The CMC are given a weekend assignment to look after an egg. So why not try for a cutie mark at the same time?
Why was Derpy in the hen house in May the Best Pet win? Why didn't Scootaloo try to become a pet for Rainbow Dash? Will the CMC have to go to summer school? All of this and more (but probably not more) will be answered.
On a warm spring day the colts and fillies were busy taking notes from their teacher Ms. Cherilee. All but one that is.
“I’m sooooo bored.” Sighed Scootaloo as she dropped her pencil from her mouth and foomphed her hooves and head upon her desk.
“Scootaloo, shh, pay attention. Applejack says that school is fundamentally important for all little fillies and colts.” Whispered Appleboom, as she tried to talk and write at the same time.
“What does that mean?” asked Scootaloo
“Well, I don’t really know what it means, but it has the word important in it, so it must be important.” Applebloom nodded at her sister’s sage advice.
“Plus it has the word fun in it, so it must be fun!” Put in Sweetie Bell.
“Whaaat?!” Cried Applebloom and Scootaloo, as they turned to the third member of the CMC, blinking at her, trying to figure out what she was talking about.
However, before they could understand what she meant, they were interrupted.
“Girls, can I have you attention please?” Asked Miss Cheerilee, in a way that left no question that they better pay attention, or else.
“Sorry, Ms. Cheerilee!” All three apologized. The other foals laughed, as the CMC blushed in embarrassment.
“That’s alright girls, but please pay attention from now on. Now as I was saying, the grading term is ending, but we have enough time for one last project. Now as you know while reading, writing, and arithmetic are important, the most critical grade is the elements of harmony grade. Now who…..” Miss Cheerilee was interrupted by one of her students.
“Ooooh, ooooh, oooooooh,” called Sweetie Bell as she waved her hoof.
“Yes, Sweetie Bell?”
“My sister Rarity is the element of generosity,” squealed Sweetie Bell.
“That’s nice, but…”
“My sister is the element of honesty,” Called Applebloom.
“Once again, that’s….”
“My sis…uh, I mean, Rainbow Dash is the element of loyalty.”
“Thank you girls. I suppose. Well, does anyone else know the other three elements?”
Looking around, Cheerilie picked one foal with her hoof in the air. “Alright Twist.”
“The other elements are; laughter, kindness and magic.” Answered the red maned filly.
“Thank you Twist. Now what I was trying to say, before some little fillies interrupted..” She glanced over at Sweetie Belle whose white fur had reddened. “Was while we know what the Elements are, what do they mean? What does kindness mean? Magic, and the others? Anyone?” A few foals put their hoofs up partially, but when Ms. Cherille turned toward them, they put them back down. Finally Cherellie just smiled and said “That’s all right if you don’t know, that’s what the project is going to be about. Learning what the Elements of Harmony truly mean. And thanks to one of my dear friends, who I believe is just outside the door, I’ll explain what the project is all about.” Cheerilee walked to the school door and opened it to reveal a grey furred and yellow manned mare.
“Hello Derpy, glad you could make it here today. Do you have them?” Whispered Cheerilee as she hugged Derpy hello.
“Yup! Got it right here! Just like you asked.” Giggled Derpy as she patted her saddle bag.
“Great! Class this is Mrs. Whooves. Many of you know her as Ponyville’s mailmare, but you might not know is she is one of my dearest friends. As I love parental involvement in the class I asked her to get something for our next project.” She paused as a pale purple filly waved her hoof in the air.
“Yes Dinky?”
“That’s my mommy! Hello mommy.” Giggled the yellow maned filly, who waved one of her forehooves at her mother.
“Hello little muffin,” Smiled Derpy as her eyes, for a moment, focused exclusively on her youngest daughter. Most assumed that she was a relatively young mare, but due to her bubbly personality and no small assistance from her husband’s unique devices she had barely aged from her late teens. Recently, her eldest daughter Sparkler, a young teenage unicorn was admitted into a private high school in Canterlot. This was fortunate for the Whoove’s family as Ponyville, being a predominantly Earth Pony town did not have a unicorn academy for magic users. So while the family was grateful for Sparkler’s opportunity, Dinky had lately been feeling a bit lonely and abandoned. So recently, Derpy and Doctor had been volunteering at her school as their schedules allowed.
