//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: The Three Strange Fillies // Story: The Three Strange Ponies // by Kama and Hallie //------------------------------// The three strangers walked through the town supposedly called Ponyville, looking around while also having some eyes on them by some of the ponies they passed. They all had different moods reacting to the strange new town around them, the scrawny young stallion was a little afraid of being in such a new place with unfamiliar faces, but hid it with a confident and snarky face. The pink filly put on a happy and excited face, one that she put on quite often, and trotted joyfully around. The white colt, however, put on a very sour face, not enjoying the company he has, only viewing the citizens around him as collectibles than actual citizens. Viewing the world around him like a book ready to be read, though unknown in a good way or bad. "Jeez, look at how sunny this place is! Certainly beats our constantly cloudy and grey-skied town." the pink filly commented. "Eh, where I come from is tropical, so it's nothing special." the white colt replied. "Well, but at least here, it's not scorching hot. Just warm enough to enjoy the open air without getting sunburnt." the pink filly commented back. "Yeah, sometimes I worry I was turning pale back in our town." the scrawny stallion added. "Guess we'll never find out in our state." the white colt said pointing to his and the young stallion's coat. "Eh, yeah, guess you're right." the stallion said. "So where should we go to first? Ooh, we should've asked them which places are worth seeing. Hey, what's that big building in the middle of the town? I'm guessing that's the town hall. Oh! Maybe we should check out that school that you guys talked about earlier, I really wanna see what they teach in there!" the pink filly said enthusiastically. "There's so many chicks around here in one place, maybe I should just lean against that lamppost and introduce myself, maybe that could work." the stallion thought to himself. "Fine, you idiots can go ahead and just dawdle around, go ahead. I need to focus on the more important priority here: finding that damn backpack." the colt said. "Um, don't you think it's better that backpack gets lost. That way no one will find it and no one will suspect us." the filly thought. "True, but also shut up. Like I said multiple times, the stuff in that backpack is important to me. Not only to me but to you guys as well, you might need that stuff later especially when we go home, you don't wanna lose them forever, do you?" the colt asked. "Yeah, guess not. So can you just get outta here so I can charm these ladies uninterrupted?" the scrawny stallion shooed the white colt away with his hoof. "Alright, I'll make sure the first-aid kit's also in the backpack." the colt mocked deadpan at the stallion. "Yeah, go ahead. But in case you weren't paying attention, these girls probably can't hit me!" this stallion said triumphantly. "Dude, have you ever looked yourself in the mirror? I don't think even different gender roles are gonna save you from an angry female's left hook to your face." the colt shot at the stallion. "Okay, you know what? Do you honestly enjoy seeing me fail and suffering alone or something?" the scrawny white stallion asked angrily. "To be honest, I kinda do." the colt replied casually with a smirk. "See?! I knew it! Y'know, my life was going perfectly fine until you came into my life." the stallion accused. "Eh, I wouldn't really say that. That would be giving your life way too much credit, not even someone as big of an asshole as I am could ever cause someone to live a life as sad as yours." the colt replied unfazed by the stallion's accusation. The stallion stammered for a while, looking for some reply to the colt's comment, but ultimately came up with nothing. "Yeah, honestly, you've got a point." the stallion said, admitting defeat. "I know I do." the colt said casually. The pink filly did nothing but just watch as her two friends had their daily fight with each other, sighing in exhaustion from watching them. Now she was not sure if she had the same enthusiasm as a moment ago. In another part of the town, three fillies were riding through the streets, one on a scooter and the other two in a wagon being pulled by said scooter. The dark orange pegasus filly with a dark purple mane named Scootaloo drove the scooter pushing it with the propulsion of her tiny wings, and in the wagon was a white unicorn filly with a light purple mane named Sweetie Belle and beside her was a yellow earth pony with a red mane and big pink bow named Apple Bloom. As they cruised through the town, Scootaloo started picking up speed as they dodged a particularly crowded street on Ponyville, must've been a busy day. Scootaloo was starting to have a harder time avoiding the bystanders now, even coming close to hitting a few of them. "Hey, Scoots! Watch where yer goin'!" Apple Bloom shouted from behind the pegasus filly. "You try maneuvering through something like this!" Scootaloo yelled, turning her head to look at her yellow friend. "WATCH OUT!" Sweetie Belle shouted as the three of them noticed they were riding right into three figures in front of them who just noticed them as well. Then a loud crash happened right at that spot, as six ponies, as well as a scoOter and wagon, crashed into each other, causing quite the ruckus. After