//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Sun, the Moon and the Cushion // by Bunnybooze79 //------------------------------// The journey to Canterlot Castle did not take very long. What did take long however, was their entrance into the castle itself. While they were on time and even a little bit early, a lot of other guests had arrived even earlier. As per custom Princess Celestia would greet every single guest personally, which in turn created a long queue waiting outside for their turn. After what seemed like ages the group of friends was allowed entrance and hurriedly went inside. The large foyer was dominated by a large staircase leading up into to castle’s interior. Waiting at the top of the stairs was Princess Celestia, patiently awaiting the arrival of each guest. Her friendly smile grew warmer when she saw Twilight and her friends ascend the stairs towards her. “Twilight Sparkle. So glad you could make it.” She greeted her pupil and entourage with a slightly longer bow than that which she gave to her other guests. The ponies repeated the gesture and felt welcomed into the castle. Any possible nervousness was blown away by the genuinely friendly welcoming by the Princess. “We are so happy to be here Princess.” Twilight said and was looking forward to possibly talk to the Princess in private later on to discuss her latest studies. “I understand you will be staying for the evening?” the Princess asked, although no doubt she already knew the answer. “If it is not too much of a bother, your highness.” Rarity felt the need to chime in. “Of course not. Please make yourself at home. I’ll send somepony to show you to your rooms.” “That won’t be necessary. I think we can manage that small task.” An all too familiar voice spoke up. The ponies turned their attention away from the Princess and looked over to their right. A large double door was halfway open and two very welcome figures stepped out. “Shining Armor!” Twilight happily exclaimed and ran up to her big brother giving him a big hug, before turning to the pony at his side. “Princess Cadence!” Both mares started with “Sunshine” before remembering that they were not alone. They laughed and shared a hug instead. “You made it!” Twilight stated while the Prince and Princess greeted Twilight’s friends. “Of course we did, Twily. Mom and Dad are here as well.” “Really? Where?” Twilight was practically beaming with joy at the prospect of seeing all her family. “They are in the ballroom at the moment. Doing some mingling with the other guests. No doubt they are already bored out of their minds.” Shining Armor joked, earning small disapproving cough from his wife. One quick glance to her told him that she was merely playing the part and no doubt shared his opinion on the current state of his parents. “Shall we show you your rooms?” Cadence asked and pointed an elegant hoof towards the door they had entered. Shining Armor led the way deeper into the castle. “I see the uniform still fits.” Twilight remarked as she walked beside her brother. He was wearing the same uniform he had worn during the wedding. “Hey, running the Crystal Empire is difficult business. No slacking off for me.” He replied with a grin and puffed his chest out. Twilight merely giggled. “Besides Cadence keeps me busy.” “That sounds closer to the truth.” Twilight remarked, earning an amused snort from Shining Armor. As the siblings led the way towards their destination, Princess Cadence let herself fall back intentionally until she was walking beside the three young fillies. “I have to say, you three are just adorable in those dresses.” She said and smiled at the fillies. They were wearing the dresses that they had worn for the wedding, with minor modifications by Rarity to pep them up a bit. “Thank you Princess!” all three chimed in unison. “Please, call me Cadence. After all you were my flowerfillies.” Princess Cadence was a lot less formal with her friends, something that was part of her charm. While both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had an aura around them that demanded formal speech patterns and behavior, Princess Cadence had a much more accessible persona that made her so beloved by all ponies. Especially by her own subjects in the Crystal Empire, who after the tyrannical rule of King Sombra welcomed the kind and gentle Cadence with open hearts. “And how is your crusading going?” she asked and giggled at the surprised looks the fillies gave her. “How do you know about that?