Back to School

Applejack sat at the Apple family dinner table, waiting for her sister and husband to sit down to start the day. In her hoof, she held several letters from Ditzy Doo, the mail-mare. “Soups on you two! Git tha hay up!”

“Alright, AJ, jeez, no need to yell!” Soarin called back, scratching his head as he walked down stairs, Applebloom at his side walking almost autonomously.

“Aww...Ma head hurts...” Applejack rolled her eyes.

“That'll teach ya ta spend too much time at Rainbow an' Mac's place.” She replied, to Soarin's confusion.

“Why, do they live somewhere she could get hurt?”

“No, she let's tha Crusaders drink...a lot...” His eyes resembled dinner plates after that.

“Holy Celestia! They're twelve years old!”

“Please, Ah've bin holdin' ma liquor since Ah was six...Though maybe it weren't such a good idea ta go celebrity spottin' afterwards...”

“Behold citizens of Ponyville! It is I, your loyal Prince Blueblood!” The white Unicorn announced to the crowd, when a brick was thrown at his head. “Ow!”

A six year old Applejack, teetering from side to side, grinned broadly. “Tha' was for ma friend for thirteen years in tha future!”

“So how much did ya manage ta git down ya before ya barfed this time, Sugarcube?”

“Ah weren't drinkin' this time, AJ, Scootaloo though' our special talent was in jumpin' on tha bed.”

“Are ya sure this is safe, Scoots?” Applebloom asked, the three Crusaders standing on a large bed in the middle of the floor in Scootaloo's room.

“I'm positive AB, we'll be Cutie Mark Crusader Bed Jumpers for sure!” Scootaloo cheered, Sweetie Belle beaming with excitement.

“Oh boy, this is so much better, and safer, than our usual crusades with a minimal chance of getting covered in tree sap!” She cheered, before grabbing a pillow. “You ready Applebloom?”

“Sure...” She said, before the surprisingly hard pillow slammed into the side of her face and she fell off the mattress and landed, face first on the floor. A small amount of blood leaked out of the yellow filly's nose.

“Holy Celestia!” Scootaloo cried, jumping to Applebloom's side. Sweetie Belle looked confused, taking the brick out of the pillow case.

“Huh...Guess she wasn't as ready as I thought...”

“Remind me not ta play 'pillow fight' wit' Sweetie Belle again...” She mumbled, rubbing the side of her face, which had a big bruise which she had covered with a small bit of make-up. “Tha' girl's gonna send us ta an early grave.”

“Filly.” Soarin corrected, to Applebloom's confusion.

“What?”

“That filly is gonna send us to an early grave.”

“Wha' did Ah say?”

“That girl...”

“What does that mean?”

“I don't know, you said it.”

While this was going on, Applejack noticed there was a note from Applebloom's school in the pile. “Gosh darn it, Applebloom wha' did ya do this time?!”

“Said girl?”

“Ah meant at school, ya smart mouth!”

“Hmm....” She hummed, putting a hoof to her chin. “Nothin'...Not since tha' time me an' cousin Pinkie pulled that prank on Miss Cheerilee...”

“Oh this is going to be SO fun!” Pinkie exclaimed, giggling.

“Hush Pinkie, or we're gonna git caught...” Applebloom replied, holding a baseball bat in her hooves. “Now remember, when she leaves tha class, we jump out an' scare 'er.” She continued, putting on a balaclava. Pinkie winked, putting her own on with a lead pipe in her hooves.

“Gotcha!” She replied, looking to see Cheerilee hum a tune while locking the door behind her. She turned as Applebloom and Pinkie jumped out from the wall, holding the weapons ready.

“Surprise!” The two screamed, causing Cheerilee to scream. Applebloom giggled a bit , but Pinkie smacked Cheerilee over the head with the lead pipe.

“Shut up and give us the money!” Pinkie cried, smacking her in the ribcage.

“Pinkie! What are ya doin'?!” Pinkie ignored her, smacking Cheerilee in the foreleg, causing a crunch sound to be heard. Cheerilee cried out in pain. “Sweet Celestia, Pinkie, stop it!”

One loud crack of the pipe hitting her head was all Cheerilee could take before passing out. Pinkie then took off the balaclava and yelled out. “Surprise! Fooled you I bet you were fooled! Huh, were ya?”

Applebloom leaned over her teacher, discarding her balaclava. “Pinkie, she needs ta go ta tha hospital!”

“Oh, I betcha you never saw us coming! HAHAHA We so fooled you!”

“Ah think she's bleedin' internally!”

“I still can't believe she thought that joke was funny...”

“Mighta been tha pain killers talkin'.” Applejack said, reading the letter. “Looks like we got a go ta a meeting wit' her today.”

“But it's Saturday! Me an' Sweetie Belle were gonna go fishin'.” Soarin looked a little confused.

“Why?” Applebloom shrugged.

“Don' know, Ah heard she had a Griffon friend...” Applebloom replied, thinking of the scene of Sweetie Belle and a large bird like thing in front of her ripping a fresh fish apart, with herself off in the corner huddling in fear. “Actually school sounds good.” She changed her mind.

“Might as well git this over wit' quickly, Twi said she had somethin' important ta tell us.”

“Cheerilee?” Applejack asked, knocking on the door.

The fuchsia mare smiled briskly. “It's open Applejack, come on in!” She called, allowing the two in. Cheerilee looked confused. “Oh, hi Applebloom?”

“Hi Miss Cheerilee, sorry 'bout whatever Ah did...” Applebloom replied, her bow drooping a bit with her demeanour.

“Um...You haven't done anything Applebloom...In fact I only needed to talk to Applejack. You can go if you want.” Both the Apple siblings looked surprised, but Applebloom let out a cheerful whoop before rushing out the door.

“No running in the...And she's gone.” Cheerilee smiled a bit, shaking her head. “Now Applejack, I called you in here to talk about something serious.”

“Is this 'bout tha' storm tha' Rainbow put outside yer house, Ah already told her tha' jus' cause ya gave Scoots a bad grade don't mean she can damage yer property.”

“No, no nothing like that.” Cheerilee smiled. “I, in fact, called you here because of this.” She continued, putting a sheet of paper in front of her.

Applejack looked at it, seeing a whole lot of 'F's on the paper and her name on the top. “It's come to my attention that you had failed sixth grade.”

“Well yeah, bu' Ah had other thin's on ma mind an' Ah was drunk half tha' time.”

“You were twelve?”

“Ah had bad parents, alrigh', shoot me!” Cheerilee recoiled.

“Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offence...”

“No seriously, shoot me. They used ta do it everytime Ah spoke outta hoof.”

“Alrigh' Applejack, let's try this again. Howdy, ma name is Golden Delicious.” A young Applejack shook the older stallion's hoof.

“Pleased ta meet ya, Ah'm Applejack. Ah live on a farm...” Golden took his hoof back and shot her in her front forehoof. Applejack cried out in pain, clutching the wound.

“For tha last time! Wait ta be asked a question before givin' information on yerself!”

“Course it made sense why Big Mac was so quiet after tha'...” Cheerilee's eye twitched after hearing that story. “Ah'm sorry, Ah musta bin borin' ya, so wha' was tha' 'bout ma bad grades?”

Cheerilee shook out of her state, trying to pass that off as a joke, before replying. “W-well. You see the law of Education that was erected in 930 A.B.N.M...” She was cut off by a giggling Applejack. “What?”

“You said erected...” Cheerilee sighed as the orange Earth Pony continued to giggle.

“Yes...Well all dirty jokes aside, this is quite serious. The law of Education states that a working pony has to have, at least, a sixth grade level of education...It means that you've been working illegally for the last thirteen years!”

“What?!” Applejack cried, standing up from her chair and knocking it backwards. “What da ya mean? Ah'm sure if tha' were tha case, somepony woulda said somethin' by now!”

“Well...Our Education system wasn't exactly great but Princess Twilight helped us get everything back on track and sorted out again and that's when I found your old report card.” Cheerilee's face took on a more gentle look. “As soon as I saw this, I knew I had to do something about it...”

“Yer n-not gonna arrest me...Right?” Applejack asked in a more Fluttershy kind of way than her own.

“Of course not, in fact I managed to strike a deal with the Princesses. They won't have you arrested, but there is one condition...”

“Name it! Ah can do whatever they throw at me!” Cheerilee sighed a bit.

“You'll have to come back to school.” The colour drained away from Applejack's face.

“Th-that means Ah'll be...in tha same class as ma own sister...”

“It wouldn't have been my first choice, but you do need to pass sixth grade. This was the only solution I could come up with...I'm sure your friends will be supportive.”

Rainbow was rolling on the floor of the library, laughing hysterically at her best friend's predicament. Applejack blushed a little more, hiding away under her stetson.

“Rainbow, can't you be a little bit more considerate!” Rarity scolded, giving Applejack a one armed, hug. “This is obviously a delicate subject and not one she thought was going to be the butt of your jokes.”

“I'm s-s-s-sorry it's just...The thought of a twenty five year old in the middle of a class of twelve y-year olds is j-just...HAHAHAHA!” Fluttershy let out a little giggle too, but then gasped and hid under her mane, feeling slightly ashamed of her reaction. Pinkie was staying surprisingly quiet and Twilight was on Applejack's other side, feeling slightly bad about this.

“I'm sorry AJ, maybe if I left the Education system the way it was then they wouldn't have found out about this!”

“You had to though, Twilight.” Spike said, coming out of the kitchen wearing his pink apron holding out a tray of hay-cakes. “They were still teaching us the alphabet when I started! I'm surprised anyone passed the sixth grade!”

“Thanks Spike...Tha' makes me feel a bit better...” Applejack said, slightly reassured that it wasn't her fault she failed those tests.

“Just the Alphabet?”

“Well...That and some disturbing things...”

“Welcome! Everypony, pick your lab partners and get ready to dissect your frogs!” The teacher, a pale brown Earth Pony stallion with a blonde mane said with authority. Applebloom sat next to Spike, as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo already sat next to each other.

Spike rose his hand, to which the teacher nodded. “Yes, young scale pony!”

“Um...There's no such thing as a scale pony and where's Mr. Page Turner?”

“Oh, he's off sick today, so I'll be conducting your biology lesson.” Applebloom then raised her hoof. “Yes, young bow pony.”

“Um...there's no such thing as a bow pony...an' aren't ya supposed ta use dead frogs for dissecting?” She asked, poking the frog, causing it to 'ribbet' in distress.

“Of course not! You'll get a much better understanding with a living subject. Any more questions?”

Applebloom turned to Spike, who shrugged. “Um...Ain't this supposed ta be a History lesson?”

“The crying...Oh Celestia the crying...” He muttered to himself before he realised that all the snacks on his tray were finished. “Son of a...You could've left me some!”

“Oh...Shorry Shpike...” Pinkie apologised through her mouthful, before spitting it into her hoof and handing it over. “Here ya go!”

“Um...I-I'll just make more...” Spike replied, turning slightly green and running into kitchen.

“Okie Doki Loki!” She replied, shoving it back into her mouth.

It was the next morning and Soarin had woken up earlier to prepare both Applebloom and Applejack for their day before opening the curtain's to his and Applejack's room. Applejack grunted and pulled the covers over her head. “C'mon AJ...”

“No! Ah don't wanna go ta school!” She replied, causing Soarin to sigh.

“C'mon Sweetie, just get out of bed. I promise it won't be that bad.”

“No! School is for losers!” Soarin gave her a a reprimanding look.

“Hey now, your sister has already left early to catch up with her friends. If she can go, you can too.” He tried to pull the covers away from her face, but she pulled it back over.

“No!”

“Maybe you'll make some friends...”

“No!”

“I know first days are scary, AJ, but your sister will be there...”

“No!”

“We can get ice-cream once I pick you up?” Applejack shifted and lifted the the cover off of her face.

“Wit' sprinkles?” Soarin nodded.

“Whatever topping you want...” She smiled and hopped out of bed, hugging her husband.

“YAY!” She then rushed into the bathroom to take a shower. Soarin shook his head before grabbing his Wonderbolt uniform from the wardrobe. Luckily for the farm, Applebuck Season was over so all Mac had to really do was prepare the rest of the products to sell, and their cousins Braeburn and Pinkie Pie were always ready to help.

“Alright students settle down! We have a new student who'll be joining us today.” The class paid their teacher their full attention when they heard a new student was joining them. “I'd like you all to welcome Applejack!”

The class were stunned when the elder Apple sibling walked into class, happily waving to her sister. “Howdy Applebloom!” Applebloom sunk in her seat between Spike and Sweetie Belle in embarrassment, her face starting to match her mane in colour.

“Well Applejack, why don't you tell the class a little bit about yourself?” Cheerilee asked as if she was actually talking to a new twelve year old.

“Um...Well...Ma name is Applejack, Ah live at Sweet Apple Acres wit' Applebloom an' ma husband Soarin an' um...Ah like apples.” Cheerilee nodded, pointing to the seat next to Scootaloo, who was trying hard not to burst out laughing at the situation.

“Why don't you take that desk between Scootaloo and Twist over there.” Cheerilee said, pointing to the orange Pegasus and spectacled Earth Pony.

Applejack nodded and tried to sit in her seat. Just as the lesson started, there was a knock at the door before Rainbow walked in, sheepishly. “Yes Miss Dash, what is it?”

“Um...I forgot to give Scootaloo her lunch.” She said, before taking a box with a handle and a picture of the Wonderbolt logo on it off her back with her wing. She then turned and saw Applejack struggling to get in the desk that was designed for a filly half her size.

She struggled to keep it together as she walked over to her adoptive daughter and handed her the box. “H-here y-y-ya go Squirt...” Scootaloo hugged the rainbow maned Pegasus goodbye before she left the room.

As soon as the door shut, a very loud laugh could be heard from the hallways along with phrases like 'So...funny...can't...breathe...!'

“Pssst! Scootaloo?” The orange filly turned to the orange mare, raising an eyebrow at her.

“What?” She whispered back to Applejack.

“Wha's tha answer ta this question?” The farm mare asked, pointing to the top of the page.

“Uh...That's where you put your name.” She responded, turning back to her own question sheet. Applebloom had finished her paper shortly after Spike and Sweetie Belle, so had turned back and saw that Applejack had just lent over to Scootaloo.

“Oh sweet Celestia, this is even more embarrassin' than tha time we tried bein' Cutie Mark Crusader Veterinarians...” She mumbled to herself, the memory playing it self in her head.

“Um...Are ya sure tha legs are supposed ta bend that way?” Applebloom asked Scootaloo, looking at the crane in front of them, it's legs around it's neck in a sort of yoga position.

“I don't know, do I look like a bird?”

“According to the fandom you're a chicken, which is a bird...” Sweetie responded.

“Well the fandom, whatever that is, can shove it's opinion right up it's own flank!” Scootaloo then turned just as they heard a loud scream from the animal caretaker Fluttershy.

“Oh whatever happened to the poor thing?!” She cried, slowly moving the birds legs away from it's neck, much to the bird's content.

“We were trying to cure his sore throat...”

“Ah never knew Fluttershy knew Kung-Foo...” She muttered to herself.

The bell rang for lunch time and all of them were let out to play in the play ground and eat their lunch. Applebloom had to drag Applejack to the Crusader's usual table, however. “But Ah wanna go on tha swing!”

“No AJ, yer too old fer tha swing...” She thought about it for a second. “Heck Ah might be too old fer tha swing.”

Applejack huffed and sat at the table next to Rumble, who was accepted into the Cutie Mark Crusaders since he was Sweetie Belle's brother-in-law and Scootaloo thought he was hot.

He rose an eyebrow at seeing Applebloom's older sister in the playground and leant to whisper to Sweetie Belle. “Sis, why's Applejack here?”

“Oh, she's our new classmate!” Sweetie replied, excitedly. Applebloom sat next to Applejack and took out her lunch box with a picture of an apple on the front. Applejack decided to do the same thing.

“Uh...Sis, Ah think Soarin went a little overboard wit' our lunches...” Applebloom said, pulling an apple pie out of the box. Applejack pulled out the same thing, giggling a bit.

“Oh this is tha only thin' Soarin knows how ta make, AB.” She replied.

“But he didn't pack any forks or spoons! How're we supp...” She was cut off when Applejack just ploughed her face right into the pie, sending the filling into several different directions, much like how Soarin eats his pies.

“How's it go...” Scootaloo started as she and Spike, who was not a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders but still a valued friend, approached the table before she spotted the orange cowpony munching away happily into the pie. “...ing.”

“Soarin forgot ta pack spoons so Ah can't eat lunch...” Applebloom said, pouting a little. “Hasn't stopped her though...”

“Ah, could be worse...” Scootaloo started, getting a daisy sandwich, an apple and a cupcake out of her lunch. “...you could've gotten a spoon but no pie.”

“Ya always have such good lookin' lunches Scoots...Ah miss Macintosh sometimes...” Scootaloo shrugged, taking out two spoons, oddly enough.

“Yeah, dad is very insightful...” She answered, passing her one of the spoons. Applebloom smiled and finally started to eat.

“Wow, how did he know Soarin would forget to pack their spoons?” Spike asked, taking an emerald out of his bag to nibble on.

“Probably the same way he knew Lost was going to suck.” Scootaloo shrugged.

“C'mon Mac! The new show's about to start!” Rainbow called from the sofa in front of the Television.

“Nnnope...It'll suck when it reaches tha end an' will leave tha majority o' tha fan base disappointed.”

“He was not wrong.” Rumble grumbled, opening his lunch box. “Urg! Rarity has to stop letting Thunderlane make our lunches!” He said, pulling out five bits. “The school doesn't even sell food...”

“You got lucky, all I got was a picture of a sandwich!” Sweetie Belle complained, holding up a very detailed drawing of a daffodil and petunia sandwich. “Uh...We need to stop by Sugarcube Corner after school.”

“Ah'm done!” Applejack yelled, the pie tin all but wiped clean in front of her, yellow pie filling rolling off the end of her muzzle.

“AJ! Go wash face!” Applebloom demanded. Applejack folded her front hooves in front of her.

“No!”

“AJ, please!”

“Ah don't wanna!”

“Applejack yer embarrassin' me!”

“Ah'm gonna go play on tha swings!” She decided, walking towards the playground.

“Applejack...an' she's gone.” Applebloom moaned, her head colliding with the table, taking her bow and pulling it over her head. “Wha' in tarnation is wrong wit' tha' mare?!”

“Um...other than the obvious?” Applebloom glared at Sweetie Belle, who wilted a bit. “Sorry.”

“Cheese! Where's the accordion?!” Pinkie asked, wearing a blue and pink party hat.

“It's probably in your mane!” Cheese Sandwich replied, walking down the stairs, pulling said instrument out of her mane. She grinned, bouncing around excitedly.

“Oh yeah! This is going to be so much fun, right Gummy and Boneless?!” She asked the stoic alligator and the rubber chicken in his jaws. “Gummy, don't chew your brother!”

