Meanwhile...

by WatchMeShadow

At Sweet Apple Acres

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Applebloom
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Applebloom wasn’t too happy; after all, she just got grounded for two days and had a ton of chores to do. She was a little surprised it was only for two days and not the whole week. She was glad Applejack provided her a chore list to check things off; regardless, of how dauntingly long it was. Applebloom had little time to realize each new task she started, was as if she started after a refreshing nap.

It’s currently Friday morning and she was no longer grounded. She was glad she got to see Sweetie and Scootaloo yesterday during Twilights meeting, even if it was brief. Twilight had some pretty exciting things to share. Applebloom found it interesting that she could have the ability to grow plants like her potions do and heal things. Having finished her usual chores, Applebloom now had some free time before the test/experiment that was arranged last night. She decided to look for her friends. Since Sweetie was still grounded, Applebloom went off to find Scootaloo.

She headed to the Ponyville Park. Once she got there she noticed it was mostly empty like it usually is this early in the morning. A lovely green field of grass expanded out with scattered trees and picnic tables could be seen. She was on a firm stone walkway going throughout it with benches neatly spaced out, offering a respite for those who may need one. Scootaloo wasn’t there, but Rainbow Dash was above doing her morning routine. “Hey Rainbow Dash!” she yelled.

Rainbow looked down and came to her and did a loop before landing. “Hey Applebloom, what’s up?” Rainbow asked.

“Have you seen Scootaloo? Ah got nothing to do till later today and Sweetie is still grounded.” Applebloom asked. Applebloom was a little surprised not to see Scootaloo here, as Scootaloo has often invited Applebloom and Sweetie to watch Rainbow practise. They of course, weren’t as into it as Scootaloo was. After a while, they offered to do something else, but Scootaloo refused to miss it. They’d go if Rainbow was gonna try any new stunts. Outside of that, Applebloom usually had chores in the morning and Sweetie would just switch between who she’d see when she didn’t have her own chores.

Rainbow looked around and shrugged, “I don’t know where she is. I think she’s still grounded.”

Applebloom was confused for a second before she recognized the keyword ‘think’ in Rainbows words, “No, she didn’t get grounded at all, she said so yesterday. If she’s not here then she must be at Sugarcube Corner. Well ah’ll see ya later Rainbow Dash.” Applebloom said leaving a confused Rainbow Dash behind.

Once Applebloom made it to Sugarcube corner and entered she was disappointed to not find Scootaloo there. So she decided to go home and wait till Twilights experiment.

As soon as Applebloom entered her front door she got knocked down by something and then briefly smothered. She looked up and saw Scootaloo rolling off her and looking away, “Oh! hey Applebloom sorry about that, where have you been?”

If Applebloom didn’t know any better she would have thought Scootaloo hugged her. She also knew Scootaloo would deny it, and had a good excuse to fall on, no pun intended. So she chose to ignore it, “Ah’ve been looking for you, but come on we got stuff to talk about,” she said as she got up, and began to walk to her room with Scootaloo beside her.

Once they got there Applebloom asked, “So you have any idea what ground magic is?” as she closed the door.

“Not in the slightest,” Scootaloo replied, “but can you believe it? We found Commander Hurricanes sword! And we maybe got super powers in the process!” Scootaloo said a little too excitedly.

Applebloom began to make her way to the bottom left drawer of her desk, “It would have been nice if we got our cutie marks, but finding ancient weapons is one heck of a runner up, Ah don’t think we got super powers Scootaloo. What even gave you that idea?” She stopped looking through its contents to look at Scootaloo who looked tired and afraid for a brief moment. It was soon replaced with excitement, though she still looked tired. She could tell something wasn’t right but decided to ignore it, for now at least.

Scootaloo snapped out of her thoughts and quickly responded, “What do you mean what gave me that idea? Did you not hear Twilight yesterday?” Scootaloo asked with shock.

“Yes Ah did and she wasn’t going around talking about us gaining super powers” Applebloom responded, as she went back to digging through the drawer. Applebloom began to wonder how a game they played recently could be buried under a bunch of other stuff. It was kind of ridiculous at this point.

“Says the pony who gained super healing and plant growing abilities. If those aren't super powers then I don’t know what is!” Scootaloo responded in a knowing fashion.

Applebloom finally found the box she was looking for called “Bungee Jump” with a picture of two foals happily jumping off a bridge with proper equipment on. She grabbed it with her mouth and went to place it in an open area of ground that wasn’t cluttered, “Yeah, okay Scootaloo. Anyways, how come you weren’t watching Rainbow workout?” Applebloom asked as she got out the board-game and set it up.