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Twilight writes about your crusading from time to time. No luck so far?” “No, we are still trying to earn our cutie marks.” Scootaloo said and sighed. Applebloom suddenly had an idea. “Perhaps we can find our marks here!” she received some skeptical looks from her fellow crusaders. “Like what?” Sweetie Belle asked and turned to Cadence for some sort of inspiration. The Princess merely smiled and waited for events to unfold by themselves. “Perhaps somethin’ fancy.” Applebloom looked around in the hallway they were currently walking along. “Perhaps makin’ one of them things.” She nodded towards the wall beside them. “A tapestry? This particular one I believe took fifty years to make.” Princess Cadence explained. “Yeah, so that’s out of the question. What about window washers?” Scootaloo chimed in. “Seriously, Scoots? Window washers? Besides it would take us also about fifty years to clean one of them. Look how big they are.” Applebloom was not too keen on having a cutie mark in window washing if it involved washing one of the huge glass windows. The one they were currently passing was taller than their barn. “We could test the beds of the Princesses.” Sweetie Belle suggested. Applebloom and Scootaloo exchanged a look. “How would that work?” they asked. “Well a Princess has to be able to sleep like a Princess, right? So before one of them lies down for the night we test them first to see if there are any uncomfortable spots in the mattress and if the pillows are fluffy enough.” Sweetie Belle explained in a dead serious tone. Cadence couldn’t help but laugh. “What would that cutie mark look like, I wonder.” She said and stopped her laughter when it became apparent that Sweetie Belle was less than amused. “All good things take time. Cutie marks are no different I am afraid.” “We know.” The three fillies let their heads hang low. “But if you do earn your cutie marks, then let me know. We’ll turn this party into a cute-ceanera.” Cadence smiled along with the fillies as their moods picked up instantly at the prospect of possibly one-upping Diamond Tiara’s cute-ceanera. The Princess listened with fascination as they came up with more ideas to earn their marks, as they travelled towards their rooms. ________________________________________________________________________ “And this is your room, fillies.” Shining Armor said as he opened the last door of the rooms they had been given. With wide-eyed wonder the three crusaders entered the room. The bed alone was as big as their entire clubhouse. Elegant furnishings and an amazingly soft carpet filled out the rest of the spacious room. The large window gave the occupants a look out over the castle’s gardens. For once the fillies were speechless. “Not too small I hope?” Shining Armor casually asked. “It’s perfect!” they chimed in response with wide grins. All three of them suddenly wishing Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were here to witness this. “Well let’s get going.” He said and waved them back towards the door. “Going? We only just got here.” Scootaloo was confused. Had they been subject to some kind of cruel joke? Were they only shown the room and them immediately evicted again? “The room is meant for sleeping in. We have a party to attend, remember?” “Oh, right.” Scootaloo was hesitant to leave. The thick carpet was just too comfy to leave behind. “Come on Scoots! Ah am gettin’ hungry!” Applebloom sensed her friend reluctance to part with the carpet. “The carpet looks good enough to eat.” The pegasus was still amazed by the feeling under her hooves. It was almost like walking on clouds. “Well then stay here an’ munch on it. Ah’ll rather have some of the delicious treats downstairs.” Applebloom’s stomach rumbled in anticipation, causing her to blush and Sweetie Belle to giggle. “I am not munching on any carpet.” Scootaloo said and finally parted from said object. The fillies turned to Shining Armor, who had suddenly stifled a laugh. “What’s funny?” Sweetie Belle asked and looked up to the Prince, who had himself back under control. “Nothing. I am just feeling a bit hungry myself. Shall we go?” He held the door open for the fillies who then walked out the door and made their way over where the rest of their friends were already waiting. “Ah bet this will be the most exciting thing ever! Just ya wait!” Applebloom’s enthusiasm was infectious and the fillies were almost bouncing in place from sheer excitement. ________________________________________________________________ Boredom. Sheer and utter boredom. A filly’s worst nightmare. What had begun as an interesting experience soon evolved into the most boring moments in their life. It had been fun being introduced to all kinds of important and famous ponies at first. Names did not stay with them for long however as the ponies they had just met soon disappeared to talk to other important famous ponies. They were just three fillies and not noteworthy enough. There