Sweetie Belle trotted through Ponyville. She was headed to the CMC clubhouse where Scootaloo had ordered her and Apple Bloom to give finding their cutie marks another approach.
Just after she blinked, the earth was about two feet closer to her face than before.
With a second of delay, Sweetie felt some pain in first her leg, then chest and head. She picked herself up and looked to see what had made her fall.
Sweetie was a big filly, she didn't stumble over her own hooves anymore. At least usually.
On the ground just behind her, she spotted a book lying on the ground.
"What's that?" She asked herself. On the cover, she could see the words 'Mareiam and Webster' imprinted.
Judging by the fact that it reached higher than her hoof, Sweetie could derive that this had to be a dictionary. Her decision was somewhat forged by the word 'Dictionary' below what appeared to be names on the cover, though.
"But where do you come from?" Sweetie Belle looked around. There was nopony anywhere near that could have dropped this. She also knew that Twilight was out in Canterlot doing something since and for a month.
She hadn't listened when Rarity had tried to explain the issue to her.
Since she couldn't see the owner anywhere and there was no name written inside it, Sweetie decided to keep the book for a while. Who knew what it could be good for?
After only ten minutes of waiting for Sweetie Belle, the other Crusaders arrived. It was odd that she, living farthest from the clubhouse, was first there, but she didn't mind.
Her earlier find had proven to be an amazing toy for the young filly. It simply contained anything she'd ever wanted to know! Given that she wanted to know about words and their meaning.
"Hi Sweetie Belle!"
Scootaloo didn't get an answer from the unicorn as she was too deep in her lecture.
"Sheesh. When didya get so bookish?"
The pages flipped until they reached the letter B. Sweetie had used a magical technique she had picked up from Twilight to quickly move through books while levitating only a single page at a time.
"Bookish. Adjective, boo-kish. A: Of or relating to books. B: Fond of books and reading. Also refer to: Nerdy."
"Eh, ya sure yer fine?"
Sweetie lifted her head out of the dictionary. "Never been better, 'Bloom. It's just that there's so much to know in here, right under my nose!"
"Check if it's got something under 'Scootaloo'."
"Probably not, but I think I actually saw a picture of you in here somewhere. Let me... Here."
Scootaloo didn't care to look at what page Sweetie was pointing at. "Under 'Cool'?"
"Silly you, that's where Rainbow Dash's is. No, under 'Ratite'."
Scootaloo gave the book a look of extreme disapproval. "What. The?"
"Ask Mareiam, not me. What was it you wanted us here for?"
"Mucking!" Scootaloo announced.
"As in, dirtyin' everythin' wit' mud?"
"To muck. Verb. A: To clean up; especially: To clear of manure or filth. Usually used with out. B: To clear of muck."
"A dictionary with its nose deep down a dictionary... No, I didn't mean that. What do ya call that tailoring kinda thing?"
"Macking? Wait, that's not a word, Scoots."
"Whatever, it's what I meant. Wouldn't that be fun?"
"Ugh, I don't know. You saw how I am with fabric and all that."
"Aw c'mon, don't ruin tha fun. We'll be fine, Ah'm sure!"
Later that day, the Cutie Mark Crusaders ended up releasing Discord, Queen Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon at once. Fortunately, Celestia got off her lazy rump FOR ONCE and saved the day.
Actually, she made Twilight do it. Whatever.
Sweetie Belle went to school the next day. In recess, she met back up with the Crusaders and some other ponies nobody cares about.
Her new friend was still always at her side.
"Tha' much fer mackin'." Apple Bloom stated.
"Oh, please, let that one slide. How should I have seen that coming?" Scootaloo responded, slightly aggravated.
"Aggravate. Verb. A-ggra-vate. 1: Obsolete A: To make heavy: Burden B: Increase. 2: To make worse, more serious, or more severe: Intensify unpleasantly 3: To rouse to displeasure or anger by usually persistent and often petty goading."
"You doing something with your live friends or are you going to spend the rest of your life reading from that book there?" Scootaloo asked.
"Well, do you have any suggestions that won't destroy Equestria as a whole?" Sweetie Belle looked up from her reading, still lying on the ground.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders Book Incinerators, for instance..."
The unicorn filly skimmed through the pages. "What do you mean by that? It's not in the dicti... Oh. Why would you do that?"
"Because yer constantly busy with yer words an' not payin' attention to nopony!" Apple Bloom called out. Looking over Sweetie Belle for a second, she noticed Cheerilee standing by the window. The look on her face was unreadable.
"Well, what's wrong with a bit of education?"
"That you're overdoing it. You're already smarter than all the others in class and you still won't get some things books can't teach you. Come out and learn the life!"
The school bell rang just as Scootaloo had finished her sentence.
Trotting back into the classroom, Sweetie Belle could have sworn she had seen an odd grin on their teacher's friendly face for just a second while passing by.
"Ah, Sweetie Belle, you're back. Mind giving me your opinion on how to arrange those garnets?" Rarity called across her workroom, sceptically looking and rearranging gemstones on a project of hers. As usual when she was at work, various fabrics, threads and tool were spread out around her, waiting to be cleaned up.
"Aren't those tourmalines?"
"Hum. Now that you say it... That'd explain why they don't fit in. Oh well, I'll work those into something later." The elder unicorn produced a box of green gems from a nearby shelf filled with such small boxes and dropped her current selection into it.
"Since when are you filing tourmalines with emeralds? Didn't you scold me pretty hard only recently for doing that?" Sweetie Belle asked confusedly.
"What? Th... How come you can tell everything apart with a single glance, anyway? Better than me, even?"
"There's four pages showing gem colors and sorts in here. Look!" Sweetie leafed through the pages until she was nearly at the end of the book.
"Why, that'd be useful to have..."
"Don't you know those by heart?"
"Not necessarily. To be honest, why should I bother? If I miscategorise a shiny, what are the odds of my client knowing it better? Granted they're not a dictionary on four legs like you..."
"That's kinda mean of you."
"But it's merely an observation of reality, sweetie. I'd long be out of business if everypony around here was a petrologist."
"Petrologist... P, p, pet..." Sweetie Belle began searching for the word to look up its meaning.
"Ponies who know stuff about stones and gems."
"Ah. Yeah, that's true, I suppose..."
Suddenly, the door bell rang.
"I'll get it. Probably another customer. Although, shouldn't those just come in since the door's always open anyway, like, boutique and such? Um, whatever, we'll see. Coming!" Rarity got up and went to open the door.
Sweetie Belle knew she wasn't interested in whoever was at the door. So she just stayed where she was and thought about Rarity's earlier request. If she concentrated really hard, she would even be able to levitate some of the smaller gems.
Small as in 'Could swallow by accident'. But that didn't discourage her. She'd just keep practicing. So Sweetie sat there and played a little with the green garnets (She had looked them up to make sure those were the right ones) until her sister would return.
No two minutes later, she did with Cheerilee at her side.