//------------------------------//
// Chapter XX 
// Story: Lessons in quirks 
// by Mike84 
//------------------------------//

	"This was so lame!" Scootaloo moaned. "What was up with Miss Cheerilee today?"
Apple Bloom nodded in agreement: "That was really off!" 
"Maybe she just had a bad day", Sweetie Belle suggested carefully, trying to soothe her annoyed friends. 
They were on their way from school to Sweet Apple Acres and their clubhouse there. 
"Could have been such a nice a day without Diamond Tiara around", Apple Bloom lamented, ignoring Sweetie Belle. 
"Yeah", Scootaloo agreed, kicking her scooter forward rather casually so it wouldn't leave her walking friends behind. "I wonder why she wasn't there today. She doesn't usually miss."
"Maybe Mister Blanket's talk about her 'trinket' scared her into getting the cutie pox", Apple Bloom said half hoping, half joking and both of the others grinned at the idea. 
"Can a pony be scared into getting the cutie pox?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Apple Bloom shrugged. "Ah don't think so, but we can put that one on the list of questions for Mr. Blanket."
"We should start making that list right away", Scootaloo said.
"At least Miss Cheerilee didn't give us any homework, so we got the whole afternoon", Sweetie Belle agreed. 
"Question number one", Scootaloo proclaimed solemnly, "How do we get our cutie marks?"
Apple Bloom shook her head with a sigh: "We thought of that one too of course, but Twilight said that he won't be able to tell us that."
"He didn't say so himself though", Sweetie Belle said. "We could ask him anyway."
"Question number one it is then!" Scootaloo said.
"Let's get to the clubhouse first and take them down there", Apple Bloom said and grumpily she added: "After all that scribbling Miss Cheerilee put us through today Ah'm really not all that eager for more scribbling."
"What's that, little sis?" a voice from behind them asked suddenly. They had been absorbed enough in their own talk not to notice Applejack's approach in spite of the fact that the noise she made could barely be missed. Applejack was dragging one of the farm's carts that was squeaking under the weight of a large barrel. 
"Hi Applejack", Apple Bloom greeted her sister and with a look at the big barrel on the cart she asked, "What are you doing?"
"Got that barrel filled up down by the river. Big Mac's down there right now fillin' up another one", Applejack sighed. "Ah'm afraid we got to hose water some of our trees so they won't dry up."
"Why don't you ask Rainbow Dash to give us a little shower? Didn't you mention you wanted to do that?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Ah did", Applejack nodded. "But Ah'm afraid she can't."
"Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo called indignantly. The very idea that there could be anything that Rainbow Dash couldn't do seemed an outrage to her, but the claim that she couldn't do something so base for her has providing a shower was nothing short of blasphemy. 
"Not her fault", Applejack hurried to assure. "Apparently some pony's messing up in Cloudsdale so there ain't no clouds available for her or any pegasi to work with at the moment." 
Applejack nodded at the totally cloudless sunny sky. "Rainbow promised to chase for any stray clouds she may find, but just in case there ain't any there we want to be on the safe side."
"Can we help?" Sweetie Belle asked. 
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom gave her a somewhat regretful look. After the tedious school day neither of them was really craving for farm work and at the same time both of them probably would have offered their help too in case Sweetie Belle hadn't been the first to do so. 
"That's very sweet of y'all but..." Applejack hesitated. "You know actually I really think that would speed up things quite a bit. If Ah just drag the cart past them trees while two of you handle the water pump and one holds the hose this would really be very helping."

At the barn Applejack put a lid with an integrated hose and hoovepump onto the barrel. The Cutie Mark Crusaders climbed onto the cart where Apple Bloom and Scootaloo each took hold of one end of the pump's arm while Sweetie Belle held the hose. As Applejack trudged past the rows of fruit trees at a casual pace, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo began to move the pump's arms up and down while Sweetie Belle was pointing the hose at the bases of the trees they were passing by.
"Do you think we could get our cutie marks for this?" Apple Bloom asked, squinting at Scootaloo's flank. None of their flanks however gave any sign of altering their blank status. 