were exceptions. Twilight’s parents were very friendly and interested in the fillies, but understandably wanted to talk to their children the most. Another surprising couple had been introduced by Rarity. The monocle wearing unicorn stallion with the funny little moustache and his extraordinarily beautiful and elegant unicorn mare at his side were known as Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis respectively. While their names didn’t mean anything to Scootaloo or Applebloom, Sweetie Belle knew them because Rarity had often mentioned them. Apparently Fancy Pants was one of the most important ponies in Canterlot and Fleur de Lis was the premier fashion model in Equestria. Despite their fame and the Canterlot accent, that had begun to grate on Applebloom’s nerves, they were friendly and did not treat the fillies any differently than any other guest. They had even come back to them after a while to ask them how they liked Canterlot thus far. The fillies were taken aback somewhat as they had not reckoned with anypony being that nice to them. Not after the first dozen or so guests they had met at least. Scootaloo felt bad having mocked Fleur’s seemingly constant posing after their first encounter. But for those few nice ponies they met, dozens of indifferent ponies crossed their path. The chat after each introduction was always the same. “And where are you three from?” they would ask. “We are from Ponyville.” One of the crusaders would answer back. “Ponyville, really? Well I have to go.” And with those words they were not seen again. The worst offender was a white unicorn stallion with a blond mane. He had not even bothered to introduce himself to them and bluntly asked them if they were the daughters of anypony he should know. “Well we are from Ponyville and…” Sweetie Belle’s explanation was cut off by the stallion. “Ugh. Ponyville, that uncouth little peasant village? How did you end up here? Well it doesn’t matter, at least you have the chance to be in the presence of somepony of my grace for once in your lives. As long as your presence is on the other side of the room of course.” With those words he left the three fillies sitting dumbfounded. “Did that really just happen?” Scootaloo asked nopony in particular. The three just kept glaring at the stallion as he walked through the room. “Geez, Ah wonder how he doesn’t keep bumpin’ into things with his nose so far up in the air. Bet ya he can’t see where he’s going most of the time.” Applebloom commented. “Then again who would want to bump into him? Bet even the walls move out of the way to avoid him.” Scootaloo joked and laughed along with Applebloom. Sweetie Belle did not join in and was much more interested in her sister’s reaction to the stallion. She had spotted her talking to a different earthpony stallion wearing sunglasses and a ridiculous mane style. When Rarity noticed the rude stallion she made a very apparent show out of turning away from him, something that the unicorn didn’t even notice or chose not to notice. Judging by her sister’s then obviously angry expression the stallion was somepony she didn’t like one bit. Sweetie Belle jumped a bit when a familiar voice sounded from behind them. “How’s it going girls?” Rainbow Dash asked and trotted up behind them with Fluttershy in tow. The timid yellow pegasus felt really uncomfortable around so many ponies she didn’t know. It didn’t bother her that they paid her not attention, in fact she was happy to be ignored. She had stayed by Rainbow Dash’s side all the time, still somewhat uneasy about possible changeling attacks that might occur. “This is really really boring Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo lamented and received an understanding pat on the back by her honorary big sister. “And there ain’t nothin’ ta eat!” Applebloom was beginning to lose hope of ever finding food. Here in this ballroom all that was served were drinks. “The food is served outside. Should still take a while I’m afraid.” Rainbow Dash informed the little country filly. “Ah’m gonna starve.” She murmured. “Bet you wish we still had that carpet now, huh?” Scootaloo nudged Applebloom in the side, causing her stomach to grumble once more. “What’s mah sister doin’?” Applebloom asked. Applejack had not been seen by her for quite some time. “She is trying to keep Pinkie Pie in check.” Rainbow Dash laughed along with the girls for a moment. The task that had been bestowed on Applejack was by no means easy. “Hey, do you know who that is?” Sweetie Belle asked Fluttershy who looked to where the filly was pointing. “The unicorn stallion?” she asked to which Sweetie Belle nodded. “That’s Prince Blueblood.” Sweetie Belle’s eyes narrowed as she glared angrily at the