//------------------------------// // Cutie Marked // Story: A Touch of Chaos // by Written Out //------------------------------// Murmuring slightly, Scootaloo buried her face deeper into her pillow. The world struggled into focus around her, but she was determined to ignore it for a little while longer. After a fun evening with her two best friends in the whole world, they had all fallen asleep together on the large mattress Spike had set up for them. She was a little hungry, but this pillow was just too lovely to abandon. It was so warm and soft and fuzzy and… breathing? Her eyelids cracking open unwillingly, the only thing Scootaloo’s bleary eyes saw was an expanse of white. It took her a few seconds to realize that her nose was buried in Sweetie Belle’s tummy fur. Realizing where she was, a mischievous look appeared in the pegasus’ eyes as she stuck her face deep into the little unicorn’s belly. PBBBBBBBBBBBBBTTTTT!!!! Sweetie Belle woke with a shriek as Scootaloo blew a large raspberry directly onto her stomach. The orange pegasus collapsed with helpless laughter as the white unicorn thrashed, her limbs tangling hopelessly in the bedsheets and blankets. Eventually, realizing she was no longer being assaulted, Sweetie Belle stopped flailing. “Um,” her voice squeaked slightly as she tried and failed to extract herself from the trap of pillows, blankets, and bedsheets. “Little help, please?” Scootaloo just laughed even harder, her hooves pounding against the ground as she fought against the tears that tried to pour out her eyes. Apple Bloom walked past Scootaloo, having been awoke by her friends’ antics, and helped to untangle the sorry-looking filly. Sweetie Belle pounced on the still-laughing pegasus the second she was free, the two getting into a tussle that quickly resolved itself into a giggling pile of filly. Once the scuffle ended with Sweetie Belle pinning Scootaloo to the group, Apple Bloom clapped her hooves together to get their attention. “I was wondering, what do ya two think we should do?” “What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked, hopping off Scootaloo and letting the pegasus climb to her hooves. “Well, I kinda want ta help my sister and them,” Apple Bloom admitted. “They got hurt rescuin’ me from that creature, and I want to do something for them.” “Aww,” Sweetie Belle cooed, pouncing on the yellow earth pony and wrapping her up in a giant overenthusiastic hug. “You’re such a good sister.” “Yick.” Scootaloo stuck her tongue out at the sappiness of the scene playing out before her, but the other two just ignored her. “Anything in particular you want to do, or are we just going to make it up as we go like always?” she asked Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom tapped her hoof against the ground thoughtfully as Sweetie Belle let her go. “Something nice,” she started to explain before Scootaloo cut her off. “That’s helpful,” the orange pony noted sarcastically, rolling her eyes. This got her a well-deserved pillow to the face, but she just smiled unrepentantly. “Well, we’ll just think of something,” Sweetie Belle said, standing between the other two and preventing another scuffle from occurring. Her stomach let out a dainty little rumble and she blushed slightly as the other two giggled. Apple Bloom made her way to the basement steps, her hooves clopping faintly against the wood as she climbed them. “Alright, let’s get somethin’ to eat before Sweetie starts eatin’ the walls or somethin’.” Laughing at Sweetie Belle’s squeak of protest, Apple Bloom pushed open the basement door. A certain dragon turned at the sound of the door squeaking open, and she greeted him with a smile. “Mornin’ Spike. Thanks again for lettin’ us stay the night.” “Don’t worry about it,” Spike demurred, sliding the book he was holding into its place on the shelf. Picking up another book from the pile next to him, he shoved the ladder that was leaning against the bookshelves over a couple feet before climbing it and slotting the book into place. Most of the books had already migrated onto the bookshelf, with only a few small piles were left over. “How did you girls sleep?” “It was great!