The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood in front of their clubhouse, each of them eyeing it with different looks.
Apple Bloom had a stout expression written all over her face and her eyes radiated a fire that was burning brightly with determination and pride. To Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, though, it seemed like a fire intent on burning their clubhouse down.
Scootaloo's face expressed scepticism. Her head was slightly cocked to the side, like she was thinking very strongly about something, and one of her eyebrows was raised.
And Sweetie Belle looked worried and a little sad; her eyes were not welling up, but the grief in them was clearly visible. Her lips pointed downwards, in a wide semi-circle. She choked a little.
A moment passed, then Scootaloo took the floor. “Are you sure, Apple Bloom? Do we really need to reconstruct the clubhouse? I think it's fine as it is,” she asked, a wisp of sadness in her voice. The young pegasus looked at Apple Bloom, the scepticism in her face even stronger now.
Sweetie Belle looked over to their leader, as well. Eyes meeting hers, she nodded once. “Y-Yeah, I love it the way it is. I don't want to change it.” Her voice sounded teary.
Now Apple Bloom spoke. “But it's something we need ta do! If we want ta welcome ponies here who need help with their cutie marks, we need more space. The clubhouse is too small!” she answered the concerns of her friends, a little strict.
“B-But we have so many memories that are tied to it!” Sweetie Belle choked again. “It's where we held our first club meeting, where we appointed Babs to a Crusader and where we spent the whole night thinking about how we could make up for the trouble we caused as Gabby Gums,” she cried, naming a few of the important things that happened in the small treehouse.
“And we prepared all of our crusades in it!” she continued. “And all the other things we did in the clubhouse, do you remember last Nightmare Night? When you told the story of the three-legged pony ghost that haunts the orchards once in a year and Scootaloo was so scared that she peed into her sleeping bag?”
This earned her an angry glare by the pegasus. “I was not peeing into it, Sweetie Belle,” she said with a cold, sneering voice, her flushed-red face immediately revealing the lie. “It was just hot in the clubhouse because you put up so many candles, so I was sweating.”
The mentioned filly smiled sheepishly, but her face turned serious again soon.
“Do you really want that we lose all these memories, Apple Bloom?” she continued to reason with the other filly.
So far, Apple Bloom had been listening patiently to what Sweetie Belle had to say, but now she was stretching out a hoof, gesturing Sweetie to be silent before she could say more.
“Ah understand what ya mean, but have ya thought about how it will be if we don't do it? Then all the fillies and colts who will come into our clubhouse for help will make a public place out of it. We wouldn't have any privacy anymore because other ponies would pester us by knockin' at our door when we just want ta chill and relax!”
Apple Bloom's explanation did not help the other two fillies. They still stared at her with sceptical and worried expressions.
“But how should a new clubhouse change that?” Scootaloo questioned. “If we knock down the clubhouse and build a new one, then it will be the same.”
Apple Bloom stared back at her blankly. “Knockin' it down?” she asked. “Where did ah talk about knockin' it down? We just build an extension for it.”
“An extension?” Sweetie Belle squeaked. She cocked her head in confusion. “But you were talking about reconstructing the clubhouse.”
“Yeah. But ah never said we have ta knock down the clubhouse for that!” She did a step towards Sweetie to emphasize her words. “Ah meant we're going ta build a second one that looks just like it.”
Opposite of her, Scootaloo nodded. “I was going to ask you about that,” she chimed in. She did a sideways glance at Sweetie Belle and raised an eyebrow. “I couldn't imagine you really meant that we should knock it down, but then Sweetie Belle started to panic.”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at their unicorn friend with tired and disapproving expressions now, their eyes narrowed.
Sweetie Belle flinched and gritted her teeth. “Uh, guess I was assuming the worst for no reason there.....” She chuckled nervously.
“Ya don't say,” Apple Bloom answered dryly.
“Uhm..... I'm sorry?” Sweetie Belle gave her friends a sheepish grin, trying to amend for the confusion she had caused.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hung their heads and sighed. “It's fine,” Apple Bloom said then. “Let's just get this started.”
