//------------------------------// // Sweetie Belle's Conundrum // Story: SteamPony Express // by SketchIt //------------------------------// "Ooohhhhh this, really looks nothing at all the way I imagined it..." Sweetie Belle whined, she pointed to the odd looking dress on the pony mannequin. Sketch-it took a long pause staring at the design, and back at the drawing she had made. With an awkward smile she tried to comfort her mumbling, "Well the resemblance is... uncanny, there's the..." Before she could continue with her words Sweetie Belle gave a loud whinny, "It's all wrong, all of it. Agghhhh!" The poor frazzled pony cantered away to her work room analyzing all the materials and trying to figure out something. The day was burning away and both ponies have yet to even get started. "Sweetie Belle..." Sketch whispered into the room as she peered her head around the doorway. "I think we'll need the help, maybe the library will have something...?" Sweetie Belle's eyes widened as if she had a jovial epiphany. She turned her head with sparkles of hope in her eyes rejoicing, "Why yes of course! I also recall my sister having a few books she written about her fashion ideas. They should be in the library somewhere!" "Well let's not waste time then Sweetie Belle let's go!" Sketch-it began to feel pumped in the hype of her new acquaintance. The ponies galloped from the boutique towards the library, but as they had neared their destination a quick interuption from the mayor stopped them in their tracks. The Mayor with a bright welcoming smile reminded Sweetie Belle, "Don't forget tonight Sweetie Belle, the Charity For Mis-fortunate Foals will be holding an event, we're counting on you to give a grand opening, we need to raise money for those poor foals over seas." Sweetie Belle's impatience to get to reading was apparent as she slowly trotted around the Mayor acknowledging to her, "Don't worry you can count on me Mayor, if you'll excuse me I have something important I must do." The Mayor watched curiously as the two ponies left in a more hasteful gallop to the Treehouse. Sweetie Belle opened the door eagerly making her way over to the bookcases. As Sketch-it entered, she noticed a rather cheerful pony sitting amongst a group of foals all with their attention focused on Spike and North who were acting out a story for the little fillies and colts. "AHAAA... beast most fowl surely you have yet to see the true might of the Princess, I will banish you among all other evils into the confines of Tartarus!" North exclaimed as she approached Spike with a spread of her wings and a regal stomp of her hoof. Spike laughed with a sinister snicker mocking, "Ahahahhahha, but Princess your precious elements of harmony are not in your possession, for you see..." He pulled over a cloak revealing little colored marbles exclaiming, "I have them! With their powers I shall turn the world into pure chaos from the very elements that give it peace and harmony HAHAHAHAHA!" The foals gasped as Spike played evil rather well, but it was of course all an act to give the little fillies and colts a good sense of suspense. Though everypony's attention began turning to Sweetie Belle who had been careless in her hunt for her sister's fashion design books. "Where is it, I know I seen it before, I know of one. Sketch can you help me find 'Rarity's Guide to Fashion Dos and Dont's'?" Sweetie Belle asked anxiously. Spike suddenly seen the mess Sweetie Belle was making as books were falling from the shelves when she pulled them out with her magic. "Ahhh excuse me fillies and gentlecolts, we will come back to your regularly scheduled reading program after this..." Spike announced as he ran over to the distraught pony. "Hey Sweetie Belle..." "Uhuh...?" She answered without giving an attentive look as she was too focused on checking the books. "Can you please, slow down, you're sorta, throwing books all over the floor..." Pausing several times in his sentence as he tried to dodge book after book adding, "me and Owlicious worked all morning to clean this place, sooo..." A loud HOOT! Came from above her head when Owlicious dropped down with said book in talon. Sweetie Belle's eyes glistened with happiness as she levitated it from the owl's talons. "Ahhh! Thank you sooo much Owlicious, thank you!" Sweetie Belle darted out of the building leaving her mess. Sketch-it felt she should help put the books away but Spike insisted, "It's alright, you don't have to do it, Owlicious can take care of it in a jiff..." The curious little dragon never seen Sketch-it so he inquired of course, "I haven't seen you around here, you must be new, I'm Spike." The purple pony shook her hoof to his claw and she attempted to explain in short who she was. After just a couple of minutes and a greeting here and there, Spike bid a farewell to the pony replying, "Come by if you ever need anything from the library we're always open..." He approached back to the little makeshift stage clearing his throat. "Ok now where was I... oh yes, You will never see the light of harmony again Princess Celestia, Equestria is doomed!" Everypony began to gasp once more as he continued on his evil goon of a character persona. As Sketch-it entered the boutique, Sweetie Belle was levitating objects everywhere, shears, materials, patterns, she had the entire room alive moving mannequins and designs in the air like a symphony of motion! "Knit and stitch, stitch and knit, thread and needle soft and gentle..." Sweetie Belle's voice began to change into a very orchestrated and beautiful vocal tone as she had her eyes set on the book, "So long ago I remember how it was, my sister and I always making such a fuss, now she is gone and I don't know what to do. My life feels so empty without youuuu..." She sang so softly with her troubling mind, which Sketch-it noticed the aura around the objects were not as sporadic as they were initially. Sweetie Belle suddenly continued her worrying song, "Knit and stitch, stitch and knit, thread and needle firm yet feeble I break the twine, and I stich in the line, but nothing seems to ever come out right!?" The feeble yet discorded tone still carrying a gentleness made the sound of her lyrics quite disturbing, "When I was but a young and carefree filly, I dreamed of designing fashion just like you, how silly, was I to think that I'd amount to somepony like you!" The song oddly enough seemed to calm Sweetie Belle's mind giving her a clear thought of what she wanted to make. Sketch-it's place in this huge magic workshop seemed useless, the aria chanting pony seemed completely content with reading the book to herself, multitasking a wide variety of tools and even having the ability to sing so beautifully despite the creeping tone changes as she continued to drone in her own little world. "So what's a pony sister to do when she's all alone, in the world, feeling blueeee. I'm lost in this aria this sweet enchanting aria I'm lost, I'm lost without youuu! Where am I to go now! The world is topsy turvy, it's all out of order to me, " She carried on with her tasks reading on and on through the words of her sister's advice on fashion, as she continued to carry on to herself with the her song and Sketch-it could've swore she could hear an orchestra in the background. She heard it so well that she started to doubt it was in her mind. "Wait a