//------------------------------// // Unknown Unicorn. // Story: Cutie Mark Bandits // by Twi-Fi //------------------------------// "No, it's not that." Scootaloo's eyes gleamed with mischief as an evil smirk formed across her mouth. "Girls... I have an idea..." "Huh?" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle asked at the same time. "I have an idea. A great idea, it's genius it's –" "Are ya gonna tell us sometime today?" Apple Bloom interjected. "Um, no." "Scoots, what exactly was in that cake you had?" Sweetie Belle asked. She kept herself distanced a little, thinking her friend had lost it completely. "The usual tons of sugar. Anyway, this idea is so awesome – I can't tell you here, no, this is top secret Cutie Mark Crusader business. To the clubhouse!" "Look, Ah know y'all trying to cheer me up n' all but Ah don't want to crusade right now." "No, this isn't some crazy idea to get a cutie mark, this is something else more important." Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shared confused looks. Nothing was more important than getting their cutie marks right? "Okay, let's go. Beats hangin' around here." Apple Bloom said with a sigh, although she was more than intrigued at this point. Upon entering the clubhouse, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sat on their haunches, eying Scootaloo as she paced the entire length of the clubhouse. They alternated between exchanging confused glances and watching their pegasus friend. "So are you gonna tell us? Or are we here to watch you pace a hole in the floor?" Apple Bloom asked, deciding to break the silence. Scootaloo ignored her, continuing her pacing. "Can you get a cutie mark doing that?" Sweetie Belle asked quietly. "We are about to find out..." Scootaloo stopped her pacing, to see her friends staring at her intensely. "So, here it is. My idea, that is so top secret we can't tell anypony. Only us three can know about this. And if we do this, we have to plan it to the last detail. This is a plan more important than getting our cutie marks, this is a plan to keep us together, this is a plan to save Sweet Apple Acres." Silence, not even the wind through the trees could be heard as Apple Bloom processed everything the pegasus said. "How are we going to do that? We can't make any money, no pony will buy from us. There is nothing we can do to make ponies want to buy from us." "You sure about that?" "Ah've told y'all Applejack and Mac can't sell cheaper than Cortland, nor can anypony else." "What if I told you there was a way to get everypony to buy from Sweet Apple Acres?" "Well, Ah ain't seeing no way but if you know of a way then tell us." Scootaloo thought for a second, she knew there would be no easy way to convince her friends of what she had in mind. "How far would you go to save your family? What lengths would you stride to, to hold onto everything you hold dearly as it crumbles before you?" "Ah would do anything for them just like Applejack has done everything for me, Ah'd do anything for her, Mac, Granny Smith and Sweet Apple Acres." "Anything?" Scootaloo asked. "Scoots I don't like where this is going." Sweetie Belle said. "Yes, Ah would." Apple Bloom added, ignoring Sweetie Belle's concerns. "Okay here it is... The problem is simple, Cortland floods the market with their cheap crap, so cheap that ponies will buy them and nothing else. Since no other farm can afford to beat those prices, then it's just a simple matter of removing the cheap stuff from the market. To level the playing field again." "So you want us to steal all the apples out of every store and get rid of them?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Scoots, that's stupid. One, if that even worked it would only last about a day before they just get more apples from the warehouse. Two, we'd get caught and go to jail. Stores have all kinds of security and alarms. I know because I accidentally set one off with a levitation spell." "You're right Sweetie, it would only last a day at best and we'd probably get caught. But if we interfere with the shipment to the warehouse, it would cause a much bigger shortage, we'd be cutting off almost two months worth of apples to an entire region. I don't think even Cortland could stand to lose that much." "And just how are we going to do that?" Apple Bloom asked skeptically. "Easy, we find out which train the next shipment is going to be on and get rid of it by pushing it out the door in the middle of nowhere." "Ah don't think that's a safe idea. Ah get it... and it might work, but there's no way we'd do this and not get caught. Ah don't know if you know this or not but trains ain't exactly easy to rob." "Actually they are pretty easy to rob. Have you read the paper recently? Trains are always getting robbed by bandits. But we aren't going to steal anything, we are just pushing all of Cortland's cargo out the door. The easy part about all of this is we don't have to hop a freight train, all the produce is moved with the passenger trains in one of the cars in the front. We sneak in, at night probably, we push everything off then sneak back, no pony will ever know who did it. The stores in the region will run out of apples and ponies will start looking elsewhere to buy apples or stores will be forced to buy from other farms. Cortland will