"Tomorrow is Everypony Market Day and we still haven't agreed on what sort of market-stall we're going to set up! We're running out of time girls!" Apple Bloom was taking charge of yet another meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in their club treehouse. It was a lovely spring afternoon in Ponyville. Around twenty minutes ago the three young children had been outside enjoying the sunshine. Scootaloo had been showing off on her skateboard, trying to demonstrate her own version of one of Rainbow Dash's terrific stunts. The stunt had ended with Scootaloo nose diving into a barrel of itching powder that Annika just happened to be dragging across the street on a little wheel-cart.
"What are you doing carting a load of itching powder across the street, anyways?" Scootaloo had asked Pinkie whilst furiously scratching her hooves across her itchy body.
"You mean you don't know?" Annika had replied enigmatically.
Then she had launched into a hundred mile an hour explanation about Everypony Market Day, a new festival that had been announced by Princess Celestia only last week apparently, where everypony had the opportunity to create their own market-stall and sell goods of their own devising. If it was a success then Princess Celestia planned on making it an annual event. Naturally Annika was setting up a stall which sold gag gifts like whoopee cushions, exploding apples, ink telescopes and of course… itching powder.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders had agreed there and then that they would create their own stall.
"Perhaps we'll be able to earn our cutie marks in selling stuff!" Sweetie Belle had surmised.
So far, however, the three young children had been unable to agree on what it was they should sell.
"Everypony knows that the smart money says we should sell appleade at the market tomorrow. I can get Apple Jack to help me mix up a barrel or two tonight." Apple Bloom was saying.
"Rarity has been letting me use some of her left over fabrics to work on my own designs and I really think some of them are good enough to try selling." Sweetie Belle argued.
"You're both a couple of grade-A nuts! I think we should try selling some of the Rainbow Dash Fan Club memorabilia that I've been working on. I've got posters, signed photos, action figures and even some necklaces made out of her blue feathers that I've collected… you know, when they… drop off." Scootaloo blushed slightly at this particular revelation.
"You've got action figures? Where from? They don't make Rainbow Dash action figures!" Apple Bloom pointed out.
Scootaloo turned an even deeper shade of scarlet than before.
"I, er… I made them myself… by, um… carving them out of wood. They look pretty neat when they're painted and all!" she brightened up at this last part as she pictured one of the finished figurines in her mind's eye. They were pretty cool at that, she thought. She would be proud to sell them at the market.
"Look, it's obvious that we aren't going to agree on what we should sell, so we only have one solution…" Sweetie Belle began. She was about to suggest that they opened a stall where they sold all of their stuff together before Apple Bloom interrupted…
"Sweetie Belle's right! We have no choice, but to open three separate stores!" Apple Bloom declared.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo agreed, "We'll soon see which pony is the best at selling stuff!"
And with those words, before Sweetie Belle could say anything to protest, they were gone to prepare for Market Day.
"Oh dear. That's not what I meant at all!" Sweetie Belle lamented. Then she too left the club house.
There was work to be done!
The following morning everypony was up early to set up their respective market stalls.
Pippi Longstocking had decided to sell some of her old books and was neatly arranging them all in alphabetical order on her stall, with a little help from Spike the dragon.
"I have to say, Pippi, I'm proud of you. I never thought I'd see the day that you'd part with any of these books." Spike was saying.
"Knowledge is meant to be shared, Spike. If somepony else can get as much pleasure out of these books as I have, then I'll gladly part with them." Pippi beamed happily.
Over on another stall Annika was setting out her joke memorabilia; on another Rarity was laying out some new dresses that she'd made specifically to be sold at market; Apple Jack was no stranger to running a market stall and she had actually been up a few hours before everypony else. Her stall was already up and running and children were already lining up to buy her apple based products.
Tommy was selling pet food and pet toys whilst Rainbow Dash was selling Wonderbolts memorabilia.
Then there were the three young Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom had set up her appleade stall not far away from her big sister's. Unfortunately, Apple Jack had been too busy to help her make the appleade the night before, so Apple Bloom had been forced to make it herself. She'd only been able to mix enough for one barrel, but she hoped it would be enough. By the time she had finished, Apple Bloom had been so tired that she had not even tasted the end result. She hoped that everypony would like it.
