The cutie mark crusader club house was filled with the sound of excited fillies. The night was young and the cutie mark crusaders had so many activities they could do, so many games that they could play. There was no better time for fun to had than at a sleepover. Just the thought of it sent shivers of joy down the fillies spines. No siblings would tell them if they could hang out with their friends or not. This was their night.
They had their sleeping bags ready, large fluffy ones that were a few sizes too big for their tiny bodies. Perfect for curling up like a Caterpillar. Even as the cool night air began to creep in they remained nice and toasty. They had a small collection of story books borrowed from Twilight that they could read at their leisure although Scootaloo seemed to be against the idea from the very start. Why read when you could play awesome games and talk about Rainbow Dash. Unfortunately her friends didn't share her level of admiration for the world greatest pegasus and Wonderbolt.
Sweetie mentioned something about makeovers sometime during the planning but Apple Bloom and Scoots had shot the idea out of the sky almost immediately. The young unicorn had attempted to fight for the makeover but the other two formed a verbal shield wall that halted any advance she tried to make. Living with her sister had taught her the delicate art of verbal jousting but the finesse of her words were all but useless against the brutishly strong will of Apple Bloom learned from years of arguing with Applejack and the fine sense of stubbornness Scootaloo had achieved, honed from months of bonding with Rainbow Dash. Needless to say Sweetie lost the battle.
Apple Bloom's ideas were rather plain considering the ideas the trio usually came up with but were met mostly with mumbled agreements. Unlike many of their other ventures this sleepover seemed to be lacking the usual explosive action that followed them around. They had considered telling Pinkie Pie about the change of location but they somehow felt that the towns omnipresent party pony already knew.
While her friends chatted idly inside the comfort of their sleeping bags Sweetie Belle gazed out the window of the club house, her mind wandering from subject to subject never idling on one thought for too long. She thought of many random things in a short period of time. Should they paint the tree house? The cost of paint and what colours would look best. Her thoughts went on many tangents but she eventually found herself returning to the topic of her sisters sudden return. None of it made any sense.
Her sister was meant to be gone for at least a day. What could have happened to turn a trip that long into an hour long venture. Her sister loved fashion and her business to the point of obsession so there was no way she would choose to skip the trip when her business was in need. She toyed with the idea that Rarity had made the whole thing up just to catch her breaking the rules but she doubted that her sister was that conniving and even if that was the case it would have been smarter to return while the sleep over was in progress. Things just didn't add up.
And what was with that stallion from earlier. He looked just like Spike, his name was also Spike and he had the exact same cutie mark as his brother. That just didn't seem right. She could under stand the cutie mark since she and her friends shared the same ones but to have the same names and appearances was downright odd. A lot of strange things were happening in such a short period of time. She didn't like it. Not one bit.
"Hey, Sweetie!" Apple Bloom shouted across the small room. Sweetie turned to find her friends sitting in their sleeping bags side by side, her own bag lying empty in front of them. "You done starin' into the distance. It's gettin' a little weird how focused you're startin' to look."
"Yeah." Scootaloo chimed. "Stop it with the mature thoughts. You're gonna make me catch it. I'm too young to be serious."
"Since when are you ever serious?!" Apple Bloom playfully elbows the pegasus in the ribs. Scootaloo returned with her own nudge and soon the two were shooting light jabs at each other, giggling all the while. Sweetie Belle was content to watch as she moved over to her own sleeping bags. Out of the three she considered herself to be the less physical of the three but she did enjoy the occasional tussle with her friends. By the time she got comfortable in her sleeping bag the other two had settled down. The three fillies soon found themselves lying in a circle, each of them staring at the ceiling of their clubhouse.
"I can be serious when I want to be. I just don't want to do it that often." Scootaloo spoke softly. "Besides, it's not like I have anything I need to be serious about. That the bonus of being young. No responsibilities."
