(Later that day, shortly before dinner)
Applejack looked at the black orb, now resting on the kitchen table.
“You say Winona found this underground, near the dirt road out back
behind the orchard?”
Scootaloo answered. “Yeah. We took her for a run, you know, when we passed you
while you bucked trees.”
“Yes, I remember. And then what?”
“Then, we kept running for a bit, until we reached that dirt road from the orchard
to the Everfree entrance. We were maybe... Halfway between the orchard and the forest,
right Applebloom?” She said as she turned her head toward her friend.
Applebloom responded. “yeah, I think so. I had my head TOWARD the forest, and the road was on my LEFT side.
Winona started sniffing at some tiny black flowers
that grew there, and then she started digging and found this orb-thing.”
Scootaloo continued. “So then, we thought we’d dig it up and bring it here and show you,
and see if you know what it is.”
Applebloom quickly added, “...And if YOU don’t, maybe Granny does. Or we can ask Twilight if she knows.”
Applejack considered the situation for a moment.
“Well.. I don’t have any idea what this is. To me, it looks like just a heavy glass ball.”
She turned her head and raised her voice slightly.
“Granny, come here for a minute, I wanna ask something!”
Granny Smith entered the room slowly. “What?”
“Take a look at this, Granny. Any idea what it is or where it came from?”
“Hmmm....” Granny looked at the orb from every angle, moving around the table.
“I... Have never seen any black ones, but it looks like those crystal balls
fortune tellers and gypsy unicorns sometimes use. They’re usually bigger too...”
Scootaloo spoke again.
“Gypsies? Fortune Tellers? Crystal Ball? You think that’s what this is?
Then, how did it end up underground, and near Everfree? And why is it black?”
“Well, we’ll take it to Twilight tomorrow. It’s too late now, it’s almost dinner time,
the sun is about to go down any minute, and you two fillies need to get to bed
after we’ve eaten.” Applejack said.
“Thanks for letting me sleep over tonight.” Scootaloo said with a smile.
“Also, what’s for dinner?” She added.
Applejack walked over to the stove. “I was thinkin’ something simple,
like a carrot stew. If that’s okay with everypony?”
Just as she said that, Big Mac came in. “Eeeyup.”
The dinner went by, and afterwards Scootaloo and Applebloom went to bed
as they had agreed. However, instead of sleeping they lay awake talking for a little while.
“Do you think that ball is actually some kind of magic crystal ball?” Scootaloo started.
“I have no idea...” Applebloom said.
“I mean, I’m no unicorn, I can’t sense magic.. neither can you. And Sweetie Belle hasn’t learned that yet, so she can’t either.
Same goes for my entire family. So even if it is magic, none of us could sense it. We need Rarity or Twilight for that.”
“Yeah. Good thing we’re taking it there tomorrow then! Speaking of which,
We should proably get some sleep before that...”
“We probably should...”
Applebloom reached out and blew out the small candle between the beds.
“Goodnight, Scoot.”
“Goodnight, Bloom.”
* * *
The next morning after breakfast, Applejack took the orb and placed it in a saddlebag.
“Come on guys, it’s time to go.” She said to the two fillies.
“Coming.” Applebloom and Scootaloo said at the same time.
They walked in silence, since they were still tired.
After a while, they arrived in town, and met Rarity and Sweetie Belle.
“Good morning, Rarity.” Applejack said with a smile.
“Oh, same to you Applejack. What are you guys up to?”
“Visiting Twilight. Winona found some kind of orb yesterday, and we’re gonna ask
Twi to take a look, see if it’s some magical artifact or not.”
“Ah, I see..”
“And what about you? Today’s the day you and Pinkie were leaving for
Manehattan, right?”
Rarity smiled widely.
“Ooh, yes, I can barely wait! The Annual Mid-summer fashion show is in a couple of days, and I have a ticket and a
backstage pass to meet some of the
designers after the show and discuss their designs!”
Scootaloo looked slightly confused.
“...so why is Pinkie Pie going? She’s not in to fashion, is she?”
“No, darling,” Rarity responded. “However, she IS in to baking,
and during the same weekend there is also some cake competition event which SHE has tickets to,
so we thought we’d share a hotel room since we’re both going there.
Plus we get a chance to get to know each other a bit more, we’ve rarely spent any time
only the two of us.”
Sweetie Belle smiled at her two friends.
“Which means I get to stay at the Orchard with you, Applebloom!
At least three nights, maybe four!”
Scootaloos smiled. “Applejack, is it okay if I stay over too?! We can make it a Crusader Sleepover!”
Applejack thought for a few seconds.
“Hmm, sure, that’s okay with me as long as you all behave.”
“We will!” They all said together.