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly, bouncing past Apple Bloom. “I haven’t had that much fun since the last time we’ve all had a sleepover. Oh, do you need any help cleaning?” she asked him, wilting slightly as she looked around the room and realising what a mess the trio had made the night before. Spike just laughed kindly, slipping another book into place as he deflected the well-intentioned disaster areas. “No thanks. I’m almost done cleaning up here and I’m going to head into town a little later. There’s got to be a least one shop that’s still open. Oh yeah, and Twilight left some salad in the kitchen for you to- WHOA!” The three fillies rushed to the kitchen, bumping the ladder Spike was standing on. Only an instinctual grab for the bookshelves saved him from a plummet to the library floor. A creak from above made him look up, and he saw that a particularly large encyclopedia had been dislodged from its place on the top shelf and was now plummeting towards his head. “Aww…” In the kitchen, the three rambunctious fillies quickly polished off the bowl of salad within seconds before sighing contentedly, hooves clutching their full stomachs. Picking a stray leaf off her cheek, Apple Bloom shoved it into her mouth before looking at the other two. “So, y’all got any ideas?” The others just shook their heads, causing Apple Bloom to sigh in disappointment before relapsing into silence. “Spike might have an idea,” Scootaloo said after a few seconds passed in thoughtful silence. “He’s always spending time with Twilight.” “That’s a good idea.” Apple Bloom climbed off her chair, leading the other two back to the library’s main room. “Hey Spike, d’ya know… Why are you lyin’ on the floor?” Spike gingerly sat up, rubbing his head and glaring at a large book lying on the floor next to him. Thinking that explaining would be too much effort, Spike decided to just go with an easy lie. “It’s a dragon thing,” he said as he lifted the heavy book above his head. Tottering slightly, he slowly and cautiously made his way up the ladder. “So what did you want to ask me?” “Oh yeah,” Apple Bloom said, standing well clear of the ladder. “I wanted to do something nice fer my sisters and her friends. We was wonderin’ if you might have any suggestions.” Finally managing to reach the top of the ladder, Spike dropped the encyclopedia into place with a heavy thud. Gripping the sides of the ladder, he slid back down to the floor. “Something nice for Twilight and the others, huh? All I can think about is that she’s been pretty stressed this past week, ever since that creature first appeared in the Everfree.” He shook his head, sighing as he picked up another book. “Sorry, but unless you can solve some of the problems she’s been dealing with, I don’t have any ideas.” “Darn,” Apple Bloom muttered under her breath. “Ah guess we’ll look around town for something then. But are ya sure y’all don’t need any help?” “Don’t worry about me,” Spike answered, silently hoping the fillies would just leave the library as soon as possible. The company was nice, and Twilight had asked him to take care of them, but keeping them around was just asking for trouble. “Why don’t you go look around town? I’m sure there are lots of ponies that could use some help. Maybe you’ll even get your cutie marks in helping other ponies.” “You really think so?” Sweetie Belle squealed excitedly, her hooves seeming to float off the ground as she bounced in excitement. “But where should we star- Hey! Wait for me!” She sped out the front door, chasing after the other two who had left without waiting for her. Left alone inside the suddenly silent library, Spike sighed in relief as he slid another book into place. That had been dirty, but it worked. Outside, Scootaloo was clipping on her customary purple helmet, one of her rears hooves already resting on her signature scooter. “What kept you?” she asked Sweetie Belle as the white unicorn exited the library. Behind her, Apple Bloom was already hooking their little red wagon to the back of the scooter, her own helmet already firmly on her head. Stomping over, Sweetie Belle grabbed her own helmet and jammed it firmly on her head. “You guys just left me behind,” she pouted, hopping into the back of the scooter. “It’s your fault for being slow,” Scootaloo teased, her forehooves firmly grasping the scooter’s handlebars. Quickly checking it to ensure it was still in good shape – it had been left in the bushes overnight, after all – she grinned in satisfaction at finding that it was none the worse for wear. Glancing over her shoulder as Apple Bloom climbed into the scooter, her little wings started to hum as she prepared for take-off. “Ready?” “Ready,” both passengers answered, clutching the sides of the wagon. The humming increased in volume as the pegasus filly hunched over the handlebars, her gaze focusing directly ahead of her. Without any warning, Scootaloo shot forward, dragging the wagon along behind her. Her wings beating so fast that they appeared blurred to anypony who saw her, she weaved her way through the crowded streets of Ponyville. “So where do you want to start?” she shouted back over the sound of the wind. “Dunno,” Apple Bloom answered, her eyes skimming over the ponies they passed, looking for somepony that they could help. All the ponies they passed looked like they needed