the dust cleared, a lot of ponies gathered to see what just happened and to see what became of the victims of the crash. One of the first to get up was a dark brown-maned teenage colt, desperately getting back up, and it was obvious he wasn't happy in the slightest and was ready to give whoever hit him a piece of his mind. Then the other five got back on their hooves, then the colt stomped aggressively toward the three fillies who run into him. "HEY! What's the big idea?! Can't you imbeciles see where you're going?!" the colt yelled at the fillies. "Ow...okay, jeez, we're sorry." Scootaloo said without seeing who was talking to her, still trying to recover from the crash. "Damn right, you're sorry! My bones could've shattered from the impact and put me in the hospital or leave me crippled!" the colt continued to yell. "Oh, Goddess..! I said I was sorry! What else do you want to say...!" Scootaloo shouted back before stopping herself to look at the ponies in front of her, her two friends also got up to see who they just hit. In front of them was a white colt with a wavy but unkempt dark brown mane who stared at them angrily, the colt seemed to be only a few years older than them and a little taller. Behind him was a pink filly with a long, straight orange mane who appeared to be the same age as the colt, but a little taller than him and was slightly chubby. And the other was a white and skinny young stallion with a messy brown mane with three strands of hair sticking out, he was a lot taller than any of them and seemed to be around the age of the three fillies' sisters, or maybe a few years younger, it was hard to tell. The stallion was still sitting on his flank on the ground, hugging one of his hind legs, shouting indecipherably as he dramatically cried about his pain, which the colt in front of them rolled his eyes and ignored. "Hey, who are you? I've never seen you around here before." Scootaloo asked. "Yeah, and you're not gonna see anything around here after this if you pull some jackass stunt like that again!" the colt said threateningly. "Yeesh, why do some colts always have to act so mean just to appear tough?" Sweetie Belle commented on the colt's behavior. "Well, if they're sharing an area code with hooligans like you, I'd kinda understand." the colt replied to Sweetie Belle's comment. "Be quiet, Question. Sorry about him, uh...what were you asking again?" the pink filly pushed her white colt friend out of the way and stood in front of him to speak with the other fillies. "We were askin' who y'all were." Apple Bloom said. "Oh, my name is...Smiley Face." the teenage filly answered a little confused. "And these are my friends, Question Mark..." she gestured to the colt. "And, uh...Doofus Dweeb." the filly gestured to the skinny stallion, saying his name a little hesitantly. "Doofus Dweeb?" Scootaloo asked, unable to comprehend the stallion's name. "Why would you or your parents give you a name like 'Doofus Dweeb'?" Sweetie Belle asked, just as confused as Scootaloo. "Yeah, seems kinda wrong and hurtful fer the foal." Apple Bloom commented. "Yeah, terrible name. I know." the white stallion said sadly. "I don't know, kinda suits you, if I'm being honest." the colt said to the stallion. Everypony could see the stallion named Doofus was glaring angrily at the colt, so the pink filly Smiley Face stepped in. "Haha, okay. Sorry for all this, um...what about you? What are your names?" Smiley Face asked the fillies. "Oh, Ah'm Apple Bloom. This here's Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. And together we're..." Apple Bloom gestured to her friends, before gesturing them to get into position so they can all introduce themselves. "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" the three fillies shouted in unison. "Cutie Mark Crusaders? Man, if that isn't the gayest shit I've ever heard then I don't know what is." the colt named Question Mark said. "Crusaders? That can't be right. Where's your bucket helmets and red cross shields?" Doofus asked. "They don't need them anymore because it's obvious they've already killed all the Muslims, otherwise the streets here would be almost empty because there wouldn't be any girls allowed to walk in public Bahahahaha...eh, actually it would end up that way regardless." Question Mark said after laughing at his own joke. "What do you mean girls won't be able to go outside, and what are 'muss lims'?" Scootaloo asked. "Er, not important. Okay, we know each other now. Can I please go now?" the colt asked impatiently. Before anyone could say anything, Sweetie Belle was casually observing everything about these three strangers, until she noticed something strange about the skinny stallion's flanks that made her eyes widen. "Oh, my Goddess! Girls, look! Doofus doesn't have a cutie mark!" "I don't have a what?" Doofus asked. "What? No way." Scootaloo said, unable to believe her unicorn friend's claim. The three fillies all run over to inspect the young stallion's flank to confirm if what they heard was true. "Woah, it's true!