//------------------------------// // Friends are on a Need-to-Know Basis // Story: Apple Bloom's Huragok Helper // by Vigilance //------------------------------// Apple Bloom awoke with a yawn, her mouthing gaping open widely as she sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes of sleep. Stretching her hooves out and getting the last throngs of sleep out of herself, the young filly threw off her covers and hopped out onto the floor. She instantly made her way to the bathroom, relieved herself, and turned to the stairs and sped down to the living room and then the kitchen. “Mornin’ Apple Bloom.” Her orange furred sister Applejack remarked from the table as she chewed on some toast while reading a newspaper, her tone had more than just a little anger in it. As Apple Bloom had expected on her run back from her clubhouse, Applejack was furious with her coming home so late. The filly had tried to explain she had been caught in the rainstorm and was delayed that way, but Applejack didn’t buy it. She knew the walk back from the school would have given the filly more than enough time to get back to the farm before the storm started. She accused the filly of stopping to sulk in anger or some other thing and sent her to bed without another word. Add that to the trouble Apple Bloom was in at school and the filly was surprised her sister didn’t have visible steam coming from her head. Apple Bloom avoided her sister’s gaze and sat at her own seat. Her big brother Macintosh set a bowl of cereal in front of her already prepared to the last detail. Apple Bloom smiled, it was her favorite kind too! “Thanks Big Mac!” “Eeyup.” The red stallion replied as the filly began to devour the food in front of her. Granny Smith made no comment; the old mare had fallen asleep at her chair and was now snoring softly. Her oatmeal was still steaming however, indicating she’d not been asleep long. One quiet breakfast, shower, teeth brushing, and bow tying later and Apple Bloom was ready for the day. The filly raced down the stairs from her room once more and made for the door. Once outside, she made a beeline for the orchard that held her clubhouse. She was eager to see her new acquaintance and didn’t want to keep him waiting. She was just past the farmhouse’s fence when a voice stopped her dead in her tracks. “Apple Bloom! Where’d ya think your goin’?” The filly turned to see Applejack, a sack of grains on her back, staring down at her. Apple Bloom smiled sheepishly and scraped her hoof along the ground. “Ah uh… Ah was headin’ ta my clubhouse to check on it…” Applejack snorted. “Ah see. Well little missy, ya can forget about it cause yer goin’ straight ta school.” “What?!” Apple Bloom blurted out. “But Ah… But Ah got ta go and…” “No buts.” Applejack shot back. “Yer in enough trouble as it is. Ah ain’t letting ya run off somewhere till ya’ve paid the price for yer ‘disorderly conduct’.” “But Applejack…” “Ta school, now. And don’t think of makin’ a circle and goin’ ta yer clubhouse anyway, cause Ah’ll know and Ah assure ya ya’ll not like the consequences.” Apple Bloom huffed angrily and stomped off down the dirt path to the school, not once looking back as she made her way to Ponyville’s prime location for the education of foals. Applejack shook her head as she watched her sister leave. “Ugh, sometimes Ah just don’t know what ta do with her. If only…” The mare shook her head, her Stetson shaking a little. “Oh, never mind…” Applejack turned around and headed back to her previous task. ~~~~ At the Crusader Clubhouse, the Huragok was twiddling with its box. Its tentacles felt around the rectangular object with a meticulous fervor, trying with relative ease to repair the broken device now that it was no longer wet. The little hooved creature had not returned yet, it hoped she was in working order. She was so very nice for bringing it to a place with so many things to fix and it would be displeased if something happened to her. Being a Huragok, however, the creature soon passed such thoughts away and focused solely on work. The device was coming along nicely; it was sure to be ready soon. Screwing the last fiber into the box, the Huragok let out a happy whistling sound. Pressing one of the many buttons adorning the box, the biocomputer waited patiently for the device to activate. When it did, however, it began to fizz and shake and sparks began to fly from it. The Huragok dropped the box just in time to avoid the front panel as it shot off and smashed into a nearby chair. Staring at the now impaled chair, the