The Fillies Take Chalkzone
Chapter 1
Detention was not a place any filly would want to be, especially when it was being held on a Friday afternoon. All that time that Apple Bloom and her friends could have spent having fun and trying to earn their cutie marks, or Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon spending their days together how they saw fit, was instead replaced by having to sit in an empty classroom after school hours. The fight that happened between them earlier wasn’t too bad; no pony left with any serious injuries, and Miss Cheerilee was reasonable when it came to this.
She told them earlier that if they showed exceptional behavior (not arguing or yelling at each other, primarily), then they would be free to go an hour earlier. That seemed easy enough for them. There wasn’t much they could have done here in detention that would have gotten the five of them into more trouble than they were already in, and they made sure to stay as far from each other as possible so as to not cause any distractions. The entire room was silent for the past hour and a half. Just another hour before they would be able to leave and enjoy their weekend without restrictions. All they had to do was survive each other’s presence for a little longer.
Cheerilee had been keeping an eye on them the entire time, shifting from the fillies to the small stack of graded papers on the desk in front of her. She was already done with grading, yet there was still more time in the girls’ detention. It gave the teacher some relief and satisfaction knowing that they hadn’t done tried to do anything that would’ve caused even the smallest bit of hostilities.
“Alright, girls,” Cheerilee broke the silence. The fillies looked at her as she stood from her desk. “I’m heading down to the post office to deliver a letter. That means you’ll be alone for a while. Please try to be nice.”
The girls nodded, giving silent promises to their teachers as she made her way for the door. They could tell that she was still worried, most likely because she figured that they would go back to being at each other’s throats the second she left. They couldn’t blame her, though; their relationship was volatile at best, and their rivalries had repeatedly brought them to the brink of fighting numerous times.
“Ya know,” Diamond’s voice broke the seemingly never-ending silence that existed between the five of them, “we would not be in here if it wasn’t for you three.” She pointed an accusing hoof at the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Her accusation earned her a glare from Scootaloo, the pegasus filly’s wings flaring up as she rose from her seat. “Us? We wouldn’t be in here in you two had just minded your own business instead of bothering us like you usually do.”
“Girls!” Sweetie Belle intervened. She knew the situation they were in. It was better for them not to add fuel to the fire, unless they wanted the possibility of having to serve detention on Saturday. “Can’t we stop arguing for one day? We promised Miss Cheerilee we’d be on our best behavior.”
Applebloom nodded in agreement. “Sweetie Belle’s right.” The others girls silently agreed with her—on that, and that detention was no doubt the worst experience ever. In a quick huff, Applebloom hopped out from her desk and made her way over to the chalkboard, opening a small box of chalk Cheerilee kept on her desk. “Maybe we can pass some time by drawing. Everypony loves drawing, right?”
Her suggestion had gotten Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle’s attention. Silver Spoon, on the other hand, rolled her eyes. “Pfft. How lame.”
“What’s wrong?” Scootaloo glanced at her. “Afraid that Applebloom’s a much better artist than you?”
“As if…” The gray filly scoffed. She got out of her seat and made her way up to the chalkboard, standing in front of Applebloom. She was not going to be bested by anypony, especially by a blank-flank. “Let’s get this over with.”
“How ‘bout we play a game?” said Applebloom, grabbing one of the pieces of chalk out of the box. “We each draw a picture that everypony else has to guess. Doesn't have to be good or bad. With each wrong guess, you’ll lose one point. If you get five wrong answers, you’re eliminated from the round.”
“Seems simple enough,” said Diamond Tiara. She, Sweetie, and Scootaloo were all in agreement. They would play along with each other until Miss Cheerilee returned, and then they could leave.
“I’ll go first.” Applebloom eagerly started drawing her picture, carefully sliding the chalk across the blackboard as she tried to place down what she envisioned. It didn’t take too long--about five minutes, at best--before she set down the chalk, letting the others see what her creation was. “So, what do y’all thank?”
Diamond Tiara gazed at the crude picture and answered almost immediately. “Looks like an ugly hamster with a fish for a head.”
Applebloom was set back, glancing back at her work. It didn’t look that bad from her perspective. “It does not look like that!”
“Actually, it kinda does,” Sweetie Belle admitted, earning a chuckle from Tiara and Silver. Applebloom frowned, stepping back as Silver Spoon approached the board for her turn and erased the fish-hamster.
