My Little Black Ops

by Kaelzoroden

The hits just keep on coming

“So, you told Applejack about your mark yet?”

“When? We were makin' candy all night, I haven't seen her yet. You told Rarity?”

“Oh. Well, no, same reason I guess.”

The two fillies walked down the road. For the first time in ages they weren't going crusading after school, since there wasn't really any need to anymore. Scootaloo was off returning the pilfered book, leaving her two friends to head home on their own. The sugar had worn off a few minutes after they left the burning schoolhouse, and what was normally a loud and short trip home was quieter and taking longer than usual. Partly since Scootaloo wasn't pulling them, but mostly because the sugar low mixed with the almost total lack of sleep was catching up with them something fierce. They had already started to pass some of the outermost trees of the orchard before Sweetie Belle realized that she had walked past the Boutique a few minutes ago. Waving bye to Apple Bloom, she turned about and headed back.

Apple Bloom blinked in confusion and vague annoyance at the note pinned to the door of the house, written in Applejack's scratchy penmanship:

Apple Bloom-

Went to Sugarcube corner for flour pie crusts eating contest app

meet me at Sugarcube Corner

A.J.

Letting out a weary sigh, Apple Bloom turned around and began trudging back.

She paused, standing over a snoring Sweetie Belle parked under a tree. Nudging the white filly with a hoof, she prompted a break in the snoring before she rolled over away from the hoof- directly onto a quite uncomfortable tree root. Blinking, she rubbed her eyes.

"Oh... hey Apple Bloom. I was just going to meet Rarity and I thought I'd sit down for a moment... I thought you were going home?" Apple Bloom shrugged as Sweetie Belle got to her hooves.

"Got there, but nobody was home. Mah sis wants me to meet her out at Sugarcube Corner. Where'r you meetin' Rarity?" Sweetie Belle yawned before shaking her head, not looking any more awake despite her best efforts.

"She's apparently at Sugarcube Corner too." They looked at each other.

"Surprise party?"

"Surprise party." Still very tired, but a little more motivated with the prospect of a party ahead of them, the two began to shuffle towards town.

------------------------------

When they got there, they found Scootaloo sitting outside clearly waiting for them, her mouth forming a small u of a smile.

"Hey Scoots. Lemme guess, they're all hidin' in there waitin' for us?" Scootaloo grinned innocently at them.

"No idea what you mean! I'm just here since Rainbow Dash left a note for me telling me to meet her here and the lights are all out in there and I haven't seen anyone since going in to drop off the book and this is gonna be awesome!" Successfully regrouped, the crusaders approached the door, bracing themselves. Grinning like idiots, they opened the door to the darkened interior only to be blinded by the lights suddenly going on-

revealing a totally empty room, with not a pony nor pastry in sight. Scootaloo frowned.

"Hey, what gives? What kind of surprise party IS this-"

"THE SURPRISIEST KIND!" Pinkie's unimistakable voice coming from right behind them made them all jump, but it still didn't prepare them for the ground-rumbling sound of some rather massive cannons firing off. Scootaloo immediately recalled the blueprints she'd found in Pinkie's book, schematics for a battery of wide-bore party cannons that, with any other payload, could probably give pause to a dragon. Spinning around, hearts pounding, the Crusaders looked out at a completely party-fied swath of Ponyville. Attention drawn by a whirring sound, Scootaloo looked up to see four long, smoking barrels retract into the roof of Sugarcube Corner above Pinkie's room. How did I never notice those while I was climbing around up there? Her attention was broken by her friends pulling her towards the party. It seemed that most of the town had turned out, though where exactly they had been hiding was anypony's guess. The trio were quickly set upon by the older siblings present, Apple Bloom pulled into an affectionate noogie while Rarity managed to pull her sister aside.

"Well shoot! 'Bout time mah little sis earned her mark!" Applejack glanced down at the blueprint of an apple on her sister's flank. "For buildin' stuff too, I reckon! So tell us, what'cha put together to finally earn that?" She had fully been expecting an answer along the lines of a shed!, I came up with a better barn design! or even something like I built an wagon that you can use as a boat! What she wasn't expecting was for her little sister to look up at her with that happy smile and those big, innocent eyes and proudly say

"Ah built a cannon! Blew a wall clean apart!" Applejack's smile froze. Her eyes darted over to the hastily nailed on boards over what was once the window to the Sugarcube corner cellar.

"That's... real nice, sugarcube."

Rarity, meanwhile, was busy trying to figure out just what this garish loop had to do with her sister's lovely voice. It wasn't a record, it was too thin for that. Microphone? No, nothing in the center of it. After puzzling it over for a moment, she decided to bite the bullet and simply ask.

"So Sweetie... what exactly is your mark, anyway?" The white filly's eyes lit up at this.

"Oh, it's really fun! And you know what? I think your lessons helped me earn it!" She glanced around furtively before spying a pie plate with only a single slice left within. Picking up the slice, she shoved it in the rather surprised mouth of a pony on the other side of the table and wrapped the pan in her magic. Just as she was about to pick it up, Pinkie bounced past.

