“Ahem. I hereby call to order the three hundred and thirty second meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Apple Bloom said solemnly. “First order of business is looking at the progress from the previous week.” She stared at Sweetie Belle expectantly. “That’s your cue.”
“Oh, right.” Sweetie Belle walked up to the podium. “Last week we tried basketball, hoof painting, architecture and improv comedy. The coronation three days ago delayed our usual number of attempts. No cutie marks to report.”
“We all know there weren’t any cutie marks.” Scootaloo interjected. “We can look at our own flanks.”
“Scootaloo! You’re breaking protocol.” Applebloom hissed, before moving back to the podium. “With the progress from the previous week concluded, we now have a scheduled brainstorming session for new cutie mark ideas. Till then the meeting is on recess.” She picked up a gavel and tapped the podium three times.
The three fillies all quickly glanced at their flanks and frowned as they found nothing forming.
“I told you this wouldn’t work.” Scootaloo said scornfully. “Who’s idea was it to try to get business etiquette cutie marks?”
“Hold on, I’ll look at the minutes.” Applebloom replied.
“Forget the minutes.” Scootaloo grabbed the scroll and tossed it aside. “We’ve been getting stuck in the weeds. It feels like everything we’ve tried recently has been humdrum. Laundry, business etiquette, apologizing? We should be trying bigger stuff, important stuff.” Scootaloo paced a bit and waved her front hoof in a wide sweep. “I mean...what’s the most important job a pony could ever have?”
Applebloom shared a glance with Sweetie Belle then looked back at Scootaloo. “Doin’ whatever lemurs tell us to.”
“Well, yeah.” Scootaloo conceded, “But you can’t get a cutie mark for that.”
“Why not?” Sweetie Belle cut in. “There haven’t been any lemurs in Equestria until last week. Nopony would have had the chance to get one.”
“That’s the spirit!” Scootaloo said happily. “We just need to get some lemurs and figure out what they want.”
“Yeah, let’s go for it.” Sweetie Belle cried.
“Alright. That can be our project for today.” Applebloom agreed.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Lemur Helpers, Yay!” They shouted together.
********************************************************************************************************
The three agreed the first place to start would be Twilight’s. She had an in with one of the head lemurs who’d be most likely to be able to give them a task of some sort. Sweetie Belle knocked on the library door and a somewhat disheveled Twilight opened it. “Ahhh, good morning. Or is it afternoon? I’m afraid I’ve been losing track with all the research that needs to get done. Come in. What can I do for the Crusaders?”
“We’re hopin’ you could talk to one of the head lemurs for us.” Applebloom said as they walked inside. Up on a pedestal was the Gem of Tranquility. There was a faint blue shimmer around it, like a protective spell.
“Yeah, we’re thinking maybe doing stuff for lemurs could be our special talent.” Scootaloo noted.
“Oh, that would be a wonderful talent.” Twilight replied. “I wish I could help, but High Scholar Meerca is away with the King in Canterlot and won’t be back until tonight. I have to put all my time into researching the gem so I can make more.”
“Awww, you couldn't send a magic letter or something?” Scootaloo asked.
“If helping lemurs is the talent you wish to adopt, then you should not ask Twilight’s research to be stopped.” A voice said emanating from the kitchen as a striped figure walked into the room..
“Zecora!” The three fillies shouted together and surrounded her excitedly. There had been endless rumors about her. She’d been brought to Ponyville the day after Spike had vanished.
“I heard you you had to be tied up and forced to come to Ponyville.” Applebloom said.
“I heard you were ranting and raving about evil lemurs.” Scootaloo added.
Zecora smiled apologetically to the fillies. “I hope I did not give anypony fright. I am much more understanding, now that I have seen the light.”
“Zecora has been incredibly helpful.” Twilight said. “She’s the first creature I could monitor while she was affected by the gem. At first I didn’t even know if it would work for a zebra, but I had a theory it would because we’re so similar. It’s created a massive new trove of data and I’m close to finding out how to make new gems.”
“To make sure she does not stay up late into the night, I have been told to look after Twilight.” Zecora noted with a grin.
“Which I find totally unnecessary. It was only like three times where Spike insisted that...” Twilight paused and looked down. Spike’s absence was suddenly very heavy in the room.
