The sun shone brightly down upon the town of Ponyville. The weather was warm, verging on hot, and the streets of Ponyville were full of ponies.
On one of those busy streets which lead towards the market, ponies pricked up their ears, hearing a soft droning sound that rapidly grew louder. Quickly, though unconcernedly, most of the ponies cleared the center of the street, as if aware of some approaching trouble. Two of their number, however, unfamiliar with what was happening, only had time to glance nervously at each other before events overtook them.
Skidding around a corner came three young fillies wearing crash helmets. One filly was standing on a scooter, her tiny wings beating furiously, making the strange droning noise. The other two were sticking desperately onto a tiny wagon that was being drawn by the scooter. Though, perhaps not so desperately, for all three fillies were grinning with enthusiasm.
Within a heartbeat, the scooter and wagon flashed past the two startled ponies, narrowly missing them by less than a hoof.
As the strange apparition raced on down the street and slewed around a corner, ponies drifted their way back onto the street with seeming indifference. The two newcomers, however, stood frozen, as if rooted to the ground.
After a moment -
“Did you see that?” The mare remarked to her husband, Shining Armor. “It looked like three young fillies.”
“Yes, I did, Cadence,” he replied. “I think we’ve just had our first encounter with those ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ that Twilight writes about.”
“Really? I hope you’re right about that because I like them already. They seemed quite – rambunctious. Wouldn’t you say?”
“I’m not sure what to call them,” Shining stated, staring down the street towards where the fillies had disappeared. Frowning; “I don’t remember Twilight ever being in such a hurry.”
“Dear, you know I love Twilight unreservedly, but you have to admit that when she was their age, her best friends were books. I just think it’s nice to see such lively enthusiasm in the young ones. I’m quite looking forward to meeting them again.”
Shining nuzzled his wife. “Come, dear, let’s continue exploring Ponyville. We might even find this Sugarcube Corner place that Twilight wrote about.”
“You don’t fool me, Shiny. I know you want to see how their cakes compare with those of our own royal kitchens.”
“Hmm. Maybe.” The white unicorn stallion agreed as the couple continued their walk down the street.
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-----------< Half an Hour Earlier >----------
“Alright, class, put away your stuff and all eyes up front. I have an announcement.” declared the magenta-colored mare.
Throughout the classroom, some fifteen fillies and colts looked up. It was the day before the weekend, and the school day was scheduled to end in about fifteen minutes. Glad to be quit of their current assignment, the students looked up, wondering what was so urgent that it needed to be said in the last few minutes of the school week.
“Oh, oh.” A white unicorn filly with pink and purple hair and a budding romantic imagination stuck up her hoof and began waving it. “You’ve found a Special Somepony!” She declared.
“What!?” The other students gasped.
“What?” Exclaimed the shocked teacher. “No, no! I don’t have–.“ Cheerilee, for that, was the teacher's name, stopped talking abruptly, and shook her head, as if to clear it.
“No, I don’t, Sweetie Belle. But I think you’ve just earned yourself a Special Assignment.” From experience, Cheerilee knew that such thoughts on the part of her students needed to be nipped in the bud. In the case of Sweetie Belle and her two friends, early, and with heavy pruning.
“What?” Sweetie Belle shrilled out. “That’s not fair!”
“Yeah.” Declared Scootaloo, a small pegasus filly sporting a gamboge colored coat and a fuschia mane. Scootaloo always backed up her friends with fierce determination, whenever she wasn’t fighting with them.
“Well, it serves you right. Blank Flank!” Taunted another filly. One with a pink coat and a lavender mane through which ran a white stripe.
The teacher glared at the taunting filly. “That’s enough, Diamond Tiara. I’ve warned you before about such behavior in class. You have a Special Assignment now, too.
“In fact,” she announced. That’s the announcement I had. I have a special homework assignment for the whole class.”
“Awww!” the class groaned.
“Thar goes our Crusadin’ this weekend.” a filly with a light-yellow coat and shocking apple-red mane, muttered gloomily.
“Do we have to?” Queried a squat unicorn colt named Snips.
“Yeah, do we have to?” Echoed his friend. A tall, lanky unicorn colt with the unlikely name of Snails.
“Now settle down everypony.” Cheerilee went on. “As you know, we’ve all been studying modern inventions for these last few weeks. Things like trains and airships and printing. Well, now it’s your turn.
“I want each of you to pick an invention and write a one-page report about it. If you remember, an invention isn’t something that you find in nature, like a rock or a jewel or an animal. It’s some ‘thing’ or some ‘process’ that somepony created, which makes our lives easier or happier. You will then need to write a one-page report about it.”
“When ith the report due?” Lisped Twist. A filly with a light beige coat. She had a curly red mane and large purple-framed glasses.
“It’s due in one week,” announced Cheerilee. “Instead of our regular show and tell; next week, you will read your reports in front of the whole class.
