//------------------------------//
// Side Quest 
// Story: Cutie Mark Adventurers 
// by Stainless Steel Fox 
//------------------------------//

The meal had been simple, but very welcome. The carters had drawn up their wagons around a central fire-pit, which had obviously been used for that purpose before. A hearty (not to mention lungy and livery) stew of meat and vegetables had been cooked up and served along with fresh bread from the village and leather flagons of small beer.

The meat stew would have been a problem for the three ponies, except that Maia had been thinking ahead and decanted some of the stew into a separate cooking pot before the roasted meat was added. The smells coming from the cooking fires hadn't exactly been enjoyable, but they had ignored it as best possible. Griffons had to eat meat as part of their diet, and so presumably did Diamond Dogs. It seemed humans did too, so the fact, icky as it was, was just something they'd have to cope with.

Apple Bloom had found the time while the food was prepared to take Jace's advice and tell Dayton about their stash of gemstones. After his initial surprise, Dayton agreed to keep their secret and help find a jeweller when they got to one of the bigger towns. He suggested they put at least some of the gems in the strong box in his wagon, and while it was open gave them an advance of about five gold each in silver and copper on the money he felt he owed them for their help.

There was something of a celebratory air as the members of the caravan had realised that they'd escaped from a pretty dire situation, and most of them were quite willing to grant the three crusaders' decisive role in it. Work in the fields had continued till the light started to go, but after sundown most of the villagers had come out to join them.

It was clear the arrival of the caravan was an expected and welcome event, and musical instruments had come out as well as a number of private trades and games going on around the periphery of the party. The three ponies were the centre of attention, from the children of the village even more than the adults. Scootaloo thoroughly enjoyed the chance to shine, Apple Bloom took it in her stride, and though it made Sweetie Belle a bit nervous she put up with it for the sake of the others.

Apple Bloom found a game of horseshoes going on, and had a go herself. The shoes they used here were for the big horses, but she soon got the hang of them. Applejack had taught her, but she'd never been that good until after the incident with the Heart's Desire plant. Most of the skills her fake cutie-marks had given her had disappeared with the marks, but being forced to use the hoopla skill for over a day had actually left behind some side effects. She'd found she was better at throwing things, no-where near her Heart's Desire granted skill, but quite a bit better than before. It had been one of the things that made her think she could pull off the apple bucking defence of the carts.

The tale of the goblin attack was told, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo ended up answering questions about Equestria and generally giving a reprise of the information they'd told Dayton. Scootaloo had been only too pleased to pull out her flying cloud and put together an impromptu display of stunt flying that combined the best bits of a skateboard contest, a gymnastics routine, and an aerobatics display.

She finished off by pulling the one eighty flip and lightning bolt combo that had so surprised (and shocked) the goblins. The bolt blasted into the heart of the fire, throwing up sparks and glowing embers and lighting her cloud from below. The crowd applauded and there were calls for the other two to show what they could do. That had Sweetie Belle backing up, so Apple Bloom decided to take the heat for her.

She saw Scootaloo moving over to talk with her, but had her own thing to deal with. "My cutie-mark's all to do with fixing things, and while it's a really cool skill, it ain't exactly the sort of thing you can turn into a party piece, but I reckon I could show off a few moves from my martial arts style."

There were a few things she could show off that were pretty simple, but should look impressive. While she didn't feel as enhanced as she had been with Sweetie Belle's music surrounding her, the experience had left her feeling more confident, as if she knew her moves better then she had before.

"Northern Shire-lin is an earth-pony fighting style, designed to fend off the big critters that roam the Arctic wastes on the northern border of Equestria. It's all about using the earth and its strength as your own, and turning it against your opponents."

She was pretty much quoting her teacher, Temple Fortress. He'd been a grizzled old earth pony with a neat white beard and mane, only slightly smaller than her big brother, and he shared her big brother's unflappable attitude. Normally he wouldn't approve of her showing off like this, but she was sure he'd understand she was doing it to buy time for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, not for the sake of showing off.

She continued, "That brings me to my first demonstration, any of you big guys out there figure you can lift me up?"

That got a round of laughter. The top of Apple Bloom's head barely came to the waist of most of the guys there, so it should be no contest. One guy, a burly farmer, came out of the crowd. "I'll have a go!"