“Thank you Dinky. Now class, as I said, we are going to have a final project for the class. The elements of Harmony are the most important aspects of Equestria. Without them there would be disharmony and even chaos. None of us wants that do we?” She waited as all the foals shook their heads back and forth. “Wonderful, so in order to show that each of you are going to watch something over the weekend. Because taking care of something on your own shows each of the elements. As you watch each of them, I want you to discover how you use the elements in different situations. Now Mrs. Whooves is going to give each and every one of you something. Mrs. Whooves?”
“Absolutely,” reaching into her saddlebag she pulled out a.. “tada!”
“A muffin?” shouted Snips. Derpy looked at the cinnamon muffin in her hoof and reddened.
“Oops, that’s my afternoon snack.” Putting the muffin back she rummaged further in her bag.
Diamond Tiara leaned toward Dinky “No wonder your mom’s called Derpy, She’s such a derp.” She leaned back in her seat, where she and Silver Spoon giggled at her remark. Dinky was about the yell at her when her mother found what she was looking for.
“Tada, Again” In her hoof, was a pale blue egg. “I have enough here for everypony. Fluttershy’s chickens have laid too many for her to use, so rather them going to waste, she agreed to allow you to use them. I had to collect them myself, as Fluttershy was showing RainbowDash around her yard. Apparently, she’s going to be getting a new pet for herself, and asked Fluttershy to help find it.” Ms. Cheerile began to explain what was going to happen, but for one filly, she stopped listening.
“Rainbow Dash is getting a pet! I should totally go over there. Maybe I could be her pet. That would be so cool!” Squealed Scootaloo.
Diamond Tiara smiled at Scootloo’s reaction. Thinking a moment, she leaned over and whispered to the filly, “I think you would make a great pet for Rainbow Dash.”
“Really? Wow! Thanks!” Chirped the filly, as her wings buzzed so quickly her hooves were no longer touching the ground.
Sweetie Belle and AppleBloom frowned at Scootaloo’s reaction. “Ah, don’t think that wuz a compliment Scoot’s.”
“Really! You think so?” The three filly’s glanced at Diamand and Silver Spoon, who were silently laughing.
“Yup, a’hm purty sure she’s makin fun of yah.” The three fillies frowned at the two spoiled ponies.
“I’ll get them for that later. But I don’t care, I still want to be Rainbow’s pet. I’m going to go to Fluttershy’s cottage right after school and show her I’ll make a great pet.”
“But Scootaloo,” Exclaimed Sweetie, “We have to do the school project. Remember what happened with the chemistry project.” The girls looked at the walls of the classroom, which still had splotches of rainbow colors, when they tried to get their chemistry cutie marks and it hadn’t worked out so well. “If we get another F, we might have to go to….SUMMER SCHOOL!”
“Ugh, fine! I’ll do the dumb project.”
As the girls were talking they almost missed that Cheerilie had called the class up to the front to get their eggs. They got in line just as Mrs. Whooves gave Dinky her egg.
“Here you go baby, I got this one special just for you,” She smiled as she handed Dinky the pale blue one. Diamond and Silver frowned as they looked at their own brown eggs. The CMC giggled silently at the anger of their nemeses.
The girls received their own eggs and returned to their chairs.
“All right class, now once again, your project over the weekend is to care for the eggs as if they were your very own foals. Not only that but you must explain to the class what element or elements you used when watching the eggs. Finally the egg must be whole when you return on Monday.” Explained Cheerilie patiently to her class.
“Geez, this is going to be easy. How hard is it to look after an e...oops.” As Snips was talking to his friend Snails, he swung his hoof around and knocked the egg from his desk and watched as it smashed on the classroom floor.
“Oh, Snips. I’m afraid you failed the project. Stay after class today please,” Sighed their teacher as she got a paper towel to clean up the mess.
As she was cleaning up the broken egg, Diamond Tiara spoke out. “I’ll give 6 bits to watch my egg over the weekend.”
Cheerilie frowned at that. “Diamond, your supposed to treat the egg like your own filly.”
“I know Ms. Cheerilie, I’m doing what my mommy and daddy did.”
