At the start of a whole new year, we crusaders had just started back at school, as usual; it was nice to have a fresh start.

“And that concludes my show and tell!” Apple Bloom proclaimed proudly, heading back to her seat.

“Okay, next up...” Cheerilee looked around the classroom of eager ponies. “Flick how about you?”

“Oh boy.” Diamond Tiara groaned from the back.

“Another edition of Flufftail’s long boring stories!” Silver Spoon sighed.

“Quiet back there Silver Spoon.” Cheerilee spoke sternly.

“That’s my cousin you’re talking about, shush your mouth!” Sweetie Belle turned around and hissed at the two bullies.

“Don’t talk to me like that Squeaky Belle!” Silver Spoon gasped.

“Just ignore her Sweetie Belle.” I sighed, getting up and heading towards the front of the class. I took the slow walk to the front; fully aware everypony was watching me. I stood at the front of the class. “I’ve really looked forward to coming back to school!” I grinned to Cheerilee, who smiled in return. I turned to face all my classmates, preparing to get my item for show and tell. I glanced towards Sweetie Belle who stared at me intently and shook her head, her eyes fixated on mine.

“For my show and tell, I’ve got – “

But before I get to that, we need to go back to New Years Eve, my birthday.

“This has been an amazing birthday!” I grinned sipping my milkshake. “And this caramel milkshake is just the best thing ever!”

“I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it!” Sweetie Belle beamed.

“It’s been a really great year hasn’t it?” Scootaloo took a sip of her milkshake. "This time last year we were at the fashion parade!"

“Time really flies." I smiled fondly.

“Did you like all your gifts?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah they were amazing! … Although Rarity got me yet another scarf.” I rolled my eyes.

You know the scarves your aunt Rarity makes, each winter she’d given me some form of winter wear, most often in the form of a bright scarf.

“Oh boy, another one. Rarity sure is the element of generosity, giving boring gifts to you each year.” Apple Bloom scoffed.

“I have so many of these scarves now but to be fair I like the green one!” I half-heartedly laughed.

“What about the gift in the Club house?” Scootaloo asked.

“Wait, what gift?” I stopped sipping my milkshake.

“The gift in the clubhouse that’s been left for you who we don’t know who it’s from.” Scootaloo shrugged, soon noticing our blank expressions. “The gift in the clubhouse that…I probably forgot… to tell you about.” Scootaloo’s voice trailed off.

“Somepony left a gift for me in the club house?” My eyes widened in excitement.  “Why not just give it to me?”

“I don’t know, but it’s been there since this morning, there’s no tag on it to say who it’s from though.” Scootaloo said.

“Why were you in the club house this morning for? We didn’t have a meeting or anything.” Apple Bloom asked curiously.

“No reason, I was just putting up some more Rainbow Dash posters, the point is, there’s a gift there for you!” Scootaloo eagerly gestured for us to head to the club house.

“Well let’s go!” I shot up excitedly, rushing to the door.

“Awh man, do we have to go outside, it’s freezing!” Apple Bloom looked at the cold snow filled Ponyville outside.

“Come on Apple Bloom, think about the present! … That’s for me and nopony else!” I giggled.

And the long cold walk to the Clubhouse was –

“Freezing!” Apple Bloom gasped. “I am so… frozen.” her voice stuttered.

“Oh come on Apple Bloom it’s not that cold, you’ve been working on the farm in the winter you should be used to it.” Scootaloo moaned.

“Yeah Apple Bloom, stop complaining, frozen? Let it go.” I giggled to myself.

Now back in the day I myself was never a fan of winter, as a matter of fact if I hadn’t found my cutie mark on what is still known as the worst winter Ponyville had ever seen, I’d probably still prefer the summer. And so for now we faced the cold winter air to walk to the clubhouse… and sure enough, when we got there -

“Present!” I beamed.

The wrapped gift was fairly small; it clearly wasn’t something large, wrapped carefully in a glistening gold wrapping paper.

“Well like I said there’s no note so we don’t know who it’s from, it just says who it’s for.” Scootaloo spoke.

I carefully observed the writing on the note.

“The writing on this… it’s neat, a unicorn must have wrote I.” I commented, before observing more closely.

“Who’s writing is it?” Sweetie Belle asked, realizing I recognized it.

“II have no idea.” I shrugged.

“Well go ahead, open it!” Apple Bloom encouraged.

I needed no further encouragement, quickly ripping the golden wrapping paper off the gift.

“What is it?” Sweetie Belle asked bemused.

I lifted out a small case, a fairly old battered brown case with a golden clip, begging to be opened.  “Well the case is old, lets see what’s inside.” I spoke, nervously opening the case.

There sat within the battered case was what appeared to be a necklace, gold plated but somewhat worn out and battered much like the case, the center piece was a purple swirling like pattern similar to that of the far distant galaxies I’d seen from Twilight’s observatory.

