A Little Get Together

by Story blossom

Chapter Four

It was a lovely day outside, warm weather, birds chirping sweet little tunes, and it was overall peaceful in Ponyville. Everywhere in Ponyville it seemed, except at the carousel boutique where fussing could be heard from outside the door.

“I said to hold still!” Rarity yelled at the small colt.

“Ugh,” he groaned at his mother.

“I’ve already told you, Azure,” she said as she finished a seam on the small tuxedo that the he was modeling, “the sooner you sit still, the sooner we finish. Besides, we wouldn’t be having to do this at all, if you weren’t so rough in your nice clothes.”

“But Mother, I only wanted to play with the others. I didn’t mean to tear them,” he pleaded.

Rarity sighed, “I understand well enough darling, but what is broken must be fixed.”

In defeat, Azure Beam stood still, taking shallow breaths so that he wouldn’t incidentally get pricked with the needle his mother was mending his clothing with.

After a few moments of sewing, Rarity cut the string and removed her red glasses.

“Alright darling, you are now excused. Go take off the suit,” She said.

With that he took off running into the dressing room, blatantly eager to get out of the uncomfortable clothes.

Very quickly, he ran back out of the dressing room handing Rarity the suit carefully with his mouth.

“Sweetheart, why didn’t you use your magic?” she asked.

“Well you know I’m not good with magic,” he said sheepishly.

“If you don’t practice you won’t get better,” she sounded concerned.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud burst of laughter from Sweetie Belle’s room above them.

“Azure, will you be a dear and go get your aunt for me?” Rarity asked her son.

“Okay,” he said galloping up the stairs.

He enjoyed spending time with his aunt and her two lively friends. They always had the best stories to tell, and sometimes they would let him hang out with them while they had fun.

He stopped in front of her door, and gently knocked with his hoof.

“Come in,” his aunt yelled through the door.

He entered and looked around the messy room. Posters littered the walls, most of which displayed famous singers on the front. The three former cutie mark crusaders laid on Sweetie Belle’s bed.

“What’s up squirt?” Scootaloo greeted.

“Mom just sent me up here to get Aunt Sweetie Belle,” he informed.

“Uh-oh,” Apple Bloom said.

“What did you do this time?” Scootaloo asked.

“Nothing!” she tried to convince the Pegasus, “At least, not that I know of.”

“She didn’t seem mad when she asked me to come get you,” Azure tried to help.

“Okay well we better get down there,” Apple Bloom said.

With that the four ponies left the room and went back downstairs to see Rarity.

“What is it, sis?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Oh, I just wanted to remind you that Azure and I will be going to a picnic a little later on. So, you will have to either send your friends home, or go over to one of their houses,” She said.

“Okay, Scoots do you mind if I come over to your place?” Sweetie asked.

“Sounds fine to me,” Scootaloo replied. “Apple Bloom you wanna come too?”

“I’m sure AJ won’t mind,” Apple Bloom said.

“It’s settled then, we’ll be at Scootaloo’s,” She told Rarity.

“Alright then,” She agreed.

“Was that all you needed?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Uh, actually, Sweetie Belle could I talk to for a moment in private?” Rarity asked.

Sweetie, though unsure as to why, shook her head yes, and made her way across the room. Azure immediately knew exactly why his mother asked to speak to his aunt. It was about his unwillingness to use his magic.

It’s not that I don’t want to, He thought, I’m just not good at it. Last time I tried, the other ponies at school laughed at me.

He failed to remember, however, that Apple Crumble, Jelly Roll, Whiplash, and Daybreak, who were all also in his grade, did not laugh at him.

After the two sisters finished their conversation, Sweetie Belle returned to her friends who looked at her questioningly.

“What was all that about?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sweetie Belle replied.

They began to go back to Sweetie Belle’s room, when Sweetie Belle noticed that Azure wasn’t following them.

“Are you coming or not?” she winked.

Without responding he followed behind them upstairs to her room. Usually he would be more than happy to hang out with them, but he knew why she was inviting him to join this time.

On their way there, Sweetie Belle quietly whispered to her two friends what was going on.

“So Az, what’s been going on lately?” Sweetie Belle asked once they had gotten into the room.

“Nothing really,” he said unconvincingly.

“Are ya sure?” Apple Bloom pushed.

“This is about the whole magic thing, isn’t it?” Azure asked.

“Why don’t you want to use your magic?” his aunt questioned.

“I already told Mother, I’m not good at using magic. It doesn’t come as easy to me as it does to you and her,” he said.

The trio of friends then erupted into a large burst of laughter. This made him furious, he believed they were laughing at him.

With this Sweetie Belle enveloped her nephew into a warm hug, with some protest.

Between chuckles Apple Bloom managed, “Ya mean ya never told him?”

“No, it never came up!” Sweetie Belle’s voice squeaked.

“Look squirt, if you think that your aunt was always good at magic, you’ve got another thing coming,” Scootaloo added.

Now completely confused, Azure asked, “What are you talking about?”

“You see, I was the same way you are now. When I was younger, I wasn’t good at magic either. I actually took magic lessons with Princess Twilight for a while,” she informed.

“Yeah, and we saw how those turned out,” Scootaloo said earning her a hit from Apple Bloom.

“What she means to say is, Sweetie Belle struggled with magic too, but she worked real hard. And now, she’s good at magic, you’ve just gotta work hard at it like she did,” Apple Bloom told him.

“It’s just so frustrating. When I try to use magic, everypony at school laughs at me,” he admitted.

“Now that can’t be right,” Apple Bloom argued, “I know for a fact that Crumble knows better than to laugh at you for somthin’ like that.”

“Yeah, Whiplash too,” Scootaloo added.

“Well maybe they didn’t,” he admitted, “but the rest of them did. Why is it so important anyway?”

The three were stunned at his question.

“Magic is a part of who you are, Az,” Scootaloo said. “Your friends, ‘lash, Crumble, all of them, they want to be friends with you because of how awesome you are, magic and all.”

“Scootaloo is right,” his aunt added, “and we, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, have now made it our mission to help you get better at using magic!” she said as she wrapped her hooves around her two best friends.

At this, Azure smiled warmly. They were right, his friends didn’t care if he wasn’t good at using magic, and with their help he was sure to get better at it.

He led the group back down the stairs, where Rarity stood waiting rather impatiently.

“Mother, guess what!? Aunt Sweetie Belle and her friends have offered to help me get better at magic!” he said, not giving his mother enough time to guess.

“That’s lovely, dear!” Rarity replied. “I am proud of you, and your father will be too, once I tell him when he returns from his business trip in Canterlot.”

He ran to his mother and embraced her in a hug. Sweetie Belle quickly joined them, dragging the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders into the hug with her.

“Now, grab your things, we have to go to the picnic,” Rarity concluded.

The five ponies scrambled around the boutique collecting different items and exited, breaking off into two groups outside.