“TIME TO UNLEASH SOME SMACKDOWN!”
The war cry had barely left Scootaloo’s lips before she charged forward, her rapier held at the ready. Darting beneath her enemy’s spear, she quickly murmured the words of a spell, her free hoof making the requisite gestures. A second later she smirked, noticing the wet sheen that was suddenly coating the length of her blade.
Not giving her foe time to react, she thrust upward, sinking her rapier to the hilt in the bad guy’s torso. Even before she’d pushed it all the way in, a sizzling sound reached her ears, the acid that she’d lined the blade with taking effect. “Not so tough now, are you?” she whooped triumphantly.
But the reply she received came from behind her. “Scoots! Get clear!”
Yanking her sword free, Scootaloo threw herself backward, watching as a thin glass vial went sailing past her. Tumbling end over end, it crashed against their adversary’s chest, striking almost exactly where Scootaloo had skewered them a moment before. The glass shattered on impact, but had barely begun to fall when their contents – volatile in the extreme – blew up.
As far as explosions went, it wasn’t much of one, sounding more like a firecracker had gone off than anything else. Even so, Scootaloo felt a sudden ripple as the pressure wave washed over her, bringing with it a rush of heat, making her throw a hoof up over her face reflexively. When she lowered it a second later, she couldn’t help but grin as she saw that their enemy was now on fire, teetering unsteadily before falling over and laying still.
The sight was enough to set Scootaloo to cheering. “Oh yeah! Who’s the mare now?!”
“I’d say that’d be me,” grinned Apple Bloom, the vials in her saddlebags clinking as she all but strutted forward. “I mean, ‘cause my bomb was what finished him off and all.”
“As if!” snorted Scootaloo. “If I hadn’t gotten up in his face, he would’ve turned you into a pincushion before you could’ve thrown that.”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow at her friend. “I think I can outmaneuver a scarecrow,” she replied dryly.
The comment made Scootaloo glance back at the burning collection of sticks and straw-filled rags, her cheeks coloring as she realized she’d been getting too into it. “I just meant if this was a real fight,” she muttered.
“If this was a real fight, we would’ve needed a grownup to finish that thing off,” replied Apple Bloom, taking a flask out of her saddlebag and emptying its contents over the burning scarecrow. The concoction of flame-retardant chemicals immediately went to work, hissing as they smothered the fire. A second later the flames were quenched, and Apple Bloom gingerly pulled the spear – actually a butter knife tied to the end of a curtain rod – away from the now-soaked mass. “I mean, that’s how it actually happened, remember? That thing barely felt our attacks, and if it wasn’t for Applejack we wouldn’t have made it out of there.”
“Aw, c’mon,” protested Scootaloo as she went to help Apple Bloom affix the makeshift weapon to another of the scarecrows that they’d made. “This is whatchamacallit…artistic license. The important thing is that we beat the monster and saved the day. Besides, it’s not like any of the other adventures we had over there had nearly as much action.”
Huffing, the pegasus filly started affixing a tangle of thorn-covered vines to scarecrow’s chin in a crude approximation of the bristly beard the actual creature had possessed, complaining as she worked. “Most of the bad guys we met weren’t even really bad guys at all. Like when we went after those giant rats, and they turned out to be rat-people who were just down on their luck and needed a break. Or when we were attacked by that sea monster, who was actually some sort of mermare or something who was just lonely.”
Scowling as she helped her friend drag the doomed dummy to the middle of the clearing, located at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres where they’d spent the last few days practicing, Scootaloo didn’t let up on her grumbling. “I mean, I’m glad we were able to help people who needed it, but I just wish things had been a little more exciting, you know? Maybe if they had, we would’ve gotten cutie marks in adventuring or monster-fighting or something cool like that!”
“Well, I doubt Sweetie Belle would have,” frowned Apple Bloom as she drove the base of the scarecrow into the ground, “seein’ how she got her cutie mark already, and it wasn’t anythin’ like that.”