“Whoa! That looks like one of the elements of harmony or something!” Sweetie Belle noticed the sparkle of the golden, purple shining necklace.

“The center part looks like a swirling galaxy or something…” Apple Bloom remarked.

“It looks so amazing and – “ I started before being interrupted.

“Stupid, what is this thing, some weird necklace.” Scootaloo scoffed.

“Shut up Scootaloo! What if it’s just like the elements of harmony!” Sweetie Belle gasped.

“No I’m sure it’s nothing like that… “ I laughed, although the thought initially crossed my mind.

“Wait maybe it’s an amulet!” Apple Bloom spoke up.

“Of course! Just like when Trixie came back to Ponyville, she had some super powerful evil amulet that gave her… dark powers.” Sweetie Belle shuddered.

“Oh come on, this thing doesn’t look like it’s filled with dark magic, look it sparkles!” I beamed watching the glistening of the golden plates and the purple shine of the centerpiece.

“Oh shiny sparkles!” Sweetie Belle stared in awe.

“I wonder who left it here for you then?” Scootaloo asked.

“Maybe it was Twilight!” I spoke with confidence. “Who else? I mean she has felt bad about being too busy to give me any magic lessons lately but what does this do?”

“Wait Flick, Twilight already gave you her gift this morning, remember? The magic book!” Sweetie Belle recalled.

“She gave me a copy of a book she used to study from when she was my age… maybe this is a bonus gift!” I laughed.

“Or maybe… somepony else wanted you to have this amulet.” Apple Bloom’s voice trailed off.

“I wonder what it does.” I asked myself. “

“Wait Flick! Don’t put it on yet” Sweetie Belle put her hoof on mine to stop me.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because… you don’t know what this thing does, it could be dangerous. Why not ask Twilight first?”

I sighed. “I suppose you’re right… but I hope she tells me what this thing does. It would make an amazing show and tell on our first day back at school!” I beamed.

But I knew deep down, I had to talk to Twilight.

“Okay Fuzzy, here’s the plan, I’ll tell Miss Twilight I’m grateful for the gift and then I’ll ask her what it does and then it’ll all be sorted okay?” I looked up at the ferret resting on my mane. “Good!”

I knocked on Twilight’s castle door, before long it opened and Twilight stood in the door way.

“Oh hello Flick, how’s the special birthday boy doing?” She asked kindly.

“I’m doing really well thanks! Oh and thanks for the gift Miss Twilight!” I smiled up at Twilight.

“It’s no problem Flick, that book was one of my favorites, I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading it, there’s loads of useful spells in there!”

“And thanks for… the other gift.” My voice trailed off.

“Which gift?” Twilight asked clearly puzzled.

I gulped as my mind quickly began trying to find the right words to escape this situation. “The gift… of your friendship!” I grinned.

Twilight observed me closely, pausing for a moment, before beaming back at me. “Well friendship is magic, you know I’ll always be your friend!”

"Thanks Miss Princess Twilight! I... gotta go!" I rushed off.

Twilight stared bemused at what had happened, but shrugged it off.

“So it wasn’t Twilight?” Scootaloo asked, sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Apparently not… so who was it?” I asked myself, looking down at Fuzzy who was curled up by my hooves asleep.

“Flick, until you find out what that is, just be careful.” Sweetie Belle warned me clearly concerned.

“Yeah you have a history of being a bit destructive with magic.” Apple Bloom nodded.

I was about to retort but… well she was right.

“Why not just take it to Twilight and show her?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“No… I’ll do this by myself, I can do my own research.” I nodded to myself. “I mean I know in the past we’ve tried to do things ourselves and it ended up going wrong… but this time I can do it!” I smiled, looking down on the bed at the golden, purple swirled amulet.

I noticed Sweetie Belle staring at me once more.

“Just research don’t worry, I’m not going to just put it on to see what it does and blow up the whole town or something.” I chuckled. “Although this thing really would be an amazing show and tell.”

“Well you just – “ Sweetie Belle started.

“Be careful, I know.” I sighed.

But I knew I’d not be able to resist… because in a few short days we’d be going back to school, and a mysterious amulet really would be an amazing show and tell.

The cold air of night time Ponyville was full of excited ponies awaiting the new year's arrival, just moments away.

“No way Flick! You’re not showing that thing at show and tell, do you have any idea what could go wrong?” Sweetie Belle gasped. “You promised you wouldn’t!”

“Hey look Sweetie Belle, fireworks!” I pointed my hoof to the sky.

“Oh no, I’m not being distracted by – “ Sweetie Belle looked out of the window. “Ooooh pretty!" She admired the explosions of colours covering the entire sky celebrating the new year.

"Happy new year!" I changed the subject swiftly.

"The fireworks are nice, maybe you can put that amulet on at show and tell and BLOW UP THE ENIRE SCHOOL!" Sweetie Belle quickly lost her cool again.

“Calm down Sweetie Belle, a magical amulet would be the best show and tell ever!” Scootaloo grinned, encouraging me to show the amulet at school.

