Melody for my Dear
Ch 15
It was afternoon at the schoolhouse and the children were about to be let go from their eight hour session. As the fillies sat at their desks, they were having a bit of chitchat before the teacher in front of the class spoke, “Alright little fillies, we had a great time learning about plants today didn't we. Can any pony tell me what photosynthesis is?”
“I know Mrs. Cheerilee,” answered a colt from the front.
“What is it Featherweight?”
“It's what plants do to make energy and stuff, and they use...”
While the student up front was rambling about the day's lesson, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were closer to the back of the room with their desks close to one another. Whispering, Applebloom asked, “You made us wait all day Scoot... What is the suprize?
“Yeah and you seem extra excited and happy today,” Sweetie Belle responded. “Not that it's a bad thing, but we aren't doing any crusading for the next few days so there isn't much excitement as far as I know.”
“Don't worry. I will tell you after we get out of here.”
Almost immediately after Scootaloo finished her sentence, Cheerliee spoke in a bit of a sharp tone, “Girls! I asked you a question. What do leaves on a plant to?” The three fillies were so well into what they were doing, that they forgot that class was still in session.
“They... absorb light? Applebloom said with a nervous look on her face.
“Good! And what else? Sweetie Belle?”
Condemned, the unicorn had no choice but to come up with an answer. “Does it help with photosynthesis?”
“Correct!” And with that, the bell rang. “Alright everypony, head on home. And don't forget to bring a flower to class!” After speaking, the teacher walked over to a door on the opposite side of the room and left.
As the Cutie Mark Crusaders walked toward the exit, they heard a bratty tone from Diamond Tiara speeking to her friend, “I can't believe Ms. Cheerilee made us do yard work with plants. We already have OUR cutie marks, so why do we have to learn this load of manure...”
Feeling the need to stand up to their teacher, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle blockaded the door. “Don't be all mean to our teacher,” Applebloom spoke in defense. “Ya never know when plant life may be useful to ya.”
“But it might be useful to you Applebloom.” Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara's friend decided to step in. After all, you do live on a run down farm. Maybe you can attempt to make a living rolling seeds in the dirt.”
The insult from the bratty pony stung Applebloom. She couldn't think of what to say. All she could do was try to fight back tears that began to ball at the edges of her eyes.
“I thought so,” Diamond Tiara gawked as she and her friend began to walk out the door.
Now things got personal. While Applebloom stood in the schoolhouse with a sad look on her face, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, once more, blocked Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “Say you're sorry!” shouted the pegasus.
“Or what, you'll fly home to mommy? Oh, wait you can't.” Silver Spoon spoke with authority and meant every word. “Now move!”
“Never!” Even Sweetie Belle, who was full of adrenalin, stood her ground and glared at her foes with fire.
“I said MOVE!” Growing impatient, Silver Spoon took a drastic measure and shoved Sweetie Belle hard and caused her to stumble over her feet.
“Sweetie Belle!” cried Applebloom and Scootaloo.
In the blink of an eye, something yellow darted toward the perpetrators. At that point, Silver Spoon screamed, “AH! BEE!”
“WHERE?!” Before she knew it, Diamond Tiara was looking at a very angry wasp, wielding its pointy barb. “AGH, RUN AWAY!” As fast as they could, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon dashed away in fear.
In response to seeing Scootaloo helping Sweetie Belle, the wasp flew over to the two of them. “Penelope?” said the unicorn with a smile.
“What is she doin' here?” Applebloom was standing in front of her friends, now that the two bullies ran off.
“Before I came to school, I got Penelope and had her keep an eye on my notes.” Logic aside, the wasp reached behind its back and pulled out the pegasus' notebook. “I told Penelope to wait until we got out of school to show you, but I guess she followed me.”
Penelope had no other way of communicating other than nodding to what Scootaloo had just said. “Well thank you for scaring them off,” Sweetie Belle said with a small grin. “Never thought something so small can be so frightening.”
Scootaloo couldn't agree with her friend any more. “Heh, we all know that Penelope has- WAH!” In and instant, Penelope jumped onto Scootaloo's nose and smiled. From where she last left off, the pegasus said in an irritated voice, “...the element of surprise...”
Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle giggled a bit at Penelope's shananigins. “Are ya hurt Sweetie Belle? asked Applebloom.
“I'm fine. What about you?”
While this was going on, Penelope saw the two bullies trying to catch their breath at a distance. With an evil grin, the wasp left Scootaloo's nose and flew up into the sky.
“Where are you going,” the pegasus wondered aloud.
Meanwhile, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were continuing their conversation. “Ah will be honest,” said Applebloom. “That was a very mean thing she said to me and what she did to you...”
“Yeah... Too bad their weren't any witnesses...”
“Hey, cheer up.” Holding the notebook, Scootaloo smiled and said, “I bet this will cheer you both up and help us forget about those two brats.”
“Wait, did somethin' happen between Big Mac and Flutters-”
Applebloom was cut off as Scootaloo dashed away. “I'll show you at the club house.”
“Hey, wait up!” Trying to keep up, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle broke off in a sprint after their friend. When they finally did catch up to Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle asked, “Hey, where is Penelope?”
