Cutie Mark Crusaders Manehattan Division

by FlitterCCmod


Marching to the Beat of Their Own Drums

Rain Drummer lived almost on the opposite side of the wealth line from High Life. While she was loathe to bring it up in front of her friends, she and her parents were often disheartened by their lack of money.
She walked into a small apartment in the downtown of Manehattan, where she immediately smelled soup cooking on the stove. She ran into the room to find her mother, a pegasus named Cloud Crackle.
"Hi, mom," Rain greeted, as she threw her saddlebags to the floor by the kitchen door.
"Hello, Rain. How was school? You aren't still getting picked on, I hope," Cloud replied.
"It was fine today. Ruby helped me out," Rain said. "But, I mean, that meeting is still on, I hope. I don't want to keep him busy forever."
"Ruby... Ruby Shiner? The big colt in the grade above you?" Cloud asked, frowning. "Rain, I hope he's not-"
"No, mom, nothing like that. Well, I mean, if it did come to a fight, I expect he'd smash High Jumper and Kickball into the ground, but he's just watching my back. We're not looking for fights," Rain assured. "So, when's dad coming home?"
"Oh... I'm afraid he'll be working overtime again," Cloud said.
"Again?" Rain asked. "He's not working on the weekend this week, though, right?"
"No, not this week," Cloud said. "We'll talk more at dinner, alright? You need to go wash up. You look like you ran through a puddle of mud."
"Only a small one..." Rain muttered, as she turned around and walked to their bathroom.
About 20 minutes later, Rain was taking her seat at the dinner table. It had a grand total of three seats, which was enough for the entire family. She looked into her bowl, seeing a thin potato soup. It wasn't her favorite meal by a long shot, but she'd long ago just given up whining about her meals.
"So, what did you do with your friends today?" Cloud asked.
"We played in the park, like every day. Well, except for the days when we're getting outrCutie Marks. Oh, yeah, and we got another letter from Babs' cousin. She and her friends want to meet us here in the city," Rain said.
"Really? What are their names again?" Cloud asked.
"Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Babs always says they're really cool and clever. They nearly managed to throw her into a river with a booby-trapped parade float." Rain grinned, but it fell when she saw her mother's worried face. "Um, but that was just because they were out for revenge." Her mother only kept her expression. "I don't really know how to explain this very well."
"You're sure these ponies are the type to be friends with?" Cloud asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. They apologized for the whole parade float thing after saving Babs from it, and they even started the Cutie Mark Crusaders," Rain explained.
"I see..." Cloud sounded unconvinced. "Well, as long as nothing like that happens here. No funny business. Now eat your food. I bought some ice cream for dessert."
----------
Rain lived only about 10 minutes' walk from her school. It was a fairly large public school, and it took her a few minutes before she found the red coat and mane that identified Ruby Shiner. Since they went to the same school and were both blank flanks, they'd actually gotten along fairly well even before the Cutie Mark Crusaders came about. In fact, he was the one who invited her to join in the first place. The many kindnesses he had shown her left her feeling indebted quite often.
"Hey dere, Rain," Ruby greeted, walking over to the filly. "How ah ya' doin'?"
"I'm doing fine, thanks," Rain aswered, smiling at the larger colt. "So, where are they?"
"Jumpy and his pal? Heck if ah know. Long 's they're not botherin' us, dey can't be causin' too much trouble. Only blank flanks in da school," Ruby said, shrugging. "C'mon, let's get ya' ta class."
He escorted her through the hallways of the school, and stopped at the music room. It was her first class in the mornings, which at least started her day out with something she enjoyed. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay with her considering their age difference, so her gently patted her back before heading off.
She walked into the classroom, and immediately took a seat in front of a grand piano. She'd never quite figured out how such things were played. They had such tiny little keys, but the Earth-ponies all seemed to manage them pretty well.
After a few minutes, the teacher, Ms. Melody, walked in on the full class, and they began to go over notes and chords. The class, while it had a strict timetable, was more relaxed once they got to playing their music. Ms. Melody didn't mind the trading of instruments, which after a while of struggling with keys Rain eventually decided to do. She swapped with a classmate for a set of bongos. Fitting to her name, drums and similar instruments were her favorites.
"Hm... maybe I could convince the others to try a band for our Cutie Marks..." she thought to herself, while unconsciously beating out the rythm from the sheet in front of her. "I think Cakes said she could sing once... Better suggest that next week."
By the time class ended, she had been lost in her own thoughts for so long that she hadn't even noticed the others had stopped playing. Ms. Melody had to call out her name to shake her out of her reverie. She blushed, and stopped playing to gather up her things. She walked out, and found Ruby already waiting for her.
"One class down. Five ta go," he said.
----------
The two made their trek together to the park, and found Babs and Sea Pearl waiting for them. it wasn't surprising, since the fearless leaders of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were also the ones who lived closest to the park. Sea Pearl, in fact, went to school in the sky, so it was merely a quick downward trip for her.
"Hey dere, Babs. Hey dere, Pearl," Ruby greeted. "Just so ya' know, Babs, mah pa is fine wit us playin' at da junction."