Scootaloo’s ears folded back at that, a dejected look crossing her face. “Yeah…”
That had happened shortly after they’d come back from their trip to Everglow. Sweetie Belle had immediately run home to check on her sister, knowing that Rarity had to have been worried sick about her. She’d been correct in that assumption, far more so than she’d realized.
At the time, no one had realized just how heartbroken Rarity had been over losing her boyfriend, Long Road. He’d apparently gone off on some trip to Trottingham and had some sort of terrible accident, with Rarity never getting a straight answer about exactly what had happened to him. So when her little sister had vanished a short while later, it had apparently hit the fashionista pretty hard. Scootaloo had found out later – having been hanging out with Rainbow Dash at the time – that when Sweetie Belle had gone to see Rarity, the relief at her little sister being alright had caused the older unicorn to break down completely, the accumulated stress and worry hitting her all at once.
Heartbroken at what she’d put her beloved big sister through, Sweetie Belle had tried to soothe Rarity with a song, having picked up the basics of musical magic during her time on Everglow. She’d apparently succeeded at the task, with Apple Bloom (who’d been there to witness the whole thing) telling Scootaloo after the fact that the song Sweetie had sung had been the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard. It had managed to calm Rarity down, but in the process had achieved something far grander.
It had earned Sweetie Belle her cutie mark.
A pink heart whose rounded tops were approximations of the curls in her mane, and with a purple musical note over it, it had reminded Scootaloo of the cutie mark that Lex’s girlfriend, Sonata, had. Which wasn’t that surprising, since she was apparently a really good singer too. What had concerned Scootaloo a lot more was what that meant for the Cutie Mark Crusaders; after all, now that she’d found her special talent, Sweetie Belle’s crusade was over.
Fortunately, Sunflower – who had also been there – had come up with an answer for that. Sweetie Belle could stay on as part of the CMCs if she was crusading for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to get their cutie marks.
It was a great idea, one that had been eagerly embraced by all three of them. No one wanted the Crusaders to break up, after all. So they’d unanimously accepted that Sweetie Belle was still part of the group and moved on, content that nothing had really changed.
Except that it had.
As much as Scootaloo hated to admit it, things weren’t like they used to be. Or rather, Sweetie Belle wasn’t how she used to be. She still went on expeditions with them while they’d tried new things – just last week, she’d come along to help them see if they could get cutie marks in mattress testing, singing a gentle lullaby while the two of them had tried out various beds at the furniture store (at least until the manager had thrown them out) – but in Scootaloo’s estimation, her heart wasn’t really in it. Or at least, she didn’t seem as excited to try new things as they were.
Another thing that was beginning to bug her was how Sweetie Belle’s support always seemed to come in the form of a song. It had been fun at first, but lately she’d been using it for everything. Scootaloo liked a catchy tune as much as the next pony, but a small part of her felt like Sweetie Belle was showing off how she’d discovered her special talent and they hadn’t. She knew that wasn’t the case, that their friend would never rub her good fortune in their faces like that, but the thought was one that refused to go away.
That wasn’t the only thing that had changed about the Sweetie Belle though…
“Say,” noted Apple Bloom, “don’t you think it’s takin’ Sweetie Belle and Sunflower an awful long time to go pick up lunch?”
Scootaloo felt a groan welling up from deep inside her. “They’re probably off sucking each other’s faces again.”
For the life of her, Scootaloo couldn’t understand what the big deal was about having a boyfriend. Sunflower was a nice guy, sure, but Sweetie Belle’s brains turned completely to mush whenever he was around! If he was in her field of view, she had trouble paying attention to everything else around her. Every word out of his mouth seemed to make her blush, giggle, or squeak. And if Scootaloo had to hear one more time about how cute Sunflower was when he got embarrassed – which apparently happened whenever Sweetie Belle caught him purring, or saw him with his tail fluffed up, or heard him complain about getting wet – she was going to scream!
And then there was the kissing. Sweet Celestia, the kissing. Their lips were pressed against each other’s so often that it was like their teeth were made out of magnets. Miss Cheerilee had actually needed to make a rule forbidding kissing in class, that was how bad it had gotten!
