“Girls, it’s been fun playing tonight, but I think we better git before we cross Rarity’s last nerve. Ah already got the okay from mah sis for y'all to spend the night in the clubhouse. Let’s head out!” Apple Bloom had Sweetie and Scootaloo in a huddle discussing this morning’s plans. The other two nodded, smiling. Apple Bloom raised her voice. “Rarity, the girls ‘n me are headed out for the clubhouse! Thank ya kindly for a fun night!”
Rarity yawned from the other room. “It’s no trouble at all, girls. Sweetie Belle, do behave yourself while you are at the farm, won’t you?” She entered the room, rubbing her eyes with a hoof. She hugged her sister goodbye.
As the Crusaders opened the door, they saw Fluttershy about to enter. The three fillies shouted in unison, "Hi, Fluttershy! Bye, Fluttershy!" before they ran off, giggling, to the scooter.
Scootaloo hooked her vehicle up to its cart, clambered into the driver’s seat and looked back at her friends as they got in. “So we tried ziplining, bowling, skydiving, hang-gliding... what’s next on the list?”
Apple Bloom pored over the list, trying to find anything that wasn’t already checked off three or more times. “Um... deep sea diving... that one is gonna be tough.”
.
Sweetie Belle sat in silence, since Scootaloo and Apple Bloom normally decided what to try when they were crusading. She usually went along rather than cause a fuss, but today she decided to interject. “Girls...” Her friends both turned towards her in surprise. And she didn’t blame them, since she rarely had much to suggest that didn’t involve dressmaking or makeovers. “Call me crazy, but... just for tonight, could we try doing something that doesn’t involve us getting blown up, covered in tree sap, or nearly arrested? Or all three?”
Scootaloo laughed loudly. “Hey, c’mon now, the rocket assisted catapult nearly worked, and we only have to work for the Cakes for three more weekends to pay for the damages. Besides, we had fun, didn’t we?”
The unicorn scoffed. “You had fun, you mean. Those wings helped you glide, at least. Bloom and I just crashed right through their roof! Look, I’m not saying we give up, but couldn’t we think of something fun to do for a night that isn’t so... dangerous?”
Apple Bloom considered it carefully. She hadn’t known Sweetie felt like that... Still, she was willing to do anything to make her friends happy. “Well, we could spend the night in the clubhouse, Ah guess, break out some board games or somethin’.”
The orange pegasus stuck out her tongue. “Board games? Try bored games!”
Apple Bloom gave her a look of utter disgust. “Filly, that joke was old when Granny Smith was our age.”
Sweetie giggled. This might work after all! Well, they weren’t rejecting the idea outright, which was a start. “Um... My sister told me about a pretty fun night she had once. Bloom, your big sis probably told you too. They were caught in a storm and Twilight let them stay in the library. But then she pulled out a book...”
The earth pony nodded. “Oh yeah! Slumber One-Oh... somethin’. AJ said she had a heck of a time. Well, after they cleaned up the tree, a’course.”
The pegasus perked up. “How exactly does a slumber party end up with a tree inside your house, which is also a tree?”
Apple Bloom grinned a bit; that had been quite a story. “Mah sis yanked it inside to save another house.”
Scootaloo did her best not to look impressed, failing miserably. “Well, at least it’s better than bored games.”
The other two gave each other a look, seeming to come to a joint decision. As one they leaped onto the pegasus and began to tickle her mercilessly. Underneath the fillypile, Scootaloo managed to squeak out between laughs, “O-okay, okay! No more puns!”
A short and very harrowing scooter ride later found all three fillies on the doorstep of the library. Rather than an open door, maybe the sounds of Spike cooking, the three fillies found the entrance to the library firmly shut, with a note attached to the door:
Back in one hour, out to lunch.
- T.S.
Scootaloo read it impatiently. “Well, this was a bust... deep sea diving after all?”
