The greatest adventures, epoch-making events and scientific breakthroughs tend to begin with insignificant things and right out of the blue. The story of how scientists of Team One made first detailed description of formation of cutie marks of ponies of Gaia was one of them.
It started at ordinary workday afternoon. Oma and Karin have nothing to do at the moment, so they were looking through fashion magazines together with Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy. Edez and Kor, as always, were on their phlegmatic duty. Sheim’s cheerful singing and water gurgling were coming through opened windows. Rasping sounds came from the second floor of the Castle from time to time, indicating that Twilight ordered Zet’rar to rearrange the furniture in the library again. Everything was as usual, when suddenly a bright white flash lit the hall.
“Thank for the lift, darling!” Affi’s voice came.
“No problem, my dear!” followed Discord’s voice. Meanwhile light vanished, showing the ones to whom these voices belonged. “It’s my pleasure to serve such charming and talented lady!”
“Oh, you old flatterer!” Affi smiled and gave Discord an air kiss. “Antio!”
“Antio!” Spirit of Chaos bowed to her like a knight and then teleported away with beatific smile.
Curator researcher watched him off and was about to trot to the second floor to get back to work, when she felt something strange. She looked around and saw that everyone in the hall were staring at her. Kor and Edez even dropped their weapons. And there was Sheim’s surprised face in one of the windows. The window was five meters above the ground, by the way.
“Emm… Huh?” Affi sincerely surprised.
“Well, that was something,” finally Edez managed to say some words.
“How in Equestria did ya manage to win his favor?” sincerely surprised Applejack.
“What did you do to make Discord so happy?” Fluttershy wondered.
“Um… I sang to him,” Affi answered.
“Oh…”
“I see you decided to use your trump card without delays?” Oma grinned.
“Well… Yeah!”
“I’m still amazed with the result, though.”
“Congratulations!” lads bowed to her.
“Hey, stop it!..”
Revolutionary breakthrough in the relationship of Affi and Discord was sudden, even for the telepathist and the spirit themselves. However, it wasn’t the event that started the new adventure.
Excitement and surprise hadn’t appeased yet, when another intrusion happened. It turned out to be much more devastating than Dicrord’s, though intruders possessed miserable magic powers in comparison with the spirit. The main doors swung open and group of three fillies without saying hello rushed towards the receptionist’s table. Despite the low number, these little ponies almost knocked Edez and Kor down. Neither sizes and strength of stallions, nor their heavy armors could help them. Seeing this and realizing that the receptionist’s table is about to become a crash site, Bearers of the Elements and researchers got ready to evacuate instantly from there, but juggernaut filly squad stopped right in front of it.
“ApplejackRaritycomewithuspleaseweneedyourhelpitisurgently!” the squad exclaimed in one shot.
Applejack and Rarity sighed, feeling that something what they’ll regret later is about to happen.
“First, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, it’s rude and extremely impolite to break in like that,” Rarity began. “And, second, why do you need our help right now?”
“We need an adult pony to assist us in another crusade!” fillies responded.
“Ugh…” Rarity and Applejack sighed for the second time.
“Why don’t ya ask somepony else?” wondered Applejack.
“Well, Pinkie is busy with baking at the moment…” Apple Bloom said.
“…and we couldn’t find Rainbow Dash anywhere,” Scootaloo continued.
“Grrr… She’s probably sleepin’ in mah orchards again!” Applejack growled.
“I guess so,” spelled Fluttershy.
“Umm, what’s this “crusade” thing?” Oma wondered.
“That’s how they call their attempts to get cutie marks,” Applejack explained. “They call themselves Cutie Mark Crusaders, after all.”
“So, you can’t go?” Sweetie Belle asked her sister.
“Sweetie, dear, I know you want us to spend more time together, but we are tired and active recreation is not the best option for us now,” Rarity said.
“Oh…”
“Wait a minute!” Apple Bloom suddenly exclaimed. “That’s it! Ask somepony else!” and then she turned to Oma, Affi and Karin. “Miss Didinga, miss Antilipsi, miss Pippi, could you help us?”
