//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Cutie Mark Crusaders // Story: Spike's Nameless Brother // by Cold Spike //------------------------------// Shyfrost woke up in the usual manner that he was accustomed to, with a light headache. The young dragon was still not fully used to everything in the town and sleep came randomly. Some nights he would sleep well and others it was a nightmare, sometimes literally. After waiting another hour for Fluttershy to wake up, she was downstairs making them both breakfast. "Okay, I talked to Twilight and she has decided on your dietary needs. So, for breakfast we have eggs, some fruit and a bowl of pearls," she said before carefully placing them on the table. Shyfrost looked at the bowl and, sure enough, it was filled to the brim with small white colored pearls. Fluttershy eyed him, waiting for the first bite. She actually looked kind of nervous to Shyfrost but he just shrugged and sat down, immediately the smell of the pearls wafted up to his nostrils. That stench, that heavenly stench... . With one loud crunch, he ate a spoon full of pearls and immediately smiled in delight. He finished the whole bowl in under a minute, Fluttershy couldn't be happier. In reality the pearls were not cheap, but Twilight agreed to help her out with a budget, a quick contact to the princess gave them both access to an almost infinite supply of the things. I normally wouldn't ask my friends to go through such trouble, but it's not like I can afford these any other way. She thought sadly. They did say not to worry, though. Oh, dear, should I worry? She then shook her head and shrugged. "I'm glad you're enjoying those pearls, cause I've got plenty more where those came from. Twilight should also have plenty in stock whenever you go to visit her and Spike." "They are really good, thanks Fluttershy." After he finished speaking he smiled, it was a genuine grin and it filled Fluttershy with love and hope, hope that he would finally be happy in Ponyville. After they ate, Fluttershy had to hurry to get Shyfrost to school on time. On the way he seemed a lot more relaxed about attending and had completely forgotten about the incident with Diamond Tiara. He wasn't thrilled about going to school, but he at least had new friends, at least he hoped they were friends. Fluttershy dropped him off in the front of the classroom and was off in a hurry. He had forgotten about the pearl incident, but it seems the other students did not, when he entered the classroom all eyes again were still on him. He didn't mind as much. Half of the class was on Diamond Tiara's side and were glaring. The other half seemed more cheerful to him, but didn't talk much. Which left the Cutie Mark Crusaders as the only sociable ones. "Shyfrost, what you did yesterday with her Tiara, it was awesome," Scootaloo was the first to speak to him and was giving him a very warm smile. "It was stealin'!" Apple Bloom chastised, to his disappointment. Then she smirked. "But it was cool," she quickly added giving him another warm smile. "Rarity was just glad to have a new customer, DIamond Tiara's dad came storming in and requested she fix her Tiara at any price!" Sweetie Belle was giving him the widest grin of all, she seemed ecstatic to be near Shyfrost. "Well, thanks, but I didin't mean to it just sort of happened, it's hard to explain." "Well we were wondering if you wanted to-" Before Scootaloo could finish her sentence she was cut off by the school bell and in walked Miss Cheerliee. "Good Morning Class!' "Good Morning Miss Cheerliee," all students replied in the same tone. She immediately started the lessons which seemed just as boring to Shyfrost as yesterday's lesson. Again he was able to keep up with her, but not without complications and distractions. This time it did not come from Diamond Tiara, it came from his new friends constantly looking back at him and trying to sneak words behind Cheerliee's back. His lunch wasn't helping matters. He could still smell the pearls that Fluttershy had packed, but this time he felt he could control his instincts better, mostly. "PSST, Shyfrost." Scootaloo had taken it to make a sort of game of talking to him, she would say a single short sentence when Miss Cheerliee was not looking or paying attention and then Shyfrost would have to wait a while before his opportunity to reply, if he missed it then she would just sigh and decide to ask her question later. "Yeah?" After three minutes of Scootaloo intently watching the teacher for any signs of weakness, when she found one and it was her move to reply. "What do pearls taste like?" Shyfrost had to wait a whole six mintues before his chance. "I dunno, better than cupcakes." Scootaloo only had to wait thirty seconds this time. "How come you and Spike don't got wings?" It was such a blunt statement he had to think about it for a while and missed two 'talking opportunities' just so he could think of a replyl. "I dunno why," he replied plainly and shrugged which caused Scootaloo to face hoof and grunt. The first bell for recess rang shortly after