Civilization: The World on your Hooves

by SterlingC

Interlude 1: Crusading Before Monday

Author's Note:

I know this interlude's a bit short, but I wanted to show you all that I'm still updating!

Now that we’ve caught up with Belle and the Gamer, we shall now complete the rest of the end-turn phase for the first weekend of Mash’s life in Ponyville. We’ll be getting to Ponyville Schoolhouse soon enough, but not before we take a look into what the other Crusaders have to say!

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It was another bright Sunday for the town of Ponyville, the perfect day for more Crusading! And Crusading was what Applebloom and Scootaloo did while Sweetie Belle was preoccupied with other matters not known to them. Much of the day was spent on the Crusaders taking small steps towards learning new skills that Twilight taught them.

For Applebloom, she managed to trudge on with her construction work, preparing a small bird house with only some wooden planks, metal nails, and a hammer. The birdhouse looked somewhat crooked, without any holes or stands for the birds to stop by and eat whatever food was eventually going to enter the birdhouse. Applebloom knew that it would still be a while before her birdhouse would be complete, but she was certainly making progress!

As for Scootaloo, she was practicing her scooter skills outside the Crusaders clubhouse. Applebloom could hear the orange filly give out shouts of joy and thrill as she put her effort in learning new stunts for their next meeting with Twilight Sparkle. Applebloom, having completed as much of the birdhouse as she could for the day, called out to Scootaloo,

“Scootaloo! Come back to the treehouse! Ah wanna show you my birdhouse!” Applebloom waved hooves towards her fellow Crusader. Scootaloo placed her hooves on the ground to stop her scooter, jumped off her scooter, and climbed back up to the treehouse.

Scootaloo took a good look at Applebloom’s birdhouse and smiled. The birdhouse may have still been a work in progress, but Applebloom had a lot of headway towards completing her first construction project.

“Wow Applebloom! You’ve gotten the foundations all ready, aside from some tidying up,” Scootaloo complimented.

“Thanks Scootaloo! I’ve been spending most of the day trying to get the birdhouse’s foundations set up!” thanked the southern filly. It was then that Applebloom decided to ask Scootaloo about her stunts,

“So Scootaloo, how’s things been with yer scooter?”

“It’s been alright. I’m struggling to get a trick down. I’m trying to twirl my scooter around while I’m up in the air,” Scootaloo explained, as Applebloom suddenly recalled something that Scootaloo told her earlier,

“Hey… now that reminds me… didn’t you register for the F-games in Manehattan?”

“Yeah! The F-games, aka the Foal games, is a place where foals like me can show off my extreme stunts! I’ve already prepared a few tricks, but I’m still a ways to go before I’m ready to go! It was Twilight who suggested that I try out for the games!” explained the orange Pegasus.

Scootaloo then reached into her saddlebag, grabbing a colourful poster filled with young ponies riding on rollerblades, scooters, and even flying pegasi! Applebloom was immediately enthused by the poster’s strong, colourful design, and excited for her fellow Crusader!

“Scootaloo! This could be the place where you get yer cutie mark! Yer great with scooters, and I can definitely see you be a part of some really cool stunt group someday!” Applebloom patted Scootaloo on her back, excited at the opportunity that was posed to her!

“Yep! I’m so excited for this competition! It’s two months away, so I have to get all these tricks right as soon as possible! There’s a stunt park just outside Ponyville where I can practice, so I’m gonna head over there as soon as I come up with new tricks here!” Scootaloo replied, pointing out of the treehouse’s opening and towards the sloped rock that acted as a makeshift ramp.

“Why would you not want to just practice at the skate park?” Applebloom scratched her head. “It’s safer and you have more places to try,” continued the yellow filly.

“Well, I don’t want to show the others how I’m learning my new tricks! Plus, I don’t want to look stupid in front of the more experienced skaters who are probably gonna compete at the F-games against me,” Scootaloo shuffled her hooves, giving a light frown to Applebloom. Applebloom patted Scootaloo once more with a reassuring smile.

“Scootaloo. If you work yer hardest and compete at yer best in Manehattan, no pony will stop you, not even those snobby foals who think they’re better just because they have more experience,” supported Applebloom. Although it didn’t do much to boost her confidence, Scootaloo gave a weak smile.