have trouble replenishing that many apples. It might even put them out of business." "It's an interesting plan..." Sweetie Belle trailed off thinking it over. "I don't think that would put them out of business, it would just delay them a little but we can't stop them forever. If that worked it would just buy Apple Bloom a little more time." "Sweetie, you do realize how big the region here is? Ah think Scoots isn't talking about Ponyville, she's talking about taking out the shipment to all of central Equestria, including Canterlot. That would set them back months, maybe even a year. Back when business was good, we shipped tons of apples to the central region. If we had lost one of those shipments we'd be in very bad shape, worse than we are now." "This... could work..." Sweetie Belle said slowly. By the time Cortland caught up with its losses it may be too late and the Apple Family could be saved. "Are y'all serious? The trouble we'd get in. If by some miracle we didn't get caught, Applejack would kill me." "I'm serious. Apple Bloom, we care about you and I don't want you to move away." Scootaloo said putting on a pouty face. "Ah know but y'all can visit and all, where ever we go." "That's how it starts but then our lives go different ways and we grow apart. Look at what happened to Snips and Snails and they are just going to different schools in the same town. I don't want that, I want us to stay together. You two are my only friends and I'd do anything for you guys." "Ah know Ah'd do anything for my family... anything legal. Ah wish there was a legal way to do this." "I do too but I thought it through, this will work." "Scoots, Ah don't know if it's worth the risk. If we fail, it will make everything much worse." "So, you'd rather move away? You'd rather your older brother and sister keep fighting? You'd rather not be with your friends?" Scootaloo's eyes filled with tears. Sweetie Belle put a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "I was skeptical at first but I think this will work. Twilight gave me a book with some really useful spells... spells that are advanced, spells that can hide us, move things, spells that can help keep us safe and from getting caught. I have some money saved, we can use it to buy things we need, food, whatever." "Apple Bloom, Cortland is a horrible, horrible farm. They stole the business, ponies livelihoods, ripped families apart. I think it's time somepony did something about it! I think it's time somepony sent them a message! I think it's time we tell them that we don't like what they are doing to us! We need to stand up to them, tell them to back off, they can't buy Equestria! As the Cutie Mark Crusaders it's our duty to do what's right, to tell them to stop destroying families across Equestria! WE WILL MAKE THEM RUE THE DAY THEY DECIDED TO MESS WITH THE APPLE FAMILY! WE WILL MAKE THEM PAY!" Scootaloo deflated, panting. She felt so refreshed after venting her anger. Chills ran down Apple Bloom's spine, as she listened to Scootaloo's speech. She was flooded with overwhelming emotions of strength and pride. It was the most inspiring thing she had ever heard. She couldn't rationalize her emotions, she couldn't even begin to understand the strong feelings for Scootaloo she was currently feeling, she didn't even know why she was crying. But with a new sense of hope and determination she looked Scootaloo in the eyes and spoke softly, barely more than a whisper. "Ah'm in." "Excuse me ma'am, I'm Sargeant Shielded Saddle with the Equestrian Marshals. Last night we searched the town for a little filly with a red mane. We have reason to believe she is still in this town. Have you seen this filly?" Shielded Saddle pushed a picture on the receptionist's desk. "You all searched this hotel last night and upset a lot of my customers. No I haven't seen her, if I did I'd turn her in so you all would leave... it's bad for business to have this much police hanging around." The pony behind the desk said not making an effort to hide her bitter tone Shielded Saddle sighed, he knew it was frivolous. Most of the ponies were annoyed at him and his colleagues for their late night raid of the village. Others found it a bit strange to be chasing down a little filly, others were a little scared that such high ranking law enforcement were chasing her down yet she still eluded them. "I figured. We are also looking for two other fillies, one is a pegasus and the other is unknown but I'm pretty sure she's white." "Strange you mention that. Just yesterday morning a white unicorn filly and a orange pegasus filly checked in here." "And you rented them a room?" Shielded saddle asked as if the the mare behind the desk was insane. She shrugged, "they were paying customers. Laws are more lax here in Caballo." "Did you get her name?" "She gave me a name, let me check." She opened a book on her desk and began flipping through the pages. "Ah okay, I have a her in room 208 booked under the name Sweetie Belle." "208? Are they in there now?" "I think so, I mean I haven't seen them come through the lobby yet." "Perfect. Thank you ma'am, you've been a huge help! Finally some progress!" Shielded Saddle darted out of the lobby and bounded up the stairs arriving at the second floor a few seconds later. He walked the hall slowly, making sure his