“Did, did Spike come to you Zecora?” Applebloom asked hopefully.
“Sadly Spike did come see me at my home. Whatever his path, he walks it alone.”
“I know he’s still out there.” Twilight said. “And once I find out how to make more gems, I can make one for dragons and save him.”
“We’re sorry we interrupted you.” Scootaloo said.
“No, it’s alright. I suppose I could use a short break. Would you like me to make some tea?
“Thanks, but we can’t give up that easily.” Scootaloo declared. “We’ll go find some lemurs that need our help.”
“Cutie Mark Crusaders, Roll Out!” They cried in unison before sprinting out of the house. They returned to a leisurely walk once they were out of sight of the library.
“Well it’s easy to say that, but where do we go now?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Don’t worry,” Applebloom said, “There are dozens of lemurs at Filthy Rich’s house. One of them will have something for us to do.”
They trotted of to the Rich mansion and knocked on the big front door. A moment later the door cracked open and Diamond Tiara’s head popped through. “What do you three want?” She asked with a derisive glare.
“Hi Tiara,” Scootaloo said warily. “Can we come in? We wanted to see if we could help out some lemurs.”
Tiara gave a humph, but opened the door for them. “Is this one of your Crusader games? How pathetic.” She picked up a duster from the floor and moved over to a nearby marble sculpture.
“Yeah we’re...seeing if we can get a lemur helping cutie mark.” Scootaloo replied, watching as Diamond Tiara dusted the sculpture. The Crusaders all gave each other a confused look.
“Uh, what are you doing’ Tiara?” Applebloom finally asked.
Tiara set the duster down to speak. “What’s it look like? There are twenty eight lemurs living here and they expect everything to be immaculate. Because this was dad’s home, I get to help the lemurs out already cleaning serving food and doing laundry. I don’t see what a bunch of blank flanks will be able to do for them.”
Just then a door popped open with four lemurs followed by Filthy Rich and one of the family butlers, though Filthy Rich was dressed in the same uniform and had a tray of food on his back.”
“Diamonds and emeralds are too plentiful as well. There just isn’t enough scarcity in Equestria,” One of the lemurs declared, “The only thing with inherent value seems to be the ponies themselves.”
“But we can’t make a currency out of them,” Another lemur replied. “I don’t see why we can’t import pearls from Lemuria. We can let them appreciate so they’ll be worth even more.”
“Those lemurs look important, here’s our chance!” Applebloom chased after the procession with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle close behind. “Uh, excuse me, Mr. Lemur sir?”
The lemur paused and looked quizzically at the three. He looked over at Filthy Rich. “Are these more of your kids?”
“No, these are my daughter’s classmates,” He explained.
“We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Applebloom declared, “And we wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help you or some other lemurs in town.”
The lemur sighed, “We aren’t doing anything with children until phase three. You should just go play on your own.”
“Are you sure there isn’t a lemur we could help out?” Applebloom persisted.
“I don’t have time to deal with children. Do you know how hard it is to set up a new currency when everything is so plentiful? Every other lemur is just as busy on their own projects and won’t want to be bothered. Now, I’m behind schedule.” The lemur motioned everyone to continue heading down the hall. The Crusaders stood dejectedly, watching them leave.
“I told you,“ Tiara called from where she was dusting. “These are important lemurs and they don’t have time to waste on you. You should just go. If you’ll excuse me, I have more dusting to do. I think you know the way out.” She gave them a last smirk and sauntered up the stairs.
The Crusaders circled together to plan their next move. “Just because that one lemur said we’d be a bother doesn’t mean all of them think so,” Scootaloo noted.
“Yeah, but they might,” Applebloom said. “It makes sense every lemur would have a job and if they needed somepony’s help they’ll have adult ponies helping them already.
“That’s it!” Sweetie Bell brightened up. “Every adult lemur would be busy with a job, but kid lemurs won’t be.”
********************************************************************************************************
Fluttershy’s cottage had seen better days. What had been an orderly home when the lemur children had first arrived was now in shambles. Except for rare instances like the coronation party, the lemur children were supposed to stay at Fluttershy’s cottage and they were all restless. Lemurs were bouncing up and down on the sofas and playing with the pots and pans. Fluttershy dashed back and forth trying to keep a handle on them all, but there was always new trouble brewing. Whenever she went over to separate a group of lemurs fighting, two others would try to start a fire and jump up onto the now abandoned birdhouses on the ceiling.