“So, where do we build this extension?” Scootaloo asked Apple Bloom, focused on the task ahead of them now.
“Let me show ya!” Apple Bloom darted away, over to the big and neatly arranged pile of wooden planks, pillars, nails and construction tools. On top of them lay a roll of blue paper. The earth pony filly quickly snatched it with her mouth, then she returned to her friends, placed the paper on the ground in front of them and unrolled it.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle inspected it curiously. Drawn on the paper was a sketch of the clubhouse, however, on the right of it, a second building could be seen. It was connected with the clubhouse through a narrow, diagonal walkway. The walkway ended in a porch that was going around the whole building, like the clubhouse had one too.
The entrance door at the frontside of the building conveniently pointed into the direction of Ponyville. A ramp was leading up to it. The building had the same height as the clubhouse and, since there was no tree where it stood, was secured with strong supporting pillars made of wood that were anchored in the ground. The walkway was secured by the same pillars. At the bottom was another sketch, which showed the clubhouse and the extension from above.
Sweetie Belle pointed at the blue paper. “What is this, Apple Bloom?” Unlike her farmer friend who had taken part in several barn raisings, Sweetie Belle was not quite familiar with the construction of buildings.
“It's a blueprint!” Apple Bloom answered cheerishly. “It shows us how the extension will look and where we're goin' ta build it!” She stretched out a hoof and pointed at the walkway that was like a bridge between the two buildings. “Here we're makin' a walkway after we have built the new house. That way, we can reach our office a lot faster!”
Suddenly, Scootaloo scrunched her face in disgust. “That name won't do it,” she said.
“What name?” Apple Bloom looked at her, irritated.
“You called it an 'office'.” Scootaloo repeated Apple Bloom's word. “That doesn't sound cool. Offices are places where ponies sit around and do boring paperwork.” She stretched out her tongue over the idea. “But we will help other ponies get their cutie marks! We will be outside often and do a lot of fun stuff!” The pegasus unfolded her wings and began to buzz them, sporting an enterprising expression. “There will be action and adventures! And we need a name to reflect that! It's not an office, it's a..... a.....” She stopped her buzzing for a moment, tapping her chin. “It's an operation center!” she shouted out then, jumping up and striking a cool pose while buzzing her wings again.
“A Cutie Mark Crusaders Operation Center, huh? Ah like the ring of that!”
“Me too!” Sweetie Belle replied excitedly.
Apple Bloom nodded. “Okay, now that this is discussed..... Can we start, girls?” The expression on her face indicated that she became slowly impatient.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded eagerly, excited smiles beaming out of their faces. “Yeah!” they shouted in unison.
“Then let's get to it! Now we build the future of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Apple Bloom stretched a hoof into the air. It was met by the orange and white hooves of her best friends.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Constructors!” the three fillies yelled their signature phrase. Then awkward expressions appeared on their faces. Their eyeballs shrunk slightly, their mouths opened and a faint streak of red flashed up on their cheeks. Slowly, they put down their hooves, so that they stood on all fours again. They looked behind them and eyed their flanks.
“Uhm..... Ah guess we got our cutie marks now, didn't we, girls?” Apple Bloom was the first who got her speech back.
“Mhm,” the other two fillies responded.
Apple Bloom detached her eyes from her cutie mark and they met with those of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
The three fillies just looked at each other for a moment, confused expressions on their faces and their mouths still open.Then all three of them began to giggle and soon erupted into a laughing fit.
As it had subsided and they were able to speak again, Apple Bloom's face took on a determined expression and she trotted to the pile of wooden planks, placed a hoof on it and looked at her friends.
“Okay, Crusaders! Are we ready for this?” she asked them, her voice full of motivation.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stood at attention; chests stretched outwards, hooves at their temples, determined looks on their faces. “We are!” they said together, saluting.
Then they finally got to work. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle grabbed two spades that leaned on the side of the pile and motioned towards the construction site.
