//------------------------------//
// The Big Reveal 
// Story: Princess Applebloom 
// by meme-asaurus 
//------------------------------//

The rest of the school day went by quickly.

…………..

Oh, who am I kidding, IT TOOK FOREVER, but we’re going to skip until after school.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo sat in a quiet circle in their clubhouse.  Sweetie Belle looked nervous, glancing around the room like she was sneaking a peak at one of Rarity’s “off-limits” romance novels. Finally, it was Applebloom whom broke the silence. 

“So, what was that super-secret ‘thing’ that y’all wanted to show me?”

Scootaloo opened her mouth. “Well…”

“No!” Sweetie Belle blurted, covering up Scootaloo’s mouth with her hoof. She was responded with a double-barrel glare from Applebloom. The pint-sized alicorn was obviously frustrated, having to spend eight whole hours sitting in a class thinking of what kind of secret her friends must have been keeping her, with 90% of her guesses worthy of a “grimdark” tag.

“An’ why not?!” she raged, fury in her eyes. The very anticipation was getting to her. “Ah’m yer friend! What’s with all the hoo-hah?”


“W-well… I……. j-just wanted to start!” Sweetie Belle said, making up the excuse on the spot. “But first, you know how we’ll always be best friends forever?”

“Yeah…” Applebloom said, suddenly uneasy.

“No matter what?” added Scootaloo.

“Um, okay,” Applebloom whispered. She could feel her stomach turn with each slowly passing moment.

“Promise?” her friends said in unison.

“Wha?”

Sweetie Belle took a deep breath. “Promise us that we’ll always be best friends forever. No. Matter. What. Happens.”

“Ah promise.”

“Pinkie Promise?” requested Scootaloo.

“Alright, now y’all are scaring me.”

“Applebloom, Pinkie Promise.”

“Now this ain’t funny. Pinkie Promises are kinda on th’ heavy side-“

“PINKIE PROMISE.”

“Alright, alright! Crossmahheartandhopetoflystickacupcakeinmaheye.” Applebloom recited as she performed to gestures as fast could. “Now, spill!” Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle. Sweetie looked at Scootaloo. They nodded simultaneously, and removed their capes. What Applebloom saw made her jaw drop:

Her best friend forever had earned cutie marks. Up on Sweetie Belle’s flank was a bright pink musical note. Scootaloo’s cutie mark looked like an angry-looking chicken riding a scooter. (Scootaloo later explained that she got her cutie mark from a dare. When she had second thoughts about jumping a gulch forty feet wide and infested with giant eels, Snips & Snails had called her a chicken. “And nopony calls me chicken.”)

“We were afraid that you would get jealous and de-friend us,” explained Scootaloo. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

“What? No!” Applebloom was relieved, actually. This was a million times preferable to the thousand and one horrors she had the misfortune to imagine back at school. “Ah’m happy fer you! Once a Crusader, always a Crusader!”
They then squealed in unison, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER BEST FRIENDS FOREVER! YAY!” They then hugged each other with all their strength.

The moment was short-lived, however. For when their embrace ended, Applebloom noticed that her mane had ruffled back to normal, revealing her horn. What’s more, her cape had fallen off, exposing her wings.
The reaction of her friends resembled nothing less than a blue screen of death.



[Author’s Note: Dear Princess Celestia,

By the end of the next chapter, the audience will learn that you don’t need a grimdark tag to tear a pony apart.

All you need to do is tear apart the world around her.

Sincerely yours,

The Author]