//------------------------------// // Ping-Pong Opinions // Story: Cutie Scars: Darker Marks // by shifter_goddess //------------------------------// The other ponies stared. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had horrified looks on their faces. Twilight concentrated blankly at a point to the left of Rarity's shoulder, the wheels in her mind clearly spinning, although it seemed she had forgotten how to speak for a moment. Fluttershy had let out a barely-audible gasp when Rarity shouted, and Pinkie Pie was giving her white colored friend a speculative stare, head tilted to the side - worried and contemplative all at once. It was Sweetie Bell who broke the silence, shaking off Rarity's hooves - clearly her grip had slackened since her outburst. "Can - can we do that?", she whispered, wide eyes going from her sister to Twilight, who rubbed at a temple as she let out a sigh. "I don't know. I've never heard of anything like it... And frankly, Sweetie Bell, I don't know why you'd want to!", the purple mare exclaimed, hoping her tone hadn't come across as too condescending to the filly as it went from hushed speculation to incredulity. "You finally got your Cutie Mark, you found your special talent..." Her eyes turned sympathetic. "Don't tell me you want to hide it from your friends?" "N-no! Well, I mean - kinda.", the pony admitted, confused. Her eyes darted towards Applejack. "It's just that there's me and Scootaloo both getting our Cutie Marks, and then Apple Bloom still doesn't have one - it just kinda seems unfair." Applejacks' jaw dropped, and she stood on four hooves once more, confused herself, now, and a bit incensed on her siblings' behalf. "What'd y' mean, Apple Bloom don't have one? 'Course she does! She got it that day I took ya'll hunting!" Sweetie Bell jumped to her hooves at this revelation, with Rarity swiftly moving herself out of harms way, moving slightly to stand behind a less-cowering-than-one-would-expect Fluttershy. "She did? What was it? Oh, I bet it was --", the bright-eyed filly gushed, tail flicking in excitement for her friend. "Ah can't tell ya." Applejack interrupted, apologetic but firm. The fillys' jaw dropped. "Wha- what? Doesn't she know what it is? Or - or is it like Scoots? Hers was kinda vague, till we thought about it a bit..." She trailed off, a shade of hope that was almost painful painting itself across her rounded face. "No, she knows what it is. An' so do Ah, Sweetie Bell, but she tol' me not to tell you or Scootaloo." Applejack paused, then continued, tone gentle. "Now, Ah don't know if she'd want me to tell you this, but Ah think she's afeared you two won't like her nomore when you see it." Sweetie Bell stamped a front hoof on the floor. "That's ridiculous! She's our friend, we'd never not wanna be friends with her! Why's she being so - so dumb!?" Rarity's voice was as gentle as the comforting hoof that wrapped around her shoulders as she spoke. "I think you know why." -------------------------------- The orange and white colored duo met up heading to the tree house. They both stared, and a cloud drifted by without comment before either made a move. "You told your sister?", Scootaloo asked, turning as if she were going to go down the road they had met on. "Yeah.", replied a morose Sweetie Bell, a heavy sigh shaking her mane as she drew parallel to her friend. "She didn't take it very well." The orange pegasi winced in sympathy. "Well, I have a plan to cheer you and Applebloom up! See, first we we gotta..." -------------------------------- "Her Cutie Mark is a crossbow!?", shouted Rainbow Dash. Her jaw might have touched the floor, if she hadn't been flapping at least three hoofbreadths off the floor. It was hard to tell, even for her close friends, if she was merely surprised, shocked, or jealous. She was definitely not scandalized as Rarity was, who was hanging off of Twilight's foreleg. "M-my sister's C-Cutie Mark is a crossbowwwwww!", she wailed, and looked to be on the edge of sobbing until Applejack pulled her off of Twilight, who heaved out a sigh and nodded in appreciation. “It’s a crossbow?”, repeated Fluttershy, sounding oddly curious. The other five ponies turned to look at her, and Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in a silent ‘get on with it’ gesture. “Well, it’s just that - I knew somepony who had a Cutie Mark like that once…”, the yellow mare said, her already quiet voice wasting away to a whisper as she finished her sentence. This was probably not helped at all by Rarity very nearly pouncing on the shy Pegasus. “What!?”, she breathed, eyes shining. “You mean there are other ponies like her? Oh, thank Celestia! We can fix it!” Fluttershy squeaked, and pushed the edges of her front hooves together. Now Applejack spoke up, startling both of them. “Ah don’t see why you’d wanna change your sister at all.”, the Earth pony said, tone cold. “She’s yer sister, an’ you wanna go an’ change her destiny for her!?” Rarity gaped, shocked and hurt at the clear anger in her solid friends‘ voice. Pinkie Pie came to a halt next to the white unicorn, half-stepping between her and Applejack. “She wants to protect her, Applejack. But I still think we should throw a part for her real Cutie