Apple Bloom looked at her blueprint, which she had fixated on the ground using some rocks, and told them where to dig the holes for the pillars exactly. She gestured around and gave them commands like “A little more to the left!” or “Come a little closer in mah direction!” every time they didn't stand right. Only as they were at the correct positions, she shouted “Ok!” to signal them that they had found the right spot. Then Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle dug up a deep hole, so the pillars could stand robust and safely.
They continued the procedure for each hole and, two hours later, they were done and all the holes for the pillars that should carry the addition to their clubhouse were prepared. Fourteen holes covered the construction site now.
With this part of the work finished, Apple Bloom joined her friends and together, they carried the heavy wooden pillars to their respective positions and carefully inserted them into the holes in the ground. They filled each hole up with dirt and tramped it down. Some test-shaking confirmed them that the pillars stood strong enough to carry the walkway and the new building. After one hour, all the pillars were in the ground, ready to fulfill their purpose.
The fillies panted and moved a hoof over their foreheads, wiping away some sweat. It had become noon by now and their grumbling stomachs signaled them that it was time for lunch.
The three Crusaders trotted away from the construction site hungrily, but not without doing a last, satisfied glance at their work of the past few hours. They reached behind the pile of their building material, that had become a good amount smaller now, and pulled out their lunch boxes from there. Eager to fill their bellies, the fillies sat down in the grass in front of their clubhouse and opened their boxes. They were stuffed with all sorts of delicious food.
Apple Bloom's box contained an apple and several other, freshly baked apple products. The tempting smell of the baked goods wafted into Apple Bloom's nostrils, to which her body responded with another growl coming from her stomach and with water forming in her mouth.
Sweetie Belle's meal consisted of a few slices of fresh black bread, with a generous amount of butter on them, a big, pink cupcake and, same as Apple Bloom's, a delicious, red apple. The reaction of her body was not any different than the one of her friend's.
Inside of Scootaloo's box was a nice arrangement of different fruits and vegetables. The shape they formed together, a cloud with three-colored lightning coming out of it, indicated who she had prepared her lunch box with.
Not wasting any time, the group of fillies started to savage the food. So hungry that none of them even thought about talking, they ate away at their lunch quietly, the only sounds coming from them being their content munching.
As they were finished, they quickly put their now empty lunch boxes aside and got up again, strengthened enough to continue with the construction.
The next step was placing the longest of the wooden planks, that should become the walkway, on the row of wooden pillars that led away from their clubhouse. At the end of the row were the rest of the pillars, forming a quadratic arrangement, the place where the new building and its porch would be. Before they could place the plank, though, it was necessary that they cut off a part of their clubhouse's balustrade, to create an entrance for the walkway.
Being the only one of them skilled enough to work efficiently and safely with a wood saw, Apple Bloom grabbed it from the pile and marched up the ramp of their clubhouse and onto the porch, closely followed by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. At the middle of the porch, she turned towards the balustrade and took the saw into her hooves. Watched by her two friends, she brought it down on the wood and, with a few, strong moves, cut through it. Apple Bloom trotted a little to the left, where she repeated the process. Producing a loud thump, the cut-off piece fell down on the porch. An opening was gaping in the balustrade now, wide enough for a foal to trot through. They carried the piece of wood and the saw down to the pile, then turned their attention to the bottom of it, where the long wooden plank was leaning.
What came now would be more tricky to do. They had to move the plank up to the porch of their clubhouse somehow, so that they could place it on the pillars. Which was easier said than done; Sweetie Belle could not lift something that heavy with her magic yet and the porch around their clubhouse did not exactly offer much space to maneuver the long plank around. Despite this, though, none of them wanted to ask for help. They were proud of their special talents and proud of the tasks ahead of them, so they all had agreed to build their operation center on their own, from beginning to end. Moving the plank still wouldn't be easy, but Apple Bloom had figured out a way how to do it.
The fillies split up and took position at different ends of the plank; Apple Bloom at the end that was closest to the clubhouse, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle at the other one. Together, they lifted the plank, then carried it towards the clubhouse and up the ramp, until Apple Bloom stood with her end on the platform in the middle of it.
“And what next?” Scootaloo asked. “We're sort of stuck now.”
