“What does this do, Screw Loose?”
“It fires off rapid bolts of mana. Don’t touch it.”
“What about this?”
“That is a chemical compound that can disintegrate your body with a single drop. Don’t touch it.”
“What about this?”
“It transcends time and space. Don’t touch it.”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes grew wide. “Are you sure? Please? You could go meet your male self in an alternate universe! Wouldn’t that be cool?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
Sweetie Belle muttered something regarding Screw Loose’s idea of fun before falling silent. Glancing around the workshop
“Please?”
Screw Loose sighed in exasperation. “For the last time, no! It’s just a prototype, and I’m still trying to work out all the kinks in it.”
Sweetie huffed. “Alright, I won’t touch it! You don’t need to be so paranoid, Screw.” Sighing, she pulled over a chair from a desk that was nearly hidden by diagrams, blueprints, and papers marred with ink. Shoving some of the clutter out of the way, Sweetie carefully propped her back hooves on the wooden surface and leaned back in her chair, giving the impression of an editor-in-chief in charge of a popular newspaper, sans cigar.
Apple Bloom huffed with annoyance as she waited for Sweetie Belle to finish talking to Screw Loose. Sweetie and Screw had been in the workshop for about an hour and a half, and Apple Bloom had no idea what could be taking the two mares so long in there.
She kicked a rock and watched it bounce erratically across the well-trodden dirt road. It wasn’t fair that she couldn’t go in with Sweetie Belle; after all, they had been friends for years. Still, Apple Bloom had never heard of Screw Loose before today, and she didn’t quite trust the blue pony after the powerful hoofbump she’d been dealt.
Screw Loose also seemed a bit... off, somehow. Apple Bloom couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but her behavior before the phrase that Sweetie Belle had said seemed questionable at best. The mere fact that Screw Loose didn’t remember who Sweetie Belle was raised several alarms in Apple Bloom’s mind.
Apple Bloom bit her lip, unable to decide what to do. On one hoof, she could tell Sweetie how she felt about Screw Loose. It would help to calm herself down, for sure. But Apple Bloom had always trusted her friend’s judgment, and to directly challenge her like that might risk the carefully maintained friendship the two had kept over the years.
Alternatively, Apple Bloom could simply go along with Sweetie Belle, though this path also had several issues. For one (and the main reason of conflict between the two choices), her skepticism and distrust would remain unassuaged. However, it was the easier of the two choices to pick, and Apple Bloom simply couldn’t decide what to do.
Presently, she heard a series of unfortunate-sounding crashes and thuds, followed by a grunt of pain. Glancing up through a grimy window, Apple Bloom could just make out Screw Loose holding her right rear hoof in her front hooves, hopping around in pain. Despite herself, Apple Bloom chuckled at the sight before trotting over near the entrance.
“Is everypony alright in there?” she called, suppressing a giggle.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” replied Screw Loose faintly, though the irritation was clear in her voice. “I should really get around to moving these boxes somewhere else where they can’t fall on unsuspecting feet.”
Apple Bloom heard a faint laugh, easily recognizable as Sweetie Belle’s. Even after all these years, she had still kept remnants of the high pitched squeals that had dominated her laughter. It made her smile for a brief period, but then she remembered that she still had to wait for Sweetie and Screw to finish doing... well, whatever it was that they were doing. Despite what she had said to Sweetie, Apple Bloom was really not a patient pony.
She was a lot like her sister, in a way. Applejack used to have arguments with Rainbow Dash all the time, even before they became closer. In fact, Apple Bloom remembered her big sis tell her what had nearly happened at Appleloosa, how she and Rainbow Dash had had an argument over which people should keep the land, forcing Twilight to intervene. Of course, that particular incident was more a show of stubbornness...
Apple Bloom sighed, unable to stop tears from forming. She really missed Applejack and all of her mannerisms, no matter how much she denied it in front of her friends. AJ was the perfect sister. She had always taken care of Apple Bloom since she could remember. Her earliest memories had Applejack, puffy-eyed and sniffling, smiling warmly down at her. The orange mare had been strong and dependable and fiercely loyal, second only to Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom could not understand why a pony like Applejack would suddenly go missing. As far as she knew, her big sister had no real enemies (except for maybe Discord and Chrysalis, but neither of them really counted) and had always loved working on Sweet Apple Acres.
What Apple Bloom was certain about, however, was that it had everything to do with the two letters that her sister and Rainbow had received last month. Coincidentally (or was it? thought Apple Bloom), Applejack and the rest of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony had gone missing on the very same day. If it hadn’t been for the senders of those envelopes, Apple Bloom would not have ordinarily been so confused. But Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy? What they could possibly have to do with the disappearances, apart from the fact that they, too, had vanished?
An electric hum filled the air.
Apple Bloom raised her head and glanced at the building in front of her. Were it not for the blue sparks that appeared to be generated by the walls themselves, she would have probably just ignored the noise. As she watched, utterly entranced by the electric display, a single sapphiric bolt, crackling like mad, shot out of the workshop and surged towards downtown Ponyville. Apple Bloom’s eyes widened.
“Uh oh.”
Ditzy Doo bit into an apple cinnamon muffin, sighing happily as she did so. Of all the muffins that she had ever tasted, this flavor was by far her favorite. It also happened to be a specialty of Sugarcube Corner. Freshly picked Cortlands from Ponyville’s own Sweet Apple Acres and cinnamon bark from Bon Bon’s private garden were the key ingredients in the delicious confection.
Her mane and tail lifted involuntarily. Ditzy paused mid-chew and looked upward at her mane. Tentatively, she placed a hoof on her head, noting the static electricity that appeared to be present. Placing her muffin on a table for the time being, she looked around the pastry shop in an attempt to locate the source of the static.