//------------------------------// // Ponylike Creatures // Story: Bloom Filter // by ferret //------------------------------// The next waking weekend for the three pony girls was peaceful, but still exciting, because Christmas was almost here! They decorated the house that week in festive wreathes and dark green holly. They might have been driving distance from the school, but the Apples were walking distance from a tree farm. Well, trotting distance. They still drove, because who’s going to carry a tree down all that driveway? But then Cheerilee put out a tree skirt, Applejack filled a bowl of water, Big Mac bolted together a metal frame to anchor the trunk, and voila. There was a beautiful tree in the living room, for everyone to admire in the warm lamplight. Scootaloo immediately crept towards it. “Scootaloo what’re you doing?” Sweetie hissed after her disapprovingly as Scootaloo crept forward and managed to wiggle herself entirely under the tree. “Ha, I can fit!” Scootaloo crowed, her voice emanating from the dark corner back there. It was Applejack, Big Macintosh and Cheerilee helping set up the tree, but those three larger humans then left the tree to the whims of the pony kids. Squeezing under it, and cracking jokes at each other. Seeing what it looks like from wrapped inside tree branches looking out. It was great. Alas, such freedom was not to last, and the Crusaders were ever so disappointed that they couldn’t play peek-a-boo under the tree anymore, because of all the presents they had ready to fit under it. So disappointed. Apple Bloom was somewhat mollified in her grief, by the great sacrifice of being allowed to hang the first ornament on the tree. It was actually kind of... not comfortable to be carrying an ornament hook in your mouth. She still did it though, and stretched forward to carefully hook it on the tree. When Apple Bloom pulled back, there was a pleasant looking blue and white ball reflecting her pony self back at her as it hung there. “You girls wanna try?” she asked the two. Scootaloo craned her head down to an ornament, but paused uneasily at the hook, saying, “They do look kinda sharp...” “Here’s one on a cloth hanger,” Sweetie Belle said, sticking her arm into the box of ornaments and pulling it out with a sparkly crystally star hanging from her hoof, on a loop of cloth. “Here Scootaloo,” she said, touching Scootaloo’s hoof and tilting her own to make the loop slide from one hoof to the other. “Try that one!” Scootaloo smiled at that and turned toward the tree. She stumbled, then tottered up to the tree on three legs, fiddling about with her raised hoof until the loop slipped off it and hooked on a tree branch. “You gonna hang any, Sweetie?” Apple Bloom asked. “Hmm...” the little unicorn said pensively. “Maybe. What do you think I should hang up?” Apple Bloom rooted around in the box herself, before finding an ornament tied with a slim loop of string, a crystal ornament of a barn with a bunch of people in it. “Tryr rhis!” she said pinching the loop between her teeth. A moment of confusion, and then Apple Bloom just tossed it to land at Sweetie’s hooves, saying, “Just bite on the loop, it’s too small to fit a hoof into. Sweetie nodded and craned down, biting down on the loop, which snapped neatly in two and fell once she lifted her head. “Oops,” Sweetie said, blushing. “Oh yeah,” Apple Bloom said blushing. “Gotta be careful with your chompers.” Apple Bloom ran to get someone, finding Big Macintosh out splitting wood. “Mac!” she shouted, “Can you uh, tie a knot for me?” The little pony blushed, and made sure to add, “It’s a little knot.” Big Macintosh being the beautiful brother that he is, happily came inside and used his enviable fingers to take out a length of twine, and tie it in a neat loop around the lost ornament. Apple Bloom really wished she could believe Twilight, in that ponies were hindered in no way by their lack of hands, but this kind of detail work, tiny knots on such fine twine... well, maybe when Sweetie figured out her magic, she could help. It was interesting how there were a lot of things that a pony couldn’t do well, that a pony could do to another pony just as well as any human. Brushing, for instance. Brushing. Yes. Oh yes. Brushing. Yes, brushing. Apple Bloom liked brushing, she did. Bruuuuu When Apple Bloom needed a good brushing down, and didn’t have her wonderful sister, or brother, or grandmother, or Cheerilee, or Rarity, or Diamond Tiara, or Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle when they were still human, or basically anyone with hands around, not all hope was lost. Both Sweetie and Scoots, even in their new forms could just bite down on the handle, and drag the brush along every inch of Apple Bloom’s back and neck, flanks, and belly. And she could brush them too in return, the two of them quickly falling prey to the seductive temptation of the stiff bristle brush. Except... brushing Scootaloo’s back wasn’t so simple, but did Scootaloo ever love her belly being