//------------------------------// // Bonus Ending: The Next Day // Story: Good Clean Fun // by TimeBomb0 //------------------------------// “Ugh, this stinks,” groans Scootaloo, wiping some sweat off her brow. She’s tired and bored beyond belief, and couldn’t wait to get this over with so she could go home and do…anything other than this. Why oh why did she have to blab about her mudball stunt to Rainbow Dash? Why did Rainbow have to mention it to her other friends, who ended up mentioning it their friends until the whole town found out it was them? Why did the regular street-cleaner have to break his leg in a freak scrubbing accident, thus making scrubbing down the entire plaza that got messy from the mudball their punishment for the day? “Hey, Apple Bloom!” she calls out to her friend, who is occupied on a different part of the wall they are working on. “…What is it this time?” Apple Bloom sighs. She takes her hooves, which had sponges attached to them on the ends, off the walls to direct her attention towards her friend. If only Scootaloo wouldn’t distract her so she could get this done sooner… “Can we switch sponges again? I don’t think these are working all that well,” the orange filly asks. “But we’ve switched twice now already,” replies Apple Bloom, “and ya said the same thing about yer sponge all three times.” “Well, it’s not my fault this stupid mud won’t come off at all. I’ve been scrubbing as hard as I can and it’s barely doing anything. It’s like somepony put a spell on it on something.” “Ah’m just sayin’ it ain’t gonna matter what ya use,” explains Apple Bloom, “The mud and dirt’s had a whole day to dry up and cake on. It’s gonna be hard to clean off anyway.” “Cake on? Ew, I don’t really like mud cakes,” Sweetie Belle idly chimes in as she closely examines a window she’s been washing. “Hey, maybe we could all go for some cupcakes when we get done cleaning! I bet that would cheer us all right up!” She perks up as she starts to imagine her yummy suggestion; she can almost taste one of Pinkie Pie’s signature cupcakes now… “More like ‘if’ we ever get done,” grumbles Scootaloo, forcing the white filly back to the present, “I feel like I’m going to scrub my own hooves off at this rate.” Scootaloo pauses to look at a forelimb, which had begun to comically throb in exhausted pain. “Just how long have we been cleaning, anyway?” Apple Bloom sighs as she once again has to stop cleaning to indulge her friend’s request. Why did she have to make a perfect score on that telling-time test in school the other day? “We’ve been cleanin’ for…” she turns to look at a convenient clock tower in the plaza, “…about thirty minutes now.” “What, that’s all!?” replies a shocked and disappointed Scootaloo. There’s no doubt she is going to be scrubbing mud off buildings all day. “Gah, this really stinks! When this is over, remind me not to try anything involving mud to get our cutie marks again.” “Well, mud’s not all bad,” Sweetie replies, always looking for the silver lining in any cloud. “My sister puts mud on her face all the time. I think she does it to make her look prettier, but she still gets mad at me when I come home covered in mud.” “That’s a different kind’a mud, Sweetie,” responds Apple Bloom, “…at least, ah think it is. Ah’ve been fully covered in regular mud before, and it didn’t feel like it made me any prettier…” “Me neither. It just makes me sticky and smelly. I guess my sister’s just weird like that.” “Ah don’t doubt that…” continues Apple Bloom, “Hey Sweetie, speakin’ of mud, how’s that kid we accidentally ran over yesterday?” “Oh, him? He’s great…” Sweetie sighs dreamily, her eyes staring into space as she pleasantly recalls the fun bath she had yesterday afternoon. “…uhh, I think she was asking if he’s doing okay,” Scootaloo chimes in. “Oh! Um, he’s fine,” says Sweetie, a small blush peeking through her cheeks. “I saw him walking around with Pipsqueak this morning. They looked like they were having a pretty good time. I wish I could’ve stopped to say hello to them, but Applejack just told me to keep walking.” “Yeah, sorry about that,” replies Apple Bloom, “Mah big sis can get really pushy when she wants someone to get somethin’ done. Ah’m still kinda surprised she took time outta her daily chores to supervise us cleanin’ our mess.” “Hey, speaking of Applejack, where is your sister?” Scootaloo interjects. The other two Crusaders stop their scrubbing and turn around. Just as she had pointed out, Applejack was nowhere to be seen; aside from the occasional carriage riding down the road next to them, they are almost completely alone in the plaza again. “Ya don’t remember?” says Apple Bloom, “She said she needed to go use the fillies’ room real quick. Of course, she did head off towards Sweet Apple Acres…and that was right when we got started cleanin’…” Sounds like she isn’t taking as much time off her daily chores as she told us, Scootaloo mumbles to herself, “I wish Rainbow Dash was supervising us, instead. She might have given us a little more slack, and maybe we wouldn’t be here all day,” she finds herself saying instead. “Rainbow woulda just took off to do somethin’ else five minutes after we got started,” retorts Apple Bloom, “and besides, there’s no way we’re gettin’ any rest from this. The whole town knows it’s us that caused this mess, so they’ll know if we try to weasel out from cleanin’ it up.” “…Can’t argue with that,” admits a reluctant Scootaloo. Not only did she have no way out of cleaning up the plaza, but she also wouldn’t blame Rainbow for not wanting to stick around when she could be doing all sorts of awesome things. She lowers her head and lets out another annoyed sigh. “Urgh, this day can’t get any worse…” “Oh look, if it isn’t Ponyville’s newest street cleaners!” Scootaloo groans as she hears the prissy voice she had grown to loathe. Despite watching quite a few cartoons herself, she still forgot a classic rule about tempting fate: Don’t. “What do you want, Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo groans, not bothering to turn to face her sworn enemy. “Oh, nothing,” replies the rich filly, making her voice sound both innocent and vicious at the same time. “Just out for a stroll with my good friend, Silver Spoon. You know, my good filly friend who also has her cutie mark, and doesn’t have to make a mess out of the entire town just to find it.” “It’s true,” her gray-coated friend chimes in, “My parents even tell me I was born with it!” She pauses to turn her flank towards the crusader and show off her namesake cutie mark. “I can’t imagine how awful it must feel to have to make total fools of yourselves to get one of these, especially on a daily basis!” “Don’t tease, Silver Spoon!” Tiara continues mockingly. “After all, it’s not nice to totally flaunt all the good stuff you have in front of ponies that don’t have them, especially to a bunch of blank flanks!” At this point, the two rich fillies could no longer contain themselves, and began giggling in their special spoiled way. Their laughter and mocking could grate even the most stoic of ponies, and they were certainly working their mean-spirited manner on the Crusaders. Scootaloo in particular could really feel her blood boiling now. If those two didn’t shut up soon, then she could no longer be held responsible for any bloody snouts that may or may not occur. Fortunately for her, Sweetie Belle had noticed the rage building in her eyes. “Just ignore them,” she quietly reasons, “They’re not worth the trouble…please?” Glancing over at Sweetie, Scootaloo stares into her gentle green eyes. Scootaloo could never understand how Sweetie could be so calm in situations like this, but somehow she musters up the extreme willpower needed to not lash out at those bullies. Instead, she calmly breathes out and goes back to scrubbing her part of the building, finding that the mud is somehow coming off much easier to her surprise. “Ha ha ha ha…oh wow!” Diamond Tiara’s laughter from her own jokes finally comes to a stop, and her friend follows suit. “Well, I’d love to stay here and talk about your blank flanks all day, but we need to be going now. Our parents are having a box social croquet match, and we simply must be there to cheer them on. Isn’t that right, Silver Spoon?” “Of course, and maybe later we can, like, do all sorts of really fun stuff. It’s a shame our friends here will be too busy cleaning up their mess to join us on this totally amazing day.” “Don’t feel too bad for them, Silver. Maybe they’ll, like, earn their cutie marks while they’re scrubbing up the plaza and discover their totally special talents as janitors!” Unable to help themselves, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara once again succumb to another fit of cruel cackling, forgetting about their croquet match as they continue to laugh at their own put-downs. At this point, Scootaloo could feel the willpower she had regained from Sweetie Belle slowly sapping away once again. This time, however, she didn’t hear a peep out of Sweetie or even Apple Bloom. In fact, both of them are starting to sport annoyed glares of their own, glares that only get stronger as the laughter continues. A large fight seems inevitable- *SPLASH!