help, but Apple Bloom had no idea what she could do for them. As her gaze skipped from pony to pony, they lingered on a cluster surrounding the train station. “Hey, what’s goin’ on over there?” Mayor Mare stamped her hoof, glaring into the compound eyes of the two intelligent changelings standing before her. As she glared at the pair, small differences became apparent that she hadn’t noticed before which allowed her to distinguish between them. The one closer to her who had threatened to burn down the town was leaner than his counterpart, had fangs that were short and stubby, and there was a crack through the chitin that covered one of his legs, like it had been torn off and reattached once before. The other one, who had broadcast his Queen’s unreasonable demands, had eyes that were a deeper shade of green, looked almost as buff as Big Macintosh, and wore a perpetually blank expression in contrast to the contrast grin that plagued his companion’s features. “Your emotions say that you’re not going to back down,” the larger one said simply, pushing his companion aside. His deep voice was flat and toneless, like he really didn’t care about the outcome of this conversation. “That would be unwise of you.” “You come here and demand that we hand over our friends and fellow villagers just to save ourselves,” the Mayor snarled, stepping forward and getting right in the changelings’ faces. “I don’t know how you changelings do things, but we ponies won’t abandon our own so easily.” Cheers of support came from the surrounding crowd, and more than a few chants of “Hear, hear” could be heard. The smaller changeling winced almost imperceptibly, as if what she had said had physically hurt him, but he quickly covered it with a broad smile. “Oh come now, Miss Mare,” he said disarmingly. “It’s not like we’re going to eat them. We just want to hold on to them, you know. To protect them. Keep them from doing anything foolhardy.” The Mayor glared at him, disgust and repulsion spread clear across her features. “I refuse. You can return to Canterlot and tell your Queen that Ponyville will not bow to her. We do not accept her rule, and,” she turned to the ponies surrounding them, raising her voice so that everyone could hear her, “we will await the return of our true rulers, Princesses Celestia and Luna.” She turned back to the changelings, her voice lowering so that is was for their ears only. “And we won’t be the only ones. You can tell that pretender on the throne that nopony will accept her, and we will throw her off if we must.” The larger changeling blinked once, a hint of surprise appearing on his features before vanishing as quickly as it appeared. “You would throw away your lives so easily?” “There are some things worth dying for,” the Mayor answered easily. A twisted smile slid onto her features, which completely failed to touch her eyes. “Now unless you two want to find out whether your Queen is one of those things, I suggest you boys shove off.” The glares being aimed at the changelings gave the truth to her words, and the two nearly collapsed under the sheer force of all the hate being aimed at them. The ability to feel other’s emotions wasn’t always a good thing. Fear they could handle, but this? Not a chance. “…Fine.” The larger changeling said eventually, accepting the inevitable. His companion turned towards him, his mouth opening as he started to argue against leaving the town so easily. His expression remaining completely unchanged, he punched the other changeling squarely in the face, knocking him to the ground. “The mission failed,” he said tonelessly, not seeming to pay attention as all the ponies around him recoiled in sudden fear. “You had said it would work, and it didn’t. We need to report this to the Queen.” “What, you can’t think for yourself?” the other changeling grumbled as he struggled to his hooves, rubbing at the crack that had appeared on the chitin covering his face. Seeing the shocked expression on the Mayor’s face, he smiled gamely at her. “We’ll be out of your mane shortly, ma’am,” he said cheerfully as he walked past her towards the train. “Pity. I had hoped we could be good neighbors. Well then, until we meet again.” The other changeling remained silent, his expressionless eyes staring up at a nearby building. Though nopony present could tell what he was doing, no one really wanted to interrupt him and direct his attention towards them. After what felt like a full minute, he turned and silently disappeared into the train car. The ponies present all let out a small sigh of relief as the door quietly closed behind him. “Did ya see that?” “How could I have missed it? He just punched that other guy! That was awesome!” Unnoticed by any of the other ponies, three little fillies hid in the