She’d mentioned all of that to Apple Bloom, and while her fellow blank flank agreed with her, she’d also pointed out that there wasn’t really anything they could do about it. It was Sweetie Belle’s destiny to sing, and apparently it was normal for boyfriends and girlfriends to be crazy about each other, even if the emphasis was on the “crazy” part. Apparently, you didn’t need somepony to slip you a love potion – or a love poison – for a crush to drive you completely nuts.
“Come on,” sighed Scootaloo, hefting her rapier. “We might as well practice our routine again. There’s no way those two are going to be back anytime soon.”
“I guess you’re right,” frowned Apple Bloom, kicking a nearby tree and grabbing the apples that fell off of it, tossing one to Scootaloo. “I’m sure by now, the two of them have completely forgotten about us.”
“Sw-Sweetie Belle,” gulped Sunflower nervously. “Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, really sure?”
“I am,” insisted the unicorn filly, looking at him with an earnest expression that made Sunflower feel like he was going to float away, despite his wings being tucked at his sides. “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I won’t say I’m not scared, but I know in my heart that this is right. Don’t you think so too?”
He nodded immediately. The way she was looking at him now, he would have agreed with her if she’d said it was a good idea for him to shave off all of his fur and pluck the feathers from his wings. But a small part of him couldn’t help but wonder if things were moving too fast, and somehow that idea bypassed his brain completely, heading straight toward his mouth. “You don’t think you should talk to a grownup first? Like your sister or one of her friends?”
The suggestion made Sweetie Belle frown, and even that made his heart skip a beat. “I know what they’d say!” she huffed, her voice cracking into an adorable squeak. “That it’s a bad idea! That I’m too young to make such a big decision! That I should wait, because I can always go through with it later!” She stomped a hoof, the gesture poetry in motion. “I don’t want to do this later! I want to do it now!”
Seeing how strongly she felt, Sunflower moved forward and pulled her into a hug. “Okay,” he murmured, loving the way her mane smelled. “If this is what you want, then I think it’s a good idea.”
“Sunflower,” she murmured, her eyes fluttering closed as she tilted her head back.
“Sweetie Belle,” he purred softly as he leaned in.
“Um, guys?” cut in a third voice. “As cute as the preteen romance is, can we hurry things along? I really want to get this over and done with.”
Blushing, Sunflower reluctantly let Sweetie Belle go, the filly’s cheeks bright red as she stepped away from him. “Sorry, Starlight,” she mumbled.
Standing on the other side of the alley between Mr. Breezy’s Fan Shop and Quills and Sofas, Starlight Glimmer waved a hoof. “It’s no big deal, I’m just supposed to be making a new friend right now so I can tell Twilight that I completed my friendship lesson, and since Dark Streak’s checked out of her hotel I need to hurry up and find somepony else.” She glanced around then, a self-conscious look crossing her face. “Not to mention that if someone sees me doing…this, they’ll think that I’m backsliding.”
Sunflower wasn’t completely sure what that meant, but he could guess. Sweetie Belle had dragged him here while they were supposed to be getting lunch for the rest of their friends. At first, he’d thought she’d wanted to make out in private, but to his confusion this older mare had been waiting for them.
That had been when Sweetie Belle had told him what was going on. About how she’d heard about this lady, Starlight Glimmer, from her sister. About the idea she’d come up with. About the part she wanted him to play. He’d had some doubts at first, but if this was what his girlfriend wanted, then it was his duty as her boyfriend to support her.
Besides, Sweetie Belle seemed to have her mind made up anyway, giving Starlight a firm nod. “Okay,” she announced, standing up straighter. “I’m ready.”
That was apparently more than could be said about Starlight, the mare hesitating. “Look, I know I’m still new at friendship, but I don’t know about this…”
“Friends are supposed to help each other, right?” offered Sunflower. “Sweetie Belle told you why she wants to do this, and you agreed that it was a pretty good reason. Plus, it’s not like it’ll be hard to undo if she changes her mind. So what’s the problem?”