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "But...how is that possible?" Apple Bloom asked out loud. "Um, guys? Why are these little girls staring at my ass? I'm not gonna go to jail for this, am I?" the stallion scaredly asked his two companions. "Don't worry, from what I've seen back home, the fairer sex can get away with any sex-related crime no matter how cruel or disgusting it is. You should keep that in mind for the future, could help." Question Mak said deviously. "Question, don't get him into any more trouble than you usually do." Smiley Face said to her friend. "Man, you're no fun." the colt replied. "Okay, okay! Please stay away from my rear or else I'll report harassment on you considering what I heard about the gender stuff here." the stallion threatened as he backed away from the fillies. "They're kids, doofus." Question Mark groaned at the stallion's antics. "I mean, I know kids that already do stuff like that when they were these girls' age." Doofus replied. "Well, a lot of animals get to know each other by inspecting their rear ends." Smiley said. "I thought only dogs do that." Question Mark said. "I actually don't know, you know more about animals than I do." Smiley replied. "I do, but I don't research them that deeply. Though imagine if that's really how ponies greeted each other here, would be really bad for some of us." Question Mark said while smiling. "Eeww, what are you talking about. Why would we sniff each other's butts?!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed in disgust. "Yeah, that's gross!" Apple Bloom exclaimed as well. "I don't know, I'm willing to bet that someone out there wouldn't mind if that was the case." Question Mark said while he gestured toward Doofus Dweeb in a not-so-subtle way. "Hey, I'm not that desperate!" Doofus shouted in defense. "We'll see about that." the colt whispered sinisterly. "Alright, shut up. What were you three doing just now?" Doofus asked, still with a worried tone. "We were jus' shocked that ya didn't have a cutie mark. How does a pony yer age not have one?" Apple Bloom asked. "Cutie mark? What, is that like, your gang sign or something?" Question Mark asked back. "Wha'...how do ya not know what a cutie mark is?" Apple Bloom asked, she and her two friends becoming more confused than before. "Yeah, are you just playing dumb with us?" Scootaloo asked. "Uh, yeah, long story. We're not from around here." Question Mark answered nervously. "Yeah, I figured that out. But how do you not know what a cutie mark is? What planet are you from?" Scootaloo asked warily. The three strangers suddenly went wide-eyed for a moment and looked at each other worriedly, adding to Scootaloo's nigh-suspicion. "Well, we're actually suffering some form of amnesia. We found ourselves in the middle of the...whatwasitcalled...Everfree Forest, having no memory of where we came from or how basic things work. So something like a...ugh, cutie mark is completely new to us." Question Mark explained, saying 'cutie mark' with a disgusted tone. "Oh, Goddess. Really? Poor you." Sweetie Belle said worriedly and with pity. "Gosh, sorry, I didn't know." Scootaloo calmed down a bot after hearing the older colt's explanation. "Sad, I know. And then we were found by this yellow pink-haired quiet chick and this rainbow-haired, skittles-looking, pride flag-looking bitch who never stopped glaring at me, who brought us to that crystal tree castle thing over there." Question Mark pointed to Twilight's former, now Starlight's castle. "Wait, are ya talkin' about Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?" Apple Bloom asked. "Woah, you know those two broads? Wow, what a small world...hopefully not." Question Mark replied. "Hey! Rainbow Dash is not a bitch! She's the coolest pony I know, practically a sister to me, and she's saved Equestria multiple times!" Scootaloo yelled at the slightly older white colt by poking a hoof into his chest and bringing her face to his. "Well, too bad she couldn't save me from her unpleasant presence." Question Mark said with a smile. "Listen here, buddy!" Scootaloo became angrier, wanting to call the colt something worse but decided to save it for later. "Hey, break it up! Break it up!" Smiley Face came in between them and pushed them away from each other. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle helping by pulling Scootaloo away. "Calm down, Scootaloo. He jus' doesn't know who Rainbow Dash is yet. Besides, we're supposed ta be nice ta colts, remember? We shouldn't hit them." Apple Bloom lectured her orange pegasus friend. "Yeah, listen to your redneck friend. Surprised even she's got more brains than you." Question Mark said mockingly. "Excuse me? Whut's that supposed ta mean?!" Apple Bloom asked the colt angrily, immediately forgetting what she just told Scootaloo, and her accent becoming a little thicker. Suddenly, Smiley Face jumped in front of them before things could get ugly again. "J-just ignore him, he's always like that. Can we just go back to the original question?" "Huh? Oh, right. We're talkin' about cutie marks." Apple Bloom said, calming down almost immediately. "Yeah, that. What are cutie marks again?" Smiley Face asked. "Uh..." the Crusaders looked at each other confused, feeling weird having to explain the concept of cutie marks to another pony of all creatures. "Well, a cutie mark is that symbol ya have on yer flank over there." Apple Bloom explained, pointing toward Smiley Face's flank, causing the pink filly to look at it. "It's supposed ta represent yer special talent and yer callin' in life." the yellow filly continued. "Wait, so this is something everybody has? I thought those two chicks who found us just happened to have those things because they're one of those friends who are so weirdly intimate with