* The laughter comes to a sudden end. Apple Bloom immediately perks up and turns to see the cause of this sudden change in behavior. After all, there’s no way those two fillies had suddenly turned nice. What she find nearly causes her to bawk: Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara are standing perfectly still, their lips quivering, their eyes open in shock, and their coats and manes now wet and dirty, a far cry from their prim and pristine look only a moment ago. It seems that yet another carriage had passed by while everypony was distracted, running over a puddle of muddy water that had still yet to dry from the rain a few days ago and spraying its contents on the rich fillies. Apple Bloom is not alone in her surprised look for long, as Scootaloo and Sweetie both turn around and stare in wide-eyed surprise. “…Wuh…wuh…” Silver Spoon tries to speak, but can’t. “…Wuh…we…we’re…” Diamond Tiara tries her hoof at talking next. “We’re…we’re…RUINED!!” “WE’RE TOTALLY DIRTY NOW!” Silver screams in terror immediately after her friend. “IT’S SO ICKY, GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!” “WE SPENT ALL DAY ON OUR COATS AND MANES!” “WE’LL NEVER GET CLEAN IN TIME FOR THE SOCIAL!” “OUR PARENTS ARE GONNA BE SO MAD AT US!” “WE’LL BE GROUNDED FOR FOREVER!” “I THINK I FEEL A DEAD BUG ON MY COAT!” None of the Crusaders could believe what they are seeing: the two fillies who had made sure that everyone knew they were better than everyone else in school are now breaking down right in front of them, flipping their lid over a little dirt that would easily come off in a quick bath. Scootaloo can barely keep from falling over in laughter at both their overly dramatic reactions and the karmic justice that had been swiftly delivered. Apple Bloom merely shakes her head and wonders what’s wrong with those two fillies. Sweetie Belle quietly ponders if Silver and Diamond’s freak-out even comes close to matching some of her sister’s previous breakdowns. Like clockwork, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara both stop their screaming when they remember that not only were they dirty, but they were dirty in public. They quickly look at each other, then at the Crusaders, and then back at themselves again. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” They both scream in perfect unison before running out of the plaza and to their homes as quickly as they could. For a while, the Crusaders merely stand there in slight disbelief, the only sounds they make being Scootaloo’s barely-controlled laughter. “A-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha…oh, wow…” Scootaloo’s laughing finally dies down. “I really needed that. They’re even worse than your sister, Sweetie!” “Yeah, I guess so…” Sweetie slowly replies. She is certain that Rarity could outdo them if she wanted to, but she had another issue on her mind for the moment. “…Maybe we should help them get cleaned up?” “Are you kidding?” Scootaloo says bluntly. “I’d rather scrub down every building in Ponyville before that.” “…ah guess they’ve just never gotten as dirty as we have,” Apple Bloom finally concludes. “I dunno, it might be good for them to get a little dirty every once in a while. Might help ‘em not act so spoiled all the time.” “…I don’t think there’s enough dirt in Equestria to help those two clean up their act,” declares Scootaloo. “Hah-hah, yer probably right there!” Apple Bloom laughs. “Now come on, let’s get this place cleaned up!” With that, the Crusaders go back to cleaning the plaza, a chore that becomes filled with giggling and good-natured banter, shared in a way that only the best of friends can.