“That explains a lot,” she mumbled under her breath. “Fine, but I don’t think you’ll be able to explain an element over watching your egg.”
“Sure I will. Laughter. I’ll have so much fun not working, that I’ll spend the whole weekend laughing.” Diamond smiled smugly at her own cleverness.
“Okay.” Taking all of her willpower to not roll her eyes at the spoiled filly, she finished cleaning up the mess and turned to the class, “and with that, class dismissed. See you on Monday with your eggs intact.”
The foals not needed to be told twice quickly scurried out the door, except for Snips who walked dejectedly to the front, and Snails who stayed by the door for moral support.
As the CMC walked from the class, they looked at their brown eggs. Suddenly without warning, AppleBloom paused mid-step.
“Hey, girls. Ah just thought ah somethin. If these here eggs ah supposed tah be out foals, shouldn’t they have names?” Applebloom looked at her friends to see if they agreed.
“That’s a great idea.”
“Majorlly cool! But what would be awesome?”
“Hmmmm,” all the girls looked at their eggs lost in thought.
“I know. The best and most original name ever. Eggy!” Smiled, Sweetie Belle as she softly hugged her newly named egg.
“That’s ah great name Sweetie.”
“That is a pretty cool name, but I’ve got the best name ever! My egg’s name is Rainbow Dash II! Pretty Awesome huh?” Scootaloo held her egg aloft as if it were a trophy she had just won.
“Wow both of those are great. But this egg is going to be an Apple egg. So it needs a special name.” All three CMC’s looked at the egg in Applebloom’s egg trying to figure out the perfect name. Just as they were about to give up, Applebloom smiled. “Ah, know what to call it. Cinnamon Muffin.”
“Wow, that is a good name. How did you think of it?” Asked Sweetie as she patted her friend for coming up with such a great name.
“Ah don’t know, it just came to me.” None of the CMC noticed Dinky and her mother walking in front of them. Dinky was holding her pale blue egg. While Derpy munched on her muffin.
“Hey, ah just thought of somthin. Maybe we can get our cutie marks on egg sitting.”
“That would be so great.”
“Awesome. What a super idea.” “OK girls, you know what this means.” The girls nodded at each other.
“CMC EGGCELLENT EGGSITTERS” All three screamed at the top of their lungs, clapped hooves and ran to their respective homes.
AppleBloom and Scootaloo trotted toward the school from different areas. Looking up the two watched Sweetie Belle sitting dejectedly on the bench by the door to the classroom. Next to her lay, something. They couldn’t figure out what it was, only that it was pink and purple and was almost as big as Sweetie herself. Trotting up to her, neither filly could still figure out what it was.
Taking a small basket that she had been holding in her mouth, Applebloom blinked at the object and turning to Scootaloo who just shrugged her shoulders, the two then truned toward the last CMC member.
“Hey Sweetie, what the hay is that thing?” Asked AppleBloom, giving up trying to figure it out.
Sweetie looked up at the other girls and sighed, “Hi girls.” Looking at the object beside her on the bench, she sighed again, “This is Eggy’s bed.”
“That’s Eggy’s bed!” The two other fillys eyes grew large trying to fathom what Sweetie just said.
“The buck that’s a bed,” laughed Scootaloo, as she tapped it with a hoof.
AppleBloom, deciding not to comment, looked at Sweetie and noticed how upset she was. Siding up to her friend, she put her hoof over her shoulder and patted her, “What’s wrong Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie looked up into Apple’s eyes. “You really want to know?’ Mumbled Sweetie, her eyes glistened.
“Course we do, were your friends.”
“OK, well what happened was…”
XXXXX
Time – Friday, after school Place – Carousel Boutique
“Rarity, I’m here,” called Sweetie as she pushed her overnight bag through the boutiques door.
“Hello Sweetie, don’t slam the…”Rarity shuddered, as she heard the door crash, when her sister had kicked it shut “door,” she finished mumbling.
“Oh, hi Rarity. Isn’t it great that mommy and daddy went on that fishing trip this weekend. Too bad it was only for adults. Then you wouldn’t have to foalsit me and we both could go too.” Sweetie pouted a bit, and plopped down on her plot.
