//------------------------------// // Chapter One - A Magic Cutiemark // Story: A Brony and Two Pegasisters // by Drwhooves-bestpony //------------------------------// Chapter One - A Magic Cutiemark Somewhere in the Centre of Ponyville, Equestria A small blur zoomed through the main area of Ponyville and was headed towards Sweet Apple Acres. If you looked carefully, the blur could be identified as three fillies riding on a scooter. These fillies were none other than Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, the infamous Cutie Mark Crusaders. The sworn mission of their club was to get their cutie marks and to find their special talents. Unfortunately, they didn’t so much as earn their cutie marks as wreak havoc over Ponyville trying to get them. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were coming back from another failed attempt at getting their cutie marks. Suddenly, the scooter stopped abruptly, nearly tipping the three fillies out. “Hey, what’s the big idea?” Sweetie Belle protested. “Girls, I just had a great idea!” Scootaloo said. “What is it?” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said in unison. “Well, we all know by now that we can’t get the same cutie marks, right?” “Yeah?” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle pressed. “And Sweetie Belle’s a unicorn.” Scootaloo said. “What? Oh yeah, I am!” Sweetie Belle noticed, looking up at her horn. “So, maybe we could help you get your cutie mark!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Wow, that’s a great idea!” Sweetie Belle said. “Even if we don’t get our cutie marks, maybe we’ll get helping cutie marks!” Scootaloo added. “That is a great idea!” Applebloom complimented. “But who will help us?” Sweetie Belle inquired. “Twilight can help us, after all, she is the Element of Magic.” Applebloom said. “Oh yeah.” “Come on! Let’s go, girls!” Scootaloo yelled. They turned the scooter around and set off for The Books and Branches Library. Books and Branches Library Twilight Sparkle was in the middle of organising her checklist for the next day’s errands when she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door, and found the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing at her doorstep. While she did like the three fillies, she really hoped they weren’t trying to get cutie marks as librarians again. ”Hi Twilight!” Applebloom said. “Hello, girls!” Twilight said brightly. “What brings you he-” “Sweetie Belle wants a magic cutie mark!” Scootaloo interrupted. “Really? I don-“ Twilight tried to put in. “And we thought you could teach her!” Applebloom added. “Teach? I do-“ Twilight faltered. “You know, since you ARE the Element of Magic and everything!” Scootaloo said. “Girls, I-“ Twilight protested. “And you did all that cool stuff with the Ursa Minor!” Applebloom intersected. “I real-“ Twilight tried again. “And you defeated Discord and Nightmare Moon and all the other scary things!” Scootaloo cut in. “GIRLS!” Twilight shouted. “Yes, Twilight?” the three fillies said in unison. “Magic can be very hard. It is very challenging, even for someone with my amount of magic.” Twilight explained. “It needs a lot of study and hard work.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders weren’t put off. “PLEASE?” The three fillies begged as they put on their best pleading faces. “Fine.” Twilight said, defeated. She had a slight feel of déjà vu. *** Sweetie Belle and Twilight Sparkle stood across from each other, Applebloom and Scootaloo watching intently. “Can we help now?” Scootaloo put in. “Not right now girls,” Twilight said, “This is for Sweetie Belle to do. Now, Sweetie, why don’t you try lifting that book there?” Sweetie Belle strained, imagining lifting up the book with magic. Sweat poured from her face, but the book didn’t move. “It didn’t work.” Sweetie Belle said miserably. “Don’t worry, Sweetie, that was a great try! You just need to focus.” Twilight encouraged. “Now why don-“ She was cut off as she heard a knock at the door. When she opened it she saw a turquoise pony with amber eyes at the door. “Oh, hello Lyra!” Twilight greeted brightly. “Hi Twilight!” Lyra said. “I’ve finished with those books I borrowed from you.” Curious, the Cutie mark Crusaders went over to see the book titles. “’Man: Fact or Fable’, ‘Parallel Universes’ and ‘The Origins of Humans’?” Applebloom read aloud. “What’s all this stuff, Lyra?” “Oh, humans?” Lyra inquired. “They’re my favourite study subject. There are all these theories on where they went and if we evolved from them. There’s even a theory that they live in a parallel universe! It’s really fascinating! The-” “That’s interesting and all,” Scootaloo stopped Lyra before she went off in a tangent. “But what are they?” “Humans are a bit like hairless primates, with a mane. They’re more intelligent than primates though. Apparently, they could even be more intelligent than ponies!” Lyra spoke slightly hesitantly through her description, as if she wasn’t quite sure how to define these “humans”. “That sounds pretty interesting, Lyra.” Sweetie Belle said. “Could we have a look?” “Sure! I was returning them, anyway. Bye girls! Bye Twilight!” “Bye Lyra.” Twilight and the Cutie Mark Crusaders said in unison. “Alright girls, if you’re going to look at those books, I’ll be at Sugarcube Corner. I’m starving. I’ll do some more magic with Sweetie Belle when you’re done. Please don’t get into trouble.” Twilight said. “Ok. Thanks Twilight.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders mumbled as Twilight left. “Let’s start with ‘Parallel Universes’!” Scootaloo said. “That looks cool!” “Okay!” Sweetie Belle said, opening the book. The three fillies skimmed through a few pages with a few nudges, some “Hey, I wasn’t finished!” A few “What is this supposed to mean?” and a bit of “Move over, I can’t see!” until they came to a particular page. “Spell for opening gaps in parallel universes?” Scootaloo read. “What does that mean?” “This spell can open a door in one universe and let beings through to another.” Applebloom said. “How did you know that?” Scootaloo confronted. “It says it on the book, Scoots.” Applebloom retorted. “Right. I knew that.” Scootaloo said. “Hey, why don’t you try the spell, Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked. “We know Lyra wants to meet humans, and it would be pretty cool meeting some!” “I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle worried “I don’t think Twilight would like it, and it looks pretty advanced and dangerous.” “Come on, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo pressed. “Who knows, maybe you’ll get your cutie mark!” “We could just get Rainbow Dash to do a Sonic Rainboom like the way Twilight got her cutie mark.” Sweetie Belle suggested. “While that was AWESOME,” Scootaloo said, “We don’t have time! And Rainbow Dash isn’t here anyway; she’s at the Wonderbolt’s Derby with Rarity. She won’t be back until tomorrow. Come on, please?!” "Scootaloo, no! We might get in trouble! And we don't even know that much about humans anyway! What if they're scary?" Sweetie Belle protested. "They won't be! Even if they were, Cutie Mark Crusaders are never scared! Come ON, Sweetie! If it doesn't work, I won't bug you about it again!" “Okay,” Sweetie Belle gave in, “I’ll try.” She concentrated hard on the spell written in the book, and her horn lit up. Now, usually, a unicorn filly like Sweetie Belle’s would fail at performing this spell, but, unbeknownst to the other two Crusaders, she had often tried magic on her own at Rarity’s and failed, and because of this, it caused a build up of magic. A bright light shot through the open window and out of Ponyville. “Well, that was anticlimactic.” Scootaloo said. “What are you, a dictionary?” Applebloom interjected. “Come on, girls.” Sweetie Belle called. “That didn’t work. Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner. I want to learn some more magic!” The Cutie Mark Crusaders left the room, forgetting what had just happened, completely unaware of the warning on top of the unread paragraph that described the spell.