"Speak for yourself." Apple Bloom scoffed. "Ah have to do chores around the farm otherwise ah don't get supper. Have you ever tried haulin' a cart of apples. Ah have no idea how Big Mac does it."
"He's an adult. Duh." Scoots said it like it was obvious. "Adult got muscles and stuff."
"Only the guys got real muscles, though. The only girls I know who got any muscle are mah sister and Rainbow."
"Hey, I got muscles." The pegasus of the trio proclaimed proudly, shooting a hoof into the air as if she were raising her hand in class. "Don't count me out so easily."
"You?! I can't see any muscles." The young farmer teased, reaching out of her sleeping bag so she could jab her orange friend in the rips. Scootaloo swatted away the invading hoof but Apple Bloom continued to poke her friend. "Nope, definitely bone."
"Cut it out. I got more muscles that you." She said defensively, jumping out of her sleeping bag and out of Apple Blooms reach.
Sweetie watched from the sidelines as her other friend left the warmth of her sleeping bag to stand face to face with Scootaloo. She didn't know if they were going to start an impromptu wrestling match or not. The truth was she didn't really care. It had been a long day and she was getting a little sleepy. She would keep an eye on them in case they actually got hurt but as far as she was concerned it was none of her business. If she had to actually guess who had the most muscles, she would probably feel safest betting on herself.
Her two friends exchanged a few verbal jabs that would have made Iron Will proud. Slowly the verbal jabs turned into friendly pokes, each one accompanied with some clever one-liner but in all honesty she hadn't been paying enough attention to remember them. It didn't take long for the friendly pokes to escalate as she had predicted. Her minds drifted about elsewhere as her eyes followed her friends as they rolled about the floor tickling each other, their high-pitched giggles echoing across their corner of the farm.
"Give it up Scoots!" Apple Bloom gasped through her laughter, tears in the corners of her eyes. "You can't beat years a farm work. Surrender!"
"Wai-" Scootaloo went to respond but was cut short by a powerful counterattack by Apple Bloom. She managed to wriggle free of the earth ponies grip and flip Apple Bloom over so that she was now on top. Now straddling Apple Bloom, a large devilish grin stamped onto her face that she had learned from Rainbow Dash. She raised both hooves into the air and began to repeatedly tap her friend on the chest. "You are no match for the typewriter."
The farm filly couldn't help herself as she giggle uncontrollably. She couldn't understand it. Her chest wasn't ticklish and if anything the repeated tapping actually hurt but she found herself laughing all the same. Pain and laughter aren't well known when it comes to endurance and the earth pony soon found herself yelling her surrender repeatedly until her brash friend saw fit to bring her torment to an end.
"Victory is mine!" Scootaloo raise both hooves to the air in victory before proudly strutting around the room. "Hey, Sweetie Belle. Did you see that?" She turned to her unicorn friend and found that the filly was fast asleep, she was wrapped snugly in her sleeping bag and was lying comfortably on her back with a small smile on her face. "Aw, c'mon. The sleep over has only just begun. You can't just bail on us now." Scootaloo moved to wake up her friend but Apple Bloom quickly jumped in her way.
"What are you doing? She asleep, don't wake her." Apple Bloom said sternly.
"Why not?! We still have hours until we should be asleep." Scootaloo said in a harsh whisper.
"Because she's asleep." The young farm girl grinned as she slowly raised a permanent marker in the air. "Sleepover tradition states that if you fall asleep first, you're fair game."
"Wait, that's a thing?" Scootaloo gazed between the marker and her sleeping friend. For a second she argued against the act but any resistance was quelled when she asked herself a simple question. What would Rainbow do? The answer was simple. Do it! Scootaloo grabbed the marker in her teeth and mulled over what she could draw on her friend. For now the unicorn was safely covered in her sleeping bag except for her face so she didn't have much area to work with. A few small ideas came and went but nothing amazing, most of her ideas were childish anyway.