Prince. She could understand her sister’s low opinion of him. She had heard plenty of it after the Grand Galloping Gala that was for sure. “Did you find any Wonderbolts?” Scootaloo asked hopefully. Those were ponies worth meeting. “No Wonderbolts here tonight, Scoot. Which is totally lame I might add.” Rainbow Dash was bummed out by that fact herself. She had been warned by Twilight before that the Wonderbolts might not be attending. Hope that they might make a surprise visit after all had kept her going. Now it was just waiting around for something to eat as she did not care for smalltalk with ponies she didn’t know or that didn’t want to know her to begin with. “Do we have to hang around here until we die of starvation or boredom?” Scootaloo asked and looked pleadingly at her surrogate sister. “Nah, why don’t you go explore the castle. Just be back when we all go into the garden for some food.” Rainbow Dash ruffled the purple mane of the filly and watched as they bolted out of the nearest door. “Do you think that is wise to let them loose in the castle?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. “Pfff….there are guards everywhere. What’s the worst that could happen?” Rainbow Dash waved her friends concerns away with a hoof. _________________________________________________________________ “You shall not pass.” The guard standing beside a locked door gave the three fillies a serious stare. “Why not? We are friends with the Princess and the door has her name written on it.” Scootaloo explained and pointed a hoof at the door. “Which Princess would that be?” The guard asked confused. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. You know….Princess Cadence. Her name is written right there! Well, at least part of it. See?” Scootaloo continued to point at the door. “That says Armory. Not Amore.” The guard explained. “Well perhaps somepony made a mistake.” “Do you three know what an armory is?” the guard asked. The three fillies shook their heads. “That is the place where we store our weapons and armor.” “Coooooool” the filles beamed at the guard with wide smiles. “Can we have a look?” “What? No!” the prospect of letting three fillies loose in the armory was not very pleasant. “It’s dangerous in there.” “We won’t try anything dangerous. Maybe a bit of sword juggling.” Scootaloo explained. “Or shooting with bow and arrow.” Applebloom continued. “Or just loading a cannon.” Sweetie Belle chimed in her part. “No, no, no. I am not letting you in and that is final!” to make his point the guard stamped one hoof on the floor. The fillies were not intimidated one bit, but gave in seeing that the guard would not let them pass. “Can ya give us directions to the nearest kitchen?” Applebloom asked and caught the guard off guard for once at the sudden change of direction the discussion had been going thus far. “Uh…down the hallway, take a right all the way to the end. There take another right and go through the third door on your left.” He explained automatically. “Thanks!” the fillies bolted down the hallway before the guard could react any further. Shrugging he continued his otherwise rather boring task of guarding the door to the armory. __________________________________________________________________ After a mad dash down the hallways of the castle the three fillies arrived at their destination. Eagerly awaiting food they stormed inside, only to find that the room was empty. It was indeed a kitchen, only one that apparently had not been in use for quite some time. Applebloom moaned at the absence of food. “Now what do we do?” she said and inspected a nearby cupboard. It was empty save for a few cobwebs. “We’ll just follow the hallway and check every door. There has to be something for us to do or eat.” Sweetie Belle trotted back out into the hallway and was soon joined by her friends. Together they moved from door to door, most of them were locked and the few that weren’t were empty. Roughly fifteen minutes and many doors later they heard noises coming from around the corner. Carefully they peeked around and saw to ponies talking to each other. Applebloom’s heart jumped higher as she saw that the two ponies were dressed like chefs. “The appetizers are all prepared, as well as the desserts. Now all that we must prepare for is the main course.” One chef said to the other. “Aren’t we using this kitchen for the main course?” the other asked. “No, we are to use the kitchen closer to the ballroom where they will be dining. The rest of the staff will take the appetizers outside in about half an hour. When the guests have decided on the meals they wish to eat we…..” the rest of what the chef had said was lost as they rounded a corner on the opposite end of the corridor. Carefully