“Huuuh???” not only researchers were surprised by this request.
“Right! Oh, we can also ask them and their friends how to get our cutie marks in sciences and foreign languages!” Sweetie Belle supported her friend’s idea.
“Sweetie Belle, you are genius!” Scootaloo smiled.
“Wa-wait a minute!” Karin broke in. “What was that? What are you talking about, girls? What kind of help do you need?”
“Well, we were going to try get our cutie marks in synchronized swimming, so we need somepony to judge us,” Apple Bloom explained.
“And watch us if something happens…” Sweetie Belle added quietly.
“And if we won’t succeed, could you help us to get our cutie marks in sciences or foreign languages?” Scootaloo finished.
“Okay… But don’t you think that synchronized swimming and foreign languages are a bit different things?” Karin wondered.
“Well, yeah, but we keep trying everything in order to find our true talents!” Scootaloo said.
“You must be desperate to get your cutie marks if you keep acting like this,” Affi said.
“You don’t know how much you’re right,” Rarity and Applejack said with gloomy faces. Because of this, their younger sisters rewarded them with intense glares.
“Okay… And who exactly you want to see as your helpers?”
“If all of you could assist, we would be very grateful,” Sweetie Belle answered.
“I see… We have to discuss it,” Affi said and exclaimed. “Calma! Zicht! Lierre! Come here!”
Her loud voice was super effective and soon Bluve, covered in flour, Sheim, covered in dust, and sleepy Max were in the hall. Affi said them “We got a case” and asked all her friends to stand in circle.
For the purpose of secrecy, they switched to the least understandable for equestrians Europonian language – Pusztian.
“Here’s the deal: we have three little fillies asking us to help them get their cutie marks. What should we do?” Affi asked.
“Wait, asking to help get cutie marks?” Max said. Telepathist’s words immediately banished his drowsiness.
“Yes, what’s the matter?”
“Well, there have been several studies on cutie marks conducted by our Team and Teams Two and Three, but there were no detailed studies on how do they appear. Exact physiological, biophysical and biochemical mechanisms are still unknown.”
“Especially considering that our own “marks” are nothing more but pigment spots,” added Bluve. “Besides, appearance of cutie mark seems to have strong sociopsychological context.”
“Indeed,” Karin and Oma agreed.
“So, you think we should help them and, at the same time, make these little fillies objects of study?”
“In this situation we have no other option.”
“Okay, and what about HOW we should help them?” Karin asked. “Because assist them in all the activities they can think of is madness!”
“Agree,” Edez said. “Thus, I offer from-actions method.”
“It’s pretty easy technique. Do you think that it will be effective now?” wondered Affi.
“Simple ways are often the best.”
“They asked us to help with sciences and foreign languages. What about this?” Kor asked.
“Well, these girls look like they had already tried to get their cutie marks in sciences what we taught them once, so… I think they just want to try again, “do the thing properly”, so to speak.”
“Right…” Affi gave a nod. “Well, it’s settled then.”
Researchers broke the circle, Affi turned to Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Okay, girls, we will help you,” she said. Crusaders rejoiced, but Affi interrupted them right in the middle of their “YAY” “However, we also tell you that our help will be different from what you expect.”
“Huh?”
“Whaddya mean?” surprised Apple Bloom.
“Well, try everything what you can think of is not the best way to find your talent and cutie mark, don’t you agree?”
“And, speaking about helping with science and foreign language cutie marks, we are pretty sure that you have already tried this. Isn’t it true?” Edez grinned.
“And, as far as I remember, cutie mark should appear immediately after finding “your” thing, right?” Bluve added.
“Right,” fillies sighed and looked down.
“Then what do you suggest us to do?” wondered Scootaloo.
“There is one method that allows make quite detailed description of person’s character and preferences basing on his or her behavior,” Affi began to explain. “Using this description a psychologist can select the thing which can become person’s destiny. In your particular case, the thing you can get your cutie marks for.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“Wait! How ya gonna make these descriptions?” Apple Bloom wondered.
“Simple: we’ll be watching you,” said Karin.
