//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty Two: The Ponyville Connection // Story: Bart and Scoots // by Gazmanafc //------------------------------// Chapter Twenty Two The Ponyville Connection Scootaloo stared at the two newcomers as the portal behind them closed and all that was left behind was a refrigerator. She was able to recognise them immediately, and because she did, she had a huge smile on her face, just as much as the two newcomers had. "Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle! You're here!" Scootaloo exclaims practically jumping over the table to entrap the two in a massive hug that could just as easily have squeezed them to an extreme level. "Aww shucks, Scootaloo!" breathes Apple Bloom. Homer seeing the action separates the three. "Easy there! Give them a chance to breathe!" Looking embarrassed at how the scene must have looked, she turns away. "Oh, right. Sorry guys." she laughs. "But ya know what this is right?" asks Apple Bloom, "it's a..." "A CUTIE MARK CRUSADER REUNION! YAY!" all three shout at the top of their lungs, causing the Simpsons to have to shield their ears with their hands at the increase in volume. "So... uh... is the portal going to open up again or..." asks Scootaloo. "Not yet, Scootaloo" replies Lisa, "Rarity hasn't finished making clothes for Skylight and Rainbow Dash. So it's just Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle for now." "M-My mom's coming?" Scootaloo asks rhetorically. "H-How is she?" "Ah'm sure she misses ya Scootaloo, but she puts on a brave face for ya. Besides, Rainbow Dash has been keeping her company so she' not lonely or anythin'." Apple Bloom answers. "Oh, that's good I guess." Scootaloo replies "I wouldn't want her to become a crazy cat lady or something." Bart snorts at that, while her two friends look confused. Noticing the sad turn the conversation has gone, Marge interjects to cheer things up. "Say, you three must have a lot of catching up to do. Why don't you go upstairs and have fun. Scootaloo, you can take the day off from school." "Really?!" Scootaloo says cheering, as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle follow Scootaloo upstairs. "Thanks Marge!" "Aww... Man, she gets the day off from school? Makes me wish I reunited with Milhouse in another dimension." Bart moans. Scootaloo led her friends into Lisa's room where they discovered the reason why Lisa had the cutie mark that she had, the room is decorated with various saxophone and Jazz related posters, CD's and music books, but the most obvious give away as Lisa's saxophone itself. "So how has everything been in Ponyville?" asks Scootaloo. "Done any Crusading?" "Y'all know that we stopped our crusadin' Scootaloo, we said so in our first letter to ya" replies Apple Bloom. "Yeah!" cheers Sweetie Belle, "It's all for one and one for all. Either all of us Crusade, or none of us Crusade." "You guys.... So, what happened with Lisa when she was in Ponyville." says Scootaloo. "Oooh!" Sweetie Belle squeaks. "She totally put Diamond Tiara in her place!" "What?" "Ya should'a seen it, Diamond Tiara was trying to get Lisa to hang out with her and Silver Spoon because Lisa had her Cutie Mark, but Lisa told them to go away sayin' that she has taken on Springfield in a game of wits and won." continues Apple Bloom. "Wait... what?" asks Scootaloo, "Lisa had a Cutie Mark? H-How..?" "We dunno. Lisa assumes that her abilities with her sax carried over when she was transformed by Princess Celestia into a pony. Which makes sense since her Cutie Mark was a saxophone." answers Sweetie Belle. "Yeah. That does make sense now that I think about it" Scootaloo agrees. "So anyway, what do you guys wanna do while you're here?" "Miss Cheerilee somehow got Lisa to turn this trip into homework," says Apple Bloom Scootaloo groans in response, "Seriously? I've been here for months, I just want to get back to Equestria and relax for a while. As much as I like the Simpsons, Springfield is just too weird. So, what is this 'homework'?" she asks. "There's two different pieces. On Thursday, Lisa gave lecture about Springfield and a pop-quiz." says Sweetie Belle. "Oh? What kind of questions were on the quiz?" asks Scootaloo. "Dunno. We didn't take it." says Apple Bloom. "You didn't?" "Nope. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon weren't particularly happy that we didn't. We had to leave to catch a train to Canterlot so that Princess Celestia could transform us." answers Sweetie Belle. "So, what do WE have to do?" asks Scootaloo. "Lisa is going to go around town taking photographs of landmarks. We have to recognise and identify them, along with their main function to the citizens. So, you have to show us around town" Sweetie Belle answers. "That's easy enough. I can show you around town. Though, not right now since there are truant officers out." comments Scootaloo. "Say what now?" asks Apple Bloom. "We're supposed to be in school. So there are police roaming the streets looking for kids skipping out. The police force here is stupid, but it's best not to take chances." replies Scootaloo, "we'll need to wait a few hours before we can leave the house." "Well, what are we going to do until then?" asks Sweetie Belle. "We could always play on Bart's Eggbox 180 or on Lisa's Funtendo Zii systems." "Sure, how'd ya play?" asks Apple Bloom. With that, the trio loaded up the Funtendo Zii and started to play some video games to pass the time, while playing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle brought Scootaloo up to speed on what's been happening in Equestria, events included but weren't limited to the Everfree Forrest trying to take over Ponyville, Rainbow Dash meeting the author of the Daring Do series, who turned out to be real, Fluttershy being effected by a spell mishap and turning into a Vampire Fruitbat Pony, and Pinkie Pie discovering that she's related to the Apple Family. After what seemed like days to the three they were finally able to leave the house and explore the town, which was mostly uninteresting given how boring of a town Springfield actually is when one takes time to actually think about it, though Apple Bloom was impressed by how many goods could be sold in a single store and by one guy with a strange accent and a common tendency to say "Thank you, Come again!", other locales other than the Kwik-E-Mart included Krusty Burger which they didn't go inside, Moe's Bar where they peeked in to see Homer already at the bar getting drunk, and the Android's Dungeon where they found Bart and his blue-haired friend shifting through comic books. They tried their best to find Lisa since she should be able to be spotted with a camera taking photos of popular Springfieldian landmarks, but much to their dismay, they couldn't find her. It would be like a needle in a haystack. After arriving back at the house, they settled down with the family for dinner, which was a simpler affair, having no prior warning, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both caught unware that three of the family members ate meat and were rather disgusted by the fact, that one of Homer's favourite foods was pork, Apple Bloom was ready to explode at him over how they should respect animals, but after a comment from Lisa that humans are omnivores and there are actually animals in Equestria that ate meat too, she held back, making a mental note to ask Fluttershy about that one, after dinner in his bedroom, Bart also tried to convince them that he could sneak out all the photos of Springfield landmarks that Lisa took from her camera and enable them to cheat, but all three resisted the temptation citing how much trouble they'd get with Applejack, Rarity, and Skylight, Bart's only comment was "Your loss." At the end of the night, the two newcomers joined Scootaloo in the guest bedroom that she had occupied for the past few months with sleeping bags and went to sleep for their first night as part of their reunion with their best friend and their first night in Springfield.