There was some movement in the crowd, and she heard some wagers being taken. There'd been quite a few bets on her horse shoe throwing abilities earlier, and it was clear some people hadn't learned their lesson. She noticed Jace's voice, he was making a bet on her staying grounded, which meant she had to do this right. She felt the earth beneath her hooves, and the magic flowing in it. It wasn't Equestrian soil, but it was alive with it's own magic, and she was getting better at attuning to it. She asked the approaching farmer. "And you are?"

"Simeon." He grinned back at her. "You don't look that hard to lift."

"Okay, Simeon." Apple Bloom set herself in a Mountain Stance, feeling that connection to the earth, and drawing that power, that weight into herself. It was one of the first things she'd been taught. She looked up at the farmer. "Whenever you're ready!"

The farmer bent down and casually put both arms beneath her girth, ready to haul her up like an errant ewe. He hauled on her, but she didn't rise. He tried harder, his grin becoming a bit fixed as he obviously strained and heaved at her. After three or four tries, he let go. He puffed out. "How in Pelor's name are you doing that? Is it magic?"

Apple Bloom grinned up at him."Kind of. There's a reason we're called Earth-ponies. We can feel the magic in the earth, how it flows, and use it to make ourselves stronger and tougher. You weren't just trying to lift me, you're lifting the earth below me as well. It may not be as fancy as pegasus flight or unicorn magic, but it's just as real. Anyone else want a go?"

She got several more challengers, including one massive brute of a man caller Jaeger, who was clearly getting angry towards the end of his attempt. From the smell of his breath, the beer he'd been drinking either hadn't been small, or had been served in very big mugs. Towards the end it felt as if he'd dislocated her legs, but she just managed to stay in contact with the ground.

When he'd been pretty much dragged away, she said, "Of course, just being able to stand your ground ain't no use on it's own. Hey Jace, can you find a couple of apples? Bruised ones, I don't want to waste good eating."

The mercenary guard, who'd been collecting on his wagers, quickly complied with a grin. He already had an idea of what she was going to do.

"This one's more of a family technique. You see that tree?" She pointed to a tree on the edge of the circle, which provided support for some canvas awnings that extended between two wagons. "Jace, throw them apples to me!"

He threw them overhand, one after the other, but ended up throwing a bit high. Apple Bloom didn't mind, while hers was an earth style, you could used the strength of the earth to power your jumps and to cushion your landings. She sprung up in the air on all fours, turning in mid-air so the apples would pass right behind her. This was trickier than bucking them from a solid object, but then, the cart hadn't exactly been standing still either.

Her rear hooves lashed out, and the two apples whipped across the circle to smack into the trunk of the tree practically on top of one another, and with enough force to shiver the branches slightly. She landed to cheers and whistles from the crowd.

"I ain't as good at that as my big brother. Big Macintosh can buck an apple two hooves deep into a log. But those goblins didn't like my bucking skills one little bit!"

"Well all I've seen are some party tricks! If you're a fighter, let's fight!"

It was Jaeger, who'd pushed his way through the circle of people, shaking off several who tied to stop him. His red face was indication to most of the people there that he'd commiserated his defeat with a drink, and that drink had felt lonely, and as misery loves company it'd called for another drink, then it was drinks all round and so on.

Unfortunately, Jaeger was big enough and tough enough that rather than being slumped in a corner somewhere, he was just sober enough to be moving around, and just drunk enough not to care what happened to anything in his way.

Apple Bloom backed up a few steps. "Hey, I was just showing off a few moves! I don't want to hurt any-pony just to prove a point, not after everybody has been so nice to us all."

"Ha! I knew it! You talk a good fight, but you can't back it up!"

"Jagger, you're drunk! Just got and sleep it off somewhere!" Simeon tried to stop him, but was flung aside for his pains. There were a lot of cat-calls and boos, but no-one else wanted to tangle with the big guy.

If there was one personality flaw in the Apple line, especially the female side, it was a severe case of 'Marty McFly syndrome'. Besides, she'd liked Simeon. He'd taken her stunt well, and cheered as loudly as the others when she did her flying apple kick. Apple Bloom's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying I'm all talk and no apple?"

"I'm saying you're a chicken, not a pony!" Jagger sneered, moving forward with arms swinging.