Despite the uneasy look on her face, Starlight nodded. “I guess there isn’t one, when you put it like that.” Shrugging off the last of her doubts, she turned toward Sweetie Belle. “Okay,” she announced, her horn lighting up. “Here we go…”
Sunflower watched in silence as she fired a beam of energy at the smaller unicorn, Sweetie Belle giving a yelp as it made contact with her. The sound made a rush of anxiety shoot through Sunflower as he watched Sweetie Belle go rigid, and for a moment nothing else happened…
Then her cutie mark sprang free of her flank.
Wide-eyed despite having been told what to expect, Sunflower watched as Starlight levitated it over to her, ushering it into the glass jar she’d brought and screwing the lid on tight. Only then did the aura around her horn expire, Sweetie Belle letting out a breath as she was suddenly able to move again, stumbling. Sunflower was by her side in an instant, propping her up. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” murmured Sweetie Belle, sounding like she’d just spun around a few dozen times. Despite that she craned her head around, her eyes widening as she looked at her flank and saw the empty space where her cutie mark had been. “It worked! I’m a blank flank again!”
“In the old days I would have replaced the mark with an equals sign that would have suppressed your special talent,” admitted Starlight as she placed the jar containing the glowing symbol in front of the pair. “But this way you won’t have any sort of interference doing what you’re good at. You just won’t get a boost from it the way you normally would have.”
“Thank you so much, Starlight!” gushed Sweetie Belle, grinning toothily. “Now I can finally be a Cutie Mark Crusader again!”
“You know you were still a Crusader before, right?” teased Sunflower gently. “Your friends said so and everything.”
“I know,” admitted Sweetie Belle. “But I could tell they felt differently. Now I’m really back on the team, instead of just cheering them on while they try to get their cutie marks!”
Sunflower gestured to the glass jar with the glowing heart-and-note symbol inside of it. “And you really want me to be the one to keep this?”
“Absolutely!” squeaked the filly. “Anypony else would just let it out again and say it was for my own good. And I’m not sure I wouldn’t be tempted at some point either. But I know I can trust you to keep it under wraps until Apple Bloom and Scootaloo get their marks too. Besides,” she blushed, giving him softer smile. “I like the idea of my destiny being with my boyfriend.”
His cheeks heating up, Sunflower gave an awkward laugh. “Aw, well, now I feel like I should give you something special too.”
Although she couldn’t purr, Sweetie Belle’s voice was a close approximation as she leaned forward to nuzzle him. “Well, I have a few ideas about that…”
Rolling her eyes as the two started kissing again, Starlight gestured toward the mouth of the alley. “Well, I’ll just be going then. Friendship lessons wait for no mare.”
When the pair didn’t respond, Starlight chuckled to herself, turning and trotting away, leaving the two of them to bask in the success of Sweetie Belle’s cutie unmarking.
For those wondering, this is in response to a minor development from this story's predecessor, The Apple Falls Far From the Tree, specifically in Chapter 52 - Civic Affairs. Presumably that was written under the idea that we'd never see the CMCs get their cutie marks in the show.
Of course, it didn't turn out that way, so that particular twist was a bit awkward to consider. But now that Sweetie Belle's a blank flank again, surely everything will be right as rain, right?
Given Applebloom has had Cutie Mark Pox, what would Scoots need to have as much confusion as local Harmonys redesign or duping of marks if the show canon occurs in anyway?
10814227 I'm not sure I understand your question, but I suspect that this will cause quite a bit of consternation among the people who know Sweetie Belle, regardless of the particulars.
Personally given the canon marks sucked, I'm ok with fics that give them different marks. Especially considering events in this timeline are different anyway.
The only way this would work is the removal of memories as well.