“What?”
“You can’t make an observation without looking at the object, right? But do not worry: it will take only a day and you will not notice our presence. Act like you usually do.”
“Only one more thing,” Oma intervened. “Try to spend less time “crusading”, okay? Otherwise the results of observations wouldn’t be truly objective, and we may have to watch you for more than one day.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Um, pardon me, but how are you going to perform the observations without taking break from your duties in the Castle?” asked Fluttershy.
“We’ll be watching them one by one and take over for each other,” explained Sheim. “Thus, at least six of us will be in the Castle at any moment.”
“Heh, that may actually work out!..” Applejack smiled.
“Okay, so, when you’ll start your observations?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Sorry, dear, but it’s a secret!” Oma responded.
“What? Why?”
“To make sure that you will act naturally. We can only tell that it will happen soon, but when exactly – sorry!”
“Okay…”
“So, do you accept our conditions?” Affi asked the Crusaders.
Fillies looked at each other and simultaneously nodded “Yes!”
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle left the Castle, and researchers and Bearers of the Elements returned to what they had been doing. Meanwhile they began the preparations for their “combined study”.
Comparing to many previous surveys this one was quite easy. However, there were some issues.
In the evening of that day, when Twilight and Spike had already gone to bed, Max, who came to the staff chambers to see off his friends before the beginning of his shift, suddenly distracted from everything around, sat on a sofa and took a deep thought.
“What’s wrong, Max?” Bluve worried.
“I’ve just realized…” he spelled. “How exactly we are supposed to make observations and records?”
“How? Well, it’s…” Oma was about to start.
“No, I’m not talking about observations as a whole, I’m talking about physiological records. In order to understand the process we need detailed continuous scanogram, but how we should make it?”
“Umm, can you specify for a profane?”
“Look, there are only two ways of how to get the continuous scanogram of particle resolution: by ray scanners and by nanite detectors. However, each way has a catch: if you use the scanner, you must be near the object of observation all the time (and the maximum distance is limited), if you use the nanites, well… nanites must be IN the object of observation. No other options.”
“Wait, you mean?..”
“Yep, we have to either act as creeps who watch little fillies and risk to get bad reputation or stuff the fillies with micromachines.”
“Jeez…”
“Umm, there is really no other options?” Karin wondered.
“Nope. And that’s a problem. What should we do?”
“What do you offer?” Affi asked.
“I tend to apply nanites. Girls might get weak for a couple of day when we’ll finish, but we avoid any suspicions.”
“So… how do you plan to do it?”
“Stuff some sweets with nanites, then let the fillies eat these sweets two or three days prior to start. There’s nothing difficult, but… the ethical side is what bothering me.”
“Well, if there is no other variants,” Edez spelled and looked at Bluve. She shook her head. “…then do it.”
“Okay…”
The issue had been settled, and researchers began to wait for the weekend – only in Saturday and Sunday they had enough time for observations, and Crusaders had the best possibilities to express themselves.
But first they had to provide the examinees with the necessary tools.
In order to do it, researchers used a little trick: they learned when Crusaders would come to the Castle next time, and by this term Bluve prepared some biscuits to treat fillies. She hadn’t such confectioner’s skills like Mr. and Mrs. Cake or Bon Bon, but when it came to biscuits she could be quite a rival for them. In order to hide the metallic taste she made the biscuits extremely sweet, but Crusaders had nothing against it. Moreover, they said it was very tasty and then ran away being even more active. Bluve saw them off, hoping that increased by sugar metabolic rate will help them to assimilate the nanites without difficulties.
Her prediction turned out to be right: nine hours later that day Zet’rar and Max managed to connect successfully with the nanites assimilated by Crusaders. Now they had to do only one thing: to distribute their responsibilities of observers. They agreed that Edez, Bluve and Max would watch Scootaloo, Affi, Oma and Kor – watch Sweetie Belle, Zet’rar, Sheim and Karin – watch Apple Bloom.
The next day was Saturday. It was possible to begin the survey, so Edez, Oma and Sheim went to make notes.