minute..." She turned around to the window where her ears were pinpointing the noise and with a stomp of her hoof, "HEY! Cut that out Moody Melody!" An oh too familiar nuisance. Moody Melody, a wandering pony that sometimes will creep up with a rather annoying phonograph and tense up the mood with a background song. He was caught red hoofed running the twisted harmonic aria that was setting the air in a creepy tone. "ehehheehheheheeh...!" In a flash the snickering earth pony took his sleezy phonograph and disappeared into town leaving the boutique alone with his mood setting atrocities. Ponies didn't mind a little mood music, but everypony knew to watch out for moody melody, his timing is very impeccable but he's downright too good at his talent! Sweetie Belle seemed unfazed by the outburst, only to finish a few moments later ending her melody to a tee. As if she did not have any knowledge of what she did, she snapped out of her concentration and took a gleaming look at the dress before her. The two ponies stared at the strange design, a saddle glittering in purple with two sides feathering over the flanks rather than being one complete cover up of the flank. The flared feather sides seemed sharp yet elegant. In some way it was a step ahead to the right direction, but Sweetie Belle still felt it just was not fit for the public. She hung her head to the floor placing her hooves to her face whining as she dropped the book on the designing board, "Ohhhh this is still just as horrible, what am I doing wrong!?" Sketch-it felt like lightening the mood up so she commented, "It's better than the last one, maybe you need a different song to sing... would it change?" Sweetie Belle just moaned painfully answering, "It's no good I'll never be able to get my sister's boutique open with atrocious things like this!" She ran to her room and closed the door locking it up to sulk on her bed. Sketch-it felt she had yet to contribute anything, and if there was a time to do so it would be now! Scheming in her head she took a look around at the supplies in the room. "I've never worked with fabrics before but maybe my creativity will carry over and make up for my lack of fashion. Come on brain work..." She focused all the energy she could muster only being able to do a hoof full of what Sweetie Belle's magic could perform. Before she could even get started Sketch-it stopped to think about what she was doing. "Agghhh no I can't, this is beyond me..." Pausing a moment she pondered what she could do for the poor daunted pony. "I'm going to need help on this, maybe North or Spike may know something to help." Sketch-it left the building at a haste to reach the library. She nearly knocked down a passerby pony with him crying out for her to watch where she was going. With her mane bobbing through the wind she exclaimed, "I'm Sorry, I'm sorta in a hurry!" She didn't waste any time to barrel into the library! Spike, North and Owlicious were cleaning up when the startling pony set all of them on alarm! "Whoa what's going on..." Spike blurted out as she came in out of breath. North curiously tilted her head wondering the same thing. Sketch-it completely in a tizzy and out of breath tried to blurt back, "I... I... Nnnn... neeed help with something. Does..." She took a deep breath and exhaled. "I'm a little confused because there's a project I'm helping with and it's not really going as planned, I was wondering if anypony knows a thing or two about fashion..." Spike of course being a boy just turned his head rolling his eyes, "Oh it's one of those kind of emergencies I see." He turned back around with a content expression as he told her, "Well I can't help you in that department, sorry..." North put a hoof to her chin trying to think of something that may be useful. Without a word She went to work analyzing the bookshelf and checking carefully at the books in each alphabetical catalogue. She turned to Sketch-it and inquired, "First off exactly what is the problem, are you needing inspiration, an extra hoof to help, or an opinion on your work?" Sketch-it quickly answered, "Uhuh..." An awkward pause hovered over for a few moments when she realized it was a specific question, "Ohhhh ummm, I guess I need an extra hoof or maybe an opinion, it's not really a need for inspiration." The Alicorn rolled her eyes and laughed replying, "Ok, well let me just finish making sure everything is in order and I'll be happy to come with you." Sketch-it thanked her for the helping hoof and she trotted over and plopped on the floor patiently waiting for North to finish checking the books. As time passed by the two ponies readied up and headed over to the Carousel Boutique. Sketch-it took some time to really take in the sight of the building's exterior. The picture of a mannequin over top the entrance with beautiful shades of pinks and blues, and adorning pony mannequins atop the building resembling a carousel ride gave the building a festive welcoming environment, an excellent way to make your business inviting to passerby ponies. North looked baffled as to why Sketch-it brought her to the place. Sketch-it began to explain to her how the morning went by with a snag and the second try had made progress but Sweetie Belle the pony she was working with was completely upset about it not being as good as her sister's despite the book her sister had made for assistance. "I feel for Sweetie Belle, I just don't know why she has not asked anypony around town other than myself..." North began to hesitate for a moment kicking her hoof around the dirt outside a bit nervously. "Well..." She began quietly replying to Sketch-it, "Sweetie Belle's been very attached on the memory of her sister Rarity, you have not been here very long so yeah... I guess she's still shy about other ponies other than her friends, I've only seen her during celebrations singing." Sketch-it began to mull over why in Equestria out of all these ponies she'd pick her. "Why would she ask me out of all the ponies in Ponyville?" North shrugged with the only reason she could think about. "You looked like you had nothing better to do, a lot of ponies around here are too busy to give a two bit for anypony, seriously don't think this peaceful place is out of the way nice..." That also gave Sketch-it another thing to think about, so far she just found the nice ponies out of luck, she didn't want to believe it but North had more experience in Ponyville than her. "Well let's go see this design." "Ahh yes of course." Sketch-it humorously answered trotting her way into the main room showing North the design. Her expression to the design just about matched theirs with an awkward reply, "What... purpose does the feather serve why is it there. What's with the... ..." Flabbergasted at the sight she added, "Well it's not bad, but it was not well thought out if you ask me..." "Rash much?" Sketch-it blurted out... "What I'm telling it like it is." North answered back to the downtrodden pony. Sketch-it gave a saddening nod and asked her if she could help somehow? Not knowing fashion all the way through North took a gander at the designing board. The book Sweetie Belle borrowed to help her in her work, appeared like a shining beacon to North. Being a very bookish pony she opened it and skimmed around analyzing the drawing being displayed on the board to the fashion dos and