Cutie Mark Crusader Curtain Callers
Another Saturday came and Starburst was to meet his friends at Applejack’s farm. “So Starburst, why is it Applejack wanted you and your friends to meet with her at her farm?” Nova asked. They were in their house finishing up breakfast, a meal of snorbler fruit.
“I don’t know, she said something about having something to show us.”
“Well then, lets finish up breakfast and you can get going.”
“Ok……..wait, me get going, you’re not coming with me?”
“If you want me too, but I think you’ve shown lately that your mature enough to go around town by yourself, just be careful and don’t talk to any strange ponies.”
“Really, thanks Nova!” Starburst gave a big hug to Nova. “I promise I’ll be real careful.”
Nova smiled back. “I know you will. You run along now and have fun, just remember, don’t be using your magic in public, the unicorns around your age can’t normally use magic here so just remember that.”
“You bet Nova, I’ll be extra careful. Thanks again big brother, I’ll see you later!” Starburst then grabbed his holo-emitter and put it on, then ran out the door at such a speed.
Nova couldn’t help but smile. “That little brother of mine.”
A little later on, Starburst reached Sweet Apple Acres and greeted his three friends who were gathered in front of Apple Bloom’s house. “Hey girls.”
“Hey Starburst.” They said together.
“So what’s this thing Applejack want’s to show us?”
“Beats me, I don’t have any idea.” Apple Bloom answered.
Applejack soon came around and greeted them. “Howdy ya’ll, you ready to see what I got in store fer ya.”
“I guess so.” Scootaloo responded with little enthusiasm.
“All right then, follow me.” Applejack started leading the four little ponies away. Starburst was the only one with a smile on his face as they started walking. Apple Bloom walked behind Applejack with Scootaloo behind, followed by Sweetie Belle, then Starburst bringing up the rear.
His enthusiasm soon died down as they walked, for they had been walking far too long to Starburst’s taste. “Where are you taking us?” Apple Bloom asked.
“We’re almost there youngins.” Applejack responded.
“I’ve never been here before.” Sweetie Belle commented.
Applejack used her head to push a leaf up and out of the way. Apple Bloom just pushed it until she got by and it sprung back, hitting Scootaloo in the face. “OUCH!”
Apple Bloom came back and lifted the leaf out of the way. “Oh, sorry.”
Sweetie Belle and Starburst just ducked down under it. “Are we there yet?” Scootaloo asked as she was starting to get annoyed with how long they had been walking.
“There, where what? I don’t even know what we’re doing.” Sweetie Belle complained.
“Please tell me we’re close, my legs are getting tired.” Starburst complained.
“Here we are!” Applejack proudly proclaimed.
“What are we looking at?” Apple Bloom asked with a quizzical look.
“I have no idea.” Scootaloo responded.
“What is that thing?” Sweetie Belle added.
“The place that time forgot?” Starburst suggested.
“Cutie mark crusaders, welcome to your new clubhouse.” Applejack proudly proclaimed. Applejack had led the four to a tree house, but it was in very poor condition, the wood looked rotted, there were shutters just barely hanging on it, the windows were shattered, and the balcony surrounding it looked ready to fall. The four just stood there in silence staring at it. “Well don’t thank me all at once.” She started leading them up the ramp to the clubhouse. “This was my clubhouse when I was your age. Sure it hasn’t been used in a while, but it’s empty and on a secluded part of the farm. And it’s all yours.”
A part of the roof suddenly collapsed. “It just needs a little…uh…TLC.”
“TLC as in tender loving care, or totally lost cause?” Scootaloo commented.
“Not even the great goddess Galea would bother with this.” Starburst commented.
The three fillies looked at him with confusion. “Who?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“She a goddess me and my brother worship, we believe her to be the goddess of all creation.” Starburst explained.
“Oh.” Was all Apple Bloom could say. She then turned her attention to Applejack. “Applejack, we’re supposed to turn this place into our new clubhouse?”
Applejack went to lean on the side of the clubhouse. “Well, maybe ya’ll will get yer cutie marks when you discover yer talent fer WAH!” The wall gave way and she fell in. She poked her head up out of the rubble as the others looked in at her. “Housecleaning?” Applejack picked herself out of the rubble and walked out of the clubhouse. “Don’t worry, I’m sure ya’ll can fix it up real nice.”
“I say we at least give it a try, I think it would be neat to have a clubhouse.” Starburst said.
“Yeah, it would be wouldn’t it?” Scootaloo agreed.
Later in the day, after a bit of work, Sweetie Belle took a break, Scootaloo went off to make a map of the town, and Apple Bloom and Starburst stayed to work on the rest of the clubhouse. Apple Bloom took care of the wood work while Starburst took care of the painting.
Later, Starburst was putting the finishing touches of paint on the plank with Apple Bloom sitting just behind him. A buzzing filled the air which caught the attention of the two. Starburst placed the brush he was levitating in the nearby paint bucket. “What’s that noise?”
Scootaloo came buzzing in through some bushes on a scooter, at first the two thought she was about to crash into them so they winced, but Scootaloo screeched to a halt. She stepped off and removed her helmet with a smile. “Whoa, hey Scootaloo, back already? Yer amazin on that scooter.” Apple Bloom commented.
“I’ll say, that was cosmic.” Starburst added. The two looked at him quizzically. “Sorry, I guess it’s the same as saying cool.”
Scootaloo smiled. “Thanks.” She then noticed the club house. It looked brand new, the paint fresh, the door and windows fixed, and the wood looked smooth. “Wow Apple Bloom, you did all this?”
“Just the wood work, Starburst did the painting. I fixed the broken shudders, sanded off the splinters, rebuilt the roof, Starburst was a big help and took care of the painting.”
“Wow, you two did a great job.” Scootaloo complimented.