Scootaloo circled around the young unicorn and stood to her side, almost parallel, so she could lean towards her face without stomping on the sleeping filly. Scootaloo drew closer to her friends face until she was only inches away, the marker almost touching her alabaster fur. It would be a shame to stain such a clear coat but she was certain Sweetie would find the whole thing funny, eventually. Scootaloo took note of a small grin that the unicorn wore and chuckled. Sweetie looked like she was having a nice dream although she had no idea what about. Hopefully she'd wake up happy as well.
"What are you waiting for? Just draw somethin'." Apple Bloom nudged the pegasus from behind. Scootaloo, trapped in her thoughts and unprepared for the sudden push, tipped precariously forward. Scootaloo yelped in surprise as she was ripped from her thoughts into reality. The marker dropping from her mouth, clattering to the floor next to the sleeping fillies head. As Scootaloo fell forwards she tried to use her stunted wings to regain her balance but they only provided enough lift to slow her down, making the short fall unbearably long.
To Scootaloo it was as if everything began to slow down. Time crawled to to a halt. The moment it took her to fall stretched on endlessly. Her friend's face inched ever closer to hers. The idea of an accidental smacking into somepony's head was bad enough but coupled with the fact that unicorns had an unfair advantage when it came to headbutting, for obvious reasons, made the whole situation seem all the worse. Scootaloo shut her eyes tight, preparing for a hard and sharp horn to the head. All her instincts, hundred of years of biological memory, were abandoning her and she was left with nothing to do but wait for the concussion that was somewhere in her very near future.
But oddly enough she did not receive the unholy amount of pain she had been expecting. In fact, she seemed to be in no pain at all. The only thing she felt was a rather harsh tug on her tail and a light warmth on her face. It seemed that luck was on her side for once.
"You alright?" Apple Bloom mumbled from behind, her words muffled by something in her mouth. Her words were difficult to understand but not impossibly so. Scootaloo considered the recent events and concluded what had just happened and made a mental note to thank the young farm girl after she hit her for pushing her over in the first place.
Scootaloo opened her eyes and went to thank her friend but any words she may have spoken were ambushed in a dark alley by a street gang going by the name of 'surprise'. That is to say, she was shocked at what she saw. Unsurprisingly they had accidentally awoken their unicorn friend who also seemed equally surprise to have an orange pegasus filling up her field of vision. It's not everyday you wake up with somepony hovering over you.
The two young fillies stared into each others eyes, each trying to figure out what to say or do. Scootaloo's first thought was to shuffle away and say she tripped which honestly was a slightly believable and partially honest answer. Unfortunately her body opted to stay still and let the awkward silence continue. Sweetie Belle on the other hand was wondering why the most reckless filly in their little group had woken her and why their lips were touching...
While each filly thought of what course of action to take next they came to a slow, yet sudden realization of what was happening. Scootaloo's reaction was the quicker of the two. When she found the explanation for the warmth emanating from her lips, her pupils shrunk to pinpricks whilst her eyes shot open to the size of dessert plates. They would have opened wider if they could but only adults can imitate dinner plates due to size differences.
Sweetie Belle seemed to have a similar reaction but only slower and with the lack of energy that comes with waking up. It began with her eyes widening in a similar fashion to her friend but with her eyebrows furrowing in confusion at the same time. Her mind slowly began to awaken. Her first thought began with bewilderment, followed quickly by relief at realizing it was just her friend that was hovering over her. Her mind jumped into overdrive to try and make sense of what was happening and gave Sweetie a couple of possibilities, but the only thing Sweetie Belle as concerned with was why her friends lips were currently pressed against her own.
Scootaloo went to jump off her friend but the natural reflexes of her pegasi blood failed her as the unicorn filly underneath her curled her hind legs beneath Scootaloo's barrel and threw the pegasus off her with surprising strength. The result of which led to Scootaloo crashing into Apple Bloom who had been position behind her at the time.
