//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - A Flyer // Story: Gummy Pie // by DigitalChaos //------------------------------// As the Crusaders and Spike all walked back to the barn on Sweet Apple Acres, there was almost complete silence. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle knew there was something wrong between Scootaloo and Gummy, but they couldn't place it. Spike knew exactly what was wrong, but didn't say anything, knowing it would only make things worse. Gummy was depressed about what Scootaloo had said, and Scootaloo was too angry at Gummy for lying to say anything. So they just walked in silence. They finally hit the barn, and found a tired-looking Big Macintosh waiting for them outside of it. "Are y'all done with your race?" he asked awkwardly, even though he could clearly see they were done. "Yeah," Spike replied, being the only one of them who felt much like speaking. "Lime won, because at the last second he did a really far jump over the finish line! It was awesome!" "Alrighty then," Big Mac replied apathetically. "Ah need help buckin' the apple trees and collectin' the apples. Scootaloo and Lime, ya'll should probably help me buck the trees. Apple Bloom, Spike, and Sweetie can collect the apples afterwards. Any questions or complaints?" Big Mac looked around at the children surrounding him, and saw they were all shaking their heads. "Well, then get started." They all hurried back into the apple orchard, and got to work. They rarely spoke, as there wasn't really much to talk about. Gummy and Scootaloo would often look at each other, then look away, remembering what Scootaloo had said to him and memories of him as an alligator. Gummy was still slightly sore over the time the Crusaders had tried for critter-sitting cutie marks. Scootaloo was still annoyed about the time he attacked Rainbow Dash's face. She hadn't been at the party, but that had been Watch Rainbow Dash Day, just like every sixteenth of the month. The other workers often gave Gummy surprised looks as he worked. He had definitely gotten the most work done out of the young ones, and could normally buck the trees harder than a colt his age should be able to. Add that he was frustrated, and he could buck them almost as hard as Applejack. None of them commented, so he just went about his business, bucking the trees faster than Sweetie could catch the apples. As Gummy was about to buck another tree, he was interrupted by the sound of whooshing air. He looked upwards to see Ponyville's mailmare coming in for a landing in the middle of the orchard. She trotted over to Big Macintosh and handed him what looked like a flyer. After giving a wave and a warm smile to the Crusaders and Spike, she took off galloping down the path in the middle of the orchard. She opened her wings and flew out of their sight in seconds. The Crusaders and Spike were over there in a flash. Instead of running, Gummy used his power to screw physics to fall from a tree above Big Macintosh. He landed on the older stallion's back. He grabbed it from him, jumped off his back, and began to read out loud. "Dear colts and fillies, the Ponyville school will be hosting another talent show this year. We hope to help our foals grow and learn more about their talents and what they love--" "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever! Get past the namby-pamby stuff and get to the important things!" Scootaloo yelled out, managing to looked bored and excited at the same time. "Yeah, it was becoming a run on sentence, anyway," Sweetie Belle added. This got her quizzical looks from Spike, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, which she didn't notice because she was too busy waiting eagerly for Gummy to start speaking again. "Okie dokie lokie! Blah, blah, blah, cucumber, blah... here!" Gummy continued, "It will be a comedy show, and the prizes for the first place winner(s) will be jesters' hat(s) and medal(s). The first and second place will get medals of varying colors. We hope all the foals in our school participate! It will be hosted tomorrow at five in the afternoon.Remember to have fun!" "Hmm... comedy... Ah guess we never really did try for comedy cutie marks like we said we would, did we?" Apple Bloom rubbed her invisible beard with her hoof in thought. "Nope," agreed Big Macintosh. At this point, he was trying to back away so he didn't have to critique whatever ideas they came up with. He hadn't been able to make it to their last performance, but Applejack had given him a summary. He slowly backed away until he was out of sight and ran off. Spike didn't want any part of their plans either, and did the same. "What's up with them?" Scootaloo gestured with her hoof toward where Spike and Big Mac had disappeared. "No idea," replied Apple Bloom. She and Gummy were also staring in confusion where they had run off. Sweetie Belle was staring off into space. "We should get back to the clubhouse and brainstorm ideas," Gummy suggested. This got nods of approval from all present. They all galloped as fast as they could toward their clubhouse in the forest. They managed to weave through the trees without hitting a single one. Okay, maybe they hit one... or two... or seven. The point is, they got there in one piece. They gathered in a circle under their thinking spot. "Hmmmm... we could try doing some sort of show?" Sweetie Belle looked around to the others to see what they thought. "Nah, I don't think any of us can act. Besides, we don't know how to write a script," Scootaloo pointed out. "We could do a song, like you guys did last time." Gummy didn't notice the stares he got from his slip until someone decided to speak up. "How the hay do you know that we sang a song last talent show? Now that Ah think about it, how do you know so much about Ponyville?" Apple Bloom questioned. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at him, wondering how he was going to answer this question. "Uh... on of my friends at my school in Manehattan...uhh... Babs, uh, Seed! Yeah!" he said, thinking of the first name that came to mind. He had heard she was from Manehattan and had visited Ponyville before, so he used her. He felt as though there was something wrong with saying he knew her, but couldn't place his hoof on what. He decided it was the usual guilt from lying. "She, uh, told me all about Ponyville!" Scootaloo looked at him and quietly facehoofed. "Babs? You mean my cousin from Manehattan? You know her?!" Apple Bloom had such a big smile on her face that it looked like she might burst. Gummy finally realized that everyone here had already met her before. He hadn't ever heard of ponies with the same name before, so he had to go with it. "Er, yeah! Her!" Gummy smiled and nodded his head vigorously. "Well, shoot! Maybe Ah should see if she can come over this weekend, since we all know her!" "Nah! Even though Babs is cool, we're going to be working on our talent show all week. We won't really have much time to talk to her or hang out with her," Scootaloo pointed out, trying to help Gummy's situation. Gummy sent a thankful look in her direction. "Yeah, Ah guess you're right." Apple Bloom sighed. "We got kinda off track there. Let's get back to workin'!" The Crusaders all got to work. They brought out the toy piano, got things to make props, and set a place to practice choreograpy. Apple Bloom did the choreography again, Scootaloo did the props, and Gummy and Sweetie worked on the music. After sorting everything out, they got to work.