Scootaloo had gathered together all her home made Rainbow Dash merchandise, the feathered necklaces, posters and figurines, and set them up on her stall near to where Rainbow Dash herself was working.
Finally, Sweetie Belle had set up her little jewellery and accessories store near to her big sister Rarity.
Before long everypony who had a stall was set up and selling their wares to every other pony who was buying.
"KEEP AWAY! THEY'RE MY BOOKS! YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!" came a hysterical shout from one of the stalls.
Everypony looked over to see Pippi Longstocking spread-eagled across her book-stall like a dragon sitting on its horde of treasure, glaring at any pony that approached her with a mad twitch in her right eye. Most children were just backing off slowly while Spike looked on in dismay, one claw covering one eye as if he could barely bring himself to look.
Annika was doing good business selling her jokes. Most of her customers were young foals, but there were a few grown up children too. Even Rainbow Dash took time away from her stall to buy a whoopee cushion which she sneakily concealed on Rarity's stool before dashing back to her stall with a mischievous chuckle.
Rarity too was raking in the customers. It wasn't long before she had sold every single one of her dresses. Once the last one was sold she wiped a hoof across her brow and sat down wearily…
PARP!
Rarity leapt back up with a yelp as the noise of the whoopee cushion startled her.
Over on her stall Rainbow Dash heard the noise and fell about laughing hysterically.
Rarity glared over at Rainbow and used a little of her horn's levitation magic to float a cup of cider from Apple Jack's stall and onto the pegasus' head…
SPLASH!
Rainbow Dash was drenched in cider!
"Hey! No fair! Can't you take a joke?" Rainbow grumbled angrily.
"Of course I can, Rainbow, dear. Can't you?" Rarity sniggered gleefully.
"I hope you're going to pay for that cup of cider that you just wasted, Rarity!" Apple Jack scalded.
"I'm truly very sorry, Apple Jack. Here you go!" Rarity floated two gold coins over to Apple Jack who accepted them gratefully.
Meanwhile, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were having varied success with their respective stalls.
Apple Bloom's appleade, though she hadn't taste tested it, had actually proven to be quite delicious and her barrel was almost half empty from the sales that she'd made. Many children were buying food off Apple Jack and then coming to her stall for a drink to wash it down with.
Scootaloo was eyeing Apple Bloom's success through green tinted, envious eyes. Her Rainbow Dash merchandise was not selling quite as well. The figurines, though she was proud of them, were "amateurish and uneven", in the words of one particularly unkind pony. Only Rainbow Dash herself had loved them and had bought six of them; one for herself and one each for her best friends.
The posters and necklaces had sold a bit better, especially when Rainbow Dash agreed to sign some of the posters. This almost made up for the lack in figure sales, but was nowhere near good enough to compete with Apple Bloom's success.
Sweetie Belle wasn't doing too badly either. Her fashionista skills were not up to her big sister, Rarity's standards, but she had still produced some fine pieces that had garnered some considerable interest. She had just sold a rather fetching ruby studded saddlebag to her teacher Miss Cheerilee.
Scootaloo sighed as yet another pony walked by her stall without sparing it even a glance. She looked over and saw Apple Bloom sell yet another cup of appleade. Something had to be done if she was to stand any chance of beating her two friends.
Her mind made up, Scootaloo scuttled stealthily on her belly across to Apple Jack's stall. While the older pony was preoccupied with a customer, the young pegasus snatched a jar of salt from Apple Jack's supplies. Then Scootaloo sneaked over to Apple Bloom's stall and whilst her friend looked the other way she emptied the whole jar of salt into the half full barrel of appleade.
Scootaloo whizzed, unseen, back to her stall and waited to see what would happen.
Sure enough another pony did come along to buy some appleade… Rainbow Dash!
"Ah yeah! All this selling sure is thirsty work. Can I get a cup of your appleade, please, Apple Bloom?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Of course, Rainbow Dash." Apple Bloom replied as she poured out a cup.
Scootaloo looked on in horror as her idol handed over two gold bits and took the proffered cup of salty appleade from Apple Bloom.