Huragok tilted its head confusedly and looked at the box again. Looking closely, it could see some of the circuitry was still a little damp. The alien let out a deep whistle/sigh. It was so very displeased that Covenant technology couldn’t take even the tiniest bit of liquid without malfunctioning. Forerunner tech never did such things; it was so durable. Heck, the Huragok had seen Forerunner technology that was required to be wet to work! Gazing at the chair with the panel in it again, a thought came to the Huragok. The chair was broken, so now it needed fixing. Considering it had to wait for the box to dry completely, it might not be a bad idea to start fixing all the other objects in this clubhouse. There wasn’t any metals or electricity to use, so no teleporters to the next continent over… yet, but it could still improve things to the best of its abilities. Resolving to start with the chair, the Huragok floated over to it and felt the back of it. Wood. Hmm… The Huragok had never worked with wood before, it had seen wood, but never fixed wooden objects before. As if that mattered, it was a Huragok! Its existence was fixing things. Seeing some trees just outside the clubhouse, the Huragok floated towards the door. It was fixing time! ~~~~ The loud ding of the school bell rang out through the air and the front door of the Ponyville schoolhouse burst open to let loose a tidal wave of eager foals. It was recess, and they all planned to make the best of their break from the usual dull of school. As the flood of foals became little more than a trickle, three particular fillies trotted into the schoolyard, last ones out due to their conversation. “I still can’t believe Miss Cheerilee did that to you!” The orange Pegasus Scootaloo blurted out angrily as she, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle exited the schoolhouse. “You’d think she’d have learned by now that every other word Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon say is a lie!” “I’m with Scootaloo.” The white unicorn Sweetie Belle nodded. “Diamond Tiara’s attitude is untoward that of the proper expectations of a decorous young mare.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stopped dead in their tracks to look at their friend quizzically. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Wow Sweetie Belle, glad to see you’re branching out into thesaurus now too.” The unicorn filly blushed heavily and starting kicking her hoof to the ground. Apple Bloom motioned to the two of them and they continued to walk once more, trying to forget the whole thing. “Ah just wish she wasn’t so mean all the time.” The farmer filly grumbled. “It’s like she feeds off it or something.” Scootaloo chuckled. “Yeah, she’s like a Changeling of hate. Maybe if we’re nice to her, she’ll go away.” Apple Bloom snorted. “Fat chance.” The three fillies sat down at their favorite outdoor table and began to converse more. From silly things like what colt was the most balanced on their hind-hooves to very serious things like how to get their Cutie Marks. It had generally been a normal talk, right up until the conversation turned to the day before and its consequences. “So Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle started. “I went by the farm this morning to see if you wanted to walk to school with me, but your sister told me you were in a lot trouble and would be walking alone. I knew Applejack’s probably mad about the Diamond Tiara incident, but not that mad.” Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow. “Geez, what’s that about?” Apple Bloom shrugged. “Well, on top of what happened with Diamond Tiara Ah was late gettin’ home cause of the thing that crashed in the…” The filly clasped her hooves tightly around her mouth before she could go any further with her tale. It was too late, however, and the other two fillies instantly shot their heads forward and started to hound Apple Bloom with questions. “Crash? What crash?” “Did something fall from the sky?” “Do you think it could help us get our Cutie Marks?” “Did you get hurt?” Apple Bloom felt a bead of sweat go do her face. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were her two best friends in the entire world. The only thing that kept the three fillies from being sisters were biological differences and it pained Apple Bloom to even think of keeping them out of the loop. But this was no ordinary loop; she had found something she couldn’t explain even if she had the next thousand years to think about it. Like her family, she needed to find the right time to tell her friends about the tentacle creature currently residing in her clubhouse. After all, you don’t take the discovery of an alien life form lightly. The farm filly gulped. “Ah meant that Ah crashed, Ah tripped Ah mean. The roads had gotten pretty messy cause of the rain and I slipped on some mud and I fell into some bushes… yeah.” Sweetie Belle cocked an eyebrow. “But you said something fell, something other than yourself I mean.” Apple Bloom bit her lip. “Uh… yeah… um, a branch! A branch fell down and hit me and caused me ta trip in some mud and crash into the bushes.” “Why’d you say crash?” Scootaloo questioned. “Seems like just saying it fell would work better.” Apple Bloom laughed nervously. “Uh… poor word choice?” The other two fillies gave each other a not-buying-it glance, but shrugged and decided that they probably weren’t going to get anything from their friend like this. “Alright.” Sweetie Belle started. “So we’re all ready to meet at the clubhouse today at four to start searching for our Cutie Marks right?” “Yeah!” Scootaloo replied happily. Apple Bloom near jumped out of her seat. “WHAT?! NO! Ah mean… we can’t.” “Why not?” Scootaloo asked. “Ah… a skunk got in last night and stunk up the whole place!” Apple Bloom blurted out. “Ah reckon it’ll take awhile for the smell to clear out completely…” “I don’t see what the problem is…” The Cutie Mark Crusaders turned and were faced with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the pair having clearly been eavesdropping. The pink and silver earth fillies, respectively, sneered and chuckled cruelly at the Crusaders as they continued their verbal assault. “Yeah, a skunk would probably be great company for your family Apple Bloom, considering they wash once every year.” Sneered Diamond Tiara, swishing her streaked pale violet mane in the process. “Yeah.” Silver Spoon added. “I bet they fear the very mention of soap.” “Diamond Tiara…” Apple Bloom grounded out through gritted teeth. “Keep talking like that and ya’ll need ta see a dentist for teeth replacement!” Diamond Tiara snorted. “Humph, yeah right. Come with six inches of me, and you’ll be cleaning the school floor again.” “It’s probably the only thing she’ll ever be good at.” Silver Spoon said. Apple Bloom felt anger rush through her body like an out-of-control river, but still managed to keep herself from giving Diamond Tiara the decking she so obviously needed. A snarky remark was in the making in the back of Apple Bloom’s mind, but she knew Tiara would only go tell Miss Cheerilee and get her in more trouble, so the filly just turned around and ignored the two as they laughed some more and then left. “Good job not losing your cool.” Sweetie Belle commented. Apple Bloom huffed. “One day, Ah’m gonna lose my cool all over her face and horsefeathers to the consequences! She deserves it…” “No argument there.” Scootaloo chuckled. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom chuckled as well. “Well, ok… if the clubhouse isn’t available, then we can meet at my sister’s. Rarity’s watching me again while our parents are in Canterlot. Does that sound good?” “Yup.” Scootaloo nodded. “If Applejack lets me…” Apple Bloom grumbled. The sound of the school bell filled the air, signaling it was time once again for class. The three Crusaders hopped down from their seats and headed to the schoolhouse, ready to continue their school day. ~~~~ The Huragok floated backward, taking in its life passion with more of a did-I-do-anything-wrong eye than simply admiring its work. It had taken a tree and a half, but the improvements to the chair were quite nice. It was slightly bigger, and certainly extremely streamlined as if a master crafts-pony had done it. But that was simply the cosmetic side of the coin. On the functional side, the chair could now swivel, lower up and down considerably, had wheels to roll around on, and it had nice armrests with collapsible decks to hold several objects on. Oh, and even Big Mac couldn’t break it with a sledgehammer if he wanted to, it was now as indestructible as wooden chair in a small filly’s clubhouse could possibly be. Satisfied with the upgrades it had applied, the Huragok looked around for more things to fix. Though true it couldn’t make technologically advanced improvements without the proper materials, it could still fix things a great deal. Spying about for a moment, the Huragok made its choice. Floating to its new center of focus, the Huragok began to wonder how well it could reinforce a wooden door with rocks.