It was one of those days where nothing, absolutely nothing, was going on.
Not that it was bad day, far from it. It was a gorgeous, hot summer day—a Saturday. Everypony in Ponyville was enjoying his free time in his own way. Some went for a hike with the family; some went to Sugar Cube Corner for a tasty treat; some practiced their favorite hobby, crafting, writing, or painting things; some were seeking refreshment at the lake; and some just lay down and watched the sky, secretly wishing for a small, refreshing shower of rain. Indeed, nothing extraordinary happened; it was a totally normal day for the Ponyville citizens.
For most Ponyville citizens.
On the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acre’s apple orchard, hidden between the apple trees, the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse was basking in the sunlight. The bright and cheerful colors, painted with skilled hooves on every plank of wood, looked even more lively in the sunlight. But inside the clubhouse, there were three ponies who were actually very disappointed with the weather, for it hindered their mission.
“Ah! You gotta be kidding me!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “We can’t do anything with this horrible weather.” She was lying on her back on the ground, frowning at the window and the gleaming sunrays that shone through it.
Sweetie Belle sat on a chair, waving a small fan in an attempt to cool herself down, which didn’t help much. “Just keep calm, Scootaloo. It’s much too hot to jump into a tantrum right now.”
Scootaloo was just about to say something back to Sweetie Belle, but then she stopped, as she realized that her friend was right. It was much too hot to be arguing. It was much too hot to do anything, and least of all wasting energy on shouting or throwing angry glares at Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah, but she’s right,” Apple Bloom said, turning away from the window and looking at both her friends. “It is very hot, but we gotta do some crusading, despite the weather. How else are we gonna get our cutie marks if we are so soft that the weather can stop us?”
“Oh please, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said. “Please don’t ask questions—it’s much too hot to think.”
Apple Bloom let out a sigh. “Don’t be such a foal, Scootaloo. The weather couldn’t be better, it’s beautiful outside. The apples are shining in the sunlight, the leaves of the trees are nice and green, the bark looks healthy, the grass looks juicy. I say we go and have some adventures.” Apple Bloom looked with determined eyes at her friends, but didn’t get the reactions she waited for. Both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo let out a long sigh at exactly the same time.
Apple Bloom knew that her friends had a point. Despite her steadfast words, she too felt beads of sweat drip down her forelock and onto her muzzle. She couldn’t deny that today was exceptionally hot, but she also wanted to do something with her friends. With a small, “Hmm…” Apple Bloom walked over to the cutie wall of ideas and let her gaze wander over it. She saw posters of events they’d been to, or workshops they’d done. There were drawings of things they had tried in order to gain that which they wanted most: their cutie marks. Countless sports they had tried to master, and when they had run out of sports, they had invented new ones. But all sports had all been for nothing, for it hadn’t given them anything but bruises or scrapes, especially with the dangerous sports. There was a picture of a hang glider and a rugby ball, which conjured painful memories in Apple Bloom’s head.
Right in the middle was a big map of Ponyville, with all the prominent locations on it. Apple Bloom looked at it with a feeling of nostalgia; it had been their first attempt at trying to get their cutie marks by trying all sorts of things. But unfortunately, it hadn’t worked, or else she wouldn’t be pondering over the big question now: how to get a cutie mark?
At the bottom of the wall of ideas were many different pictures or drawings of some of the Ponyville citizens. It had been an idea of Sweetie Belle to make images of the ponies they thought had extraordinary jobs. Of course Twilight Sparkle and her friends were there, right at the front. Next came Miss Cheerilee, the Crusader’s teacher. Then there were Bon Bon, Maud Pie, Bulk Biceps, Dr. Whooves, and Mayor Mare, all next to each other.
Sweetie Belle’s idea was to ask everypony on the wall whether the Crusaders could tag along with them for a day or two, to see whether they could teach them something and reveal their special talent. Twilight and her friends had taught them a lot, some things which appealed to them, some things that they didn’t like, and some things that only one of them liked. Miss Cheerilee taught them how to teach, which they found quite boring, so they hadn’t spent many days with her, and had politely withdrawn. Bulk Biceps had been eager to repay them for helping him, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders soon found out that helping the weightlifter pegasus was hard work. Bon Bon’s work in one of the many Ponyville sweet stores had been too normal, Maud Pie’s rock farm had been too dreary, Dr. Whooves had been much too busy with some new invention, and Mayor Mare’s job involved way too much paperwork.