“You’re just hoping when he puts that thing on it really will blow the school up!” Sweetie Belle retorted.

“Yeah, we’d get so much time off!” Scootaloo stepped towards Sweetie Belle.

“We’ve just had hearths warming holiday!” Sweetie Belle growled.

“Pfft, check out the nerd who wants to go back to school.” Scootaloo laughed, turning to Apple Bloom who grinned in response.

“I’m not a nerd!” Sweetie Belle raged.

“Wanna bet?”

“Wait guys please don’t argue! It’s new year!” I popped up in between the two arguing ponies.

“He’s right…” Sweetie Belle sighed.

There was a pause for a moment, before Sweetie Belle spoke once more.

“Hey Flick” She spoke.

“Yeah?”

Without warning, Sweetie Belle smacked her hoof in to me causing me to flinch.  “Beleated birthday beating!” She grinned.

“Ouch Sweetie Belle!” I groaned. "I get enough of that from Scootaloo..."

The other three laughed as I rolled my eyes, Scootaloo glared at me evilly, pounding her hooves together.

“So… new years resolutions?” I asked already anticipating the same answer as the year before.

“Find our cutie marks?” Apple Bloom piped up.

“For real this time!” Scootaloo nodded.

And with the explosions of fireworks lightning up the sky of Ponyville, the next eventful year in my journey had arrived.

And what a year it would be… Which leads us to the part where I was at show and tell.

“For my show and tell, I’ve got - "

...

“This amazing scarf my cousin Rarity made for me!” I beamed, holding up the knitted green scarf. “I mean just look at it! It’s green! It’s knitted! ... it’s green!” I smiled, holding the green scarf. “And it’s a scarf! I get one every single year, and this one is my new favourite; My cousin Rarity made it for me so it’s super special!”

“Well thank you Flick that was very… interesting!” Cheerilee seemed somewhat underwhelmed, expecting more from me after my previous stories.

“Wow his short stories are even more lame than his long ones…” Silver Spoon giggled with Diamond Tiara.

Sweetie Belle gave a huge sigh of relief as I headed back to my seat.

“Why didn’t you show the amulet?” She asked grateful I had taken her advice.

“You were right Sweetie Belle, it wasn’t a good idea, I mean it could have ended in disaster and we don’t even know what that thing does.” I spoke truthfully, the entire school could have been at risk since the amulet could be magical and dangerous. "I bet after all this it ends up having no magic whatsoever, like it's just a fashion thing. Hey if thats the case I'll give it to Rarity."

“I’m glad you saw sense!” Sweetie Belle relaxed finally.

“You could have brought something interesting for once Flick.” Silver Spoon spoke from behind me.

“Well what have you brought Silver Spoon?” I turned to face her.

“My new pair of stylish glasses of course, don’t tell me you didn’t notice. I mean look, they sparkle!” She smiled proudly as the silver glasses shimmered in the light.

I glanced down at the amulet sparkling in my backpack before looking back at Silver Spoon. “Well fair play Silver Spoon, you’ve sure out done me!” I smiled.

“If only she knew.” Scootaloo leaned over whispering at me.

“With any luck, that amulet has the power to get rid of her giant ego or something.” Apple Bloom added.

"I guess we'll find out soon." I looked down confidently, contemplating the mysterious item.

“Dear Journal.” I spoke out loud as I wrote the words in to the small book I carried with me everywhere. “It’s been a crazy few days, I’ve still got no idea what this necklace, pendant thing is.” I paused for a moment. “I’m sure I’ll find out soon, with any luck it’s something good that could help me find my cutie mark!” I took a deep breath and decided to stop thinking about it for a while, knowing it would send me insane. Fuzzy sat in my mane sleeping soundly, used to me often rambling out loud.

“In other news, tension has been quite high lately between Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, to be honest they’re annoying me, they seem to argue all the time.” I carried on speaking as I wrote. “But since I learnt the lesson of loyalty from Miss Rainbow Dash I've learnt to not get involved, I’m kind of glad I don’t attract drama like those two do, they seem to be bickering constantly about silly stuff and – “

“Ahem, excuse me” The voice of Sweetie Belle came from next to me.

She, Apple Bloom and the others were sitting on the bed also.

“Sorry I sometimes forget I’m not alone.” I blushed.

“We don’t bicker!” Apple Bloom hopped on to the floor off the bed.

Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement.

“Sweetie Belle just bickers at me cause she’s jealous of me being so… beautiful…” Apple Bloom sighed proudly.

Sweetie Belle stared in anger at Apple Bloom and started to growl.

Oh right you remember the events of Nightmare Night? Sweetie Belle had entered the costume contest in the hopes of being the most adorable pony at the show, however an incident involving some horrible slimy slime…stuff caused a wardrobe malfunction. So it turns out that Apple Bloom in her not so terrifying costume ‘Apple Doom’ won the contest against her own will.

