//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Cutie Mark Crusaders - Earning Your Keep 
// by DMDash71 
//------------------------------//

	Scootaloo pulled the loaded wagon the last few feet and came to a stop, exhaling loudly with relief as she dismounted her scooter for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.  For all she knew, it was the thousandth time; she’d quit counting after the twenty-third trip or so.  “Finalllly!”
Her friends groaned in tacit agreement.  The three fillies were matted with sweat, with dirt splotches liberally applied just about everywhere.  Their manes were caked and stiff, and Sweetie Belle kept swiping weakly at her forelock, which seemed to be dangling a new bit of cornsilk down in her eyes every few minutes.  The little unicorn had taken a tumble off of the wagon while they’d been unloading a batch of corn earlier, and they’d spent several minutes uncovering her, giggling at the frustrated filly as she’d waved her forelegs around frantically, looking nothing so much as like one of the decorated haystacks that dotted the farms around Nightmare Night Eve time. 
Apple Bloom was not in much better condition, her hairbow dusty and limp as it hung around her ears.  The formerly yellow filly, now about three shades darker and more dusty grey than yellow at this point, patted Scootaloo on the shoulder.  “Why’nt you let Sweetie Belle an’ me unload this last bit?  You been haulin’ that thing all day an’ helpin’ us pick, too.”
“No, I can help out, I’m cool.”  The little pegasus leaned against the side of the wagon for a moment, her legs trembling with fatigue.  “Just gimme a second to catch my breath.”
Sweetie Belle had already jumped into the rear of the wagon and begun rolling the heads of lettuce from the top of the pile into the half-filled bushel basket beside them.  “Take a break, Scoot.  We’ve got this.”
Scootaloo blinked and rubbed sweat from one eye.  “All right, if you’re sure…”
Apple Bloom patted her again and then hoisted herself up in the wagon beside Sweetie Belle and began rolling lettuce heads along with her friend.  “One head two head three head four, ain’t gotta do this chore no MORE!”
Sweetie Belle burst into a fit of laughter at that, than began snorting and brushing at her forelock again.  “Oh come ON!  This stuff is everywhe…”  She broke off as she spotted the green lettuce leaf Apple Bloom had been tickling her ear with.  “Oh, you are SO gonna get it.”
Scootaloo shook her head, a crooked grin creasing the corner of her mouth as she wandered a few steps away and sat down.  Tilting her head back, she closed her eyes and just let the breeze wash over her for a few moments.  The air was cooler now in the late evening, and the gentle currents wafted over the treetops at the edge of the farm and ruffled the matted fur of her forelock, her ears flicking as they caught the barest hint of the cooler autumn air that was to come soon.  Her shadow stretched out long behind her, the reddened rays of the lowering sun turning her orange coat a dark, burnished golden-brown.
Finally done, she thought.  Maybe tomorrow we can get the stuff we need.  Shoot, this wasn’t so bad-
A droning hum zoomed past one ear and she blinked rapidly, her eyes watering in response.  She sat up, flicking her ear in irritation as she stomped a forehoof on the ground.  “Aw, I hate mosquitoes!”
“Ah ain’t too partial to ‘em none, mahself,”  Scootaloo glanced around and saw Applejack pacing up behind her, her own ears flickering rapidly.  “Tell yah the truth though, I don’t think they’re gonna have much luck with munchin' on you kids; yer all wearin about half that field on yerselves.”  The mare grinned, shaking her head.  “You’uns are a pure-T mess, ah have tah tell yah.”
“Yeah, but it’s all cool.”  Scootaloo grinned.  “We did it, Applejack, look!”  She waved a foreleg at the garden plot.
“Yeah, ah been keepin’ an eye on you fillies t’day.  Y’all done a good heap o’ work, and I’m right proud of all of yah.”  Applejack turned her head to nudge the small pouch slung at one side, the bag clinking softly.  “Looks like it’s time ah kept mah end of the deal, huh?  Y’all ready fer yer wages?”
Sweetie Belle shoved the last of the lettuces out of the wagon, glaring at it until it rolled to a stop on the edge of the filled basket.  She jumped down from her perch and trotted over to Applejack, Apple Bloom following a short distance behind.  “What’s wages, Applejack?  Are they yummy?”
The peach colored mare laughed.  “They can be, ah reckon, if’n yah unload ‘em at Sugarcube Corners.  Ah’m talkin’ bout yer pay.”
“YAY!” Sweetie Belle shouted.  “Payday!”
“Moolah!”  Scootaloo added.
“Jingle!”  Apple Bloom ran in a circle around her big sister, then thumped to a stop beside her friends, the three looking up at Applejack with wide eyes.  “Um…how much?”  she added timidly, not wanting to appear greedy or anything, but the pouch Applejack bore might save their clubhouse and enable them to get down to the real work of discovering their cutie marks, and maybe even saving the world, or at least something cooler than picking vegetables.
Applejack chuckled softly.  “Lesson learned.  Yah might wanta ask that question before yah take on chores next time, just tah make sure ya ain’t getting’ cheated.  Don’t you worry though, yer big sister’s gonna pay yah fair an’ square.”
The three fillies watched with rapt attention as Applejack unhooked the pouch from its strap, shaking it open.  Scootaloo switched her tail absently at a mosquito on her haunch, pasting it with a dull thwack.
“Good shot,” Applejack mumbled around the bag.  Gripping the neck of it in her teeth, she shook out four golden coins in front of Sweetie Belle.  “Thar’ ya go.”