the fillies made their way towards the door the chefs had been standing in front of. Applebloom hoped that the door wasn’t locked and to her joy it wasn’t. Quickly as not to be noticed by anypony the stormed inside and closed the door behind them. Three sets of eyes grew wide at the sight before them. The kitchen was about the size of their classroom. Unlike their classroom this room had three doors, including the one they had used. Every free space of wall had shelves or cupboards occupying them, a large table dominated the middle of the room and on that table was…. “Food!” Applebloom cried out with glee and ran to the large table, finally standing on her hind legs and resting her forelegs on the table’s edge. She barely managed to peek over the high table and caught sight of trays and trays full of treats. Her stomach let out an approving grumble at the sight. “How come there are no ponies here?” Scootaloo wondered and trotted over to the door on the far wall. Sweetie Belle decided to investigate the third and final door. “Ah can’t reach!” Applebloom tried jumping but apart from gaining a better look at the delicious treats she still could not reach them. “I found the kitchen!” Scootaloo called from the door she had opened. What puzzled her was how clean the cooking area she had found was. If there had been any cooking going on in here recently any pony involved had covered up their tracks very well. She carefully trotted inside and held an eye open for any ponies in the room. “This door leads to another hallway.” Sweetie Belle explained and shut the door she had been inspecting. “Nopony to be seen however.” “C’mere Sweetie. Ah need a boost.” Applebloom waved her friend over who raised an eyebrow in return. “So you can mess up my dress? I don’t think so. I promised Rarity I wouldn’t get into trouble and messing up my dress she made is very big trouble in her eyes.” Sweetie Belle didn’t move, much to Applebloom’s growing distress. “But Ah need somethin’ ta eat right now! Would ya really let yer best friend starve?” A loud scraping noise interrupted the little unicorn’s reply. Both fillies watched in silence as Scootaloo pushed something over the spotless white tiles towards them. “I found a stool!” The pegasus said once she was in view of the other fillies. “That’s a pot.” Sweetie Belle wondered if it had ever been used as its surface was absolutely spotless. The shiny silver pot was larger than either one of the fillies and judging by Scootaloo’s expression also rather heavy. “Pot, stool….same thing.” The orange filly explained once she had pushed her prize over to her friends. With considerable effort she lifted one side up tipping the pot on its side with a loud bang. A second bang echoed through the room as she finally tipped it once more so that the opening was now on the bottom. “Tadaaa!” she pointed a hoof at her work and grinned at her friends. Applebloom wasted no time and hopped on the pot, now she was able to reach the table with ease. Her eyes grew wide once more as she finally laid eyes on everything the table had to offer. On each tray a different neatly arranged edible treat was offered. She didn’t recognize anything offered, but everything looked absolutely delicious. Some were simple little stacks of various foods held together with what looked like fancy toothpicks, others were delicately arranged like flowers or little trees. “There wasn’t anypony in the kitchen, so I figured they wouldn’t mind if we borrow one of their pots for a moment.” Scootaloo explained while hopping up beside Applebloom. The large pot was large enough to let all three fillies stand beside each other. Sweetie Belle looked around fearing that somepony might suddenly appear and be mad at them. Applebloom was unsure where to start, so she simply plopped the nearest food item she could reach in her mouth, a flower carved out of something orange. Scootaloo carefully watched her friend eat the flower and waited for any kind of reaction. Applebloom kept chewing for a moment without saying a word. “What is it?” the impatient pegasus asked. “A carrot.” Applebloom answered after swallowing. “Seriously? Why would somepony make a flower out of a carrot?” “Beats me, but it did taste good. Let’s try some more!” Applebloom and Scootaloo began sampling one of each items offered on the trays. “They are called appetizers.” Sweetie Belle explained from her position on the floor. “What do they do?” Scootaloo asked while plopping a small bird made out of some dark green stuff in her mouth. She chewed for a moment and scrunched up her face with obvious dislike. “Ugh…seaweed.” “Appetizers are supposed to make you hungry for more. They are served a bit in advance of the main course.” Sweetie Belle