//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Something You're Looking For // Story: Artist's Block // by Hot Dog Jones //------------------------------// I knocked on the door with my hoof. “Hello?” I called, “Is everything alright?” I heard nothing but the sound of things breaking. Most definitely odd. I creaked open the door and poked my head in, not going fully inside. “Hello in there? It’s your neighbor. I heard some weird noises and- oof!” I was hit by a sudden blow to my back, something large and heavy, almost like.. Wow. Wasn’t expecting that. It was a filly, a little bit younger than me by the looks of it. It also looked like she was unconscious. Uh-oh. I let her down and started shaking her, trying to check for signs of injury. "Hey, are you okay?" “Wake up!” I shouted at the white mare. “Please, get up!” I guessed that she had fallen from the window above the door straight onto me. She was extremely lucky that I was there to break her fall, and that she wasn’t injured more than a bump on the head. She didn’t appear to be bleeding anywhere. I let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly the commotion upstairs stopped, and I heard voices coming from the open window. “Where’s Sweetie Belle? She was over there a second ago!” “Well, we better look for her. Looks like being Cutie Mark Crusader Gymnasts wasn’t such a great idea, especially when pole vaulting’s involved.” I figured that the young filly in my hooves was the pony they were talking about. And, if they spoke the truth.. Eeyup. I saw a pole and a mattress a bit away from the window. “Who would even think something that crazy?!” I sighed and took the mare inside. This cottage really looked like it had been through a lot. Most of the animals were scared away, and it looked like these “gymnasts” had taken quite a few falls. And that’s just the downstairs. The upstairs was probably even more of a mess. I went up the set of steps, filly still in my hooves. Looking over to the upstairs room, I saw two more fillies – one an orange pegasi, and the other a yellow earth pony. They stared at me for a while, and there was a terrible silence. I guess they weren’t expecting to see somepony hauling their friend up the stairs. “Um... Hi,” I said to break the silence, “I think I have something you’re looking for.” They still stood there, mouths agape. “Uh.. Ok! So I guess I’ll just be going then,” I said, placing the filly on the floor and turning to the steps. “But, uh.. You can’t leave now!” the orange one said to me. So they can talk. Thank Celestia. “Uh.. why not?” I replied in surprise. “Well, uh.. for one thing, who are you, and another thing, what happened to Sweetie Belle?” the orange one continued. “Oh, uh.. Well, I’m Sketch. I’m new in town, so you probably don’t know me. As for Sweetie Belle here, I’m not sure, but I think she may have had a, uh.. pole vaulting accident,” I said, trying to withstand my laughter. The fillies just stared. I guess they weren’t sure what to say next. I had to break the silence yet again. “So you are?” “Oh, yeah, um.. I’m Scootaloo, and this is Applebloom,” she replied with a nervous smile. She sat there for a second, blushing, then bumped Applebloom with the side of her hoof. Applebloom then put on a nervous smile as well. “Well, this is awkward.” "Listen, I should probably help you fix up Sweetie Belle.. I was outside and I managed to break her fall, but I still think she might be injured." The two fillies nodded in compliance. "Well, Fluttershy is gonna be back here soon. She'll know what to do," Scootaloo said. After a few more silences they started to warm up to me. Over the next couple minutes they told me about how they were searching for their cutie marks by doing gym practices, and that the filly who I helped was Rarity’s sister. It clarified a lot of things, but it also put more weight on my shoulders. If I didn’t fix up Sweetie Belle, my mom could be in trouble with Rarity, and we could lose a client. Eep. As if on cue, Fluttershy came through the door right at that second. "Oh, hey Fluttershy. We, uh.. need 'yer help with somethin'," Applebloom said in her natural southern accent. At that very moment, Sweetie Belle started to wake up. “Where am I?” she said through her