//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Cutie Mark Crusaders In: The Quest for the Cutie Crystal // by SunshineSprite //------------------------------// The Cutie Mark Crusaders in: The Quest for the Cutie Crystal It was wonderful day in Ponyville. Birds were singing, ponies were prancing, and it was just so fantabulous. At least, for almost everypony. Sweetie Belle, one of the 3 Crusaders, was on her way to their clubhouse in Sweet Apples Acres, home to the Apple family. This family consisted of Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Applejack, and last but not least, sweet little Apple Bloom, the leader of the Crusaders. Granny was her grandmother, Big Mac and AJ were her older brother and sister, and she was the youngest. “Shoot! If I don’t hurry, I’m going to miss the Cutie Mark Crusaders meeting!” Sweetie Belle ran as fast as she could, for this meeting wasn’t like any other. Usually, it was about plans on how the Crusaders could get their cutie marks, special symbols that represent who they are. But for some reason, they don’t get it. They can’t figure out their true identities and earn their cutie marks. Usually, a filly or colt gets their mark by discovering their special talent. But the Crusaders are too impatient. What they don’t realize is that their talents are shown quite a bit, except they don’t realize it. Apple Bloom can build stuff with ease, Sweetie Belle can sing so well that she can form a gospel, and Scootaloo can perform amazing stunts. Unfortunately, there was one thing: she can’t fly well yet, nor can Sweetie use her horn to use magic, for Scoot is a Pegasus and Sweetie is a Unicorn (and yet Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake can do those things even though they are babies). Apple Bloom is an Earth pony, so she can’t do either of those things. Because the three of them all have the same objective, they became a group, and thus the Cutie Mark Crusaders were born. The little white Unicorn hurried through the apple trees and up the stairs into the treehouse. This treehouse was very special, since Applejack used to own it and gave it to Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom fixed it up so that it was brand new again and could be used to the Crusaders’ liking. Just as Sweetie entered, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom hurried over to her. They immediately started throwing questions out. “Where have you been, Sweetie!? Apple and I’ve been waiting for, like, ever, waiting for you to show up.” The little orange Pegasus filly had her purple eyes all in the white Unicorn filly’s green eyes. “Hey now, Scoot. Don’t go an’ be a rainin’ on her parade. Don’tcha have any manners?” The yellow Earth pony blinked her pretty light amber eyes at the orange Pegasus. “Sorry everypony, I’m not trying to be late on purpose, but I had to help Rarity. You know how my sister is when it comes to fashion. Oooueeh.” Unfortunately, poor Sweetie was stuck in another one of Rarity’s “fashion shows”, where she picks a “victim” to show off her newly made clothes to see if she likes them. Rarity knew fashion like nopony’s business. Sweetie shivered as she reminisced about seeing herself in ridiculously large hats and clothes. “Alright then, Crusaders. Let’sa gits down ta business.” Apple Bloom stood in the middle of the room and stood on her two back hooves, as if standing as a leader. Within a few minutes, the Crusaders were talking about the event that brought them here: the Cutie Crystal Festival. This festival wasn’t like any festival ever held in Ponyville. It was about a very rare item called the Cutie Crystal. It was said to be able to tell you when and how you could get your cutie mark. It also could be used to send darkness seeking for mercy. But this item has not yet been proven real, so therefore it is considered a myth. But the Crusaders have been researching it for a quite a while now, beings that it can help them do one thing: get their cutie marks. The three silly fillies started brainstorming ideas. Some were plans about skydiving, skating, and kite flying. But none of which they wanted to do. Then Apple Bloom got an idea. “Cutie Mark Crusader Painters!” Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom with confused looks. “What?” the two fillies said at the same time. Apple Bloom turned to her fellow Crusaders. “Why, we can go an’ start a paintin’ business. We could, uh, um… Oh! Paint ponies and flowers and stuff! But, we’ll need some help. That’s where the Cutie Crystal comes in. If we find it, then we can use it to git our cutie marks.” Apple Bloom was pleased with herself. Sweetie Belle then pointed out, “But how are we going to get paint, Apple Bloom? And also, what if the Crystal doesn’t exist? And what if we do find it, it can’t help us? And what if our sisters find out? What if we get into trouble, like any other time? And also, that plan doesn’t make much sense. Especially with so many what ifs.” That was when her heart sank. Apple Bloom didn’t know where to get paint. And also, what if the Cutie Crystal was just a myth? Scootaloo started tapping her hoof on her chin. “Hmm, what can we do about getting paint?” She sat and thought, but to no avail. She was stumped. Sweetie looked puzzled. “Don’t worry, Crusaders! I’m sure that we’ll thank of somethin’. Come on, let’sa go and get some fresh air.” Apple Bloom got up and bounced out the front door. Scoot and Sweetie followed close behind. Later that day… Apple Bloom and her friends had left their treehouse to go and find some ways to get their cutie marks. That was when they heard about what they were looking for. “Step right up, everypony!” It was the mayor of Ponyville. “Well, I wonder what kind of emergency it is this time, for I have much