//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 
// Story: Sweet Pea 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were choosing spots of either side of the bed they were going to sleep next to tonight. Suddenly, Apple Bloom heard a strange buzzing coming from somewhere and looked down to see the trunk. She opened it and the buzzing got louder. She went through it and found a mirror glowing while vibrating. She picked it up in confusion and Scootaloo looked at it strangely. She turned to Sweetie Belle and said, “Your mirror’s vibrating.”
“Oops…” Sweetie took it, “I was going to tell you, honest.”
“Tell us what?” AB questioned.
“You’ll see.” She looked into the mirror and said, “Show me Discord.”
Discord’s image appeared then, “Well, it’s about time you picked up and- Oh, hi girls!” he waved.
“Discord!” both sisters said.
“So I take it they know?”
“Actually… I haven’t told them anything. But I’m going to now.” She recapped discovering the mirror and conversing with Discord.
“So wait,” pointed Scootaloo, “He could have given the answers to the remaining tests and you refused?!”
“That’s what I said!” Discord said through the mirror.
“No, you didn’t!” Sweetie objected.
“I was thinking it. Now about today’s test: how did you do?”
“I passed.”
“We all did.” said Apple Bloom.
“Good, but if you change your mind, you let me know right away.”
“While I don’t need your answers, I could use your help in something else.”
“Anything, Sweetie Belle. What can your genie do to grant your wish?” he turned blue and had smoke instead of feet while holding a lamp.
She rolled her eyes and said, “There’s going to be a talent show and I have no idea how prepare myself for it.”
“And you want my expertise?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, for starters, I assume you are going to be singing, right?”
“Pretty much.”
“Then you’re going to have to be dazzling! The star of the show! And to do that, you’ll have to look the part!”
“How?”
“You leave that up to me. You, on the other hoof, will start rehearsing the song you’ll be singing at the talent show.”
“Alright… I’m counting on you, Discord.”
“You have nothing to worry about. And what about you girls? What are you planning on doing for the show?”
“I think I’ll show off my awesome dance moves!” Scootaloo did a twirl.
“Excellent choice.” he did a thumbs up, “How about you, AB?”
“I’m not sure yet.” she said.
“Don’t worry. You’re creative enough. You’ll figure it out. If not, you could always help your sisters with sets and props on their routines.”
“Hmm… I could.” she nodded.
He summoned a floating notepad with a self-writing quill, “Let’s see, I need to make a stage outfit for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and a backstage outfit for Apple Bloom…”
“I don’t need any stage outfit!” Scootaloo protested, “I’m cool enough as it is!”
“Just trust me, you’ll need it.”
“Fine…” she pouted.
“I’ll call you in… by the way, when is this talent show?”
“In one and a half day.” Sweetie responded.
“Whew! That’s a relief! I’ll get done in no time! Signing off!” The mirror returned to normal just as the door was knocking.
“We’re here.” Twist said as she, Babs, and Dinky walked in, “And look,” she held out a bag full of s’mores, “Truffle made us s’mores!”
“Mmm!” Apple Bloom licked her lips.
“So what do you do at these sleepovers?” Babs asked, “I never been to one.”
“Take a seat on the floor and we’ll show you.” Sweetie gestured as they started forming a circle on the floor.
“’Cause, lucky for you,” said Apple Bloom, “we grew up with six older sisters who taught us everything there is about a slumber party!”
“First things first,” said Sweetie, “Makeovers!”
“Makeovers?” Babs had her brow raised.
“Yeah…” Scootaloo grumbled, “Thankfully, it doesn’t last long.”
The next thing Babs knew, she had green stuff on her cheek and Dinky was rubbing it on.
“What is this stuff?”
“It’s a mud mask.” explained Sweetie while wearing her mask.
“It rejuvenates the face and unclogs the pores.” Twist enlightened as she was putting on her mask.
Babs turned to see Scootaloo glowering with AB helping her with her mask.
“Now for the cucumber slices.” Sweetie put on hers, “Doesn’t it feel relaxing?”
“Uh-huh.” Twist and Dinky agreed.
“I guess…” Babs said unsure.