“Alright, my turn.” Taking the chalk, she went through thoroughly, making sure to get down as much detail as she possibly could. When she was finished, she stepped back, letting everypony see her work.
Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “A chicken?” It was way too easy. She was expecting Silver Spoon to draw something a bit more challenging.
“Wrong,” Silver responded. “It’s Scootaloo. See the resemblance?” Diamond Tiara broke out into a laugh.
“Oh, haha! Very funny!” Scootaloo hopped out of her seat and charged up towards the chalkboard, despite Sweetie Belle’s insisting that she should ignore it. She grabbed a piece of chalk and quickly started drawing her picture, not caring about any imperfections that may have been present. When she was finished, she was left with a pig wearing a tiara. “Look at that! I guess I just drew Diamond Tiara.”
The filly in question growled, leaving her seat to join the other four up front. “That’s very funny, Scootaloo. I suppose now it’s my turn.” Diamond Tiara grabbed herself a piece of chalk and started drawing her picture.
It was a worm with a giant bow on its head, representing Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle went up to try and defuse the situation, but with no luck. The game had devolved into a shouting match; pictures that were meant to insult each other were drawn onto the board with little care for detail or design.
Sweetie Belle stood back, not wanting to get caught in the middle of it all. She just hoped Miss Cheerilee didn’t return early to this. She shielded her eye with her hoof when a small light suddenly shined in her face. She noticed a small hole embedded in the chalkboard.
“Hey, everypony. Come see this,” she called to them. They kept up their bickering, however, ignoring the unicorn filly. It was almost like nothing could stand between them and their rivalry, no matter what the price was. This time, Sweetie Belle screamed at the top of her lungs, wanting to get their attention: “Girls!”
She managed to catch their attention this time and directed them to the hole. It was coming from a part of one of the drawings--supposedly a rat--that Diamond Tiara had drawn. For the most part they didn’t say anything, wondering where it had come from. They should not have been able to break the blackboard; they hadn’t the means to do so.
Silver Spoon stepped up and examined it. She looked through it, trying to get a good look of what was on the other side. “It doesn’t really look like the outside. Well, not like our outside, anyway.”
Scootaloo looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”
“It doesn’t look real,” Silver replied. “Looks like a five-year old drew it.”
“Really?” Applebloom trotted up and took a look. Silver was right. It didn’t look all that ordinary. The sky and ground were unusually coloured, like they had been scribbled on a piece of paper. “It’s too small for us to get a better look at it. We have to make it bigger.”
“It’s Diamond’s drawing,” said Sweetie Belle. “She should still have the chalk.”
Diamond Tiara approached the blackboard. Using her chalk, she drew a larger circle, more than big enough for them to get a clear look on what was on the other side. It turned into a gateway, no longer a simple drawing. A shimmering portal, inviting them to enter another world.
The portal showed a brightly coloured field on the other side. Aside from a few trees and bushes that were scattered around here and there, it was largely empty, nothing of complete interest to note.
They stepped through onto the other side. It was similar to Equestria. The sun was up; the air around them was warm, like Spring. A few birds flew across the sky, though they didn’t seem as “ordinary” as the ones that usually inhabited the trees in Ponyville. There wasn’t grass, just chalk everywhere around them. Scootaloo was in a state of awe, looking at the new world around her. She rubbed her hoof against the ground. It was smooth, not at all grassy, and even getting a smudge of it onto her. “What is this place?”
“We’re definitely not in Ponyville anymore,” said Apple Bloom.
“Or Equestria, for that matter,” Silver Spoon added. Everything was too unfamiliar here to be considered a parallel universe. In her musing, a sudden rustle in a nearby bush startled her.
It caught the other girls’ attention as well. They couldn’t get a clear look through the leaves at what was hiding, but were nevertheless anxious at what could have been hiding within. It couldn't have been a cute animal, like a rabbit or a mouse? Or perhaps it could have been something dangerous, like a Cockatrice!
Sweetie Belle inched away from it, ever more terrified at the thought of meeting that could have been potentially dangerous. There was no telling what horrible monsters could have been lurking here.“I… I think we should head back to the classroom,” she squeaked. “You know, where we know it’s safe.”
They watched as the leaves were gently brushed away, revealing a tiny creature scurrying out from its hiding spot. Diamond Tiara eyed it with confusion, remembering exactly what it was. “Is that the fish-hamster?”
“It’s Applebloom’s drawing,” said Scootaloo. “It’s alive.”