“Hey CS and PP!” Rainbow announced, walking in in her Wonderbolts outfit with Soarin and Thunderlane. “Whatcha up to and can we get some food?”

“Sure!” Pinkie cheered, zipping into the kitchen and rushed back with three large cupcakes on a tray on her back. “Here ya go! And we're getting ready for Ditzy's birthday!” She continued, sliding the tray onto the table the three sat at.

“It's Ditzy's Birthday!” Rainbow replied, shocked. She then stuffed the cupcake in her mouth and turned to her fellow Wonderbolts. “Shorry guysh, gotta get a preshent fer Ditshy!” She said before she rushed out the doors, them flapping around wildly behind her.

“I wonder if she realises that Mac bought her a present from the both of them?” Thunderlane asked, taking a bite out of his own cake.

“You want to try and catch up to her?” Soarin replied, to which Thunderlane looked out apprehensively. “Didn't think so.”

“Yeah I remember the last time we tried to keep up with her...”

“Um...Soarin? Are you okay?” Applejack asked her husband, who's fore legs seemed to be tied in a knot around the base of a lamp-post.

“Um...I think so...Better than Thunderlane at least...” Said dark grey Pegasus seemed to have the front half of his body stuck inside the wall of Sugarcube Corner, his back half stuck outside for all to see.

“My head still hurts from what I saw...” Thunderlane muttered, taking a sip from the coffee that Pinkie laid out for the two. “...Why did Gummy have a chainsaw?”

Mac hummed a tune to himself while he and Fluttershy walked amongst the animals in the farm, feeding the chickens and pigs. “So how's it goin' wit' you an' ma cousin?” He asked her, to which she smiled.

“Oh...Really good. What about you and Rainbow Dash?” Big Mac grinned back.

“Can't complain...She and Scootaloo sure have made ma life eventful.” He replied, before facing Fluttershy again. “How's he handlin' yer critters?”

“Oh he's adapting...Though I'm not sure he and Angel like each other very much...” She trailed off.

“Give me back ma hat ya devil bunny!” Braeburn called, chasing the white rabbit, wearing a hat that was much to large for him, around the cottage. Angel turned and blew a raspberry at Braeburn before diving under the couch.

The yellow stallion went to follow, but his head collided with the floor and he fell down, Fluttershy hovering next to him. “Oh dear, are you okay Braeburn?”

“Ah will be when tha dancing Luna on yer ceilin' stops...” He muttered before passing out.

“Oh I don't know what to do...I want Braeburn to move in with me and to move out of that old barn he's been sleeping in...But I don't want him and Angel to fight...”

“Sounds ta me like Angel's scared tha' he'll git less attention if'n ya 'ave ya special somepony livin' wit' ya.” Fluttershy gasped at that.

“Oh no, I'd never neglect my animals.” Big Mac nodded, throwing some feed to the chickens.

“Well then ya gotta tell 'im tha'.” He then put on a thoughtful look. “Hmm....Tha's funny. Ah feel like Ah shoulda told Dash somethin' this mornin'...”

“Big Macintosh!” Applejack called, galloping over to him with her saddlebags on and a little bit of pink stuff over her face.

“Howdy sis...Um...Ah think ya got a little ice cream on ya face?” He asked, wondering what was going on. Applejack wiped it away, grinning sheepishly.

“Sorry. Uh, can ya sign this for me?” She asked as Applebloom also walked up to them, face-hoofing herself.

“Um...” He said, taking a piece of paper from Applejack and putting on his new reading glasses to take a look at it. “...Why do Ah hafta sign a permission slip?”

“It's so Ah can go ta Sugarcube Corner wit' tha rest o' class tomorrow! Please! Please! Pleeeeeaaase!” She asked, putting on her best puppy dog eyes. Big Macintosh soon caved.

“Aw sure, sis, jus' gimme a sec...” He said, taking a quill out of his saddlebag and signing his name on the sheet. “Here ya go.”

Applejack hugged her brother in response. “Thank ya big bro!” She said, kissing him on the cheek before rushing off. He looked a bit confused.

“She hasn't kissed me on tha cheek since Applebloom was born. What's goin' on?” Applebloom sighed, kicking a bit of dirt under her hoof.

“She joined ma class an' she's bin actin' like this all day!” She complained.

“I'm sure it's not that bad.” Applebloom gave Fluttershy a deadpan look.

“No, it's worse! She's embarrassin' me!” Big Mac rose an eyebrow.

“Why's she in ya class?”

“She failed the sixth grade, apparently.” Big Mac nodded, handing her the chicken feed.

“Alrigh' y'all finish tha rounds wit' tha animals an' Ah'll sort this out.” He said, about to walk out before pausing and walking back, sheepishly. “But first, let me sign ya permission slip.”

“It's open!” Cheerilee called, before Big Mac walked into the classroom. “Oh, hello Big Mac.” She said, confused. “What can I do for you?”

“Ah'm here ta talk about AJ. Look, Ah know she mighta not done so well in 'er tests. But surely there's gotta be a better solution than havin' 'er in here?”

“I'm sorry Mac but I really couldn't think of an alternate solution...”

“Wha' if Ah home schooled 'er?” Cheerilee seemed to perk up at this. “Ah mean Applebuck season is over so Ah got minimal chores ta do. Plus Ah did go ta college.”

“That you did...” She mentioned, taking out a form. “...If you sign here, this puts Applejack's education into your care and we'll mail you when it's time for her to take her exam. If you sign here.” She said, pointing to the dotted line on the bottom, in which Mac signed. “Perfect, be sure to tell her.”

“Thank ya Miss Cheerilee...Now if'n you excuse me, Ah think Ah see Rainbow breakin' tha sound barrier outside.” He replied, noting a spectrum of colours spreading through the sky. “That either means she's performin' or apologisin' an' Ah want ta make sure it ain't tha latter.”

“Oh thanks for the party you two!” Ditzy exclaimed, wrapping her hooves around the pair of party ponies. Pinkie and Cheese grinned widely.

“No problamo, Ditzy!” Pinkie replied, as she and Cheese got a little more into the group hug.

“Yeah! What are bestest friends for?!” Cheese finished before the hug ended. Ditzy giggled when she noticed Dinky with her face submerged into a chocolate fountain along one of the walls.

“I should go. She could get a tummy ache if I leave her too long.” Ditzy replied, moving towards Dinky.

She passed by Rainbow and Mac on her. “Thanks for the performance Rainbow! It was awesome!”

“Ha, don't I know it girl!” Rainbow replied, high-hoofing her friend. “...and it turns out that may have been an extra present on top of what me, Mac and Scoots got ya.”

Ditzy's eyes got bigger and her grin broader. “Cool!” She said before going to get her daughter.

“Ah said Ah was sorry Dash, but ya do tend ta git outta tha house before Ah can git a word out...” Mac's argument fell on deaf ears as Dash turned away. “C'mon...Ah'll take ya to that Chineighs restaurant.”

Rainbow turned and rose an eyebrow. Mac rolled his eyes. “Ah'll see if'n Scootaloo would like ta spend tomorrow nigh' at Thunderlane an' Rarity's place...”

She grinned and nuzzled him on the chin a bit. “That's better, Big guy.” She approved, before walking off towards Fluttershy.

Mac grinned and shook his head, wondering just what he had gotten himself into by getting into a relationship with the athletic but mischievous Pegasus. Before that, though, he had to find Applejack.

And find her he did, talking to Rarity while Soarin was talking to Thunderlane. “Good, two apples one buck.” He mentally said, grinning, before approaching the mares first.

“Applejack.” The orange mare turned in union to the white Unicorn.

“Wha's up, Mac?” Applejack asked, curiously.

“Ah'm jus' lettin' ya know tha' Ah'll be home schoolin' ya from now on. So ya don' hafta go ta school tomorrow.” Applejack let out a happy whoop, before pausing and giving Mac a pleading look. He smiled back, knowingly. “We can still come 'ere tomorrow.”

“Yer tha best, Mac!” She replied, hugging her brother gratefully.

“Eeyup.” Mac agreed, chuckling a bit. She released him as he turned to Rarity. “Do ya mind lookin' after Scootaloo fer tomorrow night? Ah'm takin' Rainbow out.”

“Of course, she's always welcome...So long as she doesn't start rubbing Rumble up the wrong way. The poor dear was so uncomfortable.” Rarity replied, remembering the last time Scootaloo was around.

“Um...Scootaloo?” Rumble asked, turning to see he was literally nose-to-nose with the orange filly. She gave him a half-lidded stare back.

“Yes Stud?” Rumble shivered a bit, trying to politely scoot away.

“Do you mind...um...giving me a little room?” Scootaloo pursued him by sliding up to his side again, brushing her fur against his.

“You know you want it...” She replied, rubbing her head into the crook of his neck.

“Um...Sweetie Belle?! I think your friend's coming onto me!” Sweetie Belle glanced away from the Nintendo gamehoof to assess the situation, before going back to her game.

“She's just being friendly.” She dismissed, before Scootaloo started to rub her flank against his causing Rumble to blush and her head nuzzling right into the side of his. She looked back again. “Um...REALLY friendly.”

“Poor Sweetie Belle is too innocent for her own good.” Rarity said, shaking her head. Big Mac rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“Uh...Ah hope nothin' too bad happened...”

“She's persistent, I'll give her that. Though I think I heard Thunderlane congratulating his brother on a winning over a filly's heart...at least I think that's what he said.”

“Just tell me Ah won't need ta kick 'im in the groin again.” Rarity paused before shaking her head. “Good.”

Worst Kept Secret

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Worst Kept Secret

Spike sighed. It was Rainbow Dash's birthday and, as usually, Pinkie and Cheese had held a massive party for her birthaversary. It started with a large gathering of ponies from noon, but it soon dwindled to just her five closest friends, all their special some-ponies, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders hanging out in the library.

Everypony seemed to be doing their own thing right now. Applejack and the birthday girl appeared to be having a shot contest. He shook his head.

“Hopefully this won't be as bad as the time they played Stalliongrad Roulette...” He shivered as he thought of that horrific incident. “So...Much...Blood...”

Fluttershy appeared to be in a discussion with Owlicious. About what, he couldn't fathom. He thought the bird was only capable of asking 'who?'.

Big Macintosh, Soarin and Braeburn were playing cards in the corner, all three seemed about level though, so joining that would be pretty uneventful.

Scootaloo was, as always, pretty much glued to Rumble's side. It surprises him to see how Rumble hadn't had to deal with her and make/break their relationship. Still, Scootaloo was pretty content how she was and it didn't look like Mac or Rainbow were going to interrupt her.

Sweetie Belle was in the other corner and playing with that brown colt, Button Mash, on the PlayStallion. Button's mom seemed to have been late picking him up, but he had been spending more time with Sweetie and, thus, the Crusaders. So much so, that he became their newest member.

Twilight was reading, obviously, but more out of not having much else to do than being bored. She doesn't drink a lot because...well, the last time she got drunk was...eventful.

“Twilight, we need ta git ya home. Yer drunk...” Applejack said, trying to help the Princess to her feet.

“Your not drunk! I'm drunk!” Twilight declared, scoffing at her with a twist of her head...then immediately falling to the ground again.

“Wow Flutters, what did you get her?!” Spike asked, not looking forward to having to taking her home.

“Um...She said she'd have what I thought would be best...But I wasn't sure so I just ordered one of everything...She said to put it on the Princess's tab...”

“And she drunk it all!” Rainbow exclaimed, looking at the hammered lavender mare giggling on the floor.

“Um...I guess so...”

“Ten hours of vomit, curses and uncomfortable flirting later and I was done.” He mumbled to himself, having to pry the Alicorn off of him she was flirting with him so much. “She doesn't pay me enough for this job...”

Pinkie and Cheese were doing as they always do, talking to each other about anything and everything! “I swear I've never seen two ponies more suited to each other than them.” Spike muttered to himself, sighing.

He's always wanted something like. A special somepony to call his own. Maybe a certain white Unicorn. However, looking at said Unicorn, who was curled up in Thunderlane's embrace, his hope had seemed like that. Just hope.

He had moved on, of course, Rarity having been with Thunderlane ever since that Wonderbolt Academy incident three years ago, but nopony seemed to be willing to give him a shot.

He had asked a couple of ponies, such as Dinky and Berry Pinch, but they just shook their heads. Dinky said she was already dating Pipsqueak and Berry was with Truffle Shuffle.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the school bullies, had caught onto this and had constantly made fun of him for this, coming up with loads of stupid and ill-informed judgements as to why he hasn't had a fillyfriend yet...

...but one comment had stuck.

“It must be because he's a dragon!” Silver commented, causing Spike to widen his eyes a little.

“Ha! Good point! I mean, seriously, why would anypony want to date a scaly, spiny, two legged reptile like him!” Diamond added, laughing harshly.

“Hey! Leave 'im alone!” Applebloom had exclaimed, having just seen what had been transpiring.

“That must be why he's hanging out with the Blank Flanks too! They're the only ones stupid enough to have a fire breathing lizard like him around!”

“They set enough fires on their own as it is!”

“Well Ah'd rather have a Blank Flank than havin' mah special talent bein' puttin' on a fancy hat!” Applebloom shot back, smugly. “What a miserable existence tha' mus' be!”

Diamond, speechless, just huffed and left, Silver Spoon not too far behind. Their taunting seemed to have lost it's effect on her lately.

Applebloom turned to face him. “Are you okay, Spike?”

“I said yes...But what if they were right?...” Spike muttered to himself, walking out of the library and sitting on the front door step. “...What if the only reason nopony wants to date me because I'm a dragon?”

“Than they're shallow.” Spike jumped a bit, not expecting anyone to follow him. He turned back, expecting to see someone there, but found nopony there. He felt a hoof on his shoulder and turned to find Applebloom in front of him, smiling lightly.

“How'd you get out here without opening the door?”

“Ah've bin 'ere tha whole time, Spike.” Applebloom said, motioning to the deck chairs in the front garden. “Jus' needed some time alone...”

“Yeah, same here.” Spike replied, smiling sheepishly.

“Welp, grab tha other chair an let's be alone, together then.” She answered, hopping back onto her chair, taking a drink from a brown bottle on the hoof rest.

“Is that cider?” Spike asked, confused on how the twelve year old had managed to get her hooves on alcohol.

“Ah help make it.” Applebloom answered, taking a second bottle and handing to him. “Want one?”

“Um...I'm not sure I'm old enough...” She rolled her eyes and took another swig from hers.

“Relax, Ah ain't gonna arrest ya.” She answered, still holding it out. “Besides, this is tha weaker stuff.”

“Oh, sure then.” He accepted, taking the bottle, getting the cap off with his fang before taking a drink. He then sat on the chair next to Applebloom's to relax a little.

“So...How's living alone?” Spike asked, curiously.

Applebloom, after having been kept awake by Soarin and Applejack's...'midnight endeavours'...For the forty-eighth night in a row. Applebloom had packed her stuff and moved out, now residing in the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse after she added a couple of things to it.

The, now small house, had a kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom too. It wasn't too far away from the two farmhouses on Sweet Apple Acres so it didn't take a lot for her and Mac to get wiring for the little abode and a small gas line as well.

She had been living there for about a week and, so far, it looked as if she was coping. “Pretty good so far. Ah decided ta add a lightning conductor ta tha tree so a freak storm won't burn it down.” She explained, facing him. “Why do ya ask?”

“Well...I don't know. Guess I just want to know what freedom felt like.” He paused, taking a drink of his own cider which was helping him forget about fillyfriends and being a dragon for a bit. “You know, having a whole place to yourself and doing what you want to do without having to answer to anypony else.”

“Well it ain't exactly like that. While it is true that Ah don' 'ave anypony tellin' me what ta do, but that's a bad thin' sometimes too. It's up ta me ta make mah own food, ta stock up on it, make sure tha water's runnin', luckily tha farm runs on it's own power so Ah don' 'ave a bill fer that. But it ain't as easy as everypony thinks it is...” She muttered, before grinning. “...But anythin' is better than hearin' mah sis an' Soarin through tha walls talk about apple buckin'.”

Spike blinked. “Um...I thought you meant you could hear them...”

“Oh Ah can. They jus' dirty talk too.” Applebloom shrugged, throwing the now empty bottle back into the cool box next to her. “So how's it goin' wit' you?”

“Huh?” Spike asked, turning to face her again.

“Ya know, wit' Twiligh' an' everythin'. Findin' a marefriend?” She clarified.

“Oh. Well Twilight doesn't actually read too many books anymore, what with having read every book in the library...Twice!” He chuckled, causing her to laugh along as well. “As for finding a marefriend...well, not really. I just can't seem to find anyone.”

“Ya truly are a romantic, ain't ya...” She said, playfully punching him in the shoulder. “Still ain't found anypony as good as Rarity?”

“I'm not going to compare her to Rarity. I'm starting fresh...Plus I'm starting to think my attraction to Rarity was just a little crush.” Applebloom rose an eyebrow at him. “Alright a BIG crush!”

“That's better.” She smiled. “Well good on ya. Ya deserve somepony special.”

“...Really?” Spike asked, a little shocked at what Applebloom said.

“Why sure, ya good lookin', got some serious smarts on ya, always putting others before yerself, yer always trying to help, ya really care about Twilight as if she were family an' yer jus' a fun guy ta be around.” She explained, feeling a little flustered herself.

“Y-you really think so...” Spike asked. Applebloom sat up, looking right into his eyes as he copied the motion.

“Ah really do, Spike. Ah personally think Rarity was crazy not ta go fer ya...In fac...”

Whatever Applebloom was about to say next was cut off when Spike suddenly lurched forward and placed his lips tenderly over hers.

A shiver suddenly travelled down their spines as a certain 'spark' had ignited. Applebloom widened her eyes in shock, before the slightly drunken part of her brain told her to just roll with it, telling her this was something she wanted.

They heard the door to the library open and prematurely ended the kiss as to avoid awkward questions. Sweetie Belle and Rumble both exited the tree house with Scootaloo and Button as well. “Hey there you are Applebloom!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, approaching the flustered yellow filly.

“Yeah we were looking everywhere for you! Twilight said it was okay for Rumble and Button Mash to come to Twilight Time! Isn't that great?!” Scootaloo asked, rubbing into Rumble's side, Rumble uncomfortably trying to scoot over a little.

“Um...Were we interrupting something?” Button asked, confused. Spike and Applebloom immediately denied the accusation, if only avoiding the question.

“Um...Nnnope!” Applebloom said, shutting down as she had seen her brother do.

“Nope, nothing! Don't you worry, nothing to worry about at all! No siree!” Spike continued, his eyes moving left and right on their own.

“...Well okay!” Sweetie believed, running back inside. “Then be ready for tomorrow!”

Soon the other three went in, leaving just the two of them. Silence was suddenly taking over the area as each of them tried to find something to say.

Finally, after feeling like this was going to be another conversation with Fluttershy and her counterpart Butterscotch, Spike plucked up the courage to say something. “Um...Derrr...” Not the most intelligent way to start a conversation.

