//------------------------------// // Arsenic and new Cutie Marks // Story: Breaking Cute // by GoldenState3 //------------------------------// The Cutie Mark crusaders were sitting in Apple Bloom's room. They'd had a sleepover the night before, where they'd discussed what to do with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They'd finally decided that poison was the best course of action. The only problem was that if they used ricin again, they were certain to get found out-- one pony could be dismissed as an accident, there was no way that three ever could. "What if we used our bug spray? Applejack is always tellin' me that it'll kill me if I'm not careful." Apple Bloom said. "Won't we get caught?" Sweetie asked. "I mean, you're like the only farm near Ponyville." Scootaloo looked stumped for a few seconds, before smiling. "I have an idea." Scootaloo said. "What if we did it at Sugar Cube Corner? They might just think it was another accident." Sweetie really didn't want to kill another pony, but then she remembered all the horrible things that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had been doing to them, and how Diamond Tiara had blackmailed them to force them to continue as Gabby Gums. No! Killing was wrong. It wasn't something that ponies did to each other. They couldn't keep acting like this. They were going to get caught. Celestia wasn't going to have mercy on them. She also didn't want to go against her friends. What if they stopped talking to her because she was lame because she didn't want to kill Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? She'd never find new friends. Apple Bloom left, to go and get some of the poison. "Are you sure you want to go along with this?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I guess so. I mean, it's not like Celestia can do something more terrible to us just because we killed more ponies? Right?" Scootaloo said. "'Sides, it's not like they don't deserve what's coming to them." Apple Bloom returned with a large metal container with a skull and crossbones on it. The lid had a large handle on it, so that a pony could get their hoof under it, and too make it too large to fit in a mouth. Apple Bloom removed the lid on the can, revealing a sea of white powder. Apple Bloom flipped the lid over, and used her hoof to pour some powder into it. "What is it?" Scootaloo asked. "It says it's Lead arsenate." Apple Bloom said. "It also says it's poison, so we should be good." Apple Bloom put some of the powder in a bag in her Saddle Bags. They decided to head to Sugar Cube corner. Sweetie Belle really needed a cupcake. Twilight studied Celestia. The Princess was staring at the dead Pegasus in the middle of town square. According to Rainbow Dash, the princess had spent the morning trying to piece together an story that would allow her to declare Spitfire's death an accident. So far, she hadn't been successful. That hadn't stopped her from trying. Big Mac and Applejack had helped to haul the body out of town square, and to a waiting Pegasus wagon for the trip to Cloudsdale. Once the body had been removed, the town had gotten back to normal. Now, it was starting to get dark. The Cutie Mark crusaders walked by her, deep in conversation. Luna had spent the morning convincing her to investigate Bab's death, so Twilight decided to ask them a few questions. It couldn't hurt, and they might know something. "Hey girls, did your little friend mention any problems that she was having with anypony?" Twilight asked. "You mean Babs?" Sweetie Belle asked, her face freezing in terror. "I thought you said it was an accident?" Scootaloo said. "I did, but you know, you just have to clear up any loose ends. Maybe she had a special somepony?" Twilight asked. The Crusaders were staring at each other. She hadn't meant to scare them. Twilight knew she was no good with foals, she'd always meant to read a book about taking care of Foals, but she always seemed to have more important things to do. Twilight headed back towards the Princess. Luna landed next to Twilight. She had two Royal Guard Pegasi with her, but she hadn't bothered to enchant them to look like Bats. She must have been in a hurry. "We require you to talk some sense into our sister. Our sister has to accept that our subjects are going around murdering each other. There is no way around it." Luna said. It was weird to