Scootaloo stopped smiling and looked like she was thinking as, “oh, uh, umm, well I uh, YES! I mean... I decided to sleep in while I still can before school starts again, and I figured since you and Sweetie were grounded and my…” if Applebloom wasn’t busy setting up the board game she would have noticed Scootaloos face droop, “since Rainbow Dash works out every morning I figured I might as well.”

“Well Ah can’t say Ah blame you on that, there’s been more than one occasion Ah wouldn’t have minded sleeping in,” Applebloom said with a sigh, “Now lets see what we can get our cutie marks in!” Applebloom got a game piece and put it on the first square that said “Start” along with Scootaloo.

“Bungee Jump” was an old game Applejack brought back from Manehatten when she left as a filly, though Applebloom didn’t know that. She found it in the attic one day and they found it to be a fun game. It had one main goal and that was to bungee jump off a bridge; however, to do this they had to pass three incredible detailed set of test. Passing them was mostly luck based from dice, but chances did improve greatly if correct actions were taken. They first rolled for six random attributes to use in their quest to bungee jump. After that they take turns doing a test. The test consist of detailed events that needs to be solved with at least three of the traits they got at the start. There were one-hundred tests per set and each set centered around different objectives they needed to achieve this goal.

The first set involved convincing their unwilling parents to take them bungee jumping. Since the parents in this game are always unwilling to get them the equipment to make it possible for one reason or another, it’s up to them to find the funds in the next test.

The next test contains real accounting and good examples of how to do it. It also has a bunch of interesting things to do that Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie never would’ve thought of to get their cutie marks. They didn’t want to ruin such a good game so they agreed to not just ‘steal’ the ideas but instead get them as they played. This is also how Sweetie got the idea to write, direct, and act in her own play.

The last test basically consisted of one-hundred actual bridges across Equestria and all the local, city, and national laws/regulations they had for bungee jumping. These were sorted into three piles from hardest to easiest. The traits gained at the start were no longer needed in this third test. The goal was to find out the proper process to make it so they could legally bungee jump or find the loophole. Needless to say those loopholes don’t exist anymore.

To make a long but mostly fun four hours short; they came across the idea of holding an ultimate obstacle course race, for a racing cutie mark. They also came across fortune telling, baking, and mane styling but they already tried those. After that, they had lunch.

Before they knew it, it was time to go to Twilight’s. As they came to the library they saw Sweetie making her way to the door and galloped to her. “Sweetie!” they both yelled as they approached.

“We got a great idea to get our cutie marks!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically.

Sweetie forgot about opening the door and smiled as she saw them, “Oh! Hey girls I would like to try it, but I’m still grounded,” Sweetie ended with a sad frown.

Applebloom was about to respond but Scootaloo beat her to it, and hugged Sweetie, “Hey we wouldn’t crusade without you, besides we have super powers now!” This seemed to cheer up and confuse her. Sweetie hugged back which caused Scootaloo to back off soon after.

Applebloom face-hoofed, “No we don’t!” she replied, "and why have you been acting all huggy lately?" Applebloom said more to get on Scootaloos nerves, and maybe to try to find out what was wrong. She had no doubt something was up; between, her suddenly deciding to sleep-in, the brief face of fear, and hugging of all things.

Before Scootaloo could respond the door opened with Twilight and Rarity on the other side. “Girls there you are. I’m glad you made it. Come in, come in, we have some test to do,” Twilight said while gesturing them to come in. They quickly walked inside. “Okay girls, first I believe I forgot to mention that Applebloom might have gained strength as well. Now, If you will direct your attention to over there that’s what you will be testing on,” Twilight said after closing the door and walking ahead towards the test.

On the ground in front of them were the test objects in question. The test consisted of a rock as big as any of the fillies, a pile of dirt, a purple flower in a pot, a pot and seed, and three bits. “Wow Twilight you reeealy outdid yourself,” Scootaloo said sarcastically. Twilights proud smile disappeared as she looked at her test again.

Applebloom couldn’t help but voice her agreement, “Yeah Twilight, Ah mean it almost looks like you started gathering these things ten minutes ago,” Twilight flushed in embarrassment.

Rarity was watching the whole scene in un-amusement, “Now now girls, I’m sure Twilight has a good explanation for each and everyone of these test items,” tossing Twilight a lifeline.

This was a lifeline Twilight gladly took, “Yes, I in-fact do have a good reason for each item there, but instead of explaining them now I’ll wait till after a test. Scootaloo let us start the tests with you. First I would like you to see if you can pick up that rock.”

Applebloom watched as Scootaloo picked up a rock her size with little effort. Scootaloo then proceeded to hold it with one hoof before setting it down. Twilight had a quill and paper out and was writing on a note-pad. “What is this some kind of paper mache rock?” Scootaloo asked while poking at it.

