"Hello Crusaders, and welcome to the library's first lock-in of learning," Twilight offered with a warm smile as she beckoned the three younger fillies in with her hoof. "I really hope you enjoy all that I have planned for tonight."
The yellow earth pony looked at Twilight with confusion. "A lock-in? What the hay is a lock-in?" it sounded weird to her.
"I think she means that we're locked in here so we can't leave." the white unicorn explained.
"Close Sweetie Belle, it means you're locked in until the morning because if you leave you'll miss all the fun planned. Now I was thinking since it's still early for a lot of the fun, we could start off slow with a nice story," Twilight corrected while taking the fillies over to the pillows set up in what looked to be a siege fort, complete with a watch tower.
"A story. Well that...could be awesome," the orange pegasus piped in. Sure if a certain cyan and rainbow colored mare was telling it then it would have to be awesome.
"Excellent, I think while we wait for the others to join us I'll tell you the story of the Three Little Fillies, have you heard of it?" Twilight asked as she ushered them into the throne room of the pillow fortress.
Finding a place to settle down was easy, and so the three little fillies found three nice pillows they could nestle into. "I think Granny Smith once read me this story, its great." Applebloom gave one stretch and settled back down quietly.
"Well this may be a bit different, this is the version I was told when I was a little filly up in Canterlot," Twilight offered as she settled into the large pillow that had been set aside for the story teller. "Now, let's see... once upon a time there were three little fillies. A sturdy earth pony with a yellow coat, a energetic pegasus with an orange coat, and finally a white unicorn. Huh... I just noticed that this story fits the three of you very nicely..."
This did indeed strike a chord among the three young ponies. "Ok they just happen to look like us...that sounds too hard to believe." Scootaloo objected. There was no way that three fillies could match up that closely to them.
"That sounds awesome to hear" Applebloom said in happy rebuke. "Its like we're in the story not three ponies we don't know."
"One day the three little ponies decided to build a clubhouse, but couldn't decide where or how to make it. They decided to each build their own club house and see who has the best. The first little pony, the little unicorn actually, decided to build hers out of some fabrics she borrowed from her sister," Twilight continued with a knowing smile at the trio before her. Seeing them freeze up with nervous smiles, all eyes slipped over to Sweetie Belle who was trying to hide herself under her pillow.
"The second little filly was a pegasus who idolized the best flier in the land. Since her hero lived in the clouds in a vast house made of the finest clouds, she too should have a cloud house," Twilight continued, her eyes shifting over to the next one in line.
"Yeah! That filly knows how to live!" Scootaloo cheered on. The others looked at her as if she had grown a second set of wings, but they ignored it and let Twilight continue while Scootalo's eyes lit up at the idea of living just like her idol in Cloudesdale.
"Unfortunately for her, she was unable to fly that well and barely able to get off the ground, so instead she had to make it out of moist and humid fog banks," Twilight explained, causing the pegasus' wings to droop in shame. Fog clouds were the worst building materials a pegasus could use to build anything, they were better for scenery since they were always hot and damp. Now giant fluffy white clouds or storm clouds were better, they held moisture but they looked awesome, and actually held up to the weather nicely. Not to mention they didn't cling to a pony like tape.
"Now the final pony was unable to work on her house right away, since she had promised her older sister that she would help harvest the fruits from the trees," the purple unicorn continued as she saw Applebloom wincing already. "But after her duties were done, her sister and big brother helped her bring in lots of material and showed her little tricks they used to keep their house and barns in good shape. When they finished, she had a good sized club house with a working sink and little fridge to store snacks in."
"I got a question. Can the other two fillies have snack with that other filly?" Asked Sweetie Bell.
"I don't see why not. They are all friends, but remember this is a competition. Snacks come after they find out who has the best club house." Twilight reminded them."
"Well obviously that last one is, I mean fog banks suck!" Scootaloo cried out with a huff as she crossed her front legs firmly. "And she had help, so it's going to be tons better than the fabric house."
"Well that fabric one will be nice to decorate, and it will probably keep the place warm in the winter and cool in the summer." Sweetie Bell offered in her own defense. Sure the opposite could happen but her sis-er the little filly's sister probably knew something about clothing and what would and wouldn't work.
"But she didn't ask t' use the fabric, did she?" Applebloom asked curiously.
"Why, I believe that might have slipped the little unicorn's mind at the time..." Twilight gasped as she hid a smile behind her hoof. "Why do you ask?"
Applebloom shrugged as she settled in on her pillow with a tired expression, "Well, a little filly wouldn't know what would be best and what wouldn't... it'd probably be somethin' like a tent and those don't last too long... Woulda been better if the other two decorated the last one.
"But those other two fillies can't walk on a fog bank house. So clearly the pegasus is the best one," Applebloom pointed out finally.
Twilight could see they were getting the point of the story, slowly but surely. "Well it just so happens that the three little fillies also couldn't agree who had the better club house. 'Mine!' said the pegasus," Twilight dropped her voice slighty. "'No mine is the best one!' said the unicorn," this time Twilight pitched her voice higher. "'Your both wrong mine is the best!' said the earth pony, Twilight did what she thought was her best impression of Applejack. 'Because I had asked for help before I started.' and so the three little ponies continued to argue, and argue, and argue."
"Now it came to pass that there was a new dragon that came into town, a tiny, purple, baby dragon to be precise, and each of the girls decided to let him be the judge. First the Unicorn dragged him to her tent-like clubhouse, and served him some tea and cookies," Twilight continued, openly grinning at the attention she had gathered from the three little ponies. "Unfortunately, the unicorn mistook pepper for sugar and when she tried to give him some it accidentally shot out of the container and hit the poor dragon in the face."