“Erhm, yes a real pity.” Rarity inwardly shivered, remembering past fishing trips with their parents. The Sun, the salt water, the dirty, dingy ship, the worms, and worst of all the ugly outfits and hats. In fact, she had been Sweetie’s age when she had introduced her parents to the aforementioned adult’s only fishing group. It had been quite generous of her to take the time to find the group. But she thought it was worth the trouble.
“Anyways, I’m working on a bunch of sketches for a book about pony fashions over the millennia, but I can save that for later. What would you like to do?” She smiled remembering the past few visits with Sweetie and vowing that this time she wouldn’t squander the visit.
“What I want to do?” Uhhmm…I don’t…Wait! I know!” Turning to her school saddlebag, she rummaged through it and after a moment, “Ah, found it.” And pulled out an egg, and presented it to Rarity.
“An egg? Are you hungry? Do you need a snack? I have eggs here, you didn’t need to bring one, but if you want me to…” Her horn glowed as she began lifting the egg from Sweeties hooves.
“No!” Screamed Sweetie as she snatched the egg back. “This is Eggy, He’s for a school project.” Sweetie explained quickly about the project and what she needed to do.
“Hmm, I see. Oh how lovely. Then the first thing we need to do is to find a bed for “Eggy” to be kept. And being my sister’s egg it must be fabulous.
“He needs a bed?” Asked Sweetie.
“Of course! You can’t expect a new member of our family to live in any old thing. No it must be…. Spectacular!!!” Rarity exclaimed, spreading out her hooves to emphasize its importance.
“Now where did I put that straw?”
“Straw?”
“But not just any straw. Oh no no no! The best baskets are made out of straw from the Himallama’s, picked single hoofed by llamas who worship the Alicorn of peace Ankh. This straw cost a huge amount of bits, but your worth it Sweetie, if only I can find it…hmmm” Rarity rummaged through a few boxes and opened several cabinets before stopping, turning around and looking at a pile of mismatched and random fabrics.
Her horn glowed and the pile levitated. Underneath was a bale of straw. Smiling, she used her magic to “grab” the straw and lowered the pile back where it was. “Good, now watch Sweetie,” Rarity said, as she began forming the straw basket. In almost a blink of an eye, the basket was finished. She smilled down at Sweetie, “I’ve become much quicker at making these since last Winter Wrap Up.” Sweetie oohed and aahed appropritatly, at the basket, which seemed to glow with it’s own light.
“Ooh, it’s beautiful Rarity! So is it time to put in Eggy?”
“No, no no! Of course not Sweetie,” Laughed Rarity, as she rumpled her sister’s hair, then seeing the mess she made of it, quickly repaired it.
“Next we add all the adornmints. Which turn ugly and boring ultilitarian items into fabulous things.”
“OOH”, whispered Sweetie, as her eyes grew larger.
“Hmmm, where to begin?” Rarity paused tapping her hoof against her chin in thought.
“I have it! Of course!!” Her horn glowed as she “grabbed” a bolt of lace from a shelf and with a quick snip of a pair of scissors and another movement of her head the lace was attached to the side of the basket.
“Wow, you right Rarity, adornments are great. So can we put in Eggy now that were done?”
“Done? Done! Why Sweetie, we’ve just begun. It still needs a curtain for privacy, a gems interwoven into the basket, ribbons and streamers, and, and….”
“Flowers on the handle?”
“Exactly Sweetie, now you understand. Lets get started.” And the filly and mare began racing around the boutique grabbing every fabric and gem that struck their fancy.
XXXXX
“So let me get this straight, this thing is Eggy’s bed,” asked Applebloom as she poked it with her hoof.
Sweetie sniffed and nodded her head.
“Well, it looks real intrestin, but I don’t see why ya need to be cryin over it.” Obsereved Applebloom.
“We spent the rest of the day working on it, and when Rarity said we were finished, I went to where I put Eggy, and couldn’t find her. I lost Eggy,” wailed Sweetie, as she began crying literally bucketfuls of tears.
“We spent the rest of the weekend cleaning and looking for Eggy and never found her,” continued Sweetie, as she sobbed into Applebloom’s fur when her friend had reached over to give the crying filly a hug.
