Note: For purposes of keeping the story flow simpler, and to make things easier on you—dear readers—for this chapter Sweetie Drops will be referred to (in prose) as Bon Bon so as to not confuse her with Sweetie Belle.
Winter had come to a close, and with warmer weather came a sense of growing. For Scootaloo, this meant exercising more to ensure that she would be in perfect condition when Princess Luna's School of Physical Excellence began.
She was trotting to school after her day of training with Pinkie Pie to speak to her teacher. It was late in the day, and while classes were still going on, Scootaloo waited patiently by doing her wing exercises.
When Cheerilee stepped out of the school at the end of another day inspiring young minds to grow, she was surprised to see Scootaloo, but more surprised to see Apple Bloom run up to her. "Hello there, Scootaloo."
Jumping to all four hooves after her sideways-tilting single-wing crunch, Scootaloo bounced a few times on her hooves to loosen them up. "Hello, Miss Cheerilee. Hi, Apple Bloom." The last name was said with considerable enthusiasm. "I've come to ask to have my school days changed."
"Hold up," Apple Bloom said. "I just asked to have mine changed so I'd be with you and Sweetie Belle!"
Cheerilee was glad that the last problem of her day was already solved. Gesturing back toward the middle of town, she started to walk while the fillies followed her. "Which I have arranged. Not that it's a problem, but what brought you three together?"
"Well, you remember how I was passing a note in class? That was Diamond Tiara setting me up. She wanted me to get in trouble because I'm still a blank flank." Apple Bloom still felt the sting of Cheerilee's rebuke, though having her new-old friend with her helped. "She kept it up all day until her party—that's when I met Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle—again."
The stories of her students' lives never failed to interest Cheerilee. Listening to them and understanding their struggles made her a better teacher and allowed her to tailor their learning. "Again? What happened?"
Scootaloo let out a sigh and took over explaining. "I had that whole thing with my parents, and then Lyra and Sweetie—err, Drops, not Belle—and what with my holiday and everything, we all kinda drifted apart."
"And we got put in two different sets of classes." Apple Bloom looked up at Cheerilee. "But now we're in the same class it will mean the Cutie Mark Crusaders are back in business!"
"'Cutie Mark Crusaders'?" Cheerilee asked.
"CMC for short. It's our secret society to help us get cutie marks!" Apple Bloom said.
Scootaloo face-hoofed. "Does it still count as secret if we keep telling everypony it's secret?"
"Of course it does. So long as they don't tell everypony about it, it will just be a bigger secret." Apple Bloom was sure of her logic. "Besides, with everything we have planned, we're going to get our cutie marks in no time!"
As the pair lifted a forehoof each to do a hoof-bump, a white blur rushed up to them and managed to join in. Sweetie Belle was panting. She'd had to run all the way from her sister's shop to reach the school in time to talk to her teacher when she'd spotted her two friends already talking to Cheerilee. When she'd seen them about to hoof-bump, she had to join in. "Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were in complete awe of Sweetie's ability to just appear when they were about to hoof-bump. The awe lasted a fraction of a second, however, because a new energy suffused all three of them.
"We're going to be in the same class, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo said.
"It's going to be so cool to be together! And we won't have an annoying filly like Diamond Tiara to—to annoy us!" Apple Bloom said.
Cheerilee felt genuinely embarrassed to have to say, "Well… Girls, there wasn't any room in the class Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were in, so it worked out easier for me to move Scootaloo and Sweetie into your class, Apple Bloom."
Dropping to her knees, Apple Bloom tilted her head back and wailed in pain. Or, so she wanted to. It wasn't fair, in her mind, to get her best friends to be in her class where all three would have to put up with Diamond Tiara. "Well, that's a load of horse-apples."
Gasping in shock, Cheerilee frowned at Apple Bloom. "I'd thank you not to use that kind of language around the school, young filly, and I'll be speaking to your sister about this."
Apple Bloom had the good grace to look ashamed, but the moment Cheerilee walked away, she turned to her giggling friends. "Sorry. I shouldn't be talkin' like that. I heard Applejack say it the other day and I guess it just stuck."
Scootaloo giggled and cleared her throat. "Next time just say clownshoes."