each other that you'd expect them to be a couple yet they're somehow not. Hehe." Question Mark chuckled at his own statement while everypony else just stared at him blankly. "Yeah, you usually get them when you finally find what your calling is and what you're good at or want to do. But everypony usually gets them when they're still foals, that's why I was shocked when I saw that Doofus is still a blank flank." Sweetie Belle continued the explanation. "So, this butt tattoo is supposed to symbolize your special talent right?" Question Mark asked for reassurance. "Yes, why?" Sweetie asked back. "Well no wonder this dweeb doesn't have one, he has no talent!" the colt laughed hysterically. "Hey! That's not true! I have some talents." Doofus attempted to save himself. "Oh, really? What?" Question Mark dared the stallion. "I can play COD for 6 hours straight, um...I can, uh...I can play the kazoo pretty well, er...I've been on plenty of dates even though they all failed, and uh...yeah, I can't name anything special about me." Doofus finally gave up. "Hehe, maybe that should be your special talent." Question Mark mocked. "Jeez, you're mean." Sweetie Belle said. "Yeah, I know. Okay, I've had enough of this, I should really go now." Question Mark said blankly as he turned away and started to walk away from everypony. "Hey, where are you going in such a hurry?" Scootaloo asked to try and stop the colt from taking another step. "I'm trying to look for my lost backpack, which was what I was trying to do before you three crashed into me." Question Mark looked back, clearly not in the mood to answer the fillies' questions. But the fillies, along with the colt's companions decided to follow behind him. "Really? What's in it?" Apple Bloom asked. "Stuff." Question Mark answered plainly. "What kinda stuff?" Sweetie Belle asked as well. "Super cool stuff ordinary individuals like you wouldn't understand." Question Mark said with his head turned back to face them, getting frustrated. "Woah, that means we totally gotta look for it as well." Scootaloo said confidently, hoping to beat this colt in something in order to teach him a lesson. "No!" the colt said. "Why not?" Scootaloo asked, also getting frustrated. "Because the stuff in my backpack is private, and you'll only mess my stuff up." Question Mark replied. "Do you really think we're that clumsy?" the pegasus filly asked again. "Yes. You've given me no reason to believe otherwise." the white colt replied again as well. "Well, we'll show you, Question Mark! We can find it first and return it to you safely and the insides untouched!" Scootaloo challenged the teenage colt. "This isn't a race, Scooby-Doo. I'm just trying to find something Iost." Question Mark dismissed Scootaloo's invitation. "We can make it one, we'll both have to look for your backpack. If we lose then we'll be your servants for a week." Scootaloo set the first rule, which made her friends panic. "Kinda extreme, but sounds good. And If you win?" Question Mark asked. "You'll have to apologize to us, Rainbow Dash, Doofus, and not say any mean things anymore. Oh, and worship Rainbow Dash like a goddess." Scootaloo continued, which caused Question Mark to raise his eyebrows. "Alright, let's do it." Question Mark said like nothing was wrong. "You're on! We're starting...NOW! C'mon, girls!" Scootaloo gestured to her friends and immediately started running, with her two friends following, leaving the strangers behind. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Scoots? What if we lose?" Sweetie Belle asked from behind the orange pegasus. "We won't, Sweets! Trust me! It'll be worth it, even if we have to go into the Everfree." Scootaloo reassured her unicorn friend. And they ran off to inspect the town and the forest. As the three fillies ran off, leaving the strangers behind, the white colt stared blankly for a moment before snickering and turning away. "Hehe, idiots." "Whaddya mean? Aren't we participating?" the pink filly asked. "Of course not, races are stupid. Plus, I've never been good at finding lost personal items so might as well let them do all the work." the colt replied. "But, you're gonna lose. Do you really wanna lose?" the filly asked, not for motivation, but just out of genuine confusion. "I won't. The deal is that whoever finds the backpack first will win, but since I'm not looking for it, I'm not participating, so I can't lose." the white colt explained. feeling smart. "Oh." the pink filly gave up, but then she had an idea. "Y'know, you could've learned and gotten a lot of information from those girls if you didn't act so douchey the whole time." the filly said with a smirk, which got the colt's attention. "Whaddya mean?" the colt asked. I mean, they were willing to teach us some useful information, but since you did nothing but joke around and insult them, which kinda threw that chance out the window. You could gain knowledge and learn a lot more if you just acted nicer to these ponies, then it would make your job a lot easier. You did say you wanted to learn all you can about this place." the filly explained. "Eh, yeah, you're right. Look at me, I'm always going on about having to learn stuff yet I prevent exactly that with my asshole behavior." the colt realized. "Exactly, so can you please at least try to be nice starting now?" the filly begged. "Alright, I'll try to tone down my behavior, at least as much as I'm able to."