“Hey don’t worry about it, you’ll find it one of these days,” added Scootaloo.
“Really?” Sniffed Sweetie.
“Sure, when it starts stinking up the place,” laughed Scootaloo.
“Scoots,” yelled Applebloom.
“What? Oh, I mean, umm, sorry?”
“Sigh, I guess this means summer school then doesn’t it? Whimpered Sweetie.
“Well, probably, but it’ll be OK, I promise. Ummm, I know, lets, lets ask Scoots about her weekend. Hey Scoots what did you do with Raibow Dash II?”
At Appleblooms question, Scootaloo’s eyes went large, and she looked around panicking, as her wings flapped quickly behind her. Then with a sigh, lowered her head. “Well you see, it didn’t exactly work out the way I thought.
With that statement, both of her filly friends ears perked up. “Now, I’ve got to hear this,” exclaimed Sweetie, momentarily forgetting her own problems.
AppleBloom, trying to take Sweetie’s mind off her problems asked, “Hey Scoots what did you do with Rainbow Dash II?”
At Applebloom’s question, Scootaloo’s eyes went large, and she looked around panicking, as her wings flapped quickly behind her. Then with a sigh, she lowered her head. “Well you see, it didn’t exactly work out the way I thought.
With that statement, both of her filly friends ears perked up. “Now, I’ve got to hear this,” exclaimed Sweetie, momentarily forgetting her own problems.
“You see, after I left school I didn’t have to go home right away…”
XXXXX
Friday – After School
“What the hay am I supposed to do with this thing?”, grumbled Scootaloo as she contemplated the egg in her hoof. She should have been paying attention to where she was going as she was racing through Ponyville on her scooter, but luckily for her, it was a relatively slow day. She only knocked down, three ponies, one vegetable stand, and one white bunny. As it was Angel Bunny, the only one sad to see him hurt was Fluttershy, and even she was secretly glad to have a new animal to rehabilitate.
Scootaloos wanderings eventually led her to the CMC’s clubhouse. After the 3rd time circling the tree, she looked up and seeing where she was at, stopped her scooter and jumping off, sat down at the bottom step and continued to stare at her egg. Just as she was about to leave her egg at the clubhouse and take her scooter out for some crusading, she saw movement in the sky. Looking closer, she noticed a cerulean coat of her favorite Pegasus.
The bright blue Pegasus reacted as if she hit a wall. Scootaloo watched as colorful flags fell down from the sky. Rainbow Dash recovered quickly and snatched up the rainbow colored pennants and made a perfect 10 landing right in front of the smiling filly.
“S’up kid. Except me of course.” Teased Rainbow, as she began to fly around Scootaloo, her saddlebags, bouncing around as a few flags poked out of the bag, making her seem even more colorful. She noticed the egg, Scootaloo was carrying, and with a flash, grabbed it out of the filly’s hoof.
“Hey, squirt, what do you have the egg for? Gonna, egg somepony’s house? When I was your age, there was this one neighbor that drove me crazy. Always complaining to my parents that I was too loud! Me, too loud! Yeah right. As if. So one night I snuck out of my house, grabbed a bunch of eggs and flew over to his house. Then I took one in my hoof and…” Rainbow paused and looked at Scootaloo. A small thought entered her mind, maybe this story wasn’t the best story to tell her. “Ehh, never mind that. So if your not going to chuck it at someone, what are you going to do with it?”
“Well you see, Miss Cheerilee gave the class an assignment over the weekend….” Scootaloo quickly summarized her assignment ending with, “But the coolest thing? I’ve named it after the best flyer in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash II.” Her eyes shone as she waited for Rainbow’s response.
“So pretty much a bunch of egg head stuff, huh?” Snorted Rainbow as she tossed the egg from one hoof to another. Scootaloo’s face began to fall, as she heard Rainbow’s reaction. “Still it is a pretty cool name kiddo.” Scootaloo’s smile returned and her wings began to buzz with excitement.
“But…it needs something more, something that says this egg isn’t just the best sounding egg, it’s the most awesome, radical, and cool egg there is.”
“Those things are so different from each other. How is one egg going to be all three,” wondered Scootaloo.
“Exactly! I’m glad at least one pony knows the difference.” Rainbow patted Scootaloo on the head. “That’s why we need to do something spectacular.”