“I love being a model now!” Apple Bloom smiled smugly.

“Wait, but you hated it before” I leaned forward.

Apple Bloom shrugged. “Well sure, but that was when I was Apple Doom… now I’m the beautiful glorious photogenic Apple Swoon.”

“Apple Swoon…?” Scootaloo didn’t try to hide her mocking laughter.

Apple Bloom seemed to not be bothered by the obvious mockery Scootaloo was showing. “Photo Finish told me I’ll make everypony swoon over me when they see the photos.”

“Right…” I didn’t quite know what to say.

“Where are these photos going anyway?” Scootaloo asked.

“Photo Finish has a new magazine, it comes out next month. And I’m making the front cover! I’m getting the first edition posted to me!” Apple Bloom beamed.

“Oh shut up!” Sweetie Belle growled still lying down.

“Cheer up Sweetie Belle.” I spoke encouragingly.

“It’s okay, I didn’t want to be a stupid model anyway.” She rolled over to face away from us all. “Just stop rubbing it in my face Apple Bloom… seriously.” Sweetie Belle cried, soaking the pillow.

I gave a stern look to Apple Bloom, ushering her to leave for a while. This was going to be a long night of comforting my cousin… But the next day at school, Sweetie Belle had even more reason to be angry.

I happily skipped in to class ahead of crusader friends. “I’m so going to get an A in my project, I spent a whole week on it!” I smiled at Cheerilee as we entered the room.

“Wait we had a project?” Scootaloo panicked.

“Do you ever pay attention in class?” I rolled my eyes.

We all began to sit at our usual desks, until a voice called from the back of the class. “Hey Apple Bloom!” The voice of Silver Spoon came.

“Huh? Silver Spoon?” Apple Bloom was just as shocked at the rest of us that a popular pony was talking to one of us.

“Come here! Sit with us!” She invited Apple Bloom to sit next to her and Diamond Tiara. “Come on! You’re a model now everypony has heard about it. You should sit with ponies who are… more your standard.” she sneered at the rest of us.

Of course loyalty between friends is one of the strongest bonds that keeps us together, aunt Rainbow Dash had always spoken to us about the importance of never leaving your friends, I mean after all loyalty is –

… Apparently loyalty was something Apple Bloom didn’t quite understand back then.

“Wait you’re popular now, so you’re ditching us… the ones who care about you?” Sweetie Belle’s voice broke as she spoke.

I stepped forward to ensure there was no conflict, Sweetie Belle looked as if she was going to straight out jump at Apple Bloom.

“Oh come on Sweetie Belle it’s just for one day, besides I’ve been upgraded, I’m cool now I can sit at the back! I can still see you guys at break.”

“Don’t you remember what happened the last time we tried to be popular?” Scootaloo rolled her eyes remembering the previous failed attempt to become one of the popular ponies.

“That’s in the past, this is different. This time it’s just me, in all my glorious glory, just wait until everypony see’s the magazine next month!” Apple Bloom giggled, looking over at Silver Spoon who was gesturing for her to join them.

And so Sweetie Belle saw red, nothing but anger at her friend who had not only taken her dream chance of being a model away from her, but who now was ditching us for the class bullies.

And then Sweetie Belle got angry... really angry.

“You’re being a complete… Cookie!” Sweetie Belle yelled.

The entire classroom fell silent; Apple Bloom turned around and stepped back in shock.

She didn’t really say ‘Cookie’ You see we were at an age now where we… start to learn new things, words that are not exactly polite. Actually, for the sake of your own innocence I’ll just censor every rude word, you two aren’t quite old enough to know the truth.

.

“Cookie?!” Apple Bloom gasped in a harsh whisper. “I can’t believe you’d call me that if you’re my friend!”

“Just go and enjoy time being popular.” Sweetie Belle scowled.

“Another argument…” I sighed sitting down at my desk, pulling out my journal.  “Another drama filled story for the journal!”

“Oh come on Flick you and you’re stupid… Sprinkle filled journal!” Apple Bloom pushed my journal off the desk.

“What?” I was horrified, how dare she insult my journal. "Did you just say the...S word?"

“Sprinkle! That’s all it’s full of, a load of old SPRINKLE!” Apple Bloom stomped her hooves angrily.

“Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle!” Cheerilee yelled in disbelief. “You don’t use such language in my classroom! Or anywhere else for that matter! You’re both in serious trouble for this.” The angry teacher stepped forward, a disappointing look cast across her face.

And the problem with saying the word Sprinkle in a class full of young ponies -

“Sprinkle?” One pony called from the front.

“What does sprinkle mean?” Diamond Tiara asked, clueless.

“Hehe it sounds funny! SPRINKLE!” Silver Spoon giggled.

Everypony was very impressionable.

Cheerilee stared in disbelief; her worst day at work had clearly just begun.

I had gone to help Fluttershy with the animals as I often did, putting the earlier events of that day behind me, Scootaloo came with me to avoid Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom’s continuing argument.

