//------------------------------// // A New Crusader // Story: Learning to Fly // by ChaosandHarmony //------------------------------// "Now who are we?" Called a thickly accented voice from across the schoolyard. I look up to see the cream colored pony named Apple Bloom hollering at her two friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders!" The duo replies enthusiastically. I can't really fathom why those three fillies are so proud about not having their cutie marks yet, something about 'potential.' Well, if not being special means having potential, I am set up to be very successful. But so far, I'm still just that Blank-Flank smart kid who sits around and reads books and doesn't really have any friends. What they don't know is that I don't want friends. Having friends is likely to lead to having friend problems, which leads to big fights and major drama. Okay, drama is fun to watch, but not to experience. "And what are gonna do?" Apple Bloom's voice seemingly shatters my eardrums again with its high pitched enthusiasm. "We're gonna get our cutie marks in pie-eating!" The two recited in unison before breaking out into a cheer of glee and excitement. A little odd for me, but I kept watching them. Beats watching Twist and Alula baking again or Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon painting their hooves matching colors again and again and again. Plus, it would be interesting to see where they get all the pies from. Probably Apple Bloom. Being part of the Apple family, pies probably wouldn't be too hard to come across. Sure enough, Apple Bloom began pouring pies out of her bulging knapsack. There were way too many pies in there to be natural. She probably got the bag from Time Turner. Bigger-on-the-inside was his area of expertise. That and Wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey type situations. "Ready girls?" I turned to see that each of the three ponies had a surprisingly large stack of pies in front of them. That wouldn't be all too bad a cutie mark to have. It would just mean one heck of a stomachache afterwards. "Go!" By now, many ponies around the schoolyard were watching the trio attempt yet another scheme to gain their cutie marks. The fillies dove into their pies vigorously, eating through their stacks at an alarming rate. Apple Bloom was the first to finish five pies, then Scootaloo, a close second, while Sweetie Belle was a distant, distant third, eating in the proper and sufficiently snobbish way she had been taught how by Rarity. I had always thought of her as sort of a snob, or maybe just the Silver Spoon of the group, following the other two in whatever they did. Apple Bloom was the source of the ideas, and from what he had gathered, Scootaloo was the guts of the trio. Together they were a somewhat charming and somewhat obnoxious group of fillies to be around. I also suspeced that the purpose of their club anymore was less for crusading and more for their own entertainment. A round of cheers and hoof-stomping broke out as Apple Bloom reached the last pie in her stack. Shoving her muzzle into the tin, she licked out the apple filling and chewed the crust off in a very gross way. Then she let out a tremendous belch of victory. A few seconds later, Scootaloo finished off the bottom of her pile and threw herself playfully into the empty tins of her previous pies, giggling like a maniac on sugar high. Sweetie Belle obviously wasn't too focused on finishing anytime soon, so she simply stopped, laughed, and joined her two friends in laughter. "Well, well, well," A voice, sharp as a razor blade, cut through the air and penetrated the feeling of happiness. Diamond Tiara had arrived. "Isn't it cute, Silver Spoon?" DT surveyed the mess on the schoolyard. "The Cutie Mark Crybabies are at it again!" The two cackled maniacally. "Isn't it a good thing we don't have to resort to such drastic measures just to look less pathetic!" "At least we don't have to be snobs just to feel better about ourselves!" Scootaloo retorted strongly, narrowing her eyes defiantly. Diamond Tiara looked shocked, but recovered quickly. "At least we aren's stuck as pathetic blank-flanks!" "At least our special talent isn't making other ponies feel bad about themselves just to make everypony like us!" Scootaloo dashed forward, tackling Diamond into the dirt. "Let go of me you... you pathetic little blank-flank!" She got to her hooves, regained her posture, and checked her hoof painting. She screamed. "What's wrong, looked in the mirror?" Scootaloo smirked. "You made me chip my hoof polish!" You were asking for it!" "Girls!" Yelled the voice of the recess supervisor. "What's going on? Diamond, what happened?" "Scootaloo just tackled me into the icky mud for no reason!" She whined "Scoots, is this true?" Scootaloo didn't answer. She looked winded, completely out of air, for some reason. "I'm disappointed in you." Said the supervisor. "But you may head in for lunch now. We'll deal with this later." ********************************************************************************* "Can I sit here?" The words slipped from my lips before I could stop them. I was standing in front of a half empty lunch table, its only residents being Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "Um, Okay, Ah guess." answered Apple Bloom uncertainy. Silence gripped the three as I sat down, wishing my fur were a darker shade of gray so they couldn't see the color I was turning. "I saw what you did back there." I said, looking at Scootaloo. She looked at me oddly, like she didn't really want to talk to me that much, or maybe she was just afraid to. "What, eat a lot of pies?" Giggled Sweetie Belle. I thought this was a little bit stupid seeing as she had eaten the least and the slowest of all of them. "That's not exactly what I meant, no." I replied, trying to stay calm. "Hey, that filly had it coming to her." Scootaloo stated honestly, shrugging her shoulders and stretching her wings a little. I wondered breifly whether she could fly or not. I had never seen her fly, but that didn't really prove anything. "I still don't think you should have done it, Scoots," Sweetie Belle said, her cute little green eyes sparkling with worry. "You could have gotten in a lot of trouble." Scootaloo just shrugged. "I bet Rainbow got in plenty a trouble when she was our age. Maybe you've just gotta lighten up a little, ya know, let loose." "Oh, well, If Rainbow Dash can do it, you can, Scoots," Apple Bloom joked, punching her friend playfully on the shoulder. "Yeah," She muttered, looking at her wings again. They were small. Maybe even smaller than mine. But mine could fly, and pretty darn well, so there was still a chance that she could fly after all. "You don't have your cutie mark yet, do you?" Apple Bloom asked I stood up to reveal a blank flank. "Still blank." I said sadly. There was an awkward pause. "Rumble, right?" The cream colored filly asked. "Um, yeah." "Nice to--" "Can I join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" I blurted. The three looked at each other, then began whispering amongst themselves. Then, finally, the decision was agreed on. Their answer was one word...