scrubbed! There wasn’t a day that Apple Bloom or any of them had to worry about any clumps or tufts in her new fur. Even without adoring humanfolk, it was quite possible to brush each other. Easy, even, to do so. But to brush yourself? Good spanking luck, there! When Apple Bloom tried, she had just ended up rolling on the brush in frustration, not even caring that she had no idea why rolling would be a gesture of frustration. Then, she went to get someone else to help. In this fashion, being ponies really did bring Apple Bloom’s friends closer together with her. Anything a human did alone, ponies could do if they worked together, but left to their own devices, ponies were seriously limited in some ways that humans were not. Whether it was brushing, or washing, or being used as a step stool to get to higher places, or maybe one day asking your friend with a horn to magic a loop of rope with a delicate knot in it, there was so much ponies they could do for each other that they couldn’t do alone if they weren’t human beings. Maybe Apple Bloom could’ve tied it. She didn’t try, since Big Mac did it for her. In theory, you just swirl the two lengths of rope around each other, then bend the ends around and swirl them the other way, bite down on the end and like, stomp on the other end to pull it tight. It was a lot more feasible though, with a big old rope you could stomp on, rather than a teeny tiny little loop of twine. It was just easier, and more satisfying in a way, to ask her bro. To get someone else to help her out, and to help him out too. Out there splitting wood, feeling like he wasn’t a part of this because everyone’s got to give them ponies their space, Apple Bloom was glad that she needed his help after all, grateful even. Maybe she could tie a knot for him in return, or find something else to do for him. It was so hilarious when Big Mac tied the loop on that house ornament, because he then threaded the loop right up over Sweetie Belle’s horn. The unicorn girl crossed her eyes, looking at the ornament dangling on her face, and just stated frankly, “At least this thing’s good for something.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo messed with tree garlands, while Sweetie was busy blowing Mac’s mind with how she could get her horn to split wood. Scootaloo tried to use her new wings to fly up higher, to get the garlands up there, but was still unable to quite reach the top. She could flap those wings, and make quite a gust of a breeze, but didn’t know how to rise up with them. It wasn’t long before the lower half of the Christmas tree looked gorgeous with all sorts of ornaments and garlands, and then the CMC had to kind of sheepishly retire while the taller humans came in and decorated the rest of the tree. As days went by, the three little ponies played, and laughed, learned and slept, and dreamed. Playing was so much easier now that Apple Bloom was a little pony. It was just a joy to move around, and it was just so much easier to be amused. Apple Bloom found it terribly hard to pay attention as a pony, but even the simplest things just started being fun again. Like once the three of them were laughing and tearing apart the house in their excitement, over just a dumb paper airplane. Apple Bloom had the idea to fold one, and there was just no end to the amusement of tossing the thing off into the air and then chasing it seeing who could catch it first. It was usually Scootaloo, because her wings gave her a big height boost, but Sweetie Belle about died with laughter when Scootaloo landed heavily, standing up looking at her empty hoof saying, “Aw! I almost had it,” only to have Apple Bloom pluck the airplane right out from where it was stuck unknowingly behind Scootaloo’s ear. “Ah caugf iff!” Apple Bloom said impishly dancing back from Scootaloo who jumped after her like a puppy who wants her bone. And with a toss of Apple Bloom’s head, the airplane was flying off through the air again, soaring crazily with Scootaloo jumping right after it, and Sweetie too busy laughing to participate at this point. “Apple Bloom, consarnit!” came Granny’s voice, stomping into the living room. “Are you tryin’ ter take down the whole house? What’s got into you kids?” That made Apple Bloom stop cold, looking at her granny with worry, and it also made Scootaloo stop cold the same. The only problem was Scootaloo was in the middle of leaping to catch the paper airplane, and thanks to the law of inertia, Scootaloo continued sailing along through the air with it, all the way into the other room, from which a very unladylike squawk emanated. In retrospect, getting all crazy around the house wasn’t such a good idea while Rarity was visiting. Fleeing an angry granny and a furious Rarity who somehow had a paper airplane caught in her hair, the three pony kids found refuge outside in the chilly winter. “An’ stay out!” Granny shouted dramatically, throwing a pile of scarves to land on the spooked cluster of ponies, slamming the door behind her. There was a pause, whereupon