Mark, though…”, the pink party pony protested, eyes widening as she pouted at her unicorn friend. “I - you agree with Applejack, Pinkie? Truly?”, Rarity asked, wilting. The mare, unusually solemn, nodded. “Sweetie Bell shouldn’t try to change it, or get it changed, unless she wants to, Rarity! It’s her destiny, and nopony else can change it for her. Only a silly filly would think that!”, she giggled. Rarity grimaced and traded looks with Twilight - who was making a similar expression, clearly remembering the disastrous time their group had all switched Cutie Marks. It had been awful, even if it was accidental. “I - I suppose you’re right.” She shot an apologetic look at Applejack. “I shouldn't try to change her, no matter what she ends up doing. I should simply offer support and guidance, like any good older sister.” Applejack blushed faintly at the compliment, but nodded. Then three familiar fillies burst through the door, ruining the moment of silence as the door slammed shut behind them again. “Didja think of anything while I was gone?”, panted Sweetie Bell. She, flanked to the left and right by Applebloom and Scootaloo, were all sweating - and all three wore cloaks. Rarity traded significant looks with Applejack and Pinkie Pie, moving standing on all four hooves again as she straightened her mane out a little. “Actually, my dear, we - ah, that is, I think you do whatever you want with it. I’m sorry I was so rude before, Sweetie Bell - that was awful of me, and --” “I want to change it! We all do!”, interrupted the pale filly, throwing off her cloak in a flurry of fabric. The crossbow Cutie Mark stood out on her equally pale flank, the dark brown wood and black metal and arrow only highlighted by the flick of her tail. Like her friend, Scootaloo’s Cutie Mark was dark, and no less distinct for all that it was a blotch. The red Mark clashed with her orange coat, normally just a blank canvas. Everyone - aside from the other Crusaders, and Applejack, who had seen it already - stared. Much like her friend, Scootaloo had dropped her cloak to the ground as well when the trio had come through the door. “She’s right, all three of us want to change ‘em! Can’t you do anything, Twilight?”, the small Pegasus pleaded. “You’re the most magic-y pony we know!” The purple unicorn in question looked startled. Rarity was picking her jaw off the floor, and Rainbow Dash had landed on the floor behind her with a solid thwack! after the three made their announcement. Applejack, standing to the left of a curious Pinkie Pie and a wilting Fluttershy, was staring at her sister. “Well, I - I don’t think I can, girls.”, Twilight admitted. “I've never heard of anypony changing their Cutie Mark - and if they try to change somepony elses, it never ended well. Even if I could find an otherwise harmless spell, I don‘t think I have enough power to use it.”, the reluctant unicorn added. “The spells I heard of take amazing amounts of magical strength, and the curses take even more…” “Um.” Fluttershy cut in, hiding partially behind her pastel-pink mane. “That pony I knew who wanted to change his Cutie Mark…” “Go on, Fluttershy.”, Twilight prompted, as all eyes turned to the shy Pegasus. “What happened?” “Well, he went to Celestia.”, she confided. There was a heavy beat of silence. “And then he got it changed into a duck!?”, Pinkie Pie gasped. Rainbow Dash groaned, hoof meeting her face. “Erm, no.”, Fluttershy negated, shaking her head. “Then what did happen, dear?”, Rarity lead, a tinge of impatience in her voice. “I, um, I haven’t actually talked with him since he went to see her…” The silence now was sharp. Applejack had paled, and the trio at the door looked wary, worried. “You mean he - he…?”, Applebloom trailed off. Fluttershy gasped, shrinking, as she figured out what they had assumed. “Oh, no! Nonono, I just haven’t seen him lately! He’s written me letters and everything since then. Um, sorry.” As everypony sighed in relief, Rainbow Dash leaned in, a wicked grin on her maw. “Sooo, this stallion you know - he your special somepony?”, the blue pegasi teased. Fluttershy turned a bright red. “No! He’s my brother!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew wide as she tried to cover for her mistake - even as every other pony startled grinning, then laughing. Eventually, even Fluttershy giggled, and Rainbow laughed a little herself. “Aw, I’m sorry Fluttershy, I didn't know.” Rainbow Dash paused. “I didn't even know you had a brother!”, she added, sounding wounded. “Nor did I!”, agreed Rarity. The others nodded in agreement, looking puzzled. Fluttershy frowned. “I didn’t either until recently. I’d never keep something so important from you! Or from any of my friends.”, she assured them. “Ah’m glad you got some new family, Fluttershy, but did your brother ever get his Cutie Mark changed?”, pressed Applebloom. She moved forward into the room, Sweetie Bell going to nuzzle Rarity for comfort as Scootaloo gravitated towards a staring Rainbow Dash. “He never mentioned it. When I asked, he avoided the question.”, the yellow Pegasus admitted. Rarity cast an eye to her sister, then to her friends. “Well then. Do you know where he lives, Fluttershy? I think it’s time we took a trip.”