No. So far, the wall hadn’t helped them much. Apple Bloom looked at the red circles around the photographs. Red meant: tried to get a cutie mark, failed to get a cutie mark. All of the Ponyville residents that the Crusaders could think off were lined in red. The wall of ideas didn’t reveal anything to Apple Bloom today. Even the wall of ideas was out of ideas. With a small sigh, Apple Bloom turned to her friends again. Scootaloo had rolled underneath a table in order to find some shadow, and Sweetie Belle was still waving her fan.
“Come on, everypony,” Apple Bloom said. “There must be something we could do. Just think of something.”
But that was much easier said than done. Beads of sweat bumped over their frowns as they thought of something, anything. Then, Sweetie Belle said, “We could be Cutie Mark Crusaders ice cream fillies.”
Scootaloo snorted. “Then I hope you’re thinking about eating ice cream, because I’m not going to pull a wagon full of ice cream while you two are going to sell it.”
Sweetie Belle flattened her ears and bit her lip, because that was exactly what she was thinking.
“No way,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t even feel like riding my scooter underneath that summer sun, and that’s saying something.”
Sweetie Belle said nothing and Apple Bloom slowly nodded her head. That was saying something. But Apple Bloom wasn’t about to give up that easily. It was time for another strategy. “Alright, let’s try that again. You all get ten seconds to think, and then say the first thing that comes to mind. It doesn’t matter how ridiculous it is, because at least we’ll have something, right?”
Her friends nodded and wiped some sweat off their foreheads. It wasn’t yet hot enough to think, despite what Scootaloo had said.
“Alright, Crusaders,” Apple Bloom announced, straightening her back like she was about to give the start signal for a race. “Cutie Mark Crusaders brainstorm session begins in three…”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo exchanged a glance.
“Two…”
Then they looked at Apple Bloom, who had a smile on her face.
“One…”
Could they get a cutie mark for brainstorming?
“Go!”
Scootaloo rolled from underneath the puny shade of the table and onto the floor, where she stopped and lay down on her back. Then she slowly got up, walked to the window, and gazed outside at the sky. That’s how she loved to think and dream and imagine, by looking at the sky. Stark blue heavens spread far and wide, with only the rare, occasional wisp of clouds hovering in them. Scootaloo could watch clouds in the sky for hours, guessing their shapes and imagining herself soaring through them. But she had never fallen asleep. Never. The stream of her thoughts always imitated the clouds in the air, drifting slowly through her mind, easily distinguishable and clear against the blue.
So what was she thinking about? About her dreams. Scootaloo thought about flying like Rainbow Dash through the skies, cutting shapes in the clouds and reaching enormous speeds and doing daring tricks and being the awesome pegasus she wanted to be. A real pegasus who could fly. She wanted to fly, to move, to feel free. She wanted to ride her scooter, gallop about, move through Equestria to explore the wonderful world and to test her strength against it.
If only it wouldn’t be so hot, Scootaloo thought.
What was more? There was still something Scootaloo wanted; something that even her friends didn’t know anything about. Something that would help her to make peace with memories which were dark and sad. Of course she could tell them, but Scootaloo knew that her friends couldn’t possibly help her with this thing. And she was much too ashamed to tell it to anypony else. Why bother somepony with her sad story when there were many more things to do? Cheerful things like getting her cutie mark, or at least conjure up a nice idea which she could try out with her friends. She kept gazing at the sky and wondering, but her mind was devoid of ideas as the sky was devoid of clouds.
Apple Bloom was pacing around and around, going in circles as if she were chasing her own tail. Despite her being the one who prompted the idea of a Cutie Mark Crusaders brainstorming session, she had to admit that she found it hard to come up with something too. In her mind, Apple Bloom was always with her loving family at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith; she loved them and enjoyed working with them on the apple farm. Many different activities and chores popped up in her thoughts; there was always something to do at Sweet Apple Acres. They could give the chicken pens a fresh coat of paint; they could fix Granny Smith’s old rocking chair; they could irrigate the celery stalks, which would probably need some extra water with the hot weather. But those were all things which required physical labor. Apple Bloom looked at her friends. Sweetie Belle had stopped waving her fan, and she could count the number of sweat drops on her forehead. Leaning on the windowsill, Scootaloo received the full glare of the sun, and she squinted her eyes to look at the sky. No, Applejack thought. They might fall to the ground with the first brushstroke.
