//------------------------------// // Sorrel's Good Day (1/?) // Story: Stories From the Sidelines // by SidwaysStraxus //------------------------------// The incessant thumping on the door finally roused Sorrel from sleep, blinking in the poorly lit room that was her temporary living quarters. It had been two days since the teleporter prototype had lodged Sparker in her bedroom wall, and while the stammering stallion hadn’t been harmed, his removal caused the wall, apparently load bearing, to have the floor of the room directly upstairs to collapse, destroying everything in her room, and damaging the ceiling of the room below. While a large portion of her friends had been working non-stop on her new room, she unfortunately had to room with Star Vortex. “Wake up you brain-dead Hermit!” With no hesitation, Sorrel leapt out of the makeshift pile of cushions, span on her front hoof, and bucked the door into shrapnel. Light flooded into the room, causing her to blink rapidly as the rude mare shouted in protest. Without even sparing more than a glance at her antagonist, who only complained that she would have to get a new door instead of the tangle of woodchips in her mane, she trotted out of the room without a second thought, heading down to the mess hall. If anything, Star Vortex at least had better priorities than most fillies her age, caring more for functionality over fashion. The dark-purple unicorn was considered one of the more powerful users of magic to come out of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns; however, she seemed to revel in finding ways to irritate people without effort. Sorrel knew the only right thing to do was to tune her out, as she rushed up alongside her, complaining yet again about anything she could… “- and what could possibly be a worse idea than to set no less than ten ponies in the same room!? I mean, honestly the floor should have collapsed by-” And even then her ramblings would still get through… “- seriously, Tow Cable is such a hard head sometimes, he takes his construction jobs too seriously, always ‘Nothing less than the best materials’ for EVERYTHING, last time I-” “YAH!” Star Vortex finally ceased her rambling to be flying tackled by a small light green blur from behind, sending her tumbling forward and in a heap in the center of the hall. Sorrel actively had to keep the smile off her face as the tiny earth pony colt popped up from behind the problematic purple pony. “Don’t lie about Miss Sorrel! You called her a brain dead hermit again didn’t you!” “So what?” Vortex snapped “I needed to get my staff, and she locked the closet door” “You’re nothing but a big bully you brainless black hole!” Sorrel was quite obviously failing to hide her amusement of the situation. Bug buzz seemed to always know who said what, and he despised ponies who always wanted a laugh out of somepony else’s misfortune. “QUIET!” Sorrel turned to see Frostbite coming out from the stairwell, With Inferno and Overload close behind. Sorrel briefly had to recompose herself before turning to the new arrivals, and giving a short respectful bow. “Sister…” he started, facing the purple unicorn “You should be much more-” “Oh stick it to your horseshoes snowflake, you’re going to make me retch with your chivalrous sap.” Sorrel admitted she had to agree with Inferno’s thought on the subject, the hotheaded mare not even bothering to hide a small snigger. “It’s nothing more than good manners…” Frostbite spoke calmly “Or is that another thing you can’t do?” Inferno finally gave in to full on laughter alongside Overload and Bug buzz as Star Vortex fumed and sulked to the cafe. Sorrel would admit, if this was the first time she’d heard something like that from the Noble Pegasus, her jaw would have dropped, but to her, it was just another good quality of the stallion she was crushing on. Erm... forget that last part… Bug Buzz bounded over to her side, hopping around like a giddy rabbit. “Miss Sorrel! Miss Sorrel! Tow Cable says the New room should be done by Tonight!” Sorrel simply smiled and ruffled the colt’s mane a bit before turning to the entrance to the mess hall and pushing the door open, being greeted by the scent of some of Equestria’s finest fruits, pastries, and sandwiches as the group filed in. Levitating a tray, Sorrel gathered several fruits before turning to look for a seat in the semi- crowded hall. “Oh! Oh! Sorrel! Over Here!” Sorrel picked out the large orange Earth pony Stallion, Seated with along with a brown and maroon pegasus mare, a Brown earth pony colt, a jade pegasus stallion, and Bug Buzz, who just seated himself. Sorrel made her way over to the ragtag bunch of her closest friends, sitting between the colts, across from the largest pony there. “Jeez Tow, we’re not building a high rise in Manehatten, you don’t need to yell” The Brown Colt joked “you’re the one who’s half deaf, not Sorrel” “Says the colt who nearly got blown up cause he wasn’t listening to the blast countdown” The Maroon pegasus snarked, her fangs poking out, a remnant of her old job as one of Princess Luna’s Guards. “Oi!” the Colt Snapped “I said that the explosives wouldn’t even dent the rock, but they never listened,!” The Colt puffed out his chest “I proved them wrong And I looked really cool surfing that chunk of loose bedrock out of the explosion!” “Caro…” the Jade Pegasus mumbled “Per favore… Please stop boasting” “Aw…” the colt mischievously drawled, snuggling up to the embarrassed pegasus “anything for you Drago” The rest of the table shared a good laugh as Drago’s muzzle lit up with a bright blush. “Ha Ha! So Drago!” Tow Cable chortled “Have you made an honest mare out of Keystone yet?” This time the laughter spread to some of the other nearby ponies, Even Drago had to chuckle. “Make an Honest mare out of me!?!” Keystone mock-gasped “If anything, I’ll make an Honest Stallion out of him!” The result was nothing but laughter from everypony in the cafeteria for the next minute. “V…Vampira…” Drago Stuttered, still laughing as the noise died down “This… this is your fault” “Sorry Big brother” The Brown Pegasus Said with a grin “But Seriously, When’s the Wedding?” Sorrel lost her grip on her laughter as she was taking a sip of