/NHNB/ Turnip: A Traditional Equestrian Post-Unification Fairy Tale

>Go download it here:

>https://nhnb.org/fim/res/12752.html

>It has cute pictures and an actual carousel music box with origami ponies.

 

Sweetie Belle sighed and slowly turned her head, looking around.

Their cozy clubhouse was drowning in silence. The silence was thick and greasy, like a lump of butter.

Scootaloo, with her usual 'Hey, what the hay!' face, sat near the wall, under the portrait of her spiritual liege of awesomeness. Sulking Apple Bloom kept her posterior on the stool, leaning her head onto the table.

“How did we get in that mess?” Sweetie moaned, unconsciously imitating Rarity’s signature brand of despair.

“It was your idea!” Scootaloo ruffled up.

“Yeah! Since we pulled it off that one time we can what, plow through at every Celestiadammit occasion?” Apple Bloom huffed. Using harsh, grown mare-like talk felt liberating.

Sweetie rolled her eyes.

“Anyway. We need a turnip now.”

“We sure do.” Scootaloo nodded.

“Uh-huh.” Apple Bloom agreed.

Both fillies fell silent, aren’t making any attempt at developing this line of discussion further.

Sweetie looked at them with a long, condemning gaze.

“Weeeeeeeell… We need to go to the market and search for one! Good thing that’s Harvest Festival right now. Maybe we can find the one perfect enough.”

Scootaloo performed a circular motion with her ears, staring thoughtfully at Rainbow’s portrait.

“Yep. I guess so.”

Reaching that conclusion, the young pegasus stood up and positioned herself shoulder to shoulder with Sweetie.

“Do you think we can get some cutie mark while we are on that?”

Sweetie tapped her chin with her ephemeral magic.

Apple Bloom, who have already began to rise up from the stool, froze in place and stared at them.

“H-hey folks, I’d better not to. Not to go, I mean… Imagine if ah get a turnip cutie mark! Granny would kick me out!”

Scootaloo squinted at the apple filly and pinned her ears, bewildered by the treachery.

“Ponyfeathers! So it’s OK if that would be we?!” Scootaloo stomped.

“W-what if we would get a turnip cutie mark?” Sweetie gasped, realizing the situation.

“You wouldn’t, you aren’t Earth Ponies!” said Apple Bloom with so much adamant confidence that Sweetie immediately believed her. Scootaloo’s ears indicated a good amount of skepticism, but still she took a step back.

“C’mon, throw some monies in the pile at least. Going to the market or not, we are still in it together!”

She pointed condemning hoof at Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom went to her saddlebags and returned with a pouch of silver bits. Sweetie levitated it into her own bags.

“Let’s go fetch your cart, Scootaloo!”

***

The market stands were bursting with autumn revelry.

Piles of bright orange carrots, marred here and there with pieces of earth. Watermelons of varied colors and sizes, from tiny to huge, from whitish to dark-green. Golden melons, exuding their thick, sweet aroma. Whole fortresses built out of pumpkins and patty pans. Eggplants and bell peppers, so ripe and shiny it was like they would actually ring if you tap them.

Both well-established wooden pavilions of Ponyville regulars and covered wagons of guest traders, who arrived from their remote farms and gardens to participate in festivities, were draped in colorful fabric and decorated with sunflowers.

“Wow, so much stuff they never usually sell!” Scootaloo exclaimed, gawking around. She was buzzing her wings as well as working her legs, propelling her scooter with a cart in a tow.

Sweetie Belle, sitting in the cart, was looking around, in her turn admiring the colorful display.

“Scootaloo!” she suddenly cried out in alarm.

Scootaloo darted her head forwards, gasped and threw her scooter to the left, narrowly missing a mare she would’ve rammed otherwise.

“Hey, look where you going!” The mare stomped.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I’m sorry!” Scootaloo apologized, smiling sheepishly.

The mare huffed and went on.

“Scoots, let me do the searching. You better watch the road.”

Scootaloo muttered something unintelligible under her breath. She struck the road with her right front and hind hooves and her scooter went forward, dragging the cart with Sweetie Belle along. Sweetie continued looking around, trying to spy what they needed at the moment.

Looking at one particular stand, she gasped all of sudden.

“Here! Here!”

