//------------------------------// // Another Day in Ponyville // Story: Family Mares // by SolidFire //------------------------------// Another Day in Ponyville Scootaloo waited outside the school for Rainbow Dash. It wasn't long before she saw the tell tale rainbow blur that marked her mom's arrival. "Look's like Mom's here. Gotta go. I'll see you guys tonight at the party!" Scootaloo said to her fellow Crusaders. "Ya sure will Scoot," Applebloom said with a smile. "Have fun with yer new guitar!" "And your new moms!" Sweetie Belle chimed in. "Thanks girls!" Rainbow Dash landed with a loud thud on the sidewalk. Loud enough to conceal the landing of another pegasus directly behind Scootaloo and her friends. "Scoot, before we get your talons enchanted, you gotta see what's going on in town!" Rainbow said. "What's happening in town?" "I got back at Soarin for being out of contact for eight months," Spitfire said right behind Scootaloo. The three fillies all screamed in unison. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire fell to the ground laughing. "Don't ya know not ta sneak up on ponies?" Applebloom scolded the mares. "If you knew it was coming it wouldn't have been fun!" Rainbow managed through fits of laughter. Scootaloo began laughing with her parents. "That was a good one. You scared the crap outta us!" "Anyway, who wants to see Soarin getting assaulted by the love of all of Ponyville?" Rainbow asked. "I DO!" the three fillies shouted in unison. "Climb aboard Cutie Mark Crusaders!"Spitfire crouched to let Sweetie Belle climb on her back. Rainbow did the same for Applebloom. Scootaloo flapped her wings and rose to the sky. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PRANK ADMIRERS YAY!!!!!!!!!!!" the fillies screamed in unison, causing Rainbow Dash and Spitfire to cringe and be temporarily deafened. By the time the five arrived at the scene of Soarin's misery, a gray mailmare with lazy eyes was attempting to tackle Soarin out of the air. She wasn't doing a good job. Soarin found that his best defense against her was to remain perfectly still and hope that she didn't make a lucky guess from the three Soarin's she was staring at. "SPITFIRE! RAINBOW DASH! YOU TWO ARE DEAD!" Soarin screamed while avoiding an unusually accurate attack from Derpy. "What can I say?" Spitfire called back. "Payback's a mule and so am I!" The five ponies that came to watch laughed their flanks off. "I hate you so much right now Spitfire," Soarin muttered to himself as he dodged another assault by Derpy. Her attacks were getting more accurate. He needed to change tactics. He needed to- "Y'all want a muffin?" he heard a southern voice call from below him. Immediately, the lazy eyed mailmare darted toward the orange earth pony who saved Soarin's flank and took the muffin she offered. Soarin flew down to thank her only to be swarmed by townsfolk. "Now why don't y'all get away from this poor fella?" a deep, authoritative voice called out. "It's obvious he don' want th' attention." Soarin was stunned at the size of the red earth pony who said that. It didn't surprise him that all the townsfolk heeded his words. "How ya doin'? Applejack asked. "Ya alright?" "Yeah, I just have to kick a couple of lovers in the FLANK!" he yelled out to Spitfire and Rainbow Dash. They had recently landed and Applebloom was running to her sister. "Ya see that sis! Derpy 'bout killed that new Soarin fella!" Applebloom couldn't stop giggling. "RAINBOW DASH! WHAT'RE YA DOIN' FLYIN' MAH LITTLE SISTER UP THERE SO HIGH! SHE COULD'A GOT HURT!" Applejack was pissed. She was not about to hide that. "We had it under control AJ, relax," Rainbow responded. "Relax? RELAX! RAINBOW, JUST 'CAUSE YER FILLY HAS WINGS DOESN'T MEAN ALL OF 'EM DO!" "Applejack, we were just showing the kids a funny show." Spitfire tried to calm her down. It wasn't until immediately after she spoke that she realized how horrible her word choice had been. "SPITFIRE! AH EXPECTED BETTER 'OUTTA YOU! ALWAYS THOUGHT YA'D BE TH' RESPONSIBLE ONE!" Spitfire cringed. When Applejack is mad at somepony, everypony knew to run away. Applejack