"Okay mister!" Apple Bloom growled. "You got yourself a fight! The one who's flat on the ground for a five count loses!"

"I'll put you down for longer than that!" the big farm worker stormed in and aimed a kick that would have sent Apple Bloom flying, if it had connected. However, she dived under and around it and slid between his legs, coming up behind him to place a precise kick in the back of his knee.

Already off balance with one foot in the air, he toppled, his other leg collapsing under him. Apple Bloom followed up by placing a pair of rear hooves neatly into his rump with some force. it stopped him from catching himself on his hands and knees, and sent him sprawling to lay his considerable length on the floor.

She wheeled around, drawing strength from the earth and jumped high, dropping on his back to slam him down. Without contact with the earth, Apple Bloom couldn't weigh him down with a mountain stance, but being landed on had winded him, and he was to busy trying to regain his breath to regain his feet.

Jace, quicker thinking than most of them, started calling out. "One... two... three..."

Jaeger started to push himself up, only to have Apple Bloom rear up and drop her fore-hooves on his back again. He gasped and slipped back down. She took a chance and shifted so she was straddling his shoulders crosswise, then went into a mountain stance, legs spread wide. As it was she could barely cover the width of his shoulders, but it was enough to get her hooves in contact with the ground.

The way she had him pinned, there was no way he was getting out of it without dislocating a shoulder. Besides, now she was in mountain stance and he had no leverage, so lifting her was out of the question. Jace had counted up to five, and there were quite a few people cheering her on. Almost no-one was rooting for Jaeger. After a few more seconds, she felt his struggles get weaker. However, she wasn't willing to just let him up, in case he was faking.

"Hey, can some-pony come and get this guy? I can't sit on his head all night!"

Brother Soran came through the crowd, frowning. "Who let Jagger get at the ale?"

He dropped by Apple Bloom and placed a hand on the struggling thug. He spoke a few words in that liquid tongue she'd heard earlier, and Jagger relaxed under her, falling asleep with a bubbling snore.

As Simeon and several other farmers hauled the unconscious farm-hand away, Soran asked, "How did this happen? When someone came and told me you were fighting Jaeger of all people, I thought that you'd be the one on the floor, needing a healing spell!"

Apple Bloom had calmed down, and realised what happened. The guy had been as big as Iron Will, and even more aggressive, and as recently as yesterday she would have been scared of him. Maybe she wouldn't have run, but she certainly wouldn't have taken the challenge in her stride like that. She didn't feel as pleased as she thought she would have about beating him either.

"I kinda let him goad me into a fight. I guess he was mad because I showed him up in a test of strength earlier. I don't think I had much choice but to defend myself from the way he was acting, and I did my best to take him down without hurting him, but my teacher would say I acted from anger, not reason. Is he okay? You said about healing spells? Was that what you did?"

Soran was impressed by the filly, he'd known a number of fighters in his time, and few of her size and apparent youth would have been anything other than gleeful at taking down someone Jaeger's size.

"I merely put Jaeger under a sleep spell. I doubt he'll have anything worse than a few bruises and a headache when he wakes up. Understand, he's a good man, but he has a temper. Normally he works hard to keep it under control, but when he has too much to drink..." The cleric gave a shake of his head. "Which is why everyone in the village knows better than to let him have any. It would seem that anger or not, you did the best you could in the circumstances."

Apple Bloom felt relieved, and not just because she wanted to keep Soran's good opinion. She was still trying to come to terms with how she'd reacted. Maybe it was the fact that she'd been in a real life and death fight earlier, or maybe this place was doing something to her. What if it continued to do it? For that matter, maybe whatever was happening to her was happening to the others too. She looked around for them, but couldn't see them anywhere.

The reason Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were absent was because when Apple Bloom had taken the attention off them momentarily Sweetie Belle had disappeared, not by winking, but on a good old fashioned set of hooves. Scootaloo got away from the crowd and flew off looking for her. She found the white unicorn hiding behind a tree some way away.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle!" The unicorn jumped as the pegasus called out. "What's biting you?"

Even as she asked the question, she felt like face-hoofing. She knew the answer that Sweetie Belle quickly confirmed.

"I can't do it!" The white unicorn shivered. "There's too many people, what if they don't like my singing, what if they think I'm silly..."