Sweetie Belle gritted her teeth slightly. This was not going to fail because of a lunch break. She looked down at the lock, trying to move the mechanism inside with telekinesis. She then had to step back as the whole thing melted, leaving a steaming puddle of molten iron on the ground. Not again! Every... single... time... She still couldn’t figure it out. Maybe she was using too much magic? It had happened again last night; whenever she tried to lift things with her magic, it always set them on fire! The worst part was how hard it made cooking... But that wasn’t here or there. The young unicorn gave a shaky grin to her two friends. “Um, I meant to do that...” They just groaned.
“Anyway, we can get inside now. Maybe we can find the book we need for the party.” She pushed the door open, looking around for anypony, but it seemed the library was empty for the moment. No Spike, no Twilight... Straining her ears just a bit though, she heard something coming from upstairs. It took a bit of effort to make out the whispers.
“Come, fair knight, thou hast slain the demon. My life is yours, do with it what thou wilt.”
“Ah, my princess, I ask but one thing. Your wondrous beauty has captivated me … would it be overbold of me to ask a dalliance?”
“Oh, Sir Pie... You are so very bold to ask such a thing, but in reward for your valour I grant your request!”
From there they heard nothing but giggles and squeals. Apple Bloom’s ears drooped in embarrassment. Not this again! Ever since she had gone looking for Applejack and spotted her doing... something to Dash... It was still hard to forget how red her face got. She hadn’t understood at the time, but she’d had more time to think about it, and now she was pretty sure what had been going on then... and what was going on now. She still wasn’t quite sure how she felt about what her sis had been up to. That day had made her look at Scootaloo in a new light, though. “Um... girls, Ah think maybe we should wait for a bit. Ah think Twilight is... busy. We c’n ask her ‘bout the slumber party later...”
The muffled sounds abruptly stopped, and suddenly a pony in shining armor was just... there. Bloom was pretty sure she had seen that armor before. It looked just like the suit Rainbow Dash had worn in the Hearth’s Warming Eve play the previous year. Pinkie Pie, trying her best to smile normally—or what passed as normally for her—peered out from the helmet, her expression spoiled somewhat by the fact that she looked... well, as tired and sweaty as if she had been in the middle of bucking a whole orchard by her lonesome. “Did somepony say party? I got this twinge in my right shoulder that said somepony nearby was talking about a party! Oh, hi, girls!”
By this point Twilight too was peeking down at them from the balcony. She wasn’t much better off than Pinkie; in comparison, it looked like she’d just finished the Running of the Leaves. The lavender unicorn had a costume on too. Princess Platinum’s dress, by the looks of it. “Pinkie! I wasn’t finis—Oh! Girls! Um, hi...”
Bloom did her best to ignore the implications; she’d rather not think too hard about what was going on. Ain’t ya supposed to do this stuff with stallions? She looked at Sweetie Belle for a moment or two, automatically picturing her with a face as flushed as Twilight’s. It took a second to clear that image out before she could respond. Dangit! “Um, hey, Twilight! Ah was wondering, the girls and Ah were thinkin’ of havin’ a slumber party and mah sis told me ‘bout a book you had that might help out.”
Twilight perked up noticeably before she teleported to the ground level and began searching her shelves. “I know just the one! ‘Slumber 101: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid to Ask.’ Yes, we used it for my first slumber party. Oh, that was so much fun!”
As quickly as Twilight had brightened, Pinkie just seemed to wilt. “I... I missed a party? Did you have fun?”
“Oh, we had a blast! We had a pillow fight... well, that got a little out of hoof... Oh, but we made s’mores, and Rarity made us wear a mud mask. That wasn’t quite as much fun, but it was in the book, you can’t just skip around. Then we told ghost stories! The tree falling into my house made a big mess, but we cleaned it up. I really need to have another one soon!”
The other mare was looking at her a bit sadly, a distant look in her eyes. “W-will I be invited this time?”
Twilight paused as if she had forgotten something, then quickly turned from her searching and rushed over to Pinkie, grabbing her into a hug that made Bloom blush again. “Oh, of course, Pinkie! We couldn’t exactly send out invitations, after all. There was a big rainstorm that night, so it was safer to have Applejack and Rarity stay with me. You know it’s not a real party without my favorite pink pony!”