Silver Spoon cringed at it. “It looks even uglier up close.”
“Don’t say that. You’ll hurt his feel’n’s.” Applebloom cantered up to her creation’s side, ignoring the pink filly behind her. It was cute, despite it being a crude rendition of what she had intended. She pondered what potential names she could give him. “I think I’ll call him, ‘Terry’.”
“Are you sure it’s even a boy?” asked Diamond. Right at that moment, she jumped into Scootaloo’s forelegs when a crudely-drawn rat scurried by.
“Guess that’s your ‘masterpiece’,” the pegasus stated before dropping her.
Diamond Tiara picked herself up off the ground, dusting some of the chalk from her shoulder. “Very funny.”
Nearby, Apple Bloom had been standing on a hill, with Terry sitting on her back. “Check this out, y’all!” she called over to the others. They came over and were instantly greeted to a panoramic view of a large valley. The chalk-sun was hovering just above the mountains, way off in the distance, and was even “reflecting” off the stream that ran through the area. It was a beautiful sight, even if it was made completely out of chalk.
“This is too amazing,” said Scootaloo, “and to think; we’re the first ponies to actually discover this place.”
“Then that settles it.” Sweetie Belle trotted up, giving a wide smile as she held her arms out wide. “I hereby dub this place ‘Chalklantis’!”
“That’s a stupid name,” said Diamond Tiara.
Scootaloo scoffed. “Think you can come up with a better one?”
“Girls, please…” Applebloom intervened. Now wasn’t the time to fight, especially after finding this wonderland. “We’ll come up with a name later. Right now, I say we get back to the school before Cheerilee gets back. Diamond Tiara, make sure you hang onto that piece of chalk. We’ll be need’n it to get back here.”
“You want us to trust her?” Sweetie Belle pointed an accusing hoof at Diamond, and received a glare in return.
Applebloom nodded. She trusted the filly enough to let her have it. “You really think she’d survive three seconds here by herself? You saw how she reacted when that mouse scurried by, didn’t ya?”
“I wasn’t that scared,” Diamond said, crossing her forelegs. “Fine then, we’ll come back tomorrow. But we’ll need another chalkboard since school will be closed.”
“I have one!” Sweetie Belle raised. “We can meet up at my house and use it.” They were all in agreement.
“It’s settled, then,” said Apple Bloom. “Tomorrow, we meet each other at Sweetie’s place, and then we can start explore’n Chalklantis!”
Sweetie Belle smiled. “Ha! I knew that name would catch on!”
They started their way back for the portal, completely unaware of the telescope that had been watching them from behind a bush nearby. Upon arriving, they could see that the classroom was still empty, thankfully. They hurried inside, one-by-one.
“Wait a minute, Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo stopped her friend just short of entering the room. “I'm not sure we can bring back Terry with us.”
“Why not?”
“What’s everypony else going to think when they see a hamster-fish made out of chalk?” The pegasus did have a point, since fish-hamster hybrids weren’t exactly a common sight in Equestria.
Apple Bloom tried to reassured her, though. “Doesn’t mean I can’t hide him. C’mon, Applejack and Big Mac won’t even know he’s around.” She seemed confident in herself to keep Terry away from unwanted attention.
Scootaloo sighed at her. “If you say so.”
They hopped through the back through the portal, re-entering the classroom. There was no sign of Miss Cheerilee, to their relief, until the knob on the door started rattling. Erasing the portal, they hurried back to their desks right before the door open. Apple Bloom made sure to hide Terry in her saddle bag to keep him from being seen.
“Sorry to leave you alone,” Cheeriee said, trotting in. “I trust all of you behaved yourselves while I was gone.”
They nodded, though Cheerilee was still suspicious. “Okay, then. As promised, you’re all free to...” —she had no time to finish her sentence before the fillies stormed out of the schoolhouse— “…go.”
The fillies made their way back into town, looking around to make sure nopony was listening in on them. They wanted to keep Chalklantis. It was supposed to be their secret hideout. “Remember,” Applebloom stated, “we’re meet’n ar Sweetie Belle’s house.”
Diamond rolled her eyes. “We got that the first two times.”
“Just be there!” Apple Bloom responded. “And if you can, bring some paper so we can make a map of the place. That way, if we can get lost, we can find our way back to the portal.”
They all nodded in agreement, and headed home, already eagerly anticipating their upcoming adventure into Chalklantis.