Field observations may seem boring, but in special conditions they can become quite an adventure. Here, having the most eager for new experiences fillies, it became true.
Scootaloo from the very first minutes of her day showed that she’s into healthy lifestyle: right after making her bed she began to do some exercises. From simple sit-ups and push-ups to acrobatic movements. It impressed Edez a lot: such skill at such age! However, soon he changed his mind. After all, Scootaloo was a very young pegasus, she still had to learn more and work on some difficult exercises. Because while she was doing another somersault, she hit one of her figurines of comic book heroes. It flew out from the window of her room and hit Edez right between eyes. The figurine was made of wood, so it ricocheted from researcher’s forehead without a scratch right back into filly’s room. Researcher fell into dense green fence. This coincidence helped him to remain unnoticed, but, at the same time, his observations had twenty-minute gap because of this.
When Edez finally recovered, Scootaloo – probably – had already finished her breakfast and had been preparing to earn some pocket money – by delivering newspapers. She went to the post office, took a pile of papers and magazines from postpony on duty and started to bring the orders to the subscribers. She had to drive across the whole town, but it took her only an hour and a half to make all the deliveries – combined use of both wings and legs for propelling a scooter gave her great advantage.
Having earner her deserver twenty five bits, Scootaloo went to the Sweet Apple Acres. There she found Big Mac and asked him a permission to use one of their sheds. Red stallion allowed her to do what she want without asking any questions. He might know well why she’s asking it, but for Edez such behavior was unusual. Thus, he followed Scootaloo to the farm. And, as it turned out, little pegasus used the shed as a training ground: she climbed on the roof and then jumped down on a haystack, trying to force herself to fly. She was very persistent, but all her attempts weren’t really successful – she managed to hover in the air for some seconds, but then fell on the haystack. After an hour she got tired and decided to take a pause in physical activities and go home. And Edez passed the observer’s post to Bluve.
Meanwhile Oma had been watching Sweetie Belle. Little unicorn was active since the early morning – which, however, had started at 9:30 for her – and began her day just like ponies in Easter Europonia say – “rise and sing”! Yeah, it’s possible to understand that you are ready to sing and dance if you are in good mood, but when your sister is exhausted and angry after an all-nighter, it’s not the best thing to do. In this particular case, little unicorn had to hide from her enraged sister for thirty minutes.
Eventually Rarity calmed down and Sweetie Belle asked for forgiveness. Rarity forgave her and even allowed her sister to make breakfast – although she limited the number of ingredients, allowing Sweetie Belle to use only cereals. Nevertheless, young unicorn managed to show her cooking abilities even in such strict conditions and made tasty breakfast by adding honey and cinnamon in milk. Rarity appreciated it. However, she also complained that such high-calorie breakfast isn’t good for one’s figure.
After the breakfast Rarity proceeded to dress-making, and Sweetie Belle went to her room and start to draw. She had been doing it for two hours at least, but Oma didn’t manage to see what young pony was drawing. She found it only when Sweetie Belle brought a pack of her drawings to Rarity. Turned out that all of them were designs of dresses. Childishly tacky and fantastic, but, still, with some charm. By the Rarity’s expression it was obvious to say that it’s not the first time when she receives “creative support” from her sister, however she still has difficulties with how to response to this. Finally, she thanked Sweetie Belle and asked her for a little help: to deliver some orders in Ponyville and to buy some vegetables on a marked. Sweetie Belle gladly agreed and, after receiving the list with necessary addresses and items to buy, went away. Meanwhile Rarity took the drawings Sweetie Belle gave her and put them into a closet to a column of other works of her sister. The column was about two meters high. Well, maybe Sweetie Belle and Rarity don’t get along all the times, but still they love each other.
So next hours Sweetie Belle spent walking down the streets of Ponyville, singing quietly some simple melodies and running errands Rarity gave her. Despite a couple of moments, when Oma had difficulties with hiding due to her height and some young stallions who wanted to hit on her, nothing special happened during these hours. When Sweetie Belle returned home, she passed the observer’s post to Kor.