“Eh? Where? Where?” Scootaloo stopped on her tracks rotating her head from side to side.

“There! There! Look how big it is!” Sweetie pointed at the one of the farmer’s wagons.

The young pegasus followed Sweetie’s hoof. There was a huge vegetable in front of the wagon, surrounded by a legion of the less prominent ones.

“Is that what we need, Sweetie?”

Sweetie squinted appraisingly.

“Hmmm… Yep. I think it is.”

“You think?”

“The shape looks very much like it!”

Scootaloo darted to the wagon and stopped near. Sweetie jumped off the cart.

“Hello, fillies!” The salesmare greeted them. Neat red-and-green root crop adorned her flanks.

“Hello ma’am!” Sweetie flashed the most innocent and foal-like of her smiles, “What an astonishing vegetable! Can we have it?”

***

The buzzing of Scootaloo’s wings sounded like the whole hive of busy bees by this point. She was leaning onto her scooter’s rudder with her whole chest and neck, all her four hooves pushing against the road.

Sweetie trotted alongside, pouting a bit.

“Quit that face!” Scootaloo snapped.

“Whatever is the matter?” Sweetie raised her eyebrows.

“You didn’t get a ride because the stupid thing took all the cart and you know it!”

Sweetie didn’t answer.

They were approaching their clubhouse. Apple Bloom, grazing on the meadow, raised her head and turned her ears forward, staring at the cargo on the cart, bewildered.

Scootaloo stopped pushing forward. She reared up and rested her forelegs on the rudder, huffing.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she began, with an exceptionally smug expression on her face, “we’ve found a real deal, haven’t we? Look, it took up the whole cart! Sweetie’s been afraid she also will need to do the pulling, but since I’m so awesome and athletic…”

“It ain’t no turnip.” Apple Bloom said, quiet but firm.

“…because I’m training every day to be like Rainbow Dash— The hay?! What do you mean?!”

“It ain’t no turnip.” Apple Bloom repeated, shrugging.

The three fillies stared at the cart. The autumn sun, bright and still hot, was bathing the large red root crop in its rays. Gentle wind rustled the firm greenish-red halm, tall like a matureish tree sapling. It was quiet around, for a good while. So quiet, one could clearly distinguish individual bird’s songs from a distant groove down the road.

Sweetie opened her mouth and closed it again.

“How do you know, anyway?” She blurted out finally, “Have you read the summer course, eh?”

Apple Bloom sighed.

“Ah know. Ah'm an Earth Pony for Celestia’s sake!”

“Well- Well… Well, if you would've gone with us we would’ve bought the right thing!”

“Hey, wait a minute! You were supposed to know what do we need! You’ve said you read it!” Scootaloo interjected.

“I’ve read it! Mostly, anyway. This thing kinda looked like on the pic.”

“Kinda? Turnip is whitish, sometimes greenish, beetroot is reddish or outright red!” Apple Bloom stomped with her forehoof.

“Well, I mean, the shape…”

“Aw, come ooooooooon!” Scootaloo moaned in irritation. “Stop that, it’s no use! We need another plan.”

“Let the one who started the whole mess think of something.” Apple Bloom snorted and returned to grazing. Scootaloo nodded and stared at Sweetie. Sweetie smiled nervously and looked around, fishing for ideas.

“Maybe we can paint it white?”

“Ew! It will stink!” Scootaloo rejected the idea.

Sweetie pondered some more. She looked at the grass, at the clubhouse, at the beetroot, at the sky…

Suddenly, she beamed.

“I know!”

“What?” The other two fillies asked in unison.

“I’ll go find if I can get some white fabric to drape it. Please, try to wash the thing while I’ll be going about! Rarity wouldn’t give me anything if I couldn’t convince her it won’t get stained. Bye!”

She turned around and galloped away, back towards Ponyville.

“Hey. Hey! Heeeeey!” after a moment Scootaloo followed.

Apple Bloom looked at them go, then shifted her gaze at the beet. She sighed and started to walk back to the clubhouse to fetch a bucket and a cleaning rag.

***

“So, anyway… Do we have another plan?”

Sweetie sulked even more.

“I don’t know Scootaloo, I really don’t.”