What should she do? She couldn't let Rainbow Dash drink the salted appleade, but if she tried to stop her then Apple Bloom would know that Scootaloo had sabotaged her barrel. Even worse… Rainbow Dash would know that Scootaloo had cheated and would be disappointed in her.
There was only one thing for it…
Rainbow Dash was about to sip from the cup when…
"STOP!" came Scootaloo's shout of warning.
Rainbow Dash paused mid sip and looked over at Scootaloo.
"Huh?" she said.
"Don't drink from that cup, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo warned.
"Why in Equestria not, Scootaloo?" Rainbow wondered.
"Because there's salt in it!" Scootaloo told her.
Apple Bloom looked shocked at this revelation.
"And how in Celestia's name would you know that?" Apple Bloom asked suspiciously.
Scootaloo already had her lie prepared, but she could barely bring herself to spit it out.
"Because I saw Apple Jack pour it in there!"
Apple Jack's ears pricked up at the mention of her name and Apple Bloom turned to look at her older sister with shocked disbelief.
"Now why in tarnation would I want to go and do that, sugar cube?" Apple Jack glared at Scootaloo angrily.
Scootaloo recoiled from Apple Jack's stare, but there was no turning back now.
"You're jealous because Apple Bloom's making more sales than you and you wanted to sabotage her so that she couldn't make anymore."
Apple Jack's brow furrowed in puzzlement.
"Now that just don't make no sense at all." She replied, "First of all, my sales are doing just fine thank you very much! Second of all, even if they wasn't, I certainly wouldn't do nothing to sabotage my own little sister's success."
Apple Bloom smiled at her sister's kind words and turned a defiant glare upon Scootaloo.
"That's right! And if Apple Jack didn't do it that leaves only one other pony! YOU!"
Apple Bloom leapt upon Scootaloo and the two young foals disappeared under a cloud of dust and hooves.
Apple Jack had no choice but to wade in and pull the two young children apart.
"That's enough you two. Fighting won't solve nothing. Scootaloo, I believe you have something to say to both myself and Apple Bloom here?"
Scootaloo bowed her head in shame.
"I'm sorry, Apple Jack and Apple Bloom. I shouldn't have poured salt in your appleade and, Apple Jack, I shouldn't have blamed you for what I did." Tears were welling up in her eyes, but she refused to let them spill.
"Why did you do it, kiddo?" Rainbow Dash asked kindly.
"What I said about Apple Jack being jealous of Apple Bloom's sales; well I was really talking about myself. Apple Bloom has been doing so well that her barrel of appleade is nearly finished; while my Rainbow Dash merchandise isn't doing so hot all!"
She picked up one of her hoof-made figurines and really looked at it. Rainbow Dash's eyes were far too big and the right wing was slightly bigger than the left one and the hooves were uneven so when you stood her up she looked all crooked.
"Who was I trying to kid that any pony would want to buy one of these!?" Scootaloo lamented, a single tear running down her cheek.
Rainbow Dash took it from her wiped her tear away with one hoof.
"Well I think they're awesome. The very idea that somepony out there is making action figures of me? What's not to like! You obviously put a lot of care and attention into making these. So who cares if they're a little rough around the edges? I bought six of 'em, didn't I?" Rainbow Dash chuckled and rubbed her hoof into Scootaloo's mane affectionately.
Apple Bloom came over and smiled at her friend.
"Since I don't have any more appleade to sell I guess I can give you a hand selling your merchandise, if you like?" she offered.
"You would do that? Even after what I did AND after accusing your sister?" Scootaloo asked in amazement.
"What you did was uncool, but I do understand why you did it." Apple Bloom replied, "I even understand why you blamed it on Apple Jack. You didn't want to look bad in front of Rainbow Dash, so you panicked. Apple Jack understands that too. That's why we both forgive you and why I'm willing to help you."
"You're the best friend a pony could ever ask for, Apple Bloom and I don't deserve you at all!" Scootaloo smiled as she hugged her friend.
"Now let's see what we can do about selling more of these figurines!" Apple Bloom grinned, "Whatever happens at least we'll all have sold more stuff than Pippi Longstocking!"
The children glanced over at Pippi's stall where the young unicorn was still fiercely protecting her books and they both burst out laughing.