MLP Short Shories #2

How Do You Do It? (Slice of Life)

Everypony has magic. The unicorns have the power of spellcraft, Pegasi hold dominion over the wind and weather, and Earth Ponies bond with nature can do countless things. But how does it all work?

Sweetie Belle knows how a unicorn's magic works, she is one after all. But how do pegasi fly? How does an Earth Pony grow apples that taste better? They probably went over this in school but since when has that stopped young students from thinking about literally anything else?

=Musings on Magic=

Sweetie Belle - 14th of Solar Dusk, 08 EoH

Southernmost Orchard, Sweet Apple Acres - Ponyville, Equestria

The warm autumn breeze blew across Sweet Apple Acres creating a symphony from the millions of rustling leaves. Autumn had only just begun to dot trees with yellow and red, making the treetops resemble a patchwork quilt.

The apples which hung from the tree's branches added another color to the quilt. Most all of them shone vibrantly, their ripe colors seeming to shine in the light of the setting sun. The warm orange light filtering down through the leaves and apples completed the picturesque scene, creating the warm feeling of home and hearth in anyone fortunate enough to pass by and see nature's splendor.

Splendor which would not last.

Soon the pegasi would need to bring in the snow and ice to let the land rest for a fresh growing season in the distant spring. Soon the wonderful warmth and natural beauty would be replaced by the grays, blues, and whites of winter.

The perfect night for backyard camping was tonight.

Apple Bloom had invited her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo out to Sweet Apple Acres for that reason first and foremost. Or at least, that's what she had told Apple Jack.

A few years ago when the three had still attended Ponyville Elementary their camping trip would doubtless have been some attempt to earn their cutiemarks in woodcraft.

Now there were other reasons the three would meet up. The sort of reasons adults pretend are adult but is often far more childish than what would motivate a child. Nostalgia.

The three young mares always looked back fondly on their time in elementary school. While little had changed between the present and the past, the high school juniors still felt like it had.

Therefore a small fire pit had been carefully made away from the orchard's trees, a tent had been set up nearby, and several large bags of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars had been procured for the express purpose of eating enough smores to regret it in the morning.

In other words, the three mares intended to perform the (legal) teenage equivalent of going on a bender.

Apple Bloom sat back in her camp chair and smiled as she looked up at the treetops. "This is great. We should have been doing this every week all summer!" She said with a contented sigh.

Scootaloo frowned. "Wouldn't AJ get mad? You're awfully busy in the summer with farm stuff."

Apple BLoom's ears drooped sadly. Naturally, she had been given more chores to do as she had grown up. "Y'all don't think I'm working too much to hang out with anymore, do you?"

Scootaloo shook her head, wincing. "No! That's not what I meant!" She exclaimed, holding up her hooves. "I mean normally you're working till sunset. If we wanted to go 'camping' like this you'd have to stop early."

Apple Bloom pursed her lips. "Well, she does get pretty angry if the schedule gets thrown off. But that's because she still picks up all the slack at the end of the week. I keep telling her she should hire some fieldhooves but nope! Have to keep things in the family, for some reason. It ain't like no other earth ponies are good at growing apples."