//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Cutie Mark Crusaders Sleep & Spread // by Sleep Mast R //------------------------------// Music's slumber apples had been quite a problem, since no one could visually distinguish them from regular apples. This left Applejack and Big McIntosh's apple farm... useless. When Applejack discussed the matter with the rest of the Mane Six, they decided to use scientific experiments to separate the slumber apples from the regular apples. Once they did that, they weren't sure what to do with the slumber apples, because they didn't want to throw them away and waste them. The Cutie Mark Crusaders asked to keep the slumber apples, as they knew just what to do with them. They loved helping others get their cutie marks... but, of course, the time eventually came when they ran out of blank flanks to help. So they didn't know what to do. Other than look back at memories, but they got bored of that too. So they took inspiration from the Watterson kids' unseen adventure. "If we're asleep, we can dream of helping blank flanks that don't really exist!" They went to their room in their lovely complex, and in preparation, Apple Bloom fluffed the pillows on the triple bed, Sweetie Belle folded the blanket to the footboard, and Scootaloo sprayed the bed with febreze. Then, each of the fillies ate four slumber apples exactly in sync. "Now we settle in bed and wait," said Sweetie Belle. "But wait... what if a filly shows up and actually wants our help?" asked Scootaloo. "We'll be too tired by that time..." "Good thing we have tons of spare slumber apples!" said Apple Bloom. She set up a sign next to the slumber apples, saying that anyone could eat one to join them in the dream. "Did we forget anything else?" wondered Sweetie Belle. "Oh, we should lock the door so that thieves don't-- oh, wait, if we lock the door, other friends won't be able to come either." "I think I just have the idea!" said Scootaloo. "We'll install alarms that'll resound whenever a valuable thing gets removed from this room. Deal?" "But how are we going to do that if we're already close to falling asleep?" "Oh, we should have planned everything before eating the slumber apples... just like Applejack said, we should stay organized..." "Oh, right! Applejack already installed the alarms yesterday for the sake of... (yawns) a wand-a-mo-lone..." "Don't you mean a watermelon?" Welp, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were slowly but surely gaining fatigue. Thus, they lay their bodies down on the mattress, and Sweetie Belle pulled the blanket over them with her magic. Their eyes were only 21% open while they did all that. In a matter of seconds, they dozed off, with their eyes 0% open, and their mouths snoring cutely. "ZZZZzZzZZzzzZZZzzZzZZZZZZ..." snored Sweetie Belle. "ZzZzZzZZZzZZzZZzzzzZzzZZZ..." snored Apple Bloom. "zzZzZZZZZzzzZZzzzzzzzZZzz..." snored Scootaloo. It was one of these cute moments, that lured over several colts and fillies... but they already had their cutie marks and didn't need any help. Twist, Pipsqueak, Snips, Snails, Kettle Corn, Rumble, Button Mash and Skedaddle snuck in, but they were mesmerized by the cutely slumbering CMCs. At least most of them. Button Mash noticed the slumber apples, and started eating them like crazy. "Wait, do you realize what those are--!?" warned Rumble. "Don't go eating them!!"" yelled Pipsqueak. "These are slumber apples!" said Skedaddle. But the gamer was deaf to everything but the deliciousness of the apples. After having eaten 95% of the apples left in the basket... "You're going to--" ...Button Mash crashed on the ground, and snored. "--fall asleep..." The others turned Button Mash over. Yup, that guy was asleep like a log on the floor, with his body full of digested apples. They lay Button Mash on top of Babs Seed's sleeping bag, and put the blanket over him. "Looks like he'll be joining the CMCs in their dream..." said Twist, "and there aren't enough slumber apples for the rest of us..." The ponies didn't know what the CMCs and Button Mash were dreaming about. But they could tell that they were feeling the breeze of delight in their sleep. Kettle Corn said, "Sleep is relaxing. It feels nice to close the eyes. Either day or night." "Ah, so you're still into your haikus," noted Skedaddle. "I just wish someone could fix the leak in the room..." said Snips, as his mane was being dripped on. "What leak?" "The one right above my head..." But Snips looked up, and there wasn't even a slight crack in the ceiling. He was right next to Scootaloo's side of the bed, and she was drooling close to the edge, and some of it got on Snips. "Looks like I need to get my hair rinsed or something," he then said. He walked out of the room, accidentally stepping on Button Mash along the way. "Sorry... ^^' " "If he's out, I'm gonna follow," said Snails, who also left the room. Meanwhile, Pipsqueak crouched down. He noticed Button Mash's eyelids were rapidly twitching, while his eyes stayed closed. In other words, he was in REM sleep. "Makes sense, anyway. He ate way more slumber apples than the CMCs combined." "It's too bad there isn't another bed in this room, 'cause I'd like to experience the joys of slumber myself." "What are you talking about?" replied Skedaddle. "You can make anything into a bed with improvisation." "Even nails?" said Kettle Corn. "Uhh... okay, you can't use nails." "What about fire?" "Yeah, you can't use fire to make a bed, either." "And I don't think knives can be used either?" "Okay, let me