Granny opened the door again and threw out Sweetie Belle’s jacket shouting, “Dinner’s in two hours!” then slammed the door. Sweetie stuffed her forelegs in the very short cut sleeves, in a jacket sized for a toddler that Rarity found at the thrift store and spruiced up with a new pink exterior, and of course a faux fur ruff. It didn’t button up, so it was just perfect for Sweetie, once Rarity had moved the arm holes a bit down, so it would hang over Sweetie’s shoulders along towards her back. It seemed Diamond’s advice of totally disrupting Rarity’s creative process was having some good effect on the lady. Either way, Sweetie was just about perfect cold-wise, with that cute little jacket on. With Apple Bloom’s super earth pony powers and fat, she could just put on a scarf and was still toasty warm, also from being inside and running around. Her resilience was basically inferior to Scootaloo’s though. Scoots wore a scarf to humor them, and she didn’t even shiver in the breeze. The falling snow didn’t seem to so much as touch Scootaloo’s back on the way down. Apple Bloom wondered if that was a super pegasus pony power, and made a mental note to send a question to Sunset and Twilight about that. Since that one single weekend of frustrating illumination, the two former ponies Sunset and Twilight were keeping to themselves mostly, away from the farm. They had sciency things to do, or something, regarding the time thingy. Applejack had set it up so that the three of them could email Twilight on Applejack’s laptop, if they needed to ask anything. It wasn’t easy to type, since you had to hunt and peck with a pen in your mouth, but it was Twilight’s preferred way to communicate, so that’s what Apple Bloom did. Twilight liked to have everything written down all careful, like you were making a letter, rather than just blurted out on the phone, where she couldn’t have a record of what you said. Diamond Tiara had visited just the weekend before, and she was living her life pretty normally. Apple Bloom was still worried from her weird episode that past weekend, but Applejack said Diamond was doing fine. Fine wasn’t “very fine” or “super awesome” though, so Apple Bloom still worried. But what can you do, when you’re just a pony on a farm? “Welp, we’re off!” Applejack announced in the present moment, with a clatter clink of dishes, as she set all of them in the sink for Apple Bloom to take care of. She tipped her hat to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, Sweetie giving a wave to her, and Granny, both ladies heading for the front door. A glance at the clock gave them plenty of time to get to school, but it was definitely time to get going. Apple Bloom joined in waving with Sweetie, saying, “Good luck, sis! Have fun, Granny!” “Say hi to Rarity for me!” Sweetie added. “Will do,” Applejack said pleasantly, and backed out the door behind Granny’s purposeful lumbering form. Cheerilee hung back, looking up the stairs as the Apple family truck pulled out of their yard, its heavy tires crackling on the frozen ground. “Is Scootaloo up yet?” Cheerilee asked thoughtfully. Apple Bloom shook her head, trotting up to stand beside the dark pink lady, saying, “She was still sleeping, but it won’t be long. Ah’ll just go wake her up.” “No, don’t worry about it,” Cheerilee smiled. “I’ll just go give her a quick goodbye.” Apple Bloom started to follow, but Cheerilee emphasized, “Alone,” leaving the little red and yellow pony standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking after the arising librarian contemplatively. Apple Bloom shrugged then, and trotted away, over to Sweetie Belle who was in the kitchen, looking forlornly up at the refrigerator. Apple Bloom sighed, and went over to help the poor unicorn. It was so much trouble just to get a glass of milk or something! “Bit of a trick to get it open, huh,” Apple Bloom said to Sweetie, looking at the refrigerator with her. “Just thinking about getting something,” Sweetie said noncomittally, “Maybe a glass of milk. Or, just an apple I guess. Can’t really lift the milk without spilling it.” Cheerilee came down while the two stood before the refrigerator, but didn’t attract their attention. She made herself scarce without a big sendoff. The two ponies just continued to talk in quiet tones, while outside, they heard her car driving away. It was kind of sad, since she hadn’t slept the night over, but just came in before work to help out. It wasn’t too bad though; Scootaloo was already in high school, and even before she was a pony they didn’t have much time to spend together, that wasn’t being taken up by school, sports or homework. Apple Bloom meanwhile reared up, biting the dishtowel hanging on the door handle of the refrigerator, and letting herself fall back to all fours. She needed to throw her full weight into it to get the darn thing open, but open it did, in a crack of rubber seals and a rush of cool air. Sweetie climbed in, and did get an apple, carefully biting the stem to pick it up. She