He shook his head when Applebloom looked at him, almost as if she were evaluating him, and finally found some proper words to say. “...I think I should go...” Spike sighed, jumping off his deck chair to go inside.

“I can't believe I did that!” He thought to himself, angrily. “Never mind that was MY first kiss, but it was Applebloom's too! And you took that away from her because what?! She was complimenting you! She's pretty! She has a good heart and a strong confidence in her friends!”

“Wait!” Spike stopped and turned to see Applebloom hop off of her deck chair, trotting towards him. She didn't look angry that her first kiss had been effectively stolen from her, but she didn't look thrilled either.

Essentially she had an emotionless expression upon her features, but Spike has heard about the calm before the storm before and is preparing for the verbal lashing and physical beat down he felt he deserved.

Instead, however, she stood slightly under his height. “Well, we are taller but I didn't grow much taller than her...”

“Are ya sorry?” Spike rose an eyebrow, confused.

“Huh?”

“Are ya sorry that ya kissed me?” Spike saw a very clear get-away from the situation and could probably lead them to pretending this never happened.

However...an Apple can always spot a liar. And, if he were to say he was sorry, he'd have been lying. “No I'm not...” Spike replied, bracing himself. Closing his eyes in anticipation of a hoof to his nose.

Instead, he felt her getting closer to him, so much so that he could feel the heat of her breath across his face. He opened his eyes to see Applebloom giving him a seductive, half-lidded stare and a plesent smile.

“Good.” She replied, before she pressed herself up against him and rammed her muzzle against his lips once more.

The sun shot through the curtains in Applebloom's room, compelling the little filly out of her sleep. She groaned, feeling a slight bit awful after the cider she drunk last night. “Lucky it's a Saturday...” She thought to herself, moving to sit on her haunches.

She looked around her room and sighed to herself, feeling slightly lonely. Sure, she had her own place, but the most difficult part about this is that she doesn't have her sister or brother to wake up to. And Granny Smith was now travelling around the world with their parents.

She dragged herself out and yawned loudly to herself as she entered the main sitting area. She, luckily, managed to accumulate a lot of furniture from one of the old barns and, with a little tender loving care, the couch, arm chair and coffee table looked very nice in there.

She then smelled what seemed to be pancakes cooking. “That's odd...Ah usually burn anythin' Ah try ta cook...” She thought to herself before she realised. “HEY! Ah have ta be in tha kitchen ta burn food!”

She rushed in there with a baseball bat, ready to smack the intruder in the face, before seeing Spike in there with a frying pan, a stack of five pancakes in the middle.

He turned to look at Applebloom smiling. “Hey there.”

“Um...hey?” She said, after putting the baseball bat down. She was about to ask what the dragon was doing in her house, before the events of last night finally caught up with her.

“Wow...He really did kiss me then...But, oh no!” “Um...How did ya end up at ma place?” Spike rose an eyebrow, before snapping his fingers.

“Oh yeah, Twilight's boyfriend from the Crystal Empire Guard showed up after almost everypony went home. She asked if I could stay round a friend's house and you offered the sofa.”

“Phew...” Applebloom let out, glad nothing escalated too quickly between them. “Ah was worried fer a second...”

“Worried about what?” Spike asked, putting the last pancake on the table before turning the stove off and putting the pan in the sink.

“That we may 'ave...well...Bumped uglies so ta speak...” She said, slightly awkwardly, sitting at the table.

“Oh...Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you.”

“It's fine, Spike. It's ma mind in tha gutter this mornin'.” She sighed, looking at the stack of food in front of her. “Ya didn' 'ave ta cook anythin'.”

“Of course I did! You saved me from having to sleep outside...again.” Spike replied, splitting the treats into two stacks of three. “The stove seemed to be gathering a bit of dust though...”

“Better it gather dust than it bein' burnt ta tha ground.” Applebloom replied, gratefully taking the food from Spike, her stomach yearning for some kind of substance. “Ah ain't much o' a cook.”

“That's alright, it's not as easy as it looks. No way you're as bad as Rainbow Dash though! You remember the time she and Sweetie Belle entered that cooking competition.”

“Alright, you ready Sweetie Belle! We're going for gold here!” Rainbow exclaimed, wearing a white chef's hat and a white apron, Sweetie Belle wearing a matching outfit.

“Um...Why am I doing this with you rather than Scoots or Mac?”

“Because the author thinks this will be funnier! Now let's do this!”

“Alright!” Sweetie Belle cheered, pouring some water into a large bowl. The water in the bowl then suddenly burst into flames. “AHHH!”

“I'll get the fire extinguisher!” Rainbow said, grabbing it and firing it where Sweetie Belle had dropped it. However, instead of the usual white mist, a jet of flames rocketed out and engulfed the bowl even more.

“How did that even happen?!”

“Yeah, that was a heck of a night.” Spike said between mouthfuls. “I still can't believe they won.”

“Tha only reason they won was because tha other contestants ran away.” Applebloom replied, giggling a bit.

After a few moments of silence, Applebloom spoke up again. “So, did ya want ta...” She lost track of her words, trying to bring what happened last night up.

Spike saved her the trouble though. “I've been thinking about it all morning, AB, and...well if you wanted to, maybe I could take you out sometime?” she grinned at him.

“Sounds good ta me. Tomorrow night?” Spike nodded, smiling back.

After they finished their breakfast, Applebloom added. “Oh an' Spike...” The purple dragon nodded, encouraging her to speak. “...maybe, if ya can, could we maybe keep this a secret righ' now...It's just, Ah don't want Pinkie throwin' us a party or nothin'.”

“It does sound like something she'd do...” Spike muttered to himself, before nodding. “Of course, don't worry about that. We can tell ponies when your comfortable with it.”

“Thanks Spike.” Applebloom replied, before she looked at the clock which indicated it was ten past nine. “Well, there's still an hour before Ah hafta head ta tha library...” She grinned, walking towards him.

He looked at the clock too. “Oh, I'm not usually awake this early. So what did you want to do?”

“Ah could think o' somethin'.” She replied, wrapping her hooves around his neck and kissing him on the lips.

“I was wondering when you were getting home, Spike!” Twilight exclaimed, hugging the little dragon when he walked in with Applebloom. The two had actually ended up ten minutes late for Twilight Time.

“Where's Flash?” Spike asked, noticing the orange guard's absence.

“He's doing his flight drills. I told him he didn't have to do those here but I guess it's just a force of habit these days.” Twilight answered.

“Hey AB, we were getting worried.” Sweetie said, leading her over to their group. “So you did read up on the burn healing potion, right? You remember how badly that lemon exploded last week.”

“Yeah...What were ya tryin' ta do anyway?” Sweetie blushed a bit at the question.

“I was trying to peel it...”

“Well it was definitely out of it's skin, I still think the explosion was cooler!” Scootaloo piked in, pressed up against Rumble as usual. Rumble was rubbing his hooves together, nervously, while Button was playing on his Nintendo gamehoof, oblivious to everything around him.

“Alright everyone, let me see what you can do.” Twilight said, raising an eyebrow at how Scootaloo was acting. “Um...If you're not too busy?”

“Fine.” Scootaloo sighed, walking towards the dismantled bicycle that Twilight had laid out. Within seconds, the bike was put together and Scootaloo went back to Rumble. Spike then walked in with some nachos when he noticed the bike.

“It's about time you put that together for me, Twilight. I've been asking you to do that all week!” Twilight grinned sheepishly when Scootaloo sent a glare her way.

“Uh he he...Um, sorry. I figured this was like eating two cupcakes with one bite?”

“Who makes up these sayings?” Rumble asked, not familiar with the one Twilight used.

“Oh, Twilight uses that one because the last time she used the actually one, Owlicious wouldn't speak for a month.” Sweetie explained, eyeing the bird carefully as he remained perched, unfazed.

The next hour was spent with the five of them working on their new skills. Applebloom had managed to make that burn healing potion thanks to a few lessons from Zecora, Button and Rumble had decided to work on organisational skills for the day, Sweetie Belle was actually able to peel the lemon and Scootaloo had managed to fix up a new unicycle and mend the screen on Sweetie's gamehoof.

After they were done, the five left. Spike lent on the door frame, waving goodbye to them. Applebloom turned and winked at him, causing him to grin stupidly and close the door.

When he had done that, there was a knock on the door. Curiously, he opened the door to find Rarity standing there. “Um...Hi Rarity?”

“Hi Spikey, is Twilight home?” Usually Spike was left a little light-headed whenever she used his pet name, but now it hardly phased him at all.

“Sure, she's in the kitchen making some tea. She'll probably have enough for you.” He replied, moving out of the doorway and letting her in. Rarity smiled, walking in and rubbing her hooves on the welcome mat.

“Thank you Darling.” Rarity said, before meeting Twilight in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Hey Rarity, take a seat.” Twilight said, seating herself on the other side of the table. “I already asked the Princess and she said yes, she's sending you an invite for Sweetie Belle and Rumble.”

“Oh thank you, Twilight, you're a star. I just couldn't find a babysitter on such short notice.” She said before Spike felt a belch working it's way up.

“You've got mail!” He yelped before burping up two more tickets.

“Thanks Spike...hmm, looks like the Princess has sent them a plus one ticket each.” She said, showing Rarity the Grand Galloping Gala tickets that had the plus date on the ticket.

“If I didn't know any better, I'd say the Princess was trying to get my sister and brother-in-law laid, so to speak.” Rarity giggled, putting the tickets into her saddle bags. “Oh well, I'm sure they can find someone to take...”

“I'd say if Rumble doesn't take Scootaloo she'd probably kick his flank.” Spike mentioned, sitting on the table.

“Yes, I'll have to see if I could convince him to ask her, then it'd save Big Macintosh and Rainbow Dash time trying to find a sitter.” Rarity said to herself.

“I guess the Princess must have had extra plus one tickets laying around and figured that Rumble and Sweetie Belle might want to bring a friend.”

“Yes, and with the Gala being tomorrow I really have to work on the finishing touches on the dresses and suits.” Spike's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and he spat his tea into Twilight's face in shock.

“AHH! HOT!!” Twilight cried, magically grabbing a tea towel and a vile of Applebloom's left over potion.

“The Gala's tomorrow!” Spike said, shocked. “I thought it was in a month!”

“Well yes, it usually is Dear, but they had to move it because of the new holiday that would have overlapped it.”

“What holiday?” Twilight asked, curiously.

“Cake day.” Rarity responded with a roll of her eyes and a sip of her tea. “Princess Celestia suggested it and her council were too afraid to decline, you know what she's like with her sugary treats...”

“Sister, we know you like these delicacies, but don't you feel this is a bit...much?” Princess Luna asked, watching as her sister ate an entire four-layered double chocolate fudge cake in three bites. Celestia shook her head.

“Of course not, Luna, these were made in preparation of our visit and it would be rude not to enjoy their hard work.”

“Yes, but the rest of us have yet to eat.” Luna responded, gesturing to the sixteen other Unicorns behind her, all looking a little awkward watching the princess down all the cakes.

Celestia wiped her mouth, looking nervous, before whispering into Luna's ear. “Don't make me send you to the moon again...”

“It was a heck of a story if Luna is to be believed.” Rarity muttered, before turning to Spike. “Don't worry Spikey, I will get your suit ready. Oh I can just imagine how strapping you'll look in the little tux...”

“It's not that! I have a date tomorrow...!” Spike slapped both his hands over his mouth after saying this, cursing himself for already breaking his promise to Applebloom.

This time, both Twilight and Rarity spat their drinks into both sides of his face simultaneously, he was not effected much since he could with stand lava, but being spat on wasn't pleasant. “You've got a date!”

“You got over Rarity?!”

“...What do you mean Spike 'got over me'?” Rarity asked Twilight, confused. Twilight looked at Rarity, shocked.

“How have you not noticed?!” Twilight exclaimed. “He used to do EVERYTHING for you! He gave you a gem on his birthday!”

“I...thought he was just being nice...” Rarity responded, rubbing her hooves together nervously.

“Oh my gosh! You're even more oblivious than Applejack was!” Twilight responded.

“Alright everypony, thanks for comin' over ta help wit' Applebuck season!” Applejack said to her five closest friends. This was a year after the incident with the sleep deprivation and she knew better than to try and take it all herself and even for just her and Big Mac.

Big Macintosh, himself, was bucking down the trees around the fences at the front gate, oblivious to a certain rainbow maned Pegasus staring at him, biting her lip slightly.

“Alright, Fluttershy an' Rarity, go help Braeburn wit' tha western orchard please.” Applejack said, to which the two comically saluted and walked over in that direction.

“Twilight, Pinkie! Y'all help me wit' tha southern orchard, if'n ya can!” Pinkie and Twilight also saluted, waiting for her to give Rainbow her orders from the task sheet.

“Rainbow, You'll be helpin' Mac an' Caramel in tha Western orchard, understood?” She finished.

“I want your brother's foals...” She replied, much to Pinkie and Twilight's shock. Applejack just nodded.

“Good, well git too it then!”

“I'm not quite that bad, Dear!” Rarity argued, rolling her eyes. “And in her defence, she was focused on work!”

“It was still funny when Applejack realised just what Rainbow said!” Spike replied, barely containing his laughter.

“But, back on track, Dear, who is this lucky mare? Where are you taking her? What time?!” Rarity asked, pressing her forehead against Spike's in an uncomfortable way. “Tell! Me! Everything!”

Spike slid back and shook his head. “I'm sorry but I promised her I wouldn't tell anypony this morning!”

“But Spike, there are only four mares you could have talked to this morning...And three of them are spoken for...Oh my gosh it's Applebloom!” Spike slapped his claw over his forehead, cursing both his own stupidity and Twilight's detective skills.

“Applebloom?! Oh this is perfect then, you could take her to the Gala!” Spike shook his head.

“I shouldn't have even told you two about it! I promised her I wouldn't! I can't take her to something as big as the Gala! Oh she's going to kill me!”

“Of course I'll go with you Rumble!” Scootaloo said, happily nuzzling him causing him to nearly drop the flower he had picked out for her. Right now, he was standing in her doorway and it was about three in the afternoon.

He was going to ask her, even if Rarity hadn't basically forced him to. He was quite fond of the orange filly, but he was just awkward about how she openly displayed her affection for him...but given how her adoptive mother acts, it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise.

“Great! Um...Rarity said to send you to her so she can get you fitted for a dress...” Before he knew it, Scootaloo had flown straight past him and towards the town, taking the flower with her.

He gawked in the direction she took off before he realised something. “Wait...When did she learn to fly?”

“So...I was wondering...If you're not too busy...That maybe...Um...” Sweetie stuttered in a very Fluttershy kind of way in front of Button Mash, who was standing in the doorway. There are very few ponies that could get him away from his PlayStallion and even less that he would listen to.

But Sweetie Belle was different. He felt a certain fluttery feeling in his chest everytime she was close to him and it looked as if she felt it too, if the awkward way she was acting was any indicator.

He saw that she screwed her eyes shut and passed him something within her green, magical grip. “WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO TO THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA WITH ME TOMORROW?!!” She shouted, just trying to get the words out. Button fell back on his flank from the sheer intensity of her shouting, but he smiled none-the-less.

“Sure Sweetie Belle, what time should I be ready?” Button replied. Sweetie opened her eyes at his response, before smiling widely and gripping him in a massive bear hug, pressing her lips to his.

After a couple of seconds, which left Button in a bit of a stupor at the sheer passion of the moment, Sweetie let go of him in an exaggerated 'mwa'. “Rarity said she'll have your suit ready for tomorrow, she already has your measurements. Come round about four?” She replied, fluttering her eyelashes.

Button trembled, but nodded. Sweetie giggled cutely and kissed his cheek, before skipping back towards the Boutique. Button's mom looked at him in defeat before handing him a bag of twenty bits.

“Fine, you got a marefriend before college. Here's your money.”

Spike stood outside Applebloom's house in anticipation of her wrath. “Why couldn't I just keep my big mouth shut!” He raged as he knocked on the door. “The first mare to give you a chance and you already blew it!”

“It's open, come on in!” He could hear her shout out from behind the door. He sighed and opened the door to find her with a drill in her mouth, pulling some floor boards away, some more next to her. Sweat glistened off her body and she shook her mane clear of said sweat.

Spike stopped still and took in Applebloom in all her glory, only one thought rushing through his mind at the moment. “She is HOT!”

She turned to him and flashed him a smile. “Howdy Spike, give me a sec would ya?”

“Sure, I'll give you as many secs as you like...take all the secs you need...” Spike replied, not realising why Applebloom was giving him a funny look before he took in what he just said. “Seconds! Take all the seconds you need! Sorry...” He said, blushing furiously.

Applebloom giggled a bit before putting a new floorboard in and drilling it in place. She blew the saw dust away and smiled in satisfaction. “Sorry 'bout that. Scootaloo spilled some soda on that floorboard a while ago an' it got all sticky, Ah only jus' got around ta fixin' it.”

She trotted over and pecked Spike on the cheek, before heading over to the kitchen, with him in tow. “So what did ya need?”

“Um...It's about our date tomorrow...” Applebloom rose an eyebrow at him.

“Ya cancellin'?” She asked, a little hurt by the concept. She was relieved, however, when he shook his head.

“No...It may just be a little more...Extravagant than a normal first date...” She rose her eyebrow again and he sighed, taking out the ticket. “It turns out the Grand Galloping Gala is tomorrow and I got a plus one ticket...I was wondering if you wanted to go with me.”

“...Ah don't know Spike...” Applebloom replied, rubbing her hoof uncomfortably over her other one. “Ah mean Ah'd need ta git a dress an' Ah can't git one without Rarity figurin' out what's up...”

“Um...That's the other thing...Twilight and Rarity...Kinda know...”

“WHAT?!” He cringed at her response. “How?!”

“I might have accidently told them...” Applebloom stared at him in disbelief before groaning.

“Great...Ah guess Rarity's already makin' me a dress then...” She felt Spike wrap an arm around her.

“Hey, if you don't want to go we can just do something else.” She looked up, shocked.

“You'd miss tha Gala...Fer me?” Spike smiled.

“Of course, spending time with you is always more fun than some snobby rich pony party.” He replied, causing Applebloom to contemplate his offer.

“Ya know what. Sure Ah'll go wit' ya.” She decided, wrapping her hoof around Spike as well. “Besides, Ah'm sure nopony will make too much of a big deal of it if we go together.”

“Right. As far as anypony except me, you, Twilight and Rarity knows, we're just two friends hanging out.” He grinned, before wrapping his other arm around her and manoeuvring her onto the kitchen table with the back hooves around his waist, front hooves around his neck.

She grinned at him seductively. “Don't ya git too frisky now...” She said, kissing him on the cheek quickly. “...Ah ain't that easy...”

“I always like a challenge...” He replied, hoping it didn't ruin the moment. Luckily the mare giggled before placing her lips over his.

“Hey AB, does mah flank look...” Applejack started, before walking in on the two of them. The two yelped and separated immediately. Applebloom shuffling up on the table a bit more.