“Can we write our reports together?” Asked the light-yellow filly, Applebloom.
“Yes, you can,” the teacher replied with a smile. Applebloom turned to her two friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, knocking upraised hooves with them.
“But! I expect an extra page for each pony that you share your assignment with. A two-page report if two of you work together on it and three pages if three of you work together.” Several of the foals visibly deflated, as the ‘easy-report’ escape was neatly blocked off.
“Don’t worry Crusaders, we’ve got this.” Declared Sweetie Belle.
“Not so fast, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara.” Cheerilee interrupted. “You two have earned a ‘Special’ assignment. Remember?”
The fillies in question, rocked back, their eyes large. They had already forgotten about their teacher’s promised punishment.
“You two are expected to write one and a half page reports.” Both fillies groaned while Diamond Tiara glared at the Sweetie Belle and her two friends.
“You can still work on the assignment with your friends,” Cheerilee continued, “but I expect that whatever report you come up with will be an extra half page longer.
“Before I dismiss you for the weekend, are there any more questions?”
A forest of tiny hooves shot up.
----------------
A stream of fillies and colts poured out of the schoolhouse. Three of those students paused to confer together.
“Yay! Now we can get to our crusading.” Scootaloo exclaimed, her tiny wings buzzed briefly, underscoring her excitement.
“Ah don’t know,” drawled the light-yellow filly, Applebloom. “Don’t ya think we aught ta get started on our assignments before we go out crusadin’? Ah sure don’t want AppleJack to get mad at me like last time. Ah had a whole month of extra chores.”
“Yeah,” agreed Sweetie Belle. “And I’ve got an extra half-page to write too.” She let out a sigh.
“Ah, come on, girls.” Scootaloo attempted to coax her friends. “That report will be easy. All we need to do is pick an invention.”
“Not so easy.” Challenged Sweetie Belle. “Whatever we pick has got to be good enough for three and a half pages.”
“That’s okay.” Applebloom countered. “If we can pick the right invention to write about, then maybe we can split the report into three parts, helpin’ each other too. Any ideas?”
Silence descended as the three crusaders thought furiously.
“This is hard,” declared Scootaloo, giving her scooter a desultory kick. “I can’t think of any inventions at all.” She looked up hopefully, “Maybe your sisters can give us some ideas. How about Applejack?”
Applebloom’s eyes lit up. “Yeah. Applejack’s got her stand set up in the market today; she’s real close.” Her enthusiasm crashed suddenly. “But ah’m pretty sure she’s gonna tell us that ‘doing it on yer own will be good for ya.’ ”
Scootaloo and AppleBloom both turned towards Sweetie Belle.
“Oh, no!” Sweetie Belle took a step back and shook her head rapidly. “Rarity was in one of her ‘creative’ moods this morning. I don’t want to get stuck posing as a model for her dresses. And you don’t want to either.”
“Come on, Sweetie Belle. Ah’m sure Rarity‘ll have some great ideas for inventions if we can break her away from that sewing machine.”
“You don’t understand, Applebloom. My sister’s been real mopey about something for the last few days. Then last night, she comes home all smiling and cheerful and starts creating dresses like crazy.” Sweetie Belle dropped back on her haunches and waved her forehooves around frantically, putting emphasis on the word ‘crazy.’
“Come to think of it, mah sister’s been acting kinda strange too.” Applebloom mused.
“I can’t even find Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo groused. “She’s been gone for days.”
The three fillies fell silent again.
“Ah know,” Applebloom spoke up. “Let’s go ask Twilight.”
“Yeah.” Scootaloo enthused. “Maybe she knows what happened to Rainbow Dash.”
“Ah was thinkin’ more about us askin’ her about what inventions we could write our report on.”
“Oh.” Scootaloo looked a bit surprised. “Yeah, that too.” She replied while glancing upwards at the nearby clouds, hoping to catch sight of a certain rainbow tail.
----------------
Scootaloo pulled up in front of the Golden Oaks Library, allowing her scooter and attached wagon to roll to a stop. Almost before the wagon had stopped, the two passengers jumped off. Together with Scootaloo, they raced for the door.
“Twilight!” they all called out after breaching the entrance. Somewhat violently, it should be noted.
“We need your advice,” called out Sweetie Belle. “Ya’ve got to help us,” added Applebloom. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?” threw in Scootaloo. The last statement causing the other two fillies to turn and look at Scootaloo.
“Heh, heh. Sorry.” the fuschia maned filly muttered. “But I really do hope she can tell me where to find Rainbow.”
“Twilight?” Sweetie Belle called out again. The library responded with silence.
“Looks like she’s not home,” Scootaloo replied glumly.
“Maybe she’s sleeping.” Applebloom considered, remembering her sister tellings stories of how Twilight could study so hard and long that she would almost literally drop on her hooves.