Apple Bloom smirked. “Now ya two change position and move with ya end in front of the platform. From there, we can move it up further until ahm at the clubhouse door and then ya just need ta change ya position again!”
A light went on in the two other fillies' heads now. If they constantly repositioned themselves like that, it could work! They followed Apple Bloom's plan, until the long plank was leaning against the porch at the right side of the clubhouse, just where Apple Bloom had cut out a part of the balustrade earlier. In this position, it was ready to get pulled up and to be placed on the pillars.
Quickly, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle galloped up to the porch and at Apple Bloom's side. The three friends grabbed the end of the plank.
“Ready, girls?” Apple Bloom asked. “Ah count ta three and then we pull it up and move it over the pillars!”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded, their eyes showing pure concentration. Apple Bloom began to count.
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three!”
The friends tensed the muscles in their arms and, with gritted teeth, tried to pull the plank up to place it on top of the pillars. Their hooves and muscles hurt from the exertion, but determined, they continued. The lower end of the plank moved upwards slowly, though, it moved slower than they desired. It was halfway up as Sweetie Belle began to lose her strength.
“I-I can't hold it anymore!” Sweetie pressed out between her teeth, face red.
“Not now, Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom answered her. “We almost made it!”
“Yeah, just look, it's already at the half! Don't give up now!” Scootaloo supported her friend with some encouraging words on her own.
Sweetie Belle responded with a slight nod and gathered her last strength to endure the exhaustive task. The plank moved further up and after ten more seconds – that felt like ten hours to the fillies – it was finally hovering at the same height as the pillars.
“Now just a little longer! Don't give up now, Crusaders!” Apple Bloom motivated her friends one more time.
They had almost done it. Steady, they moved the plank to the left, ever nearer to the pillars it should rest upon. Their eyes emanating a tense look and fully concentrated on the task at hoof, they moved it closer and closer, happy that they were almost there. Apple Bloom scrunched her face as she felt her own strength leaving her. “Just a little more.....” she whispered, pushing herself towards their goal.
“Hey, Cutie Mark Crusaders!” a loud, upbeat voice sounded into their ears suddenly. Startled, the fillies lost their concentration and as a consequence, the long and heavy plank slid out of their hooves and tumbled all the way down again, back into its old position.
“Ugh, who's disturbin' us now?!” Apple Bloom exploded in frustration, her face showing unrestrained anger.
“We were so close!” Scootaloo stomped her hoof on the wooden porch. “Who's down there?” She angrily trotted towards the balustrade to find out who the distractor was.
Leaning down, Scootaloo looked between the struts of the balustrade. There was a filly standing in front of the clubhouse. A scared expression was on her face and a hunch of embarrassment. She was rubbing over the purple-grey coat on her right foreleg. Her blonde mane was falling back a little as she hesitantly lifted her head to look into the pegasus' eyes.
“Dinky?” Scootaloo asked surprised as she recognized the filly down below. Her face became a little softer. “What are you doing here?”
“I-I just wanted to..... I mean, I heard about your cutie marks and.....” the young unicorn stammered quietly, then fell silent all of a sudden.
“What did you say? Wait, I come down!” Without awaiting an answer on her question, she galloped down the ramp. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle followed her.
Only as Scootaloo stood in front of her, she noticed that Dinky was shaking. The other filly fixated the ground, avoiding eye contact with her now. A tinge of guilt hit Scootaloo. Apparently, her angry outburst had been a bit too much for Dinky. Scootaloo placed a hoof on Dinky's shoulder as a calming gesture. “Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you,” she said, ears dropping.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle trotted at Scootaloo's side and did the same.
“We were just angry because we tried ta move somethin' really heavy and because we let it fall again when ya distracted us,” Apple Bloom explained then.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle confirmed the words of her friend. “It was almost where we wanted it to be.”
“I'm sorry.....” Dinky responded. “I didn't know you were busy.” She rubbed her foreleg stronger.
Apple Bloom sighed. “Can't help it anymore now.” She removed her hoof from Dinky's shoulder. “Why did ya come?”
“I-I need help with my cutie mark,” Dinky answered, still in a low voice.