water, a fine mist splattering over the table. “As soon as I get the diamond and gold mined for the ring, Duh.” The Brown colt interjected, covering for the Pegasus who still was slack-jawed at his sisters’ audacity. “Nothing but the best materials!” Tow Cable declared “Keystone, you truly are a master of your craft! I give you my Blessing!” “Aww… Thanks Big Guy” The Miner spoke, one hoof scratching behind his Head. “Oh that’s Right!” the Colt Turned to Sorrel “Bug Buzz told you the Room’s gonna be ready tonight, right” “Of course I did ya big balooka!” the Green colt snapped “Who are you calling a big Balooka?” Keystone retorted “You, Duh” Bug Buzz stuck his tongue at Keystone. The older Colt turned back to Sorrel “I’m not a balooka am I?” Sorrel honestly couldn’t keep a straight face any longer and her muzzle now sported a huge grin. “You’re seriously getting worked up about this?” Vampira snickered. “Worked up about what?” an older voice snapped. The population of the table looked up to see the medical officer, giving everyone an odd look. “Doc, give me an honest second opinion, am I a big balooka?” Keystone pleaded, putting on another humorous act. “Yes” the medic deadpanned “And you smell like rotten eggs too.” “Hey! I was mining out a Hot Spring for five days Straight!” The Big balooka Pouted. “No one cares.” The old Unicorn snapped “And more importantly, Where’s that mockery of age RaThor!?” “He’s locked himself in his room again” Bug Buzz supplied. The medic’s frown eased. “Oh, right, that time of year again” he mumbled softly. Sorrel was perplexed. She hadn’t heard of this behavior out of the SIC before. “He was supposed to run errands in Ponyville this afternoon” the medic paused, in thought for a moment. “Sorrel, Could you do the job?” Sorrel Was Ecstatic! With a bright smile and a rapid nod of the head, she accepted the job, cleaning her breakfast tray, and set about her normal daily chores. “You know…” the medic thought “I never would have thought a mute mare could be the most cheerful out of all of us” Sorrel closed the door to her greenhouse on the top floor of the tower. Her most important job at the tower was as a botanist, in charge of examining any and all alien plants that had been recovered by the dimensional guard. Plants had been labeled as ‘non-threatening’ to the stability of space and time, and Sorrel would be task with examining, caring, and cultivating them for various experiments. Her most recent job she’d actually uncovered on her own. A small portal had apparently dropped a filled seed box in her favorite gardening store in Ponyville, the box even contained a book of all the flowers that would blossom from them. It had to be her favorite assignment she’d ever taken on! She walked through the aisles among the full grown flowers to her bench where she kept the plants that hadn’t bloomed yet, passing a huge cluster of Sparkling flowers she was growing for a special occasion. Sorrel was certain that Celestia would be please with the flowers she ordered for her sisters’ upcoming birthday. She just knew Luna would love the Sparklestar flowers to be planted in the royal gardens. She turned the corner to the bench occupied with three pots, each flower growing, but none had opened their buds. If the growth pattern was any indication these flowers would certainly bloom interesting flowers. She filled her watering can at the spigot with her magic as she turned the pages in her journal , browsing the flower to see if there were any that matched the growth of the stems but had little- *ding!* -Luck? Sorrel turned to the sound. Apparently one of the flowers had bloomed just then, two vibrant gold flowers shining like polished bells. Curiously, she poked one flower with a hoof. *Ding-a-ling!* Sorrel was in awe. She’d never seen nor heard a flower, alien or Equestrian, that literally rang like a bell! She flipped through the book, stopping at the flower she had just grown. Festivia family Festiflower A traditional decoration for winter festivals, these rare, bell-shaped blossoms make a bright, cheerful sound that is considered very lucky. Sorrel smiled as a soft breeze came through the nearby window, rustling the flowers, letting the room fill with the gentle chiming of the flowers’ bells, before she turned to the next flower, watering it as the bud opened up, A simple tall black sunflower sprouting from the bloom, she turned the pages back to the image she recognized well. Prospera Family León del Sol This pointy-petaled summer bloomer's magnificent flowers are edible and are often used to make tasty cooking oil. She turned to water the last flower, but was disappointed that it hadn’t blossomed. She pouted at the plant, as if it would take pity and relent, gracing the room with its unseen blooms. She gave up, flipping through the book randomly before stopping, looking at the entry. Magica Family Crystal lily This breed's pointy blossoms are known to bring happiness and luck. If you want a gift for someone very special, this would be an excellent choice. Sorrel did a double-take as she looked at the picture of the flower; its blossoms seemed to be made of shaped Crystal like the mythical Crystal Kingdom of legend, Its stems wrapping around each other like the flower that refused to blossom in front of her. She gave a wonderful smile as she lost herself in thought. The flowers were beautiful as she imagined a full garden brimming with the blooms with the crystal castle dominating the background of the scene. She certainly had to bloom this plant and cultivate an enormous amount of them, even if the Kingdom was lost to time. *Ding Dong Ding Dong* Sorrel snapped out of her thoughts as she looked at the clock. The time read eleven on the dot. She had to get ready for her trip! In a rush, she double timed her duties, plucking various fruits and flowers from the edible plants, set the sprinkler, and closed the door behind her. Unfortunately, if she hadn’t rushed she would have been treated the lovely sight of a certain flower blossoming a minute after her departure. A mere twenty minutes later, Sorrel was galloping down the path going around the Everfree Forest, to Ponyvilles’ Market square, Ready for a wonderful day.