“We promise!” Sweete Belle added.
Applejack smiled. “Well, it’s settled then. We’ll go to Twi now and take care of this orb thing,
and after that you three can stay at the orchard until Rarity gets home.”
“YAY! Cutiemark Crusaders Sleepover Party!” They all yelled.
* * *
After they split up from Rarity, Sweetie Belle followed Applejack and her two friends
to Twilights library. The never bothered knocking during daytime, since it was
a public library after all. Applejack opened the door and they all walked in.
“Twi?” She asked in a raised voice.
A door opened inside the library and Spike came walking out with a few books.
“Oh, Hi guys.” He said when he noticed Applejack and the three fillies.
“Hi Spike. Is Twilight here?” Applejack asked.
Spike put down the books on the floor as he spoke.
“Yeah, she’s downstairs finishing up some re-shelving of the less used books we keep
down there. Want me to bring her up? Or you coud just wait, she should be done
in a few minutes.”
“We’ll just wait.” Applejack said, smiling.
“And by the way, Spike, how are you? Everything good I hope?” she added.
“Well... Except for not sleeping too well last night, everything else is fine.
And you guys?”
Applebloom started.
“I’m just fine, thank you. Still tired though, not much sleep.”
“Oh, why not?” Spike asked
Scootaloo answered.
“Well, yesterday we found this black ball thing, and then I slept over at ‘blooms,
and we stayed up talking about it, and other stuff too, and time just flew.”
Spike looked at them with a questioning look.
“Black ball? You don’t mean a Tennis ball sized black crystal orb, right?
They all looked at Spike with wide eyes.
“How did you know that?!” They all said at once.
“Well, I found one too...”
“Where?” Applebloom asked.
“I was out walking yesterday, when I saw some black flowers.
I mean, I’ve never really had an interest in flowers, but for some reason I felt drawn
to these ones. And when I got closer to them I felt a sudden urge to start digging,
as if I somehow knew there was something under the flowers.
And, after I dug for a bit, I found a black crystal orb.
I figured it must have belonged to somepony, so I brought it back here
so me and Twilight could ask around for the owner.”
“WE were going to ask Twilight to help us figure out what it is,
and where it came from!” Applebloom said.
“Wait here, I’ll go get her.” Spike said. “And I’ll also get ‘my’ orb.” He added,
and ran downstairs.
A minute later he came back up with a black orb, just like the one Applebloom and
Scootaloo had found. Twilight followed behind him.
“Spike told me you guys found an orb too?” She said. “Oh, and Hi.” she added.
Applejack spoke.
“Yeah, Applebloom and Scootaloo was out playing with Winona yesterday,
and she started digging. In the hole they found this.” She said, as she took
the black orb out of her saddlebag.
Spike took a closer look. “Yeah, looks exactly like the one I found. Same size,
same shiny finish, same obsidian black colour... Can I hold it for a moment?”
Applejack gave him the orb.
“Yeah.. weight feels the same too...” He said.
Applejack looked at Twilight.
“Any idea what they are?”
“None. I’m planning to do some research though, see if I can find anything
about black crystal orbs in any of my books here. Why don’t you leave
yours here, so I can examine both of them?”
“Well, sounds good to me, but I think the girls should have some say
in it too, after all it was them who found it.”
“True. Well girls?” Twilight asked and looked at the three fillies.
Sweetie Belle began.
“I think we should let Twilight take it. At least for now, until we know what it is.
If it’s NOT something dangerous, we can take it back later.”
Applebloom continued.
“Agreed. Twilight can examine it and find out if it’s dangerous or not.
If if is, she can take care of it. If it’s not, we take it to the club house to use as a
decoration for the table.”
Scootaloo added,
“Yeah, I agree too.”
Applejack spoke up again.
“Well, I don’t want to rush anypony, but I need to get back to work.
Are you kids coming with me back to the orchard, or are you staying in town?”
They all looked at each other for a moment, considering their options.
“Ice cream?” Scootaloo asked.
“Ice cream.” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom said at the same time.
“Spike, wanna come with us?” Scootaloo asked.
Spike scratched his neck. “I’d love to, but I have a lot of work today.”
Twilight smiled at him. “I’ll allow a short break, if you can get back here
within thirty minutes.”
“Thanks!” Spike said. “In that case, I’ll join you for ice cream.” He said to the fillies.
“While you do that, I’ll get some tea and begin examining these two orbs.” Twilight said.
Applejack opened the door and walked out, followed by Spike, Applebloom,
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
After they all left, Twilight brought the orbs into her study room and
placed them both on her desk. she mumbled to herself as she began browsing the shelves.
“Now, lets see if I can find anything about the orbs in my books...”