Not a longer than ten minutes ago Rarity made it perfectly clear that all the fabric have already found application for the various tasks and needs of the Harvest Festival. Now Sweetie and Scootaloo were strolling through cheerful and festive streets of Ponyville.

Both of them scowling.

“Ehm… I know it was me who said that, but even if it will stink we can still paint it white.” Scootaloo proposed.

“No, it indeed will stink and will be inedible.”

“Well, I dunno what else we can find that is white and won’t spoil the goods.” Scootaloo shrugged with her tiny wings. She looked to the side, at the street food stand and her ears jumped up.

“Hey, that’s some tasty looking cotton candy!”

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.

“We don’t have time for that, Scoots.”

“But- But maybe we can take loads of cotton candy and kinda smear the whole beet in it? How much money do we have left?”

Sweetie blinked several times, staring at Scootaloo, then reached to open her saddlebags…

“Hi, fillies!”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both jumped up a bit when Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in between them and grabbed both fillies with her forelegs for a hug.

Naturally, a moment ago the pink mare was nowhere even remotely around the place.

“You said cotton candy, eh?” She nuzzled them both, opened her mouth to say more of something evidently cheerful, looked at the fillies intently and her face became a tad more serious.

“Why’re you so sullen? Got berated for something again? No?” Pinkie cocked her head to the side and then gasped: “Did you get in a fight with each other?”

“Hmm, no.” She answered herself a moment after, looking at Sweetie and Scootaloo some more.

“C’mon, it’s Harvest Festival! Let’s fix your problems and get to smiling again!”

“Pinkie, can you kinda… well… lend us lots of cotton candy?” Scootaloo asked, her ears dropping in embarrassment.

“That would’ve fixed our problems.” Sweetie added, hopeful.

“Oh! Not enough money for a filly to party like you want it? Understandable.” Pinkie giggled empathetically, “Well, I think I can try and find something…” She bent her neck, looking around.

“No, we don’t need it to eat!” Sweetie rushed to clarify, “We need it for… the other thing.”

Pinkie brought their heads even closer to her muzzle and stared into their eyes intently.

“Ooooooh, I see! That other thing, you say?” She whispered in a conspirative manner, grinning.

“Erm… Yeeeeah?” Sweetie and Scootaloo answered together, not sure what to expect.

“For that other thing I have something better!”

Pinkie let go of the fillies and reached with her rail behind the corner of the street, just about a dozen feet away. After a moment the tail returned holding a huge pack made out of thick yellowish paper.

“What’s that?” Scootaloo sniffed the bag.

“Sugar powder. A perfect thing to make something red into something white.” Pinkie nodded to make an emphasis.

She set the pack on the pavement.

“Have fun, girls! Good luck with your project!”

The pink mare waved her forehoof and took off in her usual manner, bouncing all her four hooves off the ground together at the same time.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were left standing in the middle of the street looking after the retreating Pinkie, their jaws a bit unhinged.

“How does she do that?” Scootaloo asked a clearly rhetorical question.

“That’s Pinkie Pie.” Sweetie shrugged.

She lit up her horn. Her barely noticeable green aura enveloped the pack of sugar powder and tugged on it. The bag didn’t move an inch. Sweetie winced.

“Let’s go back for your cart, Scootaloo.”

“Nah, too much effort,” Scootaloo squatted near the bag, “Flip it over, Sweetie.”

Sweetie Belle pressed her shoulder against the side of the pack. Scootaloo wobbled with her back muscles and wings while Sweetie continued to push. Together the fillies managed to get the pack on Scootaloo’s back.

The pegasus filly barely set her legs straight and took a few, visibly burdened, steps.

“Still better than plod all the way to there and back again,” she said and set her jaw, looking at Sweetie’s concerned expression, “C’mon, let’s go.”

Sweetie Belle waited a bit for Scootaloo to focus her stubborn gaze on the road and lit her horn again, to quietly support the pack without her friend noticing.

***

Apple Bloom hummed a tune while taking care of the huge beetroot with a rag held in her mouth. Suddenly she heard something familiar in the distance and her ear rotated backwards. After a moment she turned her head and spotted Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle far away down the road. The both fillies walked very slowly, side by side, as if being held down by something.

"What in tarnation?" Apple Bloom whispered to herself.