also looked wistfully at the jug of orange juice. Even Apple Bloom found juice kind of intimidating. Apple Bloom would have had to balance it on her head or something, just to get it to the table, and good luck not spilling it, then! “Thinking about your magic, Sweetie?” Apple Bloom asked her sympathetically, eying Sweetie’s frustratingly impotent horn. “Did—” Sweetie looked down, as the apple fell from her mouth, hitting the kitchen tiles and rolling. She sighed. “Did hyou read the email they sent?” Sweetie asked Apple Bloom, before bending down and picking up the apple again, turning to amble with it over towards the haystack. “Ah did,” Apple Bloom said, recalling something along the lines of: Never forget your horn is a magic resonator. The right frequency will amplify or dampen any magic you summon. The wrong frequency can produce a much more powerful effect than you intended, or just fizzle out. A careful unicorn will learn her resonant frequencies and stick with those, but with practice you can broaden your spectrum. What followed was some even fancier mathematics that had nothing to do with aeronautics, about combining frequencies and harmonics, and separating a waveform into its constituents, that went way above all of their heads, but the end of the letter was pretty sensible advice. So to summarize, just think of your horn like an antenna, or a violin string. When you pull it tighter or looser, you can try to find something that feels right, and then you might be able to spark a glow. There are organs at the base that you engage, adjusting them should feel kind of like dilating your eyes. Don’t be afraid if it gets suddenly difficult, because that means you are pulling the magic forth, and that means you are getting close. It takes hard work and practice, but in time you will certainly be able to spark a glow, which is to say make your magical aura appear around your horn. After that, manipulation is as simple as mentally reaching out and doing it. Good luck, Sweetie Belle. And let me know if you get anything to appear, even the tiniest sparks or motes! Your friend, Twilight Sparkle “It does seem like a lot of work,” Apple Bloom said glumly, while Sweetie worked her teeth into the apple taking chunks out of the side of it with relative ease, for a person without fingers. “You’ll get it though, an’ I bet it’ll be second nature before you know it. Even if you cain’t lift the whole juice jug, ah cain lift it, and you could just, magic it in place so ah didn’t spill it.” “But for now,” Bloom told the apple munching unicorn, “Just get on upstairs and wake up mah brother. He’ll pour us both a glass of juice, an’ a little one too, so we can actually drink it.” Sweetie smiled at that, and said a little sloppily, “Shure thing.” She blinked then, swallowed, and blushed, walking over to wipe her face clean on a dangling napkin, that hung by the cabinet for such purposes. Then, the unicorn walked her darling little candy colored butt over to the stairs, and cautiously begin climbing them, one after the other. During the days on the farm, the three friends who had all somehow become ponies were pretty much inseparable. Sweetie’s horn exercises weren’t anything more out of the ordinary than meditation and calming techniques, though obviously it meant something special if you did it as a unicorn. Certainly didn’t mean magic right away. But regardless, Sweetie would always follow along with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to wherever they were, even if she wanted to sit there and productively doze off, while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gallopped and flailed around, respectively. It did get a little awkward at times though. “Sweetie, heads up!” “Sweetie!!” The ball impacted the quiet unicorn’s forehead, her surprise barely registering before it burst with a loud bang. If Sweetie hadn’t already been sitting on her belly, she probably would have fallen over from the shock. “Aww,” Scootaloo gave a whine in disappointment, clopping up to look down at where the ball had fallen off the stunned unicorn’s horn, to lie in a sad, limp pile on the ground. “Sorry,” Sweetie said guiltily, if a bit confused. “It’s not your fault, Sweetie,” Scootaloo told her idly. “I shoulda been watching it better. The ball just got away from me.” “Of all the places in the yard for the ball to land,” Sweetie said suspiciously, “And it had to land right on my horn?” Scootaloo laughed sadly, “Yeah, funny how things work out like that sometimes.” She blinked and looked at Sweetie more angrily saying, “Hey, are you accusing me of—” “Forget that,” Apple Bloom shouted, charging up. She looked at Sweetie’s horn, about beside herself with curiosity, and said, “How the hay did you do that?” “Do what?” Sweetie asked, blinking her pretty green eyes cluelessly. Apple Bloom responded by getting up close to Sweetie Belle and poking at her horn with a curious hoof. “This thing’s blunt!” Apple Bloom declared hotly, “How could it have even popped anythOW!” She