They say that there is no better sight than watching other people working while you are having your rest. If it is so, then Sheim had been enjoying all the time of his observations: watching Apple Bloom, he watched all the Apple family working in the fields and orchards. As many farm workers, they all get up very early and immediately start to do various chores. Since Apple Bloom was little, her sister and brother gave her the easiest tasks, like bring water to chickens and pigs or pick some vegetables in the kitchen-garden for lunch. Such tasks didn’t require great efforts, but due to the fact that they also required less time, the number of things Apple Bloom had done was greater that the same number for Applejack and Big Mac. Generally, it was possible to say that she worked as hard as others.
However, the work hadn’t been continuous, and within the pauses Apple Bloom showed her curious and playful nature. She made tiny boats from leaves filled with grain and left them in the bowls of water for chickens. She played king of the hill on a haystack. She even managed to give Scootaloo some advices when she came to Sweet Apple Acres for training. But none of these could compare with the time when she decided to test a potion she made according to the instructions from Twilight and Zecora. At first Sheim couldn’t tell what kind of potion it was exactly, but, judging by its bad smell, it was some kind of a fertilizer. The test itself was simple: Apple Bloom dug a hole, put some maize seeds in it, watered them and dripped the potion. The result was extremely surprising and unexpected. Probably, she put a little more of some crucial ingredients, since in result she got twelve-meter maize plants with meter-long ears. It grew literally in a couple of seconds and when it reached the top height, it fell down because of the heaviness of the ears. Apple Bloom and Applejack and Big Mac who were unlucky to be within the strike radius of the plant, had to run for their lives. The plant fell on bare ground, causing minimal damage. Despite this, Apple Bloom’s punishment was very severe: she was prohibited from any other dishes until she ate all the maize. Nevertheless, little filly managed to drive away the chagrin and was cheerful again.
And this was the last thing Sheim recorded, because right after it he was busted. Not by Apples – by Maud Pie. She came to meet Sheim again (and again without warning), and managed to find him even when he was in perfect hiding position. So, when the change in face of Zet’rar arrived, he saw his friend being dragged away by pony who eagerly spoke about something called “fun cave”.
Now let’s return to how Scootaloo had been doing. Bluve recorded that she returned home just to have lunch. After it little pegasus came back to Sweet Apple Acres. There she teamed up with Apple Bloom, who had just finished her chores, and together they went for adventures. Thus, Bluve went to Zet’rar, and together they followed young ponies to find what adventures little ones were looking for.
Adventures found them very soon.
While both fillies were going to the place of actions, Apple Bloom complained about her upcoming whole-maize diet and received an unexpected response. “I heard about your problem, my little friend!” a thunderous voice roared, causing both Crusaders and researchers clutching at their hearts, and soon the host of the voice, Discord, appeared. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo greeted him and wondered why he came here, right after the remark about not being so sudden next time. The spirit said that he came to have some fun with his good friends, but now, knowing about Apple Bloom’s “corny problem”, he decided to help her. “How?” sincerely wondered young earth pony. Discord just said “Give me a minute,” and snapped his fingers.
One bright flash – and surprised fillies found themselves at a small meadow on the outskirts of the orchards, sitting on comfortable chairs in front of big cinema screen. There were also several rows of chairs behind them. Discord were sitting behind all the rows, holding a film projector with his magic. Another snap – and rows were filled with surprised ponies from town. One more snap – and Apple Bloom’s experimental maize appeared right above the spectators and immediately turned into popcorn. Each pony got a good portion of it – grains of this maize were huge, so in popped form some of them were as big as a pony’s head. When all the spectators were provided with snacks, Discord turned on the projector. At first sudden spectators complained about being interrupted from their work, but soon calmed down and even start to enjoy the comedy movie spirit showed them. Eventually, when the movie ended, they even thanked Discord. And, speaking about the maize, almost all the grains had been eaten during the movie. Apple Bloom was so happy that she almost strangled Discord in her embrace. The only unpleasant moment was when a sudden nasty noise came from somewhere in the orchards, but it didn’t affect so much on the general mood.