She threw the rag back into the bucket and trotted to meet her friends.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stopped to catch a breath and looked at her with at least a 300 yard stare. A large, and evidently heavy, pack lied on their backs, uniting the two fillies like a double harness.

"What's that? Where's the fabric?" Apple Bloom asked, with a tad of worry.

"We didn't get any." Sweetie let out a small squeak. Scootaloo only nodded.

Apple Bloom reared and struck the ground with both her front hooves.

"Can anything ever go right in this pile of horseapples?"

"But Pinkie gave us bunch of sugar powder instead." Scootaloo rushed to point out.

Apple Bloom’s nostrils flared. She opened her mouth to say something harsh, but one glance into her friend’s eyes made her reconsider.

She closed her mouth, walked up to them and snuggled to Scootaloo's side.

"Let me! Move that darn thing a bit so it can rest on mah back too."

Scootaloo winced hard and clenched her teeth but manged to wiggle her torso.

"Sweetieeee," she moaned.

Sweetie Belle, with a similar expression of torment flexed her back muscles as well and soon all three fillies were carrying the burden together, towards the clubhouse.

With a moan of huge relief they dropped the pack near the washed beetroot. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle plopped on their sides and lied still, snorting happily, nuzzling the grass.

Apple Bloom circled the pack. She snuffed it and prodded with her hoof several times.

"What will we do with that anyway?"

"If we cover the beet in sugar powder it will be white," whispered Sweetie.

"Pinkie is a genius," Scootaloo added.

"An evil genius," Sweetie Belle noted.

"Nah, that's my fault. Shoulda've taken my cart."

The apple filly went around the pack of sugar powder one more time.

"Well, at least Ah washed the celestiadamn thing not for nothing."

***

Sweetie sighed, looking at the huge beetroot.

She took a spatula in her mouth, scooped some sweet white powder and dumped it onto the beet’s surface. It was still damp after the cleaning efforts so the powder stuck, making a grayish spot.

“You’ve offered to take that book yourself, ya know.” Apple Bloom shrugged.

“And Sweetie was right. It was the shortest one!” Scootaloo was trotting around, with excited, barking Winona at her side.

Opalescence, who was licking herself clean while lying on the picnic cloth, glanced at them with contempt.

Meanwhile Apple Bloom was examining the sugared up spot.

“Hmmm, that would do. Dirty-white, can go for a turnip from a distance. We probably ought to cover the rest of the beet right before the performance, or the wasps will swarm us. No idea what to do with the halm though.”

“To Tartarus with the halm!” Scootaloo exclaimed, irritated. “It looks good enough as it is…”

Winona reared a bit and licked her in the cheek.

“…That reminds me. What the hay should we do with the pets?”

“Pets should also play their part,” said Sweetie. She relocated herself near Opal and was trying to gently nudge her with telekinesis. Opal hissed. Winona walked up to the her to check what’s going on and received a swift slap in the face. Albeit with the claws retracted.

“They should, alright.” Apple Bloom sounded skeptic.

“Let’s try and rehearse a bit.” Sweetie finally managed to lift Opal up and walked back to the beetroot. “So it goes like this: you, Apple Bloom, stand near the beet and pretend you’re pulling it out.”

Apple Bloom carefully took one of the beet halm stems in her mouth.

“Yes, perfect! Now, I will stand behind you and will tug on you with my telekinesis—” Sweetie walked behind Apple Bloom, but thrashing and hissing Opal quickly exposed a fundamental flaw in that plan. “Oh, whatever! I will pretend to tug on you. Scootaloo! You stand behind me. And pretend you’re pulling my tail.”

Scootaloo, with a sly smile, walked behind the unicorn filly.

“Pretend, my dear, pretend.” Sweetie made an additional emphasis, glaring at Scootaloo.

“Ah sure hope Miss Cheerilee will also pretend this a good show.” Apple Bloom remarked.

“Winona’s next,” Sweetie announced, “she goes behind Scootaloo.”

“Winona, come here! Behind!” Scootaloo stomped her hind leg. The dog interpreted that in her own way and plopped on the ground near Scotaloo’s hindquarters.

“Noooooo! Behind! I said behind!”

Winona looked Scotalloo in the eye with the honestest of expressions, barked, wiggling her tail and didn’t budge.

“Oh-kaaaay,” Sweetie Belle sighed with resignation and moved Opal further backwards, behind the rest of the crew.