Pinkie sniffed, but looked much happier, and the two of them stayed embraced.
Apple Bloom coughed a bit. The pink and purple ponies seemed to snap out of a daze and step apart a moment at her interruption. “Um... so... about that book?”
Twilight nodded, heading back to the “S” shelf. In just a moment she triumphantly produced the book. “Here you go, girls. Have fun!”
They all smiled and said in one voice, "Thanks, Twilight. Thanks, Pinkie. See you later!" Then it was off to the clubhouse.
“So what do you suppose they were up to?” Scootaloo asked as they arrived at the clubhouse. Sweetie had to admit it had her curious as well. Playing “let’s pretend” didn’t usually make a pony look like they’d just run the Sisterhooves Social on one hoof.
Apple Bloom looked uncomfortable. “Just... don’t question it. Ah think some things we’re just not gonna get quite yet. Ah never really thought about that before... grown-ups’re always saying it, but it’s true.”
Now Sweetie was curious. “What do you mean? What wouldn’t we get?”
Scootaloo perked up as well. “Bloom, spill it, did you ‘get’ what was going on there?”
Bloom cringed visibly. “Ah don’t know for sure, mind, but... Ah’m pretty sure they were, ah, messing around.”
Sweetie and Scootaloo looked at each other in confusion, then back to Apple Bloom. They both laughed as if she’d made a great joke. Sweetie finally gasped enough air in to say, “That can’t be it! They’re friends, you can’t do that with your friends. That’s not how it works.”
Bloom glared at Sweetie in irritation. “Look, Ah don’t claim ta get it, but that’s tot’lly what it was. Didn’t ya see how Twilight was so quick to hug Pinkie the second she looked sad? That weren’t no ‘friend’ hug.”
Sweetie just stared at her Apple Bloom—no, not her Apple Bloom, just Apple Bloom of course... You... can do that? No, that’s silly, you’re not supposed to think that way about your friends. “O-okay, calm down. I believe you! I don’t get it, but I believe you.” In the aftermath of that realization, the three fillies became fascinated with pieces of furniture, unwilling to look the others in the eye. Sweetie broke out of the stupor first, flipping the book over onto the table. “Anyway, lets see what the book says to do. This should be fun, right?”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exchanged glances, faces both rosy from blushing. They seemed happy enough about the distraction, and were quick to agree. “Yeah, that sounds just fine,” Apple Bloom replied with a little hint of embarrassment still in her voice.
“Whatever, but this better not be boring girl stuff all night,” Scootaloo added impatiently, with more than a hint in hers.
“Ah think we’re doin’ this wrong,” Apple Bloom declared, spitting out a clod of dirt. They were seated outside the clubhouse at the picnic table. Sweetie Belle had suggested that if they were going to apply mud masks, then they might want to do it outdoors.
Sweetie giggled, her face also covered in mud. They look so cute—I mean, ridiculous! “I tried to tell you, girls, it's not the same stuff. My sister uses some kind of clay and herb mix. It’s sort of like mud, but not actual mud.”
Scootaloo glared at her in exasperation. “So why did you let us do it?”
“I… didn’t think you’d actually go through with covering your faces in dirt?”
The other two looked to each other, nodded, then reached deep into the bowl of muck and pelted the unicorn with it.
“Hey!” Sweetie Belle scraped a hooffull off her face and glared at her laughing friends, then flung the mud she had scraped off right back at them. All three fillies were now completely covered in muck, so there was only one thing for it.
They grinned, and in one voice cried, “Mud fight!”
Once night fell, the three continued their little party inside the clubhouse. Apple Bloom finally managed to dislodge a wad of mud from her ear and, with a grimace, said, “Well, that was fun! What’s next?”
Sweetie Belle scrutinised the book’s checklist. “Makeovers...”
Scootaloo stuck out her tongue. “Girly! Let’s skip it. What comes after that?”
Sweetie Belle read further. “Ghost stories... Either of you want to go first?”