Sweetie Belle pushed herself out of her sleeping bag and rolled to her hooves as her two friends began untangling themselves from each other. Her mind was now fully awake, as was her body. She didn't know if she was meant to be upset or infuriated at her friends, so far she was leaning towards yelling at them but for some odd reason despite her current contempt for her friend's actions, she found her first thoughts to be wondering what her sister might think of the situation. Probably disgust and anger, if she knew her sister as well as she thought she did. Oddly enough the thought of her sister becoming upset made her happy but she quickly pushed the thought from her mind and refocused on her friends.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo finally manage to separate themselves from each other, all the while being judged under the ever-glaring eye's of their friend. Each one stood up straight and lowered their gaze as if they were about to be scolded by their teacher.
"Listen, this isn't what it looks like, I swear." Scootaloo chucked nervously, hoping that she could somehow relieve the tension. As usual she found herself wondering how Rainbow Dash would handle this sort of scenario.
"What it looks like?" Sweetie huffed. "It doesn't matter what it looks like! You kissed me, and while I was asleep! That's just... just..."
"Creepy?" Apple Bloom offered. If she were honest, she was feeling more awkward than anything. The only thing she could hope to do was help and hope that this didn't hurt their friendship.
"No, I mean yeah it is creepy but seriously." Sweetie shook her head to try and figure out her words. "You don't kiss someone without permission, especially while they are asleep. That's not even a friendship lesson, that's just common sense."
"Yes, I know but please just hear us out. It was a total accident, I swear." The pegasus raised her hoof to try and calm her her unicorn friend down. Sweetie frowned but didn't respond so Scootaloo took that as permission to continue. "You fell asleep to we were going to draw funny pictures on you and I kinda... fell. True story, I promise. "
"So you tried to pull prank and tripped but you just happened to land in the perfect position to kiss me?" Sweetie said skeptically. It did sound like something she and her friends would do and she didn't want to think her friends would do something like this intentionally but the whole story just seemed too convenient. "Yeah, right. Prove it then."
"Seriously, you don't believe us? Come on. We're your friends, Sweetie." Scootaloo pleaded. Surely Sweetie would see this for what it truly was. How could she prove that it was all a innocent mistake?
"The marker!" Apple Bloom shouted out of nowhere.
"The what?"
"Yeah, the marker. You see, we were going to draw on you, right?" Scootaloo elaborated. "I dropped it when I fell. So, if it is next to your sleeping bag then that proves it was an accident. Go check, it will be there."
Sweetie looked unconvinced but trotted over to her sleeping bag anyway. She honestly did hope that their was a marker there and they could throw this incident behind them. Alas, a quick scan of the area around her bedding revealed to marker. As much as she had hoped against it, her friends must have been lying, and to her face no less. Sweetie growled and kicked out at her sleeping bag in frustration. How could they do this?! Her kick sent the sleeping bag tumbling a few hoofs away and a small object to fly out of it's folds. Her eyes followed the mysterious item as it skittered against the floor before rolling to a stop. Curious she trotted over to the object and picked it up in her hooves and felt stupid when she realized what she was holding. A marker.
"Ha, you see!" Scootaloo yelled in triumph. "I told you we were telling the truth."
Sweetie looked between the marker and Scootaloo. Her mind screamed at her to refuse the evidence and say that they had planted it but her heart yearned to accept their story. She didn't want to hurt their friendship.
"I-I'm sorry, girls." She mumbled. "I-I assumed the worst and let my anger take over. I shouldn't have doubted you."
"Hey, don't worry, Sweetie. If I woke up with you kissing me I probably would have been angry too... I think." Scootaloo responded.
"Yeah, we all get a bit emotional sometimes but we should never let our feelings get in the way of our friendship. Hey maybe we can get Twilight to put that in their journal?" Apple Bloom grinned at what she hoped was sage advice.
"Maybe, but first I think we should try and finished our sleepover."Scootaloo said. "I'm not sure Twilight would appreciate us storming into her castle at this time."