But what should they do then? Sweetie Belle pondered over that question in the ten seconds that Apple Bloom had given her. She glanced around the CMC clubhouse, chasing inspiration with her eyes. She still sat on the chair, and opposite that was the drawing table. “Hmm…” Sweetie Belle said, as she looked at the paper, the crayons, and the pencils that were scattered about. Drawing doesn’t require much effort…
In a flash of memories, Sweetie Belle recalled the time where they wanted to be Cutie Mark Crusaders artists. All of them had made a drawing; Apple Bloom drew a landscape, Scootaloo the Wonderbolts in the sky, and sweetie Belle herself had made a portrait of her sister Rarity while she worked on her newest fashion garments. Of course they had taken their artwork towards a gallery. Only when their paintings would be hanging on the gallery’s walls, admired by hundreds of ponies offering hundreds of bits for their work, would the Crusaders be artists. But that didn’t happen, and when Sweetie Belle wondered why, she had taken a look at her friends’ drawings, and then everything became clear to her. The drawings were awful, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had given some criticism on her own drawing as well. Sweetie Belle reluctantly agreed that drawing wouldn’t be their special talent. But that didn’t mean that they should give up art altogether…
“Time’s up, everypony!” Apple Bloom announced. Whether she wanted it or not, the time was really up—and so were her ideas.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders gathered on the purple carpet in the middle of the clubhouse. The carpet marked the exact center of the house, looking like the equivalent of Arthur’s round table. They stood and looked at each other, the knights of the round carpet, eager to go crusading, with or without inspiration.
“I… got nothing. Sorry, guys,” Scootaloo said. “The only things I can think of are things that are way too hard to do in this weather. I mean, I would love to go skydiving with Rainbow Dash…”
To that, Scootaloo got a few strange stares, especially from Sweetie Belle.
“What? That was the first thing I could think of,” Scootaloo said.
Apple Bloom shuffled on her hooves. “Well, it ain’t exactly better than my ideas.”
“Don’t worry, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said. “You said it yourself, it doesn’t matter how ridiculous it is.”
“Well… It’s not exactly ridiculous, it’s just not very doable.”
Scootaloo jumped up. “What is it then?”
With a sigh, Apple Bloom told them her unoriginal idea. “I was thinking of doing some chores around Sweet Apple Acres.”
“What?! In this weather?” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Then we might as well take a siesta right now, because those chores are gonna be as tough as Rainbow Dash’s flying tricks.”
To the thought of spending the afternoon sweating and laboring beneath the radiant sun, getting all muddy and dusty and dirty, Sweetie Belle jolted. “Eh… I guess we can’t have a cutie mark for napping, I presume,” she said with a slightly quavering voice. “I have surely never heard of a pony with a siesta cutie mark, have you guys? No? Then that idea is out of the question. There’s no doubt about it.” And Sweetie Belle ended her speech with a forced smile.
Apple Bloom hung her head. “Yeah… you’re right.” But then her head jerked up, and she looked at Sweetie Belle with hopeful eyes. “But we haven’t heard your ideas yet, Sweetie Belle. What do you think?”
“Yeah! What’s the first thing that came up in your mind?” Scootaloo added.
“I… eh…” Sweetie Belle didn’t really have an idea yet. Those ten seconds flew by, and she had used most of the time to conjure up her awkward memory of the CMC artist attempt. Still, that thought left a trail behind, so when Sweetie Belle saw her friends’ gazes upon her, and when she took a deep breath, she said the first thing that came to mind. “Art.”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Again? You know what happened the last time, right?”
Throwing a glance at the drawing table and back at Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo said, “I don’t think our drawing or painting skills have improved very much. We haven’t practiced that often, except for a few raw sketches and small portraits. Your plan sounds about as doable as Apple Bloom’s.”
“No I don’t mean drawing,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Then what do you mean?”