have the princess using the voice again. They'd spent most of the last twenty four hours together, and Luna hadn't used it once while the two of them had been alone. "Luna, what's murder?" Celestia asked. Luna face hoofed. "Did you hear her? She suspects us!" Sweetie Belle shouted. Everyone in Sugar Cube Corner turned to look at her. They had to stop, and hide out. They couldn't go through with their plan now! Apple Bloom had no intention of stopping. They were going to end up as statues. "Are you guys planning a special surprise for somepony!" Pinkie asked. "'Cause if you are, I want to join in!" "Yes, we are Pinkie, and you're just the pony to help!" Scootaloo said. "Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie Pie said. "So what kind of Surprise is this? Do one of you have a special somepony? I can make you some of our hearts and hooves day specialties!" Boxes of heart shaped candies instantly appeared in Pinkie Pie's hooves. "No, Pinkie. We're planning a special treat for every pony in town! We made special sprinkles!" Scootaloo said, using her mouth to pull the bag of lead arsenate out of Apple Bloom's saddle bags. "Those are pretty!" Pinkie said, jamming a hoof into the bag. "They taste... Interesting though! But interesting in a good way" Sweetie Belle hoped that Pinkie hadn't eaten enough to hurt herself. "We've got a batch of cupcakes just coming out! The uhm... well... thing that happened earlier has made everyone in town want cupcakes! So we're staying open late!" Pinkie said. Sure enough, Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara and about a quarter of Ponyville were there. Sweetie Belle wanted to shout stop, she wanted to warn the town, and get them out, but she was too chicken. She just couldn't do it, especially not with Celestia outside. So, instead she followed her friends into the kitchen, and watched mute as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sprinkled poison on dozens of cupcakes. Sweetie Belle felt sick to her stomach. This wasn't what they'd set out to do. They'd poisoned Babs specifically to avoid putting other ponies at risk, and here they were, poisoning the entire town to hide their attempt to kill Diamond Tiara. What if they killed another pony? Silver Spoon and Diamond weren't the only foals out there. She'd seen Pip, and Featherweight, and Twist. She cared about those ponies. They couldn't do this! This was wrong. But, she stayed silent. All three crusaders tried their best to frost cupcakes. Scootaloo poured about half of the bag on the cupcakes, and then poured the other half over three cupcakes. The Lead arsenate was irritating Sweetie's mouth and lungs. She'd seen Apple Bloom coughing as well. This stuff couldn't be good for them, and they were just letting it get everywhere. Scootaloo's hooves were even showing red blotches on them, under her fur. Pinkie Pie came over, took a few steps back, then ran up and blew a party horn in Scootaloo's face. White dust blew everywhere. "Hey Everyone! Someone got their Cutie Mark!" Pinkie shouted. "Who! Who!" Scootaloo said. "You silly!" Pinkie replied. Sweetie studied Scootaloo's flank. She had a Cutie Mark, no question. She was a little jealous, but not that jealous. She really didn't want to have a poison based cutie mark. Although, unless you knew what Scootaloo was doing, you wouldn't be able to guess what her Cutie Mark actually was. All it had was white powder being sprinkled over cupcakes. If you didn't know what the powder actually was, you could fool yourself into thinking that it was merely about decorating cupcakes. There was a commotion, as Ponies filed into the kitchen. Scootaloo was mobbed with ponies, all of them congratulating her. Now Sweetie Belle was jealous. "So your special talent is decorating cupcakes?" Mrs. Cakes asked. Pinkie was throwing streamers and ribbons everywhere, and for a few minutes, Sweetie Belle was happy. The Princess was personally congratulating Scootaloo. Luna stood off to the side, a worried look on her face. Twilight was sitting on the floor next to Luna. Sweetie could tell that she looked more distracted then usual. The Cakes had announced that there were free cupcakes for all, and the tainted cupcakes had begun to be consumed. Apple Bloom had managed to keep the three special cupcakes off to the side, and out of the way of the townsponies. Silver Spoon and Diamond were