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both looked at Scootaloo as if she'd gone just a little crazy. "What?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I heard Lyra use it once. She looked really embarrassed about it, so I figured it must be a good one." Confident in her logic, Scootaloo started to walk back toward town. She would have run, but she knew that Sweetie Belle wasn't really in the best of shape and Apple Bloom tended to not do anything fast unless there was a good reason.
After some aimless walking, all three fillies paused and looked around. "What do you want to—?" all three asked together, then laughed.
"C'mon, girls, let's go to Sweet Apple Acres and build a fort out of leftover wood. Every secret society needs a clubhouse." Pointing toward her family's farm, Apple Bloom started to gallop in that direction—only to have Scootaloo draw up beside her in what looked like a trot. On her other side, Sweetie Belle looked like she was not enjoying running. "You're both weird."
"Huh?" Scootaloo asked.
"You! Look, you're barely even trotting while Sweetie's only barely keeping her lungs from exploding." Apple Bloom nodded to her other side where Sweetie Belle was lagging behind.
Directed to one of her favorite topics, Scootaloo was perfectly happy to pontificate on the joys of exercise and training. "I mean, I run with my family twice a day, and I even started doing it in armor now. Trotting like this is easy. You two should join us."
"Huh, that doesn't sound too bad. When do you do it?"
"Usually at dawn and dusk. We keep getting caught up in Canterlot lately, though, so we usually do our runs there in the evening and then catch the train home." Seeing the front gate of the Apple farm, Scootaloo poured on the speed and kicked her gait into pegasus-gallop to reach the sign first.
Slowing to a walk, panting with her mouth wide open at how fast she'd just seen Scootaloo move, Sweetie Belle used the remaining distance to catch her breath. "Well, there's no need to rub it in."
"Huh?" Scootaloo was waiting at the fence for her slower friends to catch up—trotting in place.
"I see you running around everywhere, and doing all those weird exercises with your wings," Apple Bloom said as she pointed further down the road, "but why don't you fly?"
"Oh!" Spreading out her wings, Scootaloo could feel the difference in them from when she'd started her stretches. "I was born with some of my tendons missing. Doctors told me I'd never be able to fly. Then I went to another world, turned into a different kind of pony for a bit, and when I turned back the tendons were there. But they're really weak still, so I gotta get them up to speed before I can risk flying with them."
"Anyway, we need to prepare!" Apple Bloom said. "There's a million-bajillion cutie marks we could get, and we might have to try absolutely everything to get one."
"Imagine if we got our cutie marks in running! Or flying!" Scootaloo turned her trot-in-place up to a frantic gallop, then slowed back down to a walk beside her friends.
"I'm pretty sure if your cutie mark was meant to be in running, you'd have it already." The deadpan Sweetie Belle had cultivated was honed by seeing how much energy Scootaloo had. "But you might be right. What do you normally do when exercising again? Run around town?"
"Yup. Simple as that. Just run every day and you end up being able to run all day," Scootaloo said, stopping as Apple Bloom led them to a pile of timber behind a huge barn. "Whoa. We can build a house with this!"
"Y'all could build a tree house. Or more t' the point, y'all could repair one." Applejack hadn't tried to hide her approach, but she got a chuckle out of all three fillies jumping in surprise. "Y'see, when I grew up on the farm, Pa helped me and Big Mac build a tree house. It's not lookin' so great now, but I figure you three are clever fillies and could do it back up."
"O-Okay!" Scootaloo said. "Where is it?"
"Is that the old one by the west field?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Sure is. Just needs a few timbers replaced and a new coat of paint." Applejack, when they walked to said tree house, realized the error in her statement. Looking at the old tree house, it was a wonder it hadn't completely fallen down yet. "Okay, maybe more than a few, but that's why I got all the tools and wood!"
By the time they'd moved all the lumber and tools across to the tree house, it was starting to get dark. "So," Scootaloo said, "how about you two come for a run?"
"H-How many laps do you do?" Sweetie Belle felt nervous just thinking about it, but her friend had impressed her enough that she wanted to get better at running herself.
"How about you just start at one lap?" Leading the way at a slow trot, Scootaloo headed down the path back to town and to her own home.
Looking at Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle saw excitement and a little anticipation in her fellow Crusader's eyes. "Okay. One lap. How long does it take to get better at it?"