The three just stood there, looking at each other awkwardly before Applejack, slowly, walked backwards through the door, closing it behind her.

After a couple more minutes, Applebloom groaned. “Ah need ta git a lock fer that door...”

“Seriously! Applebloom and Spike?!” Rainbow asked Applejack. The two were out in the orchards, checking to make sure the Vampire Fruit Bats stayed in their part of the orchard and that some animals from a certain caretaker's home didn't decide to take some freebies.

“Ah'm serious Dash, Ah saw 'em smoochin' as Ah walked in there.” Applejack replied, her eye twitching. “It was somethin' Ah coulda done without...Ain't that filly ever heard of behind closed doors...”

Rainbow laughed out loud. “Ring ring. Hey pot, this is kettle! You're black!”

“What da ya mean by that?!” Applejack asked, slightly put off.

“You do remember why AB moved out in the first place, right?!” She asked, chuckling a bit more. “She said she could here EVERYTHING!” Applejack blushed and pulled her hat down to cover it.

“Sh-shut it!”

“Wow Scoots! You look SO pretty! That dress looks so great!” Sweetie complimented, watching the orange filly walking towards her wearing a purple dress with a golden trim, several purple amethysts adorning the trim as well.

She smiled a bit, but shook it away. “Yeah...For a frilly dress anyway...Thank you Rarity.” Scootaloo replied, hoping not to have offended the fashionista.

Rarity just giggled, using her magic to put some final touches on a couple of dresses behind her. “Not a problem my dear...Just try not to be glued to Rumble's side the entire night.”

“No promises.” There was a knock at the door after her comment, causing the three to turn towards it. Then in walked Applebloom, looking in meekly.

“Ah, hey guys...Ah just came ta...”

“Get your dress for your date with Spike?” Rarity asked, before Applebloom made a cutting action across her throat, pointing to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, both of which had a shocked look on their faces.

“You're going on a date with Spike?!” Scootaloo asked, about to rush forward before remembering her dress and just settled for looking astonished.

“AHHH! Yes! But it's not that big a deal!” Applebloom answered.

“Yes it is a big deal! We're your best friends! So it's our duty to make fun of you and Spike when seen together from now on!” Sweetie Belle declared, as if giving a motivational speech. Applebloom rolled her eyes.

“Gee thanks.” She then turned and gave Rarity a deadpan look. “Will it be ready by tomorrow?”

“Yes, just come by 10 AM for a first fitting and I'll be able to make adjustments for the evening.” Rarity replied, before a topaz she was about to put on a red dress was paused by her own hoof. “Urg, no what was I thinking! That yellow would clash horribly with this red...”

“Thanks later.” She was about to leave, but when she opened the door, Spike was pushed besides her and a large pile of confetti was thrown at them.

“Congradulations!” The pink pastry daemon more commonly known as Pinkie Pie declared, giggling. “Way to go on finding a very special somepony...or somedragon in your case AB! Oh you two are so cute together!” She declared to the embarrassment of the two.

“Applejack told her...” Spike said, making sure he was not going to get the blame for this one.

“I know. Even if we told her ta keep it secret she's incapable o' doing so...Like that time she was in tha witness protection programme...”

“Alright Applejack, right now your cover identity is Triple Apple Surprise.” A pony in a suit and sunglasses said to her, handing over a document. The two were on the Pony Express on route to Appleloosa.

“...Cause Ah have three apples on mah flank?” She asked, looking at the three red apples adorning her butt.

“Like the name Applejack relates to your cutie mark.” He responded. “We couldn't come up with anything better...Now then, you'll be living in Appleloosa for the year and, once we get the guy behind bars, you can go home. Just make sure you don't tell anyone you're name is Applejack. Nopony must know!”

“Alright.” Applejack said, taking the document as the train stopped. She then stepped out and waved as the train left behind her.

She looked to her left and saw Caramel sitting besides his wife, Sassaflash, looking fairly content. “Hey Caramel! Sassaflash!” She called out to them, to which they looked over to her...as did the other thirty ponies in the train station. “It's me, Applejack!”

It was about an hour later that Spike was heading back to the library, after seeing Applebloom home. He decided to walk her there since, well, he liked to think himself a gentle-dragon.

He was stopped, however, by Big Macintosh who was sitting under the arch of the main gate, an apple core on the ground beside him. “Oh, hey Mac.”

“Howdy...” He started, looking Spike in the eye. “Ah heard that you an' ma little sister are datin'.”

“Applejack?” Spike asked with a deadpan expression. Mac nodded, to which he groaned. “I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up tomorrow and Princess Celestia herself had heard the news.”

“Eeyup...” He said, looking down at the apple core, playing around with it for a bit. “Now as you're are aware, Ah love ma sister very much an' Ah don't wanna see 'er git hurt...”

He looked Spike in the eye again with such an intensity that it caused him to step back a bit in fear. “So if Ah hear that she sheds even a single tear because of ya...” He carried on, slamming his hoof down on the apple core, causing the remaining juice of it to splash under hoof and the whole thing to resemble a pancake. “...that'll be yer head.”

“U-understood...” Spike stammered, knowing that even his scales wouldn't be able to stand such a force. Big Mac then did a 180 on his emotions and grinned, happily at the purple dragon.

“Good. Now Ah'm sure Ah won't hafta...Ah haven't had ta fer Soarin an' Ah know ya Spike, yer a good fella.” He said, trotting towards his home before pausing.

“What's up?” Spike asked, noticing his sheepish expression.

“Ah may have told Cheese, Braeburn an' Thunderlane...Sorry 'bout that.”

“Oh there you are, Spike!” Flash said, grinning as the dragon entered the library. Right now, he and Twilight were talking, nuzzling and drinking some tea on the couch. “How's it going?”

“I'm dating Applebloom.” Twilight's eyes widened.

“I thought you weren't supposed to be telling ponies that!” Spike rolled his eyes.

“What's the point, Twilight?! Everypony else already knows!”

“Good for you Buddy!” The Pegasus replied, smiling. “I was wondering when you'd find your filly!”

“Yeah. Luckily I found her in this Universe and not some monkey one I was transported to.” Twilight could be seen making a cut throat action as Flash raised an eyebrow.

“Um...A monkey Universe?” He asked, turning to the Princess who ceased her actions and forced herself to grin.

“Y-yes...Spike was reading this book called...er...The Jungle Romance where a gibbon falls in love with a...Um...A koala and has to fight a grizzly bear for her honour!” She answered, to which he clapped.

“Oh yeah! I remember that book! The author weren't to smart though, koala's don't live in jungles, it was completely unrealistic!” Spike rolled his eyes.

“From the sounds of it realism wasn't at the for front of that idea...” Spike responded, heading upstairs. “I'm going to go to bed and pretend today didn't happen...Try to keep it down, will ya! The walls aren't as thick as you think they are!”

Poker Night

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Poker Night

“Hey, Spike! Button!” Rumble called to the two excitedly as he saw them exit the library.

“Oh hey Rumble!” Button called back, waving. “What's up?! We aren't late for the Crusader meeting or anything, are we?” He asked, kinda confused on how he was acting.

“I don't think he'd be excited about that.” Spike responded, raising an inquisitive eyebrow as well. “So what's up?” Rumble bounce up and down on the spot.

“Thunderlane invited us to play poker with him and the other guys tonight! Isn't that cool?!”

“Uh...” Button stumbled, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “...I usually play Haylo tonight...”

“Oh c'mon Button, live a little!” Spike exclaimed, putting a claw on his shoulder. “I mean we were asked to hang out with the grown ups to do something grown up with them! Isn't that awesome?!” The brown colt let a small smile appear on his face.

“Yeah...I guess that is pretty cool.” He said, before nodding proudly. “Alright I'll come...Just don't tell my mom about it! She'd kill me if she ever found out I was gambling!”

“They don't gamble real money, Button.” Rumble said, rolling his eyes. “It's just a fun little pass time while the girls go to the Spa.” Then something occurred to Spike.

“Hold on. Do you think the only reason they invited us was because the girls invited Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to the Spa tonight?” The three thought about that for a moment before Rumble shrugged.

“Ah who cares!” He said, before he took the air and flew off towards the farm. “Last one to AB's house is a rotten apple!”

“Hey Applebloom, what's that you're playing?” Rainbow asked from the sofa in the Cutie Mark Crusader headquarters AKA Applebloom's house. She decided to visit the kids because...Well she had the day off and it was a slow day on the farm.

“Farmin' simulator...” She replied, moving the mouse to click on the options menu. Scootaloo rose an eyebrow at that.

“Of all the things to waste your money on! You LIVE on a farm, AB, you don't need a simulator for it!” She then turned to Sweetie Belle. “Right Sweetie Belle?”

“Shh! Building a waterfall!” She hushed her friend, playing her favourite game MineCraft. Scootaloo gave an exasperated sigh and turned to her adoptive mother.

“Why are all my friends nerds?” Rainbow laughed at that before they heard a knock on the door. “It's open guys!”

The three guys from earlier walked in, spotting each of their marefriends doing their own thing. “Um...Applebloom?” Spike asked, watching her sprite pony trying to plough the field.

“Shh...Be wit' ya in a sec, Babe.” Applebloom replied, continuing with her game.

“But you forgot to lower the plough into the dirt.” He pointed out, showing the unploughed field on the screen.

“What?! Aw, Ah just wasted half an hour!” Scootaloo nuzzled Rumble, but still managed to give a quick quip.

“Oh yeah, like you wouldn't have wasted your time ploughing a field that doesn't exist when you could just go outside and plough a REAL field!”

“Ooo waterfall!” Button said, excitedly watching Sweetie Belle play good old MineCraft. Rainbow rolled her eyes and stood up.

“Hey, I'm heading out to grab lunch with Mac and AJ. I think AJ invited everyone, so maybe you guys should come too. If just to get away from the video games for a while.” Rainbow commented as Sweetie Belle looked up.

“Sure, just let me save...”

“...Finished ploughing...” Applebloom said, getting her avatar in the barn to save. Spike grinned, forcing her away from the screen.

“C'mon AB, before you forget to eat again.”

“Hey everyone!” Pinkie announced as she popped out of Twilight's salad bowl, unexpectedly. She then frowned and plunged her hoof into the bowl, dragging Cheese out of there as well. “There you are!”

“Here I am!” Cheese grinned, before noticing everyone else staring at the two of them in amazement. “What? Do I have something in my teeth?” He asked, poking his teeth with a hoof.

“...Don't worry about it...” Thunderlane answered, shuffling closer to Rarity to clear some space for the two.

“Okie Doki Loki!” Pinkie cheered, sitting in the space with Cheese.

“Hey Cheese, don't forget about Poker tonight!” Soarin commented, to which Applejack rose an eyebrow.

“Ah jus' got a quick question, how come y'all never invited any girls ta play Poker wit' you guys?” Rainbow nodded.

“Yeah! Is it a guy thing? Some sexist, guy thing?” Soarin rose an eyebrow.

“No. Mares are welcome to play.” He answered to their further confusion.

“...Okay, so what is it then?” Rainbow asked.

“It's jus' that we jus' don't know any mares that know how ta play Poker...” Braeburn answered, the guys nodding in agreement. The girls then started to argue...Well all of them except Fluttershy who sat there quietly.

Mac interrupted them with a simple question. “Um...Do any o' Y'ALL know how ta play Poker?”

“...No!” All of the mares and the three fillies answered all at once.

“But you could teach us?” Twilight said, to which the guys shook their heads.

“We ain't exactly teachers...And it ain't something we can just teach overnight.” Flash said, taking a bite out of his sandwich. “...Why do you want play, anyway? We always play when you girls go to the spa so it's not like you do nothing when we play.”

“Well, unfortunately, the spa is undergoing repairs since...Cutie Mark Crusader Mud Bath Wrestlers...” Rarity answered, looking at the five ponies and one dragon responsible.

“...In our defence, we didn't expect the walls to blow up when Spike sneezed.” Scootaloo defended.

"We also didn't realize Spike blew fire when he sneezed, we thought it was just when he burped!" Button continued.

“Yeah, an' how were we supposed ta know he was allergic ta tha lilacs in their gardens?” Applebloom concluded, giving him a one armed hug. “Besides, Aloe an' Lotus did say they were thinkin' about expandin' tha buildin' anyhow.”

“Well...I guess we could tell them the basics...” Soarin finally caved, not wanting to leave the girls alone for the night.

“Aw c'mon, Ah'm sure it'll be fun!” AJ consoled him, smiling.

“Okay, so now. We draw cards...” Thunderlane explained, slowly, as he passed out two cards per player.

The group decided to play cards in the Apple's barn tonight since they have a much bigger group than they usually do. So the seventeen ponies and one dragon sat around a large table, which made it kinda of difficult to see the cards in the middle. As a result, Twilight had to use a neat little projector spell which displays the centre cards on a screen created in a cloud of purple smoke in the centre so everyone can see.

“And then I play three cards face up in the middle. The trick is to try and find matching numbers in your hand and on the table, Ace is the highest, then King, then Queen, then Jack, then Ten, downwards...”

Twilight interrupted. “How comes Ace is the highest? Isn't the Ace a one?”

“Sometimes in other games...” Soarin answered. “But here, it's the highest card you can get. Not sure why, but try not to let it get to ya.”

“Four of a kind is one of the best hands you can get...”

“Hey I got four sixes!” Rainbow cheered, happily. The guys face-hoofed while some of the others, like Twilight, Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle congratulated her.

“Sweetie...” Mac said to her, causing her to look up. “Yer not supposed ta tell anypony that. Yer supposed ta keep it from them so you can raise tha bets in tha round. If'n they know fer a fact yer hand is better than theirs, they'll jus' fold an' ya won't win any o' tha chips...”

“Oh...Whoops.” Thunderlane rolled his eyes.

“It's fine, this is just a practice hand...” Pinkie then put her cards on the table and slid them back. “Um...Yes Pinkie?”

“I want a reshuffle!”

“Um...This isn't Magic the Gathering. You can't reshuffle...” Thunderlane explained, looking at her two cards and saw two Jacks. “And you have a pair of high cards! Why?”

“They don't look happy and I couldn't cheer them up!” Thunderlane sighed and just shuffled them in and gave her two new cards.

Pinkie looked at her two and seven and smiled. “That's better!”

“There are other ways you could win too. Some of the other hands you can get are straights, which is when you have five numbers that go in order, like two, three, four, five and six. A flush, which is the same thing, but when they're in the same suite as well, like Diamonds or Spades. Then ya got the strongest hand, which is the royal flush which is a Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace all in the same suite.” Thunderlane explained, handing out a few sheets. “Here, I wrote them all up so you all have a reference.”

“Then we get to the betting stages!” Cheese announced, happily. “The Pony to the left of the Dealer always places their bet first! They have to put down at least one chip! Then the player next to them can either just put in one chip, fold or raise. If you fold, you don't participate, even if the cards flipped over later works to your advantage. If you raise, you can place more than one chip. The amount of extra chips is up to you, then the player that goes next has to match it or they fold or even raise further! After everypony has decided if they're in or not, they can then check! That means they flip over another card in the centre!”

“Eeyup...” Big Mac interrupted, before Cheese starts to trail off. He tends to do that if he's talking for too long. “There can only be five cards in tha middle, but those cards are fer everypony ta use. So remember to check if'n tha cards in tha middle ain't ta ya likin' right then an' there.”

“An' that's all ya need ta know!” Braeburn finished, looking amongst the gathered ponies. “Any questions?” When nopony answered, he grinned. “Alrighty then let's play!”

“Hold on!” Soarin interrupted. “Maybe the girls should have a few practice rounds against each other before we play.”

“...Well sure, sounds good.” Thunderlane agreed. “Everypony, find yourselves a partner...” He said as he sat next to Rarity.

Everyone then found their significant other and sat next to them. Twilight with Flash, Applejack with Soarin, Rainbow with Mac, Fluttershy with Braeburn, Pinkie with Cheese, Sweetie with Button, Scootaloo with Rumble and Applebloom with Spike.“...I should of really seen this coming.”

“Yeah like I woulda picked anypony else!” Rainbow grinned, leaning against Mac, before pausing. “Well maybe Scootaloo, but she's playing too.”

“Yer a poet, an' ya didn't even know it!” Applejack shot back, grinning. The others rolled their eyes as Pinkie snatched the cards.

“I bugsy dealer!” She announced, shuffling them around faster than the Pony eye could conceive.

“...She and Cheese are the same pony...They've got to be...” Flash said to himself, to which Twilight shrugged.

“It really wouldn't surprise me, and that kind of scares me too...”

“Alright two cards each!” She said as she threw each pony two cards like ninja shurikens, actually embedding themselves into the table they were playing on. She then threw three cards in the middle, while also remembering to discard a card before throwing one to said position. They were the Two of Diamonds, Queen of Spades and Seven of Spades.

“Don't look like there's much hope of a flush or straight right now...” Twilight mentioned, studying her hand and the reference sheet by her side, as well as the cards in the centre. The pony to be initiating the bets was Applebloom, followed by Scootaloo then Applejack, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Twilight then back to Pinkie.

Applebloom looked at her cards with Spike, shrugged and threw in a chip out of her fifty.

“...Uh call?” Scootaloo said, throwing in a chip, causing Rumble to face-hoof.

“Scoots. You're suppose to look at your hand first.” Scootaloo rose an eyebrow, looking at the cards.

“Say, why is it called a hand anyway? Spike's the only one with hands here!” The others looked at her.

“...Hey that's a good point!” Twilight agreed, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

“It's because tha game originated from tha Dragon Kingdom an' tha dragons would play tha game wit' travellin' ponies ta con 'em outta there gems an' coins ta add ta their hoard.” Mac answered, shruggin'. “That's where Ma an' Pa learned ta play, anyway.”

“So that's why they came back so early wit' no money tha first time! Ah thought they just blew it all in Las Pegasus or somethin'!” Applejack exclaimed, before glancing down at her cards, a wide grin spreading on her face, which everyone saw. “Ah'll raise.” She said, throwing six chips in the middle.

“Fold.”

“Fold.” Each of them declared, throwing their cards in the middle. Applejack blink, showing the two Queens in her hand.

“...How in tarnation did y'all figure Ah have a good hand?!” She asked as she gained two chips from the round. Soarin sighed as he remembered that Applejack is the Element of Honesty, and thus would be a very, VERY bad bluffer.

“...Nevermind. Applebloom's turn to be Dealer.” Thunderlane said as Twilight used her magic to move all the cards to the yellow Earth pony.

“...Um...” She said, picking the cards up and picked a few in the centre to throw onto the top. Then she lost her grip and the cards fell all over the table in front of her, much to her embarrassment. “Sorry...”

She turned to Spike, putting on the puppy dog eyes, pouting. “Could ya shuffle 'em fer me please, Spikey?” Spike blushed hard, but did as he was asked, shuffling the deck flawlessly, passing the cards around. Applebloom nuzzled him as thanks and turned back around.