“With ya cutie mark?” Apple Bloom moved her head to the side a little and looked at Dinky's blank flank. “Ya mean ya need our help ta get a cutie mark?”
The unicorn filly nodded. “Yeah.....”
“Ahm sorry, but we don't accept any clients yet. We want ta build an operation center first, so we can welcome ponies ta help them and we're still busy buildin' it.”
Sadness flashed over Dinky's face. “Okay.....” she whispered. “But do you know when you will be finished?”
Apple Bloom contemplated for a moment before she answered the question. “Well, buildin' it will take us the rest of the day and tomorrow we need ta rest up and do some last preparations. Ya can come back on the day after tomorrow and then we can help ya!” She gave Dinky a smile.
The rising disappointment in Dinky's face showed that this wasn't soon enough for her.
“I can help you building it! If I help, you will be faster!” she said, a sudden urge in her voice.
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged unsure glances. They could need some help, especially now, but there was still their resolve to build everything alone.
Dinky noticed their hesitation. “Please let me!” she pleaded. “I really need your help quickly, it's urgent!” Desperation was ringing in her voice and her eyes started to glisten.
This reaction surprised the three friends. Reminded on how impatient they were with getting their own cutie marks, still just a few days ago, they stepped away from Dinky a little and put their heads together.
“What do you think, girls?” Apple Bloom asked her friends.
“She sounds really distraught, we shouldn't turn her down,” Scootaloo argued.
Sweetie Belle nodded. “Yeah, I still remember how bad I felt without a cutie mark, we should help Dinky as fast as we can!”
Apple Bloom agreed with her friends. A filly was in need here and since Dinky was so desperated in her mark-less state, it would be wrong to turn her down and tell her she should come on another day. And if Dinky helped them and they got the construction done fast enough, maybe they could listen to her problem today already! The friends let go of each other and returned to Dinky.
“Alright, ya can help us!” Apple Bloom told Dinky their decision, smiling at her.
Now Dinky acted like she had suddenly become a different pony. Her sadness blown away, she gave all of them hearty hugs in quick succession.
“Okay, what do we do? How can I help you?” she asked as she was finished with all the hugging. Dinky jumped from one hoof onto another in her excitement, a broad grin on her face.
Apple Bloom pointed behind her. “We were busy with liftin' up a heavy plank ta place it on those pillars over there. We sure could need another pair of hooves for that!”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded very eagerly. Their strained smiles indicated that their hooves were still hurting.
The three Crusaders trotted up the ramp again and Dinky followed them happily. One filly stronger now, they returned to their task from earlier. Once again, Apple Bloom counted to three, then the four of them began to pull on the plank. Quicker than at their last attempt, especially because Dinky was using a levitation spell to assist, they had the plank on the pillars' height again and began moving it to the left like before. This time, everything worked. The fillies gave the part of the plank that was still overlapping onto the porch a push forward and then the plank was finally resting on top of the pillars. It was done. The probably hardest part of their construction work laid behind them.
The four fillies let out a relieved sigh and wiped the sweat off their foreheads. The Crusaders looked at each other, exchanging grins and then a hoofbump. “YEAH!” they shouted in enthusiasm.
“Okay, now let's go down and get the nails!” Apple Bloom announced then, her voice full of cheerful excitement.
The red-maned filly shot down the ramp of the clubhouse and just a few seconds later, she returned with a big bag of nails and three hammers. As Dinky saw that, she frowned.
“Don't you have another hammer?” she asked Apple Bloom. “I still want to help you!”
“Ahm sorry, Dinky, but we didn't reckon we would need more than three.” Apple Bloom's face expressed sympathy.
Dinky hung her head in sadness while Apple Bloom was giving a hammer each to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle and hoofing them a bunch of strong and very long nails.
“Don't worry, Dinky!” the earth pony said then, turning her attention back to the sad filly. “Ya can help us with carryin' ta other planks later!”
Dinky just nodded silently, not giving an answer. She sat down on the porch and, head resting on her hooves, watched the Crusaders while they were nailing down the plank on the pillars and to the porch it protruded from. An unsatisfied, grumpy expression covered her face.