Only one lemur had not given Fluttershy any difficulties. Ameeca was sitting in the corner on a stool made for racoons, reading a book. He didn’t want to cause any more trouble for Fluttershy considering how crazy things were, and he was used to being on his own. Most lemurs didn’t want to play with him and few shared his interest in books. He looked up as a pair of lemurs started climbing a set of cabinets. Fluttershy dashed over to them. “Ah, no, you really shouldn’t go up there.” She said breathlessly.
“But I want to see what’s up here.” One of the two said to her.
“Oh, yes...well, please be careful.” Fluttershy let them continue their search and turned to another set of lemurs that were starting to bicker. Ameeca turned back to his book. The past week had been nothing but Fluttershy trying to contain everyone and finding she couldn’t really oppose them when directly challenged. His father had explained to him about the gem, about ponies being naturally made to be ruled by lemurs. It was strange that the lemur prince had thought a pony could be a babysitter, but perhaps they didn’t care if Fluttershy kept them under control, just out of the way.
So far life in Equestria had been the same as before, but with the bonus of a huge new supply of books for him to read. He’d managed to borrow a book on Equestrian history from the treehouse library in town and was halfway through it. It was fascinating how much had happened in the last thousand years. Lemurian history books tended to be rather light on details and either focused on life before the Great Fall, or focused on the constant fights between the different tribes of lemurs and their conflicts for the throne.
Yet even with so many monumental events, the relative stability of Equestria was impressive. In the same time there had been thirty different lemur dynasties and thousands of wars (though wars between lemurs usually led to nothing worse than broken bones) Equestria had experienced a millennia of peace, and even reconciliation after the return of Luna. It seemed ironic and a bit backwards that lemurs were the superior group, needing to bring their guidance to Equestria. It had seemed to Ameeca the ponies had things mostly figured out, but then he would see how readily the strongest amongst them acceded to the lemur’s desires and guidance.
He’d asked his father about it after the coronation and had been told the ponies were like jungle flowers. There were many different kinds of flowers that all seemed beautiful and elaborate and many had assumed there was a grand purpose to their beauty, but if you studied it you found the flowers reason for existence was to provide nectar to bees. The flowers could exist independent of the bees but their true purpose could only be seen when bees were present.
It made a sort of sense, though it still felt as though there had to be some shortcoming in Equestrian history that would help explain things. That had been his initial reason for starting with a book on Equestrian history, though he’d soon become engrossed with the story.
As he was about to start a chapter on the history of amniomorphic magic, Ameeca felt a hoof cover his mouth and another wrapped around his waist. He gasped in surprise, but his scream was muffled by the hoof. He moved his eyes and saw an orange pony had grabbed him and was pulling him towards a nearby window. He tried to fight back but it was no use. He was only about half the pony’s size and much weaker. The pony moved on her hind legs along the wall then hopped up on a chair and was out the window.
Immediately, they landed on a scooter and the pony tossed him on her back before accelerating the scooter to breakneck speeds. Ameeca clung onto the pony’s back for dear life, afraid he would die if he was tossed off with how fast they were go.
“Don’t be afraid.” She said, looking back at him assuredly. “I’m here to help.”
“Help?” He said back in surprise. “You’re kidnapping me!”
“It is NOT a kidnapping. I’m just taking you from Fluttershy’s back to our clubhouse...okay it does sound a bit like a kidnapping. But don’t worry, we’re not dangerous.”
Ameeca didn’t say anything else, and focused on not falling off the pony’s back, made more difficult by the fluttering of her wings. The pony finally approached a tree house and parked the scooter just outside. She maintained her momentum up a ramp and into the tree house.
Once she had finally stopped, Ameeca felt safe enough to fall off her back and retreated out of bucking range. The pony smiled at him expectantly. After a few awkward seconds of this she broke the silence. “So, uh, I’m Scootaloo.”
“Ameeca. I mean, my name is Ameeca.” An introduction made him feel a little bit more comfortable. He stepped back closer to her and held out his paw for her to shake.
She looked at his paw in confusion for a moment then reached out and bumped it with her hoof. “Well, it’s good to meet you Ameeca. Welcome to the Crusader’s clubhouse.”
