Ponysona: Arcana Crusaders

by Phoenix Kitten

The ticking clock of life,home and school.

Condition
Sweetie Belle: Good
AppleBloom: Tired/Asleep
Scootaloo: Tired/Asleep

August 15, 1006 Post Nightmare Moon

Sweetie looked over the meager collection of gems she had accrued from yesterday. 'Three rubies, four sapphires and an emerald.' She thought. 'Probably not enough to trade for anything from Igor.'

'Why don't you ask for a pricing sheet?' Nightmare asked.

Sweetie trotted over the vanity mirror in her room and touched a hoof to the edge. "Nightmare."

Her reflection rippled and looked itself over, looking satisfied.

"That's a good idea but I don't want to be a burden by just popping into the Velvet room to say 'Hey. I only stopped by to have a look at your prices.' and then leave. It's rude." Sweetie stated. "And my sister always says it's not right for a lady to be rude."

"Well you're not a lady yet are you? You're still a little girl." Nightmare replied, her voice an amalgamation of her own mental voice and Sweetie's. "Besides. You should probably tell him about your friends powers."

Sweetie turned and looked at her possessed reflection. "You're right."

All of a sudden a knock sounded on her bedroom door. "Sweetie! It's me!"

"Oh.... ahhhh... Coming Sugar Cube." Sweetie panicked recalling Nightmare from the mirror and rushing over to open the door.
As she reached the impromptu percussion instrument, it flew open, smacking her in the face and sending her flying into the wall.
"Oww... my nose."

"That was amazing mom!" Sugar Cube gushed from just outside the now open door. "It was stuck fast and you just opened it like it was nothing!"

"Oh it was nothing little one, but to be honest it wasn't really stuck like you said it was. Sweetie just locked it." Twilight's voice sounded out.

"So you unlocked it?"

"With magic, yes."
There was a slight pause before one of them spoke again.

"When my magic starts showing.... you have to teach me that spell."

"We'll see little one." Twilight chuckled. "I don't think your other mom would be pleased if I taught you a lock picking spell."

"I certainly would not." Sweetie heard her sister say as she walked past.

"You did that on purpose?" She could hear Sugar Cube pouting.

"I was listening the entire time dear." Rarity said, her voice fading as she headed upstairs.

Sweetie could vaguely hear a Nyaaah sound and guessed that Sugar Cube was poking her tongue out.

Twilight chuckled lightly "Find what you're looking for quick little one, then you and Sweetie have to get to school. We'll be stepping out again today but Spike should be here when you get home." She said before her hoofsteps started getting softer as she followed Rarity upstairs.

Sweetie watched the door swing closed and Sugar Cube trot across to the other bed in the room before she squirmed under it.
Finally deciding to peel herself off the wall,she fell to the floor with a thwump. "Ow.... my flank."

Sugar Cube poked her head out from under the bed and looked at Sweetie. "Oh there you are."

"Yeah." Sweetie deadpanned, rubbing her flank as she stood up. "Thanks for giving me a taste of what it's like to fly... then crash. I can officially say I'm glad to not be a pegasi."

"Well that's your fault for locking the door." Sugar retorted before ducking back under the bed.

"What are you even looking for?" Sweetie asked,poking her head under the bed.

"My homework." Sugar answered.

"Why would it be under your bed?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because that's a stupid place to put it."

"No it's not. I put it there so I forget where it is."

"Don't you mean, so you don't forget where it is?"

"I know what I said."

Sweetie rolled her eyes and grabbed her saddlebags, waiting by the door to their shared room. "Well hurry up or we're going to be late."

"Go without me... I could be here awhile."

"SIS!" Sweetie called up the stairs. "SUGAR'S TELLING ME TO LEAVE WITHOUT HER! SHOULD I?"

"IS SHE STILL LOOKING?"

"YEAH!"

"THEN YES SWEETIE, YOU CAN GO!"

"OKAY SIS!"

"WOULD YOU TWO STOP SHOUTING!!! YOU'RE SPOOKING OWLOWICIOUS!" Spike yelled at both of them. "AND YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE GET'S SPOOKED!"

