//------------------------------// // 56 Lucky Connections // Story: Errant Finale // by Doug Graves //------------------------------// “Okay, well, we just have to think this through,” Sweetie Belle says, pulling out the paper they are using to record everypony’s names and flipping the sheet over. She draws little pictographs as they discuss the items, almost like they are going to pin the paper up on the wall and cross them out as they complete them. Apple Bloom focuses on Sugar Belle first. “Ah remember dam talking about cooking, and all the different things that we would make. Like… um…” A few moments pass as Apple Bloom concentrates, her frown gradually getting larger and larger. “...Pies?” Scootaloo suggests, though she sounds unsure of herself. Apple Bloom chews over the words for several seconds, trying them out like a hard tack bagel. “Pies. Apple… pies? Apple pies. Huh. Um, maybe?” Her frown deepens; she eventually turns, staring at her cutie mark with a venomous glare. “Ah can’t remember! It’s like, Ah’m only as good a cook as Ah was when Ah just started out, knowing nothing!” Sugar Belle nods. “I think it’s part of the spell that replaces your cutie mark. It isn’t absolute or anything, and you can vaguely remember what it was like before you got the mark of equality, but it does tend to limit you pretty severely.” She sighs, pulling out a bagel. “I can remember making delicious treats and baked goods, but none of the how.” Scootaloo stares, slack jawed. “So, as a town, you’re only as good as the worst pony? That’s…” “...Pretty horrible,” Sweetie Belle agrees. “But it removes the desires of your cutie mark,” Sugar Belle counters. Scootaloo smirks. “Could you imagine if Starlight could reverse the spell? Like, it gives everypony the cutie marks of everypony else?” “That’d be sweet!” Apple Bloom says, grinning wildly. “You could do so many cool things!” Sweetie Belle nods along. “Like make dresses, or grow apples, and fly really fast!” “Or,” Sugar Belle says with a frown, “You have to make dresses while you fly really fast among the apple trees. You’d have to fulfill each of your cutie marks.” “Oh,” Apple Bloom says, her enthusiasm waning. “It sounds like you’ve tried that.” Sugar Belle shakes her head. “Well, I don’t know if it’s even possible, you’d have to ask Starlight, but we’ve done a bit of speculating in the years that we’ve been here. Not a whole lot else to do, you know?” “Do you tell each other stories about what it was like before?” asks Sweetie Belle. Sugar Belle nods. “We would, but it often didn’t get very far. The spell doesn’t mask remembering what it was like, having that overpowering need to do something, and striving as hard as you can to keep from doing it! Only to give up, because it’s always there and you can’t always be strong, so you give in. Just a little, or that’s what you tell yourself, and then you find you’re buried in cakes up to your ears because you can’t stop!” Sugar Belle is in tears by this point, sitting back on her haunches and bawling into her hooves. Her body quakes, rocking back and forth, the bagel in her hoof doing an admirable job soaking up the salty liquid. Double Diamond and Night Glider embrace the pink unicorn, the three Crusaders following shortly after. “I-I’m okay,” Sugar Belle says timidly, wiping her face off. “It’s just, how good you feel when you do what your cutie mark wants you to do, but then having to face the disappointed looks of those around you, who know that you gave in again, that you weren’t able to hold strong? It almost, almost, was enough. But it never was. Until I met Starlight.” She embraces the trio, sighing heavily. “I hope, I really do, that you are able to find some solution. I…” Sugar Belle glances to Double Diamond and Night Glider. “I miss that feeling. I know I’m not supposed to miss it, I’m supposed to be glad that it’s gone, but I do.” “And we’ll do everything we can to get you there.” Sweetie Belle smiles up, her sisters joining her. “We just need to find a way for you to work with your cutie mark. And you said the problem you had was too much sugar?” Apple Bloom frowns slightly. “Did you ever try, Ah guess, selling whatever you were making as something unique and different?” Sugar Belle nods. “Problem was, ponies didn’t want to eat that much sugar, not how I was making stuff. I bet your dams used to tell you to eat your veggies, right?” “Used to?” Scootaloo says, smirking