rephrase that," said Skedaddle. "You can make anything, except nails, fire and knives, into a bed with improvisation. Here, let me do that for you right now, Pip." Skedaddle designed a new cozy bed by using hay as the base, folded clothes as a pillow, and a tablecloth for the blanket. Of course, the alarm didn't go off, because none of those things left the room. When Pipsqueak lay on it, it was more comfortable than his actual bed. He tucked himself in, but his eyes didn't agree... they were wide open. "Now I'm all comfortable," said Pipsqueak, "but I'm not tired." "There are still the slumber apples!" said Kettle Corn. "If you eat one, that'll fix that problem!" "I think I'll do that too!" said Rumble, noticing that Twist was designing several other improvised beds. "Yeah, me too!" "Same here!" It turned out that all of the colts and fillies wanted to go to sleep and join the alternate universe with the CMCs and Button Mash. Including Snips and Snails, who just came back to the room. Snips and Snails took two slumber apples and Rumble took one, and then the bucket was empty. "Hey!" said Pipsqueak, "I want one!" "Uh oh..." said Kettle Corn, "there are only three slumber apples left." "I kinda already told you..." said Twist. "The bucket was full before Button Mash decided to be a hungry hippo..." "At least he blacked out before he could get the last three apples." "So, we need to decide which of us is going to eat the remaining slumber apples. At least until new ones come along." "Well, Pipsqueak was the first one who brought up the idea," said Skedaddle, "so he should get one of them." "Cool!" said Pipsqueak. "You're just saying that because, y'know... 'Vote for Pip!' " chuckled Twist. "Oh, an Twist," said Rumble, "you should get one too, since you cleverly designed the beds." "Thanks," said Twist, smiling. "We still need to agree on who'll get the last one," said Skedaddle. "There's me, Snips, Snails, Kettle Corn and Rumble." "Let's pull straws out of this jar," said Kettle Corn, holding up a jar of five straws. "The one with the shortest straw gets the last slumber apple." So they pulled the straws fair and square. Snails won. "Too bad Snips won't be included in this, but I'll surely be happy to doze right off," he said. Thus, Pipsqueak, Twist and Snails took the last three slumber apples and ate them up. Then they settled in the improvised beds. Fortunately, they didn't get any allergies over this. Scootaloo was still drooling, but Snips was careful enough not to stand underneath. Those CMCs were not robots, so they needed to sleep, big time. Good thing they weren't constantly bothered by blank flanks. Surely any reader of this story could agree with the points being made here. "I wonder if I'll get to dream of being on a pirate ship..." said Pipsqueak, as he grew sleepier. "Hopefully we'll still be meeting each other," said Snails. "It's a good thing our minds will still be entertained." "I remember how Apple Bloom felt about that cute-ceañera," remarked Twist. "Luckily sleep doesn't (yawn) require anything that's hard to get... only relaxation... and-it-can't-possibly-sell-out..." She was speaking less distinctly over the last few words because she was really starting to fall asleep. At this point, Rumble was standing at the foot boards, staring at Pipsqueak, as his body was wrapped in the tablecloth, his head was mushed into the pile of clothes, and his eyelids, one brown and one white, slowly closed over his pupils. Normally it would be creepy to stare, but Pipsqueak was too tuckered out to notice. Before you could wink an eyelash, Pipsqueak was fast asleep. Twist was collapsed on her falafel-filled impro mattress, with her eyes closed, pulling the laundry-bag blanket over her. The blanket clearly covered every part of her body, except her head, perfectly. She sunk down, and then let out a snore. Twist was sleeping like a baby. "You know," said Skedaddle, "I should have tried this at camp instead of bringing my sleeping bag..." "Snails... are you still awake?" asked Snips. "Yeah-nope..." said Snails, as he lay on his back with his eyes closed, he pulled the bathroom-robe blanket over him. The sleeves in the robe made this blanket more comfortable to his hooves. Before long, his conscience has officially drifted away, and gone to join the CMCs, Button, Pipsqueak and Twist. It was 4:30 PM, and there were seven soundly slumbering sleepers. Kettle Corn moved down the light dimmer to make the room darker, while she got flashlights for herself, Rumble, Snips and Skedaddle. There was a knock on the door; Kettle Corn answered, it was Featherweight. She put her hoof over her puckered mouth, to ask him to be quiet. Featherweight agreed, but then got startled by a long, grinding snore. The ponies with their flashlights observed that the snore came from Button Mash, presumably because he ate the most slumber apples out of everyone. Featherweight quietly took out his camera, and with the approval of Kettle Corn, Rumble, Snips and Skedaddle, he took a picture of the scene. He then stayed to learn more about it. "Whatever the CMCs are dreaming about, I'm sure they have company now," remarked Skedaddle. "If only there were some way to document it," said Featherweight, who had never heard of the Lore of Dreams from the Fate of April. "This sitting around and doing nothing seems familiar," said Rumble. "Wait, should talking count as doing anything?" Kettle Corn yawned tiredly, but she was still awake. It was hard not to yawn in a darkened room with quite an amount of snoring.