“Come on Flick, it’s time to feed the ferrets.” Fluttershy guided me to the pen full of baby ferrets.

“Hey look Fuzzy! Aren’t these other ferrets cute” I spoke in awe, looking up at Fuzzy who was slightly scratching my mane. “Not as cute as you of course!”

“I see why you love helping out here Flick, it’s fun!” Scootaloo was smiling at all the different animals, which were all intrigued to see a different pony helping out for a change.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it Scootaloo!” I was fairly surprised Scootaloo would enjoy such a not so adventurous activity.

“Scootaloo sweetie, do you want to feed Angel?” Fluttershy stepped forward with a giant carrot.

“I’d love to!” Scootaloo took the carrot and lowered herself to look at Angel. “Come on little bunny… take the carrot.”

Angel seemed to dislike being fed by an unfamiliar face, stamping his feet slightly, looking annoyed.

“Oh but do be careful, he sometimes bites if somepony he doesn’t really know feeds him.” Fluttershy warned somewhat quietly.

“He wouldn’t bite me! Would you, you cute little – “ And then in one swift move, Angel opened wide, those huge bunny teeth striking down on Scootaloo’s hoof. “FUDGE!!!” Scootaloo screamed in pain and anger.

Again, I'm censoring words here.

I giggled slightly, knowing very well I shouldn’t have. The large carrot fell to the floor and Angel soon saw the opportunity to eat the entire vegetable within seconds.

“Scootaloo!” Fluttershy gasped. “Such language!”

“Fudging bunny bit my hoof… that hurt like a Bee!” Scootaloo cried, tears streaming down her face.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy fell backwards on to the ground, remaining motionless.

“What have you done?” I looked down on Fluttershy horrified. “She’s fainted! Well done Scootaloo!”

Scootaloo stared in silence for a moment. “Oops… we’re in so much trouble.”

“You’re in so much trouble! And are you really concerned about that when Miss Fluttershy has just fainted?” I felt myself getting angrier.

Scootaloo looked down at her red sore hoof and growled before composing herself. “I’ll go get Rainbow Dash!” She dashed away before I could respond.

It wasn't hard to find where Rainbow Dash would be on a sunny afternoon.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo called up high to the cloud Rainbow Dash was snoozing on.

Rainbow Dash woke and glanced down, yawning and stretching as she did so. “Hey kiddo,if you want a flying lesson…” She yawned before continuing at a slower pace. “Just… just come back… another…” She began to snore again.

“I’m sorry to disturb you Rainbow Dash but erm, Fluttershy has just fainted!” Scootaloo called up emphasizing the final few words.

“What?” Rainbow Dash bolted upright and flew down to the ground in front of Scootaloo dramatically. “Again…seriously.”

“I know right!”

“Wait, kiddo what happened?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I was feeding Angel and he bit my hoof and it really hurt so I said fudge and said it hurt like a bee, then she just passed out.” Scootaloo explained.

“Oh boy, I think we should get Twilight or somepony who’s better at this sort of stuff.” Rainbow Dash sniggered slightly; hearing such a young pony use such words was somewhat amusing.

And so Rainbow Dash quickly gathered Twilight and her friends to head to the cottage, so with everypony together they came over to yell at us.

Oh and to help your Aunt Fluttershy of course.

“Such… such language…” Fluttershy spoke in a daze laying on the floor.

“I know Miss Fluttershy, I know…” I spoke softly trying to calm her down, keeping my hooves around her to support her, I blushed slightly, helping Fluttershy always put a smile on my face.

“Now listen here you three.” Twilight spoke to my crusader friends. “Applejack and Rarity have heard from Cheerilee that you two have been saying… certain words at school.” Twilight spoke awkwardly, aiming her words to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

“And you Scootaloo, well I don’t have to tell you the consequences of your actions.” Rainbow Dash spoke.

"Such... language" Fluttershy spoke once more.

“You need to realize some words are not good, in fact they’re very bad and You need to promise you’ll never say any of those words again, okay?” Rarity spoke sternly.

“We promise…” The three crusaders spoke in unison.

“Good girls!” Applejack beamed, winking at Apple Bloom.

“Why hasn’t Flick gotten in trouble anyway!” Apple Bloom groaned.

“Because he’s the good guy, yet again.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “You’re always the hero aren’t you?” Scootaloo scoffed at me.

“Hey I’m not involved, I just wanted to make sure Miss Fluttershy is feeling okay.” I defended myself.

“Oh I feel much better now Flick, thank you very much!” Fluttershy managed to stand up weakly, smiling softly at me as she did so.

“Well at least y’all have learnt your lesson now!” Applejack took her hat off and fanned herself; relieved the situation had been resolved.

“Meanie words are only for meanies!” Pinkie Pie screamed, jumping in to the centre of the small room we were all gathered in.

Everypony had jumped at the sudden high-pitched scream.

“Hey I had to say something, I’ve been quiet for the entire chapter.” Pinkie hopped happily away.