and all of them ran out of the classroom before their teacher could say anything, Shyfrost, again, trailed behind. "Shyfrost!" Cheerilee said it so sternly that it made his whole body freeze. Hesitantly turning around to face her he spoke. "Yes?" "Behave your self today, now go play please." He walked outside and was immediately picked up against his will and quickly brought to the side of the school in a confusing daze. He looked up to see Scootaloo, Sweetiee Belle and Apple Bloom all staring at him. All smiling at him, Before he could even say anything they all spoke up. "Okay Shyfrost, we wanted to ask you something." "Okay, um, what?" "Well we are all part of this club..." Before any other words were said they all breathed in as much air as their little bodies would allow. Shyfrost thought they were trying to imitate a dragon. "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSDAERS!" It was said so loudly that not only did every kid on the playground hear them. Shyfrost dug a claw into his ear to make the ringing stop. "OW." Was all Shyfrost could say in return. "Yeah we try to earn our cutie marks and find our purpose." It was the mention of the word 'purpose' that peaked his interest. "You said purpose? You just try to all find your purpose in the town?" He asked remembering Fluttershy's previous conversation with him. "Well, yeah, I guess," Sweetie Belle slowly replied. "So, do you want to join us?" Scootaloo walked forward and stretched out her wings hoping this would make it see more exciting. "Well," he paused and pondered his options. He had no clue what a club was, but if it helped him find his purpose then he was in."Yes I will join." "YAY!" They all screamed and without warning brought him in for a tender hug. "Okay, after school you'll need to come with us to the clubhouse for-" "I can't do anything after school this week, Fluttershy is making me go to Twilight's after school as a punishment." All three of them blinked and then gave a nod of understanding. "Having to hang out with Twilight each day, sounds like a punishment to me," Scootaloo said while snickering to herself. Sweetie Belle sighed. "But we need to initiate him and stuff." The winged one nodded. "Well, how long do you have to be at Twilight's?" Scootaloo seemed to be the leader or at least the more assertive one of the bunch, she always spoke up first. "Um, I'm not sure really, I guess you can come with me?" Shyfrost scratched the back of his head sheepishly, he was hoping that Twilight wouldn't be upset if he brought 'company'. "Well okay, we can come and do our initiation after, but Spike better have something for us to do!" Scootaloo exclaimed determined to avoid boredom and the others nodded in understanding. "Hey Scootaloo, why did you ask about our wings?" In truth the question was actually quite bothersome, he knew how other dragons were, at least from some books he had read. They all had wings, however, oddly enough, both Spike and Shyfrost were missing them. It never bothered him that much before, for a while he actually assumed he would grow them later o, but his guess on that was as good as Twilight's. Judging from her quest for knowledge on their race, Shyfrost concluded that she had no clue either. "Aren't you both suppose to have wings? I mean you're both dragons." She pointed out, indicating to her back where her wings fluttered a bit. "I honestly don't know why, I've read about other dragon's and I know they have wings, but Spike was the first one I've actually seen other than me," Shyfrost replied hesitantly and was nervously twitching his claws again. Saying that actually sounds kind a crazy. I'm a dragon! he thought, pondering, again, why he wasn't with his own kind. "How can that be? What about parents?" Apple Bloom was the first to respond. Her statement seemed quite logical. "I, uh, never had any." "Then who raised ya?" Apple Bloom asked, while she walked around him and examined every aspect of the drake. "Me?" he guessed. The farm silly shook her head, almost giggling. "That don't make sense, how can ah newborn just up and raise themselves?" "Well, Twilight said that dragon's have instincts in them and even though it's hard to believe, I really did raise myself. Plus my amulet-" He was cut off by Apple Bloom's protests. "But, that means you don't have a family! That's not right," she replied with sympathy in her voice, she seemed pretty sad. In fact they all did. "Well, I have Fluttershy." They thought about this for a moment in silence, they also started to see the similarities between Shyfrost and Spike. They both only had one pony that they could call family and no true blood related parents. Eventually, Scootaloo was, again, the one to speak up. "Oh yeah that's tru-" She was cut off by the school bell yet again. "I hate that bell!" Scootaloo mumbled to herself while everypony ran back inside. After school was out they all decided to head straight for the library. Shyfrost was growing a bit worried by the way the three were acting behind him, like children. They were excited to say the least and all