She turned betrayed and watering eyes on Scootaloo when the pegasus burst out in a laugh. The pegasus filly quickly stopped when she saw the little unicorn's expression. "Whoa! Sorry about that, I wasn't laughing at you, or not in the way you think I was, at least I don't think it was the way you're thinking I'm thinking of..."

Realising she'd lost the thread, she groaned. She was a filly of action. Doing the talking thing was more Apple Bloom's skill, or something Sweetie Belle herself would do, probably with lots of long words. However, right now it was up to her, Scootaloo.

"I'm not being mean, but just listen to yourself. You _love_ singing! You sing at the club-house, you sing to yourself in study hall, you probably sing in your sleep! Not only that, you're awesome at it! You make Sapphire Shores sound like a buzzard with a sore throat. Your singing is so awesome, it even powers up your magic!

"It was your singing that gave us the strength to fight those goblins. In fact, I'm pretty sure your singing saved more than just my wing." She grimaced. "You know how adults somehow have this, 'don't tell the foal bad news because they won't be able to handle it' vibe? Well when she talked about you healing me, Maia was giving it off so strongly, they must have felt it in Canterlot! She pretty much admitted that I'd have... well you know, if you hadn't healed me."

She shook her head. "The reason I was laughing is because the idea that your singing will be any less than awesome is silly. There is no way those guys back there won't love you."

Sweetie Belle wiped her eyes with the back of a hoof, and blushed slightly under the praise. "It's still really scary. What if I make a mistake? What if I forget things? I'm not all confident like you. For that matter, your display was amazing. I don't know if my singing can do as much."

Scootaloo was at a loss. Sweetie Belle had a bad case of stage fright, and she didn't know how to fix it. "Then we'll make an excuse. No-pony will ask you to sing if you don't want to..."

Then she had an idea. "Did I ever tell you about the time I got mad at Fluttershy?"

The complete non sequitur caught the unicorn's attention. The idea that anyone could get mad at Fluttershy didn't fit any sort of mental universe. Fluttershy was pretty much the diva of pouring rainbow on troubled clouds, unless, "Was this when Discord was messing with every-pony's heads?"

"No, it was back when Ponyville was chosen to supply water for Cloudsdale. Fluttershy didn't want to take part, did everything in her power to get out of it, even when Dash asked her specially. When I heard about it, I was so mad! I'd have given a wing to get invited, if that wouldn't have made the whole thing pointless. I know it makes no sense, I wouldn't have been able to help anyway, but I was thinking with my wings, not my head.

"I made a remark about it to Rainbow Dash, and boy did she ever drop a storm cell on me! Turns out Fluttershy was almost as bad at flying as I am when she was a filly, and living in Cloudsdale she got teased a lot more. She was just as scared of flying in front of every-pony as you are of singing, maybe more, but when a load of pegasi came down with feather flu, she stepped up and she did awesome!"

"But I'm not Fluttershy! When that Cockatrice attacked, I ran scared while she stood up to it."

"So did I, so you weren't any more scared than I was." Normally she wouldn't have been so honest, but this was too important to bother about saving face. "The point is, she thought she was a weak flyer, she was almost sure she was going to fail, and she still went for it! Whereas you _are_ an awesome singer and you've proved it several. I know if you stand up in front of that crowd, you'll wow them! It's in your cutie-mark."

Scootaloo saw Sweetie Belle straighten up, glancing back at the musical note on her flank and added. "Yeah, and if want to be able to live up to it, you need to do this, show yourself you can sing, even in front of a crowd of strangers."

"I guess..." The white unicorn sniffled, but looked at least a bit happier. There was suddenly a commotion back at the fire pit, and they turned back to find out what it was. They arrived a moment after Apple Bloom looked around for them, and saw she'd gotten muddy.

"Oh my!" Sweetie Belle rushed over to her friend with Scootaloo close behind. "What happened to you?"

"Had a bit of a tussle with a fella who figured he was tough."

"Oh no!" Sweetie Belle's eyes were wide. "Were you hurt? You look terrible!"

"Ain't nothing but a bit of honest mud." Apple Bloom reassured her.

"Let's hear that unicorn sing!" came a call from the crowd, and there were several shouts of agreement.

"'That unicorn' is called Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom rounded on the direction of the voice, "And she's still tired from all the magic she did earlier. She needs to rest her magic and her voice some more..."