“Thanks.” Apple Bloom smiled.
“Thanks Scootaloo, but I didn’t really do much.” Starburst gave a small smile.
Apple Bloom placed a hoof on his back. “Don’t be modest Starburst, you were a big help to me with this, and you did a great job with the painting.”
“Thanks Apple Bloom.”
Scootaloo cut in. “So what’s Sweetie Belle up to?”
“All we gotta do is follow her amazin singing voice, come on.” Apple Bloom started leading them away.
As they walked, they started hearing singing. “We are the cutie mark crusaders,*humming* never stop the journey.”
“There you are Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom shouted. “See, I told you we could find her by following her totally awesome voice.”
“Wow Sweetie Belle, you do have a beautiful singing voice.” Starburst commented.
“Gosh, thanks Starburst.” Sweetie Belle said with a little blush.
“What’s that sweet tune your singing?” Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie Belle raised a hoof and answered with a little shyness. “Oh, I was just working on our cutie mark crusaders theme song.”
“COOL!” The three exclaimed. “Teach us?” Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie Belle looked unsure at first. “Well, I’ve only come up with one part, but ok.” She finished with a smile.
Shortly after they started their walk back to the club house, Scootaloo became curious about something. “So Starburst, I just gotta know, how is it you and Nova make yourselves look like other ponies, is it that necklace we saw you wearing when you first told us about how you two are aliens?”
They stopped so Starburst could answer. “My big brother made them, he calls them a holo-emitter.” Starburst looked around warily first, he then went ahead and pushed the button on his hidden necklace to reveal his alien form. “See this necklace?” He asked as he pointed at it.
“Cool, that looks neat, so how does it work?” Apple Bloom asked.
Starburst stared to explain. “It’s a portable holographic image projector.”
His explanation was met with looks of confusion. “holo what pro who now?” Sweetie asked.
Starburst gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry….um…..how to explain it so you can understand?” He thought for a moment. “I know, it’s like a thing that makes 3-D pictures, images that you can look at at every angle and see it from different sides, does that make sense?”
“Kind of.”
“A little bit.”
“I guess so.”
Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom sounded off. Starburst continued. “Anyway, this thing produces a 3-D image around my body and makes me look like a regular pony.”
“That’s mighty impressive Starburst, yer brother must be real smart to make somethin like that.” Apple Bloom stated.
“I’ll say, we don’t have anything like that around here.” Scootaloo followed up.
“He sure is, he’s always making repairs around our ship whenever something is broken.” Starburst then brightened up with an idea. “HEY, I just had a great idea!”
“What?” The three fillies asked together.
“Whenever we’re just hanging out, you know, not doing any crusading, you three can come to my place and I can show you the holo-deck on our ship.”
“The holo what now?” Scootaloo asked.
“It’s this room we have that can make images like my holo-emitter but on a much larger scale, you could see what other planets look like or we could play some games and have loads of fun, I just know you girls are going to love it.”
“That’s a great idea Starburst.”
“Yeah, that sounds awesome.”
“I’d like to see that.”
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle sounded off in agreement. “Great, but for now, let’s head back to the clubhouse and learn Sweetie Belle’s stellar song.”
The four continued on back to the clubhouse, but Starburst didn’t turn his holo-emitter back on. Apple Bloom noticed this first. “Starburst, aint ya gonna turn yer disguise back on?”
Starburst looked to the side for a moment. “Actually, I don’t like having to have it on all the time, I know it’s so no pony will see my like this, but I’m tired of having to hide. It’s actually nice not having to hide all the time outside my home, so I figured since this area is secluded, I could leave my disguise off while we’re here. You girls don’t mind do you, my look doesn’t bother you does it?” He asked a little worried.
“Of course not, we were just wondering is all.” Sweetie pointed out.
“Yeah, besides, I think you look cool like this, much better than a regular pony.” Scootaloo said.
Starburst smiled at the compliment. “Gosh, thanks Scootaloo, thanks you two, I really appreciate it.”
“So what do ya’ll call yerselves anyway?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Nova said our race was known as Equinians.”
The three made it to their clubhouse and climbed up the ramp to the door. Once they entered, Starburst took his necklace off and placed it on a table near the door. Starburst, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom lined up and Sweetie Belle stood in front of them as she taught them her song.
“Ok, so you ready to try it together?” Sweetie asked. They all gave a nod. “They all say that you’ll get your mark.”
Starburst continued from there. “When the time is really right.”
Apple Bloom. “And you’ll figure out what yer supposed to do.”
Scootaloo sang a bit off key. “And your talent comes to light.”
“Well, I’ll be cutie mark crusaders, you’ve done one find job with this place.” Applejack stated from the window as she was looking in. “So what’s next?”
Apple Bloom trotted up to her. “Well, now that we have our own clubhouse.”
“And a map of Ponyville,” Scootaloo pointed out.
“And a cutie Mark crusader’s them song.” Sweetie finished.
“Theme song?” Applejack questioned.
“We’re going to go out into the world and discover our talents.” Starburst declared.
Scootaloo added. “A new adventure.”
“And earn our cutie marks.” Sweetie Added.
“We’ll leave no stone unturned.”
“No mountain unclimbed.”
“No meal uncooked.”
“No sock unworn.”
Applejack finally stopped them. “Well ok then! Sounds like you have a plan. I’ve gotta….leave no apple unpicked.” She was about to leave when she finally realized Starburst was out of his disguise. “Hold on, Starburst, how come ya’ll don’t have yer disguise up?”
Starburst began to explain. “Well, you see Applejack, I’m just really tired of having to hide myself every second of every day outside my house, so I figured that while I’m here, I won’t have to hide.”
“Now Starburst, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“Please Applejack, this area is on YOUR farm isn’t it?”