“Hey! Keep her clear of my butt, will ya?!” Scootaloo protested.

Suddenly Sweetie winced and quickly yanked Opal back closer.

“No use. It’s too far, I can’t keep the concentration. I’d drop her.”

Winona got up, looking at the floating Opal with a great interest and braced herself for a jump.

“NO!!!” Apple Bloom bellowed. Winona squeaked and darted back to Scotaloo’s side.

“And to think we still need the mice…” Sweetie murmured.

“Mice?!” Scotaloo’s eyes went wide and round.

“Yeah, there were mice in the story,” Apple Bloom confirmed with a nod, “and actual mice wouldn’t want to have anything to do with any of that while Opal is here.”

The fillies stared at each other.

“I’ve an idea!” Scootaloo proclaimed after a long awkward silence. “Stay here! Wait for me!”

With that she ran away through the fields, at the opposite direction from Ponyville. Winona immediately bolted after her, before Apple Bloom could even say anything stop her.

Sweetie lowered Opal back onto the cloth and sighed with relief. Opal calmed down and made herself comfortable once again.

“Ah’ll make some daisy-clover sandwiches,” the apple filly shrugged and walked back to the clubhouse.

Half-an-hour later, when Sweetie and Apple Bloom have already eaten most of the sandwiches and been relaxing on the clubhouse’s terrace, they saw approaching ponies on the road. That were Scootaloo… and Fluttershy. Winona was running in front of them, barking happily. She was near the stairs first. The two pegasi, the filly and the mare, followed suit.

“Hello girls.” Fluttershy greeted in her calm and charming half-whisper, “That’s very sweet of you to offer Angel Bunny a part in your play.” The said bunny hopped down from her back, with a smug smile on his face put his front paws on his hips and winked at the Crusaders.

“I hope the rehearsal isn’t too intense,” Fluttershy continued. “Please, consider making an entr’acte or something like that, if that’s OK.” She opened one of her saddlebags and took out a couple of parcels and a large pitcher. “Here’s a bunch of greens for him, and compote, and sandwiches for you, girls. Keep in mind, he gets tummy ache because of dandelions. I’ll return at the evening to take him home.”

“Aw shucks! Thanks a bunch, Miss Fluttershy!” Apple Bloom smiled sheepishly.

Angel Bunny tapped his foot.

“Oh, you’re right!” Fluttershy opened the other saddlebag. Out went a folding chair and a loud-hailer.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders exchanged glances.

“Very well, see you later.” Fluttershy smiled at them with a kind smile, almost as radiant as Celestia’s own, and walked away.

“OK, a bunny is also a rodent, I guess.” Apple Bloom said, when Fluttershy got far enough.

Sweetie Belle stood up, climbed down the stairs and approached Opal once more. Winona barked and began to run around them. Sweetie sighed. “A’ight, let’s continue—”

A loud stomp from the bunny made her pause. Scootaloo smirked with mirth.

Angel Bunny unfolded the chair, placed it near the beetroot and climbed in it. After putting on some swell sunglasses he also took the loud-hailer in one paw and made a coughing sound, full of undeniable authority.

Opal sat up on the cloth and looked at him with a surprised interest. Winona calmed down and stood at attention.

“I think he’s the director now.” Scootaloo snorted.

***

“Caramel apples, caramel apples! Fresh and delicious!”

Scootaloo, who has been running through the market square, slowed down to a walk and looked to her side. She saw a neat wooden stand painted in orange, red and yellow. A large sign depicting; what a surprise!; caramel apples adorned the stand on the top. Caramel Apple been busy skewering juicy red apples with sharpened wooden sticks, then dipping them into a pan full of caramel and sprinkling with honey-glazed oats. Apple Bumpkin, another Apple clan mare, been distributing prepared tasty treats among anticipating customers around.

Unsure what to do, Scootaloo alternated her gaze between the enticing stand and the direction where she should has been keep running, where her friends were waiting for her. The young pegasus scrunched her face, betraying a mighty moral struggle.

To her shame, the apples have won.

Scootaloo approached the stand reaching into her money pouch with her nose. Caramel Apple was just putting yet another tray full of apples on the counter and saw the filly.