though he was glad to finally have some real friends, he still was hoping that they would calm down soon. I hate it when Twilight gets angry... well, I've only seen her that way once, but it was scary! When they arrived the three seemed to calm down significantly, but it was mostly due to the nature of their destination, in short, they were already bored. Shyfrost entered the building with the three of them in tow and they all waited. "Twilight? I'm here for our study session!" Shyfrost yelled upstairs not seeing Spike or Twilight anywhere. "I'll be down in a minute!" They all heard the librarian yell from a distance. "Study session?" Scootaloo asked. "Yeah, since Twilight and ponies know so little about dragon's, I agreed to let Twilight study me since I'm a... different sort of dragon." "OH! I bet we could do that, right girls?" ""CUTIE MARK CRUSADER DRAGON RESEARCHER'S!" Shyfrost was caught off guard, but noticed that Twilight was now running down in a hurry in response to their yelling. She looked less than pleased. "Oh, um, girls! What a pleasant surprise," Twilight said as her eyes twitched while having trouble remaining calm. "We're just here to wait for Shyfrost to be done," Scootaloo said grumbling. "Yeah! We need to initiate him in the--" "Please, no yelling in the library girls," Twilight reminded them, having anticipated those three horrible words. "Well, we're gonna wait until he's done! So is Spike around? We need something to do." When Sweetie Belle finished speaking, she smiled up at her. Twilight looked at the three girls who were smiling like angels and back to Shyfrost who was now giving her a big sheepish grin. She was glad he was making friends, but with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, it could easily be disaster after disaster. Just imagining the possibilities sent shivers up her spine. "Yes, Spike should be upstairs and I'm sure he would be willing to play just make s-" "YAY! THANKS TWILIGHT!" All three of them squealed in delight and darted upstairs in a hurry before she could finish her sentence. "-Sure to... oh they're gone." "Sorry Twilight, but I could really use some friends and-" "I know it's fine, I'm just glad you're making some. But for now let's continue where we left off with more research." Shyfrost nodded up at her and they went down to the basement to study in peace. Two Minutes Later Upstairs in Spike's Room The Cutie Mark Crusaders had immediately barged into his room and began to tear the place apart, it didin't take them long, but Spike was not even batting an eye. He was mostly in shock over them but lately he was having trouble paying attention, day dreaming for him was becoming the norm. "Spike? Are you okay?" Sweetie Belle asked out of concern. "What? Oh, yes I'm fine." "Well, it's just we basically destroyed your room and you barely said anything." Spike looked around and, sure enough, what was once a clean and tidy room looked like it was ripped apart by Discord himself. "Girls," he grumbled to himself and looked up at the pleading eyes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and sighed,"ahh forget it." Spike slumped down and relaxed. "Spike, seriously, what's wrong?" Sweetie Belle walked up and put a comforting hoof over his shoulder. "Well, ever since Shyfrost showed up I've been thinking and the more him and I talk, the more I think. I keep day dreaming about meeting other dragons. I mean, Ponyville is great and all, but me and him are the only dragons. Sometimes it... just feels weird." "Well ah least you got Shyfrost." "Yes, but it would be nice to be with my own kind for once. I mean, not to be rude, but how would one of you feel if you grew up surrounded only by dragons?" "I think it would be cool!" Scootaloo answered having completely missed the point. Though, a part of her knew where he was coming from. "It would be weird, but I would be pretty sad if I never knew my sister Rarity." "Ah have no idea," Apple Bloom said while slumping down. "C'mon Spike you still have Twilight, she's like your mom, right?" Scootaloo walked up to Spike's other side and copied Sweetie Belle's comforting motion. "I guess so, I never really called her mom before..." He trailed off and shook the thoughts from his head. "Why are you three here anyway?" "Well we wanted to initiate Shyfrost into out club, but I guess he needs to come here every day after school. So he suggested we come with to wait for him." "They shouldn't take too long down there." "Hey Spike, how come you both are missing wings?" Scootaloo said while Spike deadpanned and gave her a glare. "I have no idea, but you raise a very good point," Spike said and sighed sitting down, he began to stare off into space yet again. The three of them shrugged it off and decided to 'clean up' the mess they made while waiting to leave with their new friend. Each study began with Twilight performing a set of simple tests. They were more like doctor check up's since Twilight was the only pony in Ponyville that could treat dragons. She wanted to make sure that Shyfrost was healthy and was worried that