“Well yes but….”
Starburst cut her off. “And you did say it was a secluded part didn’t you?”
“I did but…”
“PLEASE Applejack, I’m so tired of hiding, this could be a second place of refuge for me where I can relax and not have to worry about hiding.”
The other three came in to help. “Come on Applejack, what’s the worst that could happen?” Applebloom added in.
“We can always keep an eye out in case some pony does wander out here.” Sweetie added.
“And besides, he can always put his disguise back on quick.” Scootaloo added.
Applejack gave a sigh of defeat. “*Sigh* All right, you win, just be careful all right.”
“YAY!” All four cheered. “Thank you Applejack, I promise to be careful.” Starburst said. With that, Applejack left.
“Are we ready to get our cutie marks ponies?” Scootaloo asked.
“Ready!” They all exclaimed as they clapped their hooves together.
So the four began their quest for their cutie marks, the first thing they tried was feeding pigs at the farm. They each carried a bucket of slop on their heads. They walked into the barn and poured their buckets into a trough. Sweetie Belle rang a bell and Apple Bloom pulled on a rope that lifted a door to let the pigs in. The pigs charged in and practically trampled the CMC as they made their way to the trough. The four little ponies looked at their flanks and dropped their heads upon finding no cutie mark.
Their next stop was Sugarcube Corner. Sweetie Belle and Star burst each held stacks of blocks of taffy while Scootaloo sat on a stool in front of a taffy machine and Apple Bloom stood next to it to start the machine up. Scootaloo tossed the blocks in and Apple Bloom started the machine. It started stretching and pulling the taffy. Scootaloo Sweetie Belle and Starburst gave each other a high hoof. Some of the taffy caught Scootaloo by the tail, the three tried to pull her loose but they all got pulled into the machine and were mixed with the taffy. They managed to escape after a while but were covered in taffy and stuck together. Regardless, they looked at their flanks in hopes of seeing a cutie mark, but none was there.
Their next Destination was Carousel Boutique, Apple Bloom was out front ringing a bell to attract customers. Starburst put some things in a mare’s hair while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle mixed up some hair dye in a bowl. Later, the poor mare came running out crying like a baby with her mane looking like a rainbow colored afro. The four gathered and looked at their flank only to see that there was still no cutie mark.
They went back to Sweet Apple Acres and set up a table in a field, there was a stack of cards with shapes on them and a card selector. They were testing to see if Apple Bloom was psychic and could tell what card Sweetie belle flipped over. Scootaloo hopped up and down excitedly. Sweetie Belle flipped over a card revealing a heart. Apple Bloom pushed a button on her side, on the other side, a yellow circle appeared. The three just shook their heads. The next card had a blue star, Apple Bloom pushed a button and a square appeared. The three shook their heads again. The next card was a four leaf clover. Apple Bloom rubbed her head hard as she tried her best, eventually she just pushed all the buttons and sent all the cards flying out and hitting the three in the face. Once again, they were left without a cutie mark.
Their next attempt at a cutie mark led them to climbing a small rocky hill that, strangely, had snow falling on it. The four were tied together by a rope and tried to climb to the top. They reached it, but fell back down again on the other side and were left without a cutie mark again.
Their next stop is where they encountered a problem. Scootaloo had gathered some flippers, a scuba mask and a snorkle. They were about to put them on to go scuba swimming in a lake, but Starburst had a problem. “Uh, girls, I don’t think I can do this one.” He said with a bit of fear as he looked at the water.
“What’s wrong Starburst?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Well, I….don’t know how to swim. Why don’t you three just go on ahead without me.”
“What do you mean you don’t know how to swim?” Scootaloo asked.
“Just what I said, I don’t know how to swim, I never had a chance to learn.”
“That is a problem.” Sweetie Belle said.
“You three should just do this without me, I’ll just wait up here.” Starburst offered.
Apple Bloom gave Starburst a determined smile. “Now Starburst, we’re the cutie mark crusaders, we stick together no matter what.”
“But, I don’t know how to swim, I can’t go in there.”
“Well then, we’ll just have to skip this and find something else.” Scootaloo offered.
“But what if this is your special talent, I don’t want to be responsible for you all missing out on finding your cutie marks.”
“Starburst, we’re a club, we either crusade together or not at all.” Sweetie Belle declared.
“Yeah, we’ll just skip this and find something else to do.” Scootaloo said with a smile.
Starburst smiled back. “Thanks girls, I hope you didn’t just miss an opportunity here.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Apple Bloom said. “Come on, let’s got to the library and see if we can get any ideas from the books there on how to earn a cutie mark.” The four left the lake and made their way to the library.
The four started their search through the books as Spike continued to try and stop them as they made a big mess. They had created a huge pile of books and scrolls on the floor now. “I had nothing to do with this.” Spike’s voice cried out.
“What is going on here?” Twilight’s voice cried out as well. Starburst looked over and saw Twilight with Cheerilee.
“Well we sure aren’t getting our cutie marks as librarians.” Apple Bloom commented.
“I should think not.” Spike replied annoyed. Twilight glared at him. “What?”
Starburst brought himself out of the pile and went over to Twilight. “Sorry about the mess Twilight. We just thought we could get an idea on how to earn our cutie marks from the books here.”
“It’s ok Starburst, but I think you all are going about this the wrong way.” Twilight made her way over to the others. Starburst rejoined his friends as they climbed out of the pile. “Instead of trying to do things in areas you’re not familiar with, why not try doing things in areas you already like?”
Cheerilee then walked up next to Twilight. “And I have the perfect place to start.” She reached into her saddle bag and placed a flyer down in front of the four.
Apple Bloom started reading it. “Show case your talents.”
Scootaloo continued. “For all to see.”