“I mean… eh… art as in… The first thing that comes in your mind… The first thing that comes in your mind… Sweetie Belle’s eyes darted through the room, and then ended their strained search at her book. It lay in a corner of the clubhouse, right on top of a pile of books they’d borrowed from Twilight Sparkle. Books about anything and everything, so they had the most chance of stumbling across a subject which would interest them. But in Sweetie Belle’s book, there were many things that had to do with just one subject: music. Countless pages of sheet music, song lyrics, and notes on musical theory were inside. Sweetie Belle always returned to music whenever the Crusaders were not on a mission. Sweetie always considered music her own little hobby. Something she could do and have fun with until she would have found her special talent and destiny, complete with her cutie mark. That’s why a smile curled on her lips, as she said, “Music.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both realized that they should have seen that one coming, so their reaction was not one of surprise. “Music?” Apple Bloom said, pondering over the word. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, Sweetie Belle? I mean, making music requires an awful lot of skills. Isn’t music very hard?”
Sweetie Belle gazed at her friend. “Hard? Of course not! It just requires a lot of practice, and we have the time, haven’t we?”
“Yes… I guess so…”
“Wouldn’t you think it’s too hot to do something like that?” Scootaloo said. “You gotta move around if you wanna make music, and as much as I like moving, I don’t wanna get a sunstroke.”
“Oh, come on, guys.” Sweetie Belle threw her gaze to her friends. She knew that Scootaloo was right, but she also found that the weather shouldn’t stop her doing what she loved to do. “Making music is amazing, I’m sure you will love it. You can be so creative when making music and making your own sounds. Isn’t there an instrument you always wanted to play?”
“Well…” Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom took a moment to think, but actually Scootaloo didn’t need to think. “An electric guitar,” she said. “I wanna play the electric guitar and learn to shred some epic rock solos.”
“That sounds… nice,” Sweetie Belle said, although she herself was not a fan of rock music at all. “And what about you, Apple Bloom?”
After a minute, Apple Bloom said, “A fiddle.”
“A fiddle?” Sweetie Belle didn’t expect Apple Bloom to be interested in playing classical violin sonatas. Honestly, she thought Apple Bloom to be more of a banjo person, or perhaps an harmonica.
“Yeah.” Apple Bloom made a small jump. “I wanna play some cheerful country tunes, so everypony can dance on my music. I’ll be the fastest fiddler in all of Equestria, just like my cousin Fiddlesticks.”
“Ah, of course.” Sweetie Belle should have known.
“And what do you wanna do, Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked her. “Oh, let me guess. You want to sing? We all know how good of a singer you are.”
A blush marked Sweetie Belle’s white cheeks. “Yes, I guess… But now I want to do something different. I can always practice singing by myself, so now I want to play… the piano. That way, I can sing and play the piano at the same time, and write my own songs. I will be just like Rara!”
The enthusiasm sparked off Sweetie Belle’s words, and ignited a new spirit in the hearts of her friends. Their gazes were no longer full of doubt, their heads no longer full of worry. They were ready to do this. There was just one little thing…
“But how are we gonna do all of this?” Apple Bloom said. “We don’t have a piano or a fiddle or a guitar here. The next Apple family reunion is still a couple of months away, so I won’t be able to get a hold of Fiddlesticks’ fiddle yet.”
Sweetie Belle thought for a moment about this. Getting hold of so many instruments would indeed be a problem. There was no music store in Ponyville; they would have to go to Canterlot for that. And even if they could find a music store, the instruments would still cost them quite a lot of bits.
“Yeah, and how are we going to learn how to play them?” Scootaloo said. “I mean, we can’t teach ourselves. I know nothing about music, let alone guitars—only that they’re totally awesome.”
Yes, they needed a teacher as well. However good a singer Sweetie Belle was, even she didn’t know everything there is to know about music and music theory. She had never laid a hoof on a guitar or picked up a bow. And although she did know something about playing the piano, she was far from experienced. Sweetie Belle frowned in thought. For a moment, it looked as if their ambitious and fun plan would fall to pieces and fail before it had even begun.
A teacher…
Miss Cheerilee taught them all at school, but as far as Sweetie Belle knew, she didn’t teach music. They had never gotten a single music lesson, for it wasn’t a part of the Ponyville education program. If you wanted to become a master musician, you would have to go to Canterlot to a university of music.
And instruments…
Where in Equestria were they going to find a violin, a grand piano, and an electric guitar? Sweetie Belle knew that Pinkie Pie had instruments, but she highly doubted that the pink pony would have a grand piano in her room at Sugarcube Corner, or that she would be able to teach her some classical pieces. Sweetie Belle knew that her friends counted on her. She was the one who had proposed the idea, after all. But when she had blurted out ‘music,’ she hadn’t thought much about the practical bits that came with the plan. Her mind raced for answers to the questions. Teacher… instruments… Sweetie Belle summoned pictures of her favorite musicians before her mind’s eye, as if they would help her figuring this out. There was Countess Coloratura, Rara, Sapphire Shores… But the problem was that they were all famous and would be impossible to approach with the Crusaders’ cutie mark mission. Plus, they were all on tour. It had to be somepony else. Which ponies from Ponyville were skilled in music and would be able to teach them?