However, the story behind this sudden noise was very interesting.
While Bluve and Zet’rar had been watching comedy from “Discord Pictures” studio, Kor witnessed events, which were worth a fine thriller movie.
After when Sweetie Belle returned home, she and Rarity had lunch. Then Rarity took a break from sewing and went to the SPA with Fluttershy and Twilight. Only she closed the door of boutique, the thriller started. Sweetie Belle rushed to the kitchen and began to go through lockers, grabbing various jars, bags and sachets. When she collected about thirty items, she also took a bag of flour and half of dozen of eggs. Then she start to mix everything. It was obvious that she was cooking something… specific, but what exactly – it was impossible to tell: even Kor with sensitive smelling could tell that it is some kind of dessert and nothing more, because smell were mixing. When the cooking process was finished, the matter hadn’t cleared: the result looked like dappled brick. However, Sweetie Belle wrapped this “brick” into paper, put on a cloak, hat and shades, hid the “brick” under the coat and left the house. Kor followed her. In ten minutes, he found little filly in a dark dead end, where she had been meeting with… Pinkie Pie, dressed the same way. Sweetie Belle took the “brick” from under her cloak and gave to Pinkie. Pinkie unwrapped small part of the “brick” smelled it and said “Good. In twenty minutes, in the bushes behind the boutique.” Then both ponies left the dead end. In twenty minutes, as it was promised, Pinkie brought the payment for the “brick” in bushes behind the boutique. The payment was… a trolley with an amplifier, a microphone and two subwoofers. It surprised Kor a lot. Meanwhile Sweetie Belle left the house to check the “payment”. When she saw the items, a smile of gladness appeared on her face. She came back to the house, closed it, and then, having taken the trolley, went to Sweet Apple Acres. There she asked Big Mac for permission to use the same shed what Scootaloo used as training ground. Imperturbable stallion gave his permission without asking any questions. Sweetie Belle thanked him and went to the shed. In a couple of minutes she turned it into a true sound recording studio. Subwoofers and amplifier were turned on and microphone was connected to the amplifier. Volume and overdrive were set to maximum. Subwoofers began to hum threateningly. Sweetie Belle approached the microphone and gently toughed it. Subwoofers produced a thud. Little unicorn smiled and took a deep breath before starting to sing.
The way she did it was a big mistake.
You make sounds not only when you exhale, but when you inhale as well. An inhale can be loud too. Sweetie Belle was inhaling loudly, and she was doing it right in front of the microphone, connected with the overpowered subwoofers. So no wonder that the resulting sound could be heard five miles away from the source, ponies at Discord’s cinema got annoyed, Sweetie Belle was thrown out from the shed by the sound “shockwave” through the door, and Kor was deafened and fainted.
When researcher finally recovered, he saw Sweetie Belle feverishly cleaning the mess in the shed she caused and then running away with all the equipment. After it Kor went to the Castle, where he resigned from observer’s post and went home to heal himself.
Meanwhile the next shift of observers began to make their records. When film screening was over, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo did not separate, they went to Sweetie Belle’s house and asked her to join for another “crusade”. After the incident in the shed little unicorn tried to do her best to pretend that nothing happened, but she wasn’t convincing. So she kept being asked various questions about what happened, and with each new answer she became more and more unconvincing. Luckily for her, soon her friends decided to stop asking in order not to make their friend nervous. And so, three young ponies went for another crusade for their cutie marks.
Today’s crusade list included three kinds of activities, but they had to reduce it, since one of them was composing of electronic music, and Sweetie Belle for some reason was afraid to come closed to all kinds of speakers and amplifiers. So, after notifying Vinyl Scratch about changes of plans, all three proceeded to the quests.
First of them was rope walking. In order to make it safe, they set up the rope between two supporting columns of the Sweet Apple Acres’ barn above thick layer of hay. Then they began to try. They showed some good skills for this trick, especially Scootaloo, but they weren’t very successful and from time to time fell down. Cutie marks hadn’t appeared, so they passed to the second activity: catching fireflies.