“No that’s a real rock, and I believe that ‘ground magic’ is why you’re able to lift it with such ease. Now see that pile of dirt?” Twilight asked pointing to said pile of dirt, “I want you to make a snow pony out of it.”

Applebloom watched as Scootaloo tried and failed to make a dirt pony. During that brief display and Twilight took some quick notes. “Well, I figured you might be able to control it like pegasi can control clouds because of ‘ground magic.’ I wonder if gravel would make any difference... Anyways, Applebloom what I want you to do is see if you can grow that seed. I don’t know how this would work, but I imagine it’d be like Unicorn magic and all you have to do is focus on what you want to happen in your mind’s eye,” Twilight said as Scootaloo made her way back.

“Alright Twilight ah’ll give it a shot,” Applebloom replied while walking up to the pot and seed. She looked at the seed and then began thinking about getting it to grow. This didn’t work so she concentrated harder and it still didn’t work. She decided maybe she needed to touch it for it to work. She tried that for a while and she was really getting frustrated at this point. She really wanted to be able to grow plants like her potions could. “Come on,” as frustration grew and she concentrated some more with nothing happening, “Grow,” she almost yelled lightly pounding her hoof on the seed and dirt around it to get out her frustration. She felt something strange and removed her hoof to see the seed was now a sprout. “Oh my gosh ah did it!” she was ecstatic with this fact. Sweetie and Scootaloo quickly ran up to get a look.

“Wow Applebloom that’s really cool!” beamed Sweetie just happy to see Applebloom happy.

Scootaloo smirked, “It’s okay but I’ve seen your potions do better.”

Before Applebloom could reply Twilight announced, “Okay girls settle down, we still got two more test for you Applebloom,” She walked up to the flower and then slowly ripped a leaf of the flower halfway through with magic. “Okay Apple Bloom try to heal that leaf,” she said.

Applebloom walked up to the flower put her hoof on the leaf since that seemed to work with growing the seed and concentrated on healing it. After what just happened she felt like she could definitely heal this leaf like it never even happened. Before her very eyes she watched as it very slowly put itself back together. Much like the lily pad in the cave but it was slower than that. A couple of times it seemed to stop healing and she had to concentrate harder to get it going again. After about five minutes the leaf was finally fully healed. “Wow Ah can’t believe I just healed a leaf like that,” Applebloom said excitedly.

“Maybe you were right Applebloom a healing superpower wouldn’t be that lame, but it’s still an awesome thing to be able to do!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically at the end.

“Yeah, it did take a long time to heal didn’t it? Still, I wish I could do something like that,” Sweetie replied while looking closely at the leaf.

Twilight jumped in, “Okay Applebloom for this next test I want you to lift up the same rock Scootaloo did.”

Applebloom went to the rock and discovered that it's not as heavy as she thought it would be. Still, it wasn’t nearly as light as Scootaloo made it look. She put it down once she got tired.

After taking some notes Twilight said, “Okay Sweetie, this next test affects all of you. I want you to levitate one bit for up to two minutes. If you can do this without making the bit disappear or something else happening I will give you that bit and an additional five bits each to you, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. You have three tries. Don’t forget to concentrate, and exercise control,” Twilight said rather proud of her reward system.

To Appleblooms and Scootaloos disappointment Sweetie failed all three tries. She almost got the third one when it began to lift up on one side but then disappeared like the other two. They could have used those bits to get stuff for some future cutie mark ideas they might have. They were done for today and they would see Twilight tomorrow for “Twilight Time.” Scootaloo stayed behind. Applebloom almost wanted to stay and see what was bothering Scootaloo, but she figured Twilight could handle it, whatever it was. Sweetie, still grounded, went home with Rarity. That left Applebloom to go home do chores and find something to do to pass the time. She quickly decided to find a secret training ground so she could practise growing plants, and healing them. That ended up taking quite a bit of time but she did eventually find such a place on their huge farm. The path was old, underused, and full of trip hazards for those not paying attention. She had some trouble getting to sleep because the thought of instantly growing an apple tree full of apples was just thrilling to her, and she’d finally get back to crusading tomorrow.

End Chapter 7

Author's Note:

Well I did say things aren’t going to get crazy quite yet… but don’t worry when they do you might end up thinking this is an inappropriately age rated fic.

Author's notes:

1. “Players first rolled for six random attributes to use in their quest to bungee jump.” In the ‘For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils’ The CMC does this

and yes those three are possible attributes.
2. “This is also how Sweetie got the idea to write, direct, and act in her own play.” Meet the reason of the play in ‘For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils’ itself… at least in this fic.