"Lyra said it's more of a journey than a destination. Her words. I don't really get it, but I think she means you do it because you enjoy feeling better about yourself rather than just to be better. Or something like that." It was painfully obvious to Scootaloo, who was barely keeping a trot going, that Sweetie Belle was not going to handle running well.
Sweetie Belle kept quiet during the trot, mostly because even at a trot for her it was a struggle. When they reached Scootaloo's home, they saw Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops waiting outside dressed in E.U.P. Guard uniforms and armor.
"Heya Scoots. Ready for our run?" Bon Bon asked.
"Yeah, I think I might hang back and chat with my friends tonight. Just going to grab my armor." Racing inside, Scootaloo used her wings to make quick turns while keeping ground-bound—navigating the house to the armory in quick order.
"Hey kids, doing a little running with Scoots today?" Lyra asked.
"Sure are." Apple Bloom looked between Lyra and Bon Bon and tilted her head. "Are you really in the Guard?"
"We are, but we've been tasked with starting a new school for fillies and colts who want to learn how to protect themselves, their friends, and be more confident." As soon as she said it, Lyra realized she was literally spouting an advertising slogan at fillies. "Not that I think you need to—I mean, this is just—"
Bon Bon gave Lyra a shove in the shoulder to reboot her brain. "They asked, you answered. It's only bad if you go out and deliberately shove it down ponies' throats." She turned her attention back to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. "Don't let Scootaloo show off too much."
Sweetie Belle giggled at that, maybe a little nervous energy leaking out before what was about to happen. "Too late, but she's pretty awesome."
"What's taking her so long?" Apple Bloom asked.
"It's not easy to put on armor. Hers might be made for a foal, but it's made by the Guard's own armorer. It's the real deal, just scaled down a little." Bon Bon could heard Scootaloo's hooves hammering on the floor inside—now a little deeper thanks to extra weight—as the filly neared the door again. "Here she comes."
With a grin from one side of her face to the other, Scootaloo felt so light on her hooves that she was ready to gallop faster than anypony. The surprise and awe on her friends' faces only encouraged her to strike a pose. "You girls ready?"
Sweetie Belle's excitement peaked and she raised her hoof to her friends. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, galloping fillies!"
Rearing up after she clopped her hoof with her friends', Scootaloo started off not at the gallop Sweetie Belle had called for, but a medium trot. When Sweetie Belle took up one flank and Apple Bloom the other, she felt pure elation.
Bon Bon turned and looked to Lyra with a raised eyebrow.
"Let's give them a bit before we head out—Oh! Better yet. Let's circle the other way." Already bouncing on her hooves, Lyra pointed in the opposite direction.
It made sense to Bon Bon, so she started off at a canter. "Come on, then, let's get these hooves flashing!"
Scootaloo saw Lyra and Bon Bon coming the other way just as she and her friends reached a third of a lap. "You're going the wrong way!" Her shout was backed up with a laugh. The "run" wasn't exactly stressing her, but she didn't want to go any faster because Sweetie Belle looked like she was struggling—and Scootaloo wouldn't leave her friend behind.
"Figured we'd swap it up!" Bon Bon said at a gallop going the opposite direction.
"Whoa! They're fast!" Looking back over her shoulder, Apple Bloom wasn't having too hard a time of the pace Scootaloo had set. "Hey, isn't that your sister's house, Sweetie Belle?"
"Why don't you stop there and we'll swing back around to Sweet Apple Acres?" Scootaloo asked.
Relief flooded Sweetie Belle. She hadn't realized how out-of-shape she was until seeing Scootaloo move so easily for so long. When her sister's boutique was in sight, she slowed to a walk with her friends beside her slowing too. "I—" It would have been easy to ignore it all and go back to how she'd been, but she wanted to keep up with her friends. "Can we do this every night?"
It was a surprise to Scootaloo. She looked at her friend—noticed how her coat was matted and she was panting a little—and realized that Sweetie Belle really wanted to do this. "Sure can!"
The moment Sweetie Belle got into Carousal Boutique, she noticed her legs wobbling.
Rarity noticed the state of her little sister the moment she entered the door. "Sweetie, darling, whatever have you done to yourself? Was a bully chasing you? A monster?"
"Worse," Sweetie Belle said. "My friends."