"I figured he would be," Babs replied. "I've got paper and a quill with me, so we can go ahead and write the letter when the others get here."
"Ah swear, ya've gotta be takin' lessons from High Life when we're not listenin'. Ya' get more and more proper every time I hear ya'," Ruby laughed.
"Um, well, no, but ah've - I've - been tryin' ta sound more like a leader," Babs answered, smiling weakly. "It's actually Pearl I'm listenin' to."
"I'm not teaching him, though. I get enough of school at school," Pearl added.
"Babs, you know you don't have to change just to act like a leader," Rain said. "You were born one."
Babs blushed at the compliment, visible even on her orange coat. Before she could reply, though, Sweet Cakes and Holly Day both showed up, with both of their horns glowing brightly and a large box suspended between their auras. The group stared at each other for a moment, before Ruby walked over to help by suspending the box on his back. When they reached the others, they set the box on the ground.
"What's in there?" Pearl asked the unicorns.
"If we wanted ya' to know without High Life here, ya' already would," Holly replied simply.
"Oh, waitin' on da whole party, den," Ruby said, obviously disappointed.
"So, how was magic school?" Babs asked.
"Boring, as always," Holly answered. "I don't think they ever plan on actually showing how to do battle magic, just teaching when to use it. Lot of good that does us..."
"It's just like any self-defense class. You'd think the teaching would be more thorough," Sweet Cakes added. "I probably wouldn't need it, though. I have absolutely no plans of going into the military or anything. I really want to learn teleportation, actually. I could go anywhere and do anything."
"A unicorn's lockpicks," Pearl remarked, smirking.
"Hey, there's High Life!" Pearl suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the approaching colt.
High Life nodded to them as he levitated his cape onto his back. He then took in the sight of the large box, and looked askance of Babs. Babs simply shrugged.
"So, what have you two got for us, now that High Life is here?" Rain asked.
The two unicorn fillies grinned at each other, and simultaneously opened two locks on either side of the wooden frame. A side of the box fell down, revealing a large, shimmering crystal ball. The others all looked at it inquisitively.
"We asked to borrow this from the school for the day!" Cakes announced. "We can try to get our Cutie Marks in fortune-telling today!"
"Aren't crystal balls extremely fragile and expensive? They just let you borrow it?" High Life asked.
"We never said they said yes," Holly answered.
High Life's eyes went wide, and he turned to Babs in alarm. Babs took the initiative, shaking her head and pushing the box closed again. She then looked at the two fillies with an imperious gaze.
"No, no, no. Ya've gotta return this, now," she ordered. "Have ya' forgotten the rules? Rule two: nothin' dangerous or illegal." The fillies frowned, and backed away from Babs cautiously.
"Considerin' the average safety of our ideas, we kinda figured that was an optional rule," Holly said.
"Rule two and a half says nothin' about being crooks," Babs said sternly. "Now take this back and apologize. Ah bet they've already caught on ta what ya've done, anyway. Usin' the ball would just incriminate the whole club when they find out."
"... You're right, Babs. Sorry," Cakes said, hanging her head and locking the box again.
"Ah'm not the one ta apologize to. That would be yer teachers. Now get a move on, both of you," Babs commanded.
The two fillies sadly picked up the box, and carefully held it between their magic auras as they turned back to their school. The remaining four Crusaders all looked at Babs with awe and some trepidation.
"Way ta stick ta yer rules, Babs," Ruby said, the first one to shake himself out of it. He grinned, and walked over to hit Babs' back proudly. The smaller filly suddenly crumpled to the ground from the unexpected pressure, and he backed away quickly. "Whoa, sorry 'bout dat. Ya' ok?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." Babs got back onto her hooves, and shook her cape. "So, um, who wants ta help me write a letter ta the Ponyville branch?"
----------
"Dear Cutie Mark Crusaders Ponyville Division," Applebloom read aloud, with her two friends sitting in front of her on the floor of their clubhouse. Scootaloo gagged at the reading.
"Does your cousin have to make everything sound so boringly formal?" Scootaloo asked.
"Aw, give her a break, Scoots. She lives in the city! Everything's boringly formal over there!" Sweetie Belle answered.
"As I was saying..." Applebloom said, which shut them up. She continued reading. "Ruby Shiner's dad has agreed ta let us meet at the Manehattan north junction, where he works. All of our parents have complied - Scoots, stop gaggin'! - All of our parents have complied ta let ya come over and meet the group. Be sure to bring ideas and supplies for earnin' our Cutie Marks. With all of us together, one of us is bound ta find our talent! We can arrange fer a free weekend in two weeks. Hope ta see ya' then. Yer friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders Manehattan Division. P.S., there's seven of us now."
"Two weeks, eh? We can come up with LOADS of cool stuff to do that weekend!" Scootaloo said, pumping her hoof in the air.
"I wonder what a Cutie Mark in founding a nation-wide club would look like..." Sweetie Belle said.
"It's only two towns, Sweetie," Applebloom pointed out.
"For now," Sweetie Belle replied, smiling."Come on, let's get a piece of paper. We've got to come up with ideas for big city Cutie Mark hunting."
"Starting with bungee-jumping off a skyscraper!" Scootaloo suggested.
"Sounds good ta me! Oh, Ah can't wait! This'll be the best weekend ever!" Applebloom declared, grinning widely.