Both Scootaloo and Rainbow began to stare at the egg, trying to see how to accomplish that with a simple white chicken egg.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash’s eyes expanded. Tossing the egg into the sky and catching it right before it smashed onto the ground, Rainbow smiled at Scootaloo. “Racing stripes! Rainbow Dash II needs racing stripes. Everything looks better with racing stripes. Plus it makes everything faster. That’s a fact I just made up.” Giving Scootaloo a wink, she tossed the egg at her, who caught it quickly in her two hooves.
“Well, gotta Dash, I have to put these at the end of Ghastly Gorge. Tomorrow, I’m going to find out what is the most awesome, radical, and cool pet there is. And it’s not going to be a stupid turtle tortoise that’s for sure. See ya.” With almost a sonic Rainboom behind her, she was off.
As Scootaloo watched Rainbow Dash fly off to become a speck in the sky, she realized what she’d forgotton to say, “Rainbow Dash, wait! Choose me! Choose ME!” Seeing she lost her chance, her ears hung low and her body slumped down to the ground. “Aww, buck this. I would have made a great pet.” With one last sigh, she got up and went into the clubhouse.
Taking the egg to the clubhouse’s table, she grabbed the paints from the bookshelf and tossed them onto the wooden table. Contemplating Rainbow Dash II, she pondered, what type of racing stripes would be best. “Dragon flames? Nah!. Gryphon claws? As if! Shark teeth? Pppht, that’s just dumb. No it needs to be awesome, radical, and just a hint of coolness.” Setting her hoof under her chin, she continued thinking. After thinking for a few moments longer, she realized what would be the perfect racing stripes. “Rainbow Lightning bolts. It’s perfect. Woo hoo!” Smiling at her genius idea she quickly got to work.
After a half an hour, both she and Rainbow Dash II were covered in paint. But while there were splotches of blue, green, red, yellow and other different colors over her hoofs, fur, and wings, on the egg itself, there were two simple crude looking lightning bolts, filled in with rainbow colors.
Scootaloo’s eyes sparkled as she raised the egg in her hooves. “It’s, it’s…beautiful.” She smiled. Holding it in her hoof, she walked to the clubhouse’s window. “This is the most awesome, radical and cool egg in the history of EVER!” Scootaloo’s egg seemed to glow and sparkle in the light. “This egg is amazing. It can be the best egg ever. Why I bet it could do anything. I bet it could even fly!” Pulling her hoof back, she looked back at the egg and…
XXXXX
“Wait a second. Let me get this straight. Yer telling us you tossed the egg out the window?” Questioned AppleBloom.
Scootaloo’s head looked down and she shuffled her hooves. She looked up at her two friends and mumbled, “yeah.”
Both AppleBloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and began giggling. Scootaloo slumped down on the school yard and hung her head down, embarrassed over the giggling. When her friends saw what their laughter had done they both stopped and gave her a big group hug. “We’re sorry.” “Yah, we didn’t mean to make you sad,”
Scootaloo squirmed in between the two fillies. “Okay okay, whatever, just don’t get all girly on me okay?” She began to smile, but then her ears flopped down on her head and she frowned. “Guess this means I’ve got summer school too huh?”
Sweetie patted her on her back. “Well it’s not so bad, at least we get to be together during the summer.” She glanced at the small straw basket beside AppleBloom. “Looks like you’re the only one that’s not going to have summer school.”
AppleBloom looked down at her basket, and gave it a nudge with her hoof. “Um, yah, about that, see…”
Scootaloo and Sweetie looked at each other, then back at AppleBloom.
“Okay, I’ve gotta here this.”
“Yeah what happened?”
“Well ya see, I had to git on home right after school. We were goin to be workin in the vegetable garden this weekend an I want’ed to show the family Cinnamon Muffin fer we got started….”
Sweetie patted her on her back. “Well it’s not so bad; at least we get to be together during the summer.” She glanced at the small straw basket beside AppleBloom. “Looks like you’re the only one that’s not going to have summer school.”
AppleBloom looked down at her basket, and gave it a nudge with her hoof. “Um, yah, about that, see…”
Scootaloo and Sweetie looked at each other, and then back at AppleBloom.