dont's designs page by page. "Huh... interesting." North glanced around the room and back to Sketch-it. With a sigh sensing her stomach was hungry she quickly responded, "Let's think this over with something to eat Sketch, care to join me?" Sketch-it didn't have any argument to that, the punch and cake wore off on her and she was aching for a lunch. Leaving Sweetie Belle to herself, North began to scheme an idea after seeing the contents of the book. Strolling down the street, North seemed to be leading Sketch-it off from town which had her curious. Wanting to open her mouth she stopped herself to see where the pony would take her this time. With an uphoof step the Alicorn began to prance around as they neared a fence leading into none other than the ripe apple orchard of Sweet Apple Acres! The sight of all the bright reds and shimmering green apples and golden yellow ones just made Sketch-it's mouth water. "Ohhhh wow those look so delicious!" Sketch-it excitedly responded. North nodded agreeing with her, "They are the most awesome sweet tasting apples in Equestria I assure you!" The ponies galloped ahead to the entrance when North caught glimpse of the target she came for secretly. "Hold here for a second Sketch I'm gonna talk to Applebloom." Stretching out her wings she shot off through the farm seeking out the red maned pony. "So this is Sweet Apple Acres. It's a lot bigger than I thought." Sketch-it answered as she looked at the sign. Sitting around outside the entrance she began to rest on the side of the road pushing her hoof in the dirt thinking about what to do for poor Sweetie Belle after lunch. "Well hi there North what brings ya over'ere to the farm?" North noticed she was in ear shot of Golden Delicious bucking down some apples from a nearby tree, not wanting to let him hear she whispered in her ear. Golden Delicious gave a stark look at the mares but continued his job. "Ya don't sayyy..." A drawl came out Applebloom's mouth as she responded with a concerned expression. "I didn't really much pay attention to what she'd been doin lately, what with this here crop o'apples takin all mah time. I had nary a clue..." North nodded inquiring, "So can you help us out?" Applebloom gave a good gander over the farm and knew if she takes the day off she would have to pull an extra day of work, not to mention Golden Delicious and Apple Fritter would be given her workload. "Lemme think it over some if'n that's alright with you North?" Her stomach rumbled in front of Applebloom and she smiled with a bit of embarrassment. "Heh heh, sounds like somepony's a might hungry, care for a golden delicious...?" Golden Delicious of course glanced over with an awkward look, and Applebloom caught the wording she made, it may have sounded a bit awkward and the two mares giggled. "Well I meant the apple." She plucked a nice yellow ripe golden delicious from her saddle basket and tossed it over to North who caught it with no challenge. Before she bit into the apple she told Applebloom of the awaiting pony at the entrance. "Oh yeah, that fancy mane from ole Galloport, yeah she's welcome to have a few free o'charge..." Turning around to her relative she announced, "Hey Golden Delicious, I might be takin the day off, somethin came up real important." He didn't seem fazed by it. The three mares took a little break out by a picnic table on the farm with a glass of apple juice and a few treats Apple Fritter whipped up for the ponies. "Thanks Apple Fritter, fer all ya been doin round here, I sure do appreciate it." The green maned pony nodded with a happy trot to her step replying sweetly, "We's Apple Family have to work together of course, if one farm can't work then we all can't ya know." "Sure as sugar!" Applebloom nodded and the ponies together began to eat up to fill their stomachs. Chatting away about their daily routines Applebloom let out the funniest story of a mundane day going completely wrong, "So there I was just mindin mah own business when I came across this fancy pony with his nose too high for his eyes to see round where he was a goin, smacked right into me. He let out a mean whinny said 'Don't you know where I'm from you earth pony!' I took one gander at him and told'em straight 'Well I can't really tell ya got yer head stickin so far up the clouds I coulda swore ya was some fancy pants cloud walkin pegasus thinkin ya own the ground ya trottin on.' words got all heatin up and that unicorn was bout to give me the magic boot when I told'em 'Got somethin on yer coat.' no sooner he looked down on himself he took a step back right on a red delicious sent his face right to the ground!" The girls erupted laughing as she finished with, "That's when I said 'Oh now I see that lil horn on the top of your head!' he was so embarrassed round the ponyfolk he ran off faster than I've ever seen a fancy mane run." A rather funny story the girls continued to giggle as North put her hoof down with a serious face, "Oh you think that's funny, mares listen to this!" North took the attention of the mares as they continued to sip the rest of their apple juice. "So I was flying right and helping out Derpy Hooves and Scootaloo clear the skies one day with the weather ponies. You wouldn't believe it, a troop of griffins had the nerve to fly down and swat poor Derpy. Well I couldn't stand for this so me and Scootaloo devised a plan to get them back..." She began to snicker and the mares were all in suspense, "These three griffins were flying over towards these clouds right. As soon as they went in, me and Scootaloo whirled up an angry tornado and sent those bird brains for a RIDE THEY'D NEVER FORGET! YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN THE LOOK ON THEIR FACES AFTER IT WAS THROUGH, IT WAS PRICELESS HAHAHAHAAH! They lost so many feathers they looked like shriveled up chickens!" The girls flew into an outburst uncontrollably as she finished in a calm and cool manner! "It was fully justified, I know Derpy has her moments but nobody messes with my friends! Especially those featherbrains." She added confidently. Applebloom looked over at her relative and asked, "What about you Apple Fritter, you got any funny stories?" Apple Fritter gave a rejecting expression shrugging, "Not much happens at my farm, though before me and Golden Delicious came over here I seen the most hilarious tussle with Red Delicious and Golden Delicious, fightin over Uncle Apple Crumble's leftover baked apple pie. Celestia herself could not stop them two stallions ta fightin over that thing..." Apple Fritter got a few giggles from the younger mares, but she wasn't really chatty. Of course the torch passed over to Sketch-it when North shined the spotlight on her asking, "What about you Sketch, you have any funny stories to tell?" Applebloom and Apple Fritter glanced over at the shy mare. "Oh I donno, I don't really have much in the form of funny stories..." "Aww come on surely ya have something that made ya giggle, or is Galloport just not a place fer funny stories?" Applebloom inquired raising a brow. "No it's not that, I just. Nothing much really happened, that I could recall being as funny as your stories, about the only thing I could say was real funny was getting woke up from a surprise party yesterday..." With the mention of parties Applebloom began to reminisce of her memories of Pinkie Pie and her