"How are we doing? Everypony having a good time? Try the punch!" She was as chipper as ever, though Sweetie's mouth dropped as she looked at her. The pink pony had a black eye and small welts across her hide, though if they were bothering her in the slightest she wasn't showing it. After not hearing any complaints, she happily bounced off.

"...I'll just show you when we get home, if that's alright."

Scootaloo was busy being egged on by Rainbow Dash. After headbutting her way through one of the many piñatas Pinkie had rigged up, she was being goaded into taking on sturdier obstacles.

"COME ON SCOOTS, SHOW THAT TREE WHO'S BOSS!" Clutching a sarsaparilla, Dash cheered as the orange filly charged the tree that had once been supporting the piñata. She impacted with her face, causing the tree to shake and a small rain of leaves to flutter down. Stepping back, she shook her head clear and looked at where the rough shape of her face had been smashed into the tree. She grinned up at Dash, showing off some of the tree bark stuck in her teeth.

"Haha, nice job kid! Hang on, I'm gonna see if Pinkie has a table she can spare..." Intent on finding more things for the filly to destroy, Dash ambled off, walking a little funny as the sarsaparilla began to kick in. Rubbing her head, Scootaloo made her way back over towards her friends.

"So AJ, I haven't seen ya since yesterday, how'd ya find out about our marks?" Apple Bloom looked up questioningly at her older sister. Applejack smiled at her, a faint hint of sorrow flickering across her face, before pulling out a roll of paper bearing a broken Canterlot seal.

"Got this by dragonfire not an hour ago. I went to talk to Pinkie, turned out the rest of ya'll had gotten your marks too! I ain't ever seen that pony put together this big a party this fast, and when you've known Pinkie as long as I have that's saying something!" As she spoke, she handed the letter down to Apple Bloom. Behind her, Sweetie Belle was hearing a similar story from her sister. They unrolled the scrolls, one using hooves and the other using magic. They skimmed the lines, both dimly aware that Pinkie had started singing something in the background.

"Dear Mrs or Mr... pleased to inform... very unique... tuition and lodging..." Both fillies stopped at the same time, and spoke in unision:

"We're going to a boarding school in Canterlot!?" Rarity stepped up to her little sister.

"Well I've certainly never heard of this 'Royal Academy for Special Talents of Interest to the Crown' before, but think about it darling! Canterlot! And looking at what this letter says, all the expenses are being covered! Oh, I am so jealous of you! You will remember to write lots, won't you? You'll have to tell me absolutely EVERYTHING, what you're up to, what's being worn-" she gasped suddenly. "I'm going to have a little sister living in CANTERLOT! Oh, you'll need a completely new wardrobe for this! No sister of mine is going to be going to the big city wearing last season's styles! Let's see, you'll need..." Sweetie Belle had, over years of knowing her sister, developed a sort of filter for when she went into fashion mode, a filter that had just clicked on with some force. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom was looking up at her sister.

"But... I don't really wanna leave Ponyville! When does this academy thing start, anyway?" She followed Applejack's hoof as her sister pointed to a line on the letter. Reading it, Apple Bloom spluttered and did something of a double take.

"Well how in tarnation am I supposed to be ready to up and leave by TOMORROW?"

------------------------------

As the party began to wind down, the three fillies began to lose the one distraction they had on hoof from the freshly-looming future. Bellies full of assorted confectionary, they sat together while the bigger ponies began to help Pinkie with the cleanup.

"So... Canterlot."

"Yeah."

"Eyup."

None of them sure entirely what to make of it, they simply sat there in silence, trying to find some bright side to pull out and show the others. None of them were having much luck, the thought of having to leave their homes and family eclipsing any silver lining they otherwise might have caught. Luckily for them, their gloomy mood didn't go unnoticed.

"Aw, what's wrong, silly fillies? Eat a little too much? Sugar wearing off?" Pinkie appeared out of nowhere wearing a gaudy costume eyepatch she picked up sometime during the party over her black eye. Her beaming grin fell into a slightly more subdued smile as she began to clue in to the root of the sulk.

"Come on, it's not like you're never gonna see us again or anything! You can all come back and visit every break, and Canterlot is only a train ride away! Why, I'll bet Rarity would LOVE an excuse to go visit, and if Rarity's going then it's an excuse for the rest of us to go too!"

The crusaders began to perk up a little as Pinkie did her best to hit them with a dose of 'sensitive Pinkie'. It wasn't as refined as 'life-of-the-party Pinkie' or 'sing-for-no-real-reason Pinkie', but it was still Pinkie and there were very few creatures that were capable of continuing to frown after she took a crack at them.

"Well, I guess it could be helpful to have an Apple livin' in the big city and all..." Apple bloom tapped her chin in thought. "I s'pose I could let AJ know what types of Apple are big over there, help out in a different way..." Sweetie Belle was starting to look more excited.