All three of the fillies slowed down to a complete stop to look for their friend. “When we were back at the school, she flew off,” Scootaloo answered the question. Suddenly, a loud scream ran through the air. “What in the world was tha- AGH!” Zipping onto her nose once more, Penelope sat on Scootaloo's nose.
“There you are,” Applebloom smiled with delight. “Where were you?” The wasp pointed back toward the school. “Did you hear that scream?” Penelope nodded. “Do you know where the scream came from?” This time, Penelope shook her head. However, the wasp was trying not to grin because she truly knew where the screams came from; Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
***
Walking slowly toward Sweet Apple Acres, the Cutie Mark Crusaders talked about Scootaloo's notes and what happened at Fluttershy's cottage.
“So Fluttershy does like ma brother,” Applebloom spoke in delight.
“Maybe...,” Scootaloo replied. “Remember that Fluttershy is still trying to find out if she really likes Big Mac.”
“True, but if she does like him, we need to think of a plan to give that gentle nudge.” Sweetie Belle grinned toward the ground as she thought of what to say next. “It now seems very likely that Fluttershy does like your brother. I think we can start planning on giving them a small nudge toward each other.”
“Yeah!” After Scootaloo's outburst, her eyes went into a bit of a glare as the sun shined in her face. “But we got to be extra careful about this. We don't want anypony to be suspicious of us.”
“Maybe we can ask Big Mac some questions, like 'do you like being with Fluttershy?' He is at the farm today.” Applebloom's suggestion made her friends nod in agreement.
While the three fillies discussed their plan on questioning Big Macintosh, they quickly found themselves at the entrance of the house. Before they walked in, Applebloom looked to Scootaloo and said, “Hey, Penelope?” Perking her head up from behind the pegasus' ear, the wasp looked toward Applebloom. “Can you make sure you don't fly around? Ah don't want ya ta scare any of ma relatives.” Nodding in agreement, Penelope hid herself in Scootaloo's hair.
“Don't make my head itch Penelope,” the pegasus rebelled as she resisted the urge to scratch her head.
“Where is your brother?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Out in the barn ah suppose.” Applebloom looked around the living room until she found a list. “We only came inside so ah can get ma chore list. Can you girls help me with them?”
“Sure!” the others spoke in delight.
“We need to talk about our next spy mission as well,” Sweetie Belle suggested.
“You're right.” Scootaloo just realized that they need to plan way more ahead if they want their mission to be a success. “Let's see what happens today and plan from there.”
“But let's ignore all this spy business for now! For now, why don't we see if we can get our cutie marks in doing chores!”
Despite Sweetie Belle's enthusiasm, Applebloom looked slightly irritated and said, “Ah have been doin' this stuff for years. Ah don't think there is anythin' special to chores.”
“Think about it in a different way. What if we try to get it all done very quickly. This might get our cutie marks in being quick at things.”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo was on the band wagon. “Rainbow Dash does things really really fast so maybe we can do the same thing.”
“Never thought of it that way...” Applebloom thought and decided to take Sweetie Belle's suggestion. “Alright girls, let's do this then!”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CHORE SPEED RUNNERS ARE ABOUT TO MAKE THEIR READY SET GO!”
***
Flying in the air was Fluttershy with a basket in her mouth. The basket had a small black bunny who was sound asleep. Just a little longer, Fluttershy thought as she flew toward Sweet Apple Acres. Landing at the gate, the pegasus opened the gate and briskly walked toward Applejack who was pulling a cart full of apples.
“Oh, hey Fluttershy.” Applejack was a bit concerned because she was not informed that Fluttershy would be visiting without scedualing. “What brings you here?”
“I'm so sorry for coming at such a short notice, but could I get some apple juice from you?”
“What for?” Bowing her head, Fluttershy reveled the black bunny that sat in the basket. It looked very injured and had a bandage wrapped around one ear and a large bandaid on its back. “Goodness Fluttershy! What happened to the poor thing?!”
“I don't know! All I was doing was helping my pet bear negotiate with some bees when I saw this poor little bunny lying on the ground. When I picked her up, the little bunny could hardly move. Some of the bees gave her some honey to give her something to eat and I gave her some bandages. But when I tried to feed her, she can't even nibble on anything!”
“Ah see why you are here. You want her to have some liquids, right?”
“Yes. Please Applejack, you must-”
Fluttershy was cut off by her friend. “Relax. I'm on it.”
Removing herself from the wagon, Applejack ran into the house. Moments later, the earth pony came out with a baby bottle filled with apple juice. “Here ya go sugar cube.”
“Oh thank you Applejack.” Giving the bottle to the weak bunny, it snatched the bottle and began drinking from it. Both Fluttershy and Applejack made an “aww” as the little one guzzled the apple juice down.
From afar, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were hustling with chores when they noticed Fluttershy. Dropping what they were doing, the fillies ran over to the pegasus to say hello. “Hey Fluttershy,” the three of the spoke in unison.
“Hello girls. How was your day?”
“Good,” Applebloom spoke for the two of her friends. “We talked about plant stuff in school.”
“We need to get a flower for tomorrow,” Sweetie Belle filled in for Applebloom.