We all stared as Pinkie bounced away.

“I’m oh so proud of you for not copying your friends in the use of such fowl language Flick!” Rarity beamed at me.

I shrugged embarrassingly, I really was the good guy again! “Oh it’s fine, besides I grew up in Manehatten! I’ve heard much worse there, me and even in the posh parts of Manehatten people say bad things, I mean my parents say everything, they say stuff like –“

And for the next twenty two seconds I went on to say every rude word in existence. As I rambled on I noticed everypony was staring at me, their mouths gradually opening wider, I was fairly pleased with myself and my vocabulary.

“- It's just the kind of stuff ponies in Manehatten say!" I laughed to myself almost falling on the floor from how hilarious the grown up words were.  "I think I get my amazingly vast vocabulary from my father actually, he did used to teach at a school once, he's super smart and he doesn't take any sprinkle from anypony. "

Rarity quickly interrupted me, flustered in a state of panic. “Okay Flick! You just leave now and… erm… think about what you’ve done okay!” Rarity wiped away some sweat from her head, embarrassed all her friends had witnessed my outburst. She gave me the stern look she'd always give when she was furious.

“But… such…language…” Fluttershy fell backwards passing out once more.

My fluffy tail dropped as I realized I’d just gotten in trouble, so I made the walk of shame out of the cottage.

I could hear Scootaloo giggling as I walked on by.

“They grow up so fast…” Rainbow Dash sighed contently.

Rarity glared at her in annoyance.

"What? I'm just saying... I was at least two years older than these little ones before I learnt to talk like that!"

“I hope it’s safe for me to go home now.” I spoke to myself, looking at Carousel Boutique in the distance.  It was a beautiful night, but I soon missed the comfort of being home. “If ever I say a bad word again, just bite my ear okay Fuzzy?” I spoke up to the Ferret sitting in my mane.

Fuzzy squeaked in response. “Nice one buddy! I’m sure Rarity has calmed down now.”

And so I finally got back.

“Rarity I’m home!” I called awaiting a response, however none came. “Rarity?”

The place was empty until Sweetie Belle came rushing towards me from our room.

“She’s not here!” She squeaked in an almost inaudible tone.

We knew Rarity must be off on yet another adventure with Twilight and her friends, she'd never leave this late without getting somepony to look after us. which meant -

“We’re…home alone.” My eyes widened. “While Rarity is off saving the whole of Equestria no doubt…” I sighed.

"We can do whatever we want!" Sweetie Belle grabbed me.

“Like what?” I asked.

“No Rarity, it’s getting late… fudge it, lets stay up all night!"

“We’re seriously home alone… without anypony to look after us?” I asked rather bemused.

“We can stay up all night and do everything we’ve always wanted to!” Sweetie Belle beamed.

Carousel Boutique was our oyster, one whole night to do anything we wanted.

“Okay then!” I cleared my throat, pulling out a list from my journal. “First up on the list of things we are totally not allowed to do but can do when Rarity isn’t here…”

“Jumping…! On…! THE BED!” Sweetie Belle squeaked as we bounced on our bed.

“I can’t believe how much fun this is!” I giggled.

You know one of the things your aunt Rarity can’t stand, is a messy bed.

“Make our own milkshakes!” I cheered, throwing several pieces of fruit in to the giant blender.

“Shall I just turn the blender on?” Sweetie Belle eagerly held her hoof above the giant button.

“Wait! We need another ten strawberries!”  I threw in several strawberries. “Okay do it!”

What soon followed was a giant explosion of fruit juice splattering all over the walls, it was glorious.

“Whoa, Sprinkle…” We spoke in unison.

"OUCH!" I cried in pain, Fuzzy had bit my ear. "Ugh, thanks pal." I shrugged off the pain. "What next?"

“Try on Rarity’s amazing dresses!” Sweetie Belle glanced at herself in the mirror wearing a sparkling pink dress several sizes too big for her.

“Yeah! Wait…” I looked down to see the bright purple dress I was wearing. “Why did I put this on?"

“Oh come on Flick, you always said you love fashion!”

“Not any more” I growled.

And for the next item on the list…

“Okay what else?” I asked.

“Erm… “ Sweetie Belle glanced at the list. “Next on the list, stay up all night!”

“All night?” I sighed, I was already tired.

Sweetie Belle hopped up and down. “Yeah! Come on Flick, you’re so lazy. How hard can it – “

The loud snoring of Sweetie Belle almost made the entire room vibrate.

“How can you sleep through all this noise Fuzzy?”  I glanced down at the small ferret who was fast asleep at the end of the bed, I sighed to myself, sitting back glancing outside at the full moon. “We just spent a whole hour making a mess of the house…Maybe we don’t spend enough of our time trying to earn our cutie marks.”

“I finally… got my cutie mark…” Sweetie Belle mumbled.

I immediately glanced down to see Sweetie Belle drooling as she slept.