Scootaloo raised a hoof. The other two settled down on their pillows to listen. “Okay, so I heard this story from a cousin of mine visiting from Cloudsdale. Apparently a bunch of foals were getting ready to take a test to graduate from flight school...”
The two wingless fillies shivered, holding each other tightly as the tale ended. “I-is any of that true?” Sweetie Belle squeaked out in fear.
Scootaloo scoffed. “Nah! But it didn’t stop me from asking to sleep with my parents for a week after I heard it. I kept dreaming that it was me being... not that I would ever be scared of something so stupid, and if you girls ever tell anypony I said that...”
Apple Bloom laughed, thankful for the break in tension. She also found herself just a little uncomfortable clutching the unicorn beside her, now that story was over. She gently pried Sweetie’s hooves away and stood up. “Mah turn, I guess. It starts on a farm. This farmer gits real worried about trespassers, and at tha same time needs a way to keep his trees growin’ good. So he gets a messed up idea fer how to do both...”
Both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked ready to throw up. “Fertilizer? He murdered all those poor ponies and mulched them into—?” Scootaloo’s face had turned a distressing shade of green.
Sweetie was beginning to recover. That had been horrifying. Which, she guessed, was the point but... “Apple Bloom, where did you hear that?”
Apple Bloom looked a little sick herself. When she’d first heard the story, she hadn’t been able to sleep right for a week. “Well, Ah wasn’t meant to... AJ and I went to visit some cousins one summer. Ah wasn’t supposed to be awake, And after I heard that, Ah kinda wish Ah’d gone to sleep. So... Ah guess yer next, Sweetie?”
Sweetie quailed just a bit; the story she had in mind had always scared her, but it wasn’t anything like the ones she’d just heard... Either way, she stood and cleared her throat. “Okay... There’s this undersea kingdom of seaponies. One day, a princess of the seaponies spies a handsome stallion from the land about to drown...”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo listened intently, trying to be polite, at least until Scootaloo ran out of her short supply of patience. “How is that scary?”
Sweetie Belle looked wounded. “Well, that sea witch is pretty scary!”
Apple Bloom, trying to keep the peace, stuck up for Sweetie. “Well now, sure it wasn’t really scary but it was interesting at least—” She was cut off as she felt a pillow smack her in the side of the head.
Scootaloo laughed uproariously. “I got you good, Bloom! Enough with the boring stories, let’s have a pillow fight!”
Apple Bloom shook her head to clear it, then picked up her own pillow with her tail and bucked it into the air, straight for Scootaloo. “Whoa!” Scootaloo dodged to one side quickly as the missile flew through the air at speeds that made even a pillow dangerous.
Fwoomf! Both of them looked towards the source of the sudden noise. Sweetie had three pillows held in a weak telekinetic grip, all of them on fire. She grinned. “My turn!” Bloom and Scootaloo quite sensibly ducked for cover, looking for more ammunition.
Three gasping fillies lay on the floor, exhausted. Their fight had been grueling, and pillow casualties had been high, but at last a truce had been reached. Sweetie Belle was the first to regain enough strength to get up and check the book. “Next is... um... s’mores, then truth or dare.”
Sweetie looked dubiously at the graham crackers and chocolate, electing not to try to pick those up with magic. Then inspiration struck. She used her telekinesis to lift the marshmallows, which began to merrily burn, then quickly laid them down on the chocolate and covered them with a second graham cracker. The flame was extinguished, leaving perfectly melted chocolate and marshmallows. She smiled happily. “S’mores are done!”
While the fillies munched away on their treats, Sweetie explained the basic rules of the next activity. “So the idea is, when you get called, you ask another pony to tell the truth. They can do that, or they can decide to do a dare instead.”
“But that means one of us gets left outta each question,” Apple Bloom complained.
Scootaloo was trying to not look bored and failing miserably. “Okay, well, what do the rules say about... I dunno, all of us answering the same question? Or all of us doing a dare together?”