yanked her hoof back with a hiss as Sweetie immediately burst out, “I’m sorry! Oh no I didn’t... I was just trying to do what it oh no are you okay?” “Ah think so...” Apple Bloom said mutedly. She pulled her hoof out of her mouth and showed it to Sweetie, where a tiny trickle of bright red blood was coming from a puncture in the frog. “Ya just dinged me. But ah didn’t think your horn was sharp?” With a wince, Apple Bloom went back to sucking on her hoof. “Have you ever even gotten dinged yet, Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked worriedly. Apple Bloom’s mouth was a mite too busy to answer, but it was a powerfully good question. Sweetie Belle looked up, but was unable to see her own horn just like that. “My horn isn’t sharp, but my magic might be,” Sweetie stated, with an uncertain ear tilt. “I think that’s what it is. What happened is the ball came, and all I could think was ball! In my face! So I um... pushed out of my horn sort of and it sort of popped.” “That’s so cool!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically, getting up right to Sweetie Belle to tell her, “Your magic is working!” “Yeah...” Sweetie carefully agreed, turning with a shy blush. “I guess it is. I mean, there’s no way I could break a ball with just this thing,” she tapped her own horn with a hoof, “So it must be something else.” “Can you levitate anything?” Scootaloo asked, digging around at the ground and saying, “Here, lift this stick!” she held it up in a hoof. Sweetie tried, but... it didn’t even twitch. “I can’t get it started,” Sweetie Belle said in frustration. “I don’t know, that’s what it feels like I guess. Maybe my magic is sort of, stuck in my horn? It’s weird.” Sweetie couldn’t break the twig either, even when Scootaloo carefully held it against her horn. She could poke holes in the leathery fabric of the ball though, with not too much pressure. Heck, she could even put holes in a tree trunk if she really punched it. “Hey y’all, ah know we got experimenting to do,” Apple Bloom said apologetically, favoring her hurt foot, “But maybe we could get inside, an’ maybe clean off mah hoof? The other two winced at her and nodded. “That’s downright useful though!” Apple Bloom told Sweetie Belle, as she hobbled on three legs toward the house, with a still guilty looking Sweetie Belle standing next to her to be leaned on. “Ah knew you could get it. It’s like your very first magic!” It was a lot different walking with only three legs, since Apple Bloom’s entire front risked falling down every time she lifted her good hoof. It was manageable though, just walk forward with your hind legs, and when your forelimb falls behind too much, you just rear up a bit to skip it in front of you. “It could be useful, I suppose,” Sweetie said, “I can’t really think of anything we need to poke holes in, but... it’s a start at least?” Scootaloo declared, spreading her wings perkily, “I’m jus’ glad my magic thingies are way out here and obvious. Yours sounds totally hard to figure out.” “Whatever pony we became really seems to suit us,” Apple Bloom remarked. “Funny how there are three kinds, and there’s three of us. Ah wonder if there are any more kinds of pony that Sunset and Twilight didn’t tell us about?” “Like what, fire ponies?” Scootaloo posed skeptically. “Or maybe fish ponies!” Sweetie suggested. “I’d love to be a fire pony,” Scootaloo declared, crouching low on her front limbs. “I’d be all throwing fireballs like in... or maybe like breathing fire, like a dragon!” “Kirin are sort of like dragon ponies,” Sweetie remarked as they entered the farm house, making a beeline for the bathroom’s antiseptics. “But I don’t think they breathe fire. I don’t really remember.” Apple Bloom inhaled in sharp pain one more time, when Sweetie clumsily daubed her hoof with alcohol. But despite that, Apple Bloom found herself reflecting on how this was probably the first time she’d actually gotten even close to hurt since changing like this. It wasn’t out of the question that she wouldn’t get hurt, as she hadn’t had the most exciting life lately, but she had to wonder at what power might be hidden in Sweetie’s itty bitty little horn. And for that matter, as Apple Bloom looked at her slightly puffy but swelled up shut hoof bottom thing, that just ached a bit now, and wasn’t even a trouble to walk on anymore, she had to wonder about the resilience of this ponylike creature they’d all become. On the subject of being ponylike creatures, Apple Bloom was real excited about how Scootaloo’s funny wing thingies were growing in feathers! Though not as excited as Scootaloo herself! It was cool how the feathers sorta slid out of the feather ...thingies, bit by bit, the progressive growth of the large pinions being way more obvious than the little feather fluff that were the smaller downy feathers. Funny thing is—or maybe the sensible thing—but, there was a smooth transition between the fuzzy hairs of Scootaloo’s coat to the more complex feathers on her wings. The smaller “feathers” weren’t