“Or maybe she’s busy working on something.” Sweetie Belle added, remembering Pinkie’s stories of the mysterious machines Twilight kept in her basement.
“If she’s sleeping, I’ll find her.” Scootaloo declared, immediately running towards the stairs. Her excitement showing as her stubbly wings bristled their feathers outward.
“I’ll check the basement!” Sweetie Belle declared, turning towards the appropriate doorway.
Applebloom took a moment to consider what options were left for her. Finally, she huffed an exasperated sigh. “Fine. Ah guess ah’ll just look in the kitchen.”
----------------
Scootaloo raced up the stairway, eager to find Twilight. She skidded to a stop in the upper loft, Twilight’s bedroom, and proceeded to look about. The mare was nowhere to be seen.
Undeterred, the little filly soon spied a door behind the stairs she had just come up from. Investigating, she discovered that the door led upwards to Twilight’s observatory platform. Unfortunately, Twilight was not in her observatory either.
With a glum look on her face, Scootaloo descended down from the loft, only to pause at the landing situated midway between the library and Twilight’s loft. A short hallway led off in the opposite direction from the stairway she had just come down.
A door located midway within the hallway was Scootaloo’s first target. Shoving the door open, she flushed with embarrassment to realize she had barged into Twilight’s bathroom, which might have been occupied. Nevertheless, she proceeded to check all of the facilities, to make sure that Twilight had neither fallen into or was hiding inside any of them.
As she exited the bathroom, she met Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, who had come up the stairway onto the landing.
“Any luck?” Applebloom asked.
“She’s nowhere upstairs,” Scootaloo replied. “And believe me, I looked everywhere.”
“Same here.” Sweetie Belle announced. There’s lots of strange stuff in the basement, but no Twilight.
“Have you checked there?” Applebloom inquired, indicating the doorway behind Scootaloo.
“Yeah. It’s just the bathroom.” Scootaloo sighed. Now drained of all her early optimism.
“Well, what about that room?” Applebloom pointed to the end of the hallway.
“We haven’t checked that yet. Come on!” Scootaloo whirled around and ran towards the only room that remained unexplored.
“Twilight!” Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom cried as they rushed into the empty study. Their mad charge came crashing to a halt as they realized Twilight was not in this room either.
“She’s not here.” Applebloom declared. Looking about, she saw a great many paper fragments strewn haphazardly about the floor in one corner of the room. Many of them even looked to be burned black.
“That’s odd.” Sweetie Belle interrupted Applebloom’s thoughts. “Twilight likes to keep her library clean, but this room – ”
“ – is a dump.” Scootaloo finished.”
“Maybe Spike sneezed or something.” Applebloom offered, having spotted the charred remains of a heavily burned book up on Twilights desk.
“That’s some sneeze.” Scootaloo kicked at a couple of paper fragments near her hooves. “There’s paper everywhere.”
“I know!” Sweetie Belle chimed up. “If we help clean up this mess, Twilight’s sure to thank us by picking out a great invention for our assignments.”
“Okay.” Agreed Applebloom. “But only because it will help Twilight. Ah don’t want no Cutie Mark fer cleanin’ trash.”
“No problem.” Scootaloo countered. “I’ve had to clean my room hundreds of times. And I’ve not gotten a Cutie Mark out of it yet.”
“That’s a rel– “ Applebloom started to say when Sweetie Belle interrupted her with a shrill cry.
“Eeee! They won’t let go!”
Startled, Applebloom whirled around to see Sweetie Belle madly shaking her right forehoof. “What’s wrong?” She asked, not seeing any apparent problem.
“I started to pick up the trash,” Sweetie Belle replied, still shaking her leg, but managing to hold still for a moment. Applebloom and Scootaloo could see a mat of four or five paper scraps covering the underside of her hoof.
“Then my hoof started feeling weird, so I dropped it. Guys. They won’t let go!” Sweetie Belle gave a particularly vigorous shake to her hoof and stomped it on the floor. The last maneuver, however, was unfortunate as she stomped another paper scrap, adding it to her collection.
“Ahh! Now it feels worse!” Sweetie Belle cried.
“I don’t see what the problem is,” Scootaloo commented, “just push it off like dirt.” Referring to the natural ability of ponies to shed dirt from their hoofs and coats. Sometimes it required a more conscious effort.
Sweetie Belle paused for a moment to glare at Scootaloo. “I’ve been doing that. It’s not working, and it hurts my hoof. The harder I try, the more it hurts.”
Applebloom, who had stood quietly through Sweetie Belle’s explanation, moved up to give support to her friend and fellow crusader, briefly touching her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle. We’ll figure something out.”
The stricken filly felt encouraged and began to calm down. Soon, she sat down, holding her leg out at an angle. “Thanks, Applebloom.”