his unique biology would be harmful to himself. Her fears were put to rest after a couple days of study and she moved onto the actual experimentation. This still would not stop her from asking a million questions before an experiment was to begin. "Ok, Shyfrost are you listening?" Shyforst was broken out of a day dream and he smiled up at her sheepishly. "Right, we are going to try and fine tune your unique frost ability in the same manner that I help train Spike's fire. You both are still quite young so we won't get too far, but it's still useful to try. Have you been doing the exercises I made for you?" "Yeah, I massage my throat three times a day and try to concentrate my ice into at least one unique shape a day," Shyfrost replied casually. "Good, and have you made any unique shapes yet?" Twilight questioned with hope in her voice. "NOPE!" He smiled up at her knowing it was at least a little funny. "C'mon Shyfrost, you made those ice spikes. There has got to be a way for you to make other shapes," Twilight said while flipping through her endless series of notes. "I tried! I can make ice spikes, sure. I can make regular ice and freeze stuff. But I can't make ice balls or any of that other stuff you suggested." "It's fine Shyfrost. Let's just move onto another experiment, I want to try something a bit more...dangerous." Twilight was speaking with a hint of sorrow in her voice, she knew could end very badly but she had to be sure. "Dangerous how?" "Well, like we have seen before your scales seem to give you a natural resistance to all things relating to cold or ice. As it were you are cold proof and even though you can feel the cold, it can't seem to freeze you or kill you. In a way it's like the polar opposite of a Fire Dragon's resistance to all things heat, Spike is fire proof but now it raises the question if you are or not?" Shyfrost blinked and did a double take to makes sure he was hearing properly. "Yes, we are going to test if you are, in fact, fire proof. Now at any time during the experiment if you-" "Twilight, are you crazy?!" Shyfrost yelled and got onto his feet while standing on the couch. "There is a bag of pearls in it for you if you cooperate," Twilight said in a tempting tone. Twilight had levitated a large bag of pearls just out of his reach. He looked at them and back at her, it was certainly tempting. He knew that Twilight would never do anything to put him in harm's way, but this certainly sounded like it. Thinking that he had the upper claw since it was his choice or not, he decided to take action. "Oayk, I will do it. But if you have to cut your experiment early because it's not going well, then I still get the pearls!" "DEAL!" Without hesitation she brought out a bowl that was lined with some rocks, they looked black in color and flammable. She did a simple spell and a small fire formed inside the bowl. "Okay, simply place your right claw into the bowl, if it burns then immediately pull up. Got it?" Before he could reply, his greed got the better of him just thinking about those pearls. Without hesitation he placed his right claw into the bowl and waited. At first nothing happened and Shyfrost and Twilight thought they had done it, they thought he was both fire and ice proof. After a good nine seconds he felt it, Shyfrost shot up in the air wailing in pain which caused Twilight to panic and rush him upstairs. Twilight was apologizing over and over again while she levitated up some medical supplies and rinsed his claw in the sink. A million apologizes later, it was discovered that he not only had a slight burn on one of his claws, but he was perfectly fine. "Look, I'm sorry again Shyfrost-" He shook his head. "Pearls, now!" She levitated the bag over to him and dropped it in his claw. With that Shyfrost walked up to her and tackled the unicorn in a hug. "You're forgiven," Shyfrost said while giggling. "Just like that?" "Sure," he paused and took a bite of some of the pearls that he picked up,"anything for pearls!" "Okay, I think that is enough studying for one day. Why don't you go get your friends?" She watched him run up to Spike's room and then she let out a heavy groan. 'The crazy things I try for science.' Shyfrost truly did forgive her, after all he had agreed to be studied and she had gifted him with one big bag of heaven. He knocked on the door to Spike's room with no answer, but he did hear plenty of noise behind it. "Uhh, just a second!" Yelled Scootaloo. "Yeah, don't come in yet, Twilight!" Screamed Sweetie Belle "Ah...never mind, just don't come in!" Apple Bloom said in the highest pitched voice. "It's me, Shyfrost!" "Oh," the door flung open to reveal Sweetie Belle giving him the biggest grin and without warning she flung him into the room and shut the door, "please come in." "What happened in here?" Shyfrost looked around to what used to be Spike's room, it was a disaster. "Uh, we made a mess and then we tried to clean it up," Scootaloo exclaimed sheepishly. Apple Bloom nodded, kicking a few books out of her way. "Are you done with Twilight?" "Yeah," he paused to eat some