“...Spike is SO whipped!” Rainbow whispered to Fluttershy, who giggled a bit in agreement. She thought it was kind of cute, while Rainbow thought it was quite funny.

“Alright...” Scootaloo said, looking at her King of Spades and Ace of Diamonds, looking at the Three of Hearts, Two of Clubs and Two of Hearts in the middle. “Here's one chip.” She said, throwing it in. “If I can get a four and five in the middle, I'll have a straight, right?” She whispered to Rumble, who nodded.

“Yup, good work.”

Applejack, once again, had a huge, obvious grin on her face as she said. “Ah'll raise.” She said. To which the answer from everypony else was.

“Fold.”

Applejack blinked and showed the two aces in her hands. “Wow...That's pretty creepy...” She muttered to herself, while the guys tried their best to hide the amused smirks from their faces while Twilight passed the deck over to Scootaloo.

Scootaloo placed the deck of cards between her petite wings and flapped them wildly, somehow making the cards shuffle amongst themselves in the pile.

The other Pegasi stared at her slack-jawed as she took the deck back. She rose an eyebrow. “What?”

“That was awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed, shocking the little Pegasus. “How did you do that?!”

“...I thought all Pegasi could do this?”

“It isn't something we're born with, if that's what you're saying.” Soarin replied. Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly.

“Well, I learned how to do it when we were trying to be Cutie Mark Crusader Magicians...”

“...But that didn't turn out so good...” Applebloom continued.

“...And somehow, we got covered in tree sap.” Sweetie Belle finished, an odd look on her face. “We weren't even near any trees!”

Scootaloo shrugged, using her wing to flick the cards to each player, effortlessly. “I figured if I can't fly with these yet, I should do something with them...I just didn't realise I'd ever have to do this again.”

The cards in the centre, this time, were the King of Hearts, Jack of Hearts and the Ten of Hearts. Applejack smiled, victoriously, throwing a chip in the middle. Almost predictably...

“Fold.”

“It's like y'all can read mah mind!” She said, throwing her Queen and Jack of Hearts in the middle, the royal flush. “Ah don't wanna play anymore!”

Soarin wrapped a wing around her shoulders. “It's okay, AJ, we just have to work on your Poker Face.”

“...Mah what?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Your Poker Face. It's what we use to describe your facial expression when you're bluffing. You basically have to lie about how good your cards are. You could have the worst cards ever, but you could bluff to make your opponents think you'll win so they'll fold.” Soarin then smiled, bopping her on the nose. “And you, AJ, have the worst Poker Face ever...”

She huffed, crossing her hooves across her chest. “Not mah fault Ah'm tha Element o' Honesty... Blame destiny or somethin'...”

“Well, since AJ's no longer playing, We'll pass dealing over to Rarity.” Rumble said, said pony gathering all the cards in her direction.

“Thank you Darling...” She said, shuffling the deck and dealing the cards out.

(The amount of chips each pony has left are as follows:
Pinkie: 50
AB: 49
Scootaloo:48
AJ: OUT
Rarity: 50
Sweetie Belle: 50
Rainbow: 50
Fluttershy: 50
Twilight: 50)

The cards in the middle were the Three of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds and the Seven of Hearts. Rarity throw a chip in the middle.

Sweetie Belle looked disgusted about something, while looking over her cards. Button rose an eyebrow. “Uh...Are you okay, Sweetie Belle?” She shook her head as she spat out one of her playing chips.

“Yuck! They don't taste like chips at all!” Button face-hoofed himself, mostly for not noticing his fillyfriend trying to eat plastic chips.

“Sweetie Belle, they're playing chips. Not potato chips...” She blinked and looked at them.

“Oh! I thought they tasted a bit...plasticky...” He looked at the chips in front of her and counted them.

“Uh...Why are there only thirty-nine chips here?” Sweetie Belle looked away in embarrassment.

“Um...I may have already eaten eleven of them...” Their eyes widened as Thunderlane looked at the box.

“I know it says for ages thirteen and up, but I didn't think a twelve year old would eat anything!” He exclaimed, snatching Sweetie Belle up and flying towards the door. “I'll take her to the hospital!”

“I'll come with you dear!” Rarity agreed, to which Button also got up, worried about his fillyfriend.

With that, the four raced out the door, much to the mixed reactions of the others. Some were shocked, others were confused and the rest were finding this incredibly funny. Mac looked at the box and sighed in relief.

“At least tha chips are non-toxic...” He told everyone. "She'll have an upset stomach fer a bit, but it won't be fatal at least...”

“But how are they gonna get something like this out!” Spike exclaimed, holding up the chip, which had about a two inch diameter. “I'm kinda surprised she could swallow it in the first place!”

“...That's what she said!” Rainbow said, grinning. The others rolled their eyes at her as Mac tried to answer.

...Key word, TRIED.

“Um...Well, they'll probably give 'er a potion ta break down tha chips enough so...she can er...She can...Expel 'em?”

“Like a spell from Harry Trotter?” Scootaloo asked, innocently. Rainbow shot a glare at Twilight.

“I still hate you for getting her hooked on those, by the way.” She complained. “I don't understand any of it!”

“Um...Not quite...It's so she can...Uh...Excrete 'em...”

“...What's excrete mean?” Applebloom asked, curiously. Mac sweated a little bit.

“Um...So they...um...They....”

“It's so she can poo them out!” Applejack exclaimed, much to the horror of the two fillies and colt.

“EWWWW!!”

“Why the heck would you say that?!” Twilight responded, eyes wide as she saw the three younger ponies try to get that mental image out of their subconscious.

“...Ah figured they were a little more mature than this. They're in relationships fer cryin' out loud!”

“They're still twelve!”

“...Can we play something else, please?” Fluttershy asked quietly, causing the entire room to pause and look at her.

Braeburn shrugged. “Well alight, Sweetheart, what do you want ta play?”

“Ah still can't believe Fluttershy has fencin' gear...” Applejack said, admiring the long, blade in her hoof through the large, black cage like head gear.

“I can't believe she never told us that she fenced!” Rainbow exclaimed, sending a look over to said Pegasus who was adorning her own gear. “How come you never told us about this?”

“...Well...N-nopony ever asked...” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Oh yes, I forgot that's how it works! We're supposed to ask you every single thing you could do, in case you do do it! While we're at it, are you into extreme rock climbing too?” She asked, sarcastically, to which Fluttershy rubbed the back of her head.

“Well...Now that you mention it...” She started, producing a rock climbing helmet out of the saddlebags she brought from her house.

There was a pause of about ten seconds before it was broken by Flash. “Wow, we really need to get to know Fluttershy better...”

Cutie Mark Crusaded Part One

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Cutie Mark Crusaded Part One

“Spike! Hurry up!” Twilight called up to her assistant, as he started hanging up a Jack-o-Lantern.

“I'm hurrying! I'm hurrying!” Spike called down, hooking it onto the attached hooks...Which were on the ceiling of the library for no reason really. “I don't know why you didn't just get Pinkie or Cheese to help!”

“I told you, Pinkie and Cheese are visiting her family this week!” Spike whistled.

“Jeez, a whole week at a quarry, how will they cope?”

Meanwhile, at said quarry, Pinkie was sat in one go-kart with Cheese behind it while Inkie was sat in another with Blinkie behind it, Maude standing before them with a flag.

“Okay. First ones to the bottom gets to go first on the Apple Bobbing. On you're marks. Get set. Go.” Maude said, flatly, waving the flag as the Pinkie and Inkie raced off once they were pushed by Blinkie and Cheese.

“So Cheese, how comes Pinkie's other friends don't come round?” Cheese shrugged.

“Pinkie says your dad doesn't like it when too many ponies come round and they just kinda assume it'd be boring here.” He kicked a small stone from beneath his feet and pulled out a packet of balloons from underneath. “Now to make a rhino!”

“They'll be back before they bore to death, I'm sure.” Twilight answered, using her magic to put the rest of the banners up, as well as dust the shelves, and set up the punch bowls. Spike's jaw dropped.

“...If you could do all that on your own, why did you need to make me hang these up one at a time!” Twilight rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly.

“Um...I forgot that I was supposed to get you to cook the food...Sorry?” Spike sighed and walked towards the kitchen, grabbing his frilly pink apron on the way.

“You don't pay me enough for this job...” Twilight rose an eyebrow.

“I don't pay you at all.”

“Exactly!”

“Howdy Twi!” Applejack announced as she and Applebloom trotted in with Applebloom carrying a box on her back and another on her head. Twilight smiled at them and greeted them back.

“Hey girls.” She then turned to the kitchen. “Spike! Applejack and Applebloom are here!”

“Hey Applejack! Hey AB! Can't talk, trying to balance cooking trays!” They then heard a loud crash from the kitchen. “...and failing!”

“Ah'll go see if'n Ah can help.” Applebloom said, placing the two boxes on the ground and rushing into the kitchen.

Applejack shook her head. “How haven't they started started datin' sooner?”

Twilight shot her a curious look. “Hey pot, this is kettle. You're black.”

“Why does everypony keep sayin' that? An' what do ya mean by that!”

“Everypony keeps saying it because you're constantly being a hypocrite, and what I mean by it is that you and Soarin had been skirting around each other for about two and a half years before Rainbow and Mac practically forced you two together!” Applejack blushed, and shot her a half hearted glare.

“Shut up...”

“INCOMING!!!” They heard just before they cringed as the sound of a window shattering in the distance rung in their ears and Rainbow landed on the couch in the centre of the room.

“Would it kill you to use the door, Rainbow?!” Twilight scolded, looking in her direction, causing her frustration turn to confusion.

Rainbow was dressed in a tan coloured vest with a tan pith helmet, a whip wrapped around her wing. “Um...You might want an explanation...”

“Nah. This seems pretty normal...” Applejack stated. Twilight giggled a bit before guessing.

"Nightmare Night Costume?"

“Yup!” Rainbow cheered, flipping onto her hooves, and dusting herself off. “Can ya guess who I am?!”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin, pretending to think about it. “Hmm, let's see. Pith helmet. Vest. Whip...Oh who could you possibly be?”

“...An adventurous masochist?” Twilight turned to gawk at her friend.

“Where did you get THAT idea from?!” Applejack blushed and rubbed her forehoof with the other.

“Well...Me an' Soarin thought things were getting' a little repetitive in tha bedroom...So...”

“I don't want to hear it!” Twilight interrupted, before turning to Rainbow Dash to try and change the subject. “And yes, I know you're dressed as Daring Doo. But why are you dressed up now, you're supposed to wait until night time!”

“Well, I couldn't wait to try this on! I look really badass!” She cheered, pumping a hoof in the air. “Plus, Mac decided to come as Ahuizotl, so our costumes will match!”

“Um...But, isn't Ahuizotl, Daring Doo's arch nemesis?” Rainbow shrugged.

“Eh, I ship 'em. You know, opposites attract and all that junk.” Twilight rolled her eyes before smoke started to come out of the kitchen. Rainbow smiled a bit. “I didn't know Sweetie Belle was here!”

“Spike! This book said set ta three hundred degrees Fahrenheit! What did you set it too?!”

“Fahrenheit?! I thought it said Celsius!”

“This oven doesn't even go ta three hundred degrees Celsius!”

“I know, I had to blow fire into it!”

Rainbow sighed, and walked out the library. “I'll get a fire cloud...”

“So we just need tha one Potato?” Applebloom asked, walking with Twilight towards the store.

“Yeah, it's for my dinner tonight before we go to Canterlot the next day. So you buy that, and I'll grab the cheese.” Twilight confirmed as they entered the store and split up.

Applebloom went towards the third isle and found the potatoes. However, the potatoes were in packets of two.

“Well...Twi only wants one...Plus, we are goin' ta Canterlot tomorrow...” Applebloom thought to herself, remembering that they were heading up to a Farmer's Convention in Canterlot for the week after tonight.

So, the filly took the packet of two, and found an employee. “Um...Excuse me miss.” Applebloom asked an Earth Pony mare wearing a blue shirt over her green coat, matching her blue mane.

The mare turned with a smile. “Yes. How can I help you?”

“Uh. Well, Ah jus' want one potato.”

“I'm sorry ma'am, but they come in twos.” Applebloom rose an eyebrow.

“No they don't. You did that...” The mare recoiled a bit.

“I'm sorry?”

“Potatoes come in ones, it's one potato, two potato, three potato, four. Not two potato, four potato, six potato, flippin' eight!” Applebloom argued. The pony shook her head.

“Oh sorry...What I meant to say is that we only sell them in twos. Can't you just buy the two and have the other one another time?”

“Well yeah, Ah would normally, but me an' mah friends are goin' ta Canterlot tomorrow, mah friend's goin' ta have a jacket potato fer dinner an' Ah'm pretty sure she can nail first time.” Applebloom stated, knowing that Twilight can handle such a simple meal. Spike was staying with her tonight since his room was being used for apple bobbing so they were going to find something in her house.

“I'm sorry?”

“Look, mah friend ain't no Doughnut Joe, but she can handle this. She don't need a contingency potato in case it all goes wrong! An' Ah'm also sure she don't want it fer breakfast tomorrow neither!”

“Um...” The mare stuttered, trying to think of a way to appease her customer. “Why don't you take it with you?”

“...You want me ta take a potato with me ta Canterlot?” Applebloom asked, incredulously. “Oh sure, Ah'll tell mah sister she can't come because Ah'm takin' a potato instead!”

“I didn't mean instead of your sister!”

“What ya want us ta take it with us on a business trip ta Canterlot?!” Applebloom asked. “Oh sure, if'n tha ponies ain't convinced ta buy anythin' by us, good ol' potato should surely seal tha deal, hey?”

“Oh, I didn't know it was a business trip...”

“What does it matter what kinda trip it is?! Even if me an' mah boyfriend were goin' on a romantic break, Ah probably wouldn't take tha potato with me!”

“Um...Why don't you just give the potato away?”

“Of course, what was Ah thinkin'?!” Applebloom exclaimed, sarcastically. “It's mah brother's birthday next week! An' he was so disappointed with last years cabbage! An' now tha butter an' beans Ah got 'im Heart's Warming may actually make some sense!”

“I didn't mean as a present...”

“What? So ya want me ta wait here in tha unlikely chance that another pony in tha same situation as us comes in wantin' jus' one potato so we can split tha pack with him!” Applebloom asked, raising her eyebrow. “Don't think Ah'm doin' that again, last time Ah was here until three in tha mornin' tryin' ta get rid of tha yellow pepper out of a pack of three...”

Twilight had come into the aisle just as the argument started to escalate and quickly intervened. “Um...Don't worry, I'll just eat the two...” Twilight said, sheepishly pulling Applebloom away from the relieved mare.

“Twilight! Ah was winnin' that argument!”

“C'mon Scoots! We're gonna be late!” Rumble called, glancing, anxiously, at the clock on the wall.

“I'll just be another minute Rumble! Can you feed Cluckworth for me though?” Rumble rose an eyebrow at the stairs.

“Who's Cluckworth?”

“He's my rooster!”

“...Since when did you have a rooster?”

“I got him last week! I bugged my dad to get me a pet until he caved and gave him to me!” Rumble glanced down and jumped when he saw said rooster before him, staring at him blankly.

“Um...Hi Cluckworth?” Rumble said, waving. Cluckworth tilted his head to the side and clucked a couple of times. “So...You know where your food is?”

Cluckworth nodded and started to walk to the kitchen where Tank was seen, eating a few cauliflower leaves. Cluckworth then pointed his beak up towards the bag of chicken feed on the counter.

Rumble grabbed the bag and started to pour the bag into the bowl next to Tank's. Cluckworth clucked a couple of times and started to eat up. “Thanks Rumble!”

Rumble jumped at the voice behind him, before he turned to see Scootaloo wearing a Wonderbolt uniform, grinning at him. “Mom got it for me! Pretty cool, huh?”

“Yeah.” Rumble agreed. Scootaloo rose an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“Where's your costume?” Rumble glanced up at the propeller hat on his head.

“I'm wearing it.”

“You're supposed to dress up as someone you're not.” Scootaloo argued.

“I am!” Rumble declared, producing some tape to make his wings blend in with his fur and strapped them onto his wings, also grabbing his Nintendo gamehoof. “I'm going as Button!”

Scootaloo giggled at him, slapping him, gently, on his side. “Alright, alright! I give.” She responded, heading towards the door. “Just gotta stop by AJ's to feed Winona and we can get going.”

“C'mon Spike!” Applebloom said, trying to coax Spike out of his room.

“No Applebloom! I look stupid!”

“Aw c'mon, Ah think ya look adorable!”

“I don't WANT to look adorable! I have an image to maintain!”

Applebloom rose an eyebrow. “...Of wearin' a pink apron an' dustin' shelves all day?”

“...Wow, way to make me feel good about myself...”

“Ah didn't mean it like that Spike! C'mon, plenty o' costumes look a bit silly. Besides, Ah'm wearin' tha same one.”

Applejack and Twilight walked up the stairs, looking worried, before they spotted Applebloom and looked physically relieved. “See AJ, I told you they wouldn't be doing...THAT.” Twilight said, to which Applejack rose her eyebrow at her.

“Yer tha one that brought it up!”

“Urg...Fine...” Spike conceded, leaving the room, revealing himself to be wearing a pink, bunny costume to match Applebloom's blue one.

Twilight and Applejack stared at him for a few seconds, before they burst out laughing at him. He spotted them and growled, menacingly, a flicker of green fire escaping his lips.

“Careful. I wouldn't want anything to happen to your manes...” The two immediately ceased their laughter, less they be bald for the week...much like the last time someone made Spike angry...

Applebloom and Spike were walking through the park on their day off, both with an ice cream, Spike hold her's in front of her as they walked.

Just as they rounded a corner, a grey hoof and a pink hoof knocked the ice cream's into their faces and the two soon had a wafer cone with the sticky substance stuck on their foreheads.

The two hooves, attached to the two school bullies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, started laughing at the pair. “Nice new look, Blank Flank!”

“Yeah, dirty and grubby! Then again, that's how you usually loo...” Diamond didn't get to finish her sentence as she and her friend had to duck as a jet of green flames shot towards them.

Spike cut of his fire and smirked back. “Nice new looks you got there, Baldies.” The bullies looked at each other and screamed in horror as they saw that there was not a single hair left on their scalps.

They ran away, covering their heads the closest thing they could find...namely a couple of discarded paper bags. Spike cut off his smirk and gave a concerned glance towards his fillyfriend. “You okay, AB.”

Applebloom nodded, licking the melting stream of the sticky, melting, pink ice cream. “Eeyup.” She then giggled, pointing at her forehead. “Check it out, Ah'm a Unicorn!”

“It was surely a bad day to be them...” Twilight thought to herself. Spike was almost sued by the two as well until It was revealed that, technically, they did strike first. And, one known thing about Dragons, is that once they've been 'challenged' they have an in-built mechanism to fight back.