at Apple Bloom, who sticks her tongue out. “Plus, there wasn’t that much pure sugar to go around, so I ended up with some pastries with way too much, and others with none at all.” Sugar Belle sighs. “I tried swearing off sugar entirely, but that probably just made it worse.” “Yeah, Applebaum said the same thing too with her cutie mark.” At the three pony’s stares Apple Bloom explains, “My younger sister, cutie mark of blowing stuff up.” Their eyes go wide. “Yup, it was exactly as bad as it sounds. So she kept it at bay making little things explode, so it didn’t get too out of hoof.” “What kind of stuff?” Night Glider asks. “Oh, you know, starting small, controlled fires. Fireworks. Strapping toy ponies to rockets.” Scootaloo shrugs. “Getting back on track,” Sweetie Belle says, “it sounds like you need things to bake, and ingredients to bake with, that fulfill your cutie mark but are still edible and healthy for everypony.” Sugar Belle nods, but her smile doesn’t last long. “I wish it was that easy.” The trio turns their attention to Double Diamond. “And for you, we need something outdoors, preferably in the mountains. Or snow.” He nods. “Not a lot of ponies in those places, though. Great for going down slopes, terrible for making a living doing that. I tried going into search and rescue, or sports, but unless I’m pushing the boundaries on my skis it doesn’t work. And I just get super bummed about whatever job I’m supposed to be doing, and then that falls through... and you can probably get the idea from there.” Double Diamond offers a forced smile, shrugging and raising a hoof as if to say, ‘well, what can you do?’ Sweetie Belle’s lips purse. “And you, Night Glider?” “Well, I was a great flier, but I preferred flying at night. Well, I say preferred, but it got to the point where I could barely keep my eyes open during the day. I tried being a night sentry, but even patrolling around Canterlot wasn’t exciting enough, didn’t put my elite skills into use.” The pegasus shakes her head, flipping back to look at her cutie mark, or at least where it used to be. “Got reprimanded too many times for ‘dereliction of duty’ because I wouldn’t stay in my assigned sector, or was too busy practicing a routine to catch ponies doing what they shouldn’t be doing.” “Ouch,” Scootaloo says. She glances at her sisters, “Well, it’s been great talking to you, but we need to get with the rest of the town. Um, we’ll do our best to figure something out!” The three wave before they leave the bakery, Sweetie swiping another bagel. She pauses as she chews, starting to gag at the blandness. “Ugh, this would be so much better with… something on top.” “At least some sugar would be better than none,” Scootaloo agrees as they move from one pony to the next, putting names to paper and trying to connect those names to coat colors or some other distinction. “Ah never realized how much Ah use mane style and cutie mark to tell ponies apart,” Apple Bloom remarks as their list of names grows long, scratching at her mane. “It’s way harder to do this without any reminders.” “Yeah, just think about trying to figure out who each cutie mark belongs to,” Scootaloo says with a  shake of her head. “Think Starlight has a list or something?” “I doubt it,” Sweetie Belle says as ponies start to line up around them to introduce themselves. “If I was the one taking cutie marks from ponies? I’d sure remember whose is whose.” “It doesn’t seem like something you’d easily forget,” Apple Bloom says. Things seem to go much more smoothly, especially when Mayflower offers to do their manes. Sweetie Belle’s curls are swiftly subdued, the pink and purple strands intertwined into twin tails. Scootaloo’s short manecut doesn’t leave much to work with, but the filly manages to get it under control with a bit of spit and coaxing. Apple Bloom opts for one of the longer styles, letting her back fall down while the top gets the same treatment everypony else has. “Thanks!” Apple Bloom says as the lines around them begin to thin. Pretty soon and they have everypony in town, nearly seventy five names on their list. The three gather up, looking at the papers. Fifty mares, twenty stallions, and five fillies. “Okay, now we need to find a way to randomly pick, um, ten mares. And, uh, do we get ten stallions or do four of them get really lucky?” “For the mares we can pull names out of our saddlebags,” Scootaloo suggests. “I guess we should