It was evening already, so it was possible to do such thing. It seemed easy to get such cutie mark, but Crusaders, when they got to the place where fireflies lived, couldn’t help themselves but forget about catching glowing bugs and start to play with them. And so, they kept playing with fireflies until the very sundown. Then, having realized that is already late, they said goodbye to each other and rushed home.
The observation was completed. Max, Affi and Karin returned to the Castle, other researchers gave them the records they made, and Affi together with Karin and Oma proceeded to analyzing.
It took them about half of the night to make detailed psychological portraits of the fillies. Now they could gave Crusaders the hint and got the key for the discovery.
At next day Zet’rar, Bluve and Sheim went to Crusaders to tell them that the observation was completed. When Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle learned about it, they got very surprised, even scared, but then, when researchers told them that they now can learn the activities which may really help them get their cutie marks, little ponies forgot about anything and rushed to the Castle.
Affi, Oma and Karin got very surprised when three overexcited fillies appeared right in front of them.
“So what is it? What is it?” they asked, vying with each other.
“Please, girls, calm down!” Affi said. “I understand that you are dying to learn. I’ll tell you everything, but one thing at a time, okay?”
“Okay.”
“So, we are glad to inform you that additional observations are not required, and you can learn everything you want right now…”
“YAY!!!”
“…and, also, we will be able to answer your questions if you have any. So, without further ado, allow me to name the activities, which may help you to get your cutie marks, finally. Apple Bloom, according to our observations your forte is agricultural engineering, various its kinds – from usual field tests of varieties of crops to advanced application of methods of magic in agriculture. The last looks the most preferable,” little earth pony exclaimed joyfully again. “Scootaloo, you have all the qualities for becoming a good stuntpony. You have good skills for aerial stunts and for on-ground stunts,” young pegasus became proud and said that she will make Rainbow Dash be proud of her. “And Sweetie Belle, the best activity for you is music. Singing, song-writing, composing of music – you can become excellent in all of these fields.”
“Oooh! Thank you, miss Antilipsi!” little unicorn said.
“So, are you happy now?”
“Thank ya all a lot,” Apple Bloom said, “it’s really helpful, but…”
“But what?” wondered Affi and Oma.
“Are not happy with this, girls?” Karin surprised.
“Well, you see…” Scootaloo spelled. “We have always been crusading together, and have been doing it for a long time, so it would be hard for us to looking for cutie marks separately from each other.”
“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle gave a nod. “We can’t even imagine now how it will be: to look for a cutie mark just by your own, alone.”
“Oh…” researchers did not expect such reaction.
“Is there sumthin’ we all share? Things we’ll be able to do together?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Well…” Affi began to flip through the notes. “Ehmm… According to our observations and analysis… The main traits common to you are… concentration on cutie mark issues and… taking care of others and helping other ponies.”
“And that’s all?” Crusaders wondered.
“These are the main traits I can name right now. Other things are not so significant.”
“Oh… We see,” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said.
“Ah suppose we have to do some hard thinkin’ about this,” Apple Bloom said. “But still, thank ya a lot!”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle thanked researchers too and then went away. Team One could only see them off.
Crusaders had been thinking for the rest of the day. What conclusions did they come to? No one could tell – young ones hadn’t spoken with adults about it. It was a mystery.
However, a dim light in the end of the tunnel had appeared.
The next day, when fillies were discussing the next “crusade”, their friend Pipsqueak came to their club house asking for help: he announced his candidacy for president of the Ponyville Elementary School and needed support. Crusaders helped him and organized impressive campaign, but it became the very reason of conflict with one ambitious filly, Diamond Tiara, who also decided to run for presidency. The conflict was getting more and more intense and had reached the critical point when Pipsqueak won the election. However, the situation changed when Crusaders saw Tiara in despair, when she didn’t know what to do. At this moment, they remembered what researchers told them and decided to help her. Not everything went well in the beginning, but they eventually managed to help Tiara to realize her true specialty and even help her to change the way she looked at others. Seeing their former enemy being so happy and keeping the words of researchers in mind, Crusaders changed own views as well, especially about cutie marks. And that became the turning point of the events. The award found its heroes – Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle finally got their cutie marks, after three long years.