Sweetie Belle. “Perform in the Ponyville school talent show.”
“Talent show?” Starburst asked. “What’s that?”
Cheerilee explained. “It’s where you can perform in front of others and show off your talents, there’s all sorts of awards. Best dramatic performance, best comedy act, best magic act, surely you can find your talent.”
“This would be the perfect place to discover our special talents.” Apple Bloom declared. “Juggling!”
“Acting!”
“Magic tricks!”
“Square dancing!”
“Tight rope walking!”
“Tiger taming!”
“MY LITTLE PONIES!” Twilight cheerfully cut them off. “You’re missing the point, think about the things you already enjoy doing, think about what you’re already good at.”
“Sure, we can do that.” Scootaloo said.
Sweetie Belle added. “Yeah, sure we can.”
“No doubt.” Starburst joined.
Apple Bloom started. “Well, whatever we do, we’ll do it as…” All four cheered out. “THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” They slapped their hooves together.
“We’ll meet back up at the clubhouse tomorrow to begin planning, agreed?” Sweetie asked.
“Agreed.” The three others said together.
Starburst made a suggestion. “Hey girls, if we’re done crusading for the day, you want to come over to my place like I suggested before so we can…..” He stopped himself as he didn’t want to say anything in front of Twilight about the holo-deck. “Um….play.”
“YEAH!” They all agreed eagerly.
“Come on, once we get there though, I want to tell Nova about the talent show. Come on, let’s go.”
Starburst led the four back to his house for a little play date in the afternoon. “NOVA, NOVA!” Starburst called as he and the others rushed in.
Nova was at his work table working on some gems for Rarity. “Starburst? What’s up, why are you so excited?” He asked as he turned around. He didn’t have his disguise on at the time.
“You’ll never guess what we got today.”
“Starburst, calm down, what’s gotten into you?” Nova was smiling at Starburst’s energy.
“Applejack gave us a clubhouse, it’s on a secluded part of her farm. Now we can have our own meeting spot for CMC business.”
“Well that was nice of her.”
“Plus, there’s a school talent show coming up that we’re going to be a part of, this is the perfect opportunity for us to finally find our cutie marks!”
Nova cocked an eyebrow. “A what now?”
Starburst chuckled. “Heh heh, I had the same reaction when I heard it, it’s this show all the kids at the school put on to show off their talents, we’ll get to perform in front of others and wow them with a show.”
Nova smiled again. “Well that sounds like fun, I’ll be sure to be there and root for you four, do you know what you’re going to do for the talent show yet?”
Apple Bloom answered. “Not yet, but we’ll be doing it together.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it, so what brings you three by?” Nova asked.
“Starburst invited us over to play, he wanted to show us this holo room thingy.” Scootaloo answered.
Nova looked at Starburst. “Does she mean the holo-deck?”
Starburst nodded. “mmhmm, It’s ok isn’t it? I told them what it could do and I would really like to show them, please.”
“All right, you can show them the holo-deck, go ahead and have fun.”
“YAY!” All four cheered. Starburst removed his necklace and set it on the table with the food synthesizer. He led the four to a door past their bedroom and to another part of the ship.
This part wasn’t disguised yet so the hallway was metal with lights lining the floor and ceiling. “Whoa, look at all this.” Scootaloo said.
“How come the rest of your place doesn’t look like this?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Me and Nova disguised it like a regular house in case the others decided to come in.” Starburst led them to a metal door on the right side, it opened and they stepped into a large square empty room.
“So is this that room that makes them 3-D pictures you were talking about Starburst?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Yep, watch this.” Starburst looked up to the ceiling. “Computer, run program delta 5.” A beeping was heard and the room quickly changed to a new scenery.
“WOOOOOW!” The three fillies exclaimed. Before them was the scenery of a world they had never seen before. They seemed to be in a barren area but had a beautiful view of space. The terrain was rocky, they could see the stars clearly and there was a nebula within their view up and off to the left. To the right, they had a magnificent view of a large orange planet with rings, the stars shone brightly as a comet slowly moved on by overhead leaving a trail of icy dust behind.
The three stared in awe at the sight. “Starburst………this is incredible, what is this?” Scootaloo asked in awe.
“This is just a scenery from a planet in the ships computer data base.”
“It’s so beautiful, I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Sweetie Belle commented. The three started asking all kinds of questions about the scenery and Starburst did his best to answer them.
After a while, Starburst figured it was now time to show them one of his favorite games. “Ok girls, you ready for a game, this is one of my favorites that me and Nova played a lot. Now that I can share it with you, I just know it’s going to be even more fun.”
“Ok, sure.” Apple Bloom agreed.
“Yeah, this is just so awesome, I can’t wait to see what else this can do.” Scootaloo commented.
“Me too, this gonna be great.” Sweetie Belle added.
“Computer, load program game 1, number of players are four.” The scenery changed to a wooded area with a few rocks and metal structures surrounding the area. The four soon found themselves each wearing metal suits with helmets and visors with metal tubes on their sides.
“Whoa, what’s all this?” Scootaloo asked.
Starburst began to explain. “This game is called shoot out, basically, we go around hunting targets and shoot at them, different targets gets you different points, there is a time limit to the game. Once the round is over, the one with the most points wins.”
“Shoot? How do we do that?” Sweetie asked.
“Simple, just say zap, or shoot, or pow, or blammo, something like that and the tubes there on your sides will shoot.”
“Ok, I think you’re gonna have ta explain how all this works.” Apple Bloom spoke up.
Starburst thought for a moment. “I know, computer, run practice session.” Three pony like robots appeared, each was a different color. “Ok, the red one is worth 100 points, the blue one is worth 500 points, and the gold ones are worth 1,000.” Starburst began his explanation of how the whole game was played. Once he felt they had a good grasp on it, they began.