As a chemistry student, I regret to inform you that this is incorrectly classified. Flame retardant chemicals are added to plastics to slow down a combustion of the plastic later by endothermically reacting, cooling down a layer between the burning part and the rest. As the chemicals that are fire retardant are all solid, it is difficult to pour it, and none hiss in contact with flames. Excluding one exception, which is not classed as a flame retardant, dihydrogen monoxide. What I’m getting at here is why not just say she poured water over it, is there some story significance?
It's sort of surprising that it took this long for the CMC to decide on trying to get their Cutie Marks with the skills they learned from Everglow given how impulsive and wacky some of their previous attempts were. Did get a good chuckle out of the bit with the mattress testing bit though.
Still, I'm interested to see if Sweetie Belle might get a new cutie mark down the line since Starlight didn't put a placeholder mark or rather, a replacement mark when they're crusading again. Though I do wonder how she'll hide her missing cutie mark and when she gets found out, I can imagine some of the Mane 6 worry that Starlight is backsliding like the mare in question feared.
As for Dark Streak...yeah, it's probably a good thing she left since I can easily see her shooting down Starlight since the assassin likely saw Starlight as a client or rather a client's associate and nothing more since Twilight was the one who hired her from what I understand.
10814472 Well, I believe the mark used there was based off of some merchandise that gave the CMCs customized marks before the show did, though that would imply that someone working on MLP:FiM floated the idea of giving them all cutie marks that were different than what we eventually saw in the show. But don't quote me on that.
10814640 I suspect that Sweetie Belle knows that there's going to be a lot of questions about what she did, but she seems less concerned with that than she is with putting herself and her friends back on an even keel. Given how permissive Equestrian society seems to be, she might be right about that.
With regard to the liquid extinguisher Apple Bloom used on the fire, there is a story element to it, but it's a fairly subtle one. Namely, that this was meant to be a demonstration (albeit a very minor one) of what alchemy - as opposed to chemistry - can do (remember how Dark Streak mentioned looking for "reagents and alchemical compounds" before?). I used the term "chemicals" since alchemy does include them, it's just that it also includes a magical component (and I'm not sure you can use "alchemicals" as a noun, so I was a bit restricted there). That alchemy can go beyond what chemistry can accomplish is actually hinted at in the D&D 3.5 listing for the Craft skill, where it outright says "To make an item using Craft (alchemy), you must have alchemical equipment and be a spellcaster." Of course, that's not in the Pathfinder version of the skill, and Apple Bloom uses a Pathfinder build anyway since she's adventured on Everglow and has levels in the alchemist class (which is Pathfinder-specific anyway). Alchemist extracts are essentially spells anyway (even if wizards can't learn spells from an alchemist's formula book, but an alchemist can learn spells from a wizard's spellbook; that bit of asymmetry has never sat right with me), so she wouldn't have been excluded from using Craft (alchemy) either way.
Of course, whether or not you need to be a spellcaster in order to create alchemical items should probably be standardized between both worlds anyway, regardless of the 3.5/PF1 split, similar to what I did for the Heal skill (which can't restore hit points directly in 3.5, but can in Pathfinder; I rules that the PF take on it is universal, since Equestria has better medical techniques and technology than Everglow does).
As for the specifics of what Apple Bloom is using in that scene to extinguish the burning scarecrow, that's actually dousing powder from the Tome of Alchemy (which you may recall I linked to in response to another comment a chapters days ago), page 47. The reason it's in liquid form is via the rules for "alternate item types" on page 7; while the examples there talk about turning a liquid into some other edible form (which is a sly reference to the old Dark Sun campaign, where fruits were used instead of potions, since that world was water-scarce), it makes it clear that's not definitive, which leaves open the possibility of turning dousing powder into a dousing liquid instead.
I made that change because it seemed thematically appropriate for Apple Bloom. She usually deals in liquids, i.e. potions with Zecora, alchemical bombs, etc. It's also entirely feasible under the rules. If you take a look at her stat block, she has a +8 to Craft (alchemy). Making dousing powder only requires a DC 15 check, and making it a liquid bumps that up to DC 20, well within her reach. Throw in the fact that it's cheap to make, and it seemed easy enough to justify her having (especially with her tossing bombs around and all).