go see Starlight about the other part?” Sweetie Belle carefully shreds the paper, keeping the stallions, mares, and fillies in separate piles. They get to Starlight Glimmer’s house, dumping the contents of their saddlebags out. It’s mostly fabric and food, but three glass containers also come out. “Done already?” the pink unicorn asks as she comes down the stairs. She stops when she sees their cutie marks. “We should put those into the vault. Wouldn’t want them to break free!” “Ah guess not,” Apple Bloom says, looking forlornly at her cutie mark. “It’s a shame, too. We’re having a bit of difficulty figuring out what to do.” Starlight nods as Apple Bloom puts the three glass jars into one saddlebag, Scootaloo filling the other with names. “Well, I can’t say that I’m surprised, unfortunately. Now, come along!” The four head outside, following a faint dirt path to one of the rocky outcroppings. Somewhat hidden against one of the smaller hills is a cave entrance, several times taller than they are. Starlight and Sweetie Belle’s horns light the way, though both are fairly dim. However, once they get into the second room, their horns prove unnecessary. In the center of the room rests a pedestal with a two pronged staff levitating on top. Buried into the far wall of the cave is a massive crystalline structure, easily as tall as six ponies. Dazzling light shines from the crystal and the dozens of cutie marks contained within. The eight by twelve lattice is about three quarters full, with the open holes distributed almost randomly, except for a box of six right in the center. The four ponies file inside, the three young mares staring in awe. “Ah don’t know if Ah should cry or not,” Apple Bloom says, wiping a tear away regardless. "It's beautiful..." “So much potential,” whispers Scootaloo, her eyes drawn to a few of the cutie marks that look like wings. Sweetie Belle finds her eyes drawn to a few of the musical notes, and then to a trio of snowflakes. “Do you know whose cutie mark is whose? Or how will you get these back to the right pony?” Starlight Glimmer takes a deep breath, then nods. “I know. I know each and every one of them. But if this-” she motions to the massive crystal “-was broken, the cutie marks would find their way home. Fortunately, the power contained inside lets it house them without too much worry.” She levitates over the three jars, her horn charging and unscrewing the lids. “You got that?” asks Sweetie Belle, watching almost in awe. Starlight Glimmer nods, shaking her flank. “It’s harder, with my magic talent sealed away. I don’t know if I could rip one off, since that was kind of my thing before, but moving them shouldn’t be any trouble at all.” “Ah’m still stuck thinking what to do for Sugar Belle,” Apple Bloom says, frowning. “Ah feel like Ah know, deep down inside of me, something she could use.” Starlight Glimmer spins the lids off the jars. Her horn fills the room with light as she pulls the cutie marks out; the pink, red, and purple crests lazily float through the air. Starlight grunts, straining to push the cutie marks towards the crystal, digging her hooves into the dirt floor. She gets them about halfway to three openings in the lattice before her horn abruptly winks out. The three cutie marks immediately reverse course, slamming into the flanks of the three young mares. They stagger, dropping to the ground, but recover far quicker than the first time this happened. “Ah know what to do!” Apple Bloom exclaims loudly. “Apples! Sugar Belle can cook with apples!” “And with the Crystal Empire in the middle of the Frozen North?” Scootaloo grins widely. “Double Diamond could find work exploring up there!” “And Night Glider might be able to find work with Luna! I bet there’s lots more positions for night ponies now that she’s back!” Sweetie Belle reaches forwards, her two sisters meeting her raised hoof. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FOREVER!!” Before they get a chance to scamper back to town, Starlight groans, massaging her horn. “Wait! Your cutie marks helped you solve a problem?!” “Yeah! And now we’re going to go help everypony!” Apple Bloom pauses as she looks at the long rows of cutie marks. “But, um, Ah guess that might take a while, too.” “No worries,” Scootaloo says. “We’re the best at helping everypony with their cutie mark problems!” “Ugh,” Starlight says, flopping back to the ground. How? How did this happen?!