Needless to say, the four little ponies had a blast with Starburst’s game. He managed to win of course since the others were new, but they still had fun. “That was awesome!” Scootaloo exclaimed as the four walked out to the main room.
“I’ll say, that was a lot of fun, even though I lost.” Sweetie chimed in.
“Yeah, I still had fun too, we definitely need to do this again.” Apple Bloom pointed out.
Scootaloo cheered again. “HAH, I still can’t believe I came in second.”
“Why not, you did pretty good for your first time Scootaloo, Nova almost always beats me when we play. I’m so glad I can share this with you all and have someone else I can play this game with, and I have so many others we can do.”
Scootaloo looked to Starburst with a huge grin. “Oh we are DEFINITELY doing this again Starburst.”
Nova looked over at the four. “So I take it you all had a good time.
“We had a blast Nova, I’m so glad to have someone else I can play those games with.” Starburst was beaming.
“I’m glad to hear it, now you three better head on home, It’s getting late.” Nova informed.
“Ok, see ya later Starburst.” Apple Bloom said her goodbye.
“Bye Starburst, thanks for inviting us over.”
“See ya later buddy.” The three waved goodbye as they walked out.
Starburst turned to Nova. “Thanks for letting me show the girls the holo-deck Nova, now I have friends to play my games with.”
Nova smiled down at his little brother. “No problem Starburst.”
The next day:
After breakfast, Starburst grabbed his necklace and headed off to meet up with his friends. He was surprised to see Scootaloo pulling up to his place as he stepped out. She rode up on her scooter pulling a wagon with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom in it. “Hey Starburst, you ready to start getting stuff together for the talent show?” Scootaloo asked.
Starburst smiled as he answered. “You bet.”
“Climb in.” Apple Bloom called out. Starburst went over to the wagon and got in.
The four then sped off and made their way into town. Their first stop was Rarity’s boutique, the four quickly ran in and grabbed a few rolls of fabric, Rarity saw this and ran out of her shop after them just in time to see the four speeding off. “Sweetie Belle, I told you not to touch my things! COME BACK WITH MY SUPPLIES!”
Sweetie called back. “We’re just borrowing them for the talent show! Don’t worry sis, I promise we’ll bring them back!”
Their next stop was a fan shop. A stallion placed a fan in the wagon for the four. “Thanks Mr. Breezy, I promise we’ll return your fan real soon.” Scootaloo then started buzzing off.
Apple Bloom turned to Sweetie Belle with a confused look. “What do we need this fan for?”
“I’m a little lost too myself.” Starburst added.
Sweetie Belle just smiled. “Trust me on this one.
Next, they stopped by a spot where some planks of wood were lying around. Scootaloo loaded them up in the wagon with the rest of the stuff. Scootaloo started listing what they have collected so far. “Ok, so that’s six wooden planks, 4x8 plywood, a box of nails, four cans of paint, and four brushes. Anything else?”
Starburst answered. “How about directions on how to use six wooden planks, 4x8 plywood, a box of nails, four cans of paint, and four brushes.”
They all just looked at each other. Scootaloo got back on her scooter and started pulling them along.
They went to the library to pick up a book. Twilight and spike stood there looking at the book as Twilight read the title. “Ghosts, Goblins, and ghoulish figures? Good heavens kids, what do you need a book like this for?”
“You’ll see, thanks twilight.” Scootaloo said before speeding off again.
“We’ll give it back as soon as we’re done with it.” Sweetie Belle called.
The four made it back to their clubhouse and Starburst took off his disguise. They all brought all their supplies up to the clubhouse. Starburst’s magic made it a little easier as he levitated a few things for the girls. Once they were all gathered, Apple Bloom spoke up. “I’m glad we’re doing this as a team.”
Sweetie Belle agreed. “Me two.”
“Me three.” Starburst added. “I can’t wait to get started.”
“So what are we doing again?” Sweetie asked.
Scootaloo answered as she set a bucket of paint down. “A super awesome song for the talent show of course.”
“Right, with super cool scenery.” Sweetie added as she grabbed a piece of fabric from a nearby roll and pulled it towards her. “And amazing costumes.”
Apple Bloom then added in. “And mind blowin dance moves.”
“This is going to be so super galactic!” Starburst exclaimed. “I can’t wait.”
“And amazing.” Scootaloo added.
Apple Bloom made a suggestion. “Sweetie Belle, I think you should be the singer.”
Sweetie Belle covered herself feeling a little embarrassed by the suggestion. “What, no way I’m singing in front of a crowd. Twilight said to do something we like to do, and I like to be my big sister, and she’s a designer.”
“That’s too bad, I really think you have a great singing voice Sweetie Belle.” Starburst complimented.
Sweetie looked to him with a bit of a blush. “You really think so?”
“Well yeah, it’s real pretty.”
She looked to the side a little. “Well, thanks Starburst.”
“But if you really want to, go ahead and do the costumes and scenery. I’m sure you’ll do great at that too.” Starburst added.
Apple Bloom then jumped in front of Scootaloo. “And Scootaloo, yer great at maneuvers on yer scooter, so you should do the coriography, you know, all those dance moves.”
Scootaloo started nodding her head in agreement, but the switched to shaking it. “Nah, I’d rather sing a wicked rock ballad. Why don’t you come up with the dance routine Apple Bloom?”
She thought about it for a moment. “Hmmm, I’m not much of a dancer, but I do like kung fu, that’s kind of like dancing. HIYA, HO, HA!” She started kicking air.
“What about me, what can I do to help out?” Starburst asked.
Sweetie Belle made a suggestion. “How about you take care of the scenery?”
“I don’t know, I think I like this kung fu thing, can I help out with the dancing?”