“Oh, hey! You’re Scootaloo, right? One of our Bloomy’s best friends?”

“Yes, that’s right, miss. That’d be me. Hello.” Scootaloo said through the gritted teeth, holding the silver bit.

“Put that away. Here, have one on the house!” Caramel Apple carefully nuzzled a caramel apple out of tray.

Scootaloo beamed and dropped the money back into the pouch.

“Thank you so much, miss!” She grabbed the apple by the skewer.

“You’re welcome! Bloomy was mighty excited for something you three wanted to do at the fair. Go have some good fun!”

Scootaloo nodded as vigorously as the apple on a stick permitted her and smiled, grateful. Then she retreated back to the street and there her excitement went down.

“Aw, ponyfeathers! Forgot my rubber band.” She flared her small wings and scowled. Without a band, which she could put on her leg and stick the skewer in between, and without any help from her wings she had no reasonable way of eating the apple.

“Hey, squirt, what’s up?”

Scootaloo jumped and turned around at the greeting made in a very familiar raspy voice.

“Rainbow Dash!”

“Forgot your band?” Dash nodded at the apple in Scootaloo’s mouth.

“Yeah, kinda.” Scootaloo sighed.

“Let me.” Rainbow Dash extended her wing and grabbed the skewer with her wingtip. Scootaloo opened her mouth to gasp and the treat went to the larger pegasus.

“Here.” Dash held the apple to Scootaloo’s face. The filly stepped a step back and dropped her ears, unsure. Then after a moment of contemplation beamed and took a hearty bite out of the apple.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Rainbow said, flustered, “it sure looks like a mother feeding a foal. So what? You’re my honorary little sister!”

Scootaloo just nodded, working her jaws vigorously. The apple was delicious! Pleasant fresh sourness mixed with the sweetness of caramel; the juicy firm fruit and the crunchy oats. And the fact that the most awesome pony in the world was holding it for her was just the cherry on top! A disappointed grimace showed on Scootaloo’s face when she realized that she has gulped the whole treat already. She smacked her lips, savoring the aftertaste.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow sent the skewer flying into a nearby bin with a casual looking but extremely precise toss.

“No problem.”

“Will you go to the fair grounds? Me and girls will be making a play, for a school project…” Scootaloo mumbled with an awkward smile.

“Oh, so that’s why Rarity and Applejack went there first-hoof. Sure thing! When will you start?”

“Well, actually—” Scootaloo opened her mouth to answer, but when she thought about the play the pleasant veil of her idol’s presence fell off and a horrible realization made the young pegasus squawk, “right about now! Oh, horseapp—, ponyf—, darn, I-I have to run! They’re waiting for me! B-bye Dash!”

Scootaloo galloped away.

Rainbow laughed and slapped herself on the front knee with her wing.

“You go, filly! Don’t worry, I’ll be there.”

***

“And now on the Foal’s Amateur Art Festival, The Cutie Mark Crusaders! With their play, called Turnip, inspired by traditional folk tales.”

Cheerilee pulled the cord and the distinguished battered curtain parted, revealing the scene: a section of the prop wooden fence, a painted sun hanging from the ceiling and a huge vegetable, in a cart partially hidden with a brown rug, which probably represented the soil.

“What in tarnation?” whispered Applejack to Rarity; both of them standing among the crowd of other parents and siblings around the Ponyville summer theater; “How in the hay is this a turnip? It’s a beetroot smeared in something white!”

“Calm down, darling, that’s probably an avant-garde play. Youth, at least in Canterlot, like experimenting in their art.”

“Whatever! Quiet, you two.” Rainbow, standing near with Applejack and Rarity, complained. She was holding a whole bunch of caramel apples in her one wing’s embrace, feasting on them with the help of her other one.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle appeared on the scene. She walked to the far right corner from the beet and stood there.

“Once upon a time, an Earth Pony planted a turnip!” She declared in her loud and clear soprano tone.

To illustrate the point, Apple Bloom came out from off-stage and approached the “turnip”. She jumped in the air, then bobbed her head up and down, then neighed with glee. She grabbed a halm leaf in her teeth and portrayed vigorous pulling. To no avail.

“The Earth Pony wanted to pull it out, but couldn’t.” Sweetie Belle commented. “So the Earth Pony called a Unicorn to help!”