hardly feathers at all, and once it got down past her wings it was just dense fur like the rest of them. It wasn’t like someone just stuck wings on a pony, but it seemed to have some kind of transition from bird to pony. Really it was shocking how similar she and Scootaloo were, considering what it took to have wings like that. Scootaloo’s anatomy should have been so different overall, with how she had wing muscles, and a bigger breastbone, and odd napping tendancies. And yet they both had hooves, and ears, and tails, and more similar between them than was different. And Sweetie was basically Apple Bloom with a horn. Apple Bloom... kind of wondered if maybe Sweetie Belle actually wasn’t basically Apple Bloom with a horn. Maybe the differences were just really hard to see on the surface. Sweetie looked just like Apple Bloom, but she was just... different, somehow. And the same. It was weird. Scootaloo couldn’t wait to fly, but about her wings, she said the feathers were really itching and “scrunchy” to coin a term Scootaloo thought up for the feeling. Scootaloo had learned what the friendly Twilight girl had advised about biting on her feathers, which was probably all you needed to know about wings, but just to be safe, Scootaloo’s mom came one afternoon halfway through the week, with a big book on bird anatomy. As embarassed as Scootaloo was, Cheerilee forced the orange birdpony to sit in the larger lady’s lap, while they read through it together. Scootaloo got over her reluctance quickly, when she found that a book about birds is lots more fascinating and relevant, when you can actually have the bird parts coming out of your own body. Apple Bloom encouraged Scootaloo as best as she could, but her pegasus friend really did have a point when she called herself the weird one. Scootaloo was right; she was the weird one. Apple Bloom didn’t have to do anything fancy, since her “magic” was just about being herself and not worrying about it. Sweetie Belle had real bonafied magic but it was subtle, and not at all involved with movement. Scootaloo was all about movement though. She had big dramatic wing things to deal with, that grew, and moved, and ...itchy scrunched. That, and the general disarrayed look of Scootaloo’s wings, was the reason why when Apple Bloom trotted into the living room after school one day, she didn’t loudly announce she saw Scootaloo and Cheerilee over by the bathroom, poring over her wings again. When Apple Bloom saw Cheerilee in there, kneeled with Scootaloo down on the tiles, she just quietly hesitated at the threshold, rather than barging in and announcing herself. “I just don’t get it,” Cheerilee exclaimed in frustration, doting over Scootaloo’s nervous form. “You should have a uropygial gland, but where would it be on a pony?” “I dunno mom,” Scootaloo said, redfaced, “Couldn’t I just sorta you know use regular oil?” “The book distinctly referred to a uropygial gland,” Cheerilee repeated. “We should at least find it before trying crazy, untested substances. It looked like very complex stuff, not just oil.” “Yeah but...” Scootaloo said, wiggling the dock of her tail. “It’s the only place on your rear end we haven’t looked,” Cheerilee demanded resolutely, “Now stop being such a baby and lift up your tail.” And that was about enough of that for Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom retreated to give the two their ...privacy, and went to check on Sweetie Belle, who was trying to levitate a feather as per Rarity’s suggestion. “Feeling anything yet, Sweetie?” Apple Bloom asked the peaceful looking unicorn. Sweetie opened one eye at Apple Bloom standing there, and said unsatisfied, “Feeling? Yes. Doing? ...not so much.” Apple Bloom settled beside her, looking at the feather Sweetie was trying to levitate. “Maybe Twilight was right about there not being enough magic,” she speculated, “So maybe it’s like, concentrated in us, and not in the feathers and stuff.” Sweetie looked from the feather to Apple Bloom, and her eyes brightened. “Oh,” she said, “I think you might be right. Touch my horn!” “What?” Apple Bloom asked, discomfited. “Just with your hoof again,” Sweetie said. “Touch it against my horn. I want to see if what I’m feeling is you. I promise I won’t do the sharp thingy.” “Okay, ah trust you Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said, giving in semi-agreeably. She reached up a hoof and carefully pressed the pad of it against Sweetie’s horn, wincing at the memory of that sharp jabbing feeling. Quiescent, the surface of Sweetie Belle’s horn felt surprisingly soft for being a spiral of bone. Apple Bloom glanced down at Sweetie’s eyes, which were crossed trying to look at her own forehead. “That good, Sweetie?” she asked. “That’s definitely you,” Sweetie said confidently. “You can let go now.” Apple Bloom gladly pulled her hoof back to herself. “What’d it feel like?” Apple Bloom asked, not sure what to make of Sweetie’s new experience. “My horn?” Sweetie asked tentatively. “Just, like when mah