approaching. Apple Bloom hoofed them two of the special cupcakes. The started eating, before laughing at Scootaloo. "Even though you have a Cutie Mark, you're so lame we still would never hang out with you." Diamond Tiara said, before the two bumped rumps and walked away. Twilight Sparkle was nervously watching the party. She'd been holding back, after terrifying the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she felt that she didn't deserve a cupcake. Apple Bloom approached cupcake in her hooves. "Mz. Sparkle, you didn't eat a cupcake! Here have one." Apple Bloom said, handing Twilight the cupcake. It looked delicious. There was a decadent layer of powdered sugar covering a delicious looking layer of pink butter-cream frosting. While she'd never heard of cupcakes with powdered sugar before, she didn't really get out much. A cyan blur materialized off to Twilight's left. "Ohh, I want a cupcake!" Rainbow shouted. "You had three cupcakes!" Luna said. "The Princess of the Night demands this cupcake as tribute. Please?" "Luna! Don't be rude!" Celestia reprimanded. "Since Twilight has yet to eat a cupcake, it only makes sense that this cupcake belongs to her." Twilight really wasn't hungry, seeing Spitfire's blood covering Town Square had been enough to remove her desire to eat, probably for the rest of her life. Luna was making her cutest face, while Dash hovered overhead pouting. Twilight didn't want to hurt her friends feelings, so she decided to give them the cupcake. "We'll split the cupcake. Rainbow Dash will get half, and Luna will get half." Twilight said. "Yeah!" Dash said, kicking her fore hoof into the air. Luna threw her cupcake half into her mouth, greedily licking the icing from edges of her mouth. Twilight felt something bump against her. "I have a belly ache." Spike said. "You shouldn't have eaten so many cupcakes." Twilight said. "I warned you not to eat that many, and as usual you didn't listen." "Pinkie had ten cupcakes, and she's fine." Spike said. "Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie." Twilight said. "She didn't eat it!" Apple Bloom said. "Who didn't eat what!" Sweetie Belle said. It would be a tragedy if after doing all of this Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara didn't eat their cupcakes. "Twilight! Twilight didn't eat her cupcake!" Apple Bloom said. "So, that's good. I wouldn't want to hurt her." Sweetie replied. "She's on to us! We need her dead, and fast!" Scootaloo said. "Hey girls! Howya doin'" Pinkie asked. "I'm not feeling too good. I've got a bellyache like Spike, only I don't think mine is from eating too many cupcakes, because I normally eat more cupcakes in a day then I did today. Maybe I should eat more cupcakes? Maybe that would make my belly feel better. Whatta' you think?" Pinkie vomited on Apple Bloom. Sweetie ran over to help her friend. The party had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Derpy crashed to the ground, narrowly missing Sweetie. "Sorry about that! I got a cramp in my wing. Oooh! I got the runs! Gotta run!" Derpy said as she ran off. "Should this be happening?" Apple Bloom asked. "The monkeys didn't use this stuff." Sweetie Belle said. "Oooh! Monkeys? I love Monkeys!" Pinkie said, as she vomited again. "Twilight, I thing something is going on." Luna said. Twilight had to agree. In a few short minutes, the party had gone from a joyous occasion, to a hedonistic celebration of indoor plumbing. The line for the public bathroom stretched back into the kitchen, and the Cakes were allowing select customers upstairs to use their facilities. "How do you feel?" Luna asked Twilight. "I'm fine, although my mouth is burning." Twilight said. "Looks like we have more Baked Bads!" Pinkie said. "Hey Twilight, can you magic me better so I can eat more cupcakes. I haven't eaten enough cupcakes today, I bet that will make me feel better!" Luna gave Pinkie an incredulous look, as Pinkie bounced off. "Is she..." Luna asked. "That's just Pinkie." Twilight said. "It's madness to question her." "Stand aside! The Princess of the Night must make use of the facilities!"Luna shouted, as she ran towards the door to the stairway. Twilight took the opportunity to sneak a peek at Spike. His bellyache had caused him to curl into a ball. "Help! Help! My daughter fainted!" Filthy rich shouted. Celestia and Twilight galloped over as fast as they could.