“Okay, I’ve gotta here this.”
“Yeah what happened?”
“Well ya see, I had to git on home right after school. We were goin to be workin in the vegetable garden this weekend an I want’ed to show the family Cinnamon Muffin fer we got started….”
XXXXX
Friday afternoon Sweet Apple Acres Kitchen
“…and that’s what I have to do this weekend.” Beamed AppleBloom as she held her egg in her hoofs as she leaned against the table to steady herself. She looked at all three members of her family. Granny Smith was frowning, Big Mac nodded his head, and AppleJack tilted her head quizzically.
“So lemee get this straight. You gotta watch an egg for a weekend project and learn how the elements are all related to it?”
“Pretty much AppleJack. Do yah think I kin do it?”
“Sugarcube, we live on a farm. I think we kin handle watchin, a single egg.”
AppleBloom blinked a few times. “Oh yeah, I fergot about that. Heck, this should be easy.” She smiled, then frowned, “Uhh, what do I need to do?”
“Well first yah gotta…”
“I don’t like this.”
“What don’t ya like Granny?” Questioned AppleBloom.
“Foals having foals. In my day, young’un’s didn’t talk about such things. Why in my day…”
“Oh granny, it’s just a school project. Why Big Mac an ah had tah do the same thin when we were AppleBloom’s age. Ain’t that right Big Mac?” Explained AppleJack.
BigMac nodded his head up and down, “Eyup.”
“Ah, don’t care. Why ah have half a mind to give that Miss Cheerilee a piece of it. Givin foals such an assignment. Why in all my years…”
“Wait a minute. Are ya all talkin about sex?” Inquired AppleBloom, her eyes growing large.
The entire kitchen grew quiet, as all eyes were on the small filly looking quizzically at the adults.
“What?”
“Applebloom, sugarcube, how do you know about..er..sex.”
“AppleJack, we live on a farm. I’ve seen chickens do it. I’ve seen the pigs do it. I’ve seen Winona do it. Heck, I’ve seen the cows do it and then talk about it. Pfft, it’s not a big deal.”
The adult’s mouths opened in shock. AppleJack recovered first. Shaking her head she looked at Granny Smith whose mouth was open so wide, her dentures were almost slipping out her mouth. Looking at Big Mac, she saw he was redder then a tomato and still had half of an apple fritter hanging in his mouth.
Deciding to take action, AppleJack pulled AppleBloom out of the kitchen, as they left out the door into the barnyard, she looked down at the egg AppleBloom was holding, “Cinnamon Muffin, huh?”
“Yeah, ain’t it a great name?” Smiled AppleBloom as she looked into Applejacks face.
“Well, I’ll say this, it’s mighty intrestin.” AppleJack looked away from AppleBloom, and rolled her eyes. The two continued to walk toward the barn, where upon arriving, AppleJack opened the barn and blinking stepped into the dim interior.
“Alright, sugarcube, first things first. We need to git ah basket for the egg.” Rummaging, in a wooden box, Applejack pulled out a small straw basket. Brushing off some dust, she turned back and pulled out an extra hoof kerchief. Quickly, she made a nest in the basket. Taking Cinnamon Muffin from AppleBloom, she placed the egg in the basket. “There yah are. Done.”
“That’s it?”
“Well, you could purty it up with ah ribbon on the handle, ah guess.” Looking at AppleBloom’s mane ribbon expectedly.
“Oh.” Realizing what AppleJack was saying, she removed her ribbon, and tied it onto the basket.
“Alright, that’ll do. Let’s git started weedin the garden. Grab the basket, an let’s go.” Turning around she and Applebloom left the barn and trotted to the garden. Reaching the edge of the garden, Applebloom put the basket down and along with AppleJack began to weed the garden.
AppleJack, as was her nature, quickly got in the spirit of hard work. She weeded, pushed roots into the soil, straightened plants and checked on leaves and stems for any pesky bugs that could damage the plants. However, as with most things, once she had a goal, she seldom noticed anything around herself. Had she been paying attention, AppleJack would have noticed how much or rather, how little AppleBloom was working. It wasn’t until she had finished her third row and had paused to wipe the sweat off her fur, that she saw that AppleBloom had barely gotten through half of her first row.
