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// 3 - Adventure! 
// Story: Swapping Perspectives 
// by David Silver 
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Morning came not with loud roosters or tolling bells. It came with excited conversations. The breezies of the community had risen with the coming of the light and were quite cheerfully sharing tales and words with one another that the mushroom walls of their new home did little to ward.

"Morning!" shouted Scootaloo as she slid down the bannister to the ground floor. "Everypony ready to  start?!"

"Nope." Sweetie had the smuggest grin as she stepped down less athletically. "There isn't a single pony here to start."

"Ha ha." Apple Bloom reached the bottom with the others. "Ah'm kinda peckish. Ah know we ate just before bed an' all."

"Me too," joined Scootaloo. "Small things eat more often?"

"But less," noted Sweetie, drawing out her pad to take notes on that fact. "Let's get some breakfast." With a communal cheer, they charged into the kitchen. Rather than going for more granola, they found a jar. "It's like honey..." But it wasn't golden, and wasn't as thick, really. Still, it was sweet and floral.

All three took a hoof, dipping it into the jar and tasting. "Mmm!" complimented Apple Bloom. "Not bad." She thrust her hoof right back in and got to cleaning it off with sweeps of her tongue. Breakfast was secured.

Swirly entered on the scene of the three sharing the sweet syrup. "Oh! Good. Breakfast is done." She nodded with clear satisfaction. "Are you ready to set out?"

Scootaloo popped the lid back on and turned it tightly. "Mornin' teach! Where are we going today?"

"You." She was pointing at Apple Bloom. "You are named after a fruit. Is this a good comparison?"

Apple Bloom inclined her head. "Um, yeah. Ah'm an apple farmer and a potion maker!" She swirled her hooves as if stirring a cauldron that wasn't there. "Why?"

"Very good." Swirly clapped excitedly. "Then how about today we go visit our fruit trees? Fruits are very large, often too large for any one breezie. Except berries. We love berries." She licked her lips at the thought. "Just the right size. But a big fruit, it can being great! Cut it up for a whole of the family."

Apple Bloom lifted into the air on her new wings. "Do ya got apples here? 'magine they'd be huge!"

Sweetie burst into giggles. "First chance you get, you look for apples?" She stuck out her tongue at Swirly. "Don't encourage her."

"But to encourage you is being my job," defended Swirly with a bright smile. "This way!" She led the way outside in the bustling activity of the morning. Countless breezies were floating past on various tasks.

One stopped. "Swirly!" He waved excitedly. "Why are the little ones being?"

"All they way they came," cried Swirly, returning the wave. "Pony towns. Ponies they are!" She waved at the crusaders as a whole. "Here they are for learning."

"Ooo, learning!" The male breezie clapped excitedly. "Have fun!" And off he floated back on his own business.

"This way." Swirly lifted into the air on wide wings. "Can you fly all?"

Scootaloo showed by doing, lifting up to Swirly's side without hesitation.

Sweetie and Apple Bloom spread their new wings, but whatever the next step was, it didn't come to them instantly. "Huh," let out Apple Bloom. "What do we do?" She angled her entire body to the left and right, as if shaking the wings would do the trick.

Scootaloo bounced in place, despite not having a ground to push against. "Jump and never come back down!"

"Well, not never," cautioned the teacher. "But a long time is good enough, yes?"

Sweetie bounced high in the air, her wings catching the wind. She swooped forward without her control, squeaking in alarm as she began an uncontrolled forward motion. "Pull up!" called Scootaloo, causing Sweetie to draw away from the ground at a sharp angle, ascending rapidly into the sky.

"Ain't gonna get me," confidently assures Apple Bloom, taking a slightly less full powered leap. She brought her wings down and failed to land, instead wobbling back and forth in the air instead of shooting out like a bullet as Sweetie had done. "Ha! Look at me go!" She wasn't going much of anywhere, but she was off the ground.

"eeeEEee!" Sweetie was coming at them at an uncomfortable speed, but she was caught firmly in two sets of arms. Both her teacher, Swirly, and Scootaloo wrapped around her, hooves coming in to squeeze as Sweetie caught her breath. 

Scootaloo laughed with joy. "Welcome to the air! Good job, both of you." She released Sweetie, who stayed aloft without darting away. "Takes some practice, but flying's the best" She pumped a hoof excitedly.

"About that." Apple Bloom raised to be even in altitude. "You don't fly, Scootaloo, no offense or nothin'. How do you know what flyin's like?"

Scootaloo flipped an ear back. "Cold. I've flown before..." She worried her hooves together. "Just not... under my own power. Rainbow's taken me flying before, and when I'm in the zone on my scooter? I may as well be!" She suddenly turned in the air towards Swirly. "Hey, do breezies have scooters or anything like that?"

Swirly shook her head at the idea. "You mean the thing with the wheels?" She made little circles in the air. "We are not having any of those, many sorries."

A great crash got all their attention to where a mushroom was lifted into the air in the distance.

Sweetie raised a hoof, squinting in that direction. "Is that Prickle?" Their overwhelmingly powerful class mate had casually lifted a building some distance away. "I hope everything is alright."