“C-Crusaders? Are you warriors?”
“Ah, not really.” Scootaloo said with a laugh. “We asked but Shining Armor wouldn’t lend us any weapons so we weren’t able to try that. My friends and I are working to get our cutie marks.”
“Oh.” Ameeca perked up. The history book he’d been reading was full of references to cutie marks. It was often one of the things described when talking about historical figures. He had assumed ponies were born with them though. But looking at Scootaloo he noticed there was nothing on her flank. “I’ve read a bit about cutie marks. What do you do to get them?”
“Well...you do what you’re good at. Once you figure out what your special talent is, the cutie mark just sort of appears. But you won’t know what your special talent is until you do it. Our club is to find out what our talent is as soon as possible. So we try out anything we can think of and we all thought maybe we can get cutie marks in helping lemurs.”
“Is that why you brought me here?”
“Yep! Fluttershy looked...busy so we decided we should just make her job easier by bringing some lemurs back here. I don’t remember who said we should do it secretly, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Scootaloo scratched her head with a hoof. ”My friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle are still looking for some other lemurs they can bring without raising a fuss. But I just saw you off in the corner near the window and went for it.”
She paused and gave that same expectant smile. “So...is there something you want me to do?”
Ameeca wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He couldn’t think of anything that he wanted, aside from being taken back to the cottage to read his book, but that seemed like a rude request when this pony was obviously so hopeful that he could help her with a cutie mark. He couldn’t just invent arbitrary tasks for her either. “I can’t really think of anything.”
“Awww, really? Aren’t you all supposed to be really wise and stuff and know what we should all be doing?”
The lines about wisdom and guiding ponies was what his father assured him, certainly, but Ameeca didn’t feel all that wise and insightful. Scootaloo exhibited that same contradiction between Equestrian history and the reactions of ponies to lemurs. She was very energetic and her enthusiasm had its own aura that emenated off of her. He was enjoying talking with her more than any conversation he’d had with most lemurs. The other lemur children were usually boring to talk to, interested in contests and fights. Was this club one of those flowers that didn’t have it’s true purpose shown without a lemur to help? “I don’t know about just how wise we are. Maybe I’ll think of something later. Tell me more about your friends for now.”
Scootaloo started explaining about her two friends and how they met. It all sounded very nice, and it was amazing how they had remained friends for so long. All of Ameeca’s friends had drifted away after a while. Around then there was the sound of hooves on the ramp and the sound of another lemur complaining
“Oh, I think they’re back.” They waited as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom arrived with another lemur sitting on Applebloom’s back. “We managed to get one more that was off on his own.”
“What wretched place have you brought me to?” The new lemur said.
“I already told you, it’s our clubhouse.” Applebloom said back.
Ameeca recognized the voice. “Oh, it’s you, Little Dirka.”
“Why do they call you little Dirka?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“He’s a centimeter shorter than Big Dirka.” Ameeca explained.
“It’s because they’re jealous.” Dirka spat back. “I’m the grand nephew twice removed from the King and that makes me twenty fourth in the line of succession. I’m the only royal child in Equestria. All the other kids like Ameeca are scholars or workers.
Ameeca gave a little sigh. Everyone mostly ignored Dirka for rants like this. They were never short. It explained why Dirka was isolated enough for the ponies to nab him.
“So, you’ve brought me here as part of some club?” Dirka asked.
“Yep, we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders and we’re going to get cutie marks for helping out lemurs,” Applebloom said. “So, ah, what can do for you?”
The three fillies looked expectantly at Ameeca and Dirka. Ameeca felt uncomfortable at the pressure. “I haven’t really thought of anything yet.”
“Ameeca is always just sitting in a corner reading a book. That’s all he needs.” Dirka said disdainfully.
“Book! Got it!” Scootaloo dashed over to a bookcase and pulled out three books along with a few scrolls that tumbled off the shelf. “These are the first three Daring Do books. Rainbow Dash lent me her copies. The scroll is...uh, a personal project.”
“She means she’s writing her own Daring Do story with her and Rainbow Dash inserted into it.” Sweetie Belle said derisively.
“Hey!” Scootaloo frowned at her friend before bringing the books over to Ameeca. “Will these do?”
