“Cutie Mark Crusaders Butterfly Catchers Go!”
The usual cheer of the self-proclaimed Cutie Mark Crusaders caused all those nearby to retreat into the safety of their homes. It wasn’t that the filly trio was trouble-makers, far from it, but whenever they got together in their Cutie Mark quest, things tended to take a turn for the worse.
“Do you guys have any nets?” Scootaloo asked.
“Nope,” Sweetie Bell responded with a frown.
“Nosiree,” Apple Bloom chirped.
Scootaloo frowned. “Well how can we get our Cutie Marks for butterfly catching if we don’t have any butterfly nets?”
The three fillies were hanging out in the center of town, watching the colorful butterflies as they flitted to and fro through the various flowers that decorated the town. Apple Bloom decided it would be in her best interest to try and capture a few of these butterflies with her bare hooves which led to their latest Cutie Mark quest.
“I know!” Sweetie Bell squeaked. “Rarity has a whole bunch of stockings that she never uses. We can use those as nets!”
Scootaloo crinkled her nose. “How does that work? We can’t go runnin’ ‘round town waving your sisters’ stockings in the air.”
“Well,” Apple Bloom offered. “We can always find some old tennis rackets and cut the center out of them. Then all we need ta do is pull the stockings over them and we got ourselves some bon-a-fide butterfly nets!”
“Sounds like a plan to me!” Scootaloo responded with a grin. “Sweetie Bell, you go get those stockings from your sister. Apple Bloom, you get the nets. I will try to find something we can use to cut the wires out. We meet here in half an hour. Deal?”
“Deal!” the other fillies exclaimed.
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Half an hour later found the three fillies sitting in the middle of Rarity’s boutique. The purple-maned pony was pacing back and forth before them while Apple Jack and Twilight Sparkle stood watching. Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo all stared at the floor as Rarity continued to lecture them.
“Silk! Silk stockings! Do you have any idea how much these are worth? I bought them from the finest designer in the finest shop in the finest district of all Canterlot! If I hadn’t caught you snooping around in my dresser, why, I cannot imagine what horrors you would have concocted with my stockings.”
“What’s Con-dock-ted mean?” Sweetie Bell whispered to Apple Bloom.
“You know,” she whispered back. “Condockted. It means, uhm, to condock stuff!”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo hissed. “Every pony knows that.”
“Well x’cuse me!” Sweeite Bell snapped.
“That’s enough!” Rarity snapped while stomping her hoof. “You three have committed a horrible crime against fashion and beauty…”
“But Rarity,” Sweetie Bell whined. “We didn’t get to do anything! You stopped us before we could take your stockings.”
Rarity exhaled through her nostrils. “And what,” She said, her voice growing dangerously high. “Were you planning to do with my stockings?”
“We were going to make butterfly nets out of them!” Sweetie Bell exclaimed, almost proudly.
“You where what?” Rarity shouted. A bright white glow flashed from her horn as a couch suddenly yanked itself over to where she stood. She flopped upon the couch, landing on her back as her right front leg came up to cover her eyes. “Be still my heart! I cannot truly be related to such a fiend, can I? Oh Celestia! Please tell me that such words did not come out of my sisters mouth! Using my stockings to catch insects?” She crinkled her nose and squirmed. “Ew! How uncouth!”
“Now Rarity,” Twilight interjected. “You do have to admit that there are some educational purposes to what the girls were attempting. In fact, I think it is a fine hobby to get involved in. They can begin by reading up on all the different species of butterflies and then we can begin working on identifying the differences between each one!” She practically wiggled with excitement. “This could be a lot of fun! I think we have at the least, twelve books about butterflies in my library. We can begin tonight!”
“Awww,” the girls groaned.
“I don’t think our special talent involves butterflies,” Sweetie Bell whined.
“Yeah,” agreed Scootaloo. “Somehow catching butterflies sounds a lot less special when you say it like that.”
“How ‘bout we try gettin’ our Cutie Marks in rounding cattle?” Apple Bloom asked.
“No way, Missie,” AppleJack countered. “We already talked about that before. You ain’t going on a round-up by yourselves. You’ll just cause a stampede.”
“I will not cause a stampede!” Apple Bloom argued while stomping her hoof.
“I dun believe that one bit,” AppleJack replied while rolling her eyes. “Why dun you youngins work on something a bit less dangerous?”
“We can always try our hooves at hot-air ballooning.”
“Yeah!” Sweetie Bell yelped. “That sounds like fun!”
The tree fillies jumped in front of Twilight Sparkle. Their eyes were wide as they gave Twilight their most adorable expressions. “Please, Twilight? Can we use your hot-air balloon?”
Twilight gave them a look. “How can you get a Cutie Mark in ballooning from just riding in a balloon? Girls, you need to remember that your special talent doesn’t come from just doing something, but from when you devote yourselves to that talent.”
