The sun was setting by the time Sweetie Belle got home. Rarity was putting the finishing touches on yet another dress but immediately stopped to greet her little sister.
“Hello Sweetie!” Rarity greeted Sweetie with a smile. “Another hard day crusading I take it?”
“Yeah still no luck though, but I did manage to move a rock a full five meters with my magic!”
“Oh wow!” Rarity cheered. “That’s great Sweetie, I told you that your magic would get better soon.”
“Yeah, Midnight helped a lot; he’s definitely going to get his cutie mark for magic someday,” Sweetie Belle said as she sat down on some cushions.
“That’s the new colt that joined the school a few months back right? Good at magic I take it?”
“Yeah he was so super amazing. Applebloom said we shouldn’t bother inviting him to the Crusaders since it was clear what his talent is. But I said it would be mean not to! It would be really good to have a boy Crusader around,” the filly finished coyly.
“Oh my! The first potential male Cutie Mark Crusader and my sister is begging for him to join? Is he cute?” mocked Rarity with a wink.
“NO!” Sweetie Belle yelped, blushing furiously. She then giggled. “Well…maybe a little.” But her face drooped slightly before she continued, “Thing is though Cheerilee told us he has some mental health difficulties, and he is kinda odd. He got really weird and started babbling all kinds of things at Diamond Tiara the other day. It was kinda scary, he looked so angry… and then he just gave her a weird smile and walked away.”
Rarity smiled as she failed to suppress a small yawn. After declaring the approach of bedtime, the two chatted for a little longer before both heading for their rooms. The last thing Sweetie Belle remembered before falling asleep was that her flank felt tingly.
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“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”
The scream woke Sweetie Belle with a jolt. Wasting no time, she raced out of her bedroom towards the sound. Bolting down the stairs, Sweetie Belle found her sister, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and several ponies she didn’t know standing aghast in front of a mirror. The look on Rarity’s face was one of unimaginable horror. For a moment Sweetie Belle couldn’t see what the situation was; then it hit her like a tonne of snow.
Every single one of the adults was missing their cutie marks.
The group rushed along the road as a meeting was being called at the town hall. Sweetie Belle spotted Scootaloo, Applebloom and Midnight and waved them over.
“Those guys too?!” Scootaloo squeaked buzzing nervously in mid-air. “Do you think it’s just us or has the rest of the world gone blank as well?”
“I hope Twilight or the princesses can sort this out soon, “Applebloom sobbed slightly. “Mah sister spent the entire morning crying and bumping her head into a wall.”
“We shouldn’t go to the meeting.” Midnight said, so quietly that it was barely audible.
“Don’t be silly Midnight. Look, we’re getting left behind.”
The entire populace of the town was crowded around the town hall. Up on the stage, an extremely dishevelled Twilight was trying to produce some order. Eventually she gave up trying to get the ponies’ attention over the confused and frightened babble and motioned to Rainbow Dash. With a nod, Rainbow took in a deep breath and unleashed her powerful voice.
“QUIET!”
The crowd went silent and Twilight started her speech. “Okay, now I know everypony is a little scared and confused. But what it is important to know is that the princesses are working on the situation as we speak. They’re sure to come up with a solution and no-one is in any physical danger from the situation.”
“That’s easy for you say!” A Pegasus yelled from the back. “Most of us can barely fly straight!”
“You Pegasi should be used to that!” a Unicorn retorted. “My brother took his eyebrows off this morning trying to levitate toast!”
Next to Sweetie Belle, Midnight was starting to look genuinely nervous. “We need to go!” He whispered urgently tugging at Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle was inclined to agree as a sudden angry vibe began rippling through the crowd. The Pegasi and the Unicorns were angrily shouting at each other over who was in greater danger from the incident and the crowd was starting to split into their respective species. Twilight was muscling her way through the crowd, yelling exasperatedly for them to stop acting like idiots when a fateful line was yelled by a Unicorn:
“Well maybe you’re right! By the sounds of it, you’re all going to be flying around like Derpy! It really will be the end of the world if you’re all that crap at flying!”
For one endless moment the was a dead silence before;
“YOU MUFFIN HEAD!”
The simmering tension boiled over in an instant. Sweetie Belle shrieked as the crowd around her suddenly exploded like a Jack-in-the-Box. The three species were suddenly at each other’s throats as the crowd descended into a massive free for all. Somepony’s hoof lashed out wildly and connected with Sweetie Belles head. Almost instantly Sweetie Belle’s vision was covered in a black haze and all feeling dropped from her body as she was tossed into the air. For a horrible moment she thought she might be concussed, until she painfully bounced off another pony and was twizzled in mid-air. Flailing wildly, she could see Midnight directly below her.