The three fillies lowered their heads, ears drooping as they examined their reward.  It might buy them a few boards, or some paint, or maybe a new curtain for the window which didn’t actually exist anymore…  “Thanks, Applejack,” Sweetie Belle offered in a low voice.  “We really appreciate-”
The mare chuckled loudly.  “Hold on, ah ain’t done yet.”  She shook four more coins out in front of Apple Bloom.
And then four more in front of Scootaloo.  The three fillies stood dumbfounded, jaws agape.
“Twelve bits??”  Apple Bloom shook her head and counted again.  This was more than her monthly allowance.  “Are you sure?  That’s an awful lot!”
Applejack yanked the drawstring of the pouch closed and hung it back on the work harness slung at her side.  “Well, looks to me like three fillies I know did an awful lot of work out here t’day.  That was a powerful lot o’ vittles you three hauled outa that field, and yah saved Big Mac, Granny and me the time an’ trouble o’ doin’ it ourselves.”  She regarded them with good humor.  “And bein’ that all three of yah kicked in and helped out, ah reckon all three of yah oughta get paid.”  She offered them a crooked grin, her emerald eyes gleaming.  “Or am I buckin’ the wrong tree again?  Ah didn’t overpay ya, did I?”
A chorus of “NO!” answered her back.
“Well, then, that settles that, ah reckon.”  She glanced at Apple Bloom.  “Ah see you thinkin’ thinks there, little sis.  What’s up?”
Apple Bloom’s eyes had been unfocused, lost in thought for a moment.  She regarded their earnings again, then looked up at her big sister with a sad gaze.  “Ah don’t think it’s gonna be enough to fix ever’thing.  It’s really wrecked bad.”
Her friends looked at the golden coins and traded a glance; they’d learned lately to trust Apple Bloom’s intuition on such things.  Sweetie Belle glanced unhappily behind them at the picked over garden, and then back to Applejack.  “Have you got any more chores we can do?”
“’Fraid not, girls.”  Applejack shrugged apologetically.  “Least not something suited to young’uns.  Ah’m afraid ah’m all tapped out.”  She shook her head, ears flicking irritably as another mosquito droned past, the advancing evening beginning to bring the annoying pests out in droves.  “Tell ya what, though.  Bein’ that it’s the weekend, and you ain’t got school tomorrow, why don’t you get up in the mornin’ and see if there’s other folks in town that needs a little help?  As hard as you three work, ah’m sure you’ll drum up enough jingle doin’ odd jobs here an’ there that you’ll set yerselves up and have enough to fix that clubhouse lickety-split.”
Apple Bloom jumped in place, her bedraggled hairbow bouncing limply.  “Yeah!  We can do it!  Maybe we can ask Rarity if she needs help…um…sortin’ fabric, or somethin’.”
An alarmed expression surfaced on Sweetie Belle’s face.  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”  Looking down at herself, she groaned, brushing ineffectually at the dried sweat and grime on her coat.  “At least it’s a clean idea, though.  She’s gonna go nuts when I get home.”
“It’s worth a try.”  Apple Bloom looked over at her other friend.  “What’ya say, Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo had remained oddly quiet for the past few moments.  She shrugged noncomittally, then nodded.  “Yeah, I guess, if you think it’ll work.”
“Don’t fret, sugarcube.  You’ll get yer clubhouse fixed up in a jiffy, ah’m sure.”  Applejack glanced up at the lowering sun.  “Why don’t y’all come on inside and get cleaned up?  You can sit down and have dinner with us if’n ya like.”  She grinned.  “Shoot, you can set to work chompin on some of them vittles yah picked today fer real, this time.”
Sweetie Belle shook her head.  “Thanks, but I really better get home.  I’m already probably gonna get yelled at, and I don’t want Rarity to come looking for me.”
Scootaloo stood up and shook herself.  “Yeah, I gotta fly, too.  C’mon, Sweetie Belle, you can ride with me.”  She grinned, her eyes flashing suddenly.  “I bet I can get you home faster than Rainbow Dash, even.”
“Really?”
Scootaloo mulled that one over for a second.  “Well, almost as fast.”  You never knew who might be flying by and listening in…
“Thanks, Scootaloo, that’ll be awesooMMWAOOOW!”  Sweetie Belle’s eyes had grown round as saucers.  “YOU HAVE A CUTIE MARK!”
Everyone blinked and replied in unison.  “What??”
Sweetie Belle began bouncing rapidly in place.  “On your flank, Scoot!  It’s even got wings, I think!”
“Where where where where where??”  Scootaloo turned her head around to peer at her own hindquarters, spinning around rapidly.  “I don’t see it-uff!”  Dizzy, she flopped over breathlessly, squinching her eyes shut and feeling slightly sick to her stomach.  “What is it, Sweetie Belle, I can’t see it!”
The little unicorn stepped close, squinting in the dim light.  “It’s a…something flying, it’s got wings, but there’s dirt all over it.”  She rubbed the spot with a forehoof, the fur underneath ruffling up.  “It’s a…oh.  It’s a mosquito.”  She flicked the dead insect away with distaste.
Scootaloo’s expression crashed into total misery.  “Aww come ON!”
Applejack repressed a laugh and walked over to the little pegasus, bending down down to nuzzle her forelock.  “Hang tough, sugarcube,” she said softly, “just like you did t’day.  One day it’ll pop up and yah won’t have tah hunt fer it ever again, don’t you worry.”
“Yeah, I know.”  Scootaloo stood up and sighed, smoothing the matted fur back down over her flank.  “One day.”