Hurting Spike's pride is just another way of challenging him and she doesn't feel like making her big speech at the farming convention tomorrow wearing a wig. “Sorry Spike. But really, it's not too bad. Remember, your favourite character from The Jungle Romance was a rabbit.” Spike gave her a deadpan look.

“Hoppity Hop was brown...And I still can't believe that was a real book!” He glanced down at himself and flinched. “This is really all you could find?”

Applebloom looked apologetic. “Ah'm sorry Spike. This was tha only costume Ah could find that was made with someone bipedal in mind.”

“Why didn't you just ask Rarity?” Applejack asked, giving a little twirl in her Clover the Clever costume. “She did great wit' mine.”

“She seemed a bit busy when Ah went...” Applebloom said, having seen Rarity in the window, looking at thirty different mannequins with very different costumes on, with a couple of her mane hairs sprung out of place, her eyes twitching every now and then.

“...Yeah good point.” Applejack then rose an eyebrow. “An' Ah heard about ya argument about tha potato...Don't ya think ya took that a bit too far?”

“Ah jus' don't know why they're sold in twos!” Applebloom responded, suddenly looking a little peeved. “Ah woulda split tha pack mahself if'n it was too difficult fer her!”

“Applebloom!” Spike said, suddenly forgetting about his costume at her words. “You could be arrested for that!”

Applebloom rose an eyebrow at him. “An' charged wit' what? Separatin' potatoes?” She snorted. “Ah woulda been out in six months wit' a good lawyer!”

Applejack looked at her sister with pride. “Ah knew we'd git yer stubbornness out again one way or another!” Applebloom looked at her, confused.

“Wha'cha talkin' 'bout, AJ?”

“Ah mean Ah haven't seen you or yer friends go out Cutie Mark Crusadin' fer a while.” Applebloom shrugged, looking nonchalant.

“Well we've been a bit busy ta go crusadin', ya know? Between school, farm-work, homework and Spike Ah've barely had time ta breathe.”

“Is school really getting' that hard?” Applebloom gave her a deadpan stare.

“You tell me! You were there yerself a couple o' months ago!” Applejack thought ot herself before nodding.

“Yeah, Ah guess it was kinda hard...”

“Besides tha school term has ended, so we'll git some things crusaded in that time!” Applebloom said, confidently.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity shrieked as smoke began billowing out of her kitchen. Button and Thunderlane, who were sitting in the sitting room, also got up. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop trying to cook?!”

Sweetie Belle, however, couldn't hear her as she was singing one of Pinkie's on the spot songs that she couldn't get out of her head. “My name is Sweetie Belle~~ And I am here to say~~~ That I'm here to make you smiiiile just to brighten up your day~~~”

The sound of her voice actually made the three stop in the doorway. Her voice had a nice melody to it that somehow managed to carry over, even to one of Pinkie's up-beat songs.

“It doesn't matter...EEEEP!” She exclaimed, dropping a bowl to the ground, somehow making the dough inside of it catch alight. She was not expecting to have audience and embarrass herself in front of her sister, Rarity's coltfriend and her own coltfriend.

She was blushing in embarrassment, expecting for the three to start laughing at her. Again, she was taken by surprise when the three start to clap.

“WOW! You have a great voice, Sweetie Belle!” Button complimented, causing her blush to deepen.

“Yeah! Why've you not sung on your own before?” Thunderlane asked, remembering hearing her sing with her friends before on Hearts and Hooves day a few years ago...Or the day that should not be named to most.

“Um...I never thought I was all that good...” Sweetie Belle admitted, sheepishly. “But thanks...That's really nice to hear...”

“Sweetie Belle, you must have more confidence in your abilities!” Rarity scolded, hugging the filly. “You must enjoy singing if you were doing it in here.”

“Y-yeah...I guess it is kinda fun...” Suddenly, a light flashed over her flank for a few seconds before calming down revealing Sweetie Belle's cutie mark for the first time.

Sweetie Belle blinked and turned to look at it with a giant, open mouthed smile on her face, taking in a large gasp. The mark revealed itself to be a silver bell with a couple of pink notes coming out of the bottom of it.

“MY CUTIE MARK!!” She cheered with glee, hugging her sister, happily. “I got it! I got it! I got it!”

Rarity hugged back, proud tears spilling out of her eyes.

Button cleared his throat, pointing his hoof towards the kitchen. “I hate to interrupt the moment here, but you may want to do something about that...”

They turned and saw that the fire had started to rise a bit higher. Thunderlane sighed and trotted towards the basement. “I'll get the fire cloud...”

“C'mon Fluttershy...Ah'm sure there isn't anythin' too bad out tonight!” Braeburn called to her as she hid under their bed. Fluttershy just screwed her eyes shut and shuffled under the bed a little more.

“I-I don't w-want t-to...I don't like it out there! There are monsters that could eat me! Or daemons who could take over my body and make me do bad things to other ponies!”

“Ah told ya not ta watch Tha Exorcist alone...” Braeburn sighed, before shaking his head. “Welp, budge over!” He said, shuffling his way next to her, grinning when he saw her face. “Howdy!”

“Um...What are you doing?”

“Welp...” Braeburn explained, nuzzling her cheek affectionately. “Ah figure that, if'n ya don't wanna go out tonight, Ah'll stay here an' protect ya! Me an' Angel will be ya personal bodyguards tonight!” Fluttershy's eyes lit up in joy, suddenly feeling so much safer with her special somepony by her side and she nuzzled her muzzle into the side of his cheek back.

“Oh thank you...I feel so much safer with you here.” Braeburn gave his usually, confident grin as he led Fluttershy out from under the bed.

“No problem, Sweetheart. Tis mah duty as a stallion ta protect tha mare Ah love anyhow.” He declared proudly. Fluttershy giggled at his tough guy act, inside she knew he was just a HUGE softy and a big cuddler.

“Sorry Ah'm late!” Big Mac declared as he walked in with his costume that resembled Daring Doo's main antagonist, causing Rainbow to grin widely at how accurate it was. Rarity does miracles! “Ah had trouble wit' tha zipper. Ah woulda asked Scoots ta help, but she had just left wit' Rumble...”

“Sorry 'bout that Mac, Ah asked her ta feed Winona...” Applejack replied, sheepishly. “By tha way, ya haven't seen Soarin, have ya? He said something about goin' ta Cloudsdale...”

Suddenly her vision was blocked out as she felt two hooves cover her eyes. “Guess who?”

“Um...Ditzy?” Applejack asked, kinda confused. The pony covering her eyes rose an eyebrow, bemused, and took his hooves away.

“I know you're bad with names, AJ, but that was just awful.” Soarin said, grinning as he stood in front of her. “What do ya think?”

Applejack stood there, mouth agape at what she saw. He was basically wearing a black version of Braeburn's outfit with a belt with a pretend hoofgun in the holster. “Yeah, I had to get it delivered to the Wonderbolt Headquarters so it wouldn't ruin the surprise...So what do ya think?”

Applejack just grinned, seductively and planted her lips straight on his, much to his surprise. Before could even think to return it, she pulled back and winked at him. “Ah think you should wear this more often...Ya definitely pull of tha sexy, cowpony look...”

“Blegu...” Soarin let out, certainly at a loss for words. Rainbow and Mac glanced at each other and rose an eyebrow, before Rainbow smirked and made a motion with her hoof, mimicking a whip lashing at the blue colt. Mac chuckled and nodded in agreement before the two gave each other a nuzzle in greeting.

Applebloom bit her tongue in in concentration as she carved an eye out of one of the pumpkins in front of her. Spike sat beside her, mouth agape at how quickly and accurately she managed to use the tool, then glanced towards the other six pumpkins that she had already carved.

“How are you so good at this?!” Spike asked, looking at his own Pumpkin that looked a bit like someone had smashed it in with a hammer rather than trying to get shapes out of it with their claws.

“Huh?” Applebloom said, glancing at her work. “Ah dunno. Guess Ah'm just good wit' tools or somethin'...” Just as she said this, there was a sudden, bright flash in the room that momentarily blinded the two, and caused the others in the home, Rainbow, Mac, AJ, Soarin and Twilight, to rush into the kitchen, concerned.

When the two finally got their sight back, Applebloom had a sudden look of realisation. So, hoping this wasn't one of the tricks of Nightmare Night, she glanced back at her flank before realising that it was covered by her bunny costume and started pulling the zipper on the front of her costume down, slowly.

Spike blushed and looked away, feeling like he was violating her privacy. When the five adults rose their eyebrows at him, he remembered that Ponies are usually naked and turned back. Though, he had to admit, her removing clothes like that was a bit sexy.

She finally pulled the costume off of her and, just as they assumed, there was her cutie mark. Standing proudly on her flank, imprinting a picture of a red apple with a hammer and screwdriver crossed over it onto her behind.

She was overjoyed at seeing it at last, but she did have to ask. “Ah already tried carpentry before though? Ah whole bunch o' times! It became a bit o' a hobby really...”

“Maybe it's not specifically carpentry?” Spike suggested, pointing at the pumpkins. “I don't think that really counts as carpentry. Maybe it means that you're just good with tools, regardless of the situation?”

Applejack and Big Mac finally shook out of their little stupor and whisked their younger sister in a hug, proud that she had found her special talent after so long. “We're so proud o' ya, AB!”

“Eeyup!” Big Mac agreed, sniffling a bit. Applejack paused at the sound and looked over to him.

“Are you crying, Big Mac?” Big Mac nodded, but clarified.

“Ya just kneed me in tha crotch...” Applejack glanced down at her leg and realised that it had rammed, forcibly into his red, furry underside. She chuckled, sheepishly, and moved her hoof away.

Just as the two stood back, Mac limping a bit at the pain he still felt, Spike kissed Applebloom on the cheek, giving her a hug as well. “I'm proud of you too, AB...”

Applebloom smiled, widely, and hugged back. “Thanks Spike. Thanks everyone...”

“APPLEBLOOM!” She heard Sweetie Belle exclaim from the doorway as she suddenly ran in front of her. “I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!!” She said, before turning to show it off.

“That's great Sweetie Belle!” Applebloom responded, bumping her flank against Sweetie's. “An' check it out! Ah got mine too!”

Sweetie Belle smiled, widely, and crushed her friend in a hug. “That's awesome! The three of us are Cutie Mark Siblings!”

“...Three of us?”

“Oh yeah! Button got his too!” Applebloom looked surprised while Sweetie Belle explained. “Well, we went to his house so he could tell his mom I got my cutie mark and we went to his room for a bit!”

“Uh...Any reason?”

“He said he wanted to show me something!” Sweetie said, grinning. “It turns out he wanted to sho me his joystick!”

The group looked at her with wide eyes. Twilight then leaned over to Rainbow and whispered. “Uh...Did Sweetie Belle just get to third base?”

Rainbow looked back, surprisingly innocent and asked. “What's that mean?”

“Uh...you know? Did the hanky panky?”

“They're twelve Twilight. They're way too old for that.”

“No...Not the dance! They did the nasty.”

“I can't see them doing anything nasty...At least not intentionally...”

“Sex! Did they have sex?!” Twilight asked, frustratedly and, unfortunately, out loud.

Sweetie Belle blushed, visibly. “What?! No! I meant his gaming joystick...”

“What's sex?” Rainbow asked, surprising everypony else, except Mac, in the room. She flinched under their gazes. “What?”

“...Rainbow, did you ever learn about the birds and the bees?”

“Of course I did! Birds are feathery creatures that don't have arms that flap around and sing in the morning and bees are those insects that make honey, right?” Twilight ignored the abridged and generalised explanation of birds and bees and shook her head in disbelief.

“...Rainbow, even Spike, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle know what sex is! How do you not know?!”

“Why would I need to know?”

“Don't you have sex with Mac or anything?”

“This hasn't ever come up!” The group turned to Mac, who shrugged.

“Ah never wanted ta force her inta nothin'.”

“You guys have been dating for three years!” Soarin exclaimed, shocked. “You've got some serious self restraint Mac! Have you never gone into heat or anything, Rainbow?!”

Rainbow growled and glared at the ground. “My doctor said my cervix was damaged and I can't have kids, so thanks for bringing THAT up again!”

“...Oh right...” Soarin replied, ducking behind Applejack in fear.

“...So you know where babies come from...But not how they're made?”

“I just kinda assumed that you just wish for the baby during times of heat and it'll be there.” Twilight sighed and nudged her out the door.

“C'mon...I can't believe I'm saying this but we've got to have...The talk...”

After they left, Sweetie Belle shrugged and continued her story. “So, as it turns out, he was making his own Indie Game and I tried it out! It was really good and after I complimented him for a bit there was a flash of light and suddenly, there was a gamepad on his flank! He got his cutie mark!”

She then gasped in realisation. “And his mom is taking us to get a milkshake to celebrate! See you tonight!” She then rushed out the door, leaving behind a wide eyed Applebloom.

“...Jeez...Ah sure hope Scootaloo an' Rumble take this well...”

Cutie Mark Crusaded Part Two

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There was a silence that reigned in the library as the Apple siblings, Soarin and Spike sat in the kitchen, carving pumpkins, piling them in the corner. “...So uh. How many pumpkins do we actually need?” Soarin asked, finishing the one he was working on.

Spike rolled his eyes. “We only needed six, but Pinkie wanted all the additional pumpkin to make, as she puts it, the world's most super duper, really big pumpkin pie!”

“You bet!” Pinkie exclaimed, popping out of the pumpkin that Applejack was about to start stabbing into, causing her to fall back in surprise. “It'll be the biggest most fantastic pumpkin pie ever!”

“...I thought you were at your parent's place?” Spike asked, confused. Applebloom grinned.

“Haha! Plot hole!” Mac rose his eyebrow while helping Applejack up.

“It ain't really a plot hole, more a continuity error...”

“Plot hole!”

“...Alright...” He sighed, slowly carving his pumpkin so the side had the shape of an apple. He blinked and shook his head. “Ah'm hungry...”

“...Gee, Twilight an' Rainbow sure 'ave been in there fer a while...” Applejack muttered.

Almost as if they were cued, Twilight was leading Rainbow Dash to the table, both of them taking a seat silently. Spike looked to Twilight, quizzically.

“So...How'd it go?” Twilight pointed to Rainbow, who's left eye had started twitching. “...So just about as well as I took it.”

Applebloom crossed her hooves. “Just be thankful that Twilight didn't draw any pictures ta help git her point across...” She said, glaring at her sister, who feigned innocence by whistling.

“...Why would he put that in there...?” Rainbow muttered to herself, eyes wide in fear. “He...He pees outta that thing!”

The sound of Twilight's hoof hitting her own face could be heard from all and her groan of frustration soon followed. “I really don't want to explain all of that again, Rainbow, it was awkward enough the first time!”

“...Why...?” She continued to mutter, sending strange looks over at Mac. Somewhere between fear and curiousity...It unnerved him a little.

“Oh hey Pinkie, when'd you get here?!” Twilight said loudly, trying to turn the subject in another direction.

“Thunderlane, please hold still.” Rarity said, wrapping a few linen wraps around his chest and neck. Thunderlane groaned a bit, but complied.

“Sorry Rares, but I really need to go!” He complained, trying his hardest to keep the dams from bursting. Rarity rolled her eyes.

“Thunderlane, this is the fourth time in the last hour you've needed to go to the bathroom. Why did you drink so much water?” Thunderlane rolled his eyes a bit.

“I got really thirsty all of a sudden. My throat is still a little dry come to think of...” The stallion broke his sentence when he had to yawn and blink his eyes back into focus. “Come to think of it.”

Rarity gave him a concerned look. “You can't be tired, dear, you just woke up from a nap.” She said, worry practically dripping off her tongue. “Do you have the Feather Flu?”

“I can't, I already had the Feather Flu.” Thunderlane replied, feeling his legs start to feel quite heavy and another yawn escaping his lips. He then had to quickly clench his legs together before he accidently relaxed too much.

Rarity dropped her magical grip on the wrap, allowing Thunderlane to move. “Right, we're going to the Hospital. Clearly something is very wrong!” She said, trotting towards the phone. “You can go to the bathroom now.”

Thunderlane nodded and stumbled his way into said bathroom.

“We ready to go?!” Scootaloo grinned, lining her scooter up next to Rumble on his Skateboard, ready to start a race to the library.

“All set!” He replied, glancing back at Winona who was happily munching on her dog food.

“Then first one to the library wins!” The orange filly said flapping her petite wings a little in preparation. “Three...two...GO!” She announced, rushing off ahead of a distressed Rumble.

“What happened to one?!” He yelled after her as he took off. She turned back on her scooter, continuing backwards, sticking her tongue out at him.

“Rule one! Always expect the unexpected!” Rumble rolled his eyes at her.

“I don't care how many times you say that, it doesn't mean that you keeping fourty cans of beans in your closet in case of zombie attacks is normal!” She turned back and zoomed off ahead, Rumble trying his darnedest to keep up with her.

“Gee, I don't remember her being this fast!” He thought to himself, turning out of the way of a tree that he doesn't remember seeing before.

The two soon cleared the orchard and found the path towards Ponyville. Scootaloo grinned and took a detour towards Fluttershy's cottage. Startled, Rumble decided to follow along.

“See, Flutters! There's nothin' ta be afraid of!” Braeburn called from their back yard, throwing some chicken feed to the chickens.

Fluttershy peeked out from behind her curtains, glancing left and right for signs of danger. “O-okay...But just hurry!”

Braeburn chuckled under his breath as he moved on to feed some of the birds that preferred the outside over the inside.

Suddenly he noticed something creating a little dust cloud in the distance. He shook his head, thinking it was just some of the larger animals hurrying back from the forest to get some food.

Then he noticed a flicker of orange in the cloud and the sound of insane laughter.

Remembering many stories of the headless pony who hung a pumpkin around what remained of his neck to see where he was going and who's head he was to take next.

So Braeburn did the logical thing. He screamed in fear, and rushed into the cottage, slamming the door behind him, and grabbed Fluttershy and some garlic, heading upstairs.

Fluttershy, understandably, also let out startled little cries as they got up the stairs. “What's outside?!”

“Headless Pony! Don't worry though, they don't like garlic!”

“That's Vamponies!”

Meanwhile, in the dust cloud, Scootaloo was laughing hysterically as a few of the faster birds decided to peck her mane free of the bugs that had found their way in there from the speed she was going. “Guys! You're tickling me!”

After a while, the birds saw the large bag of bird feed that Braeburn had left behind and flew over to help themselves. She giggled a couple more times before continuing, pulling her scooter up with her as she flew over the fence for a few seconds.

Rumble did the same thing with his skateboard and pulled up besides her. “So why did we go round Fluttershy's place?”

“I wanted to if she was coming out this year, turns out she's not! I heard her scream and run back inside!”

“You think we spooked her?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh well, there's always nexTREE!!” Rumble cried, his skateboard wobbling in panic as he fell off and landed on the ground with a thump.

Scootaloo, on the other hoof, had turned and saw the very large and thick oak tree in front of her.