hoof touched you,” Apple Bloom clarified, “It felt different or something?” “When you put your hoof on it, I could feel the magic going into me, like a tide coming in,” Sweetie explained, “And... then it went out, right before you pulled your hoof back. I don’t think you were trying to do that, just touching my horn like normal, right?” “Yeah, normal,” Apple Bloom said fretfully. “It just felt like a horn otherwise,” Sweetie said. “Like you were pushing a peg against my head. But I think you might be right about the magic, and us. Hm... hold on just one sec.” Sweetie Belle stared at Apple Bloom in quiet concentration, and after a while Apple Bloom lifted a hoof and asked, “Uh, okay Sweetie Belle, but what’re you doing?” “Oh, sorry,” Sweetie blinked. “I just wanted to try lifting you, if it was easier than the feather.” “With how heavy ah am?” Apple Bloom said mighty skeptical. Sweetie blushed, “Yeah, um... it’s not easier than the feather. Maybe I just suck at magic.” She turned away and scrunched her face in confoundment. “Ah wouldn’t assume that just yet,” Apple Bloom told her encouragingly, “What could you be doing wrong maybe?” “Well, Sunset said my horn was supposed to ‘light up’,” Sweetie offered, shifting to curl her tail around her side. “I assume she didn’t mean catch fire, so I guess it could maybe glow or something. I looked in the mirror in the dark though, and I couldn’t make it glow. It’s doing something but... nothing I could see with my eyes.” “Maybe try a different spell than lifting things?” Apple Bloom poised. “It’s only been a week,” Sweetie admitted, “I’m sure she could teach me more if we met again. It might be I haven’t practiced enough, or maybe if a real unicorn sees what I’m doing, she can tell me what to do differently.” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, saying, “Yeah, those two sure didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about teaching you to use the thing, or telling Scootaloo about how she’s going to get about flying. Ah dunno what they’re waiting for, because you’re clearly all pony now, so there ain’t no reason you cain’t do that stuff.” “Hey girls!” Scootaloo shouted excitedly, clumsily trotting up to them. “Girls! Guesh what I found!” “Your uropygial gland?” Apple Bloom asked over her shoulder. “My uro—hey, how did you know?” Scootaloo said in an upset tone. “Ah didn’t stay and watch,” Apple Bloom made sure to emphasize, “But just overheard you an’ your mom talking about it.” “So... you found a gland?” Sweetie said uncertainly. “It’s a thing to keep her wings tidy,” Apple Bloom explained hastily. “Just makes some kinda oil or something.” “Yeah we found it alright,” Scootaloo said, with a half grin, “All oily and stuff too, since I hadn’t used it until now. Really weird location too, wanna see?” Big smile. “What? No!” Apple Bloom yelped, struggling to her hooves. “Don’t stick your butt at us!” Scootaloo blinked at her. Then raised a single wing. “They’re on my shoulders,” she explained. “Wing shoulder, whatever. It’s not on my butt.” Apple Bloom just buried her head in her hooves, failing to hide the blush of being dreadfully embarassed. “Huh...” Sweetie remarked looking at Scootaloo’s raised wing in a mild fascination. “So, does it help?” “You bet, Sweetie!” Scootaloo said happily. She just uh... stuck her nose in the armpit place on her wing and nosed around in there, then started like, nibbling her feathers, saying, “Yeah it makes them all smooth and um... “stuff...” Scootaloo continued like that for a while, until Apple Bloom spoke up saying, “Hey Scootaloo, you need us for anything?” “Wha?” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes up to look at them, then lifting her head and blushing. “Sorry,” she said distractedly, “It’s super good at making my feathers feel better. Like scratching an itch, sorta.” She blushed and looked real put out at that, probably by being the weird one again, so before she could start beating herself up over it, Apple Bloom took swift action. “Oh no!” Apple Bloom exclaimed dramatically, flopping belly up in shock. “Mah earth pony weird thing is makin’ me do stuff!” “Your wha—” Scootaloo’s eyes narrowed at Apple Bloom’s amused appearance. “You don’t have an earth pony weird thing!” she accused Apple Bloom. That didn’t serve to help make the situation any less bizarrely funny though. And it distracted Scootaloo from feeling silly about her wings. That adjustment sorta stuff was quite well occupying Apple Bloom’s time. She could have paid more attention to what was going on far away in Canterlot High, but for the most part her friends had their hands—hooves full with just discovering themselves, and Apple Bloom in seeing them do so. Apple Bloom was feeling like she was discovering herself all over again. Between that and playing in the snow, which never seemed to get old, they were pretty much set for things to do. While awake, Scoots was getting mighty frustrated with her wings. She was trying to fly, and she could sort of do it, but she