pearls," all done." "What ya do down there?" Apple Bloom questioned. "We um, discovered I'm not fire proof," he replied while blushing a bit. "Dude, it's like your the exact opposite of me, so fire really can harm you?" Spike said jumping out of his daze. He pondered this for a bit, after examining both of them he agreed that physically they were the same with different shades and hues. They were both resistant to one element but not the same element, one fire and one ice. They both craved precious stones but not the same stones. But, for the most part, they acted the same. "I guess so." "Are you ready to join the club now?" Pleaded Scootaloo. "Yeah, I guess so-" Without warning all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders grabbed Shyfrost and ran out of the room with him, leaving Spike to clean up the mess. But Spike was not phased, he was simply standing there, again, lost in thought. The three fillies were running along the path carrying Shyfrost towards Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo mumbled something about forgetting her scooter. Sweetie Belle was trying to come up with ideas on his initiation, apparently they had not planned that that far in advanced. Apple Bloom had a few ideas but she was busy balancing Shyfrost on her back. When they reached the orchard they heard the tell tale sign of Apple Bloom's bigger sister bucking apples. Running past the element of honestly was quite easy to do unnoticed, not that they were hiding. Mostly. Shyforst noticed the orange colored mare working quite hard and felt a twinge of guilt about attempting to steal from her, but shrugged it off. They had to run for a few minutes into the orchard to reach their 'secret base' as Scootaloo put it. Just before they reached it, Apple Bloom slumped down to let the dragon off her back, much to their relief. "Okay, Shyfrost, please stay outside while we, um, prepare," Sweetie Belle exclaimed with all three of the crusaders ascending the ladder. He agreed and slumped down to wait. "You made his cape, Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo beamed to her best friend who brought out an exact copy of their capes in response. "YEP!" "Good! Did you make the banner, Sweetie Belle?" With that the filly brought out a large hoof made banner that was decorated in glitter that spelled out WELCOME TO THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SHYFROST!. "Did you write the speech out, Scootaloo?" Both asked, Scootaloo was busy sifting through a rather long, drawn out parchment that stretched from the base of the club house to the end. "Why did you write so much?" "You two said I should! You said, Scootaloo, this is the first time we have initiated a new member and it's a dragon, so it needs to be a super awesome amazing speech!" Scootaloo wailed at both of them. "Ah, right, well just, don't read all of it or it'll take all day!" Apple Bloom responded sheepishly. "Fine!" "GREAT! Okay, one of you go get him," Sweetie Belle said while lazing back on a chair. "Fine! You use your magic to hang the banner, I'll go get him," Scootaloo said and left the club house. Scootaloo spent the next five minutes stalling Shyfrost outside meanwhile Sweetie Belle was busy using her magic, rather unsuccessfully, to lift the banner up and hang it. Scootaloo grabbed the drake and, in a flash, he was standing in front of three very serious looking fillies. Shyfrost almost gulped but then he realized they all seemed excited and their attempts at acting serious was almost comical. "Shyfrost," Scootaloo started with addressing him,"do you solemnly swear to uphold the values and ideas-" "It's ideals Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said. "Whatever, do you solemnly swear to uphold the values and ideals of the cutie mark crusaders and crusade with us until the day that we all earn our cutie marks and/ or special talents?" Scootaloo made sure to add that last part for Shyfrost's sake, they all knew he could not really get a cutie mark. "Um, yes?" "YAY!" Their scream was loud enough to make the young dragon's ears ring but he was happy. "Alright, let me just get you're cape tied on and we're ready to go!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, unable to hold back her giddiness. She walked over to his back and gently tied the cape around his neck using some of her magic, he looked back and noticed the same emblem as theirs and smiled. "Okay, now that we have that all out of the way, we now need to plan our next crusade!" Scootaloo was now pacing back and forth while the others pondered. "Scootaloo, I thought you said when you got home you were gonna think of ways we can use his frost powers to help us!" "Huh?" Shyfrost was taken aback by this comment. "I tried! But like you both said, "how are dragon frost powers gonna get us our cutie marks"? The answer? I have no idea!" "Well, what do you all usually do to find your purpose?" Shyfrost asked, ignoring the comment about his abilities. "Oh, we have tried literally everything to earn our cutie marks," Apple Bloom said while pondering