She knew that she couldn't stop in time to avoid crashing into it, nor could she veer to the side as she'd just fall into it. So instead, she pulled the front of her scooter up, allowing the front wheel to hit the tree bark, before the back wheel propelled her up, vertically.

Rumble watched, amazed as Scootaloo continued to ride her scooter at a ninety degree angle towards the heavens on the tree bark. Though he did get to flying up to catch her once she ran out of tree bark.

Panicked, Scootaloo flapped her tiny wings as fast as she could to fly, but all previous flight lessons she had just vanished from her mind. She was about fifty feet in the air and her propulsion was still heading up, even more so since she let her scooter fall to gravity's judgement.

There was a bright flash from somewhere, but it didn't really matter to her at this point since gravity finally decided to catch up to her and she started falling too.

Rumble glanced around quickly and, as luck would have it, there was a cloud right next to him, so he pushed it down, below Scootaloo, and quickly melded it into the form of a trampoline.

Once Scootaloo hit the cloud trampoline, it tensed up as her weight hit it, before sending her back up in time for Rumble to catch her. She glanced up at Rumble, who was holding her in a bridal style, before wrapping her hooves around him, happily.

Another bright flash overtook the area as he brought them back to the Earth below. “Thanks R-Rumble...I'd be a pancake if it weren't for you...” Rumble rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as Scootaloo got back to her hooves, a little wobbly as the adrenaline in her system was yet to leave just yet.

“No need for thanks. What kinda coltfriend would I be if I just let you fall?” He asked before noticing something off about some of the fur on Scootaloo.

He looked over, causing her to blush a bit. “Um...Could you maybe...not stare at my flank?”

Rumble shook out of his little moment and blushed. “Oh, sorry. I just thought I saw some red on your fur.”

“Red?” She asked, glancing back at her flank and her eyes widened in surprise.

There, on her flank, was a picture of two red flags crossed over each other in an 'X' form. “MY CUTIE MARK!!” She cheered before pausing and looking at it again. “Uh...What's it mean? My special talent isn't falling, is it?”

“I think I've seen a similar cutie mark on some stunt ponies before. Though it wasn't flags, sometimes it was swords and this one time I saw arrows. Maybe performing dangerous stunts is your talent?” Scootaloo thought about that, grinning a bit.

“Well...That does sound pretty awesome...” She then noticed a picture on Rumble's flank and smiled. “Hey Rumble, you got your cutie mark too!”

Rumble glanced back in surprise. His flank had a picture of a cloud with a chisel next to it. “I'm a...Cloud sculptor?”

“Well...You did make that trampoline pretty fast.” Scootaloo responded, nuzzling his chin. “We'll figure it out later but for now, we have a race to finish...”

“Uh Scootaloo.” Rumble interrupted. “Where's your scooter?”

Scootaloo looked like she was about to respond before said scooter fell out of the tree and slammed onto the ground next to them, the wheel falling off and the frame bending at a very awkward angle.

The two stared at it for a while, before Scootaloo grinned at him, sheepishly. “Um...Can I trouble you for a lift?”

“A little to the left!” Pinkie ordered Mac as he pushed a large, cauldron with green punch inside with several apples bobbing in the concoction. He grunted, but complied. “Okay! To the right!”

Mac moved to the other side and pushed it back a bit. “A little more to the left!”

After he did that, Pinkie declared. “Actually I liked it where it was!”

Mac sighed and dragged it back. “Perfect!” Mac nodded and left the room, bumping into Rainbow.

“Oh, hey Rainbow.” Mac said cheerfully, nuzzling the top of her head. Dash immediately recoiled and looked a little scared.

“Uh...Hey Mac...Um sorry got to talk to penis...I MEAN PINKIE!” She corrected herself, before rushing into the room and diving into the apple bopping cauldron. Mac sighed again and left to find his sister.

Pinkie shook her head and pulled Rainbow out of the cauldron. “Rainbow...” She said in a disappointed tone.

“I know...” Rainbow replied, looking down. “It shouldn't bother me that much and Mac has never pushed me to have sex with him before, why would he now?” Rainbow shook her head. “Yeah, maybe I'm just over-reacting.

Pinkie blinked as Dash started talking to herself. “Uh...I was just going to say that the apple bopping is supposed to be for later!”

Thunderlane squirmed as he and Rarity sat in Doctor Stable's office. Rarity glanced at him. “Do you need to go to the bathroom again?”

“...kinda...” Just as he said this, Doctor Stable walked into the room with a somewhat tight frown on his face.

“Okay, we've taken a few tests and we finally found the problem.” Rarity sighed in relief.

“Oh thank goodness, so you can prescribe him something, can't you?”

“Unfortunately this isn't just a quick fix medical problem...” The doctor replied, turning to Thunderlane. “I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Thunderlane, but you have Diabetes...”

Thunderlane gasped, then started coughing as the air rushed down his incredibly dry throat. Rarity decided to carry on the conversation. “What's Diabetes?”

Doctor Stable's horn lit up and a book was moved in front of him. “Diabetes is an illness that affects the pancreas. That's the organ that regulates our blood sugar levels by secreting a hormone called insulin.”

“A pony with Diabetes has a problem with their pancreas which means that insulin is not being secreted and it raises their blood sugar levels to extreme heights. This can cause trouble for water regulation in the body since the water in their muscles will be drawn into their bloodstream to try and regulate their blood sugar levels.” He continued, noticing Thunderlane taking a big drink of water from the cooler he had in his office.

“Not to worry though. Diabetes is one of the diseases that is very manageable.” He said, using his magic to levitate two devices towards them. “This device here is a glucose monitor. It's used to measure a pony's blood sugar levels. All they need to do is use this pricker to get a small amount of blood out of the pony's arm, then they use this strip to absorb that blood while in the machine and the machine will tell you your blood sugar levels.”

Doctor Stable then held out his hoof and Thunderlane decided to allow the doctor to do his job. He felt a light sting as the small needle jabbed his skin.

There was a beeping and Doctor Stable showed the result to the other two ponies, showing a 23.4 mmol/L (millimol per litre). “Now a pony's blood glucose levels should be between 5 and 6. So this is when you would use this.”

Thunderlane gulped as he noticed the doctor place a needle on top of an injector pen. “Since your pancreas can't release insulin, you need to get it into your bloodstream manually. The easiest way is to inject it into your thigh, shoulder or stomach.”

“...” Thunderlane responded, staring at the needle. “Just get it over with!”

Rarity looked at him in sympathy. She knew that he had a very big fear of needles, but it's these needles that were now needed to keep him alive. She cringed a bit when she heard him yelp when the needle pierced his shoulder and a set amount of the fluid entered his system.

“Now it should be mentioned that it'll take a few minutes for the insulin to take effect, but you should be fine after it does. I should also point out that doing exercise will burn off energy and thus, your blood sugar levels will go down, so you'll need to eat something with sugar in before hand. You take an injection before every meal and just before you go to bed.”

“Here, this book shoulder have the answers to any questions you may have, but if you have anymore, don't be afraid to ask me.” The Doctor finished, giving them a book as well as the BM (Blood Measure) machine, injector pen, some needles and a prescription for more.

“Thank you very much Doctor Stable.” Thunderlane said, feeling some moisture return to his throat.

“Yes, we are very grateful.” Rarity concluded as the two of them left. Thunderlane immediately rushing towards the bathroom.

“So...uh...” Applebloom paused, looking over the newly arrived Button and Sweetie Belle. “...Ah give up, what are you to supposed ta be?”

Button was wearing a green tunic with a green hat and a plastic sword in his mouth while Sweetie Belle as wearing a blonde wig with a crown, a pink gemstone in the centre, while also wearing a white dress with a purple corset.

Button smiled and put his sword down to reply. “Ah'm Link and Sweetie Belle is Princess Zelda!”

Applebloom's eyebrow rose. “Who?”

“C'mon AB! We're only two of the most well known video game characters ever!” Sweetie Belle stressed. Applebloom just shrugged.

“Ah wouldn't know, Ah only play Farmin' Simulator.”

“Hey guys!” Scootaloo called out into the library, her costume hanging on her back to parade her cutie mark a little more. “Check it out! Me and Rumble got our cutie marks!”

“Wow!” Sweetie Belle responded, giving Scootaloo a hug. “That's so great! We got our cutie marks too!”

“All three of you?” The orange filly asked, only to receive three nods of confirmation. “Sweet! Cutie Mark Siblings!”

"Are you okay now Rainbow?" Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly.

"Yeah Mac...Sorry I kinda freaked out on ya like that." Mac shook his head and grinned.

"Nah, it's okay. Ah pretty much reacted tha same way when Ah first learned about tha birds an' tha bees. Couldn't look at mah Ma fer about a week without gettin' a bit scared."

"Yeah...It's just that...I don't think I want to...I just...don't think I'm ready to..." Mac just wrapped a hoof around her.

"Hey now, Ah ain't gonna make ya do nothin' ya don't wanna do." He then shrugged. "Besides, Ah wanna wait until marriage."

At the word marriage, Rainbow blushed and looked at her hooves. "Yeah...Um...That..." He rose an eyebrow at her behaviour.

"Are you alright?" Rainbow just nodded, mutely, and nuzzled herself into his larger frame.

But in her head, was a different story. "When is he going to pop the question anyway?" She thought to herself, glancing at her hoof with a form of longing in her eyes. "I mean we're pretty much married anyway and we have a kid, so what's he waiting for?"

Unknown to her, Mac was having simular thoughts. "Just one more day, then Ah can git that earring."

Soon, Rarity and Thunderlane had arrived to an already started party. “Um...We aren't late, are we?” Thunderlane asked, a bit worried. Rarity glanced at the clock on the wall to the left.

“I don't think so...” Just then, Pinkie jumped in front of them in her customary chicken costume.

“Hey guys! Glad you can make it! We decided to start the party early as a little celebration since Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Button and Rumble got their cutie marks!”

“Rumble got his cutie mark!” Thunderlane replied, shocked.

“Yup!” She said, popping two cupcakes out of her mane and stuffed them into their mouths. “So c'mon!”

Thunderlane, in panic, spat the sugary treat out of his mouth and rubbed his tongue free of the icing. “AH!”

Pinkie saw this and pouted, her mane flattening in sadness. “You don't like it?”

Rarity grunted and swallowed the cupcake, with a lot of difficulty, and was about to explain the situation, before she was cut off.

“Hey man! Not cool!” Soarin said, looking a little mad. “If you didn't like it you could have at least been a little more polite about it!”

“But...” Thunderlane tried to explain before being cut off again.

“There ain't no but about it, ya just hurt Pinkie's feelin's.” Applejack continued, giving the upset pony a one armed hug.

“Applejack, Soarin! Please calm down!” Rarity stressed, standing in front of her coltfriend. “It's not that he doesn't like, he could love the taste. It's that he can't eat it.”

Pinkie gasped. “Did I use too many eggs?! Or not enough sugar?! I knew I should've listened to Cheese!”

“Pinkie, I assure you, the cake was...well I didn't really get to taste it, but I'm sure it was great. What I'm trying to say is that Thunderlane has Diabetes.”

She sighed as the three tilted their heads to the side. “Looks like this'll be a long night...”

Train Frustrations and Proposals

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Train Frustrations and Proposals

“Ah still can't believe ya ate tha potato fer breakfast...” Applebloom mentioned to Twilight while they, as well as Spike, Applejack, Big Mac and Rainbow, stood on the train platform ready for the train to Canterlot to arrive.

“Well...I didn't really have any other food items in the library,” Twilight replied, sheepishly. Applebloom rolled hers eyes, while the others talked amongst themselves, not wanting to get involved in that particular conversation.

“So...You're absolutely sure Scoots will be okay at Rarity's?” Rainbow asked for, possibly, the hundredth time, to which Applejack replied.

“Yes, Ah'm sure she will!”

“But...Thunderlane's still getting used to his Diabetes...”

“Look Rainbow! Rumble will be there an' he's more than capable of keepin' her safe!” Big Mac grinned.

“Oh yeah, remind me ta threaten 'im when we get back,” Rainbow rose an eyebrow at him.

“Why do you need to threaten him?”

“Just ta make sure he don't do anythin' ta hurt her so Ah don't have ta hurt 'im,” Rainbow was about to tell him to leave Rumble alone, before realising that Rumble's reaction to a Big Mac threat would likely be hilarious and decided to let it go.

“Trains coming!” Spike announced, pointing to the train chugging towards them in the distance.

“Alright finally!” Rainbow yelled, dramatically. “Jeez, it took it's sweet time!”

Mac just glanced back at his suitcase, which held a wedding earring ready to propose to her when they got to their dinner reservations that night.

“Passengers are reminded to keep all their personal belongings with them while on the train! And if anyone is feeling peckish, we have our travelling chef with us on board today!”

At this train announcement, Applebloom burst out laughing on her seat next to Spike, who rose his eyebrow at her. “Um...What's so funny?”

“Really! Is that what their calling 'em now?! Travelling chefs!” She giggled, picking an apple and a plastic spoon out of her saddlebags. “These chefs only have potato chips an' chocolate bars! Ah have an apple an' a plastic spoon, do Ah suddenly become Pinkie Pie!”

“Oh c'mon Applebloom, they do sandwiches!” Applejack argued.

“Yes but Ah could make a sandwich! Anyone could make a sandwich!” Applebloom announced before an image of Sweetie Belle opening a jar of peanut butter and the peanut butter bursting into flames as the air made contact with it appeared in her head. “Well almost anypony...”

“Look, these ponies are hired ta sell food...”

“Oh Ah'm sure they are. Hey look, who's that pullin' tha food trolley! Ah think it may be Gustave le Grand!” She mocked as she shouted down the empty carriage. “Hey Gustave Ah'll 'ave an orange!”

“C'mon AB,” Spike said, rubbing her shoulder. “Why don't we go see what they have, I'm kinda hungry.”

“Well, Ah guess if'n they are Travelling Chefs they must have somethin' good.”

As the two left, AJ sighed as she relaxed in her seat next to Twilight. “Jeez, Ah don't know what it is, but she seems a lot more...argumentative recently.” Twilight shrugged.

“She's probably just going through puberty...” Rainbow interrupted her by jamming a hoof straight into Twilight's mouth.

“Oh no! I'm not listening to all that again!”

“Hello, how can I help you today?” The pony behind the counter on the food cart of the train said to Applebloom as she and Spike walked up to him.

“Um...Can Ah have a daisy sandwich please?” Applebloom asked. The pony looked at her, sympathetically.

“I'm sorry ma'am, we're out of stock right now,” Applebloom rose an eyebrow, pointing out the fresh looking daisy sandwich behind the glass case.

“But there's one right there,” She stated.

“Oh that one's just the display,” Spike and Applebloom shared a look before the filly decided to clarify.

“So let me jus' git this straight. You've got this daisy sandwich here ta show that yer doin' daisy sandwiches...But yer not doin' daisy sandwiches.”

“They're in the range! We just don't have any at the moment,” The pony explained. Spike, sensing an argument coming, decided to take a step back to stay out of it.

“But ya do! Ah can see it right there!”

“Look, ma'am, if I sell you that one, then other ponies won't know we do daisy sandwiches.”

“But yer not doin' 'em!” Applebloom exclaimed, frustrated, to which the pony replied.

“We do do them.”

“Oh good, Ah'll have one then,” She answered him. He sighed.

“Look, it's quite simple,” He said, to which she lowered her eye lids in a deadpan expression.

“Is it? Is it really?”

“Yes. This sandwich is here to show the range of sandwiches that we do. Thus, we sell daisy sandwiches,” He explained, to which she gripped her mane in frustration.

“But ya not sellin' 'em! Ah'm tryin' ta git one an' look at tha state o' me!” She sighed and continued. “Look, jus' either sell that sandwich ta me or take it down, otherwise if somepony else comes here, lookin' fer a daisy sandwich an' comes ta ask fer that one after seein' it like Ah did, yer gonna be dealin' with tha same situation we're in now!”

“Look, it's there to show we're doing daisy sandwiches so ponies will know we do them by the time we've restocked.”

“Well that's fine an' dandy when ya have more than one, but right now ya only have one so it'd be better ta either sell it or take it down because, in tha end, somepony will be more willin' ta except that they can't have somethin'...if'n they can't see it right in front o' 'em!”

“Why?” Applebloom grunted.

“Because a pony will see somethin' fer sale an' notice that this is a shop an' they'll use their eyes an' brain ta process that ya do, in fact, sell tha sandwich. Whereas, if it's not there, they'll know that you've run out. They won't just assume you have somethin' if it's not there. Fer example, it never occurred ta me that you were doin' a hay bale buffet with a potato chip dip side,” The pony behind the counter looked confused.

“We're not doing a hay bale buffet with a potato chip dip side,” Applebloom cried out in frustration.

“EXACTLY!!”

“...I can do you a hay sandwich,” Applebloom groaned and fell forward, her head colliding with the counter.

“Fine...I'll take tha hay sandwich, Mr. Travelling Chef...” He took the sandwich from under the counter and placed it in front of her, before looking over at the glass case.

“Huh. It's my last one of them as well,” Spike shot forward and put four bits on the counter, snatching the sandwich and Applebloom away from the pony before she does something rash.

“We have now arrived in Canterlot! Please mind the gap between the platform and the train!” The announcer called as the doors opened and the group filed out of the train.

When there, however, they were faced with the Royal Guard, many of them next to certain enchanted ring like devices. They noticed a familiar orange Pegasus as he turned to them. “Hey guys!”

“Flash?” Twilight asked, confused, as she and the group met up with him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek in greeting. “What's going on?”

“Well,” Flash started, gesturing to a sheepish looking Discord hovering on top of the station archway, sipping on some chocolate milk. “Discord, here, was training some of the guards by planting illegal substances in some of the ponies suitcases as they came in...”

“Oh that's smart! Keeps the Guard on their toes and shows them that even the ones that seem the least likely to do so could cause trouble,” Twilight summarized, to which Flash nodded with a deadpan look.

“Yeah. Or at least, it would be smart if he could remember which suitcases he put the substances in...and could remember what substances he put in!” He answered, rubbing his forehead with his hoof. “We had to assemble the whole Guard to search every single suitcase that enters this city and all other cities too!”

Rainbow whistled as she saw one guard pull a potion bottle with a skull and cross bones on the front of it out of a little filly's saddlebags. Discord then scooped it up in panic.

“Careful! This is one of the most dangerous substances in existence!” The guard looked up in fear.

“What is it?! Nitroglycerin?! A virus?!”

“Liquid Sugar X,” He said, creating a tear in reality and throwing the glass container through it. “Symptoms include randomness, hyper acute awareness, way too much energy and being able to predict the future but in a way that won't make any sense to anyone!”

Twilight heard all of that and pondered on that a little. Could that be how...Nah!

She quickly shook her thoughts from her head and levitated her and Spike's suitcases to one of the searching stations.

Pinkie was standing in her kitchen, using a rolling pin to flatten some cookie dough when a rip in reality suddenly opened up and the same bottle that Discord threw away had fallen out and hit her in the head.