The instant she had been struck he’d grabbed Sweetie with his magic and was now weaving through the mass of bodies with lightning speed. They were nearing the edge of the crowd when the brawling ponies suddenly closed in tight around them. The jet black colt dropped Sweetie bell and turned his horn against the adults. With a crack and the stink of ozone a wave of kinetic energy blasted out from Midnight; more powerful that Sweetie would have thought possible for a colt of his size. Bodies were thrown apart from each other like ragdolls while the two children raced from the insane fighting. Sweetie Belle turned back to see Rarity and Applejack charge through the wake Midnight had made. Sweetie’s heart did somersaults as she saw that Applebloom and Scootaloo were clinging to the older ponies’ backs.
“Mah word!” Applejack yelled over the cacophony “Thanks for that Midnight! Twilights got some competition!”
Midnight nodded in silent acceptance and levitated Applebloom and Scootaloo off of the mares’ backs. Both had fainted with shock.
“You two take them, and any other kids you find somewhere safe!” Rarity ordered, looking back at the rioting mob. “We’re going to help Twilight with riot control.”
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It was dark when Sweetie Belle woke up; she had passed out shortly after they’d arrived at the tree house headquarters of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Hearing the crackling of fire, she dizzily stumbled outside to see Midnight, Applebloom, Scootaloo and an extremely dejected-looking Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sitting around a camp fire.
“Hey sleepy head! It’s about time you woke up. We were the ones with concussions!” Applebloom called as Sweetie Belle descended. “Grab a cushion, we were about to start toasting marshmallows.”
“Better do mine for me.” Sweetie Belle smiled, plopping herself down between Scootaloo and Midnight. “Cooking and I definitely don’t get on.”
“Marshmallows?” spat Diamond Tiara caustically. “The worlds gone upside-down and you want to have a little campfire party?”
“Err....” Applebloom contemplated, “Well the fires already going...sooooo.....yeah! We’re hungry anyway.”
Diamond Tiara looked like she was about to throttle Applebloom but was restrained by Silver Spoon.
“Its fine to be a little mad,” Midnight spoke in his usual soft voice, kicking a hoof shyly. “You two had your marks so this is doubly rough. You all saw what happened to the adults; so if you want to blow off a little steam then feel free to go punch a tree or something.” Diamond Tiara grimaced at Midnight who squeaked and hid behind Sweetie Belle. With everyone staring harshly at her Diamond Tiara let out an exasperated sigh and apologised to Midnight before stalking back up to the tree house.
“So why did everyone suddenly freak out back in town?” Scootaloo wondered, skewering a marshmallow. “That escalated like crazy.”
“It was helplessness.” Midnight continued, his voice suddenly more projected and assured that usual. “A cutie mark is an expression of who a pony is and what their purpose in life is. With their mark gone it’s like someone’s just wiped away their purpose, ripped out a chunk of their soul. They are suddenly lost upstream with a paddle that just spontaneously combusted.”
“Cutie marks have been around since before forever,” Scootaloo commented. “Must’ve taken one powerful piece of magic to get rid of them.”
“Exactly!” Midnight agreed, jumping to his feet. “They felt like they were in danger. The potential threat sent the primitive bits of their brains into a frenzy. After that it was only natural that their pack instincts kicked in. I did say we shouldn’t have gone to the meeting. That was a powder keg waiting to explode. But if how I think this will go is.....”
Suddenly Midnight realized how much he had been talking, panicked and sat down breathing heavily. He didn’t like being the centre of attention. Sweetie Belle pulled him into a hug and stuttered out a finish. “Err...yeah....they should have g-g-gotten it out of their systems by tomorrow.”
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It was the middle of the night when Midnight announced he was going to scout out whether it was safe in town. “Need to know how long we’re gonna have to stay out here,” he explained.
“You want us to come with you?” Scootaloo asked nervously; they had seen some smoke rising in the distance a while ago which raised serious questions about the sanity of the residents. Midnight said nothing and backed himself slowly into the bushes. Within moments his jet black coat and mane had melted into the shadows.
“I blend in better.” His voice emanated from the dark.
“Well...good luck then.”
There was a crackle of twigs as Midnight moved off. Sweetie Belle rushed after him. With a cry of “Wait!” she bumped into him and twisted him around to face her. “Sorry, it’s just that I never thanked you for saving me back in town. I don’t know what might have happened if you hadn’t grabbed me as quickly as you did.”
“Oh....err......ahhh...it was no problem...I just...err...anyone would have....” Midnight stared at his feet, embarrassed.
“Well I thought it was a very brave thing to do.” Sweetie Belle leaned forward and kissed Midnight on the cheek before blushing profusely and running back to the campfire. Midnight stood dazed for a second then, grinning like an idiot, slid off like a shadow through the night.