“Um... lemme check.” Sweetie Belle looked over the rules, not finding anything on doing simultaneous questions. “Huh... they didn’t write anything about that.”
“Well, then what are we supposed to do?”
She put her hoof down on the page, looking triumphant. “They did talk about this other game though. Ahem... ‘Two Truths and a Lie, a game wherein ponies take turns asking questions of one another, at which point the pony answers thrice... But one answer is false! The other ponies may then guess at the true answers, and have a great deal of fun.’ So maybe we can mix that with Truth or Dare! Like, we do the questions that way with normal dares?”
Apple Bloom thought a moment... it did sound more fun than just sitting there waiting for a turn. “Ah’m fine with that. Scootaloo, is that okay with you?”
“Whatever! Let’s just get to it. I wanna do some fun dares already!”
“Fine, Ah’ll start with you then Scoots. What’s yer fav—”
“Dare!”
“Wait a minute, y’all dint even wait fer me ta finish mah question!”
Scootaloo smirked. “Fine, finish the question, then I’ll do the dare anyways!”
“Ah, forget you, then, just do the dare. Ah dare ya to... put ten marshmallows in yer mouth at once!”
“Pfft, easy! Sweetie, hand me those marshmallows!”
Sweetie Belle helpfully picked up the wooden bowl with her magic, promptly setting it on fire. “Ahhhhh! Put it out!”
Apple Bloom yelped and threw one of the blankets over the bowl, beating it with her forehooves to snuff out the flames. “Okay, no marshmallows.”
Scootaloo pouted; she had limbered up her jaws and everything. “Fine... ask your dumb question.”
“Right. What’s yer favourite animal? Y’know, as a pet an’ such?”
Scootaloo thought a moment. “Well, I’d want it to be fast. Something that can fly, but can also stay on the ground with me until I can fly too...”
“Oooh!” Sweetie squeaked. “How about an owl, like Twilight Sparkle’s pet?”
Thinking about Twilight inevitably led to thinking about the flushed look on Twilight’s face and Apple Bloom’s assurance the two friends were more than friends. I wonder what that would be like... No, stop it! They’re your friends, you can’t think of them like that. “N-nah... it would be sleeping all day. I need something that’s awake when I am. Let’s see... Dash almost picked a hawk, that might be cool. But it kinda bailed on her when she got in trouble. I gotta go with Dash on this one, I guess. I’d want a pet that’s loyal.”
“Robins’re pretty loyal. They stay in their territory all the year ‘round, an’ they don’t migrate with all th’ southern birds.”
“Robin? Oh cool! That sounds like the sidekick of that comic hero... Batmare, I think? I always wanted a sidekick!”
Sweetie laughed. “You mean you always wanted to be a sidekick.”
“You take that back!”
“Girls, let’s not get all fired up about a lil joke here. We’re supposed ta be answerin’ questions still. Ah know y’ didn’t give three answers like we talked about, but Sweetie still got ta play, so Ah think that’s all right. So will we jus’ go round in a circle ta pick who’s next? That would mean it’s Sweetie’s turn.”
“Um... Okay. Apple Bloom, truth or dare?”
“Truth, a’ course!”
“Well then... tell me who you like, anypony in our class.”
“Uhhh …” Apple Bloom fidgeted a little as she realised her mistake. An Apple had to be honest, but… “Well, Ah like Miss Cheerliee, an’, um, Ah like… Sweetie Belle… an’ Silver Spoon!”
Scootaloo stuck out her tongue. “Lame! It’s obvious which one is the lie. What kind of question was that? We all like Miss Cheerilee. And of course you like Sweetie; she’s our best friend!”
Sweetie was silent for a time. The way Apple Bloom had hesitated made her worried. “Apple Bloom, why did you pause when you said my name? Do you really have to think about whether you like me?”
The earth filly blanched at the hurt in Sweetie’s voice, and she nearly tripped over herself to reassure her friend. “No! No, Ah, Ah was just tryin’ ta—Ah mean, Ah din’t wanna leave either of ya out, so I hadda think about which one ‘a ya ta pick.”