Swirly inclined her head left and right. "I am also hoping this, but that is not today's project." She turned and instead pointed to a forest that was descending down into their magical breezie valley. "There, just on the border. That is being where fruits can grow at times. We shall look and see, yes? Points for the first to see!" And off she went, drifting towards the trees with a big smile.

The younger ones trailed after her, Scootaloo swooping and swirling excitedly with sharp cries of athletic joy. Apple Bloom smiled at the naked excitement of her friend. "Sorry fer pokin' fun."

"Ain't no thing." Scootaloo swept off the sweat she wasn't shedding. "I'm going to be first though." And she put all her attention into speed. Breezies were, however, still not built for speed. Trying to slap her wings didn't make her go faster. She just wasn't a pegasus, nor had bird-like wings. She was going about the same speed as the rest of them. "C'mon!"

Breezie giggled at the attempt. "Perhaps, later, I will show you the secret. For now, this is safer. You stay near me, yes?" Students that didn't dart away made her life a little easier. "Ooo, look." She pointed. "A peach tree! Be careful with those."

Sweetie inclined her head. "Does that mean you won?" She had her pad out in one hoof, a pencil in the other. "You were technically the first to see it."

"That depends." Swirly crossed her arms with a big smile. "Are we stopping for peaches, or looking for else fruit perhaps?"

Apple Bloom considered the great stone pit fruits ahead and to the left of them. "Ain't nothin' wrong with a peach, but they do got that big rock in 'em. I saw we look fer a fruit what ain't got that goin' on."

"Seconded." Sweetie took a fresh note. "I bet that rock makes it heavier too."

"Good eyes." Swirly turned her attention away from the peach tree. "Fruits of stones are usually heavier than others are being."

Scootaloo found a tree with fruits. She was perched on a bunch of them. "Cherries can't go wrong there." She nodded with complete confidence. "Small enough to carry easy, even for little breezies."

"Like us," agreed Sweetie, landing on the branch of the same tree. "What do we carry them back with?"

"With these." Swirly drew free a bag. It was no small bag. It had several loops around the rim. "We each are taking one, yes? Then we carry together. Much easier! Ready?" Soon Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had a hoop each, holding the beg wide for Sweetie Belle to drop big ripe cherries into the opening easily. "Just like that! In fact, yes yes. I show you how to visit market. We sell extra cherries, is good to know, ja? To trade with new friends, is good. Can't always find what you are wanting, so trade what you have."

Apple Bloom gave a thoughtful hum. "Do Breezies do a, uh..."

"Barter?" suggested Sweetie with a grin.

"Yeah, that! Do they do a barter thing?"

Swirly nodded her head quickly. "Coins are big and heavy. Too big and too heavy! We trade, no coins. No smith, how make coins? We don't."

Sweetie dropped a new cherry, the bag almost full and the others straining to keep it aloft. "What do we trade for then?"

Apple Bloom pffted as if it was a common thing. "Fancy ponies only think in bits. A farmer knows a favor can be worth a thousand bits!"

Swirly tried to clap, but the bag she was supporting made that difficult at beast. "Yes! You are being very clever. We trade for a favor, then when you want something, you trade it back. We are small creatures. Small creatures, small town, small trades. Sometimes even trade the favors. Is like coins, but less heavy, which is good, ja?"

Scootaloo moved forward, drawing the sagging bag shut. "Either way, we got plenty of cherries. Enough for us and some for another breezie that didn't fly all this way to get them."

Sweetie hummed as she made fresh notes. "Barter is alive and well," she said and wrote at the same time. "We should try to find somebreezie that really really wants the cherries. They'll give us the biggest favor."

"Clever." Swirly nodded firmly. "The market is a safe place. So safe, in the fact, I will let you girls trade your cherries. You can tell me how it went afterwards. Be sure to be saving some for yourself, or you will do all that work and get no cherries. That sounds sad to me, yes?"

With a communal cry, they headed back to town. Sweetie grabbed the one abandoned loop, making it easier on the others as the balance of the bag shifted. With four breezies taking up their part, they got it back without too much trouble. 

"I should be warning." Swirly inclined her head back at the tree they were leaving. "There are animals that live in fruit trees that think breezies are very tasty. We cannot help that we are sweet! Always be careful when picking fruit, or you get picked! That is bad! Do not let that happen. I will get in trouble, and you get hurt, bad bad bad."

Apple Bloom swallowed audibly. "Huh, so that's why fruits can be traded. I was wonderin' why anybreezie would trade if they're all just sittin' here waiting to be gotten'. Not like ah see any breezie tendin' to 'em."

Sweetie bobbed her head furiously. "Apple trees back home get a lot of care from the Apples, and we can't just go on in and steal them. These trees don't appear to be owned."

"Oh, they are," assured Swirly. "They are owned by the animals that live in them. And if you are not being the most careful, they will take you as the barter. You are not wanting that, are you?"

Even as the fillies tensed at the idea of being gobbled up by some wild animal, Sweetie took diligent notes of what she had learned.

Scootaloo clapped her hooves together. "If I saw an animal going for one of the girls, I'd kick them right in the head!" She lashed a hind hoof out into the air to demonstrate. "Like that!"

Apple Bloom laughed gently at that. "Ah feel safer, havin' you around to watch mah back."

But they had made it without being gobbled. It was time to trade!