bushes near the train station, discussing what they had just witnessed. In front of the train itself, Mayor Mare was saying something about how they needed to be strong in these trying times. Or something like that. The fillies weren’t really paying attention, but whatever she was saying seemed to have an effect on the adults as most of them perked up as she continued to talk. Sweetie Belle shuddered, the leaves shivering along her. “That was scary is what it was. I don’t like that big one. He’s scary.” “Yeah, no kidding,” Apple Bloom agreed tugging at her crusader cape as she did so. She was the only one of the trio wearing their cape, and it was getting annoyingly tangled up in the bush branches. “Ah hope we never see him agai-” She was cut off by Scootaloo suddenly shouted and the other two looked at her as she clamped her hooves over her mouth, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry,” Scootaloo said more quietly before removing her hooves, a broad smile spread across her face. “I just got a great idea! We should sneak on that train!” “What.” Her friends said simultaneously, looking at her in disbelief. “It’s perfect,” Scootaloo said eagerly. “We’ll be able to help Rainbow Dash and her friends and everything, and we might even get our cutie marks!” “Yer gonna have to explain that one to me,” Apple Bloom said, She was normally all over any idea to earn their cutie marks, but this sounded dangerous. Even more dangerous than usual. Scootaloo looked at her friends as if she couldn’t believe they didn’t know what she was talking about before frowning slightly as she realized she would indeed have to give a full explanation. “Think about it,” she whispered. “Twilight said when we were at the hospital that the changelings have taken over Canterlot. These ones must have come from there, and that means they’ll be returning back there.” “And you want to go there because…” Sweetie Belle led, still unsure what the pegasus what getting at. Scootaloo’s grin broadened and she leaned in as if she was imparting a great secret. “If we can sneak into Canterlot and get the Elements of Harmony, Rainbow Dash will be able to lead the others to chase the changelings out! We’ll be heroes!” The other two eyes widened as they realized what Scootaloo was talking about. Indeed, if they pulled this off, they would be heroes known throughout Equestria. Applejack and Rarity might worry, but surely they would understand, right? They could stop worrying, and they would be able to fix everything. After all, nothing was impossible for Sweetie Belle’s and Apple Bloom’s big sisters. And a hero cutie would look really cool… After a few minutes passed in silence, the trio simultaneously broke out into giant smiles as they looked at each other. Together, they leapt out of the bush and banged their hooves together, screaming their catchphrase to the nearly-empty train station. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER HEROES! YAY!!!” Spike blinked in disbelief as he saw three very distinct fillies sneak onto the train, rubbing at his eyes in the vain hope he was only imagining things. No such luck. After he had finished cleaning the library up, he had thought to pick up some foodstuffs for his friends that were getting out of the hospital, as well as a few gems for himself. The cloth bags hanging limply from his claws gave a silent testament to the amount he had hoped to purchase. While he was out, he had noticed the scene playing out in front of the train station. He remembered the changelings well, having been at the wedding himself. But these changelings were different than the ones he remembered. Other than the Queen, they had all seemed like empty emotionless drones – dangerous only in large numbers. But for whatever reason, these ones were intelligent. He had to know why. After the Mayor had finished her speech to the surrounding ponies about how they all needed to work together in these tough times, the crowd had quickly scattered. It was like they didn’t want to stay around the changelings any more than they needed to as much as a desire to help all the despairing ponies around town. They might panic at the drop of a hat, but there was no denying that the residents of Ponyville were strong when they needed to be. But that wasn’t Spike’s concern at the moment. He had stayed behind in the empty train station, hoping that he would see something to answer the questions tearing through his mind. Twilight would want to know what was so different about these changelings. What he had seen instead horrified him to the core. “What can I do?” He groaned to himself, clutching his skull, thinking about the three fillies. “Ohh, this is all my fault.” Sure, he had given them the idea to try and find their cutie