Scootaloo looked angry now. What the hay?! “Some loyalty there! You have to pick between us and you choose her?”
“It ain’t like that! Ah just, Ah like ya both just as much as each other so I just hadda pick at random! Honest, Scootaloo!”
Scootaloo grumbled, but then she smiled wickedly. So what was it like then? Oh, I’ll get them back, let’s see them squirm when I dare them to do this! “You know what? It’s my turn. Sweetie, I dare you to kiss Apple Bloom! After all, if she likes you so much she may as well kiss you!”
“What?!” Sweetie’s voice cracked. “What happened to picking truth or dare?”
“Okay fine, kiss Apple Bloom, or tell me three ponies you want to kiss. And I mean three ponies you like like.”
Sweetie just looked mortified, unable to choose. Apple Bloom leaned over to put a hoof on her shoulder, murmuring, “It’s okay, Sweetie Belle, Ah... Ah don’t mind if ya wanna skip—”
Her voice was cut off by a pair of soft lips pressed against her own. It was feather light, but nothing like she’d ever felt. Apple Bloom’s eyelids fluttered shut almost of their own accord as she surrendered herself to the sensation.
Scootaloo stared, unable to look away. She hadn’t wanted to believe it, but it must be true. When two ponies kissed, it meant they loved one another... Where did that leave her? It’s not fair! They did it! I can’t believe they did it... She ran from the clubhouse, slamming the door on the way out.
The two fillies broke out of their shared trance and looked at the suddenly-closed door.
“Scootaloo! Where are you? Please come out!” The two remaining Cutie Mark Crusaders searched through the gathering darkness.
“Scootaloo! Where are ya, ya silly filly? Come back an’ let’s talk about all ‘a this!”
She heard quiet sobbing in the distance. Apple Bloom’s heart plummeted as the sound reached her ears, and she tried to locate the source of the disturbing noises. “Just leave me alone! I’ll find a Cutie Mark by myself. I bet yours are gonna be each other’s faces.”
Sweetie Belle pointed in the direction the voice was coming from, nodded to her fellow searcher, and ran towards it.
They found her angrily scrubbing her face with her hooves, trying to make the tears stop. Sweetie sat down beside her with a thump.
“What are you two doing here? Go have fun with your game.”
“Aw, Scoots.” Apple Bloom sat down on the other side of their pegasus friend, ignoring her obvious discomfort. “Ah’m sorry that y’all were weirded out by us kissin’, but...we weren’t doin’ anything wrong. An’ you were the one dared us to anyway!”
Scootaloo looked up, tears streaming. “I didn’t think you would do it! You do like her, don’t you? You like her more than me!”
Sweetie touched Scootaloo’s cheek softly. She pulled her face towards her own and kissed her lightly. “There, now you’re even again.”
Apple Bloom swallowed nervously. “No we ain’t.” She gently turned Scootaloo’s face towards her and pressed her lips to the orange filly’s mouth. “Now we’re even.”
The three fillies sat in silence, the moment stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. Scootaloo was the first to break it. “Um... okay. So this wasn’t boring.”
Sweetie smiled warmly, punching Scootaloo lightly in the shoulder. “I told you it would be fun.”
Scootaloo looked a little dazed. “Girls... does this all mean something?”
“Do... do we want it t’ mean somethin’?”
Sweetie looked nervous, but said it anyway. “I-I dunno, but I think I wanna have another slumber party sometime soon.”
Scootaloo blushed. “Y-yeah... that would be cool.”
Apple Bloom laughed, relief flooding through her. “Y’all can stay at Sweet Apple Acres an’ we can camp out!”
Scootaloo nodded, then stammered out quickly, “Can we play truth or dare again? I mean, we don’t have to do the kissing but... that would be okay with me...”
The other two smiled, nodded to each other, and kissed Scootaloo on opposite cheeks. Sweetie whispered softly, “I think we can.”
Apple Bloom snuggled up against Scoots and giggled. “Well, we did promise t’ do everything together…”