//------------------------------// // Small Assistance // Story: Melody for my Dear // by FerociousCreation //------------------------------// Melody for my Dear Ch. 9 One loud yawn was let out by the orange filly that sat in the red wagon. “So that’s what happened?” “Yup,” Sweetie Belle replied with a smile. Meanwhile, Applebloom was walking slightly ahead, pulling the wagon with the rope she was using earlier. The small earth pony turned her head to see her two friends sitting in the four wheeled cart. “Ah think by now the two of them should be at the market.” “Actually, you forgot to mention Angel,” the white pony responded as she looked at her notes. “But why do your notes say, ‘Big Macintosh and Angel seem to dislike each other,’” Scootaloo pointed at the paper Sweetie Belle was holding. “As it says, they seem to not like each other.” “I’ll make sure not to miss out on important details like that.” “Well hold your breath girls, ‘cause we’re arriving to town,” cried the pink bowed pony with joy. “YEAY,” Sweetie Belle shrieked as her voice cracked. “Ow…,” the filly pegasus complained rubbing her now ringing ear. “Hehe, sorry Scoot.” “Well, just make sure you keep your voice down when we are around Big Mac and Fluttershy. This is a mission after all.” “That’s right,” Applebloom exclaimed. “We must keep a low profile if we expect to investigate unseen.” “And how will we do that,” Scootaloo questioned. “I’ll fill you in on the details later.” As the wagon puller turned her head, a small grin grew on the filly’s face. “Umm… what details,” the pegasus asked in question. “Beats me. She didn’t tell me about any details on how we need to keep a low profile.” “Don’ chu worry about it,” Applebloom reassured. “You’ll figure it out.” Finding the market place was not a hard task for the three fillies because of a large collection of stalls covered a good section of the town. Assorted colored cloths stretched over the top of most of the vendors that stood at their stations. Upon arriving, three pairs of eyes looked around for Fluttershy and Big Macintosh. Even though there were not a lot of ponies in the market, there were a lot of stalls to look at and some stalls were behind others. Walking behind a building, Applebloom stopped and her friends hopped out of the wagon. “Alright girls,” the yellow pony exclaimed. “Let’s split up an’ look fer our targets!” “Targets,” Scootaloo questioned. “Well, if we are gonna get our cutie marks in spyin’, we might as well talk like one.” “Makes sense,” Sweetie Belle agreed. “Then let’s go and… umm… BRING THEM BACK DEAD OR ALIVE!” “Sweetie Belle, that’s more of a police officer,” Scootaloo chuckled a little as she corrected her friend. “Oops, let me rework that phrase.” Briefly thinking for a moment, the white unicorn squeaked, “THEN LET’S MAKE A LOVELY DISCOVORY!” “Sounds more of an archeologist.” “You know what I mean.” “Then let’s do it,” cried Applebloom. With raze of their arms, the three of them chanted, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PONY LOCATORS ARE GO!” And with a quick dash, the fillies scattered. *** Thirty minutes have passed since the Cutie Mark Crusaders have split up. Applebloom slowly walked to where she last saw her friends a half an hour ago. The rope that attached itself to the wagon was still wrapped around Applebloom’s torso. As the yellow pony rounded around the corner, she saw her friends sitting in the shade of the building. Sweetie Belle scratched her chin with a puzzled look while Scootaloo happily munched on a bag full of popcorn. Approaching her two friends, Applebloom asked, “So, I am assuming none of you two found our targets.” “Nope, no goldfish in the barrel yet,” Sweetie Belle said still scratching her chin. “Wha kinda phhrase ifs dat,” Scootaloo spat with her mouth full of popcorn. “Hey, say it don’t spray it.” Several flakes of dehydrated corn stuck to the white pony’s body as Sweetie Belle whipped them off. Letting out a heavy sigh, the filly pulling the wagon plopped her rear onto the ground in a bit of a huff. Depressed, the pink bow on Applebloom’s head sagged in disappointment as well as her expression. “Feer up girls,” smiled Scootaloo with her mouth full of popcorn. “The day isn’t ofer yet.” Looking up sat two dark clouds hung over the pegasus’ friends, blocking the sun from bathing their necks. If only I could think of a way to find them easier. Something then flew into Scootaloo’s view and made a black flicker. Her two eyes looked around to see what caused the sun light to blink in such a manor. Before she knew it, the black flicker reappeared and darted at the young fowl. It didn’t surprise Scootaloo that she flinched as the sudden attacker darted toward her, but wondered where it went. A tickling sensation came from under her arm. A wasp. Startled, the filly reached her free arm into the air to swat the pest, but it was too quick for her and jumped into the bag of popcorn. “AHH,” Scootaloo shrieked and dropped the bag of popcorn. “What in the hay is goin’ on Scoot,” Applebloom questioned. Backing away from the mess of dry corn, the pegasus exclaimed, “There is a wasp in my bag!” “So what,” Sweetie Belle responded. “SO WHAT?! THAT THING COULD HAVE STUNG ME!” “Ah, there you are you little rascal you,” the earth pony looked into the bag. But instead of an angry glare of a mean wasp, was a frown and sad expression. It’s wing was bent and was trying to drag a small piece of popcorn out of the bag. The bag then tilted upwards and the insect began sliding towards the opening. Plopping onto the ground, the yellow wasp looked up at three bodies that swallowed up the sunlight. Feeling threatened, it wielded its barb, pointing it at the girls that surrounded it. Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle jumped away from the aggressive pest, but Applebloom remained stationary. “Are you hurt lil guy?” It nodded but still pointing the sharp weapon at her. “Well, whacha need?” The wasp felt no need to be on the defensive. It walked over to a small piece of popcorn and grabbed it with two front arms. “Oh! I get it, you are hungry.” Never in the three filly’s lives have they seen an insect smile so brightly. “So if we give you just one, you won’t sting us…” Scootaloo spoke unsurely. Two antennas bounced up and down in response. However, as the wasp tried to pick up a buttered treat when its wings could not lift the yellow body. “Oh no,” wined Sweetie Belle. Never in the three filly’s lives have they seen and insect frown so depressingly. “Don’t worry,” smiled Applebloom. Reaching her arm down, the yellow filly beckoned the wasp up onto her. “We the Cutie Mark Crusaders will take you!” “Yeah,” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “Where ever you live, we will take you there!” “We will… ow,” Scootaloo grunted as one of her friends bumped into the pegasus’ ribcage. “I mean of course we will.” “And if we help you,” the unicorn filly spoke with excitement, “We can get our cutie marks in being animal helpers!” “YEAH,” the Cutie Mark Crusaders roared. Silence came over the girls as another dark cloud slowly rolled over the sky. During the enthusiasm of the trio, the wasp made its way up onto Applebloom’s pink bow. “So do we abandon the water hole,” Sweetie Belle looked to her friends. “Water hole, really,” Scooaloo chuckled, amused by Sweetie Belle attempting to improvise detective language. “Ah suppose so,” Applebloom said with a frown as her bow flopped down in sorrow. “Maybe we can be investigators some other time. Ah just wonder where Fluttershy and Big Macintosh are…” Suddenly, something made the wasp hop up and buzz its wings. “Don’t try to fly, you might hurt yourself,” the unicorn filly told the insect, but it shook its head, refusing to listen. “Take it easy.” In the blink of an eye, the bug lunged at Scootaloo and rested on her nose. “WAH,” she shrieked. “Whoa, what was that all about,” Applebloom grinned. Get it off, get it off, GET it off, GET IT off, GET IT OFF, the orange pony repeated in her head. Flailing its arms, the wasp was trying to tell them something. “What is it,” asked the unicorn. Several arms writhed as the bug was trying to think of what to do. An orange patterned insect flew into the view of the four of them. The wasp violently jabbed its front arms at the light weighed being while it made its way through the sky. “A… butterfly,” Applebloom questioned. “What about it?” “Looks more like a monarch,” Sweetie Belle interjected. “All I see is a wasp, you know, like ON MY FACE,” the orange pony complained. Thoughts went through the small thing’s brain and got another idea. It then skittered up Scootaloo’s face and cowered behind her ear. Somepony please get it off, the scared filly whimpered in her mind. “An’ now you’re scared…” Applebloom questioned with a confused look. “No, I see what it is trying to say,” Sweetie Belle nudged her friend. A smile grew on the wasp’s face while its carrier was still more concerned on getting the insect off her head. “The wasp thinks that the monarch is very shy!” Slapping its head in disappointment, the insect crawled into Scootaloo’s mane and used four arms to grab an armful or hair. When it tugged on her hair, the filly suddenly adjusted as if someone was saddled on top of her. “W… what’s going on,” Scootaloo panicked. A whiplash motion from the wasp made the orange pegasus briskly walk forward. The yellow and black insect beckoned the others to follow. “Should we follow,” Sweetie Belle asked even though both herself and Applebloom were following. “Why not? It might have been trying to tell us about the butterfly being scared.” “You mean monarch…” “Same thing. It flies like a butterfly.” The wagon bounced while it was being dragged by Applebloom because nothing but a blanket sat on its back. It was not long before Scootaloo began to go into a jog and her friends had to speed up. Round a corner the pegasus went, out of view of Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. “Gosh darnnit she is fast,” Applebloom complained. “GIRLS,” cried a voice from around the building. The voice caused the stragglers to make haste to see what the commotion was about. As soon as Scootaloo came into view, a stunned but bright smile was on her face. “Sweetie Belle,” the pegasus asked her friend. “We found the goldfish.” “THEY’RE IN THE BARREL?!” The unicorn’s squeal of delight made her friends hiss “shh.” “So where are they,” Applebloom asked. “Right there,” Scootaloo replied in a quiet tone. And there stood the complement of red and yellow.