and aqua coloured eyes- neither of them with a cutie mark.
"Hi! I'm Apple Bloom and these are my friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. We started the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom smiled, but the two fillies narrowed their eyes.
"We don't care." Berry Pinch spat at the yellow farm filly.
"Yeah, we don't wanna talk to some stupid Ponyville fillies like you three!" Peachy Petal laughed and high-hoofed her partner, they went into the Barn and started talking.
"Babs, what's with them?" Scootaloo asked, in a confused way.
"We go to a rough school... It's Manehatten, and it's how we were raised, ya see..." Babs flicked her mane out of her eyes. "Sorry about them, they'll feel better when some more ponies arrive- Uh... There will be other ponies, right?"
"Of course! You have nothing to worry about." Sweetie Belle giggled and sat down.
To be continued....