Sweetie trotted through town, past the big, black crater that used to be the Books and Branches library before an... accident saw it reduced to rubble.
The cleanup effort had been really quick but the Mayor seemed reluctant to build a new library when so few ponies used it in the first place.

'You might want to watch where you're going.'

"Huh?"

thud

Sweetie folded her forelegs as she went soaring through the air and landed on one of the haybales randomly strewn around Ponyville.

"Is life trying to tell me I should have been a pegasus?"

"Maybe." A brash voice responded. "It's a hay of a lot more fun than being a unicorn."

"What score did I get?"

"That was about an eight out of ten Pinkie!"

Sweetie looked up and saw Rainbow Dash hovering in front of her, Pinkie standing in the doorway to Sugarcube Corner a little ways back.

"Nice distance and height, good horizontal clearance too!"

"Wee!" the Pink earthpony mare cheered and bounced over.

"What hit me?"

"A door."

"A door?"

"Uh huh."

"Why... nevermind. I have to get to school." Sweetie sighed before she jumped off the haybale and trotted in the direction of the schoolhouse.

'Watch out!'

Sweetie stepped to the side as the door flew open again, revealing Pinkie. "Darn. I've gotten everypony else with that twice."

Sweetie just chuckled softly and kept on heading to school.

"Now today we're going to practice music. Now seeing as our fiddle player and guitarist as well our keyboard and piano players are absent.."
Cheerliee prattled on as Sweetie took up her usual spot at the microphone.
As she did Sunny trotted up next to her, trumpet strapped to her back.

"So where are Applebloom and Scootaloo?" The young pegasus asked.

"Oh... umm... Applebloom is starting work on the fields and Scootaloo is helping her because she's hoping it will get her her cutie mark." Sweetie lied.

"Huh. Well as long as they're learning something I guess." Sunny shrugged and trotted over to the brass section to practice.

Sweetie wiped her brow and tapped the microphone gently. "Test. One, two, tree. Test."

'Nervous?'

'I... uhh... I still get stage fright a little.'
She looked out and hoped everypony would be busy with their own practice.

Everypony looked back at her, waiting for her to start.

She sighed softly and started singing the first song that came to mind, a song she had composing in her spare time using the Neighponese that Spike had been teaching her at home.
As she sang the instruments slowly began to pick up the beat and time, taking the part they thought would best suit them.

By the end of the song the school house was equaling the noise produced by the record store in town. (some would argue it sounded much better, but that would depend upon your taste in music.)

Sweetie extended the song by starting the lyrics over again, not that the others noticed, using her magic to add a second layer of vocals.

After school ended Sweetie found herself angling towards the town plaza on her way home. 'That's odd. I normally take the route past Sugarcube Corner to get home.'
Her curiosity only spiked when she found herself drawn into a nearby alleyway.
"What the hay? Is that the door to the Velvet room?"

'Seems so.' Nightmare responded. 'Why don't we go have a chat.'

Sweetie nodded and opened the door, trotting into the spacious lobby.

From behind a trash can, two ponies who had been following her stepped out and gaped.

"Did she just trot through that wall?"

"I don't believe it but, yeah... she did."

"So what do we do now Snips? Without her we can't find out what happened to Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara."

"I don't know Snails. It was your idea to follow her in the first place remember?"

The two colts decided to wait and see if she would emerge from the wall, hunkering down behind the trash can again.

"Ah miss Belle. Always such a pleasure. I assume you are here to report on the awakening of your friends power?" Igor guessed, the creepy smile gracing his face again as he gestured to his tarot deck. "The chariot, Gaia and The fool, Tempestates have awakened within your friends."

Sweetie nodded, taking a small pouch from her saddlebags. "I also have some gems here but... I don't know any prices so I can't trade effectively."

"Ah yes. My apologies." Igor clasped his hands. "I did not think about that. Theodore, would you be so kind as to give miss Belle a copy of the pricing sheet."

"Of course master." Theodore bowed. "I will be right back." He said as he turned and walked off to another part of the Velvet room.

"So what gems have you amassed?" Igor asked.

"Three rubies, four sapphires and an emerald." Sweetie answered.

"So not many." Igor nodded. "Well that's understandable, you haven't been in there for long."