And then the answer came to her, delivered to her mind like a package by airmail: Octavia Melody.
Once, Octavia had visited Carrousel Boutique to get a graceful gown from Sweetie Belle’s sister Rarity. Sweetie Belle just so happened to be at her sister’s place that day, and had looked in awe at the classical musician. When Rarity said that Sweetie Belle did some singing herself, Octavia had been very curious to hear her. At first Sweetie Belle didn’t want to sing, for she thought that it would sound bad to the ears of such a talented musician. But she had done it anyway, and Octavia loved it. Sweetie Belle still remembered her words. “Practice and practice, my sweet filly, and you will be outstanding in the blink of an eye.” Never had Sweetie Belle heard more encouraging words from somepony. Now that she thought of it, she was sure that Octavia would love to see her again, and would perhaps like to teach her and her friends as well, seeing how enthusiastic they were.
“Octavia Melody,” Sweetie Belle said, her eyes gleaming.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other and let out a collective, “Huh?”
“You don’t know her?” Sweetie Belle said, more than a bit amazed. “She’s the most talented classical musician known to Equestria—or to Ponyville at least. She has dozens of instruments at home, and I’m sure she can play them all. Her main instrument is the cello. I’ve seen her playing many times at concerts; Rarity and I are big fans of her. Are you sure you’ve never heard of her?”
Apple Bloom shook her head. “Nope, sorry.”
“Wait a minute…” Scootaloo’s face looked as if she’d found something. “Isn’t she Vinyl Scratch’s friend?”
“Vinyl who?” Sweetie Belle said.
“Aw come on! You’ve never heard of the most awesome DJ in Ponyville? She’s the bomb! Her tunes are pure epicness pouring from the speakers. Her raves are legendary!”
“Raves?” Sweetie Belle raised her eyebrows; she knew how wild rave parties could get, and she didn’t believe that Scootaloo had much experience with those. “Don’t you need to be a lot older to go to a rave party?”
“I… Well…” Scootaloo made a tough face. “It’s easy to sneak in when you’re a small filly…”
Apple Bloom couldn’t hold herself and let out a small chuckle, even though she had no idea who Vinyl Scratch was. By the description Scootaloo had given, she sounded pretty cool.
“Her stage name is DJ PON-3,” Scootaloo continued. “She is a master of synthesizers, mixers, turntables, samplers, and I bet she has got an electric guitar as well. Hay, I bet Vinyl Scratch has every electronic instrument that has ever been invented.” Scootaloo paused for a second. “And it would be awesome to meet her in person too. Just imagine: me together with the coolest musician in Ponyville, now that’s a story worthy of a good boast. I’ll have enough stuff to boast with for the rest of my life!”
Sweetie Belle looked at her friends, and noticed the change that had befallen them all. Now they were no longer exhausted and overheated fillies, but enthusiastic adventurers, eager to try something new. To Sweetie Belle, her idea was already a success. Scootaloo was jumping up and down in joy, not caring about the heat anymore, while Apple Bloom just kept smiling and thinking about the amazing fiddling skills she would learn. Sweetie Belle smiled along.
“Oh! I can’t wait! I can’t wait!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “When are we going? Are they at home now? Should we go?”
Applejack chuckled. “Well, there’s only one way to find out whether they’re at home right now...” She looked at Sweetie Belle. “Do you know where it is?”
“Yes I do,” Sweetie Belle said. “Rarity once asked me to deliver a few dresses and accessories she made. It’s on the Eastern outskirts of Ponyville; I think we can reach it in half an hour.”
Scootaloo stopped jumping. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” And before any of her friends could say something back, Scootaloo was already standing outside, impatiently looking at the clubhouse door.
“Well, I guess that settles it,” Apple Bloom said. She walked out the door and descended the ladder leading from the clubhouse to the grassy clearing below.
Sweetie Belle followed, but while she stood on the threshold, she remembered something. Quickly she trotted over to the pile of books, grabbed her music book with her teeth, and walked outside. “Hey! Wait for me!”