September 2 1006 Post Nightmare Moon
September 2 1006 Post Nightmare Moon
Spike sprinted through the town,ducking under hooves and leaping over boxes, casting a sidewards glance at the schools clock tower.
"Shit shit shit!" He cursed as he picked up the pace.
As he sprinted across the town center, four pairs of eyes watched him.
"Where do you think he's off to in such a hurry?" Scootaloo asked no pony in particular.
Sweetie shrugged and leaned against the tree a bit more. "Probably a last minute errand for my sister or Twilight."
"Speakin' of which. Ah hope they ain't too worried you were gone so long." Applebloom spoke up from her patch of grass. "Ah mean, you've stayed the weekend with Scoots and Ah before, but normally ya'll give them a bit more warnin' than a note in your room."
"I know I know." Sweetie waved her hoof dismissively. "So. You girls pick up any interesting gossip?"
"Nope"
"Nuh uh."
"What about you Icing?"
"Huh?" The pale lavender earthpony asked, her pale blonde mane shifting slightly as she turned her head. "Oh... uh not really. Sunny was asking me if my mommies were acting weird. But you'd have to ask her for more information."
Scootaloo shrugged. "So aside from the rumors circulating that Applebloom and Spike are a couple..."
"Which we're not!" Applebloom yelled, blushing.
Sweetie swore she caught a glimpse of a frown on Icing's face as she mouthed something.
She shrugged again. "Looks like we'll have to do some fact finding tomorrow after school."
"Oh...tomorrows no good for me. I need to help mom run the store." Icing frowned even more.
Applebloom nodded. "Ah heard about that. The Cakes set up a second shop in Manehattan huh? So they took Pound and Pumpkin and moved there a few months ago givin' Pinkie the shop here. Ah forgot about that."
"Oh yeah." Scootaloo nodded, remembering. "But wait. Isn't your cutie mark an... electro... card game line or something?"
Icing rolled her eyes. "An Electrocardiogram. A heart monitor."
When she received blank stares from everypony present except Sweetie she sighed. "The thing in the hospital that when somepony dies makes the long beeping noise."
"Oh!" They all replied at once.
"You'd have to go to medical school before you could do anything related to your cutie mark huh?" Sweetie guessed.
Icing nodded. "Much like you'd have to find a talent agency and start with small gigs."
Sweetie poked her tongue out. "No thanks. That can wait until I'm done with high school."
"Same." Icing agreed.
"Anyway..." Scootaloo spoke up. "It's just going to be the three of us doing the investigating is it?"
"Ah think we could convince Sunny to help us out. And Ahcing would be able to gather information while she's workin' with her mom." Applebloom nodded.
"I could do that. Yeah." Icing agreed.
"I'll see if I can't rope Sugar Cube into helping us as well." Sweetie smiled before covering her ears.
Almost on cue, Applebloom and Scootaloo took a deep breath and shrieked. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DETECTIVES! YAAY!"
Icing cringed as her ears started to ring. "I never realized how loud those two can be..."
Sweetie giggled, noticing the strange looks her two friends were giving her. "Something wrong girls?"
"Yeah. You didn't join in the chant." Scootaloo noted.
"Why didn't you chant with us?" Applebloom asked.
Sweetie looked back at them confusedly. "Well... I got my cutie mark... so I'm not a crusader any more."
"That ain't true!" Applebloom protested. "We told you that in Sugarcube corner when you got your cutie mark!"
Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah! Just having your cutie mark doesn't mean you're not a crusader anymore! Once we've all earned our marks, then we can hoof our cloaks to the next batch of blankflanks to be the crusaders."
"Yeah!" Applebloom agreed. "Only then do we stop bein' the CmC!"
"CmC?" The other three fillies present exchanged confused looks.
"That's what mah sister calls us when we're together. Ahem." Applebloom cleared her throat and proceeded to put on a thicker accent, attempting to mimic her sisters voice.
"Those three fillies, the CmC, real chaos makers. Ah'd say they rival Discord for the amount of mischief they create."
The giggles this elicited from her friends were short lived though as another thought popped into Scootaloo's head.
"Hey Sweetie?"
"Hmm?"
"A couple days ago while we were...." The orange pegasus glanced at the other earthpony, carefully choosing her words. "...doing...something... you said you could barely do any magic that wasn't levitation...what about those teleports, the shield spell and.... well the other spell."
Sweetie blinked for a bit, before a fuse connected in her brain and she realized what her friend was asking. "Oh... well they all drain my mana reserves really quick. which isn't a problem for burst spells like the teleport and... the other spell. But the shield...I just don't have the magic to hold it up for long." The unicorn filly shrugged. "Well... at least according to Twilight. My music making spell is part of my..." She deliberated before holding her forelegs in the air to do air quotes. "Signature spell. Like Twilight's Blink spell or my sisters gem finder spell."
"You unicorns and your weird magic rules, Twilight could do all those things and not break a sweat, explain that."
"Twilight isn't normal." Applebloom blurted out without thinking. "Ah- ah mean... she ain't a normal unicorn, her magic is easily three times stronger than normal."
The other three fillies looked at her and shrugged.
"Oh hey Scoots. I think I was able to put together a new bit of music to help you fight. Wanna hear it?"
"Huh? Yeah sure. But first I gotta use the little fillies room, gonna come with?"
"Okay." Sweetie nodded as she trotted off with Scootaloo, leaving Applebloom and Icing behind.
"So you like Spike do you?" Icing half snarled after the other two were out of earshot.
Applebloom jumped at the other earthponies tone. "Wha- well ah mean... it's possible."
Icing wasted no time getting in Applebloom's face. "Stay away from him, he's mine."
"Who's yours?" another voice asked.
"Spahke!" Applebloom exclaimed before she galloped over and hid behind him.
The young dragon looked at the pale yellow filly and back at Icing. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked as he hefted a bag onto his shoulder. "If I am i can leave."
"Please don't." Applebloom whispered. "Ah'll pay you, three amethysts we found while plantin' trees last week, to escort me home."
"Amethysts?" Spikes eyes lit up at the mention of a sweet gem. "You got a deal!" the dragon exclaimed,gently taking Appleblooms hoof in his claw, an act which only drew the filly more ire from Icing.
"After you lady Anne." Spike gestured after helping the filly to her hooves, his years of Canterlot gentledragon upbringing kicking in.
Applebloom set a brisk pace, eager to get as far away from Icing as quickly as possible.