“Well, I have a flower garden at my cottage. Maybe you girls can come over today and pick a few.”
Applejack jumped into the conversation and looked down at Applebloom. “Ah don't know about you goin' to Fluttershy's...”
“Why not?!” the filly complained.
“You left a messy room yesterday.”
“But we just finished ma chores.”
“That fast?”
“Go check.”
“Ah will...” Walking toward the barn Applejack went into the barn.
It was quiet for a while before Scootaloo said, “So how was your day with Big Macintosh?”
“Yeeeaaahhh... how was it, hehe,” Sweetie Belle giggled.
“It was very nice. We went grocery shopping and had dinner at my cottage.” Fluttershy looked up at the sky as she spoke.
“We already know that.”
“You do?”
“Uhh, umm.” Sweetie Belle didn't even realize what she said before even thinking about it.
Trying to cover up the tracks, Applebloom said, “Yeah, umm... ma brother told me what yall did.”
“Speaking of your brother, how is he?”
Six pair of eyes widened with glee as Fluttershy asked her question. “You want to know how ma brother is?”
“Why not? I mean... if that's okay for me to ask...”
“Oh he is doing fine!” Scootaloo spoke proudly. Looking up at Fluttershy with a convincing sort of way, she continued, “In fact, he was just thinking about you.”
“Where is he? I would like to talk to him.” The pegsus' smiled brightly as she kept thinking about her friend.
Instead of the fillies answering Fluttershy, a voice from behind them did. “Here.” It was Applejack who spoke, and Big Macintosh stood right beside her.
“Hello Big Mac,” the pegasus smiled happily. Big Macintosh smiled back and replied with a nod.
Looking down at her sister, Applejack said, “Yer in the clear. You can go to Fluttershy's.”
“YEAY,” Applebloom cried with joy.
“Did something happen yesterday,” Fluttershy asked.
The older sister dug her hoof into Applebloom's hair. “This one tried to flake on her chores yesterday. But it seems she is good for today, so ah can let it slide.”
“You just make sure you do what you are told Applebloom,” the pegasus smiled. “I may have the stare, but who knows what your sister looks like when she is mad.”
“Trust me,” Applebloom replied. “It's nothin' special.”
“Is that SO?” Applejack replied. “How about you take that big ol' cart of apples into the barn?”
“Why do ah need to do that!? That's your chore.”
“Oh 'it's nothin' special.' Jus' a simple little chore is all. Unless you don't want to go to Fluttershy's.”
“Okay...” Dragging her hooves on the ground, Applebloom made her way to the cart and began at her task, but at a very slow pace.
Deciding to bring up conversation, Applejack asked, “So how was your lunch dinner thing you had with ma brother yesterday?”
“I wanted to use some of yesterday's produce and had a buffet for salads.”
“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh replied with a smile.
“What did you have?” the sister asked as she jabbed a hoof at his ribs.
“Umm...” Ah don' know if you will like the idea that ah had pears...The stallion looked at Fluttershy, trying to tell her not to reply to Applejack's question, but she already had a breath of air.
“He had a nice bowl of salad with pecans, cranberrry sauce, and pears.”
“OH...” Applejack leered at her brother. “Pears, hugh?”
“Yeah... heh”
“Actually, Angel made the salad and made it a surprise, so Big Macintosh had no idea there where pears.”
“Eeyup.” Good safe Fluttershy...
“Is that all?” For some reason, Applejack looked a bit suspicious about the whole salad being a surprise and it grabbed the attention of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
Responding to Applejack's question, Fluttershy said, “Actually, Big Macintosh asked me the sweetest thing last night.”
“And that is...?”
“He asked if he could take some of his salad home.”
“Really...?” Applejack responded as she looked at her brother. “This true?”
“Eeyup...” Way to throw a slow ball down the middle Fluttershy...
“Is something wrong with that Applejack?” Fluttershy asked as she looked a bit worried.
“No. Nothin'...” The cowpony turned away. “Anyways Fluttershy, you go on with the girls and have fun. Ah want to have a chat with ma brother...”
“Is it about pears?”
“No, it's about... umm...” Applejack's mouth puckered. “This years harvest.”
“Alright. I just wanted to talk with Big Mac for a little, but I know how serious harvest is to you.”
It was quiet for a moment, then Applejack said, “Come on Big Mac.” The mare walked a few steps toward the barn and spoke again. “Come on brother.”
Then he said it.
“Nope.”
Her neck twisted back in an instant as soon as she heard Big Macintosh's response. “You wanna run that ba me again brother...?”
“Ah SAID 'nope.'”
“Really?”
“Eeyu-PP!”
“Fine... DO AS YOU PLEASE!” Huffing away, Applejack walked away.
It was quiet. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and even Fluttershy couldn't even make for what just happened. Even Penelope poked her head out of Scootaloo's hear, wondering what the commotion was all about. Only Applebloom was unaware of what just happened because she just came up after Applejack left. “Did umm... something happen?” the filly spoke as she walked up to the four of them.
“Eeyup...”
“Where you an' sis fightin'...?”
“Eeyup...”
“Oh...” I hate it when they fight...