Outside, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom built up their pace a little. Scootaloo pushed to the lowest of her canter speeds while Apple Bloom was thundering along in a gallop. They actually reached the road to Sweet Apple Acres just as Bon Bon and Lyra approached.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo reared up a little, kicked around, and took off with Bon Bon and Lyra.
"How was your other friend?" Bon Bon asked. She'd been pushing a hard gallop with Lyra, but the pair slowed a little so that Scootaloo's pegasus-gallop would keep up with them.
Now she had to really work, Scootaloo's legs were a blur and she had to stretch out to her fastest pace. "Sweetie Belle? She really isn't into running, but she wants to keep doing it."
"Well, it's great to hear you're a positive influence on your friends. Think you can go a bit faster?" Bon Bon's voice held challenge even as her hooves slammed into the ground repeatedly. She wanted to push Scootaloo to be everything she could be, but wanted Scootaloo to feel like she'd done the pushing.
Feeling for her stride, Scootaloo felt that she was going as fast as her legs could carry her. "This is my top gear until my legs get longer!"
"Then let's just run!" Bon Bon said.
Each day brought more sunshine, exercise, and more work on the club house. The first weekend since starting work on it had all three fillies excited to spend all day on it. As they'd agreed to the previous evening, they met in the middle of town.
Scootaloo spotted her friends approaching. "Hey Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle!"
Each evening since the first, Sweetie Belle had felt slightly less terrible about her one lap of Ponyville trot. The first night had left her barely able to get up the stairs in her sister's boutique, but after several in a row she was starting to notice it didn't wipe her out. Walking around town with her friends was a piece of cake by comparison. "Hello Scootaloo."
"Heya Scoots!" Apple Bloom hadn't taken the evening trots nearly as bad as Sweetie Belle, but spending more time with her friends more than made up for any awkwardness she felt. The other reason she was sticking with it was how much confidence Sweetie Belle had seemed to gain from it. "Ready for a day workin' on the club house?"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo shoved her forehoof into the air. "Cutie Mark Crusaders: handy-ponies!" A resounding clop as their three hooves came together made her even more excited. "Will we get it finished today?"
"Maybe. Big Mac kept working on it last night after we'd stopped. I didn't take a look, but I figure he got those last two planks out that were causing problems." Turning toward her home, Apple Bloom felt the whole world lighten around her now she had both her best friends with her.
Scootaloo mulled over the idea of McIntosh Apple having done a pile of work and shook her head. "I hope he didn't do too much. I want to be able to say I helped do most of the work."
"W-We could make him a temporary adjunct member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Like a sub-contracted crusader." The words were new to Sweetie Belle, but she'd heard Rarity using them a lot lately. Her time spent living with her big sister was still new to her, but staying out of Rarity's way while she was talking to ponies about opening a new store meant she got to expand her business vocabulary.
"A what-now?" Apple Bloom asked.
Sweetie Belle felt pride swell up inside. "It means he's only helping us, but in a formal way that's non-binding."
Apple Bloom just stared at Sweetie Belle for a good twenty seconds before letting out a breath she wasn't even sure she was holding. "But that still means he did a lot of work."
"Correct!" Bouncing on her hooves, Sweetie Belle giggled. "But it would be a Cutie Mark Crusader who did it!"
The problem, Apple Bloom realized, was that Sweetie Belle had impeccable logic. "Well, I guess."
Trotting together, the three friends made it all the way to tree house without any disasters interrupting their discussion of serious business—that is, how to get cutie marks.
"What if," Scootaloo asked, "we get cutie marks in getting cutie marks?"
"Huh?" Apple Bloom's brain had trouble with the concept.
"You mean if we get our cutie marks for helping each other get cutie marks?" The concept was curious to Sweetie Belle—mostly because it seemed somewhat recursive. "What if I get mine for helping you, Scootaloo, but Scootaloo gets hers for helping you, Apple Bloom, and then—"
"Ah don't think this is a good idea. Hey, there's the clubhouse, and there's Big Mac!" Turning her light trot into a gallop, Apple Bloom charged for her brother.
The collision should have made the big stallion at least flinch, but all he did was turn to look at what'd connected with him. "Hey, Apple Bloom."
Shaking her head at the solid thump she'd made against her brother's mass, Apple Bloom beamed up at the stallion. "Hiya! Guess what? You're a temporary inject member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
"'Adjunct'," Sweetie Belle said.