“Another dream about getting her cutie mark, talking in her sleep this time.” I commented to myself.

I’d had plenty of those dreams, although I’d had no idea that Sweetie Belle was actually having a crazy nightmare.

“You know what Fuzzy, I’m going to do something about this once and for all.” I spoke to the ferret that was sleeping, oblivious to my ongoing dilemma. I felt stuck right now; I was no closer to finding my cutie mark.

“Darn it, this thing might help” I quietly pulled out the mysterious amulet from underneath the bed. I stared at the purple swirled centerpiece; Sweetie Belle had been warning me for a while now about putting this amulet on, in fact I’d promised her I wouldn’t until I found out what it was capable of. “Sorry Sweetie…"  I glanced at my snoring cousin. “In all fairness it wasn’t a Pinkie promise, Celestia knows I’d never break one of them again.”

And so I closed my eyes tightly shut, placing the amulet around my neck. I squeaked with surprise…

And nothing happened. “Well that’s anti climatic…” I muttered to myself. “Hey it looks good on me!” I proclaimed proudly, although still disappointed. “Why would somepony go through all the effort of leaving this amulet wrapped up in the clubhouse all secretively if it doesn’t do anything?” I sighed.

But then I used my superior intellect to attempt to solve this problem.

“Amulet… activate!”  Again, nothing happened. “It was worth a try…I guess this is just a piece of junk that can’t possibly help me do anything worth while.” I shook my head.

Before I could ponder further, Sweetie Belle’s voice mumbled once more. “I always knew I was going to get my cutie mark before you Scootaloo.” her voice came obnoxiously.

I looked down once more. “When will she stop talking in her –  And then I noticed something super weird; Sweetie Belle’s mouth wasn’t even moving.

“I bet you’re jealous aren’t you, just look at it! I finally have my cutie mark!”  she continued to ‘speak’ her mouth still not moving.

“What in the? “ I looked down to notice the amulet glowing a bright purple color.

“Wait… this isn’t the cutie mark I wanted. I’m… doing a bad job, this is a nightmare!” Sweetie Belle’s anxious cries echoed in my head loudly.

“Ugh! That’s so loud, she’s having a nightmare!" I covered my ears, Sweetie Belle's voice was yelling as if she was inside my head.

“I wish I never found my cutie mark… I hate this!” Sweetie Belle yelled, yet her motionless body wasn’t moving a muscle.

“Sweetie Belle stop yelling!” I cried. “Wake up!”

Light a lightning bolt Sweetie Belle sat up in a panic. “Flick… oh gosh, I had a nightmare! I found my cutie mark but I –“  Sweetie Belle immediately noticed the bright purple glow of the amulet around my neck. “Oh no not that thing, I told you not to! What have you done? Have you destroyed all of Ponyville?” She barely caught her breath.

“Hey don’t always assume I’ve caused some chaos all the time!” I retorted.

“Well you always do, you’re clumsier than that silly mailmare!” Sweetie Belle waved her hooves around annoyingly.

“Hey! Don’t say that, I’m not as clumsy as the mailmare, I haven’t fell over for at least five hours!”

“Hey I do not cry!” I yelled.

“Flick how did… I didn’t say anything!” Sweetie Belle’s mouth dropped.

“But you just said… wait a minute.” I'd realised Sweetie Belle had spoken again without moving her mouth.

And then it suddenly all became clear.

“Sweetie Belle think of a number between one and one thousand!” I grabbed Sweetie Belle shaking her slightly.

“What?” She was bemused.

“Just do it now!” I knew what I was doing.

The glow of the amulet intensified, the purple glow illuminated the dark room.  Slowly I focused before I heard the distant voice of Sweetie Belle, growing louder as if she was in my head.

“Five hundred and Sixty three!” I screamed excitedly.

“Flick… but… that’s impossible!”

“I know what this amulet does now.” I glanced between the amulet and Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle just stared at me, clearing begging for an answer. “It lets you read thoughts.” I spoke, half excited, slightly terrified.

And with that bombshell, of course what would happen next –

“I’m home!” The voice of Rarity called from the main room.

“Oh no! Amulet stop!” I tapped the amulet which was still glowing brightly purple.

“It won’t stop glowing, Rarity will find it!” Sweetie Belle panicked. “Get Fuzzy to hide it with all the other stuff he’s buried or something!”

“He’s a possessive ferret, he wont let us see where he hides that stuff! What do we do?!" I ran around in a panic, before falling over.  “Ouch… mommy” my eyes spilled tears.

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, before noticing a box. “Hey put it in that red box!”

“That’s where Rarity keeps her supplies.” I noted, wiping my eyes from the tears that ran down my face.

“Just do it!” She sharply whispered.

I quickly threw the amulet in the box and closed the lid before sliding it swiftly underneath the bed. A split second later, Rarity walked in to the room.

“Oh you two I just had an eventful night… but everything is okay now, sorry I’m back late, but I have some amazing news!” Rarity seemed somewhat out of breath.