Apple Bloom happily agreed. “Sure, I’ll show ya how ta do it.”
Sweetie Belle Smiled big. “Then it’s settled, let’s get started.” The four rushed off to start their preparations.
Apple Bloom set up a record player and started some music. “Now Starburst, it’s real simple…..I think, just try ta do what I do.” Apple Bloom then started a routine. “One, two, three.” She stood up on her hind hooves and started to try a spin but lost her balance and fell onto Scootaloo’s tail who was at a piano. “OOF!”
Starburst ran over to help her up. “You okay Apple Bloom?”
“Ow Apple Bloom, what are you doing?” Scootaloo scolded.
“Yeah, I’m ok. Sorry Scootaloo, I feel like I have four left feet, I can’t even spin right.”
Scootaloo smiled as she responded. “Don’t be silly, you just gotta keep your head forward to the very last minute, like this.” She did a little hop, then landed on her left foreleg and spun around expertly. “See, easy peasy. You just gotta practice a bunch, that’s all.”
Starburst and Apple Bloom were Impressed. “Very nice.” Starburst was the first to compliment.
“Wow, that does look easy, thanks. Ok, let’s try this again.” The two then tried to copy Scootaloo as they stood up on their hind hooves and tried to spin. Unfortunately, they lost their balance and fell down. “OUCH, OW, ooh!”
“Ow, that hurt.” Starburst complained.
“Keep practicing!” Scootaloo called out.
“Will do!” Apple Bloom called out.
“OK!” Starburst followed up.
Starburst had landed on top of Apple Bloom, he got up off her and helped her up. “Sorry Apple Bloom, are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m ok, we just need more practice, let’s try something else.”
“All right.” The two continued their practicing more for a bit. They just kept falling over or getting dizzy.
After another fall, Starburst made a suggestion. “Apple Bloom, maybe we could take a break.” He said feeling a little dizzy as he lay on the ground.
“Good idea.” Apple Bloom agreed. The two picked themselves up and sat there a moment to catch their breath.
After a while, they went right back to it and tried again. Eventually, they stumbled over to where Sweetie Belle was working on the costumes. The two just fell over in front of her. “How’s the spin coming along?” she asked cheerfully.
“I think we should just stick to punches and kicks.” Apple bloom responded.
“Good idea.” Starburst agreed.
Apple Bloom then noticed a piece of clothing Sweetie Belle was holding with five leg sleeves. “You know ponies only have four legs.”
Sweetie groaned at this. “Oh, I’ll never be a designer like my sister Rarity.”
Apple Bloom and Starburst finally got up. “Don’t give up hope Sweetie Belle, you just need to keep working at it, I know you can be a great designer.” Starburst commented.
Sweetie looked over to him. “You really think so?”
Starburst responded with a smile. “I know so, I’m sure some day you’ll be a great designer.” Sweetie Belle smiled as she looked to the side with a little blush.
Apple Bloom cut in with a suggestion. “Why don’t you use the dress form, it’ll help you with yer patterns and help you put all the pieces in the right places.”
“Oh, is that what that’s for?” Sweetie asked.
The two then noticed the mess of the scenery Sweetie made. The colors were all brown and messy. Starburst made a suggestion on this. “You should try cleaning out the brushes between colors so they don’t mix together.”
“Oh, I was wondering why all the colors looked like mud.”
Apple Bloom then cut in. “You’re not using power tools are ya?”
Starburst looked at Apple Bloom. “We have power tools?”
The four all continued on with their task in preparation for the talent show. They soon gathered back at the club house to rehears their show and try dancing. It wasn’t going so well, they kept bumping into each other or stepping on each other’s hooves. “Oh, sorry Scootaloo.”
“That’s ok Apple Bloom. Uh!” Scootaloo responded before being stepped on by Sweetie Belle.
“Oops, sorry Scootaloo.” Sweetie Belle apologized.
“OUCH!” Sweetie cried out after Scootaloo bumped into her.
“Oh my bad Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo apologized.
“HEY!” Starburst cried out.
Sweetie Belle apologized. “Sorry starburst.”
“Let’s sing the chorus again.” Scootaloo suggested.
After a bit of singing, they took a break and walked out on the balcony. “I think that sounded pretty good.” Apple Bloom commented.
Sweetie belle agreed. “Me too, you think we’re ready?”
“Ready as we’ll ever be.” Scootaloo answered.
“Hey Applejack, did you see us performing!” Starburst called out as he noticed Applejack nearby. The four rushed to the railing and looked down at Applejack.
She responded with nervousness in her voice. “Uh….yeah?”
“Well, how’d we do, how’d we do?!” Apple Bloom asked excitedly.
Applejack just looked to the side as she responded. “Uuuuuhhhh.”
Scootaloo picked up on it. “Speechless, you see, I told you that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to leave them speechless.”
“YAY!” All four cheered.
Later that evening:
It was now time for the talent show. The cutie mark crusaders were back stage in their costumes with cloaks on standing behind a box. Starburst, of course, was wearing his necklace under his costume with his pony disguise up but seemed to be visibly shaking a little. “Starburst, are you ok?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I don’t know, I just feel a little afraid I guess, I’ve never been in front of a crowd before, what if I mess up the act, what if we do horrible, what if every pony laughs at us.”
Apple Bloom put a hoof on his shoulder to try and calm him down. “Calm down Starburst, you’ll do fine, we’re nervous about this too, we just need to stick together and do our best.”
“Yeah, we can do this.” Scootaloo affirmed.
Cheerilee’s voice was heard calling out. “How about a round of applause for the S&S magic act.” A round of hoof stomping was herd. “And now for our next act, we have Sunny Days and Peachy Pie reciting their favorite poem, on roller skates.” Two little fillies on roller skates skated by to the stage.