absolutely insane parties! "Believe it'r not mares, Pinkie Pie's parties was some of the most fun I've ever had. She brought a smile to everypony long time back. I sure as apple cidar's sweet miss my sis and them pony friends of hers." North felt real jealous of Applebloom for knowing them and blurted, "Agghh I wish I knew them, but I was just a filly, I may have seen them once because I do remember seeing Rainbow Dash and her amazing SONIC RAINBOOM performance!" Applebloom gave her a questionable look and asked where exactly North came from. "I was born in Cloudsdale, and came here when I was about fifteen years old." "Well land sakes I never knew you grew up in Cloudsdale, o'course you don't usually talk much with ponyfolk round here do ya North?" She nodded agreeing completely. "I like my privacy. Befriending everypony is a bit overrated in my opinion." None of the mares at the table could disagree, they all had a few ponies they disliked greatly. As they continued to carry on, Sweetie Belle finally regained some composure trotting herself out of the room. She noticed the room was untouched and her helper was gone. "Ohhhh look at what I've done... I scared off that poor pony. The design room is a mess..." She looked over at the design table seeing the book was missing as well! She gasped in fear that she misplaced the only copy in ponyville that she could rely on to help her! "Noo... nooo this... can't be, I'VE LOST MY SISTER'S BOOK!" Taking traits of her dramatic sister she flopped on the floor and cried out, "Why is everything going wrong for me! What did I do to deserve this Celestia..." The over dramatic pony sniffled and teared up looking over to a picture of her sister hanging on the wall. "Youuu... YOUUUU, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" She kicked a roll of fabric at the picture and turned her head trying to be stiff and cold. The only damage she done was to herself as she hung her head sorrowfully just wanting to curl up and disappear. Tears dropped on the carpet beneath her hooves and she whimpered, "Whyy did you leave me sis, what happened those years ago that you never came back..." Her eyes showed twinkles of glaze as she felt her tears running down tickling her cheeks. "I just don't know what to do sis. I'm stuck between wanting to make you proud and work your boutique, or just to give up the boutique to go travel and sing... I WISH YOU WOULD HELP ME!" She whinnied angrily feeling her mixed emotions tearing up inside her. Sweetie Belle was very sensitive, the longing to know what happened to her sister or to even see her face to face again was a strong desire inside her. No other goals she tried to perform would succeed until she had some closure, and she couldn't grasp that fact. She couldn't let it go like Applebloom could. Sweetie Belle all alone in the boutique began to pace about the floor wondering what she should do. Her heart switching around on what it wanted more, the confusion swelled in her mind giving her a nasty headache. At that time, the mares were readying to leave to find Scootaloo. North took a moment gazing to the skies wondering, "Where oh where would a lazy mid day Scootaloo be I wonder." Applebloom had the same thought on her mind. Scootaloo was by far the most spontaneous pegasus North had known. "She'd be a might hard sight to miss if she were up there but I got a clue where she's at... ya know where Rainbow Dash's home is North?" North nodded with Applebloom adding, "I'm as sure as the sun rises and sets she's hanging round that lil cloud house." "So I take it you're in on helping us out?" North asked, and Applebloom gave a solemn nod assuring, "Dern right I'm gonna help, Apple Fritter and Golden Delicious don't have a problem with me takin the day off. You go get Scootaloo and we'll meet ya at the Carousel Boutique." Wasting no time, North took flight over to see if Scootaloo was hanging around Rainbow Dash's cloud house, while Applebloom and Sketch-it ran back to the boutique as quickly as they could gallop! When they arrived up to the door Sketch-it noticed a little note in between the closed doors. She levitated it up close unfolding it, "What's it say Sketch?" Applebloom asked with growing suspense. She glanced at the letter reading, "To anypony that is concerned, I Sweetie Belle have decided by my own accord... to leave the town of Ponyville to travel Equestria alone to search for my heart's true desire..." Applebloom and Sketch-it's eyes widened. "Oh no, I... I knew she had troubles with her sister an all disappearin but she didn't show any sign of bein this upset. Oh haystacks this is might troublesome, does it say where she's a headin?" Sketch-it's frantic eyes reading the letter over and over she reluctantly answered, "No, she doesn't say anything about where she's going!?" At that time Scootaloo and North swooped down with Scootaloo replying, "Ok I agreed to this on one condition, I am not going to wear anything in there, got it?" Applebloom's eyes jerked towards her with a feeble response from her mouth, "You don't need'n to be worried bout that, she's ran away." Scootaloo suddenly flipped out, "WHAT NOOO... Why would she, what's wrong with that pony she's like loved by everypony in Ponyville! It makes no sense." The distraught ponies tried to think of where she could have gone. Applebloom's mind suddenly clicked a piece of the puzzle together when she interjected the silence, "Wait a minute, she said she was leavin to search for her heart's true desire right?" Scootaloo's mind also clicked the piece remembering Applebloom's incident as a filly with a particular flower of the heart's desire variety. "Oh yeah I know what you're getting at Applebloom..." Both of them simultaneously answered to one another, "ZECORA'S!" "Come on ponies we got no time to lose, we're heading to the Everfree Forest!" The ponies charged across town making their way to the wood line of the Everfree Forest. Scootaloo in a vain attempt tried to fly over the forest but realized the trees were too dense to see through. Flying down to the ponies as they crossed the fields to the dark and creepy tree line, she muttered, "I couldn't see a thing, jeeze you think twenty or so years something would change..." North looked at her and caught the major fault she had belayed in words sneering back, "Well I donno what does a forest do Scootaloo GROW, given the years I'd say it's like twenty percent harder to see through?" Scootaloo felt her her derp had damaged her intelect but her friend Sweetie Belle was probably in that thick twisted forest lost or worse, and there was no time to argue or defend intelligence. Applebloom gulped with a quiet comment, "It's been yearss... ssiince I've been in this here forest, Zecora being an aged zebra ya know ain't been out in Ponyville much anymore neither..." "Yeah so who knows if she's still around, what if Sweetie Belle went in and found Zecora is gone and in her hut might be cocatrice or, or some ursa major, or a hydra... or maybe even something we don't know exists with big scary claws and razor sharp teeth!" Scootaloo began to paint some rather unwanted images for the ponies, lessening their desire to venture further. As the nervous ponies stared into the darkness of the forest, somepony had to make the first trot forward for the others. Sketch-it being the quiet one so far attempted