Ameeca looked at the books. “Uh, thank you. I’ve never read these before.” Having the ponies hand him things didn’t really seem like a profound purpose, but without anything else coming to mind, he accepted the books. The whole thing was a bit strange.
“Well it would be fitting for me to be waited on properly.” Dirka spoke up. “Who is president of this club of yours?”
“We don’t have a president. We’re all equal members.” Applebloom explained.
“Well, then you should start helping me by making me the president of your club.”
“Uh, okay.” Sweetie Belle nodded. “We’ll need to amend our charter and set up a vote, but that shouldn’t take long.”
“Worry about the paperwork later.” Dirka said, “Affirmation should be enough for now.”
“Uh, alright. All who vote Dirka as president?” Applebloom asked.
“Aye.” All three ponies said in unison.
Ameeca shook his head. “Why do you want to be their president?”
“They need a firm leader. Ponies need to be ruled properly.” Dirka glared at Ameeca before looking back at the Crusaders. “Alright, as president I deserve to be given proper treatment. You, the pegasus, fly over to Sugarcube corner and get me something to eat. You, yellow one, get me a throne. And you unicorn, what are you good at?”
“I like singing, and I help my sister making clothes sometimes.” She replied.
“I don’t have any use for a song. Maybe you can give me a back-rub like they do in the spa.”
“I can give it a try.” Sweetie Belle said happily. “We tried getting spa cutie marks once, but it might work this time because you’re a lemur. Oh Ameeca, is there anything else you need besides the book?”
“If he wants anything else, I’m sure he’ll speak up.” Dirka said, “So don’t get distracted from your task for me. Ameeca is a scholar, so I’m sure he’s happy to just read in a corner.”
Ameeca retreated a step under Dirka’s gaze. There wasn’t really anything else he wanted. He sat down on the ground and opened the first of the books Scootaloo had given him, but kept an eye on Dirka and Sweetie Belle. Dirka’s orders didn’t seem like the sort of things ponies had been waiting thousands of years to receieve.
Dirka laid on the ground, stretching his back out. “Okay, just start with the shoulders and work your way down.” Sweetie Belle pressed her hooves on his shoulders, with both able to cover nearly half his back
“Ow!” Dirka yelped and hopped up. “What are you trying to do?”
“I’m sorry, was that too hard?”
“What do you think? Your hooves are like rocks.” Dirka stopped speaking as a cacophony of hammering erupted from outside. “What in Lemuria?”
Ameeca put the book down and looked through the window and saw Applebloom with a pile of wood boards and a hammer. Dirka walked out the front door to see her. “What are you doing?” He shouted down at her.
“I’m makin’ your throne.” She called back.
“Making...I thought you’d bring one.”
“This is way easier and I can make it lemur sized.”
“But it’s making a racket! And why would I want to sit on hard wood?”
“I could get some hay to cushion the seat.” She offered.
Dirka groaned. “Just...come back inside for now.” He walked back into the clubhouse. “Confound these ponies, can they do anything right?”
As Applebloom returned, Scootaloo also dashed back into the clubhouse with a box on her back. “I’m back with food.”
“Thank heavens, one of you gets results.” Dirka walked up and opened the box. “I’ll start with...mangoes???” Dirka exploded, seeing the exclusive item in the box. “Why would you bring mangoes here?”
“Well you grow mangoes in Lemuria, right? So I figured you’d like something familiar.”
“We don’t grow mangos. They grow on their own like weeds. We don’t like mangos. We tolerate them. We have to eat them because there’s not enough proper food to eat. We used to have a mighty civilization with the finest foods in the world. Every mango is a reminder of what we’ve lost.” Dirka picked a mango up and threw it against the wall. “And you bring this trash for me to eat? You worthless ponies.”
“That’s not fair.” Ameeca cut in. “You just gave them vague orders, you can’t expect them to read your mind.”
“So you’re saying it’s my fault?” Dirka growled at Ameeca. “Fine, can you get them to do things right?”
Ameeca paused. He had just wanted to read a book, why did he have to order the ponies around? He looked at the Crusader’s hopeful expressions. The idea he could allow them to follow instructions properly was like a ray of hope in their eyes. He sighed. “Okay. Applebloom, go get some pillows that will fit in the chair you’re making and finish building it a bit farther from the clubhouse. Scootaloo, go back to Sugarcube Corner. Get strawberry tarts and lemon squares.” Ameeca recalled Dirka stuffing his face with those two desserts at the coronation.