the idea,"were just out of ideas." The four were then startled upon hearing several knocks at their front door. "Apple Bloom? I brought some snacks for your little crusadin' meetin." The three fillies looked happy to hear that voice but the one dragon did not. Applejack walked into the club house with three bottles of apple juice balanced on her back. She wore a relaxed smile and was pleased to give up some juice to the three fillies. When she noticed Shyfrost just staring at her with a nervous smile, she responded instantly, not being a fan of awkward silence. "YOU! What in tarnation are you doin here?" Applejack said ignoring the three fillies, his smile faltered. She was looking angry and the three other fillies in the room were looking confused. "AJ! Why ya being so rude to our new friend? Shyfrost is the newest Cutie Mark-" Applejack lifted up a hoof to stop her. "So you do have a name! I knew a liar when I see one!" The three fillies and dragon gave each other perplexed looks. "Yeah, I have a name, now. Fluttershy named me, I didn't when, um, we met," he said while twirling his thumbs. The mare nodded, but didn't let up in her aggression. "Ah still caught you tryin' to steal from us," she reminded him, glaring daggers. "Why'd you try to steal from us Shyfrost?" Apple Bloom asked. "I was just doing what I needed to do in order to survive! It was just a couple of apples!" "Just a couple of apples? Let me explain something to you, dragon-" "I have a name, it's Shyfrost!" "Well-" Apple Bloom got in between Shyfrost and Applejack, in order to speak up. "AJ, why are ya bein so hostile to him? I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding. Now Shyfrost are you sorry for trying to steal from us?" "Well...yes, I'm sorry but I only did it because I was literally starving to death," he said defensively. "See, he's apologized. Now you apologize to our friend, big sis!" Applejack said nothing and simply stared down the dragon with eyes filled with agression. She looked over to her sister and then back at her friends, their eyes appeared to be filled with pity. The mare only just realizing her mistake but Apple Bloom spoke up again. "Remember when Zecora came to town? How everypony treated her like somethin to be avoided? I thought you'd of learned your lesson, sis!" "Well..." Applejack froze to think about the situation at hoof, here she was getting angry in front of her little sister and friends and it wasn't even justified,"okay, you are not a liar, Shyfrost." The mare sighed and took a deep breath. "Also, I'm sorry for snapping at ya." "Good, so can we be friends now? I'm getting kind of sick of all the town hating me..." he pointed out, twiddling his claws. Her eyes widened in shock. "We don't hate ya, we-" "Then how come most of the town seems to either ignore me or scowl at me?" The Cutie Mark Crusaders stared down at Shyfrost and then turned their gaze up to Applejack who seemed to wear a nervous smile. "Alright, I guess around these parts folks are not as friendly as we used to be. Least the way I remember it when I was a filly. Ponyville were always friendly to strangers. Over time I guess folks just started becoming distrustful, and you would think after that thing with Zecora that they would be willing to accept another dragon. Anyway, I'm sorry if I've been so cold, Shyfrost. I would like it if we became friends," she finished with a smile. "Okay, fine. I'm glad we can be friends too," he said while extended his right claw which she accepted with a touch. She left in a hurry, promising that she would bring him some juice. "What in the hay was all that about?" Scootaloo asked. "It's a long story, I'll explain later. But I think I may have found out what we can do on our crusade today," he said while digging out his pouch. "YOU DID?!" All three screamed at the same time. "Yeah, have you ever tried to get a cutie mark in research?" "Yeah a dozen times, we've tried research into potions with Zecora, into history, into magic, into pegasus. We have tried to get a cutie mark in research plenty of times, why?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Well, earlier I asked Twilight about my amulet,"he said while showing it off to them,"and she claims it is nothing special, but I think it is... no I know it is. But I don't know where it came from exactly or why it does what it does." "What does it do?" Scootaloo asked while poking it, she noticed the heat radiating from the gem. "Ever since I came here it has been getting warmer and warmer for some reason. And I always felt it gave me strength to, um, do things." He placed it in the center of the clubhouse for all of them to poke and prod. Sweetie Belle attempted to grasp it in her magic but for some reason the gem refused to cooperate despite it's small size. "So you want us to research you're amulet?" "Yep!" He exclaimed proudly. For a second they all paused, outside Shyfrost heard Applejack comming back with the promised juice until she dropped it out of surprise. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER AMULET RESEARCHERS!