just couldn’t maintain any kind of height. “Just keep getting I dunno, heavy,” Scootaloo said unhappily, “Feel like I should stop flapping, but then I just... fall.” Apple Bloom wanted to counsel Scootaloo, that flying is a complicated aerodynamic nightmare of fancy math and unpredictable systems. She really did. But one look at those tiny little wings of Scootaloo’s, and Apple Bloom had to conclude that fancy mathematics about flying were either dead wrong or completely inapplicable. Supposedly those little things could support her in flight, fancy mathematics be damned. Apple Bloom clearly had some serious misunderstandings about wings and flying, if the reality she saw on Scootaloo’s back was that different from what Apple Bloom learned in school. Apple Bloom wanted to help Scootaloo, but she honestly didn’t know how, besides to encourage Scootaloo to try. Scoots was very enthusiastic about trying, and getting to be obsessive about that whole weird preening thing. Bloom’s feathery friend was so proud of how nice and even, and shiny her wings were looking, as the feathers filled out enough that Scootaloo didn’t just look like a dissheveled, orange chicken. In fact, speaking of preening, it wasn’t long before Scootaloo was losing more than just goose down. One day, in that two weeks before Christmas, Scootaloo ran over to where Apple Bloom was drawing, the wingy pony all excited as the dickens. Scootaloo had pinched in her mouth, a single broad, orange feather. A genuine, full sized feather. Scootaloo spit it out and exclaimed, “I just lost a pinion!” She seemed... weirdly excited about it. “That’s a normal thing, right?” Apple Bloom said, dropping the crayon and looking at her friend oddly. “You just grow new ones after the old ones fall out.” Apple Bloom looked down at the shapely feather, saying uncertainly, “Sure is a purty one?” “Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo whined, “Come on. If I lose a pinion, that means my wings are finished! Because the pinions are the big feathers, and those take the longest to grow. So all my feathers are in!” “Oh!” Apple Bloom laughed, knocking the side of her head with a hoof. “Silly me, ah didn’t even realize. That’s great news, Scoots! How d’you feel?” “Uhb...well, um... still can’t fly yet,” Scootaloo mumbled in admission. “I feel mostly normal, just a little... lopsided, when that one fell out. I’ve already got the new one growing in though, it sorta pushed the old one out as it did.” “You’ll get it,” Apple Bloom told the insecure Scootaloo comfortingly. “Just gotta talk to them pony girls again. I figure at least the princess one has got some advice on flying with wings.” Sweetie Belle came to Scootaloo’s other side, saying brightly, “You could ask the dream princess too!” “She didn’t even remember her own name,” Apple Bloom said flatly. “How’s she gonna know about wing care?” “Well um... she remembers... things?” Sweetie said uneasily. “Sometimes? It can’t hurt to ask.” “Maybe if she ever gets done with whatever she’s doing,” Apple Bloom grumbled. “Ah ain’t sure what became of her honestly. Been wanting to get her to meet the two of you! Ah’m sure she’d welcome the extra friends.” “She can’t meet me,” Scootaloo griped, “I still can’t figure out how to dream right.” “Don’t worry, you’ll get there,” Sweetie Belle said, even as Scootaloo’s tiny orange shoulders sank, “We’ve almost got to you the other night. I bet the princess could find you, if we could find her.” “What if I can’t dream, though?” Scootaloo asked anxiously, “What if there’s something wrong with me?” “There ain’t nothing wrong with you Scoots,” Apple Bloom said reassuringly, “We just gotta try a little extra hard to find whatever it is you’re dreaming about.” “What is it though?” Scootaloo said, “I don’t want you to have stupid night t-terrors too.” “We’ll be careful,” Apple Bloom replied solemnly, “An’ ah’m one hundred percent sure that we cain handle any scary thing we run into, long as we’re together as friends.” “I suppose you’re right,” Scootaloo said with a smile, but it was an uneasy smile. One thing these three little ponies had no trouble with was sleeping. Lots of sleeping. And sleeping meant dreaming, pony style. The dream princess hadn’t shown up, even over a week after Apple Bloom’s friends turned into ponies, but then again, Scootaloo hadn’t shown up either. Honestly Apple Bloom couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a normal thing to happen for pony dreamers, not to be able to find each other. Scootaloo didn’t have another... episode in the time that they were there. Scootaloo said she didn’t have them as much as when she was little, as far as her mom could tell her, but that it was only a matter of time. Apple Bloom never wanted Scootaloo to feel that way ever again. They needed to find her, and fast. So Apple Bloom dreamed of Sweetie Belle, and together they sought to dream of Scootaloo. In this way, Apple Bloom finally found her way through the rushing darkness, into Scootaloo’s dream.