the first step mumbling, "Well Sweetie Belle is not going to be found standing here ponies..." Her brave step initialized North's response, "Yeah, I'm ready Sketch, we're no scaredy griffins!" Scootaloo and Applebloom nodded as they took their front hooves forward. Together in a line behind Sketch-it leading the small troop of ponies they began to enter the forest. Damp, dark, it was everything a pony wanted to avoid, but they trotted along. The twisted branches and roots curled around the ground were hazards for walking, the worse part to them was the deep silence of lifeless inhabitants. "Welp this is definitely not the Everfree Forest I remembered a long time back, t'ain't gotten better either. Ahhh what was that!?" Applebloom jumped at the sound of a strange noise that sounded like a bush being shook around near her. "Look at me, scared as a three year old filly in the dark, sure wish I was as brave as I used to be when I WAS a lil filly." The ponies finally reached a point in the forest the entire canopy had shadowed the entire area into darkness. Applebloom felt the urge to comment to the others, "Will somepony please use their unicorn powers an light up this place, it's so dark ah can't see mah nose let alone anypony in front of..." Sketch-it stopped for a moment, Applebloom bumped into something that felt wet and slimy. "Oh Celestia please let that be somepony playing a joke..." Focusing her power her and North simultaneously broke out a small light from their horns. In front of Applebloom suddenly illuminated a big wad of a slimy creature. Her ears shot up in fright as she backed up bumbling, "A ba... aba... abaababbaa .... abababaab..." Scootaloo turned her attention with a quick, "What are you doing Appl...ppp...aababbba... abbababbbaa!" Catching sight of what she had seen, Scootaloo's ears dropped completely down with a gapping expression of horror. The two ponies ahead stopped in their tracks turning around. "What are you two doi....." Now everypony's attention was drawn to a huge slimey beast that seemed to be eating its weight in just random things around the forest floor quietly, a nasty blackened dirty ooze with spindly arms and a twisted looking face turned its attention to the four ponies and down to Applebloom closest to it. It had a rather hungry look when given the opportunity to feast upon something living instead of gunk on the ground, Scootloo quietly inched over to Applebloom in the fading light of the magic wielding ponies whispering, "I think we should..." It gave out a huge monstrous gurggling ROARRR!!! It forced a squeal in Scootaloo's voice as she screamed, "RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!" The ponies turned tail and ran up with the two others with the magic lights! They galloped through the forest following Sketch-it and North deeper inside! The oozing beast slithered nasty ooze behind it as it tried to chase them down, desperate for a bite to eat! In full gallop Sketch-it cried out, "Is it still behind us!" Applebloom attempted to turn her head slightly but refused to look back responding, "I don figure I'd be wantin to look back on account of I'm too afraid to trip and get eaten!" "Gahhhh this stupid forest is so dense I can't even try to fly with all these branches! This STINKS!" Scootaloo grouched loudly as she trailed behind North leaping over a large root when she suddenly caught her hoof in an entangling vine! "Aghh... AHHHH!!" She began to panic and tried to use her wings to free herself but she couldn't break the vines! She looked back into the darkness scared as the lights were going further away. "HEYY I'M STUCK SOMEPONY COME BACK HERE!" Her wailing caught the attention in North's ears and she trotted around galloping back to save her pegasus friend. "Ahhhh hurry up PLEASEE It's coming!" She could hear the branches and leaves shaking as the monster barreled through leaving slime all over the trees! North took her teeth and grabbed the vine tugging it as hard as she could! There was no use, the vine felt rubbery. Immediately she let it loose as it tightened more around Scootaloo's hoof making her yelp painfully, but seeing as this was rubber hose vine North was relieved to use her magic and just pull the vine loose. Scootaloo gave North a satisfying thanks, but interrupted by a large menacing face jumping out of the branches screeching furiously! "AAAAAYYYEEEEE!!!" The two ponies shot off to catch up with the others! When they finally all found each other, they found themselves stopping in a clearing to catch their breath. Sketch-it plopped her rump on the ground and she began to have a little smile raise from her mouth breathing heavily. Instead of being scared she began to laugh a little bit to herself. "heheh, I... I've never felt such a rush before. I donno why mares but I feel excited." Scootaloo looked at her and rolled her eyes. "Yeah well... you're not the one that got snagged by a vine and almost became slime food..." With that being said, Applebloom started to snicker, her snicker became a laugh and out of nowhere she just erupted rolling on the ground! "It wasn't funny! That thing was like this close to grabbing me!" The red maned pony rolled back on her belly pointing her hoof at Scootaloo asking, "Scootaloo just sit an think about this for a spell, when was the last time we ever did somethin like this you know, goin out and havin an adventure together...?" Scootaloo looked at her with a skeptical expression. "Plenty of times I mean... well..." That's when Applebloom put her hoof down answering, "Eeeexactly! Why we been all busy with our lives and'aur responsibilities that we plum forgot about hangin out as friends, goin on great adventures and havin laughs... you gotta admit that slimey critter sure had us runnin like a bunch o'wild'n crazy schoolponies. Sure there was danger but we're together aren't we that's what really matters ya know. I remember mah sister tellin me a funny quote 'All work an no play makes Applejack a dull pony.'." Scootaloo finally began to see a little bit of the bright side and North agreed with Applebloom adding, "Well that and not being eaten by a big ugly slimey monster, which in my opinion not being monster food is more important..." Everypony around her laughed agreeing. Scootaloo of course answered, "Yeah that's for sure the most important thing." Applebloom felt the need to re correct herself afterwards rearranging her words, "Well maybe not bein dinner to some big ugly varmint is more important but go with me on this, we're hangin out together, an ya know what. As soon as we find Sweetie Belle, I say we all agree to each other, no more working so much. This is exactly the reason poor Sweetie Belle ran off in the first place..." She paused a bit as her mood began to sadden a bit and her ears drooped, "Nopony was really payin attention to her, they all just loved her singin is all... an when she needed a friend to help, us specifically, we were too busy." Scootlaoo suddenly felt part of her consciousness hit her similar to being bucked right in the jaw. She drooped her head to the ground muttering, "Well you have an excuse, a real excuse, my job is like less than an hour then I just go hang around dash's house like a sad excuse for a pegasus..." Applebloom expressed her concern for Scootaloo's guilty conscious reassuring her, "Well it's not