"Oh my gosh, I'll be able to show Rarity around!" Sweetie Belle beamed at the chance to do something with her sister that (in her eyes) she couldn't possibly screw up and turn into a series of wacky hijinks. "And she DID seem super happy for me... maybe this won't be so bad once we get used to it?" Scootaloo, hooves crossed, wasn't having any of it.

"Yeah, that's fine for you guys, but what about me? Rainbow Dash spends most of her time here in Ponyville, and I have nothing on Canterlot!" Annoyed, she pulled out her little book of questionably obtained info and chucked it on the ground." Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other before looking back to Scootaloo.

"Scoots, just think of it this way. Ya know how half the stores in Ponyville have grates on top of the chimneys?"

"After we tried to be Cutie Mark Crusader Secret Santas, yeah."

"And you know how you're always complaining about Pinkie being on to us?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, Canterlot ain't ever dealt with the CMC before! AN' they don't have Pinkie! Whole city might as well have a big 'Come on in, Scootaloo' welcome mat on it! Ya'll are gonna have another of those books filled up so quick it'll make yer head spin, just you watch!" At the idea of so many unsecured homes and oblivious ponies, Scootaloo did start to pick up a little bit.

"Well, I guess it might be kinda cool... What do you guys think we're going to be studying at this school though? I mean, I only knew about the School for Gifted Unicorns, I've never heard of this Academy before. I mean, another major school seems like the kind of thing Twilight would'a brought up once or twice. What do they teach there that's so special that we can't learn it here, but can also be done by a Pegasus, a Unicorn AND an Earth Pony?" The other two lifted their hooves to respond, before freezing mid-motion as they both realized they didn't have a good answer for that.

"Well, I guess we're gonna find out tomorrow."

Comments

[ErekLich]

At last, the story is moving along...

I look forward to the next installment.

[Imakidbanme]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU filler chapter

[Wizardmon]

Ouch... Poor pinky.

Oh well, time to party!

[Kaelzoroden]

638999
I know, I know, but it was a necessary evil. Don't worry, it'll be picking back up in the next chapter, I know this one was pretty slow.

[Mazamis]

639151 hmmm not sure if the squares in AJs letter is intentional or i just dont have the characters installed...

[Kaelzoroden]

639221
It's supposed to be text with the strike through effect on it, though since I couldn't find a function for that with the text editor here I kinda had to jump through some hoops to kludge something together for it. For those of you who can't read it, the crossed out words are flour, pie crusts, eating contest, app-

then it cuts to the next line where she just gives up on any sort of bluff.

If anyone else is having a problem with the font, let me know! If it's a widespread issue I'll find some other way to deal with it.

[JadeCriminal]

"...shematics for a battery of wide-bore party cannons..."
"Could probably give pause to a dragon."
"...Scootaloo looked up to see four long, smoking barrels retract into the roof of Sugarcube Corner..."

SHE KNOWS!

encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS1vskQaYMXP2Ekdy1DiyXMIefFvchP_YgLoEvyzoWZ8-HgHCt2DeXSCMZn

Seriously, at this point? Aliens Invade Equestria? Ponyville doesn't notice.

Also: My email account received two update notifications and I squeed like a little girl thinking there were two chapters...

[QuackmanBrony]

I don't mind fillers so much so I thought this chapter was alright.
The thought of Scootaloo getting excited about breaking and entering is funny. Plus, ya figure a place like Canterlot would have decent security for something like that and I want to see how Scoots reacts.

[ManlyDerp]

lol Rainbow Dash is best drunken abusive father! ...Wait... Crap, my life is spilling over into my typing again. Please just ignore the desperate cry for help and continue on your way ponies!

[Starlight Fire]

MOAR!

[Chuck Norris]

This is written in BBCode, so the way to make strikethrough text is
[
strike
]
Text
[
/strike
]
Put it all on the same line to get what came out below. This doesn't make use of the part, so I had to space it out.

[strike] Text [/strike]

[Kaelzoroden]

690958 Thanks for the tip, Chuck! Fixed it!

Also, sorry to everyone waiting. Finals for my classes right now, and it's insane. I've spent all weekend building an Unreal map for my level design class, I'm out of beer and I barely have time to sleep :s Pony hijinks will resume once my break begins!

[Chuck Norris]

I try to help out those not blessed with my sheer awesomeness. You are welcome.

[demanji]

691638 so i take it your break never started

[Kaelzoroden]

1207248
More or less :s wound up being hectic with me kinda disconnected from the outside world for a good part of it.
Don't worry, I do still have plenty of plans for this story! I've just been kept entirely too busy lately. I would love nothing more than to brush off my schoolwork and just spend my time writing things, a continuation of this at the top of the list, but currently that's just not possible. Also, being in the dry season of Pony definitely doesn't help my creativity for this. Odds are when season three starts it'll pull me out of my informal hiatus.

[fferror]

Royal Academy for Special Talents of Interest to the Crown

Sounds dRASTIC.