After a few minutes had passed, an idea came to her suddenly. She looked at the bag with the nails that Apple Bloom had left on the porch, enlightenment spreading on her face as the epiphany came over her. Dinky jumped up from her sitting position. “I have hooves! Of course! I will use my hooves to hammer the nails into the plank!”
Feeling joy now, and a bit of embarrassment for not having gotten the obvious idea earlier, Dinky grabbed the bag with the nails, took out a bunch of it and got onto the plank. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked after her surprised as she trotted past them with a grin on her face.
“Dinky?” Scootaloo addressed her. “What are you doing?”
“I'm helping you with nailing down the plank, what else?” Dinky answered her cheery.
“But you don't have a hammer.” Cautiousness was in Scootaloo's voice.
“But I have these!” Dinky turned around as she had reached the free pillar behind them and held her hooves into the air. Her face showed a proud expression.
“Uhm, but Dinky, there is a reason why ponies don't hammer in nails with their hooves,” Apple Bloom explained.
Dinky wasn't paying attention anymore. “I know, it will be fine,” she muttered absentmindedly, already busy with hammering in the first nail.
The Crusaders looked at each other in concern.
“Ah don't have a good feelin' about this.....” Apple Bloom said.
And neither did Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle, but, since Dinky wasn't even listening to them anymore, they hesitantly continued with their own work, hoping that nothing bad would happen.
Unfortunately, their hopes were in vain. After a few minutes that were only filled with the loud, hammering sounds as the nails got driven into the wood by the four fillies, a high screech let the Crusaders froze in their movements. An immediate look over to Dinky revealed exactly what they were expecting to see.
Her face grimaced by pain and a few tears forming in her eyes, Dinky sat there, the nail she just wanted to hammer in stuck in the soft spot of flesh in the middle of her right hoof. A small amount of blood was dripping down from it. She answered the looks of the other fillies, a slight blush on her agonized face.
“And that's why ponies use hammers.....” Apple Bloom closed her eyes and sighed. She opened them again and shook her head, then put down her hammer and went into the clubhouse. As she returned, she was holding a first-aid box in her hooves. Apple Bloom sat down at Dinky's side, opened the box and pulled out a band-aid and a bottle of anti-septic.
Dinky reached up with her other hoof and pulled the nail out of the wound, causing herself to make another screech.
With the foreign object removed, Apple Bloom opened the bottle with the anti-septic and gently took Dinky's hoof, causing the unicorn to shiver and close her eyes. “It's only burnin' for a moment!” Apple Bloom tried to ease her, then poured a small amount of the liquid over her injury.
Dinky yelped as the sharp pain flashed through her hoof. She retreated and looked at it with a painful expression.
“And done!” Apple Bloom announced. She quickly grabbed the band-aid, then removed the strips from it and put it on Dinky's wound. Carefully, she smoothed the band-aid to prevent it from getting loose.
“Thanks,” Dinky said in a low voice, her face still showing pain.
“Don't worry!” Apple Bloom answered simply. She suppressed a sigh while putting the anti-septic into the first-aid box again and closing it, then got up to carry the box back to the clubhouse. “If it continues like that, we'll never get finished today,” she thought on the way.
Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle noticed that Dinky wanted to continue. Her face was full of determination alongside the pain and she already moved a hoof, the left one this time, back to the nail in front of her. Sweetie Belle ignited her horn and levitated her hammer over to Dinky. “Here, take mine,” she said. “You'll just hurt yourself a second time if you use your hooves again.”
Dinky smiled at her and wrapped the hammer into her own magic. Not saying anything, she got straight back to work.
Sweetie Belle used her magic to lift up a medium-sized rock and continued with her set of nails. In the meantime, Apple Bloom had returned, and all of the four fillies were busy with their task again now.
Motivated, the three Crusaders hammered in one nail after another. They made good progress and were soon finished at their respective pillars. Dinky was slower than them. While the three other fillies moved past her and began to take care of the last pillar, she was still busy with nailing down the plank onto her own.