And yes, I go this deep down the proverbial rabbit hole for everything in this story.
10814643 I suspect the Crusaders were of the opinion that if they couldn't get cutie marks related to adventuring while on an actual adventure, there was no point trying to do so once they were back home safe. So now they're back up to their usual antics of trying out various hare-brained ideas and seeing if that puts marks on their flanks, with the same results as always.
As for whether or not Sweetie Belle could potentially get a new mark now that her flank is blank again...that's an interesting idea, to be sure. It's clearly not what she's intending, since she just wants to go through the motions until her friends get theirs, at which point she'll have Sunflower give hers back, but you never know. I suspect that once she falls back into old habits, she might lose herself in the fun they had trying new things, and inadvertently start genuinely looking for her cutie mark again, though without realizing it.
Of course, everyone will doubtlessly be surprised that she's been "unmarked." But given that she's neither surprised nor unhappy about it, I suspect that everypony will shrug and move on, especially if she says she had it done deliberately. Hopefully she won't say how, since Starlight made it clear she was uncomfortable with that, but ponies in the know might be less sanguine about what's happened. Hopefully Starlight won't receive any blowback. And yeah, the fact that Dark Streak isn't around for Starlight to try and make friends with is probably a good thing for Starlight. Somehow it's hard to imagine the griffon assassin liking the idea very much.
HOLD IT, wait a minute.
Let me see if I remember correctly.
In order to be a decible of a god/goddess and letting said god bestow power to you... I recall something about the god needing to take once 'mark of destiny' or cutie mark. And replace it with their own mark.
Something Lex was not willing to do.
And here we have glimmer basically able to (on a lesser degree) do the same thing.
Meaning that she could in theory be the perfect medium to cheese the system. Simply have her removing someonce mark and replace with equal sign. Then have god/godess replace the 'new' equal mark with that of said god. And then have glimmer swith BACK the god mark with original mark.
Or could glimmer make a mark that improves rather than equallice ?
10817358 Heh, you've stumbled onto an interesting idea, but there are a few points to clarify.
With regards to seeing a god change someone's cutie mark/brand of destiny (the latter being what they're called on Everglow), that's from A Dangerous Sparkle, the predecessor to this fic's predecessor, The Apple Falls Far From the Tree. In Chapter 41 of that story, Soft Mane realizes that she's become an oracle of Lashtada, and that her brand has changed to show Lashtada's holy symbol.
There's a similar mechanic in the Ponyfinder Campaign Setting in the form of the Pious Brand feat, which has your brand of destiny be the holy symbol of a particular god, which makes your cast spells with an alignment descriptor that matches your deity's at +1 caster level. Of course, that feat can only be taken at 1st level, and if you look at Soft Mane's initial stats (or her advanced stats after she's gained a few levels), you can see she doesn't have it. So clearly there's some degree of wiggle room between the flavor text and the mechanics.
The reason for that is that there are many, many different ways for mortals to serve the gods, i.e. there are many different game mechanics involving divine spellcasting and other god-given abilities. Classes such as clerics, oracles, rangers, druids, paladins, etc. all have different abilities. Other characters might not have divine spellcasting, but might take the Deific Obedience feat. Others might be Blessed by a God or Dragon. Others might have a special template (this is what Lex has, along with a few other benefits, such as her granting him a few low-level divine spells). Or something else entirely; the possibilities are myriad.
The possibilities are numerous and varied. Insofar as cutie marks being holy symbols go, that's fairly well in-line with what cutie marks grant, being "worth" roughly a single feat (or 6 Character Points, under the system Lex is built around). So taking that away might be enough to mess up someone's connection to the divine, but odds are it won't be enough to sever it altogether.
Of course, as you pointed out, Starlight can do more than just remove cutie marks. We know she can replace them with suppressors (i.e. her equals signs), switch them around (like she did to Celestia and Luna in A Royal Problem, season seven, episode ten), or simply take them away like she did in this chapter. If she can do anything to enhance or augment them remains to be seen.