There was a munching sound and they took off the slices to see Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were eating theirs.
“Guys!” shouted Sweetie.
“What? Applejack and Rainbow ate theirs at the last slumber party we were at.” Apple Bloom said.
“But they’re supposed to be used to reduce the puffiness around one’s eyes!”
“You’ve been hanging around Rarity too much.” said Scoots.
“So what’s next?” Babs intervened.
Sweetie was grateful for the distraction and took out hair curlers, “We get to put our hair in curlers!”
Moments later, all six of them had curlers in their manes, though Scootaloo and Babs were less than ecstatic.
“Can we please move on to the next activity?!” Scootaloo was taking the curlers out, “Let’s get to the good parts! Like telling…” she went into a deep spooky voice, “Ghost stories… woooo…”
“I thought you hate ghost stories.” AB pointed, “Remember when we went camping with Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity? You were scared out of your wits!”
“That was when I was a kid. Now I’m not scared of anything! Especially… the Headless Horse!”
“The…” Dinky started quaking, “Headless Horse?” 
Scootaloo continued in her spooky tone, “Yes… the Headless Horse… It only gallops at night… looking for little lost ponies… Fear was dripping from the air…”
Meanwhile, outside of the room, Rumble was walking back to his room when he heard Scootaloo talking in a strange voice. He went closer to the door and overheard her telling the legend of the Headless Horse. Being a pony who was on the go a lot, he heard all of the old ghost stories that have been told. A mischievous grin spread across his face as he began to form a plan and quickly ran off.
“…And they were never heard from again…”
Twist gulped, “Never?”
“Never…” Then she started laughing, “Relax, there’s no such thing as a Headless Horse.”
Suddenly, the lights began to flicker and then completely shut off! The girls started screaming their heads off when they saw a pony body with no head…
The lights came back on and they showed Rumble wearing a sheet over his head. Scootaloo’s eyes were full of fury when she bellowed out, “RUMBLE!” He laughed and flew out the door just she was shouting out to him while waving her fist, “You get back here, you coward! So I can knock your block off!”
Twist held out the s’more bag, “So who wants s’mores?”
After a while of snacking, Sweetie said, “Okay, it’s time for ‘Truth or Dare’!”
“’Truth or Dare’? How do you play that?” questioned Babs.
“One pony dares another pony to do whatever she wants her to do, or that the other pony has to give a truthful answer.” Dinky explained, “You got that?”
“Um…”
“We’ll go first to show you.” said Sweetie Belle as she turned to Apple Bloom, “Truth or dare?”
“Hmm,” she gave it a bit of thought, “dare!”
“I dare you to…” she smirked, “…to go find Pip and give him a kiss on the cheek!”
“What?!”
“Hey, you asked for a dare now you have to fulfill it!” Scootaloo motioned.
AB’s cheeks went red and slowly went out of the room. The girls quickly followed her to see if she was going to go through it.
Pip had finally finished with the map’s clues, “Yes! Now I can go find the treasure!” Then he heard the door knocking and went to go answer it. He was surprised to see Apple Bloom, but she looked nervous.
“Apple-“
“Forgive me.” she said and quickly kissed his cheek and made a run for it.
She left him speechless and paralyzed.
When making it back to Sweetie’s room, the girls were giggling while Apple Bloom was glaring at them, “It’s not funny! Now he’ll probably never want to speak to me again!”
“Oh I’m sure that’s not true.” Sweetie pointed out.
“Alright, it’s your turn, but it’d be great if you choose ‘Dare’ so I can get back at you.”
“No way! I choose truth.”
“Fine… tell us your feelings for the prince…” she wickedly grinned.
“But you already know that!”
“Not these guys. They don’t know…” AB pointed to the three princesses with them.
She grimaced, “All right…” she faced them, “The truth is…I have a crush on Button…”
“You do?” Twist asked.
“Yeah… ever since he found me when I was washed ashore… I don’t know what came over me… he was so handsome and nice… I couldn’t help it… Then that feeling increased when we started dancing at the ball… I couldn’t help myself…” she sighed.
“What’s it like to feel like you’re in love?” Dinky questioned.