Both ponies quickly nodded and left. Ameeca looked at Sweetie Belle, wondering what would work best for her. Hooves could be used to massage, his father had talked about how nice the Ponyville spa was, but it probably required training to apply just the right pressure. There wasn’t time for her to learn. “Sweetie Belle, is it possible you could rub shoulders with your magic?”
“I can try.” She declared with a rush of enthusiasm. It took five minutes to find the right amount of pressure, but Dirka soon let out a pleasant sigh as two blue glitters of magic pressed into his shoulderblades.
After a while the other crusaders returned and soon Dirka was arrayed on his throne, even if it was just a wooden chair with pillows. “I must admit, you’ve done well Ameeca. I guess that’s what you scholars are for, learning how to get useful labor out of these creatures.”
“Uhm, you’re welcome, I guess.” That was what his father had told him he needed to begin training for, but it still felt very strange. Ameeca had imagined much more profound guidance than menial labor. Still the ponies all seemed very happy. Applebloom was serving as a foot rest now that her throne construction was complete. Sweetie Belle was continuing to massage Dirka’s neck and head while Scootaloo handed him strawberry tarts to eat. “How are you three doing?”
“We’re great.” Applebloom said, “Cause we’re finally able to help lemurs out.”
“What a silly question.” Dirka said, “Of course they’re doing well. Serving us is what ponies and all other races are meant for. Their happier now than they would ever be without us.”
Ameeca offered a slight nod. The Crusaders did seem happy. Was this the happiness of a flower handing its nectar to bees?
Dirka finished the last of the tarts and lemon squares. “Very nice. That’s enough rubbing for now. You three, come sit in front of me for now.” The Crusaders complied and sat on their flanks in front of the wooden throne.
“Did we do a good job?” Scootaloo asked expectantly.
“Hmm? Oh, yes, not bad for your first time.”
“Woohoo!” All three lept up excitedly then turned to glance at their flanks, but their expressions fell a moment later, finding no cutie marks had appeared.
“Well, it was a good idea.” Scootaloo said with resignation.
Applebloom walked over to the bookshelf and pulled down a scroll and quill. “Well Twilight always says everything we try gets us closer to success. But I was really hopin’ this one would work out.”
The three of them huddled together as Dirka made noises trying to get their attention.
“Do we have enough time to try anything else today?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“We don’t have anything else planned. It might take too long to plan and try out something else.” Applebloom replied.
“Hey!” Dirka finally yelled after clearing his throat over and over didn’t get the ponies’ attention. “What are you three babbling about? I haven’t decided on a new order for you. You can’t just ignore your president.”
The Crusaders looked at each other with a confused look. “Well, we kind of assumed if this didn’t work, you’d go back to Fluttershy’s.” Sweetie Belle said.
Applebloom nodded. “I mean, you can stay president if you want, but the Crusaders are about gettin’ cutie marks, and I don’t think lemurs can get them, so there isn’t much for you to do.”
This made Dirka flush with anger, even showing through his fur. “You just want to ignore me? Well I’m president and I say the club isn’t about cutie marks any more, it’s about doing what I say.”
Ameeca looked at the Crusaders as they processed this. There was a strange expression on their faces he couldn’t place. “Well, I suppose we could always make the club half finding cutie marks and half lemur helping.” Scootaloo said. The other two nodded slowly
“That could work.” Sweetie Belle agreed.
“N-no!” Ameeca yelped and stood between Dirka and the ponies. “You can’t just take their club away like this. That’s like taking away what makes them special.”
“Special? They’re just ponies, Ameeca. The only thing important is how well they can serve us. These three should feel thankful I want their service as bad as they are at this.”
“No. You’re wrong.” Ameeca stood up straight. He had to convince Dirka to change his mind. This wasn’t revealing the true purpose of these ponies, it was stripping it away. “They are special. They’re passionate about finding their talents and give everything to accomplish that. If you don’t understand why their club is important then you shouldn’t be its president. You shouldn’t tell them to stop trying to find cutie marks.”