“How bad is it? Can ya’ manage for a while, while we try an’ figure things out?”
Sweetie Belle sniffed. “I-I don’t know guys. If I sit here quietly and don’t do anything, the weird feeling is less, but now my hoof is starting to feel numb.”
Applebloom and Scootaloo gave each other a startled glance. Recognizing that whatever was happening to Sweetie Belle was something serious.
“Well, t’aint natural.” Applebloom mused, unconsciously echoing her older sister's speech patterns. “An’ if it ain’t natural, then it’s something magic.”
“It’s kinda like a Bleetch,” Scootaloo commented, thinking how equestrian leeches would suck the color and magic out of a pony. The crusaders had run into some of those during one particular crusade earlier in the year. They first noticed them when pale spots started growing in their coats.
“Do you think salt will get rid of them?” Sweetie Belle asked hopefully. Turning her leg about so that the other two could get a better view of what was stuck under her hoof. At the time, Sweetie Belle had been hard hit by the Bleeches. Something about her light coat color providing camouflage.
“Not salt,” Applebloom replied. “That only works because the Bleeches are critters. And no critter likes too much salt. Far as I can see, those pieces of paper ain’t alive. They’re magic.”
Several thoughts from the previous conversations came together in Applebloom’s mind. “Ah’ve got an idea!” She exclaimed.
“What?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both asked.
“Scootaloo might be right about them pieces of paper acting like Bleeches. Mah sister once told me about another way of getting rid of them Bleeches, a way that doesn’t use salt. It might work.”
“Please do it.” Sweetie Belle urged.
“Yeah. Do it.” Scootaloo agreed, buzzing her wings for emphasis.
“Okay, Sweetie Belle. But I gotta warn you, It’s gonna hurt.”
“I don’t care,” Sweetie Belle cried. “My hoof is so numb that I probably won’t feel anything.”
“Oh, you’ll feel this,” came Applebloom’s muttered reply.
----------------
“It’s something that only Earth Ponies can do,” Applebloom spoke as she carefully laid down in a position where she could manipulate Sweetie Belle’s foreleg.
“Using my Earth Pony magic, I can try to pull all of your magic out of your leg. A Bleetch will drop off when there’s no more magic for it to feed on.”
Applebloom placed both of her forehooves onto Sweetie Belle’s leg. One near the hoof, the other further up the limb. She took a deep breath. “Ready?” she asked.
“Mm-hmm.” Sweetie Belle nodded anxiously. Applebloom closed her eyes and began to sweep her hooves gently along Sweetie Belle’s leg.
Initially, Sweetie Belle could feel the part of her leg, nearest her hoof, getting warm. Soon it became hot! Then even hotter. “Ahh, “ she cried out. Applebloom paused, worried that she was hurting her friend.
“Don’t mind me,” Sweetie Belle urged with a grimace. “You told me it would hurt. I believe you now.”
“You can take it, Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo urged. “You’re a Cutie Mark Crusader.”
Applebloom nodded her head emphatically. “Yeah, hang on Sweetie Belle. I know this hurts, but it shouldn’ be too much for ya.” Closing her eyes, she resumed her efforts to sweep the magic out of and away from Sweetie Belle’s hoof.
The ‘heat’ that Sweetie Belle was experiencing was due to the rapid movement of her natural magic through her limb. After a moment, the intense burning sensation began to fade; the natural magic no longer being moved as rapidly.
Sweetie Belle could also feel the numbness in her hoof diminishing. “I think it’s working. Keep going.” She urged.
Applebloom was starting to breath hard. Manipulating another ponies ‘inside’ magic was harder than she had thought. She wasn’t used to such an intense and sustained effort.
“It’s working!” Scootaloo crowed! One of the papers just fell off. “Oh. There goes another one!” Thus encouraged, Applebloom redoubled her efforts and worked even harder on pulling magic out of Sweetie Belle’s hoof.
Two things happened. Sweetie Belle yelped as even more magic was swept away from her hoof. And the remaining pieces of paper let go all at once.
One of the pieces of trash flipped as it fell and ended up with its dark side contacting the upward-facing dark sides of al previously fallen piece of paper.
There followed an explosion of magic, knocking the Crusaders back, and stirring up several other, as yet undisturbed, pieces of paper into the air.
As one of the fluttering pieces of paper came down, it too presented its dark face directly on top of another scrap. Dark face met dark face. A second explosion occurred. Sufficient scraps of paper were laying about to ensure there followed a succession of loud, powerful explosions, one after the other.
Sweetie Belle did not notice any of the explosions, however. Applebloom’s sudden release of her natural magic had caused it to rebound down her leg with a vengeance. She blacked out from the pain.
----------------
Sweetie Belle awoke to the sound of Applejack’s rather loud and insistent voice. “What in tarnation’s going on here!”