The young farm-pony felt a hoof on her shoulder. "It's okay Apple Bloom. Like Scootaloo said, I have to do this some time."

Apple Bloom looked over her shoulder at Sweetie Belle. "Are you sure? Ain't no-pony's gonna force you to sing if you don't feel like it. Not on my watch!"

"Our watch!" Scootaloo added from her opposite side. "Though like I said, I think you'll do awesome!"

The unicorn filly nodded, and motioned them out of the circle. "I'm..." her voice squeaked and got a couple of giggles. "I'm Sweetie Belle, and my talent is singing. Singing and magic..."

It was happening just as she feared. All those people staring at her, big looming humans at that, were making it hard to concentrate. Every song in her head seemed to have gone into hiding, and her voice was suddenly right out of capital 'la's. She was starting to babble, make a fool of herself...

She looked around and saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo there, the earth-pony still worried, but punching the air with a hoof encouragingly, and the pegasus grinning confidently. They were there for her... Music started to swell up in her heart, and her horn glowed softly as it spread the music out to the audience. They were there for her, and she'd be there for them. 

"And this song is for my friends."

(Sailor Moon Soundtrack Album 'Call my name'. /watch?v=3F3DK0CFwKE)

"There are days when those grey skies, make you blue.
Each forward step you take, you fall back by two.
You've been hit by some hard knocks, and that's the truth.
Feels like a thunderbolt, crashed through the roof.
Let me be the one to lend a hoof...

Call my name and I'll be there.
There's nothing like the laughter that we share.
Whenever you need someone, or a shoulder to lean on...
Call my name and I'll be there.

And when life's going your way, just like a breeze.
Like a pegasus flying, above the trees.
Together we'll be making memories.

Call my name and I'll be there.
There's nothing like the laughter that we share.
Whenever you need someone, or a shoulder to lean on...
Call my name and I'll be there.

As this world turns us around,
we hang on to what we've found,
a treasure we all need.
I will go that extra mile to give you back that certain smile,
that you've given me.

I'll answer every time and anywhere,

Call my name and I'll be there.
There's nothing like the laughter that we share.
Whenever you need someone, or a shoulder to lean on...
Call my name and I'll be there.

Call my name and I'll be there.

Call my name and I'll be there.

Call my name, call my name, I'll be there."

The cheering and applause hit her like she'd just bucked a hundred zap apple trees, but in a good way. They _liked_ her singing! Flushed with excitement, she decided to sing something else, something that rocked, and something that would do justice to her two friends heroism. Gospel music swirled around her and she started to sing.

(Hercules 'Zero to Hero'. /watch?v=u5le6y9w09U)

"Oh yeahhh!

Yes it's true, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo,
They're a pair of fillies who are heroes through and through!

Fear or not, courageous hearts we know!
Point 'em at a goblin and you're talking TKO!

They were both sent here, (here by magic)
They stopped things from getting tragic!

Apple Bloom bucks and strikes and vaults,
Then Scootaloo hits with a lightning bolt!
A pair of heroes, without fault!

When trouble strikes it's something you need never feeear!
As long as all the Crusaders are near to hear!

With lots of clout and a flying cloud,
these gals have power to spare,
Add in a little magic and the bad guys find it quite unfair!

Shout it loud, they can please a crowd,
Fixing things or fighting was there ever any doubt?

Going on, whatever we do next,
We are gonna succeed and the bad guys will be vexed!

We're on our way home, (we'll be trying)
Sunshine or storm front we'll keep flying!

They've got the skills to see us through,
And I can help out a little too,
When we're a trio, we'll be true!"

She saw the other two blushing and gave them a grin as she continued to sing, her earlier fears if not forgotten, at least quashed. 



The next morning found Apple Bloom at the village smithy. Dayton was getting the wheel fixed, and she took something of a proprietary interest in that. Besides, she wanted to see what the local fixer-uppers were like. Sweetie Belle had been still asleep when she left, having worn herself out happily hammering out song after song. Apple Bloom had breakfasted on hot oatmeal porridge with honey and headed out. Jace and Yancy who were relaxing at the camp and she trusted that they would keep anyone from annoying Sweetie Belle.