really anypony's fault in general we're all to blame, let's just hope it's not too late to make amends." The four ponies felt a bit closer together as friends, Applebloom and Scootaloo began to see the reality, that they had not had time to have a short little adventure as crazy as this! "Well does anypony know where we are exactly?" Sketch-it reminded the group of their current situation and Scootaloo brushed it off like it was nothing bragging, "No sweat mares, I'll fly up through this clearing and find out." She shot up through the opening in the trees and gave a good scan around discovering they were not very far from where she thought Zecora's hut was located. Given the changes she tried to think back where they originally entered the forest to get there. Dropping back down with a confident voice she assured them, "We're not far from Zecora, it's over that way I think..." Pointing her hoof to a direction into the darkness. North stared at her for a moment interjecting, "I think is not really reassuring Scootaloo..." Scootaloo in her defense responded, "Well something just tells me in my gut that it's that way." Applebloom stood up and looked at everypony. "Well there's no time to sit an argue bout bein unsure where to go, we have a pony to find, let's get hoofin before that slimey critter finds us!" The two available magic ponies took leadership pointing the way through the darkness listening as their two friends were close behind. "It's the darn'est thing I feel this is the right way too Scootaloo." Burned still in their minds, Applebloom and Scootaloo remember fondly traveling to Zecora's little hut listening to her stories and learning much wisdom from the knowledgeable zebra. Even through the thickness they felt they were getting closer to her hut just by a faint hunch. They were on alert for any more unwanted company, the ponies tried to keep a quick pace without being too careless, or too slow for something to stalk them. Sketch-it started feeling uneasy after each step as she felt her body shiver. The forest had trapped warm moist air which tickled her skin through her purple coat. Every sound made from a crunch of a twig to the brushing of leaves made them all raise their ears and dart their heads around cautiously. Through a thicket they hopped over a small creek still running with water, the plant life all around the source of water seemed just as twisted as the vast warped trees dominating around them. "How far are we?" Sketch-it became just a little impatient and she couldn't stand the feeling they were still being watched. Scootaloo tried to assert, "Don't sweat it Sketch we're going the right way, it's not very far..." Off ahead the ponies halted as they gazed upon a bunch of fuzzy lights flickering about and dancing in the darkness. They watched the star lit show in awe, well everypony except North who had read about the many dangers of the Everfree forest, including this such event. "Watch out for those lights, don't look directly..." North turned to find her friends all in some hallucinating gaze. "Mares, snap out of it, come on we got to get out of here." She alarmingly mumbled as she grimmaced nervously. "Sketch-it, hey, hey Sketch hello...?" North began to feel the situation had escalated, the three ponies were frozen stiff mesmerized by the dancing glows. She took her hoof and poked Sketch-it on the head, "Is anypony home, hey!" She raised her voice unsettlingly. She kept her light illuminating the darkness around her as she pondered, "Ok if I remember correctly bright light scares Glowsprites... just need to focus a large enough flash." With a heavily concentrated point of energy she produced a bright enough flash to illuminate a good distance, enough to spook the glowsprites. They flickered about sporadically until they dissipated away to find a new place to flutter around in peaceful darkness. The ponies broke from the hypnosis looking around in a daze. "Whoa, what just happened, I feel like we been walkin fer hours..." Applebloom replied, shaking her head around. Being the bearer of bad news North assured them they didn't really go anywhere. "Ya mean to tell me out of all that walkin we done did, none of that happened?" She shook her head. "Well that's a might bit discouragin, what exactly are glowsprites anyhow?" The curious pony continued to drill out questions. "They're like tiny magic fire flies, the light they emit is a type of illusion spell, it protects them from any hungry creatures that want to snack on them." Not hanging around to ask further questions the four ponies continued onwards. They didn't realize the pace they had originally, now was turned to careful foal steps. Scootaloo began to feel impatient herself and in her impatience she felt her mouth open letting out a wailing, "SWEETIE BELLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" They all shot frantic gazes at her and around them as the echo of her voice crept in and out through the hollowed and twisted forest! "What in tarnation are ya tryin to do Scootaloo get every creepy crawly to know where we are!?" "I'm soooo bored, and I want out of this place it's constricting my wings, I wanna hurry up and get Sweetie Belle..." While everypony's attention had been turned to Scootaloo who defiantly turned her head away, in frustration North began to turn back around scolding Scootaloo, "Pffft... screaming out loud is not going to speed up the process of finding her..." As North was about to continue speaking, an echo came back with a loud screaming, "SOMEPONY HELP ME!!" North withdrew her statement responding, "Or maybe it will." The voice startled the ponies, with no time to waste they stormed through staying close together as they chased down the voice's origin. Rotten logs, ditches, roots, vines, and many hazards were popping up everywhere as the unicorn and her companion alicorn illuminated the racing path. "DON'T WORRY WE'RE COMING TO HELP!" North cried out to assure the distressed voice! Applebloom began to remember the faint trail that was present before the many years of change. She had a grim feeling she knew who was crying out, but the echo had disturbed the voice to the point she could not be for sure. "If I didn't know any better we're a headin straight fer Zecora's hut right about now, I feel like this is familiar!" The sense of urgency led Applebloom to match speed with North and Sketch-it with Scootaloo right on her tail! Sure enough out through an open thicket Zecora's hut was in sight. They were right on the dot with their hunches. Inside they could see a bright light emitting from outside the window. Applebloom's eyes widened as she let out a, "Whoa Nelly, what in the wide world of Equestria is a goin on in there!?" Their hooves full of excitement, they cantered quickly up to the window peering inside together! The horrific sight of some cloud like creature bubbling around in mid air with long arms connected to nasty looking claws and a scary cackle came from it's gaping mouth bearing sharp teeth. In one claw it held none other than Sweetie Belle and Zecora, while the other was tossing ingredients into a bubbling cauldron. The ponies hid their heads back from the window and huddled up to make some sort of plan of rescue. "Alright so I ain't got a clue what we are up against, North do you have any of that there fancy book smarts on this