continued her explanation. “How’dya know that?” Applebloom peeked over to her friend. “Chart 101 from Twilight.” She nervously scraped a hoof across the tiles on the floor. “Do you really think we should be doing this?” “Well it is technically for us anyway. We’re just having an earlier serving.” Scootaloo reasoned and searched for something to take away the taste of the seaweed. Sweetie Belle sighed and hopped up next to her friend. Finally giving in to her own hunger and choosing one of the carrot flowers. She marveled at the delicate work and felt bad for eating something that had obviously been made with great care, but the taste was really good. “These here appetizers ain’t really filling me up.” Applebloom noted after having sampled nearly everything within her reach. “That’s the point of them.” Sweetie Belle ate one of the seaweed birds and scrunched up her face the same way Scootaloo had. “What’s in the cupboards?” Scootaloo eyed the nearest one, but before she could do anything Applebloom hopped down from their improvised stool and trotted over to it. One tug on the door and the cupboard turned out to be a refrigerator instead. “Jackpot!” Apllebloom stepped back to take in the sight inside the refrigerator. The treats on the table were the starters, but now they had found the dessert. Cakes, jelly, pudding and even icecream could be seen amongst things neither one of the fillies could identifiy. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hopped down from the pot and hurriedly ran over to the fridge, their journey was stopped by Applebloom however. “Girls! We have an important task ahead of us.” The little earthpony turned around to face them. “It is our royal duty to make sure that these desserts are worthy for a Princess! And we may just find our cutie marks in the process of doin’ so.” She beamed at her friends who’s face lit up at the prospect of not only having a decent helping of the best desserts Canterlot had to offer, but also finally and hopefully acquire their long sought after cutie marks. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ROYAL FOOD TESTERS! YAY!” the shouted at the top of their lungs and bolted towards the delicious treats. ________________________________________________________________ After each having a small bowl of delicious icecream with bits of fresh fruit inside that had been topped off with whipped cream, they considered what to try next. So many choices left them unsure what to try next. “It’s a shame Candence isn’t here, then we could focus on the things she likes first.” Sweetie Belle remarked and was torn between trying a fruit cocktail and a slice of cake. “Or any other one of the Princesses.” Applebloom added and eyed a large pie in front of her. Its contents were a mystery, but she hoped it was filled with apples. “Heh….well it’s lucky that we happen to have a princess here isn’t it?” Scootaloo grinned at her friends. Her two friends quickly looked around the room, but found it to be empty apart from themselves. “What do ya mean?” Applebloom asked. Without warning Scootaloo hopped onto Sweetie Belle’s back, her belly resting on the unicorns back and her legs dangling beside her midsection. “Hey!” Sweetie Belle’s protest was ignored by the pegasus. “We have the wings.” Scootaloo buzzed her wings for a moment. “We have the horn.” She pointed at Sweetie Belle’s horn. “Behold your new Princess Scootabelle!” “That’s a strange name.” Sweetie Belle remarked. “Better than Sweetieloo.” The pegasus answered back. Sweetie Belle had to agree and trotted a few paces away from Applebloom who watched them with amusement. Thankfully Scootaloo was light enough that it didn’t bother her too much, she just feared her dress might get damaged somehow. “So now dear servant Applebloom. The Princess demands to be fed!” Scootaloo flashed a grin at the unmoving Applebloom. “So yer a Princess.” The yellow filly smirked. “Go on, prove it.” “Uh…how?” Scootaloo asked. “Ah don’t know….maybe fly a bit? All Princesses can fly.” Applebloom chuckled and was provoking her friend. The comment about being a servant had stung her a bit. “I don’t think that is a very good idea.” Sweetie Belle tried to protest. It was in vain however as the challenge issued by Applebloom was hitting a sore spot of Scootaloo. “Yeah ok! We’ll just fly around the room a bit and then see who gets the last laugh!” Scootaloo was beginning to get slightly angry, something that happened when her inability to fly was directly mentioned. She suddenly wrapped her legs around Sweetie Belle’s midsection. *Squeak* All three fillies froze at the sudden high pitched squeak that had emanated from the unicorn. Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle face, which wasn’t easy considering that she was still on the unicorn’s back. Sweetie Belle seemed to be just as surprised at the sound then the others were. “What was that?” Scootaloo asked and looked over to Applebloom, who merely shrugged. Their beginning argument momentarily forgotten at the revelation of new events. “I don’t know.” Sweetie Belle said and seemed a little embarrassed. “What did ya do Scoots?” Applebloom trotted over and stood before them. “Nothing. I just wrapped my legs around her like this.” *Squeak* Scootaloo looked over to Applebloom with a devilish grin spreading on her lips. The earthpony was on the verge of laughing. She squeezed the unicorn again, this time a bit more slowly. *Squuuuueeeeeak* The long drawn out sound caused Applebloom to burst out laughing. Sweetie Belle wasn’t amused. “Well then Princess Squeaky Belle. Let’s see what ya got.” Scootaloo continued her motions each time causing the unicorn to involuntarily make that noise. *Squeak* Sweetie Belle tried giving her an angry look, which was ignored by her friend. *Squeak* The unicorn tried to shake her off, causing Scootaloo to grab on tighter. *SQUEAK* Applebloom was nearly rolling on the floor laughing. “Hey” *squeak* “this” *squeak* “isn’t” *squeak* “funny!” *squeak* Scootaloo paused for a moment due to her own laughing. Sweetie Belle deemed herself safe for the moment and tried shaking off the pegasus clinging to her back, but she held on and would not budge. After regaining some of her energy Scootaloo decided to test Sweetie Belle’s newfound ability to the fullest. Taking a deep breath she began to squeeze the unicorn as fast as she could. *squeaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueak* She had to stop as her laughing made it impossible to continue. “S…sorry Sweetie Belle, but this is just too hilarious.” Scootaloo apologized to her friend, but remained on her back nevertheless. “Glad you are having so much fun.” Sweetie Belle grumbled as a reply. Her face was flushed and was now taking deep breaths of air. Applebloom decided to intervene in case the Pegasus decided to continue her assault on the hapless unicorn. While still giggling she took out the pie she had been eyeing earlier from the refrigerator and trotted with it on her back towards her friends. Slowly she circled them making sure she had both their attention. Finally she sat down and held the pie with unknown filling in her hooves. “Well Princess. Weren’t ya goin’ ta give us a demonstration of yer flyin’?” she held up the pie as a reward. Scootaloo smirked at her friend, any lingering anger she may have felt before had been swept away by Sweetie Belle actions, as involuntary as they might have been. She grabbed Sweetie Belle once more causing her to squeak a final time and started buzzing her wings. The training Rainbow Dash had been giving her, as well as teaching her about proper wingcare led to some unexpected results. As she pumped her wings harder and faster, she actually achieved some lift. It wasn’t really flying, but more of a hover. Alone she was able to hover an inch or two above the ground for a few brief moments. It was a start, but still far from her goal of taking to the skies. Now she had the added weight of Sweetie Belle which complicated things. Determined she buzzed her wings as hard as she could. Sweetie Belle let out a gasp as she felt herself slowly being lifted up. With only the tips of her hooves on the ground the unicorn began to panic. She didn’t care much for flying at all. Anytime the fillies would do crusading that involved flying or going up to high places she would be terrified. Sweetie Belle was perfectly fine remaining on the ground forever. Suddenly uneasy she used her hooftips to try and get back down. The movement shifted Scootaloo’s unstable hover into an even more unstable forward movement. She tried braking as best she could, but they were heading straight for a now very surprised looking Applebloom. Before using the earthpony as a cushion to halt their sudden movement, Applebloom threw the pie up over her head and behind her. As the fillies crashed together a lone pie was airborne and flying towards the door that Sweetie Belle had previously investigated and led to a hallway. The timing could not have been more tragically perfect as the door opened. The newcomer didn’t have a chance to avoid the delicious missile heading towards them. The pony didn’t even have the chance to blink as the pie slammed into its face with a squelch. Three fillies stared with shock at the pony standing in the doorway. Slowly the form that had contained the pie slid off the pony’s face, falling to the ground with a loud clatter. Scootaloo was the first to regain the use of her voice. “P…Princess Luna!”