“But that takes too long!” Scootaloo complained. “We don’t want to be the only ones left in our class without our Cutie Mark!”
“There are only three other fillies left without their Cutie Marks,” Sweetie Bell said. “There were four but Featherweight got his a few weeks ago.” She huffed.
“We need to get our Cutie Mark now!”
“Now girls,” Rarity chimed in. “You really need to relax. It isn’t a race you know.” She shot them each a stern glance. “And haven’t you caused enough trouble today already?”
“But we haven’t caused trouble!” Apple Bloom snapped. “You stopped us before we had a chance to do suffin!”
“And thank Celestia I did!” Rarity growled. “Lest I be without my stockings.”
“Anyways!” Twlight Sparkle said in a loud voice. “Why don’t you three just find something quiet to do?” She forced a smile. “You know, play nicely, quietly, without getting any pony’s way?”
“Fine!” the girls grumbled.
“Good.” Twilight nodded. She watched as the girls shuffled out of Rarity’s boutique. “Do you think they’ll keep out of trouble?”
“I doubt it,” Apple Jack responded.
“Little monsters,” Rarity hissed. “Each one of them.”
“They are not monsters,” Twilight said while smirking. “They are just, well, excitable, that’s all.”
“That’s an understatement.” Apple Jack chuckled.
“A gross understatement.” Rarity added. “Let us just pray that they don’t do anything to cause anymore trouble today.”
“Oh,” Twilight said, “I am sure they will be on their best behavior.”
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“Why don’t we try base jumping?” Scootaloo offered.
“What’s that?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“It’s when you climb up something very tall and jump off! It’s a lot of fun!”
Apple Bloom stuck out her tongue. “We dun all have wings like you, Scootaloo. We can’t base jump.”
“But her wings don’t even work,” Sweetie Bell pointed out. Scootaloo smacked Sweetie Bell on the back of the head. “They do too work!” Scootaloo snapped.
“Oh yeah?” Sweetie Bell snapped. “Prove it!”
“I don’t have to prove anything to you!” Scootaloo growled.
“You know what?” Apple Bloom said while giggling. “What if our Cutie Marks are in arguing with each other?”
“What would those look like?” Sweetie Bell asked while rubbing where Scootaloo smacked her.
“Well you’d have a cutie mark that looks like me, Scootaloo would have one of you, and I would have one of Scootaloo and we’d all be yelling.” She grinned.
Scootaloo smirked. “That does sound cool. Has any pony ever had a Cutie Mark of another pony?”
“Not that I know of,” Apple Bloom answered.
“Huh. I wonder why.” Scootaloo looked out the window of their clubhouse. “We could try bob sledding.”
“I didn’t know Bob sold sleds.” Sweetie Bell said while blinking. Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom slapped their hooves against their forehead. They loved Sweetie Bell to death but sometimes she could be a wee bit simple.
“I know!” Apple Bloom chirped. “Let’s go visit Fluttershy and see if we can be animal trainers?”
“Her animals are already trained.” Sweetie Bell pointed out. “All except Angel. He’s mean.”
“We can try to train Angel.” Apple Bloom offered.
“I am not getting anywhere near that bunny.” Scootaloo shivered. “He bites.”
“And kicks,” Apple Bloom added.
“And slaps,” Sweetie Bell concluded with a nod. “Good point.”
“Well it’s only one o’clock,” Scootaloo whined. “We need to find something to do or this day will be a waste!”
“Waste!” Sweetie Bell squeaked. “We can be garbage ponies!”
“Ew,” Scootaloo crinkled her nose. “But that’s gross…”
“And disgustin’” Apple Bloom said.
“And foul,” Sweetie Bell offered. The three fillies looked to one another before exclaiming: “Cutie Mark Crusaders: Garbage Ponies GO!”
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“I don’t even see how this is possible,” Twilight Sparkle said while staring at the two-story pile of garbage that now sat in the outskirts of PonyVille. “How did you three get the garbage pile that high?”
“And how did ya’ll manage to get that piano up there?” Apple Jack inquired.
“And why does that trashbin say ‘Las Pegasus’ on it?” Rarity asked while covering her nose with a tissue. She had her body hidden inside of what looked like a giant plastic bag in order to keep the trash away from her pure-white coat. “Who here is from Las Pegasus?”
“Well,” Scootaloo whimpered while staring at the ground. “When we put the dumpster on my skateboards, we didn’t realize that we were on a hill…”
“How did you lift a dumpster off the ground?” Twilight exclaimed.
“Using chains.” Sweetie Bell explained.
“Where did you get the chains?” Apple Jack yelped.
“From the junk yard. It was pretty scary because they had these crazy dogs living there but we were able to put them to sleep with the sleeping powder we got.” Scootaloo clarified.
“And where did you get sleeping powder?” Rarity demanded.
“Zacura,” answered Apple Bloom.
“That still doesn’t explain why so many rubber chickens are here.”