One couldn’t express how happy the fillies were, and others were happy for them. And they had full right to act so: Crusaders became famous in whole town for their quests for cutie marks, and when they finally get them was truly an epoch-making event. So no wonder that it turned into full-scale celebration soon.
Researchers congratulated Crusaders with the achievement too and received great thanks for guidance. However, they didn’t take active part in the celebrations – after all, it were Crusaders who helped themselves. They just showed the direction. Besides, there was one thing they still had to do…
Some hours later, in the middle of the night in Team One’s headquarters in Ponyville…
“…and yes!” Max exclaimed, looking at the holoscreen. “The analysis is completed!”
“So, the mystery of appearance of cutie marks is finally solved?” wondered Edez.
“Yes,” physiologists confirmed.
“So what is it?”
“Well, turns out that mark is a pigment spot after all, but with some specific features. We already know that density of ETS in the area of cutie mark is quite high, and ETS is closely connected with the nervous system. Thus, cutie mark is directly connected with pony’s brain. Scans show that cells in the area are filled with pigments from the very birth of a pony, but these pigments are, well, “encapsulated”, hidden. They appear after the corresponding signal, strong and complex. In short, when pony finally realizes his or her true destiny on conscious and subconscious levels, it triggers instinctive reaction: the signal spreads throughout nervous system and then ETS, finally reaching the area of cutie mark. There it “activates” the encapsulated pigments – and voila! You have a cutie mark.”
“So, the appearance of mark itself is primarily subconscious process?” asked Kor and Sheim.
“Yes.”
“But there is one thing,” Bluve stepped in. “Increased concentration of ETS cells in the area of cutie mark is natural, it developed by itself – probably for additional sensitivity. But pigments of cutie marks are artificial.”
“What?”
“Yes, they are artificial. It seems that cutie marks were created long time ago as a source of distinction and specialization.”
“One question: how?” surprised Kor. “Because it is hard to believe that they could achieve this only thanks to their magic.”
“Well, this is the only possible variant,” answered Max.
“Besides, according their historical sources, they had already possessed strong energy and information manipulation abilities thousands of years ago,” added Karin.
“Oh…”
“…and how did they manage to give marks to all the ponies? Such job should take incredible amount of power,” wondered Oma.
“Probably it was a long-term project,” Max said. “Maybe they gave marks to several groups of ponies around the world, but made the marks dominant heritable trait. In such case, after several generations all the ponies will have them.”
“That sounds quite possible.”
“Well, I guess we got the discovery we sought for, right?” Affi asked.
“Oh yeah. It’ll make an excellent research paper,” Bluve said. “But while we got answers, we got new questions too. And they are much harder.”
“Indeed… Who had the power to alter the entire species?..”
There was no answer.
“They helped these three fillies, who have been seeking for cutie marks for years, to finally get them. That’s quite an accomplishment,” said Grace.
“Indeed. And they did it only by simple observations and analysis!” surprised Dim Silhouette.
“This is advanced psychology, I must say,” said Cloudbreaker.
“But this can’t be the proof,” added Razor Edge.
“Right. This shows only that they are talented,” Hidden Path summed up. “Well, ladies and gentlecolts, again we have no option but wait…”
In a cheap hostel in Canterlot gray stallion in a cloak was sitting on his bed and looking at a flyer. The only lights in the room were two dim candles, but it was enough for the stallion. He kept re-reading the text on the list. “ 300th Beginning of Winter Festival in Canterlot”. “In honor of this even Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor and Princess Twilight Sparkle will take part in the traditional Snow Parade. Special guest and provider of effects: Discord, the Spirit of Chaos.”
The most powerful individuals of this world, the greatest local rulers will gather here in a couple of months. They’ll be here together, in one place, in one time. It’s perfect. Just perfect!
“Everyone in one fell swoop…” stallion grinned and opened his artificial black eye. “Excellent! Excellent! In ninety four local days this planet will be ours…”