Sweetie nodded as Theodore returned, handing her a slip of paper. "Here you are miss Belle, this is by no means a final product sheet,but we will add more services as you explore the comic."

"If that is all my dear." Igor inquired. "Theodores older sister has requested my help with something."

"For now Igor." Sweetie nodded. "I'll see you again soon."

"I look forward to it." The human said as Sweetie turned to trot out.

Snips and Snails watched as Sweetie Belle trotted out of the wall and back into view, quietly watching as she trotted out of the alleyway.

"Are you two going to just watch me like a pair of stalkers or are you actually going to talk to me?" Sweetie inquired as she stopped at the mouth of the alley.

The two colts looked at each other and bashfully stepped forward.
"We were wondering if you know where Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara are..." Snips asked.

"Yeah." Snails nodded.

"I might. But why would I?" Sweetie asked. "The two of them are constantly picking on me and the other crusaders. So why should I care if the two of them have vanished?"

'Being a little harsh there.'

'Not at all. Just telling the truth. I'll save them... but that doesn't mean I have to like it.'

"I... guess that makes sense." Snips looked disappointed.

Snails nodded sadly. "I tried to tell them that they should be more sociable. But they didn't listen."

"Obviously." Sweetie said as she trotted off toward her sister's boutique.

Snips raised his hoof to call after her but thought better of it and turned to follow after his friend.

Sweetie trotted down the street, studying the pricing sheet. "Five rubies for an agi card, five sapphires for bufu..." She mumbled out the rest. "Ten for Maragi, ten for mabufu, ten for magaru... you already know Mazio right?."

'Yes I do.'

"Thought so... so there's nothing here that we can use."

'But you could buy cards for your friends.'

"Yeah." Sweetie nodded. "That's a good idea."

"Hey Aunty!" Sweetie heard Sugar Cube call out. "Where did you go after school?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Spike said, following Sugar Cube over. "I got worried when Sugar Cube made it back before you did."

Sweetie looked up at the sun. "It's only five in the afternoon. I'm half an hour late home."

"Regardless. Come on young mare. Dinner's almost ready and I'll be damned if I'm eating alone." Spike scolded her, grabbing both Sweetie and Sugar Cube's hooves and dragging them back to the boutique.

Applebloom yawned and stretched, slowly getting to her hooves.
"Oh... mah head... and mah legs... ah'm sore all over."

"Ugh... be quiet... why do you have to be so loud?" Scootaloo groaned as she fell out of her bed.

"Ah'm whisperin'." Applebloom whispered as she slowly looked around. "We're goin' to need weapons if we're headin' through there again."

"Maybe you and Sweetie do... I can fight just fine with my bare hooves. And you know martial arts... so what's the problem?"

"Ah don't want to get close to those things after havin' that cloud thing in mah body." The earth pony shivered. "You know... mah sister just got a new pitchfork to replace our old one. Ah could probably get mah hooves on the old one to use."

"Like a spear?"

"Ah guess. Come on. Let's go to the tool shed."

"Why?"

"Ah'm gonna need some help to reach the darn thing."

Social stats.
Charm: Un-marelike.
Academics: Average.
Courage: Timid.

Comments

[Phoenix Kitten]

Sorry this came out so much later than the others.
It's been a busy week. And the Mass Effect 3 Demo has been distracting me alot on xbox live.

And I kind of found this chapter difficult to write for some reason so yeah.
Hope you all enjoy,I'll try and get the nexty chapter out sooner rather than later.

If you wish to send me a message on xbox live (please tell me how you got my gamertag if you are from here,no I won't accept friend requests.) my gamertag is A wild Glaceon.

[TundraStanza]

What is it with Youtube deleting all of the good songs?
...
Oh, I'm sorry. Good chapter.

[Paper Crease]

Song was deleted...

[shinigamisparda]

Ok, normally I don't complain about this kind of thing, but am I missing a fic that came before this? I mean, Rarity and Twilight are together and have a kid, making Sweetie and aunt? I didn't make a big deal about her having her Cutie Mark already, but that is a bit much. I'd like to see that relationship built up. If there isn't a previous fic, I guess I can still roll with it.

[Azure Sandora]

Wow, I love how you are doing this! The stats are really cool, making me sort of feel like I'm playing Persona.