“That’s because Pinkie Pie needed us to get rid of her rubber chickens. Something to do with incriminating evidence involving rubber eggs?” Scootaloo shrugged.
“What’s in-crime-ating mean?” Sweetie Bell whispered to Apple Bloom.
“It’s when eating is a crime,” Apple Bloom whispered back.
“Ah. So her rubber chickens were eating the rubber eggs?” She asked.
“I guess. Pinkie Pie is so random, who knows what she is doin’.”
“I still don’t understand how the piano got here,” Apple Jack said while shaking her head. “I swear, how three little fillies can cause so much trouble is beyond me. You three are a hoof-full and a half.”
“We didn’t mean it,” Apple Bloom whimpered, her bottom lip trembling. “We really thought we could be garbage ponies.”
Twilight sighed. “I think you three have had enough adventuring for one day.” She glanced towards Rarity and then to Apple Jack. “I think it’s time for every pony to go home while Scootaloo and I clean this up.”
“Why do I have to clean this up and they don’t?” Scootaloo whined.
“Would you rather be lectured by them instead?” Twilight pointed her hoof towards Rarity and Apple Jack who both had rather serious, foreboding expressions upon their faces. Scootaloo took one glance in their directions before swallowing. “No, cleaning is fine.”
“Come along little ponies,” Apple Jack grumbled.
“Bye Scoot,” Sweetie Bell sniffled.
“See-ya Scootaloo,” offered Apple Bloom. Together the sisters walked away from the trash pile leaving Twilight alone with Scootaloo.
“Now,” Twilight said while using her magic to separate the pile of garbage into smaller, more organized piles. “We have a lot of work to do so let’s buckle down and get at it.”
“Fine,” Scootaloo grumbled. She began to assist Twilight in organizing the junk heap. Twilight was rather specific with how she wanted things done. Wood went into one pile, glass (which Twilight separated using her magic) went into another, plastics in a third, and miscellaneous junk in the final pile.
“I just don’t understand how you three can cause so much trouble.”
“Not our fault,” Scootaloo said. “All we are trying our best.”
“Don’t you think you may be trying too hard?”
“If we didn’t try hard enough, we’ll never get anywhere.” Scootaloo answered.
“But still; I am sure if you would just take the time…”
“We don’t have time!” Scootaloo stomped her hoof. “We need to figure out our special talents as soon as possible.”
Twilight felt a twinge of irritation. “You realize that your special talents could be something very simple. Something each of you has done before?” She gave Scootaloo a look. “You know something you three do each and every single day without realizing it?”
“Our homework?” Scootaloo frowned. “I do not want that to be our Cutie Mark.”
“No!” Twilight’s eye began to twitch. “I am talking about something each of you do for fun. You know, things that you enjoy doing?”
Scootaloo crossed her eyes in thought. “Eating ice cream?”
“No!” Twilight stomped her hoof. “I am talking about your scooter and Sweetie Bell’s singing, and Apple Bloom’s woodwork!”
“What about them?”
“Those are your special talents! By Celestia’s name, I thought you three had figured this out during the talent show but you keep ignoring them! I love you three very much but how can such smart fillies be so blind to their special talents? Those are what you are good at! It’s obvious to every pony but you three! How is that even possible?”
Scootaloo stared at Twilight for several seconds before lowering her ears flat against the top of her head. “We know.”
“And furthermore,” Twilight started but then stopped. “Wait, you know?”
“Of course we know,” Scootaloo muttered. “We ain’t dumb.”
“If you know,” Twilight stammered. “Then why don’t you just embrace your talents? You’ll get your Cutie Marks and your Crusade will be over.”
“That is why we don’t embrace them.” Scootaloo sighed. “Twilight, before we became the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we were all alone. We didn’t have many friends until now.” She scratched her hoof against the ground. Twilight didn’t really know what to say as Scootaloo wasn’t usually the type of filly who opened up to any pony other than Rainbow Dash.
“If we got our Cutie Marks, we’ll no longer be the Cutie Mark Crusaders. What would we do then?” She shook her head. “We don’t care if we go a whole ‘nother year without our marks; we aren’t done having fun.”
Twilight stared down at Scootaloo with a mixture of sadness and admiration in her heart. She had no idea that the girls valued their time together more so than actually getting their Cutie Marks. It as a startling revelation that touched Twilight to her core.
“You know what,” Twilight said. “I think I can handle this mess better by myself. Why don’t you head over to Apple Acres and stay with Apple Bloom and AJ until I can have Rarity and Sweeite Bell come over. We can have a slumber party.”
“Really?” Scootaloo said while perking up.
“Really, really.” Twilight said. “Go on. I’ll be there shortly.”
Scootaloo wrapped her front legs around Twilight’s neck and gave her a hug. “Don’t tell any pony I did that!” She said before racing towards Apple Acres. Twilight watched the young filly run.
“Oh Princess,” she whispered with a smile. “Do I have a letter to write to you tonight…”