was PISSED at Spitfire and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow didn't take the hint. "Jeez AJ, if she fell off I'd have at least ten seconds to catch her before she hit the ground. I told you we had it-" "DON'T YA USE YER FANCY MATHEMATICS TA MUTTER TH' ISSUE!" Applejack was pissed before. Now... well, words have a hard time describing the color her face had turned. "Sis, calm down. Yer not helpin' by yellin'." Big Mac stepped in. "Applejack may have lost her temper a little, but she was right. Y'all were a might irresponsible there. Somepony coulda been hurt, and it woulda been one o' th' little ones." Spitfire and Rainbow knew he was right. Spitfire had a much easier time admitting it though. "Sorry Mac. I guess we weren't thinking. It won't happen again." "Yeah, I'mserrmagggieffferrrr," Rainbow muttered incomprehensibly. In Ponyville, Rainbow's unique apology was understood. Bic Mac and Applejack accepted it, although they knew she could do better after what Twilight had told them. "Sweetie Belle! What are you doing here!? I thought I told you to wait for me at school!" Rarity was a mess. "Sorry Rarity, Rainbow and Spitfire showed me Soarin's welcome party from the sky!" Sweetie Belle wasn't overly sorry, but she knew an apology was fitting. "You mean they flew you into the sky?" "Yeah! It was cool!" "On their backs?" "Yeah! Don't get mad, they already got yelled at by-" "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! SOMEPONY COULD HAVE BEEN-" Big Mac cut her off. "AJ and Ah already talked to 'em," he said. "Won't happen again." "You're right it won't." Rarity glared at Rainbow Dash. "I have a party to get ready for, and I'm absolutely frazzled after looking for Sweetie Belle." "Oh? What party?" Soarin asked. Everypony around him laughed. "Pinkie's of course," Rainbow laughed. "It doesn't start for another 5 hours..." Soarin was confused. "If Rarity gets a hair out of place on her mane, she requires at least an hour to correct it," Sweetie Belle said with a groan. "Just because I want to look like a lady doesn't mean you have to exaggerate," Rarity scolded her sister before correcting her. "It only takes me about 20 minutes to get a hair back in place." "If it bugs you so much then just cut it off," Sweetie Belle countered. "Cut it - Sweetie Belle, just because you take to looking like a ruffian doesn't mean everypony should." Sweetie Belle did have a rather unkempt appearance. Ever since the Crusader's appearance in the school talent show, she had taken to spiking her mane and tail like she had for the show. Spitfire had seen her without it spiked at her wedding, and thought Sweetie Belle had made the right choice in styling it so. "I happen to like my mane this way." "Sweetie Belle, it looks horrid." "Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you get to say bad things about it." "I think it looks good on her." Rarity gave Spitfire a look that could only be outmatched by Fluttershy's stare. "What. Did. You. Just. Say?" "It looks good on her. Seems less forced. Gives her a more independent look." Rarity had no argument. She couldn't if she wanted to. Most likely because her vocal cords were currently incapacitated. "Rarity?" Applejack asked. Rarity turned around and walked home. She didn't know what else to do. Months of trying to get Sweetie Belle to style her mane and tail like a lady and now someone was agreeing with her... her... punk style? She was dumbfounded. "Ah reckon she don't like what ya said 'bout Sweetie Belle's mane. Ya know how she gets when somepony agrees with what she sees as a 'fashion disaster'," Applejack laughed. "She'll be calmed down tonight at th' party." "Maybe she'll even come to terms with Sweetie Belle's mane choice," Rainbow added. "Unlikely. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," a soft voice said behind them. Soarin turned around. It was the mare from the cabin. His wings fluttered. "No problem at all Fluttershy," Applejack said. "What brings ya out here today?" "Well, I was hoping, if you don't mind, and if you're not busy, that you could come help me gather firewood today. I'm not a very strong pony and I need some help moving the dead trees and splitting the wood. If you're available." "I can help." Soarin saw his chance to spend some time with her and took it. Fluttershy squealed and bolted behind Big Mac. "Soarin here's a nice pony. It'd be good fer both a y'all if he helped." Big Mac picked up on Soarin's reaction to Fluttershy's presence. "Umm, alright. I don't want to impose." "I'd be happy to help," Soarin said gently. "Um, alright. I need to check on Angel. He's sick so he needs me to be home." "Alright, y'all go on ahead and Soarin'll meet ya there in 'bout an hour," Big Mac said. "Okay. Umm, thank you Soarin." "You're welcome Fluttershy." Soarin stared as she flew off, moments later receiving a hoof to his head. "Y'all better watch where yer lookin'. Applejack seemed unhappy with him. "Ya better be careful with her. She's a mighty fragile pony," Big Mac said while helping him get back to his hooves. Soarin wondered if the mountainous stallion could help him with the throbbing in the side of his head. "I hate to break this up, but I promised Scoot I'd take her to Twilight's today. And we're a half an hour later than Twilight was expecting us," Rainbow said. "WOOHOO! Guitar talon enchantment time!" Scootaloo jumped in the air and flew around the group. "Come on Scoot, we gotta go if we're gonna head over there today." "Lead the way Mom!" "I'll meet you two back home, I have some grocery shopping to do," Spitfire said. "Alright, I'll see you soon." Rainbow kissed her wife and flew off to the library with Scootaloo close behind. Spitfire headed for the market to pick up everything she needed for dinner that night. She planned something light due to the amount of food Pinkie was bound to have at her party that night. "They're a mighty cute family," Big Mac noted. "Ah never expected them ta adopt a foal, but Ah gotta say they do a good job with little Scootaloo," Applejack added. "Ah still don't know why they even have Scootaloo," Applebloom said. "Scootaloo didn't tell ya?" Applejack was confused. "Nope. Said she'd tell us when she was ready. Whatever that means." Applebloom was obviously miffed, but she trusted her friend. "I wonder if it has something to do with how mean her parents were when we were there," Sweetie Belle chimed in. Applejack looked at Big Mac and sighed. She was happy Applebloom didn't ask her, because Rainbow made AJ promise to keep quiet about the ordeal to anypony who didn't already know. And she wouldn't lie to her sister about anything. Back at the library, an irritated Twilight had a book open to a chapter titled "Brain Enchantments." Rainbow was a half hour late. Not that Twilight was surprised, but it still got on her nerves. "She'll be here soon Twi, it's alright." Spike tried to comfort her. "I know she will. I just wish she'd be on time for once," Twilight huffed. Just then, there was a knock on the library door. Spike opened it. "Hey Rainbow Dash! Hey Scootaloo!" "Hey Spike. Twilight here?" Rainbow asked. "I've been here waiting for the last half an hour." "Sorry Twi. Got caught up in town." "I'm sure. Where's Scootaloo? I have to do this quick so I can get a letter to the Princess before four." "Twilight, didn't she tell you not to worry about being tardy?" "She requested a timely response on this one. I've been requested in Canterlot." "For what?" Twilight's eyes lit up. "The Graduation Banquet for Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns! I'm the special guest speaker!" "So you're graduating? That's awesome!" "Technically, I graduated three years ago. I was doing advanced study before I came here. Now to the enchantment. I need the talons and Scootaloo." Scootaloo hopped forward. Rainbow Dash put the talons on her and was surprised when they fit perfectly. "I know I had larger hooves than that when I got those... buck that guy is good," she muttered. As Twilight started the spell to enchant the talons, two magical auras appeared and enveloped the talons and Scootaloo's head. There was a large flash and a scream as Scootaloo fell unconsciously to the floor.