“Ow!” She exclaimed before she caught sight of the bottle and grinned, widely. “My Precious!” She cried, removing the lid and downing the substance in one go. “We drinks the precious!”

Big Mac laid the suitcase out onto a conveyor belt, just before Rainbow did, everyone else having already done their checks and were now just waiting for them.

Once on, the bag rolled through the strange looped device and it flashed red, indicating that there was something bad in there. “Alright, let's check this one,” A blue, female Unicorn Guard with a green mane announced, allowing Big Mac to open it.

Inside, onto of everything else, was a large, serrated knife which was picked up in her magical grip and shown to Discord. “This one of yours?”

“Hm...Yes, I believe it is!” He said, snatching it up and throwing it into another portal to who knows where.

Just as the Guard was about to close the bag again, she noticed a small box in the corner of the case. “Um...Did you do anything in a box?” She asked Discord who shook his head.

“Nope, had to make sure it was in plain sight.” She then turned to a nervous looking Mac who glanced at Rainbow, who looked up at him curiously.

“Sir, could you open that box for me?” She said, pointing to the box. Mac nervously glanced at the box, then to Rainbow who still looked curious, and back to the Guard.

“Um...Would ya mind if Ah didn't?” He asked the security pony who then started getting suspicious.

“Yes! Yes I would mind! Now please, open the box and you can go along with your day.” She answered, a bit more forcefully.

Mac started to sweat a little, trying to motion his head over to his marefriend as discreetly as he could. “Please don't make me open tha box!” He whispered, desperately.

Rainbow nudged him in the side. “C'mon Mac, what's the problem? Just open the box.”

Mac just chuckled slightly as he saw three Guards approach to surround him. “Ah...It's just...well...”

“Sir open the box!” The three Guards demanded, loudly drawing out their spears to point in his direction.

He turned back to see the mare with her own spear out and noticed a large crowd of ponies gathered around them all and let out a huge sigh.

He fetched the box out of the bag, laid it out on the ground in front of Rainbow. The purple velvet box stood there as Mac crouched down in front of her.

“Rainbow, these last three years have been three o' tha best years o' my life! You've been a bright ligh' that shined in mah monotonous work an' ya always bring a smile ta mah face even on some o' mah worst days!”

The Guards, realising their error of judgement, lowered their weapons but didn't dare interrupt Mac from his speech to his, quite speechless marefriend.

“Tha day Ah properly met you was probably tha first day Ah knew true beauty, yer laugh like a melody in mah ear and yer presence by mah side is one Ah wouldn't trade fer anythin' imaginable!” He then opened the velvet box, which contained a gold earring with a red apple in the centre of it, a rainbow lightning streak stained across it.

“So Ah stand here, in this train station, in front o' tha Royal Guard, mah sisters, tha spirit o' chaos an' tha many ponies now watchin', askin' you, will ya marry me?”

There was a tense silence for a few seconds, that could have been hours to everyone, before Rainbow gave her answer.

She dove into him in and trapped him in a massive hug, repeating the word 'yes' very loudly and very happily.

After that, the train station erupted in cheers and applause for the newly engaged couple. The Guards heard tutting behind them though and turned to see Discord clapping, but giving them a disapproving stare. “You know, this is why we need the training.”

“Congradulations you two!” Twilight announced once the two finally got past the crowd also giving their congratulations. Rainbow just smiled, excitedly and hugged her friend.

“Yeah, congrats big bro!” Applejack added, wrapping her brother in a warm hug, Applebloom joining in too.

“Thanks,” Mac responded, looking a little disappointed. “But Ah kinda wished Ah managed ta propose at tha restaurant an' not in tha customs office...”

“So that's why we were going to that place!” Rainbow responded, some pieces finally clicking into place.

“Can Ah be a flower filly?!” Applebloom asked, looking up at Mac, imploringly. Mac just smiled.

“Sure, but let's not worry about all that right now. We got a convention ta git to.”

Movie Night

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Movie Night

“C'mon Spike! Hurry!” Twilight ordered, using her magic to place two more cushions in the entertainment room in her new castle (Which was still a bit of an eyesore in the quaint little town of Ponyville, but it beat living on the streets.)

Spike, for his part, grumbled and pulled a table, with a tonne of snacks upon it, into the room, the many bottles of drink shaking around with the drag.

“Can I go pick Applebloom up now?!” Spike complained after he had got it into the right space (It was placed in the chalk outline of said table on the ground that Twilight had drawn up.) “I'd like to do so, on time, at least once!”

Twilight looked back at the dragon and took to making her excuses. “C'mon Spike! I need you!”

Spike glanced to the doorway and frowned. “Why don't you ask Flash Sentry? Or Spirit Guard or Aegis or any of the guard?!”

“...It's not in their job description.”

The baby dragon just sighed, slapping his hand up to his forehead and dragged it down in an exaggerated fashion. “It's not in mine either! So I'm going to go and pick up my fillyfriend!” He announced, charging out the door.

“I'm so docking your pay for this!”

“You don't pay me!”

Flash looked as the little dragon huffed some smoke out of his mouth, grabbed his coat off the rack and rounded the corner and towards the hallway that led to the front gate. He shook his head and entered the room that Twilight appeared to be struggling to set up. “Sweetie, I think you need to calm down a little.”

Twilight turned to the new Captain of the Royal: Ponyville division, a manic look in her eyes. “Calm down! No I don't need to calm down! This is the first time I'll be holding our Seasonal Movie Night! I need to make sure everything will be perfect!” She said, adding a few more cushions. “Is this enough cushions?”

Flash blinked and looked down, noticing that all that he could see were cushions of different shapes and sizes all over the place. He lowered his eyelids into a deadpan stare. “No, I think I still see some floor over there.”

“No! Bad floor!” Twilight, throwing several more cushions in that directions, oblivious to the obvious sarcasm in Flash's voice.

“So what movie do you think Twilight will be having us watch?” Fluttershy asked as she and Rarity walked towards the castle from the spa, having decided to head straight there after their weekly get-together.

“I don't know, Dear, but I do hope it's not Titanic again. Poor little Spike just couldn't stop the tears flowing,” Rarity replied, not noticing said baby dragon heading in the direction past them.

“Those two had only each other!” Spike yelled, a hint of a tear still in his eye of the memory of the two crossed Earth Pony and Unicorn lovers on a ship doomed to fail. The mares stared at him a little before he sniffed and ran towards the farm.

Rarity giggled a bit and Fluttershy looked on, concerned. “Do you think he'll be okay?”

“Oh he'll be fine,” Rarity waved off. “He gets a little emotional when it comes to the tragedy genre and he won't accept comfort from anyone except Twilight, Applebloom or myself,” She continued, steering her friend back towards the castle.

“Can you believe her?!” Sweetie Belle complained to Scootaloo as the two were heading towards the Carousel Boutique where their coltfriends and Thunderlane were waiting for them to head to Twilight's place.

Scootaloo nodded, feeling quite grumpy too. “Yeah! I mean I don't know what Dumb Tiara wants?! She calls us Blank Flanks, and now that we aren't, she still wants to make fun of us!”

“And about what? The fact that we have coltfriends? Oh boo freaking hoo!” Sweetie continued having to have endured Diamond Tiara saying something along the lines 'Eww! Cootie Magnet alert!'

“Cooties?! Freaking cooties?! How old is she?!” Scootaloo agreed, rolling her eyes. “Does she not realise that Silver Spoon has been dating Snails for two years!”

“I'm surprised the priss even notices that we 'commoners' exist!” Sweetie Belle vented before taking a deep breath in, then let it out again. “Jeez, how does Applebloom stay so calm these days?!”

“I think she said something about imagining that Diamond Tiara was slowly being skinned alive by some armoured alien with dreadlocks and blades on their arms,” Scootaloo answered, shrugging. The Unicorn beside her raised an eyebrow at that.

“Thaaaat's...Awfully specific...”

“She said that Lyra told her about them. Called them Predators,” Scootaloo shrugged again, now trying to imagine that very scene and getting a shiver of delight at seeing her Nemesis’s skin getting peeled off like a banana.

“Okay...” Sweetie stated, slowly looking away from her friend who had taken to muttering 'play the xylophone with her ribs', before trying to imagine the scenario herself.

It was...strangely comforting seeing some good old karma being thrown at the filly, despite the fact it was all in her head, and started to smile a sadistic and evil smile.

After a few seconds of this, both their eyes snapped open in shock and looked to each other. “There is something serious wrong with us!”

“Yeah...”

Pinkie and Applejack entered Rainbow and Mac's house, trying to find Rainbow herself. She had said to Mac that she'd catch up to him but had to do something first, but Applejack and Pinkie were going to meet her to discuss using the barn for the reception for the wedding day.

“So are we going with the hard sell, or are we going to offer her the discount?” Pinkie asked, brightly, not noticing Applejack face-hoof herself.

“We ain't going ta charge Rainbow ta use our barn, Sugarcube, she an' Mac live here!” Applejack stressed, causing Pinkie to tilt her head to the side.

“...So discount?” Applejack sighed, rolling her eyes before her ears caught the sound of hoof steps.

“Rainbow?!” She called up to her, trying to get her other friend's attention, if only to change the subject. She heard a gasp and the sound of steps coming down the steps.

“Hey guysh,” Rainbow replied anxiously, a small device in her mouth. “Howsh it going?”

“Ah'm swell RD,” Applejack answered looking at the device in her mouth, eyes widening in realisation. “Wait a minute, is that...”

She was interupted by a ringing and noticed Tank on the top of the stairs with an alarm clock. Rainbow's eyes widened and placed the device down on the ground, carefully, and stared at the little cross that appeared on the result area.

Pinkie and Applejack glanced down at the result and whipped their heads back up at her in surprise. “Rainbow? Are you okay?” Applejack asked, noticing that the Pegasus was standing stock still, no emotion was visible.

“Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie also asked, getting a little worried too. “Dashie? Don't worry, Mac will understand!”

“I'm pregnant...” Rainbow whispered to herself, not quite believing it.

“Ah know, Sugarcube,” Applejack said, giving her friend a comforting hug. “Heat took us by surprise this year, fer sure, an' Ah'm sure you an' Mac couldn't help yerselves. Most couples aspire ta never have sex before marriage, but it's perfectly normal to,” Applejack stressed, not noticing the smile that started to rise on her friend's face.

“I'm pregnant...I'm pregnant!” Rainbow cried out, happily wrapping Applejack and Pinkie in a massive surprise hug which even Pinkie herself didn't see coming. Tank smiled, slowly, from the top of the stairs and made his way down towards the kitchen.

“Ha! Those doctors said I couldn't get pregnant, but I showed them!” Rainbow cheered, releasing her friends who had now started to catch her breath.

They looked at each other and the party pony flopped to the floor. “Wow! This certainly was a doozy! I was wondering what that was going to be all morning!”

“Right,” Applejack sighed, turning to the ecstatic Pegasus who was all but dancing in elation at this new revaluation. “Well Ah'm happy fer ya Dash, an Ah can't wait ta see mah future niece or nephew but Ah thought you said there was something wrong wit' ya cervix?”

“Huh?” Rainbow let out, turning to her friend. “Oh yeah, they said that the cervix was a bit...um unusually closed and don't let the eggs from the ovaries through...”

Applejack thought about that before she looked at her with a deadpan expression. “Rainbow ya said ya where barren! Lot's o' ponies have this problem, it just means yer have larger gaps between heat seasons! You'd be able to conceive jus' fine!”

Rainbow took this in and looked at her, a little surprised. “Wait, how do you know?”

“Ah have the same problem,” Applejack replied. “Soarin an' I've been tryin' ourselves an' Ah got a potion from Zecora jus' last week. It's in mah fridge right now, ready fer tonight.”

There was an awkward pause for about a minute before Rainbow shuffled her hooves a bit. “Um...This potion wouldn't have happened to have been orange would it?”

“Yeah? How did you know that?” The farmer asked, raising her eyebrow.

“I kinda thought that was orange juice...” Applejack's eye twitched as Rainbow gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry?”

“...If ya weren't pregnant I'd smack ya real hard right now...”

“So which movie do you guys think I should open with?” Twilight asked the assembled guards that sat in her main room, all having been ordered to sit on one of the cushion. There were seven guards in total. Flash, Spirit Guard, Aegis, Nocturne, Torch, Guerilla and Point Blank.

They all looked to the ten disc cases assembled before Aegis, a white Pegasus with a black mane, pointed at the one with a strange egg on the cover. “How about Alien?”

“No way!” Nocturne a bat pony with a dark blue mane and black fur, argued, picking up one with a shield representing the colours of Equestria's flag on. “They should watch Captain Equestria for sure!”

“They only made that movie to set up the Revengers!” Torch, a red Unicorn with a blue mane, countered holding up a disc case with a picture of an important looking stallion smoking. “I think it should be the Godfather!”

Guerilla, a brown Earth Pony with a darker brown mane, snorted. “Over-rated, I agree with Aegis. Horror for the win!”

Point Blank, a white Unicorn with a blue mane, and Spirit Guard, a Bat Pony with red fur and a black mane, both shook their heads and pointed to the case with a large, stylised 'S' on the front. “Supercolt for sure!”

The six continued to argue as Flash and Twilight lowered their eyelids at the assembled ponies. “I really need to think things through,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “They'll be debating for a while, won't they?”

“'Fraid so,” Flash sighed, face-hoofing himself. “Given me the six best, they said! They'll be a blast to have around, they said!”

“Applebloom?” Spike called out as he opened the door, Braeburn following behind him. Spike had seen him finishing up rounds in the orchard with Big Mac and the yellow stallion had decided to accompany the young drake.

The room was empty, a couple of dishes left on the side to be washed up later. “Ah'll wait out here fer ya.”

“She'll probably be in her room,” Spike said to himself, pretty much ignoring Braeburn as he ventured into the house. After a little bit he turned and knocked on the door. “AB?” He asked as he opened the door.

Suddenly a loud shriek was heard and the door was slammed into his nose with a powerful kick of his fillyfriend's hooves, only to bounce back off of it. “OW!!!”

“What the heck Spike?!” Applebloom cried out, her usual bow missing from her mane, it as well as her barrel wrapped in towels. “Can't a filly git a little privacy while she's changing?!”

“Oh! Sorry,” Spike replied, turning away...before something occurred to him. “Wait a minute, you're always naked!”

“Ah most certainly am not!” Applebloom pouted, throwing her used towel over his head, before quickly tying her bow. “Ah always have mah bow!”

Spike removed the towel and gave the filly a deadpan stare. “I've seen you withou...huh?” Spike paused, putting a hand to his chin. “Come to think of it I haven't actually seen you without something on.”

Applebloom continued to pout at him for a bit, before softening a little. “Is yer nose okay?”

Spike shifted the towel over to his nose and dabbed it, pulling it back to inspect it. “It's not bleeding, but there'll be a heck of a bruise there. You've got some strong legs on ya,” Applebloom puffed out her chest, proudly.

“Course Ah do! Ah'm an Apple, so we all build up our strength at some point!” She declared, taking her old bow she had in before she showered and threw it into a laundry basket next to the door where Spike is.

He turned and saw that the basket was filled to the brim with pink bows, then looked to Applebloom's closet which he could see had many more bows in, all the same pink colour. “Uh...Have enough bows?”

“AH DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!!!”

“So do ya think Braeburn enjoyed his three line cameo?!” Cheese asked as he and Soarin approached the castle.

Soarin rose an eyebrow. “Cameo? What the heck are you talking about?”

“Oh just the same thing that's happening to us,” Cheese explained, counting down in his head.

“Um...What's gonna happened to us?”

Three...Two...One...

“Yer pregnant?!” Mac exclaimed, happily, hugging Rainbow firmly inside the castle's round table (They called it that because reasons!) “That's great news! We're goin' ta be parents!”

“Um...” Applejack interrupted, causing the two to look at her. “What about Scootaloo?”

“...Ah meant biologically, AJ,” Big Mac explained, causing Applejack to nod and turn away, not noticing Mac let out a sigh of relief.

“But that's a point! You guys need to tell Scootaloo! Ooh! And Twilight and Fluttershy and Rarity and Applebloom and Spike and Sweetie Belle and Ditzy and Soarin and...”

“Why would they prioritize Ditzy over Soarin an' tha guys?” Applejack asked, not derailing Pinkie at all. As if the pink party mare hadn't noticed at all.

“...and Mayor Mare and Cranky Doodle and Lyra and DJ PON3 and Angel Bunny and the Rainbow Factory and Mr. Muffin and Mr. Potato Head and...”

“Ah think Pinkie's broken again...” Mac dead-panned, turning towards the glass case titled 'Break Glass if Pinkie Rambles' and proceeded slam his bare hoof into the glass.

Pinkie continued as if all was normal, not noticing Mac reel back. “...and the Author needs to know, oh and the FiMFiction community! Oh they'll be so exci...” Whatever Pinkie was going to say next was cut off as an apple pie had impacted right into her face, smearing pie filling over her pink coat. The pie tin, now having the shape of Pinkie's face in the metal, slowly fell off onto the ground.

All was silent for a little bit until Pinkie's mouth opened and her much too large tongue scooped all of the pie off of her face and vacuuming it into her mouth, and swallowing it all with an audible gulp.

Pinkie smiled brightly for a few seconds, before frowning and tilting her head to the side. “What were we talking about?”

“Alright! So we're are all agreed?!” Twilight asked, holding the Alien disc case up. “We will watch Alien first, then we will watch The Godfather and then Captain Equestria. If we have time, we will watch either Predator or Colt of Steel, depending on the mood. Agreed?”

“Agreed!” Six of the seven replied, Aegis the only one voicing a complaint.

“I thought you said it'd be Supercolt, not Colt of Steel?” Twilight's eye twitched, turning the case around to look at it.

“Is there a difference?”

“Well yeah, Supercolt was the classic made in 968 ANM (After Nightmare Moon) and Colt of Steel was that crappy remake made in 4 RL (Return of Luna).” Twilight's eye twitched again.

“I happen to like Colt of Steel,” She mentioned, her eyes turning venomous for a second causing Aegis to flinch back in fear when he saw her horn envelope with a purple mist. “Care to tell me what's wrong with it?”

“Um...Uh...” Most stallions had a lot of responses to the questions mares ask them such as 'You're right', 'I'm sorry' and 'No that dress doesn't make you look fat' but this was one of those rare cases where he was left kind of speechless.

So he just had to wing it. “Nothing! It's a cinematic masterpiece!”

...Hey, he had to wing it, didn't mean he had to maintain his dignity.

“...Good!” Twilight replied brightly, gathering the movies to carry into the sitting room.

The Guard looked to Flash, dumbfounded, while he had his pupils replaced with little hearts. “I love it when she gets angry...So hot...”

A Day In Ponyville

by FelixTheBrony

Back to School

Worst Kept Secret

Poker Night

Cutie Mark Crusaded Part One

Cutie Mark Crusaded Part Two

Train Frustrations and Proposals

Movie Night