work to do.” It was Sweetie’s older sister Rarity, the proud fashionista and owner of Carousel Boutique. “Hey, sis!” Sweetie ran up to the formal white Unicorn. Her wavy dark lavender curly mane whipped around her head as she spotted her younger Unicorn filly sister. “Why hello there, Sweetie Belle! Have you not heard of the great news from the mayor today? There have been confirmed evidences of the Cutie Crystal.” Sweetie’s eyes grew wide and her mouth formed a grin from ear to ear. She bounced up and down happily, her light purple and pink curly mane swinging about. “Well, judging from your overactive excitement, I’m guessing that you have?” Rarity was nodding her head up and down, trying to keep up with her sister’s bouncing. “Yeah! Yay! I’m so excited!” Rarity then tensed up. “Sweetie! Stop that bouncing, for you’re giving me a headache faster than Pinkie Pie when she’s rambling on about whatever.” “Sorry Rarity.” Sweetie stopped her bouncing. “Well I’ll be, if it ain’t Rarity and Sweetie Belle.” Apple Bloom’s older sister Applejack trotted up to the two Unicorn sisters. “Oh hello, Applejack. How are you on this fine morning? You know, our sisters and their friend,” Rarity turned to Sweetie Belle, “have been researching that Cutie Crystal for a while now.” Sweetie jumped up in response. “Yeah, we’ve wanted to find it so that we can get our cutie marks.” Applejack looked at the little filly with a worried expression. “Now Sweetie, ye know that y’all can’t just go off a findin’ the Crystal by yerselves. It’s way too dangerous for little fillies like you to try somethin’ like that, ya know.” Sweetie then nodded and looked down at her hooves. Tears started up in her eyes. Applejack then gave a comforting pat on the little Unicorn’s head. Sweetie looked up and smiled, AJ smiling back in response. “Don’t worry, I’m sure that ye can find it. But ye might wanna wait a little longer.” Apple Bloom then trotted up to her sister. “Hey, Applejack! Guess what? I found out about more research about the Cutie Crystal. Wanna hear about it?” “Hang on now, ye silly filly. The mayor’s gonna announce what the entire hubbub’s all about.” The mayor perched herself on the top of a platform, staring down at everypony. “Alright everypony. Now I have some very exciting news. The Pegasi of Cloudsdale have confirmed that the Cutie Crystal does indeed exist!” You bet that everypony in Ponyville cheered and bounced up and down, or well, almost everypony. Derpy was bouncing down and up, and whooped and cheered all the same, except backwards. She was quite the wall-eyed pony. But everypony still loved her. “Apple Bloom, don’t stare.” Applejack had scolded her sister for staring at Derpy. “Ya know that’s rude. Derpy’s just… special.” Derpy was special. Now her original name was Ditzy Doo, but one day, somepony said that she had derped up eyes. And so, she then went by with Derpy. Her last name is Hooves just because she has hooves, like everypony else. Apple Bloom apologized and paid her attention to the mayor. Her teacher, Miss Cheerilee, then showed up. Derpy had given her a nasty glare. Cheerilee gave a confused look in response. (To understand why, read Crimson Bubbles, a story that me and my friend are creating, or may have done by the time this story is finished. You should be able to find it on Fanfiction.net). Sweetie Belle was finally calm when the Crusaders’ worst enemies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, showed up. Sweetie took cover behind Rarity. The two snobs walked on by, completely ignoring Sweetie, for they hadn’t seen her. Sweetie gave a sigh of relief. The mayor turned around to see the Wonderbolts, the most experienced fliers in all of Equestria. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo’s hero, was there too. The Pegasi then came over to the mayor and explained their findings. “We, the Wonderbolts, and Rainbow Dash, another one of the fastest fliers in all of Equestria, have searched far and wide for this wonderful majesty, known only as the Cutie Crystal,” the leader of the Wonderbolts said. Everypony quietly waited for the Pegasus to continue. “Me and the Wonderbolts found this by the farthest part of Equestria, right on the border.” The rainbow-maned, rose-eyed, blue Pegasus put up one hoof, and perched upon it was a small piece of a rainbow-colored crystal. It must have been a piece of the Crystal itself! Everypony cheered loud and proud. “My little ponies! Let us give them good luck in finding more of the Crystal!” the mayor shouted. Cheers could be heard all over Equestria. The Crusaders smiled and yelled and cheered more than anypony. “Wow! I can’t wait for Rainbow Dash to find more of the Crystal,” Scootaloo said excitedly. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded and ran up to the mayor. “Are they really going to find more of the Crystal? Huh?” Sweetie was bouncing and prancing with excitement. “Yes, my dear, yes. The Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash are doing all they can to find more of the Crystal.” The Crusaders were excited and ran off into town to find Twilight Sparkle, for she was one of the smartest when it came to history. A shadowy figure watched intently as the three fillies rushed off to wherever they needed to. “So, those three plan on using the Crystal? Ha! Don’t make me laugh! Everypony knows that I am the only one who should use it. And I know just how. Now I can finally get my revenge, and get the respect that I deserve. Mwahahahahahaha!!!!!!” As she looked on, Aria knew exactly how to get revenge. Aria was going to have a party later. And Princess Cadence was going to be the guest of honor, and possibly Princess Celestia and Princess Luna… Aria smiled evilly and gruesomely as she disappeared into the darkness…