"I thought unicorns were supposed to be smart. Instead she makes a stupid mistake lik-" Scootaloo stopped herself mid sentence. She had crossed a line, and she knew it. "I'm sorry Sweetie Bell." Scootaloo looked over to her unicorn friend who was near tears from the venmous barb. "I didn't mean to insult you, I don't think your dumb. I mean it is a story, and anypony could have made that mistake. Besides I think that was funny that she gave him pepper instead of sugar." the two had a quick hug and Twilight proceeded.
"Sadly the pepper made the dragon sneeze out a great jet of flame which engulfed the little tent and destroyed all the fabric," Twilight explained calmly as the girls started chuckling. Well it was rather funny if one thought about it. After they finished, she decided it was time to continue the story. "After that the dragon excused himself to go and make reparations... err repay her for the damages and lost fabric. However, before he could make it home, the pegasus swooped in and stole him away."
On the cushion Scootaloo flapped her wings slightly at this. This pegasus filly was daring and didn't take 'no' for answer, like Rainbow Dash. "I think the dragon really doesn't wanna be there." Applebloom seemed to enjoy the conversation this story seemed to be generating, maybe the next story would be just as good.
"Well the moisture didn't really bother him that much," Twilight explained, "It was that her house was a foot off the ground and he couldn't stand in it. Or rather, he just kept falling out of it every time he tried."
"Well he's a baby dragon, he doesn't have wings yet. The pegasus really shouldn't have built her house out of fog" Applebloom pointed out the obvious.
"But it was the only thing around she could use. I'm sure she'll find a way to keep him from falling out." Scootaloo countered.
Twilight nodded her head and smiled warmly at the little fillies. "She did indeed try, and went so far to move the house down to ground level for him. But then the ceiling was exposed to the Sun, and..." Twilight trailed off as dawning comprehension struck the little fillies.
"IT EVAPORATED!" the trio cried out at once, with a variety of mirth and defeat. Scootaloo looked down in abject misery as Sweetie Belle slung a comforting hoof over her shoulders. Applebloom seemed torn between smirking and comforting her friend.
"Well there is still one more club house," Applebloom did her best to raise their spirits. "I mean it might not be made out of clouds, or look cool, but maybe they could all go there."
Twilight smile grew wider as she saw the hope that the moral was sinking in. "Why Applebloom, would you invite your two friends over with the new dragon? After all, this was a contest to see who had the best clubhouse, remember."
"Yeah I wouldn't care who won the contest... well ok I would. But I'm going to be a friend first." Applebloom said looking at her other two blank flanked friends. "Besides we can just improve on our one club house instead of having to have three bad ones."
"Well the little earth pony was just like you Applebloom and opened up her heart to her friends and the dragon," Twilight explained with a proud and happy look to her face. "They had the tea and cookies from the unicorn, and the pegasus was able to bring in some of the sweetest fruits from the top of the trees. The dragon was finally asked which club house he liked the best, and do you know what he said?"
The three fillies stared at Twilight, eager to hear what pearls of wisdom or comedy he would dispense. It was going to be awesome, after that huge adventure it had to be...or maybe practical or smart. Whatever it was they were ready.
"Slowly the dragon lowered the tea he'd been drinking, and then he answered, 'The final one. The one that you all filled with the the warmth of your friendship.' which stunned the three fillies with surprise," Twilight explained with a wide smile on her face as she summoned over a tea service for four. "Would you care for some tea girls?"
"I'll take some thank you." Applebloom answered remembering her manners that her sister had told her.
"Good work Sugarcube, it's like granny always said, 'Manner's don't cost ya a bit, but they will take you very far in life,' and Auntie Orange only proved to me how much better being polite could be," Applejack's voice cut in cheerefully from the doorway as she let the rest of Twilight's friends in, "Howdy Twilight, do ya'll have tea for us too?"
"Hello Applejack, I was hoping you would be coming. Yes I have tea for you, if you want some." Twilight had been itching to apply what she had learned from that book, 'Hosting parties, Vol. 1'
"So what have you three little troublemakers been up to?" Rainbow Dash asked with a friendly nudge to Scootaloo, "I'm sure it be nothing but totally awesome."
"Rainbow Dash! Twilight was telling us an awesome story about three little fillies and their clubhouses, and how the first-one-burned-down-and-the-second-one-melted-in-the-sun-and-then-the-third-one-was-a-big-party-for-everypony-and-the-dragon-that-was-to-be-the-judge!" Scootaloo exclaimed happily to her idol who had seemed to finally give her the slightest bit of attention.
"Well that sounds like an awesome story, especially with the house melting, but I could have made it sound 100 times cooler. Let me guess that pony whose house melted tired to use fog banks right?" Dash asked her devoted fan, sometimes that little pony could be the best cheering section she ever had next to her friends.
"Oh yeah, that was cause she couldn't fly nearly as high as you..." Scootaloo answered with a faint blush on her cheeks as though she was embarrassed.
"Meh, thats ok but she should have called 'The Dash' I could have hooked her up with some nimbus clouds, hard to work with but solid stuff when you get it right, maybe some cumulus for a nice doorway..." she would have gone on to discuss cloud architecture but since only pegasi really got that she chose to hold off on discussing that.
"Only the earth pony thought to ask for help..." Sweetie Belle stated quietly from where she was hiding from her sister, somewhere in the dungeons of the pillow fortress.
"Well that was certainly a sensible option, I've always admired the earth ponies for their no nonsense attitudes, esp your sister Applebloom." Rarity said pulling out her own pillow to lay down on. She did have a strained friendship with Applejack at times, but they did work well together, and there was a mutual respect between them.
"Speaking of sensible..." Applejack started, looking over the pillow fortress with a bemused smile on her face. "Twi, ya'll do realize that it's just meant to be a simple three walls and a ceiling right?"