“Break a leg.” Sweetie Belle called out.
“What, why would you want them to break a leg, that’s not very nice.” Starburst said to Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom added in. “What a thing to say.”
Sweetie Belle began to explain. “No no no, see, in the theater, it’s bad luck to say good luck, so you say break a leg instead.”
Starburst was still a little confused. “I don’t get it.”
Twilight came up to them. “My little ponies, how are you doing?”
“Nervouse.” All four answered.
“Don’t worry, you’re going to be amazing. Remember, just stick to what you know best. I can’t wait to hear you sing Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie rolled her eyes. “Why does every pony think I’m going to sing.”
Scootaloo cut in. “Actually Twilight Sparkle, I’m the main singer tonight.”
“Oh.” Twilight responded as she raised an eyebrow.
“And me and starburst are the main dancers, HIYA!” Apple Bloom cried out as she did a karate chop.
“Oh?” Twilight was sounding less sure about this.
Sweetie Belle then came in. “And I’m in charge of….”
Twilight answered for her. “Costumes?”
“And sets and props, how’d you know?”
“Really kids, are you sure?”
Before they could answer, Cheerilee came walking by them. “Cutie mark crusaders, you’re on, break a leg.” The four tossed off their cloaks.
“Break a leg….” Twilight cut herself off as Apple Bloom tripped. “Uh, good luck.”
The song started as they all took their place on Stage, Sweetie Belle would be making all the special effects as the song went on.
Look here, are four little ponies,
Ready to sing for this crowd,
Listen up, cause here’s our story
I’m gonna sing it very LOUD!
All four shouted the last one.
When you’re a younger pony
and your flank is very bare
feels like the sun will never come
when your cutie marks not there.
So the four of us fight the fight,
There is nothing that we fear,
we’ll have to figure out what we’ll do next
All Four: Till our cutie marks are here
We are the cutie mark crusaders,
On a quest to find out who we are
And we will never stop the journey,
Not until we have our cutie marks.
(Musical interlude)
Scootaloo: They all say that you’ll get your mark
When the time is really right,
And you know just what you’re supposed to do
When your talent comes to light
But it’s not as easy as it sounds,
And that waiting’s hard to do
so we’ll test our talents everywhere
All four: Until our face is blue
We are the cutie mark crusaders,
On a quest to find out who we are
And we will never stop the journey
Not until we have our cutie marks
We are the cutie mark crusaders
On a quest to find out who we are,
And we will never stop the journey
not until we have our CUTIE MARKS!
The set crashed down around the four. They managed to get themselves out of the rubble and smiled at their accomplishment at the crowd. Nova was in the crowd with Applejack and they both looked worried at the sight. A moment passed before the crowd erupted into laughter. The four hung their heads and walked off stage.
Scootaloo was the first to comment. “Wow, that did not go as well as I expected.”
“I can’t believe their laughing at us.” Apple Bloom added.
“Was it that bad?” Sweetie asked.
Starburst just hung his head and sniffled. “They…..they hated it, they laughed at us.”
Cheerilee came up to them. “Back on stage you four, it’s time for the awards.”
“Back on stage, No.” Sweetie said angrily.
“They’ll just laugh some more.” Apple Bloom pointed out.
Starburst raised his head in fear at that. “More?”
“Yeah, what’s the point?” Scootaloo asked.
Cheerilee encouraged them again. “Now kids, let’s be good sports. You all put in a great effort, you should be proud. Now come on.”
Starburst was frozen. “No, I can’t go back out there, they laughed at us, I can’t go back out there, I……I CAN’T!” Starburst turned and ran away with tears in his eyes.
Sweetie Belle tried to call after him. “Starburst wait!”
He didn’t stop, the laughing was haunting him now, he just wanted to get away from it as he ran for home.
Nova saw Starburst from off the side running away. “Starburst, where is he going?” Nova wasted no time and ran after him.
Starburst cried all the way home as he entered the house. He took off his necklace and made his way to the bedroom, he got on his bed and cried there. “It’s not fair, we worked so hard, IT’S NOT FAIR!”
Nova finally came in, he peeked in from the door. “Starburst, you okay?” He asked nicely, he made his way up to Starburst’s bed after taking off his necklace.
Starburst was sniffling. “We….we worked so hard on our show……and……and they…..just laughed at us. It’s not fair Nova, why did they laugh, and why does it hurt so much?”
Nova climbed onto the bed with Starburst and got right next to him. “Oh Starburst, I know how important this was to you and your friends, but sometimes, things just……don’t work out the way you want them to.”
“*Sniff* But they laughed at us, and it really hurts.”
Nova picked Starburst up in a hug. “I’m sorry little brother, I’ll admit it wasn’t very nice of them to laugh like that, but there isn’t really anything you can do about it. You all tried your best and that is all you can do, how others react is something you can’t control. I wish I could do something to make you feel better.”
“We worked so hard, it’s not fair.”
“I know Starburst, I know.” Nova just sat there and nuzzled Starburst. They just sat there in silence for a while. A knocking came at the door. “Starburst, I’d better go see who that is, you gonna be ok?” Starburst just nodded weakly.
Nova left the room and used his magic to put up his disguise first. He went over to the door and opened it to reveal the rest of the cutie mark crusaders. “Hey girls, I don’t think now is a good time, Starburst is really upset about what happened.”
Apple Bloom shared a sad smile. “We kinda figured that, but we have something for him that might cheer him up, can we come see him?”
“All right, come on in.” The three walked in, Nova closed the door behind them and dropped his disguise. He led the three to the bedroom. “Starburst, you friends are here.”
The three walked into the bedroom and up to Starburst’s bed. He looked down at them from his bed. “Hey girls.” He simply said sadly.
“Hey Starburst, sorry about before.” Scootaloo apologized.