marks, but sneaking on to a train with changelings on it? What in Equestria were they thinking? “I need…” his mind raced furiously as he tried to think about what he could do. “I need… I need to tell Twilight!” he exclaimed at last. She would be able to get the fillies off the train before it left, and if she couldn’t, well, he tried. Nobody could say he hadn’t done his best. His mind made up, he turned away from the train station towards the road that would lead him to the hospital. As he took his first step, a loud whistle from behind him stopped him in his tracks. Looking back at the train, he saw it slowly come to life, the wheels of the locomotive squealing as pressure was applied on them. Spike turned away from the train, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to block out the piercing whistle. No, it didn’t concern him. He had to tell Twilight what happened. That would make it her problem. As he tried to convince himself, Twilight’s voice from the previous night rose unbidden in his mind. Take care of those three, her voice said. “That doesn’t count,” he argued weakly against the voice as he heard the train start to inch out of the station behind him. “She didn’t know they’d get into this much trouble.” This was too dangerous for him. Twilight and her friends could take care of it. They could save the fillies from whatever trouble they got themselves into. Rarity would be so sad if her sister got hurt… Groaning in defeat, Spike threw the empty cloth bags in the dirt. Quickly turning, he saw that the train was picking up speed and had almost left the station. “Oh no, you don’t.” His little legs pumping wildly, he ran as fast as he could for the departing train. In his haste, he failed to pay attention to the road before him. Accidentally stepping on a small pile of pebbles, one of his feet shot out from under him, dropping him heavily on his stomach. Dazed by the impact, Spike unsteadily climbed to his feet. His scales were covered in tiny scratches from all the rocks, but he didn’t have time to pay attention to it. The steam whistle screamed again, and Spike focused on the piercing sound as his world narrowed to only the departing train before him. His heart felt like it was pounding in his throat as he ran, and he slowly closed the distance between him and the train before it could pick up any real speed. The rest of the world vanished in a haze of white, he stretching out his claw, reaching for the departing train. Barely managing to grasp the edge of the little platform on the back of the final car before it sped up faster than he could run, he heaved his torso onto the smooth metal. His legs and tail hung out into the open air, scraping at the speeding ground beneath him, before he managed to haul his hindquarters onto the platform with him. Lying on his back and gasping for air, he stared forlornly at the rapidly shrinking sight of Ponyville behind him. “I just know I’m going to regret this,” he groaned. Unknown to Spike, his departure hadn’t gone fully unnoticed. One mare had remained at the edges of the train station, shock pinning her to the ground. Those were changelings. Those were undeniably changelings. When they were untransformed, their appearance was unmistakable. If they were here, it meant that she couldn’t be too far away. The one the mare had been searching for. Finally, after all these years, the mare’s quest was approaching its end. Several minutes passed in silence as the mare stared in silence at the spot the train had just vacated, not fully believing what she had just seen. She had thought she would never find a lead. All the years of long searching had taken their toll on her, and she had eventually given up, deciding to make a new life here in this town. And just like this, a lead had fallen right at her doorstep. Her stalled mind eventually realised what she had witnessed, and the frozen gears in her brain kicked into full gear. She had been in such shock that she hadn’t even realized what was happening in front of her. Now, because of her failings, four young innocents were heading into danger. She shook her head, disgusted in herself, her large hoop earrings swinging freely through the air by her head. Making up her mind, she turned and began trotting away from the train station, her muzzle pointed directly at her destination. The wind blew through her mohawk, causing it to rustle slightly while the evening sunlight threw her fur in stark relief, making it appear at a casual glance that a series of stripes were walking down the road. Most of the ponies who saw her gave her a casual greeting, which she responded to in kind. It was a little strange for them to see Zecora heading towards the hospital, but a lot of weird things were happening today.