“Thanks Applebloom. I’m glad you’re my friend,” replied the sniffling Scootaloo as the two Crusaders exchanged a warm hug. After the hug, Scootaloo had the sudden urge to change topics! All this time, Sweetie Belle was away at her home for reasons unknown to them. She didn’t think it worthwhile to check on her now, especially as the sun began to set. But she couldn’t help but ponder about her absent friend.

“So Applebloom… what do you think Sweetie Belle’s up to now? She looked really down when she left us yesterday,” Scootaloo asked, hoping that Applebloom had an idea.

“Well… Like we said before, it’s gotta be related to the dinner! Ever since that dinner the other night, Sweetie Belle’s been acting really sad!” Applebloom exclaimed in reply.

“You’re right about that one. You know, I think we were right in guessing that the weird colt who suffered that brain freeze was her guest,” guessed Scootaloo.

“I think so too, but if she thought he was weird, why didn’t she just say so?” Applebloom questioned, scratching her head in confusion.

“Well… we were teasing him in front of her when we talked with her yesterday,” Scootaloo shrugged. “Maybe Sweetie Belle didn’t appreciate the teasing,” Scootaloo continued.

“But why wouldn’t Sweetie Belle tell us about it?” inquired Applebloom, trying to understand her friend’s plight.

“Like I said Applebloom, we both teased him without even meeting him face to face. What if Sweetie Belle likes him?” Scootaloo scratched her head, raising a possibility to her confused friend. Both fillies trotted in circles inside the Crusader treehouse.

“You know… that’s entirely possible. Sweetie Belle never really made fun of him, even after he had that weird brain freeze,” Applebloom recalled.

“Yeah… I guess it’s strange that Sweetie Belle would like him after just an outing or two, but we never really met him face to face,” nodded Scootaloo in agreement.

“That’s true… I guess I should apologize to Sweetie Belle for making fun of him too,” Applebloom suggested.

“Yeah… I should probably do that too. We kinda judged him by his cover without really letting him show his true colours,” Scootaloo sighed in guilt.

“Yeah. I remember how Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon humiliated us before we became the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We felt so alone, like no pony ever gave us a chance to show that us blank flanks have a lot to offer!” remembered Applebloom, she too feeling the guilt. “I guess I got carried away with seeing a colt I never met before and judged him by his cover,” continued the filly with her red-bow.

“Yeah… I did that too. We’re both guilty of wrong-doing, and it probably hurt Sweetie Belle a lot,” added the Pegasus.

“You know, let’s apologize to her tomorrow. And invite him to our group, even if he has a cutie mark. We’ll make our honorary member!” Applebloom exclaimed with a jump.

“Sure! Maybe he’ll be a new student in Miss Cheerilee’s class! We can introduce ourselves to him and welcome him then!” Scootaloo excitedly jumped along.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders greeters go!” The two fillies proudly professed before laughing their hearts out.

“I sure hope Sweetie Belle understands too. We never meant to hurt her! He just seemed so different at first sight, that’s all!” Scootaloo heartily chuckled.

“Yeah! Especially with that propeller hat of his! Looking back, it looks kinda cool! Wacky, but cool!” said a gleeful Applebloom. The two fillies then headed out of the treehouse, said their goodbyes, and headed their separate ways, ending their weekends on a high note before a Monday that would be like none other.

Comments

[FelixTheBrony]

Okay, NOW they're in character!

But something tells me that as soon as they see him with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, they're immediately going to jump to conclusions...though I do like the idea of Button being able to convince Silver Spoon or maybe even DT that bullying ponies isn't worth it...But that'd take a lot of writing. It'd be a bit of a cop out if you resolved the whole conflict in a couple of lines.

It may feel like you wrote this chapter specifically for my critisisms, but that doesn't matter. I can finally get behind them as characters and not just plot-points!

Keep on writing dude!

[PhoenixBlaz3]

Nice chapter! Sorry I'm late on writing this, I just started high school this week. Can't wait until the next chapter!

[SterlingC]

6419356
Yeah... that's why I've been on that writer's block. I didn't want the CMC to be mean bullies, but I did want them to be weirded out. As for DT and SS... hot damn I'm having trouble weaving them into the story.

6419755
Thanks a ton! Glad to see you're back.

[Autarch Prime]

Now that's more like it! They're wierded out but guilty that they came off as bullies. At least that's going to resolve itself with Button and Sweetie. Though seeing DT and SS, it's going to take a longer time to fix that particular pair, well more on DT.