critter?" Applebloom whispered over to North. She lurched with a hesitant reply, "Sadly I've never read about this thing before, it's completely new to me." Scootaloo tried to throw in a wild card stating an obvious plan, "Why don't we just go in hooves flying and beat that thing to a pulp..." "Yeah says the pony who was screaming when a big hungry goop monster was about to eat her." North sneered back. "Well I don't see you making a plan..." The argument between Scootaloo and North began to heat up with North snapping back at Scootaloo's comment, "I am, but I don't spew out the first dopey thing that comes to mind..." Sketch-it tried to think while the situation continued to grow dire, she felt she had the smallest contribution to the group, so with a small drive to make up for her quiet nature she attempted to take some thoughts and mash them together. She didn't know if it would sound good but maybe it would help the flow, so she responded, "Don't mean to interrupt mares but what if we draw the monster out into a clearing and trap it in a tornado..." The three mares turned their attention to Sketch-it and North countered, "That actually sounds good on paper, but in our situation I don't think that is going to be realistic enough to work out Sketch..." The arguments continued to go on, but a pony had went missing from the group. Applebloom bucked open the door startling everypony including the monster. She gazed with a confident and brave grin whinnying, "Hands off the pony'n zebra you filthy VARMINT!" In a gallant leap she went for a good kick in the monster's face when a claw swooped out nabbing her in mid air. Her gallant expression now replaced with a nervous grin she asked, "Ahhh I supposin yer not gonna let me and mah friends go are you?" The monster gave a skeptical gaze at her and spontaneously ROARED ferociously in front of her! "hehehe... I take that as a no..." An awkward pause loomed over as the three free mares looked through the window hearing Applebloom scream as loud as she could, "HEEEEELLLLLPPPP!!!" "Agghhh I can't stand around here and do nothing mares I'm going in!" Before Scootaloo could jump through the window North nabbed her tail and jerked her back to plopping her flank on the ground. "You hold it right there Rambo, nobody is doing anything until we have a plan." Scootaloo in a frustrated fit just hopped back up and started to flutter her wings furiously ready to shoot into the window, North put her hoof down on her tail, and she fell right back down flank first. "Can you just hold yourself on the ground for just a second, I can't think with you trying to be a hero." "That monster is about to make a soup out of my friends there's no time to think North!" Knowing she couldn't talk sense into Scootaloo she permitted her to attempt her one pony army tactic. North was so confident she knew what was about to happen she mumbled, "Three... two... one..." At count three Sketch-it listened as a series of crashing noises and broken glass filled her ears, the sounds continued to shatter the air at count two, until North hit one followed with a loud bellowing ROAAAARRRR! Peering into the hut they seen all of them were trapped in its grip. "Well Sketch-it I guess it's up to you and me..." "It seems that way, what's the plan?" North began to get excited as she was actually relieved to hear a pony with her head on straight and not foolhearted to go head first in the situation. She took a moment to concoct a plan. She gave a snickering grin as she leaned close to Sketch-it's ear whispering, "Alright so here's the plan..." As they began to make the plan, the creature had began licking its chops as it started to shove the ponies into the cauldron. Applebloom being on the bottom gripped the opening to the cauldron stammering, "I... Didn't, come all this way now to be... fresh critter kibble..." She grunted as she held the weight of her friends and Zecora on her shoulders keeping them from becoming fresh pony stew. Sweetie Belle looked down to Applebloom and Scootaloo replying, "You two came all this way to stop me from leaving, why and how did you know where to find me?" Scootaloo answered the second question with, "It was real obvious when you said 'Heart's Desire.' honestly Sweetie Belle it was like you wanted to be found..." Applebloom agreed and answered her first question as best she could, "Agghh, well We came to do more than just stoppin ya from leavin... me an ole Scootaloo here also came to apologize sorta... eehhh..." "Apologize... for what?" Applebloom gave a loud snarl as she gave a hard push to keep from getting her belly roasted in the hot water. The monster began to get frustrated and in turn pushed harder glaring at Applebloom for being the problem of his dinner delay. "Well ya see Sweetie Belle, we all just been caught up in our own lil business and such that, we ain't been spending time like we used to as friends... sure we see one another here and there, but it took today searchin fer ya to really see we've not spent some quality time together." "Yeah too bad our last moments are going to be boiled into monster soup." Scootaloo commented back to her friends. "I guess since this may be our last moments I should say, I'm sorry for you know, being a jerky mare sometimes, and if we somehow make it out alive, Sweetie Belle I will wear a dress, but only one time!" Sweetie Belle smiled at the sentiment and answered back, "I'm sorry too for being such a drama mare, and for making this monster..." The ponies gasped as they threw glances up at her. "Yeah, it turns out if you eat a heart's desire when your heart is a raging monster inside not knowing what it really wants, it turns into a literal big scary monster..." The monster held one hand down on them while it began to think for a moment how to solve the problem when it felt a belch of energy come out. The creature started to feel itself dissipating and becoming smaller. The more Sweetie Belle talked to her friends the more she was starting to realize what she was truly desiring. In a fit the monster pushed down with both hands trying to get them to stew before Sweetie Belle fully discovered her true heart's desire! Despite it growing smaller it made a hard effort to shove them into the cauldron. Zecora noticed the monster losing its hold of power on Sweetie Belle's confusion and felt relieved, she stayed silent as to not interupt the ponies. Finally when the creature was no smaller than a foal size, The ponies realized the creature's grip was gone. A fierce monster now whimpering and yelping attempting to let out a roar, found itself face to face with three rather proud and clear minded ponies. "Well, well, well... not so tough now are ya varmint!" Applebloom gloated as she stomped a hoof at it scaring the little monster. Sweetie Belle looked down at it and giggled, "You know when it's smaller it looks sorta cute, like something I would see on Nightmare Night." The ponies laughed to one another until the creature finally had no more grip on Sweetie Belle and vanished right before their eyes with a sad whimper. About that time North jumped in front of the doorway and Sketch-it popped her head over the window completely clueless to the entire event, and yelled, "DOUBLE FLASH BANG!" North and Sketch-it blasted the room with a bright blinding light as hard as they could. The ponies inside