“What is it Rarity?” I grinned innocently, hopping back on to the bed. "Did you and the others go on a super cool adventure?"

“Oh well... sort of but anyway like I said I have amazing news! We’re going to the grand galloping gala!” She squeaked with excitement.

“What? For real?” Sweetie Belle jumped off the bed.

“Yes! We only have two days to prepare for dresses, and don’t worry Flick I’ll get something for you to wear too!”

“That’s amazing!” Sweetie Belle hugged Rarity. “I can’t wait! and I thought you were going to mention all the mess we made while you were gone!”

“The… mess?” Rarity’s expression soon changed.

“Erm…joking!” Sweetie Belle grinned. “So what dress can I wear to the Gala?” She jumped excitedly.

“I was thinking you could help me design something nice for you to wear, perhaps something rather unique to make everypony see you’re far more prettier than anypony else, and show them that you should have won that costume contest on nightmare night!” Rarity showed Sweetie Belle some materials. “Oh Sweetie you will be the prettiest little pony there!” Rarity and Sweetie Belle kept talking back and forth about all the ideas for dresses and how to style their hair. “And don’t worry I have something special for you Flick” Rarity turned to me.

“I can’t go!” I shuddered.

“Oh no Flick don’t be like that, I assure you, you’ll love it darling!” Rarity waved her hoof at me to stop being silly.

“I… can’t go there again.” I shook my head.

Rarity noticed me shaking intensely and swiftly came over to me embracing me. “Oh dear my little Flufftail are you okay? What in Equestria do you mean, you can’t go there again? Are you saying you’ve been to the Gala before?”

I nodded.

“Well your parents never mentioned that to me, I had no idea either of them had been invited to go! Why did you find it so bad?” Rarity’s soft voice soothed me slightly.

The truth is... I had been to the Gala before, it was a long time ago, the Gala story was one I was very sensitive about, to put it lightly.

I shook my head and giggled nervously. “No reason! Just.. Awful…awful… food and the ponies there are all so snobbish!”

“What are you hiding dear? Nothing to do with any changeling incidents or anything I hope?” Rarity stroked my mane supportively.

I shuddered at hearing that word.  “No gosh no, no changelings” I sighed. “I’d just...rather not talk about it” My entire face went red as I blushed with embarresment. “I’ll be fine staying here honestly.”

“Well if you’re sure… I shall find somepony to look after you. Oh my little Flufftail, I do hope you stop hiding so many secrets from us one day.” Rarity hugged me tighter. “I love you my little cousin.”

“I’m sorry.” My voice was muffled. “I love you too.”

“Oh don’t be silly, as long as you’re okay now that’s all that matters.” Rarity kissed my head, before turning back to Sweetie Belle. “Anyway my little Sweetie Belle I shall go and sort your dress out at once!” Rarity swiftly left the room humming to herself.

“What… in the name of Equestria, was that all about?” Sweetie Belle didn’t hide her laughter. “You’ve been to the Grand Galloping Gala before? And something super bad or embarrassing happened to you? What was it?”

“Shut up Sweetie Belle” I huffed.

“I bet you a zillion bits that I can get you to go to the Gala AND wear that dress you wore earlier.” Sweetie Belle laughed evilly she quickly grabbed the red box from under the bed and placed the amulet around her neck. “Just keep thinking about what happened at that Gala!” She laughed mischievously, attempting to read my thoughts.

“Sweetie Belle no!” I tried to not think of the Gala incident.

“Hey this thing is busted…” Sweetie Belle moaned, as the amulet remained inactive.

“It’s mine! Clearly it only works for me!”  I snatched the amulet back and placed it back around my neck. “Whoever gave me this, clearly gave it to me for a reason.” I nodded proudly.

“Let’s just hope this thing doesn’t cause any trouble…” Sweetie Belle hopped on the bed next to me and Fuzzy.

“I heard that.” I replied as the amulet's mysterious power relayed Sweetie's thoughts in to my head.

We stared at each other before giggling and falling back on the bed.

I had no idea who had given me this amulet or why, but for a while it would remain another secret from Rarity and the others, and keeping secrets... is never a good idea, thankfully your aunt Applejack would soon teach me the lesson of honesty.

“I told you it would be amazing!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, marvelling at her beautiful pink shining dress.

“I can’t believe you got me to come here… on my list of places to totally never go, this is one of them." I blushed, looking around nervously at everypony staring at me.

“Oh come on quit your worrying, besides, you look good!” Sweetie Belle laughed.

I looked down at the purple dress I was wearing and rolled my eyes. I gave several bits to Sweetie Belle.

"Looking good indeed" Sweetie Belle happily took the bits from me. "You still owe me a lot more, after all the bet said a zillion bits!" She put her hoof to her mouth laughing.

“I hate you so much.” I sighed.

Next Chapter: Chapter 16: How not to earn your cutie mark Estimated time remaining: 40 Minutes