“Why are you apologizing, it was every other pony that laughed at us, and it really hurt my feelings, we worked soooo hard on our show and they just laughed at us.” He looked as if he was going to cry all over again.
“We got some good news though.” Sweetie Belle pointed out.
“*Sniff* really, what?”
“Look.” The three showed off three awards around their necks of a golden jester hat. “We won best comedy act.” Scootaloo proudly proclaimed.
“Isn’t that great, you should have been there.” Apple Bloom said with a smile.
“Here Starburst, this one is yours.” Sweetie Belle held out another for Starburst.
He slowly took it and looked at it. “We….we won an award?”
“We sure did, can you believe it?” Scootaloo asked.
Starburst wiped away the remaining tears in his eyes as a small smile formed. “We actually won an award? I don’t believe it.” His smile only grew. “We won an award!” All his sadness was now gone. “NOVA look!” He hopped off his bed and ran up to Nova. “WE WON WE WON!”
Nova smiled brightly at his little brother. “I see that starburst, congratulations, I knew you all did a great job.”
“I can’t believe it, I actually won something, WE actually won something! This is great, WOO HOO!”
Later that night:
“Get him!”
“No, please don’t do this!”
“Princess, why are you doing this, he hasn’t done anything!”
“Stay out of this Twilight, I will not allow this…..THING in my country.”
“But yer majesty, he’s our friend!”
“Do you want to join him in that cage Applejack? Take them away!”
“PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!”
“Nova!”
“AH!” Nova awoke in another cold sweat after another nightmare. “By the stars when will they stop. But it was different this time, Twilight was actually trying to defend me with Applejack.” Nova looked over to his brother to make sure he was still asleep. “At least I didn’t wake up Starburst, I’m glad that first time was the only time so far.” Nova climbed out of bed. Instead of going outside like normal, he headed to the back of the ship.
He went through the door that led to the rest of the ship and made his way into the holo-deck. “Computer, run program zeta-132.” A beeping was heard and the room changed to a scenery. It was an alien world, a vast green ocean lay before him on a sandy beach. The sky was black and the stars could be seen clearly, a few shooting stars passed by overhead. Nova turned around just in time to see a few pony like beings coming towards him.
He stepped to the side as they made their way onto the beach. There was four total, one was a male like him, with fins and antennae. The other was also an adult with no fins, and the tail was long and slender, not like a fin at all, it had a bulb at the end with a ring just behind it that seemed to be attached to nothing. The female was pushing a hovering carriage with her magic, in it was a little baby Equinian, the adult male was running up to the water with the young male Equinian. “Dad wait up.” The young one called happily.
“Come on son, come and catch me.” The male called back.
The female sat there and watched them as she looked after the baby. “You boys be careful, don’t be too ruff now.” She called out.
“Ok mom.” The young one responded. The two males were in the shallow water playing happily as Nova just watched.
“How could I have forgotten about this program.” Nova said to himself. “Computer, freeze program.” The scene froze before him. The adult male was rearing up with water splashing around his hooves, the young male was in mid jump with water coming up, both had bright smiles on their faces. Nova walked up to the female and looked in the carriage and looked at the baby for a moment, then at the female. “Mom, I miss you so much.” He turned to the two males. “Dad, where could you be, I just hope you two are safe at least and managed to find a home like we have.”
“Nova?” A tired voice sounded from behind him.
Nova turned around and saw Starburst there with a tired look in his eyes. The door to the holo-deck was open so it looked like there was a hole in space. “Hey Starburst, what are you doing up?” He asked softly.
“I had a nightmare again.”
Nova walked over to him. “I’m sorry, was it bad?”
“Not really.” Starburst then looked around. “Nova, what is this place?”
Nova smiled as he answered. “This is a beach from our home world Starburst, I had forgotten this program was in here for a while until recently.”
“Who are they?” Starburst asked as he noticed the others.
“Starburst, that’s our mom and dad.”
Starburst looked up at him with a blank stare, then back at the four Equinians. “Our parents?”
“Mmhmm, this is a recording of a day we spent at a beach on our home world.”
“We? So those two in the water is you and dad? And this is our mom?”
“It is Starburst, what do you think.”
Starburst smiled a little. “They look real nice. So if that’s mom, and those two are you and dad, where am I?”
Nova lifted him up to the carriage. “Look, see that little baby there, that’s you.”
“Gosh, I was small wasn’t I?” Starburst mused as he gazed upon his holographic baby self.
“This occurred about a month after you were born. We came to this beach for fun to celebrate you coming into our lives, I was so happy to have a baby brother.” Nova set him down.
“You were?” Starburst asked with a bright smile.
“Of course, I’m grateful to goddess Galea for every day I have you in my life, if it wasn’t for you when we were stuck in space for so long, I might have gone mad. Though, I do wish something like that didn’t happen.”
Starburst’s smile dropped. He looked up to Nova with a sad expression. “Nova, are you sure there’s no way we’ll ever see mom and dad again?”
Nova frowned too. “Like I said Starburst, the odds of our parents finding us are astronomical, the universe is just too vast, they can’t have known where we ended up. I’m afraid we’ll never see them again.”
“Oh, ok.” Starburst hung his head.
Nova placed a hoof on his back. “Come on Starburst, let’s get to bed, computer, end program.” The scene disappeared and the room was back. The two brothers walked out and went back to their room.
Once they were in their beds, Nova looked over to Starburst. “Starburst, I know your sad about us not getting to see our parents, but look on the bright side, you’ve got yourself some great friends now, and we have a wonderful new life here.”
Starburst gave a weak smile. “Yeah, your right, I shouldn’t let this get me down. Goodnight Nova.” Starburst laid his head down and closed his eyes.
Nova did the same and let sleep take him.