scattered as Scootaloo cried out, "OMAGOSH MY EYESSSS!!!" "WHAT IN TARNATION I CAN'T SEE!" Applebloom wailed. Hobbling around the ponies plopped over with stars in their eyes, Zecora with her eyes closed and a front hoof over her face was unfazed. When North and Sketch took a look inside seeing no monster they felt rather confused. "Where did the monster go?" Sketch-it peered around and to her amazement the monster was nowhere to be found. "Did we destroy it with blinding light?! Cuz if we did that would be SOO COOL!" Scootaloo jumped up to burst her bubble informing, "No, it was already gone before you two jumped in and blinded us all..." Feeling embarrassed the two ponies congregated with the other four to know the details of what happened. They took a while to get their stories straight, and Zecora listened in as she cleaned up her hut. Sketch-it was rather used to seeing zebras before back at Galloport. Being on the shores of Zebrica. Tribes and many city ferring zebras would constantly come to Galloport seeing as it was always getting excess supplies from the Empire. "I have to say, today has been the most excitin i've had in a long time, don't ya'll agree?" Everypony could not disagree with that. Zecora turned to them finally giving a warm riddling replying, "You ponies have been through a lot today, it seems a lesson learned will soon be on its way." At first her words seemed confusing, but the ponies felt they were burdening her long enough, so the group set off to get out of her mane, but before they left she gave a warm smile as if she knew that it was going to end exactly as it did. She bidded them a goodbye as they trotted back to Ponyville. As they made their way on the small path that Sweetie Belle had used, Applebloom started to cut up laughing, "I feel plum silly that this old path is still here..." Sweetie Belle acted surprised that they didn't know about it and asked how did they even know where to go to find her! "Must've been we were too caught up on findin you we forgot bout the old path, but when we were in the forest me an Scootaloo knew how to get there all simple like." "Yeah it's like stuck in our heads, we could find Zecora's home with our hooves tied and blindfolded." Applebloom and North both had the same idea as they cornered Scootaloo inquiring, "Care to prove that!" "Uhhhh... ok maybe not blindfolded, but totally with my hooves tied." Sharing a few laughs the ponies reached an open field with Ponyville completely visible. "Agghhh the sweet view of an open sky! Hey girls what do you suppose Zecora meant when she said a lesson learned is soon on its way." Applebloom took a moment to ponder the thought, "Well I think I can speak fer all of us we sure as sugar learned a lesson today." "I bet I know what it is, don't eat a heart's desire like Sweetie Belle and Applebloom because crazy things happen." "Nawww I don reckon that was the lesson exactly..." Scootaloo interupted her with a second attempt, "Oh, OH...!" Sweetie Belle in turn cut her off stating clearly in a sweet voice, "I know my lesson learned girls, holding in my feelings selfishly instead of coming to my friends first, is bad... because when I really thought about it, all I really wanted was to spend time with you all. I missed having fun, all this singing and wanting to do something for my sister's boutique just had me so stressed out." "Awwwwww!" Scootaloo and Applebloom gave their fellow blank flank a warm nuzzle. Applebloom stopped for a moment as her friends continued to head for town. She looked at Sketch-it and North commenting on their help finding Sweetie Belle. "I know Scootaloo is a might rash to be round, but she means no harm. We are a might grateful you two could help us find Sweetie Belle..." North gave an understanding nod adding, "No problem Applebloom, I deal with her silly derpishness all the time so it's no sweat. Honestly the pony of the hour is Sketch-it..." "Wait what, me... nooo, I hardly done anything..." Sketch-it tried to weasle her way away from the recognition but North and Applebloom both insisted together. "Oh don't be so modest Sketch, if not for you bringing this up in the first place Sweetie Belle and Zecora would've been monster chow." Sketch-it blushed with embarrassment with Applebloom agreeing, "North is right, I woulda been too busy with harvestin and Scootaloo being Scootaloo, nobody woulda known if it wasn't fer you, now take it as a coincidence or however ya prefer, the credit goes to you Sketch, and fer that I say you and North are welcome to Sweet Apple Acres anytime, ya can hang out with me'n mah family and eat as many apples as ya like, just don't eat all the apples, I do have to make a profit to keep the farm runnin." North gave a grin uttering, "Unlimited access to all the apples I can eat... you don't say..." Humorously Applebloom sneered back, "Don't be gettin any funny ideas now, I meant what I said." "Oh alright." North gave a sarcastic sigh in response. Applebloom waved goodbye and started to catch up with her friends leaving the two ponies walking slowly back. "Well I guess I'll go hit the library and find some material on spellcraft, doing that bright flash sorta made me in the mood to do something more than flash light in sompony's eye." Sketch-it laughed with a sharp nod turning her attention over to the prancing alicorn. "Yeah, It was pretty stressful on my mind, come to think of it I have a lot of difficulty doing just simple magic spell tasks. Anything heavier than a pencil or paintbrush is a real chore for me." Her friend's eyes widened as she cried out, "WHAATTT, if you are having that much trouble, come with me I wanna show you something. TO THE LIBRARY!" The two young mares galloped to town reaching their destination in no time flat. North did not hesitate to burst in the library and go for a book that she knew its location by memory. She levitated it off the top shelf and brought it down right in front of Sketch-it replying, "Take this, go home. READ IT!" Sketch-it gazed at the title reading it aloud to herself, "Tele-Simplysis, a unicorn's guide to spell management..." Confused she looked back at North. She smiled and assured Sketch-it, "Look just read it, it tells you how to clear your mind and manage your spells properly so you don't weigh yourself down or go overboard with it, mainly this is for the beginner spells, but later the training in the book will help you work with more complex ones." With an excited smile North began to shoo Sketch-it off so she would go home and read it sooner. Sketch-it took the book and levitated it all the way back to the townhouse. As she approached her home her mind wandered off thinking about so many things, how was it they didn't get lost in the forest? Was it a coincidence that these events just happened, was Sweetie Belle going to remember that she had a performance tonight at the Town Hall? Setting all the thoughts aside she knew one thing was clear, there was a book that could help her get better at managing her magic, and that was more important. "Ok Sketch-it, you can do this, it's been a while since you read anything, too busy painting, and traveling, and... being alone a lot, but all this has changed. Time to learn!" She hopped on her couch and stretched herself over the cushions opening the book to page one, "Chapter One, step by step to clear your mind..."