She watched as AppleBloom would take a step down her row, her head facing the small basket, as she lowered herself to the ground to bite the weed and just stood there with her mouth open watching the egg. Until after a minute she would bite the weed, slowly pick it up and drop it in her saddle basket. Then the process would begin again.
With an exaggerated sigh, AppleJack decided enough was enough. She walked toward Applebloom, who was at the moment staring at Cinnamon Muffin. Upon reaching her, Applejack poked her in the shoulder with her hoof.
“Auugh!” Screamed Applebloom as she jumped up in surpirese.
“Land sakes, suger cube, your jumpier then a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.” Applebloom blushed at that comment and ducked her head in embaresment.
“Sorry sis…Only…”
“Ah know, ah know. Yah wanna do ah good job on yer project, but let me tell yah a little secret. Whether it’s rasin foals, puppies or dragons, or even eggs, th’ one thin yah don’t wanna do is hoover. That’s the worse thin you kin do to a baby.”
“But Applejack! It’s mah responsibility tah…”
“Ah know, an yer doi’n ah great job at it, only yer not treatin it like ah real foal.”
“But I’m watchin it like ahm sposed tah.” Pouted Applebloom as her bottom lip stuck out.
“Yeah, but yer not actin like a parent. Ah parent’ll watch their foal sure, but they won’t act like you. If they did, nothin would git done.” Seeing Appleblooms confused face, AppleJack tried another approach.
“Ah newborn foal needs to be fed, warm, safe an loved. Yer Cinnamon Muffin is the same way. It’s purtected, warm, and loved. As its an egg ah don’t think it needs any food, an unless theres a baker around lookin for random eggs ah think it’ll be OK.”
Applebloom frowned at what AppleJack had said. Looking back and forth from Cinnamon Muffin to her sister, she kept trying to understand what Applejack had been saying. Finally, “You promise, nothin will happen?”
“Ah promise. Yew can trust me.” Taking off her Stetson, she raised her hoof and made a Pinkie Promise.
“OK. Then let’s git to work.” Applebloom quickly bit off a weed and moved further down the row.
AppleJack just smiled and went back to her own work.
XXXXX
“An that’s it. Ah spent the rest of the weekend looking after Cinnamon Muffin an doin mah chores.” Shrugged AppleBloom as she finished explaining to her friends.
“Oh, so I guess, Cinnamon Muffin is in the basket huh?” Sighed Sweetie Belle, beginning to look discouraged again.
AppleBloom’s cheecks redend, “Not exactly,” she mumbled.
“What do you mean not exactly,” questioned Scootaloo.
“Well, ya see….ah was so excited tah come to school and tell ya’ll about mah weekend, that I ran down the road, tripped over a rock and out fell Cinnamon Muffin smashin on the ground.” Explained Applebloom quickly.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle blinked once, twice, three times, and then burst out laughing. Sweetie Belle saw AppleBloom’s face droop and instantly stopped laughing. Placing a hoof over Scoot’s mouth, she stopped laughing as well.
“Sorry, Applebloom.” Squeaked Sweetie. Scoots nodded in apology as well.
The three fillies looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments, and then Scootaloo bit her muzzle as she pondered a question.
“Applebloom, what is sex?” questioned Scootaloo.
“Sex? Why it’s when….” Started Applebloom, before she was interrupted by a scream.
“What do you mean you used my egg?” Screeched Diamond Tiara at Twist. Twist, shook in embarrassment.
“Well, I needed eggs to make some candy. And I fogot that it was yours. Sorry. You can have your bits back.” Twist took the bits out of her saddle bag and held it out to Diamond.
Diamond Tiara snatched the bits out of her hoof and stormed into the school.
As Diamond trotted into the classroom the CMC burst out laughing. When they finally stopped, Applebloom grinned at her friends. “Hey, ah just had an idea. We all have to go to summer school right?” Her two friends nodded. “Yah know what that means right?” Comprehension dawned on Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, SUMMER SCHOOL STUDENTS CUTIE MARK!” The fillies clapped their hooves together and raced into their school to let Ms. Cheerilee know they were going to go for their cutie marks in Summer School.