For a moment Apple Bloom considered saying something, but then she just surrendered to the inevitability of Sweetie Belle sounding like a dictionary and just continued. "Have you been working on the tree house on your own?"
"Eeyup. Left the most important bit fer you." Gesturing with one huge hoof, McIntosh smiled just a little as he pointed to the empty doorway on the tree house.
Three gasps sounded at the same time as they realized how much McIntosh had worked. The gasps were followed by squeals, which were carried with the fillies as they stampeded toward the ramp leading up to the tree house.
"This is amazing!" Scootaloo said.
"It's great!" Apple Bloom said.
"It's magnifique!" When her two friends turned to stare at her, Sweetie Belle ignored them.
"Here ya go." Holding out the door, hinges, and screws, McIntosh nodded toward the three fillies.
Scootaloo ran down the ramp and grabbed the hinges, Sweetie Belle the screws and screwdriver, and Apple Bloom hefted the door up the ramp on her back. It took the three a few minutes to work out that it would take all three of them to hang the door, and how to hang the door, but they finally got it attached and swinging open.
"We did it!" All the fancy words were forgotten as Sweetie Belle shouted. She bounced around from hoof to hoof and then rushed inside.
Right on Sweetie Belle's heels, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked around the inside of the tree house.
"Uh, it's a little bare." The first to comment, Scootaloo pulled no punches.
Apple Bloom's excitement waned a little at that realization, but she sensed a blazing inferno of raw, enthusiastic energy beside her. Turning her head, she stared at Sweetie Belle.
"We need posters, and furniture, and a blackboard, and some curtains for the windows, and a mat for the door, and—and…" Sweetie Belle was panting. The same excitement her sister got when creating something new suffused her. "This place must not be bare!"
"Then let's fill it with stuff. Why don't we each go home and get some things, then meet back here and decorate it?" Looking between Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom got a nod from them both. "Alright then! Cutie Mark Crusaders"—two hooves met her raised one with a firm clop, and they all continued together—
"home decorators!" Sweetie Belle said.
"movers!" Scootaloo said.
"coordi— Idiots…" Apple Bloom said.
All three broke into giggles before galloping out the door, past McIntosh, and off in the directions of their respective homes.
"You're leaving?" Scootaloo had intended to get a bunch of her coolest things to take back to the club house, but instead she found Lyra, Bon Bon, and Trixie sitting in the living room discussing heavy topics.
"I got enough bits to get a new wagon, some good tricks, and a little for a rainy day." Looking aside at Lyra and Bon Bon, Trixie almost exploded with pride. "This was never going to be permanent—I live for the road."
"But I—" Words failed Scootaloo when she tried to continue to question it. The truth was she knew exactly what Trixie meant—she hung her head. "I know that feeling. I want to fly more than anything. I'm a pegasus—I'm meant to be in the sky."
That made Trixie smile. She stood up and walked over to Scootaloo. "And you will be. It will just take time. How is your work with the snake going? What's your time from wingtip to wingtip?" She knew what an average pegasus should be capable of, as well as military-trained pegasi—thanks to her contracts and a little research with the E.U.P. Guard.
"Three point two seconds!" Scootaloo snapped out the number just like when her instructors asked it. She froze for a moment, blushing. "Sorry."
It was one of those moments in Trixie's life when she realized there was fate driving her. She had to say something or do something that would be just the right thing. Last time she'd felt this, she'd been making friends with a strange creature that had turned out to be Lyra. "You're improving. Keep working at it, and never be sorry for working your hardest to be able to fly." The wide-eyed stare of excitement in Scootaloo's eyes told her she'd said exactly the right thing.
Hesitating for a moment, Scootaloo rushed up to Trixie and hugged her. "You'll come back?"
Snorting, Trixie remembered what she'd promised herself and then tore that promise up. "Of course I will. But, I'll need to get a bunch of new tricks before I do. Can't go repeating my routine in the same place."
"I'm sorry Ponyville was such a terrible place to put on a show." Squeezing for all she was worth, Scootaloo felt a few tears start to grow in the corners of her eyes. It was hard to keep hugging while trying to rub them away.
Squeezing and then letting go of Scootaloo, Trixie did her best to leave the filly her dignity and ignore the tears. "Don't worry. Next time I'm here, I just know I'll have a great show to blow everypony away. Just you wait."