“Yeah!” Ameeca turned in shock to see Scootaloo had spoken and was now standing beside him. “Finding our special talent is what we’re all about.”
“That’s right.” Sweetie Belle said, standing to Ameeca’s left. “We all became friends and promised we’d find our cutie marks together.”
“And if you don’t want to help us find our cutie marks, then you’re no president of ours.” Applebloom declared, standing next to Scootaloo.
“What are you doing Ameeca? This isn’t how you’re supposed to treat a royal!”
“This isn’t about Ameeca.” Scootaloo said. “This is the Cutie Mark Crusaders saying you should just buzz off.”
Dirka reddened even more. “I’m telling father about this!” He screamed before dancing out of the clubhouse as fast as his legs would take him.
Ameeca looked at the ponies as they celebrated Dirka’s exit. What he just saw should have been impossible. “How did you do that?”
“What do you mean?” Scootaloo replied, “Kick him out? Well it’s like you said. Finding our cutie marks is what the Crusader’s are about and not even a lemur can tell us to stop doing that.”
But that wasn’t true. All three had been close to agreeing with Dirka when he’d spoken up. That was the only explanation. He’d objected, directly contradicted Dirka, and the ponies were able to choose sides. If it hadn’t been for him, the Crusaders would have been ruined by Dirka. That brought a smile to his face. He understood now that guiding the ponies meant more than just giving orders. Maybe that was what his father meant by wisdom. Not every lemur was inherently wiser, but those wisest lemurs could help ponies reach their full potential. “I’m glad nothing’s going to happen to your club.”
The three looked at him curiously. They didn’t seem to realize how close they’d come to giving things up. He changed the subject. “So if helping lemurs didn’t work, what will you do now?”
“Well, we don’t have anything else planned,” Sweetie Belle said. “I guess we were all banking on this one.”
“Maybe we should try again.” Scootaloo said. “Maybe the problem was we didn’t have the right lemur. I mean, Dirka was kind of a jerk, for a lemur at least.”
“That’s true,” Sweetie Belle said. “Would you like to be our president Ameeca?”
The idea sounded nice, but immediately Ameeca thought better of it. Insisting on titles was the sort of thing Dirka insisted on. “I don’t need to be president, but I would be glad to be your friend.”
“That works out great.” Scootaloo said with a grin. “I can get you something to eat this time. Unfortunately Dirka ate all the desserts. All we have are those mangoes I brought last time.”
“That’s not a problem.” Ameeca smiled. “I really like mangos. They’re my favorite food.” How could it not be? He’d grown up eating mangos. They were sweet and healthy and always available. All his friends had liked mangos too until one day they would say they didn’t anymore because their parents had explained why they were no good. Ameeca had never understood that, no matter how many speeches his father gave him about lost glory and empire. His best memories were of reading in a mango tree, snacking in between chapters.
Ameeca showed the Crusaders how to test mangos for ripeness and how to peel them to avoid a mess. They all ate the mangoes together while Ameeca told them about Lemuria and they told him about Equestria and their previous attempts at getting cutie marks.
They all checked their flanks one more time just in case and reluctantly concluded that a lemur cutie mark wasn’t in their future. Ameeca did his best to comfort them. “I know you’ll get your cutie marks eventually.”
“I know we will.” Applebloom said, “But it is frustratin’ when it takes so long to find out how we’re special.”
“I can already see why you’re special.” Ameeca said. “You’re some of the kindest people I’ve ever known, kinder than any lemurs and I bet that kindness will lead you to your cutie marks.”
“Thank you Ameeca, and we’re all happy to have you as a friend.” Applebloom smiled. They all leaned in and gave him a hug.
Just then there was the ring of a bell near the door.
“Oh, we got a letter.” Applebloom headed over to the door as a grey pony flew by the window. Applebloom came back a moment later with an envelope. “It’s Babs’ update on her chapter of the Crusaders.” The other ponies perked up and all moved over to the podium in the back.
“Who is Bab?” Ameeca asked.
Scootaloo responded, “No it’s Babs. She’s Applebloom’s cousin and lives in Manehattan. She started her own Crusaders chapter there and sends us updates. We trade ideas for cutie marks and other stuff.”