The locals were now out in the fields, harvesting their crops. Apple Bloom had gotten a good chance to see them in day-light, and they were as neat and well kept as any in Ponyville. The caravan had arrived in the middle of the harvest and it was also clearly a bumper crop if her own experience of farms was anything to go by. Everyone down to the youngsters had joined in, and quite a few of the carters had taken the chance to make some extra coppers for beer money.

The weather was co-operating, for now. The cloud dotted sky of yesterday had gotten a lot heavier on the cloud and a lot lighter on the sky. But it was dry and reasonably warm, and if the clouds above were whipping along, the air at ground level was almost still and had an odd feel to it.

Scootaloo was off on the other side of the village, pulling stunts for the enjoyment of the children who were too young to help out in the fields, under the watchful eye of an old lady who could have been a ringer for Granny Smith if she'd been human. Meanwhile Apple Bloom found the work at the smithy fascinating.

Right at the moment it was mostly sharpening up scythes and supporting the work in the fields, but the smith, a rangy human male named Durnik, took the time out to deal with the wheel, and did a very neat job, whittling down supports to replace the broken ones, though she wondered why he didn't have a lathe.

She kept that and a number of other questions to herself though, knowing better than to interrupt some-pony when they were working. He seemed to take the watching pony in his stride, and pleasant enough (he'd been one of the contestants last night, and one of the group hauling Jagger away) so she didn't want to give him any cause to change his mind.

When the wheel was back together and the rim cooling and shrinking back on, he finally turned to talk to her.

"Need a new pair of shoes miss?" He joked and indicated the other side of the smithy with a jerk of his head. One of the cart horses was getting re-shod by one of his apprentices.

"Uh huh, my big sis says I'm too young for piercings," she replied. "Sweetie Belle said some of the fancy fillies in Canterlot get them done as a fashion thing, but truth be told I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable having nails in my hooves. My big brother uses nailed shoes during apple bucking season, but he does a lot of the heavy hauling."

Durnik looked surprised at a serious answer, but intrigued as well. "I suppose that makes sense. So what do you use instead if anything?"

"Sticking charms." Apple Bloom answered, pleased to have a chance to talk shop. "Sweetie Belle's big sister makes a whole range of fashion shoes, and casts a unicorn spell on the inside to make them stay on when you want them to. Actually, I wouldn't mind having some shoes, we've got a long trip ahead of us if I've got it right, but without the charms to stick them on..."

"I can help!" Sweetie Belle came trotting up. "Sticking charms are easy to do, so Rarity lets me help out by casting them, and I get to practice my magic at the same time."

"Good morning sleepy-head!" grinned Apple Bloom. "Have fun last night?"

The way the little unicorn's eyes sparkled made her answer redundant. "It was brilliant! They liked me, they really liked me!"

"That's probably because you're a great singer." Apple Bloom was glad to see her so happy. "So you can do sticking charms? Maybe we can borrow a spare shoe from here and try it out."

Durnik was watching the by-play and said, "Uh, I'm not sure we have one small enough. We don't see many ponies, and you folks are rather small even by regular pony standards."

"It's okay, a big one would be good, a better test of the charm." Apple Bloom responded. Shrugging, the smith fetched the shoe they'd just taken off the cart horse.

Sweetie Belle's horn glowed as she touched it to the horse-shoe. She hummed a little phrase in which the words, "… stuck on you…" were audible. When she backed off, Apple Bloom stepped up and put her hoof on the metal, and felt it stick the way a charmed shoe always did. She lifted her hoof and the shoe came with it, though since the ends hung out over either side of her hoof, it wasn't exactly comfortable.

She shook it around, careful not to fling her hoof too high if it did fly off, but it was as secure as any set she'd been bought. A final test was putting it back on the floor and giving her hoof the practised twist that would release it, which worked perfectly. She looked up, grinning.

"Looks like I've got an order for you after all, Mister Durnik. Can I get two sets of road-weight shoes, hoof size… well I guess that won't mean much. I guess you can just measure them."

"Are you sure you want two sets?" Durnik asked. "I can't do it for free. I normally charge two silver per shoe, but I guess since your hooves are smaller and you'll be putting them on yourself, I'll do the lot for one gold."

"That sounds right nice of you." Apple Bloom reached into her saddle-bag with her muzzle and pulled out the leather pouch of coins Dayton had given her. She laid it out on one of the work tables and hooked some silver pieces out with a hoof. "That'd be ten silver, right?"