"Pumping water as a special talent?" Scootaloo asked not exactly overenthusiastic. "Where in Equestria does any pony need that as a special talent?"
"Maybe as firefighters!" Sweetie Belle called with a sudden rush of enthusiasm. "Cutie Mark Crusader firefighters!" 
Turning towards Scootaloo, she accidentally showered her with the hose. 
"I think you just blew that one", Scootaloo said sourly while sweeping a soaked strand of her mane out of her face.
Sweetie Belle looked a little crestfallen. "But doesn't it sound... awesome?"
"Ah think it sure does!" Apple Bloom came to Sweetie Belle's aid. 
Thinking about it, Scootaloo too had to admit that the thought indeed had a great appeal. 
Suddenly they heard Applejack laughing. 
"What's so funny, sis?" Apple Bloom demanded to know.
"Sorry, little fillies", Applejack said still snickering. "I just couldn't help imagining the expression of proud joy on dear Rarity's face when you return all sooted and in sooty, scorched clothes after a good day's work as a firefighter, Sweetie Belle." 
Even Sweetie Belle herself had to grin at the thought though loyalty to her sister kept her from laughing out as everypony else did. 
"But firefighter is something we really haven't tried so far!" Apple Bloom picked up the thought again. 
"Don't y'all let me catch you trying to start a fire anywhere for practice, you hear that?" while she still spoke casually a sharp undertone had sneaked into Applejack's voice, leaving no doubt that her statement was not meant to be a mere joke. "Dry as everything is an' with all the heat there is a bit of a risk these days. Until them Cloudsdale pegasi get their clouds together and get them clouds over here to give us some shower, we must be extra careful about fire."
The three fillies nodded in agreement as they moved on. Having passed the first row of trees Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle switched places and Sweetie Belle took over one of the arms of the pump while Scootaloo took care of the hose. 
"By the way, what was all the wailing and the long faces about when y'all got here? Did you have a hard time at school? Did that rich pony filly give y'all any petty payback?"
"Nope", Apple Bloom said.
"She wasn't even there today", Sweetie Belle added. 
"It was Miss Cheerilee", Scootaloo explained. "She had us writing all day from the beginning to the end. She never did anything like that before. It gave us a toothache... for real in case of Apple Bloom and me."
Applejack was smiling, thinking of Frank's horseshoe and made a mental note to herself to press that point when it would be her turn to be interviewed about her cutie mark. She didn't want to tell the fillies about it before she was certain to get one for Apple Bloom. 
"Maybe Miss Cheerilee had a bad day", Applejack suggested and with the wink of an eye she added: "Perhaps you shouldn't have let her dance that long with Big Mac yesterday. Maybe she was just tired and couldn't really think of anything else to do."
"Miss Cheerilee?" Sweetie Belle asked with a tone that made clear she considered the idea of Miss Cheerilee running out of ideas to be nonsense.
Applejack shrugged. "We all get these days once in a while. What did she have y'all write about anyway?"
"Just silly stuff", Apple Bloom grumbled.
"About what we do every day, about our homes, about everypony in our family..."
"Silly stuff?" Applejack asked with feigned indignation, raising an eyebrow at Apple Bloom: "Your family?"
"Ya know what I meant", Apple Bloom said, not letting herself be tricked into unnecessary apologies or excuses. "She even had us draw maps of our houses."
"Doesn't sound too bad", Applejack said. "At least that was something other than writing. Can I read what you wrote about us all, Apple Bloom?"
"Nothing secret about it", Apple Bloom shrugged. "But Miss Cheerilee took everything we wrote along to read and correct it." 
"She sure isn't lazy then", Applejack said. "Reading what an entire class of fillies has written when writing for an entire school day sure will make for a long afternoon for her." 
By the time they had finished the second row of trees and Apple Bloom was switching her place at the pump taking over the hose from Scootaloo Sweetie Belle almost regretted that Scootaloo hadn't made any attempt to shower her in return for her earlier mishap with the hose. With the heat and the labor at the pump handle it would have been a welcome refreshment, no matter what her elder sister might think about her mane getting messed up by it.