//------------------------------// // Lyra's ideas are looking pretty good right now. // Story: Mouth Problems // by Mystical Rainboom //------------------------------// "Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" Spike said. "I'll be fine. I can take care of myself without magic." Twilight smiled. "While you work all day? It's been so long since I've seen you go magic free." Spike said with concern in his voice. "No problems. Have a nice day, Spike." Twilight said. Spike closed the door and walked towards the hills. He and the crusaders were going out to bobsled for fun. Twilight was stuck at home recovering in her room. About three days ago, an incident with some falling rocks managed to not only break her wings, but cause some damage to her horn. She was advised to not use magic at all and to stay on the ground. Twilight had to admit she was a little magic dependent, but figured her skills with her teeth and hooves were still as sharp as a knife. She wasn't gonna let a minor sprain keep her down from her workaholic behavior. She thought so at least... "Step 1: Getting out the right book." Twilight said with confidence. She climbed up a latter and steered towards a high level in the library. "Equestrian Crafting? Found it!" Twilight smiled. She reached for the book and ran into a problem. Twilight wasn't always the most graceful pony. She remembered falling down a lot in her childhood. She had fallen in almost every library she had been in, so a hard crystal floor sent alarms off in her mind. She was there for three minutes and decided to stay as close as possible to the shelf. She decided to grab it and be extra careful. She opened her mouth to grab the book, because her hooves were wrapped on the latter. She tried to open and grab the book, but it was massive and almost unhinged her jaw for a second. She pulled back and tried to hold it, but it was as heavy as ever. She could usually lift it with magic, but that wasn't an option. She could feel the sweat in her mane and the book dropped onto her chest. It was heavy enough to throw her off for a second and she reached for the shelf, but couldn't reach it. A loud thud had echoed through the castle. Twilight woke up with her head still intact and her limbs still moving. She was okay and she reached to get the book, but heard some chittering. She looked around the book and found a few mice around the book. She jumped and screamed. The mice retreated to their hole. "I should've known some of the snack crumbs would lead to this." She stomped her hoof on the ground. She went to go get a mouse trap to repel them. It wasn't poisonous, because Fluttershy would be in tears if they turned out to be her friends or knew Twilight would kill them. "Here we go." Twilight grabbed a box full of mouse traps. She pulled it down and grabbed a knife with her hooves. It fell right to the floor. "D'oh!" She grunted and tried to pick it up, but her hooves had no grip and she couldn't get it up. She then tried to use her mouth and when it almost crawled towards he throat she immediately spat it out into the box and made a hole. "Success." She said. She got up and started cutting with the knife. She then tried to open the box, but only pushed its lid in. She sighed and tried to think of a solution. She began to breathe deeply to get the lid open and found success and a nosebleed. She ran to the bathroom and decided to use a paper towel, because she wouldn't dare put her muzzle near the toilet for tissue. She cleaned her self up and returned to the trap. "Okay...just need to be gentle and..." Twilight leaned in. *snap!!!* "Ouch!" Twilight had a trap clinging to her nose and when the scent of repel kicked in she sneezed it off. "This is gonna be a long day." Eventually, Twilight got the repellent traps ready and sighed when she found a note. "Sorry, we bothered you. We were going to move anyway. We hope you have a nice day." She read aloud. She just looked for her book and decided to move on. She tried picking it up with her hooves, but it's weight was heavy and she ended up falling on her plot. The book landed on her leg and she grew determined. "One...two...three!" She tried to carry the book to the table quickly. She slammed it down and tried opening it, but another problem was turning the page. "It's come to this...gross" She licked her hooves and placed them on a page. She immediately groaned from the taste. "Bleh! What have I been walking on?" With her book open and to the first page, she could get started and read the book. She picked up a pencil in her mouth and began writing as she thought of the words after reading a few pages. "Dear Princess Celestia, I've been reading the craftsmanship book and have made logical notes about how our foundations have shift..." Twilight stopped thinking. She read what she wrote. "Bear Princesek SelezTia..." Twilight grew frustrated with her pencil still in her mouth. She spat it out and trotted off. She began pacing within her castle and decided the best way to get used to her new technique was to ask Applejack, the expert pony of craftsmanship with her mouth. "I'm on my...wait...I have to go to the restroom." Twilight said to herself and looked at the restroom. -One Awkward Incident Later- "So the plumber will be there Monday and I'm stuck without my skills. Can you please help me?" Twilight asked Applejack. Applejack laughed herself silly. She had quite a ball thinking about Twilight's day and Twilight started laughing too. "Well my first word of advice is to learn to use your tail." Applejack said. "My tail? I'm not like Pinkie." Twilight was confused. "Nah. Just use it to hold up some stuff. We use ours to hold onto somethings." Applejack explained. "What Pinkie does used to be impossible and still is for most of us. You'll get used to it." "So what about the bathroom or writing or setting a trap up?" Twilight asked. "Simple the trick is..." Applejack said. 1 Hour Later "Twilight, I'm back!" Spike said. "We had a blast, but ended up breaking the sled. What's new?" Spike walked into the library to find Twilight and Applejack building a bunch wooden machines. "What's going on here?" Spike looked around. "Oh great you're home!" Twilight ran to give Spike a hug. "I've had so many inventions I need to send to Celestia right now. This kind of craftsmanship could help any pony in so many ways! And we're not done yet. Are we Applejack?" "Nope." Applejack was sawing some wood in the library. Her inner builder was on fire in her soul. "I'm used to traditional standards, but I just love to build things." "Quick! Pass me that hammer. We could build everything in the first ten pages of this book before tomorrow! We can even upgrade them." Twilight smiled. "With my ideas and Applejack's expertise, life would be so much easier." "I leave for hardly two hours and when I'm back you've got building fever." Spike laughed and pulled out a pen and some paper.