Three and a Half Mares

by SurprisePinkiePinkiePie

Cinco squared: Not So Blank Flanks

Their Cutie Marks were gone.

"Our Cutie Marks are gone!" yelped Scootaloo in surprise.

"The narrator jutht thaid that!" snapped Pinkie Pie.

They didn't want to believe it. Their Cutie Marks were what made them who they were. Since they were born, they had used them as a guide to see what their special talent was, what would work when they tried it. But they couldn't deny it- Cutie Mark magic was special and make-up couldn't cover them up. Their Cutie Marks were-

"We get it already, SssurprisssePinkiePinkiePie! Our Cutie Markth are gone!" yelled Pinkie.

Wow, who knew you were such a jerk. Pull that again and I'll kill somepony off.

"No! Don't kill anypony! They're my friendth!"

I won't if you don't act like you're the boss of me.

"I'm thorry! I'm thoooo thorry! Pleathe don't hurt my friendth!"

Minty stared. "Pinkie, are you talking to the narrator again?"

"Duh!"

That was when Apple Apple came back. "Should Ah take them to the attic, Puddin'ead?"

The yellow mare nodded, and he marched them out the door and down the stairs, then back up them, then back up, then down, then up, then down-

"Do you guys just get everywhere in this place by walking up and down these stairs?" asked Toola-Roola.

"Yep."

After a while they walked down the stairs a final time. This time there was a massive room made entirely of wood, with a single lightbulb in the roof. Above them they could see the slanted roof, and the stairs seemed to have vanished in favour of a ladder downwards. "The ladder goes underground, then leads back to the stairs." he explained.

"Wait, the attic is underground?" asked Cheerilee. "Does that mean you took StarSong and Sweetie Belle and the others to the upstairs basement?"

"Yep." he answered. "Now, I'll come back if I need you for anything. You'll be fed in a few hours."

And with that, he left.

"Why is the basement upstairs?"

StarSong shrugged at the Unicorn filly.

"Probably Discord," answered Twilight. "He might have done the same thing to Puddinghead that he did to Pinkie Pie."

"It feels so weird to call her Pinkie Pie," confessed Sunset. "In the future we know a Pinkie, and.....well....."

Twilight giggled. "Still not as awkward as Rainbow Dash being a girly fashion-loving Earthpony with a pink stripe in her hair!"

The door creaked open. Sweetie Belle squealed and hid behind StarSong. Apple Apple and Puddinghead walked in, each grinning. "Now," muttered Puddinghead. "Let's see.......Sweetie Belle, can you come with us?"

The filly didn't move.

"Come on....." muttered Apple.

She slowly crept out from behind StarSong, nervously tiptoeing up to her captors, who roughly pushed her out of the room. "Down the stairs!" he ordered.

She nodded quickly, galloping down the stairs. To her surprise she didn't have to go back up them and up and down for hours- instead she came straight to a darkened room, with a single wooden desk with a lamp on it and a few chairs around it. "Over there!" barked Puddinghead, pointing to one of the chairs. She was quick to obey, and the older ponies sat at the opposite seats.

"Now......" muttered Apple. "Tell me.....about rainbows."

"Err- ahh- rainbows?" she stammered. Why rainbows? She had seen a few, sure, but it wasn't like she was some sort of expert. What was she meant to do, list off all of the colours?

"Yes," replied Puddinghead. "According to the narrator, you have an extensive history with rainbows. They even had a role in you being born, created, made!"

Those three words were like being kicked in the chest for Sweetie Belle. This was still Mayor Flitter Flutter. Why was she a meanie now?

"Well, err, yes......but even Rainbow Dash and I aren't sure how that happened-"

"Ah do. We ain't stupid. The magic in the two rainbows would 'ave been pretty powful, but not enough to make a foal outta nothin'. Which means somepony was tryna make ya. Who?"

She gasped. She had never really thought about why the rainbows had made her. So, apparently somepony had tried to make her. So? How was she meant to know who?

"I don't know," she said simply. "This is the first I've heard of it."

"A likely story, tale, narrative! We have ways of making you tell the truth, you know...."

"No! Please, I'm not lying!"

"Ah think that's enough." Apple decided, grinning. "Tomorrow, if ya don't spit it out, we'll get serious."

She nodded weakly, thanking God that she had another night to decide what to do, to think about it, to think about everything he would do if she didn't tell him, and how she couldn't tell him because she didn't know, and how she was probably going to end up dead....

Apple Apple grinned.

Scootaloo stomped off, kicking a rock that promptly stopped existing after it hit the wall. Cheerilee stared. "What is it, Scoots?"

"Luna said she would tell me how to keep an idiot in suspense, but she just won't tell me! Honestly, it's like the only one in suspense here is me- ooooohhhh......"

Luna giggled. Cheerilee sighed. Minty stared at them all. What a bunch of idiots.

Wait, a bunch of idiots? Why would she think that? That was just mean! She wasn't a meanie...was she?

If she wasn't a meanie, why didn't she feel guilty about thinking of them as idiots?

She frowned. What to do now? This was so boring. Chase her tail? She turned to look at her flank, hoping if she kept looking the shock of losing her Cutie Mark would wear off. Instead the shock was more than ever- and it had nothing to do with her Cutie Mark.

A dark green spot over her flank that she knew hadn't been there before. She gasped aloud. Toola-Roola heard her. "What is it?" she whispered.

"This-" she stammered. "This weird dark blot- it just appeared on my flank- I don't know how it happened-"

Within seconds, Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash and Cheerilee had galloped over to see.

"Wow, darling, that is strange.....but I can't deny it looks simply fabulous! How dashing!"

At that moment, a pony came in up the ladder, throwing a saddlebag onto the floor and revealing himself as Apple Apple. "Back in a second," he muttered, going back down and returning with another saddlebag. This happened more times than they could count before he came out without anything on his back. "Right......dinner for Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo Joyride, Cheerilee Joyride, Rainbow Dash, Luna Amor Bueno, Celestia Amor Bueno, Sparkleworks Fireworks, Kimono Wise, and......the one with the ridiculous name." He caught Toola-Roola rolling her eyes, and glared. "Hey, aren't ya the one that said mah parents were idiots for calling me Apple Apple?"

The creamy pony blushed, rolling her eyes again. "The fact that my parents were also idiots doesn't make yours any smarter."

He sighed. "Right......anyway, to spare y'all the embarrasment of asking, God knows where the bathroom is. Just go up 'n' down the stairs and hope for the best."

Author's Note:

If you like Harry Potter, put Luna's last name into google translate.

Comments

[Sunny]

Hah, you are a huge nerd for doing that to Luna, even if it makes no sense for her sister!

[SurprisePinkiePinkiePie]

8144675 Thanks. If you want the truth, I wanted to make that her last name since I started the fic but I couldn't find a good place to use it.

[Sunny]

8145074 It was amusing!!