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had just hammered in a nail each, as a new screech sounded into their ears. A clearly annoyed expression on their faces now, they shot looks into Dinky's direction.
“Sorry,” the filly said. She was sucking on her left hoof, the hammer having fallen down on the plank. “I just hit my hoof with the hammer.”
The three friends groaned. Apple Bloom put down her hammer and trotted over to Dinky, her patience having come to an end. “Dinky, ahm sorry, but ah think it's better if ya go home now and let us take care of the rest,” she said sternly.
Dinky's sad expression from her arrival earlier returned and she looked into Apple Bloom's eyes. “Why?” she just said, her voice low from disappointment.
Apple Bloom glanced at the band-aid on her right hoof, at the small bruise on her left hoof that could be seen through the thin coat and then down to the few nails she had managed to hammer in, all of them sticking in the wood askew and in very weird angles. Then she looked back at Dinky. “Seriously?!” she asked.
Dinky dropped her ears and laid the hammer to the side. She eyed the plank. “I understand,” she said quietly, her eyes welling up.
Alarmed by that reaction, Apple Bloom put a hoof on Dinky's shoulder. “But don't worry!” she intervened before Dinky would break out in tears completely. “Just come back when we're finished with everything, then we're there for ya!”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle gave the sad unicorn reassuring nods.
“Yeah, we are cutie mark counselors now!” Scootaloo said then, putting a proud emphasis on their new profession. “Once you return, we'll help you as fast as Rainbow Dash can fly!”
Dinky returned their looks, unsure, the sad expression remaining on her face.
“And hey, at least we already know that carpenterin' ain't ya special talent! That's somethin'!” Apple Bloom chuckled a little.
Dinky sighed. Slowly, she got up, yet the sadness didn't leave her face.
“Okay.....” she agreed, rubbing some tears out of her eyes with one hoof. “I'll return when you're ready.” Her voice was still weak and disappointed. Hesitantly, she trotted past Apple Bloom, putting her bandaged hoof down on the plank carefully. Hanging her head low, she made her way over the plank, the porch, then down the ramp, all without looking back at the other filly.
The Crusaders looked after Dinky as she limped down the path back to Ponyville. There was a bit of grief in their eyes now and they almost found themselves calling the filly in need back. As Dinky had been disappeared between the trees of the orchard, they exchanged a short glance, then made themselves return to work.
They finished hammering the nails into the last of the pillars, then turned their attention to the pillar Dinky had been working on. The fillies pulled out the crooked nails and replaced them with new ones, then they were finally finished. The plank for the walkway was prepared and ready for its purpose.
Almost fourty minutes had passed now since Dinky's arrival. The three friends lost time due to the mishaps of the unexpected assistant and on top of that, were a little worried over the nails that Dinky had wasted, fearing they won't have enough now. They were still somewhat on schedule with their plans for the day, much to their relief, but hurried to proceed with the construction now.
They quickly pulled more planks from their pile, shorter and lighter ones this time, then nailed them onto the pillars at the end of the walkway. An hour later, the floor of their operation center and the porch around it were finished.
What they needed now was a ramp, so that ponies could trot up to the building and reach the entrance. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle carried the plank that should serve as the ramp to the construction site, watched by Apple Bloom, who stood atop the newly built porch. Under her instructions, the other two fillies placed it down and, after a few adjustments, it was in the correct position. Apple Bloom proceeded to fixate the ramp with nails, while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were holding it firmly in place.
With the ramp having been placed now, the construction became a lot easier for the fillies. It allowed them to quickly carry the wooden beams they needed now onto the porch without having to trot over the walkway. On the porch, they arranged the beams, began to put them together in the way Apple Bloom had it drawn onto her blueprint and, very soon, it could be seen that they were now laying the ground for the actual building. Another hour passed, then the framework for the Cutie Mark Crusaders Operation Center had been erected on the porch.
They only took one moment to admire the fruits of their labour, then they carried all the rest of the planks that were still left to the framework and, one after another, they nailed them onto the struts. Forming the walls and the roof, they made the building come into being, plank after plank.