Counting out the coins, she scooped them out in the hollow of her hoof, and held them out to the surprised smith. He quickly recovered and took the money, then knelt down and pulled out a piece of knotted string. "Very well then, let's measure those hooves."

They'd just finished the measuring when the Mayor came in, looking worried. However, he gave a small smile at the scene in front of him, the smith kneeling in front of the filly with her hoof in his hands.

"Proposing, Durnik? On such short notice? I understand she's an artisan too, but I didn't expect this."

The smith almost fell over, and Apple Bloom snatched back her hoof, blushing furiously. "I was just getting measured for a set of shoes!" she exclaimed.

Durnik righted himself, and gave the mayor a glower that was rather spoilt by a hint of a smirk. "Can I help you Mayor, or did you just come on over to make comments about my love life?"

That brought the shorter man back down. "I'm worried, about the grain harvest the most. I don't like the way the weather's turning. I'm trying to work out if there's any way we can get more people into the fields. We can take some people off harvesting the root crops, but we need more scythes, sickles, anything you can fix up."

Apple Bloom looked at the sky. It wasn't like she had much experience with weather that wasn't carefully managed, so she'd have to take the locals' word for it. However, Ponyville weather control always took particular care to manage rainfall while a harvest was going on; a single large rain cloud in the wrong place could wreck an entire field of grain, or blow the apples right off a tree before they could be collected, not to mention what a wild storm from out of the Everfree could do.

Durnik shook his head. "I only have a couple of spare scythe blades, and that's only because they're waiting to be put on new shafts."

"You cut all your fields using scythes?" Apple Bloom hadn't meant to say that out loud, but it got both the humans looking at her.

"How else would we? Magic?" Mayor asked.

"No magic, just mechanics. In Ponyville we have reaping machines, well, the Apple family don't have one because most of our crop is apples, not grain, but we rent one from the town depot when we need it… I guess you guys don't have them."

"I wouldn't mind knowing more about this 'reaping machine', but no, we don't have anything like that. Unless you can build one with what's here." While there was genuine interest in Durnik's voice, the last part was said lightly.

"I know how ones put together, but you ain't got the tools or the hardware for the frame…" Her eyes wandered over the workshop, and then her attention was drawn to Scootaloo, who was on her pink cloud, doing wind sprints and low level swoops across the yard, "… but maybe I _could_ rig up something!"

She turned to Sweetie Belle, who'd been watching things unfold. "Could you call Scoots over? I want to see if she can help."

The white unicorn trotted out of the workshop in the direction of Scootaloo's impromptu air-show, but stopped a short way away and called out. "Scoootaloo! Hey Scootaloo!"

Despite her impressive lung capacity she didn't seem to reach the acrobatic pegasus, and her expression tightened up. The others noticed her horn start to glow as she called out. "Scootaloo! Get over here!"

The difference was staggering, which was exactly what the pegasus ended up doing. She wobbled in mid-air, and almost fell off her cloud. Then she turned round on the spot to look over at Sweetie Belle and shot over, looking pretty mad.

"Hey! What's the big idea screaming in my ear!"

Sweetie Belle looked confused. "I was just trying to get your attention. I know I was pretty loud, but you were way over the other side of the village."

"It sounded like you were right next to me!" Some of Scootaloo's mad wore off due to Sweetie Belle's expression.

"Sorry, I don't know how that happened."

Apple Bloom grinned, and brought up a hoof to touch the tip of her horn. "Take a wild guess."

"I know a spell to throw my voice?" The white unicorn's eyes widened. "I know a spell to throw my voice!"

"Launch it with a Royal Guard ballistat, more like!" Scootaloo said. "So why all the wind and thunder?"

"That's exactly what they're worried about." Apple Bloom figured it was time to get in on the conversation. "They reckon a storm is coming, and with all the crops still out in the fields…"

Scootaloo sniffed the air, and held a wing-tip up in a testing manner. "I'm no weather pony, but they could be right. Rainbow Dash told me how it felt when the Everfree kicks out some wild weather, and this kinda matches… hey, now don't look at me! I gotta admit Sweetie Belle did a top job on my wings, but diverting a storm is a job for an entire weather patrol! We're talking as much wing power as it took to kick the water up to Cloudsdale. I may be pretty awesome, but I ain't an entire flock of pegasi!"

