Ponysona: Arcana Crusaders

by Phoenix Kitten


SC Chaos: Sweet Apple Secrets and lies.


September 3rd 1006 Post Nightmare Moon

"I told you, mom gave me the bits to go out and buy some groceries and use the leftovers to get some candy, but everything she sent me to get was sold out so I spent it all on candy!" Sugar Cube protested as trotted along side her aunty.

"Give it a rest Sugar. I talked with my sister and Twilight and neither of them said anything about giving you the bits to do any shopping, especially after Spike did it not even two days ago." Sweetie rolled her eyes.

Sugar Cube pouted. "So remind me again why I'm not going to just take off and leave you to do whatever it is you and your friends are going to do today?"

"Because if you don't, I'll tell my sister how you keep getting the chocolate and candy." Sweetie smirked.

The chocolate brown unicorn filly huffed and pouted mumbling under her breath. "Tattle tail."

Sweetie just rolled her eyes and lead the young unicorn toward Sweet Apple Acres.
Thankfully they had no school even though it was a Tuesday, due to miss Cheerilee taking her bi-monthly day off to relax at the spa, which left the group of fillies to do as they pleased.

"Sweetie, Sugar!" Applebloom yelled as she bounded down the path towards them. "Sweetie! We got a problem! A big one!"

"Applebloom! How big?" Sweetie asked.

"What problem? Is Scootaloo trying to throw herself off a cliff to force herself to learn how to fly again?" Sugar Cube asked.

"Well... not quite that big." Applebloom glanced around before pulling Sweetie in close and whispering in her ear.

"What!?? How? When?" Sweetie practically shrieked.

"We don't know. Scootaloo woke up, went to check on it, and it was gone. We have no ahdea where it could be." Applebloom shook her head. "This is bad."

"Bad? No? Bad would be a page got torn out. This is horrible! What if somepony finds it and falls in? Or if it get's thrown in the trash?" Sweetie panicked. "If we can't get to them in time, somepony could very well die!"

Sugar Cube just blinked as she watched on. "Did you three build another catapult and lose it somehow?"

"What? No!" the two fillies said.

"After Tweedle Dee" Sweetie gestured to Applebloom "and the absent Tweedle Dum nearly bled out from our test of the first one why, why in the name of the Princess's would we build another one?" she asked. "Besides even if we wanted to, we can't. Bloom destroyed the blueprints she drew up for it."

"Mah sister made me do it." Applebloom pouted.

"Where's Scootaloo?"

"She went off to grab the others. She should be..."

"I'm back!" Scootaloo called out as she trotted over with Icing and Sunny following along behind her. "I also told DT and SS about you know what." The orange pegasus winked to Applebloom and Sweetie.

"Good. We'll need all the eyes we can get looking out for it." Sweetie nodded. "Now then..." She turned to Applebloom. "Anything we should know?"

Applebloom shook her head. "Just that mah sister ain't been around at all since the dinner they all had at Sugarcube corner."

"Well then, that's a start I guess. Do you know where she's staying then?"

"At Gear's store... ah think."

"Alright then, you should go investigate there, which pretty much gives us our teams then doesn't it?" Sweetie nodded to herself. "Applebloom, you take Icing, Sunny, you're with Sugar Cube, you two investigate your house. I'll take Scootaloo and see what I can learn from my sister's store."

"Oh." Sunny spoke up "Maybe I could go with you instead.."

"Uh... and ah'd feel more comfortable with Scootaloo at mah side..."

Sweetie blinked and swept her gaze across her friends. "Well then I guess that leaves.... Where's Sugar Cube?"

"She bolted as soon as you started rattling off names and destinations." Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head. "Guess that means Icing has to go by herself or form a trio with two of us."

"I'll go with Applebloom and Scootaloo." Icing spoke up.

"Alright then." Sweetie sighed. "Everypony meet back here in about... two hours."

The five fillies looked each other in the eye and nodded before breaking into the two groups and heading off.

Applebloom paced back and forth at the gate to her family's farm, casting occasional glances to the sky. "Anythin' new happened you two?"

A burst of static sounded over her earpiece. "No not yet. It's still producing new pages at an alarming rate. Silver Spoon has collected all the pages that appeared around town, but nothing bad has happened yet."

"Okay... if you can get in touch with..."

"Sorry." Another voice burst onto the line. "Sorry. Sunny got me distracted by something, what's going on?"

"You explain it to her Diamond. Ah can see Scootaloo approachin' now." Applebloom pushed a button on her earpiece and turned it off. "Whatcha find Scoots?"

"Paydirt. I'll show you later. But for now."

"Right right. Focus."