“Ahem.” Applebloom opened the envelope and read from the letter. “Hey Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. I hope everything is going well in Ponyville. Things have been really crazy here in Manehattan since the lemurs arrived, but we’ve managed to keep up our usual number of attempts. We were able to try jaywalking, accounting, cake baking, and pole vaulting this week. We also worked the list of ideas you submitted last time. We haven’t had any cutie marks show up this week, but we figure it just means we’ll get twice as many next week. Yours Truly, Babs Seed.”
All the ponies paused in silence, looking mildly perturbed.
“Um, is everything okay?” Ameeca asked.
Applebloom put the letter down. “I suppose it’s nothing, just weird for there to be no new cutie marks. Manehattan is really big and Babs’ club has a lot of members. There’s never been a week where no one got a cutie mark before.”’
“Well it was bound to happen sometime.” Scootaloo said. “That’s every week for us. They just didn’t try the right things this time.”
“Exactly.” Sweetie Belle said, “It’s not like something could have prevented people from getting their marks.”
Ameeca frowned. Was it possible there was something? Did the gem prevent them from forming?
He spent the rest of the day with the Crusaders and came up with ideas for what they could try to do the next day. They invited him to come back the next time and he happily agreed. As the sun was beginning to set, he had intended to go back to Fluttershy’s where the children were supposed to stay, but he felt like he needed to go speak to his father. If the gem could prevent cutie marks from forming, that was a big problem.
He knocked on the door of the library and the alicorn Twilight Sparkle opened the it, looking very tired. “Oh, hello, is there something I can do for you?”
“Hello. I need to speak to my dad, Meerca. Is he with you?”
“Oh you’re Meerca’s son? Yes, he just got back from Canterlot a minute ago. He’s in the kitchen.” Ameeca thanked her and walked in, passing a striped pony before he found his father..
The High Scholar looked in surprise as Ameeca came in. “Son? You know you’re supposed to be at the cottage.”
“I know dad, but I wanted to talk to you about something with the ponies.”
“Oh, is this about Dirka?” He laughed. “His father came around complaining about you, but I told him if his kid couldn’t handle ponies it was his own fault. I’m proud you’re doing so well with them.”
Ameeca smiled at the praise, but then scrunched his face. “That isn’t what I wanted to talk about though. It’s the cutie marks. I think it’s possible that the gem is stopping ponies from getting their marks.”
“Oh my.” Meerca tilted his head. “Why do you think that?”
“The ponies I was with. They got a letter from friends in Manehattan who said no fillies or colts had gotten cutie marks this past week and that had never happened before. The only thing that has changed has been the gem.”
“Oh my. That’s….fantastic!” Meerca slapped his son on the back as Ameeca looked in surprise.
“But if they can’t get their marks…”
“I’ve been scared the cutie marks might be able to interfere with the gem in some way, but if cutie marks are bred out in a generation then that won’t ever be a real concern. I’ll do some investigation with the scholars in the bigger cities. If this is true it will be a weight off my mind. Very nice work Ameeca.”
“But...I.”
“You’ll be a wonderful High Scholar someday. But you really should get back to the cottage now. It will be embarrassing if it’s found out my son is wandering around where he shouldn’t be.”
Once his father had dismissed him he knew there couldn’t be any protest so Ameeca simply nodded and wandered out. Twilight looked up from her studies. “Did you get what you needed from your father?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He forlornly. He saw a look of concern on her face. “Don’t worry about it.” He said more firmly. The command made Twilight smile and go back to her book. He closed the door behind him and began to trace his way back to the cottage.
It was eerie as the sun was setting. The cottage was far from any other houses, leaving him totally alone, and yet it felt like he was being watched. It was likely just his imagination. He was confused and lost in his own head. Everything his father had told him about guiding ponies to their true purpose, how could that line up with denying them cutie marks? That was like pulling the petals off a flower and declaring the plant was better for it.
“Feeling guilty?” A faint voice asked.
“Not guilty, just very...wha?” Ameeca whipped around at where the voice had come from, but nothing was there, at least at first. Suddenly the air shimmered and a purple claw reached out, grabbing his shoulder. The shimmering soon revealed a short dragon holding him. “Y-y-y-you’re Spike!”
He stared at Ameeca grimly. “That’s right. And you’re the lemur that’s going to help me destroy the gem.”