grogginess, “How long’ve I been out?” Fluttershy nodded, understanding what happened. With a sigh, she picked up Sweetie Belle in her hooves. “Shhh, don’t worry. Let’s get you back to momma,” Fluttershy coaxed. She then took Sweetie Belle out the door and flew her away to the boutique. There was another silence when Fluttershy was away. I thought I would make the most of it and try to learn more about these strange fillies. “So, you girls go to the schoolhouse with miss Cheerilee, right?” “Well, duh. It’s the only school in town,” Scootaloo teased. “And you guys are trying to find your cutie marks from what I hear,” I replied. Scootaloo nodded happily. “Uhhuh, we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We strive to find our special talents, no matter the cost!” I grinned and said, “That sounds really cool. I still haven’t found mine either. People say I have a knack for drawing, but I don’t think I’m that good.” “You can draw? Oooh, draw me, draw me!” Applebloom exclaimed. “Applebloom!” Scootaloo shot, “Don’t you think he’s done enough tonight?” I chuckled and said, “No, no, it’s totally fine. I just need some paper.” About ten minutes later I had a rough sketch of Applebloom. “Wow,” she said, “that’s so cool! Where’d you learn to do that?” “I kinda.. taught myself,” I replied with a sheepish grin. “That’s awesome! Do you mind if I keep it?” she said back. “No problem,” I said, giving the picture to her. She giggled and put it in a bag that was supposedly hers. “Hehe,” I thought, “That’s almost exactly what Starshine used to do.” Just a bit later, Fluttershy made it back. “Okay girls, I suppose the sleepover’s off without Sweetie Belle here,” she said with a obviously fake frown. “Or, we could just hang out with Sketch over here!” Applebloom exclaimed. “Yeah, he can help us find our cutie marks!” Scootaloo added in. Fluttershy smiled nervously. “I guess she’s not getting out of babysitting tonight,” I thought with a chuckle. Me and the Crusaders (minus 1) went upstairs. Most of the evening we went through silly attempts to get cutie marks. The girls even tried their hooves at drawing. I won’t lie, it wasn’t very good. Anyway, eventually we ran out of stuff and none of us had our cutie marks. A few minutes after, though, we heard a knock on the door, and Fluttershy called Applebloom downstairs. *** “Aw, sis, do I have to?” Applebloom said to Applejack, who had come to pick her up early. “'Fraid so, sugarcube,” she replied, “We need some help preparin’ for the zap apple harvest tomorrow morning.” “But I wanna stay here with Scoots and Sketch!” “Sketch? Who the crabapples is Sketch?” I went downstairs, hearing my name. “Did somepony call me?” Applejack smiled and said, “Oh, you must be the new pony in town! Your mum’s helping out Rarity’s boutique, isn’t she?” I nodded. “Well, ain’t that just a bushel full of apples! I hope you like it here,” she exclaimed happily before looking back to Applebloom. “As for you, little missy, we need to get you home before you fall asleep.” Applebloom sighed and waved to me as she went out the door. "That probably means it's time for bed for you two as well," Fluttershy said, practically pushing us up the stairs. She can at least try to be subtle. Soon, me and Scootaloo were in sleeping bags in the cramped attic area, trying our best to sleep. Just as I was drifting off, I heard, “Sketch? You still awake?” Only one pony it could be. I looked directly to my left to see Scootaloo looking at me from her bag. “Yeah,” I said back, “What’s up?” “I was just thinking: You’re so lucky.” “Why? I still don’t have my cutie mark either,” “I know, but you’re so incredibly close. You know what you’re good at already, you just need to get better with it and whammo, look who has their cutie mark.” She sulked a bit, digging her face into her pillow. “Well, who said drawing had to be my cutie mark? Sure, I’m good, and my name is Sketch of all things, but it could be something else. Maybe even pole vaulting,” I added with a laugh. She smiled for a second, and then said, “I guess you’re right. I mean, a cutie mark could be anything, you just have to go out there and find it.” “Kinda like true love.” “Yeah, kinda.” We both sat there in silence, and moments later, I fell asleep.