"I saw Sweetie and Sunny making their way back here. They shouldn't be long."

"Who shouldn't be long?" Sunny's voice came from right behind Scootaloo.

"What's going on Applebloom?" Sweetie asked, Diamond Tiara's voice still barely audible through the unicorns earpiece.

"As we got near Gear's store, mah sister came out and started trottin' back to the farm. We quickly ducked into an alleyway and started followin' her. We followed her back here after ah sent Scootaloo to go get you."

"I see. Well... this is bad, not going to lie." Sweetie sighed. "Has anypony reacted to it yet?"

"Not that ah saw. Scoots?"

"Nope. Seems we're the only ones who can notice it, possibly due to our Persona's."

"Well we can't deal with it now."

"Ah agree, it can wait for a few days. We have our last test for this year startin' next week."

"Argh... I completely forgot about that."

"Hey... what are you three talking about?" Sunny asked.

The trio froze up and began to whisper amongst themselves before turning around.

"We weren't talkin' about anythin'." Applebloom lied.

"Nothing at all." Scootaloo nodded.

"Well I wouldn't call test preparation nothing..." Sweetie added.

"Oh... that's right we have a test next week don't we?" Sunny sighed.

"In any case, we came here for a reason." Sweetie spoke up. "The game.... is ahoof!"

"Anything?"

"No. They're still applebuckin'."

"I get it's a big orchard... but aren't they usually faster than this?"

"And doesn't Applejack normally help kick the apples off as well, rather than just standing there catching them in a bucket on her back?"

"Maybe she hurt herself while at Gears?"

"What could she possibly do there to hurt her back?"

"...too many things you don't want to hear about."

"How do you know?"

"You don't want to know how I know."

"Focus girls. We have a piece of evidence forming. Listen."

"...ah'm just sayin' it'll look mighty odd if somepony comes around here and see's you ain't buckin' any apples."

"I understand that, but well... i'm still a bit out of touch with what happened. Isn't there some injury that flares up from time to time that would make a good excuse?"

"Well... eeyup. Applejack's always had a bit of a bad back since she took a nasty fall when she was just a filly."

"Then I'll just say that's what is happening."

The conversation ground to a halt as the sounds of barking drew the two ponies attention.
"Hey!"

"Winona!"

"Shush! They'll hear us!"

Appleblooms head poked out from the trees after the brown blur that darted out, barking and growling. "Ah think they already did."

Big Macintosh stared at the Apple family dog, and with a stern voice, gave the Border Collie a command. "Winona. Heel!"
Instantly the dog skidded to a halt next to the red stallion, growling and barking at Applejack.
Casting a look at the family pet to silence her before glancing towards the five fillies as they step out. "What are you fillies doin' spyin' on us? Especially you Applebloom, what are you thinkin' spyin' on yer family like that?"

"Well... uh...." Applebloom stammered.

"It was my idea!" Sweetie spoke up. "I noticed something weird was going on and convinced the others to help me find out what exactly it was."

Big Macintosh looked the white unicorn filly up and down. "Well... ah reckon if ya'll were curious, all you had to do was ask."

"Alright then." Sweetie nodded. "Why was Winona barking and growling at Applejack like she's a complete stranger?"

"Ah...ah'd lahke to know that too... it's plum confusin'." Applebloom added meekly. "Ah mean... Applejack was the one that got us Winona raght? So why is she actin' lahke she don't know her."

Big Macintosh nudged the orange mare gently, who had been standing stunned next to him.

"Huh?... Oh oh!" She cleared her throat. "She can probably just smell somepony else on me and it's makin' her nervous." She held her hoof out for Winona to smell before patting the Collie. "See?"

"Hmmm...." Sweetie narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing over the orange mare. "I guess that makes sense..."

The silence continued awkwardly.

"Ain't it gettin' a bit late out girls? Ah reckon ya'll should be gettin' home." Big Macintosh spoke up.

"But it's only...." Scootaloo trailed off before looking at the clock tower back in Ponyville. "Whoa... 7:15. That does sound like a good time to get home. I just gotta head back to the clubhouse to pick up my scooter." she lied before trotting off into the orchard.

"Ah... ah guess..." Applebloom nodded, trotting past her two siblings and their pet, towards the family house.

"Y-yeah." Sunny nodded and turned before Sweetie grabbed her foreleg and took her aside to talk.

"Would you like an escort back to Sugarcube Corner Ahcing?" Big Macintosh offered.

"What? Oh uh.. yes please mister Macintosh." The filly nodded, watching as Sweetie and Sunny trotted down the path back to town together, talking and laughing before falling in step beside the large red stallion.