Another hour came and went, filled with the sounds of creation. The final steps of the vital part of the construction were marked by building in the door, windows and shutters.
As everything had been completed, the friends stood in awe in front of their work and, for the first time since they had begun, tears of pride entered their eyes. The building looked almost like their clubhouse, the inspiration Apple Bloom took from it apparent at first glance. Their tear-filled eyes glued to the operation center, they reached out and pulled each other into a tight embrace. Then tears of pure happiness started to flow over their faces, getting mixed together where their cheeks touched. After they retreated, the trio exchanged bright smiles, wiping the tears out of their eyes. A hoofbump fueled by joy happened, then they approached the last two stages of the contruction process.
Abuzz with vigor, they took some more wooden beams, making the pile disappear, and carried them onto the walkway. Long ones and short ones where placed and put together, until they formed a sturdy balustrade on the walkway and the porch.
Now everything was in place; the building, the convenient connection between their clubhouse and their operation center and a ramp at the entrance, the latter waiting for many ponies seeking their help with their cutie marks and destinies.
Down below, where the pile had been, seven buckets of paint, three water buckets and three brushes told about what the final step was. The buckets and brushes got snatched up by them, carried to the building and, eagerly, the Crusaders started to paint the operation center.
Using six buckets at once, Apple Bloom began with painting their cutie marks onto the walls. No matter from which side the operation center would be looked at, Apple Bloom wanted that it gave testament of their goal they had reached together. Putting her utmost effort into this important task, she painted Scootaloo's cutie mark on the right wall of the building; from the brown outline, to the symbol in the middle to the tricolored background. And with the same care, she painted Sweetie Belle's cutie mark on the left wall and her own on the back wall. As she was finished, the operation center was graced with the marks of their achievement. Far and wide, they could be seen now.
In the meantime, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had finished painting the roof with their own bucket of brown color and jumped down in front of the building. The three Crusaders split up then, each of them taking care to paint the wall around the cutie marks in a dark purple color, the same one that the outer part of their cutie marks' symbols had.
Finally, as this was done, they came together at the building's front side. Their efforts combined, they painted the door in a dark pink, then the wall in the same dark purple as the other ones. The final touch was added by Apple Bloom, who painted tiny versions of their cutie marks on the plank in the middle of the door, and then, their work was completed.
Silently, they stood in front of their completed Cutie Mark Crusaders Operation Center, their faces, chests and hooves dotted with stains that were as colorful as the joy and pride they felt in their hearts. Some quiet moments passed, as they let their eyes wander over the building reverently. They soon couldn't hold onto themselves anymore and each of them wrapped her hooves around the other two, creating another, very intimate group hug. It stained their coats even more, but it increased the warmth inside of them tenfold.
“Is this it?” Scootaloo was the first one who found her speech, tearing up again. “Did we do it?”
Apple Bloom squeezed her friend tighter. “We did,” she answered, her voice choking a little. “We're really ready now!”
The following minutes were spent by them crying in joy. Their surroundings had been forgotten by them and they noticed nothing, not even how the sun slowly began its decent under the horizon and how it let the orchard become darker. Only as Sweetie Belle opened her eyes and noticed the spreading darkness, they let go of each other.
They still looked at their new operation center reverently, as Apple Bloom spoke up again. “Now it's time to get some rest, girls. We deserve it, don't ya think?”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded, their eyes still glistening.
“We do. We really do,” Scootaloo confirmed.
“It's perfect,” Sweetie Belle added to her friend's statement.
None of them removed their eyes from their creation while they talked. Only Apple Bloom finally forced herself to look away after a few minutes.
“Then let's do this, Crusaders!” She turned at her friends. “We have built our future here and now, we need ta take care of it and make it a brilliant one!”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle turned at her, as well, facing her now. They gave Apple Bloom solemn nods. A last, intense glance was cast by them on the building they had built, then the three Cutie Mark Crusaders turned around and left.
The lowering sun behind them, they marched back to the farm buildings; their happy, determined faces showing that each of them was already thinking about the bright future that lied ahead of them.