At that, Sweetie relocated behind Apple Bloom and yanked her tail with her aura. “And when they both failed, they called a Pegasus!” She proclaimed, looking back at the audience.

Scootaloo came onto the scene, trotted behind Sweetie and tugged her tail. Sweetie yelped. “When the Pegasus failed to help,” she said with an emphasis, glaring at silently laughing Scootaloo, ”they have called the loyal guard dog!”

Audience emitted a quiet hubbub, when Winona ran onto the scene. She stared at the prompter’s box for a few seconds, then run up to Scootaloo and got to pulling her tail.

“But even then it was not enough,” Sweetie continued, “so they called a cat!”

Opalescence blessed the audience with her presence, walking out on the scene in a slow, deliberately imposing gait, holding her nose and tail high in the sky.

The audience went moderately “whoah!”

“Wha—?! How?! And I wondered where my Opal went the whole morning!” Rarity whispered, impressed.

Opal turned her head to the public, then squinted at the prompter’s box. She raised her nose even higher and walked behind Winona, taking the dog’s tail in a clutch of her right paw, visibly scrunching her nose.

“And when everything else failed, they called… a bunny!”

Angel Bunny jumped out from the prompter’s box. He crossed his front limbs and ran his eyes over the scene in a boss-like manner. Then he stood behind Opal and courteously placed his paw on her shoulder. Opal emitted an appreciative ‘mrow’.

“That defeats the whole purpose of the tale! What does it have to do with bunnies?! That’s mice who play part in making a proper aeration—” Applejack began, but Rainbow plugged her mouth with an apple.

“I think this is nice.” Fluttershy, who was here too, commented on Angel’s performance with an amiable smile.

“So they pulled, and pulled, and pulled together and pulled the crops out! And then all of them cooked the turnip and ate it!” Sweetie finished triumphantly.

Audience fell silent for a moment. Then Rainbow Dash began to stomp her front hooves. Others followed, partly due to the herd instinct, partly due to being genuinely amused.

The actors lined up facing the ponies and bowed.

“A solid performance!” Cheerilee bellowed to out-voice the crowd and pulled the cord again, closing the scene. She then parted the curtains with her nose and went in.

Sweetie Belle trotted up to her.

“Miss Cheerilee! Miss Cheerilee! How was it? Will we get extra credit for our marks in literature?”

The teacher pony shifted her ears.

“Well, you’ll definitely will get credit in literature.”

“YAAAAY!”

“Botany, however… I think we will need to arrange some remedial classes for you.”

The three fillies’ expressions soured. Apple Bloom stepped forward wanting to say something, but decided against it. She glared at Sweetie instead. Sweetie Belle pouted. Scootaloo sighed and looked at her flank.

“All this bother all over again, and still no cutie mark…”

***

Five mares, three foals and pets were sitting on a meadow, among dozens of other picnic goers. Winona was sulking near Applejack, after several unsuccessful efforts to play with Opal. Pinkie, who was busy with festive baking and joined others after the play, distributed brownies and tarts from the picnic basket she brought. Fluttershy, not a moment without a smile, was struggling to make Angel Bunny eat his carrots instead of brownies.

“You think you can make something with that much of a beet?” Applejack asked Pinkie.

“Yup. Sure!” Pinkie fished out a recipe book out of her mane, ruffled the pages and showed to Applejack.

“So! So! Was it awesome?” Scootaloo was jumping around Rainbow Dash.

“I think it was pretty much… how Rarity put it… avian-grade! Of course, you have a fair way to go still, and if I was in it—”Rainbow winced and stopped herself, “Yeah it was pretty good!”

“Where’s Twilight?” Rarity asked, filling Sweetie Belle’s and Fluttershy’s cups with tea.

“She supervises the wheel.” Applejack nodded at the gargantuan construction towering over the valley in the distance, “ And the new carousel they built on the main square too. Ah think that was mighty sweet of her to procure such a piece of craft from Canterlot for our autumn festival.”

“Will we get a ride?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at her big sister tentatively.

“Sure thing!” Applejack ruffled filly’s mane with her nose.

“And let’s get more caramel apples!” Scootaloo chimed in.

“Totally!” Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement with her. “Hay, I love Ponyville Harvest Festivals so much!”