"Wasn't thinking of that, just wondering if you can do some low level flying, really low level, without being able to see the ground too clearly."Apple Bloom explained her idea, getting a piece of paper and a coloured pencil from Scootaloo's saddle bag and sketching out her design. Scootaloo was first sceptical, than interested.

"Okay, if you're nuts enough to think it'll work, then I'm nuts enough to try it. Low level manoeuvring is what I do best! I'll go get some practice." She put away her cloud and headed on out towards the fields.

Apple Bloom turned to the smith and the mayor. "Could I get those two scythe blades? Two more scythes won't speed things up a whole lot, but if I can make this work, we should cut a lot of corn."

Mayor Vennor looked uncertain, but Durnik shrugged. "One of the reasons I haven't fixed them up already is they need some serious sharpening. She'll need to do that too, and if this thing doesn't work out, it shouldn't be hard to fix them up on regular handles. Besides, that was a workmanlike repair job on the wheel, I'd like to see what she'll do with this."

"That's fine!" Apple Bloom smiled brightly as Sweetie Belle came back in. "Sweetie Belle, I'm gonna need your help too. Can you get me a couple of those leather flagons they were using last night? You and Scootaloo have pretty much the same hoof size, so find one you could just fit your hoof in. Oh, and ask Scoots if I can borrow her goggles!"

She glanced around. "I'm also gonna need a whetstone, the straps and buckles from that broken harness over there, and a leatherworking needle..."

Durnik wasn't disappointed. Within moments Apple Bloom was at work, and Sweetie Belle was humming a marching tune, something about being 'a team'. That seemed to go without saying as her telekinesis spun a whetstone in mid-air and Apple Bloom sharpened the scythe blades against it, streams of sparks flying away from her. She was sitting back on her haunches; protected by Scootaloo's goggles and a borrowed apron that went down to the floor as she somehow held the blade under her fore-hooves.

He had to chivvy his apprentices to get on with their own work, but he kept an eye on her, amazed at the dexterity of someone who didn't have hands. In only a few moments, she had a pair of toe-less boots with sticking charms and straps to secure them together as a unit, and the two newly sharpened scythe blades fitted on the undersides, peened and sharpened edges facing forward. They had pegs that went through the attachment holes in the tangs and locked the blades together back to back.

They headed out to the fields, where Scootaloo was still practising, buzzing an already clear area of a wheat field. She zipped over when the others arrived and examined the scythe boots.

"Sweet! So let's try these babies out!" She held up a hoof. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Crop Cutters!" The other two gave her the high hoof and helped her on with the boots.

The mayor looked over at where the regular reapers and people binding the cut corn in sheaves were and said, "Maybe you should start of the far side of the field? And fly over each row before you cut it to check there's no-one in the way?"

Apple Bloom followed his line of sight and turned a little green at the thought of what those blades could do to a person. "Uh, good plan."

She handed back Scootaloo's goggles and undid her bow before handing it to Scootaloo. "Wrap this over your muzzle."

Scootaloo took it, a little puzzled. "Why?"

"The goggles will protect your eyes, but flying through the corn will throw up a lot of dust. It's silk, it should stop the dust but let you breathe okay."

That was good enough for Scootaloo, Apple Bloom was the one who knew about farms, after all. With her goggles and mask in place she took off and went to the far side of the field, giving it a fly over as instructed before lining up for an 'attack run'. The field was surrounded by a dry stone wall and a two pony-length wide boundary of grass covered unplanted earth, to give easy access without damaging the crop. This was it, it was one thing to stunt and do tricks in front of a crowd, another thing to do it when people were relying on you to get it right.

She dived in, lining up to put her flight path along the very edge of the field, hoof blades at the height she'd seen the scythe wielders cut at. She flew alongside the corn that rose well above her head, one blade cutting into it. The world turned gold and full of straw as she tried to maintain her height and heading, but she could see the ground ahead well enough to navigate and pulled up just in time to avoid piling into the far wall.

She flew higher in the sky and looked back. A row of cut down stalks lay where she'd flown. She saw the other ponies galloping over along the far side, Sweetie Belle cheering, while Apple Bloom just had a big grin on her face. They were followed more sedately by the Mayor Vennor and Durnik, and as she flew over she saw the mayor hand the smith a handful of coins.