“Well… I guess you could say that when we walk together and talk together… you get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever you’re near him… And when you’re on a date with him, you feel the entire night is lovely…” she started singing, “A lovely night… A lovely night… A finer night you know you’ll never see… You meet your prince… A charming prince… As charming as a prince will ever be! The stars in a hazy heaven tremble above you… While he is whispering, “Darling, I love you!” You say good-bye… Away you fly… But on your lips you keep a kiss… All your life you’ll dream of this! Lovely, lovely night…”
“That is so romantic!” Twist sighed dreamy.
The girls did random agreements. 
“Would you care to share?”
“Me? I suppose I could…” She sang out, “A lovely night… A lovely night… A finer night you know you’ll never see…”
The others sang, “La la la, la la la, la la la…”
They all sang, “You meet your prince… A charming prince… As charming as a prince will ever be! La la la la la la la la la… The stars in a hazy heaven… Tremble above you… While he is whispering…”
Scootaloo sang in a deep tone, “Darling, I love you!”
They sang, “You say good-bye… Away you fly…”
Sweetie and Twist sang, “But on your lips, you keep a kiss…”
Apple Bloom and Dinky sang, “All of your life, you’ll dream of this…”

They all sang, “Lovely, lovely night!”

Then, they started a pillow fight and then resumed singing, “The stars in a hazy heaven tremble above you… While he is whispering…”
Babs used a deep voice, “Darling, I love you!”
They finished, “You say goodbye… Away you fly… But on your lips, you keep a kiss… All your life, you dream of this! Lovely… lovely… lovely… Lovely night!”
They sighed audibly.
The girls stayed up for a while chatting and discussing what they were going to do for the talent show and guessed what the prize could be for winning. When they decided it was time to go to bed, the three princesses found sleeping areas near the bed while the sisters slept side by side. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle took the edges while Scootaloo took the middle.
All was quiet and dark for a while until Babs opened her eyes, went out to the balcony, and looked out to the ocean view. 
“Couldn’t sleep, huh?”
She turned to see Sweetie Belle, “Sorry, I thought every pony was asleep. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“That’s okay. I wasn’t sleeping much, anyway. You don’t have a sister who is a restless sleeper and ends up kicking your legs a lot.”
Babs did a small chuckle.
“So why are you out here?”
“I was just wondering what life is like out there and whether or not I have a chance of being happy… My parents want this alliance so badly, but I can’t get something I really want…”
“You two really are alike…” Sweetie sadly said.
“Huh?”
“You and Button… you have so much in common it’s surprising that you aren’t together at this point…”
“Me and Button? Don’t get me wrong; he and I can share hardships when it comes to duty, but has it occurred to you that we’re too alike? Think about it: not only do we have a similar pasts, but we look alike, too! I think we’re maybe distant cousins of some sort.”
“Whoa… now that you mention it… it is creepy now as close in appearance as you are…”
“See?”
“I do see, and I’m sorry…”
“About what?”
“I was… jealous of you…”
“Jealous? Of me?”
“The fact that you and Button seemed so close that… I was upset that I might have lost him to someone better for him…”
“You have no reason to be jealous of me. I don’t like Button that way, and frankly, I think he has his eye on you, anyway…”
“You really think so?” her eyes gleamed with hope.
“I’m pretty sure.” she winked, “Besides, I like his friend Featherweight more.”
“You like Featherweight?”
“Why not? He’s cute and fun to be around…” She turned her head so she wouldn’t see the small blush, “But you have to promise to keep this a secret. If my parents ever found out somehow, I would never hear the end of it…”
“I promise, in fact, I Pinkie Promise.” she made the promise gesture.
“Pinkie Promise?”
“Trust me, your secret is in good hooves…”
Babs smiled and started singing, “The stars in a hazy heaven trembling above me…”
Sweetie sang, “Danced when he promised… Always to love me…”
“The day came through…”
“Away I flew… But on my lips he left a kiss…”
“All my life I’ll dream of this…”
“Lovely…”
“Lovely…”
They both sang, “Lovely night…”
They smiled at each other and went back inside to sleep. Unbeknownst to them, a prince who was on a balcony above them overheard them.