hooves didn't make a sound. He stopped in front of room 208 to knock only to find the door was ajar. Shielded Saddle entered the room to find it completely empty, like nopony had been there. He did a quick search of the rooms but found nothing. Returning to the main room he noticed the window and how it overlooked the main street. I guess they could have seen me from the window. It couldn't have been that easy anyways. They were never here, that's why she never seen them cross the lobby. Shielded Saddle turned to leave when something caught his eye. A single thick red hair laying the windowsill. Or... they jumped out the window. "Hurry, Scoots, gather up all the supplies. Apple Bloom – get away from that window, get the sleeping bags." Sweetie Belle said with panic in her voice. "Sleeping bags? When did we get those?" "Yesterday, they are in that closet, now hurry." Apple Bloom and Scootaloo eyed each other before springing into action. Scootaloo rushed over to the kitchen and began pulling bottles of water and food out of the refrigerator. Apple Bloom rushed to the closed and extracted three small sleeping bags, there were packed so small one could easily fit in a saddle bag. Sweetie Belle started to clean the room with her magic. She put all the furniture back in its original place then she went into each room and made the beds. She couldn't help but let out a small giggle, she would have never imagined one of Rarity's cleaning spells to have actually been useful. She returned to the main room to find a frantic Scootaloo and Apple Bloom trying to fit all the food, water and sleeping bags into their saddle bags. "Hurry up you two. That mare at the desk will probably tell him about us. We don't have much longer." Apple Bloom flung Sweetie Belle's over stuffed saddle bags at her then quickly donning hers. As soon as Scootaloo got hers on, they rushed to the door. "Wait!" Sweetie Belle yelled, making them stop right as Scootaloo opened the door. "Not that way. Out the window." Scootaloo and Apple Bloom followed Sweetie Belle out the window onto an awning with a tin roof. Their hooves instantly began to slip. Apple Bloom's legs flared out in opposite directions right as Scootaloo slid into her, knocking her into Sweetie Belle. "Oh craaaaap!" Sweetie Belle shrieked as she slid off the roof followed closely by a wide eyed Apple Bloom desperately trying to dig her hooves into the smooth metal. They both hit the ground with a loud thud. Scootaloo managed to stay on her hooves as she slid down the roof, unable to stop but she managed to use her wings to slow herself down. She landed gracefully next to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who were moaning and laying on the ground in pain. Noticing that lots of ponies were now looking at the three of them with worry and confusion, Scootaloo over dramatically cried out in mock pain and flung herself on top of Apple Bloom, hiding her from the crowd. "Are you girls okay?" A concerned stallion stepped forward. "Yeah, we're fine. Never been better." Sweetie Belle got to her feet slowly, shaking the dust from her. "What they hay were you girls doing?" "We thought it'd be fun to stand on the roof. We didn't realize it was so slippery." "It seems you learned the hard way. It looks like you all are okay, no broken bones. I remember when I was a young colt and all the crazy things I'd do... made my mother worried sick." He chuckled to himself as he walked away musing to himself all the trouble he got into when he was younger. "Um, Scoots? Could you, um, get off of me? Ah don't mind in all but it probably looks a little weird." Scootaloo reluctantly got off allowing Apple Bloom to raise to her feet. She did her best to put her body between Apple Bloom and the street. "Thanks." "This town isn't very big. I say we run before Shielded Saddle comes out." Scootaloo suggested. She cast a nervous glance at the Inn. "This is the main street but there in a side street that takes us through some houses then loops back to the main road outside of town." Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom nodded then broke out into a fast canter down the street. "Take that street on the right!" The three fillies made a sharp turn off the main road on to a narrow side street. It was lined with tall apartment buildings where a vast network or clotheslines criss crossed above. The narrow street was deserted, but music could be heard from some open windows above. As they continued to canter down the street the apartment buildings thinned to small houses that were spread out, bit of desert between them. The edge of town could be seen: an abrupt edge where the houses stopped and there was nothing, nothing but desert. At which point the cobblestone road turned to hardened sand and curved back to the main road. Apple Bloom stopped where the two road connected in a T like intersection. A small sign pointing right said, El Potro, and another pointing left said, Equestria. Another sign below that also pointed left said, Cactus Junction. Down the road to her right was another big sign with big bold letters. Gracias por su estancia en El Potro. "Ah don't think anypony saw us." "It's going to be a very long walk, about an hour walk to the border, past that I don't know. Cactus Junction isn't that close to anything." Sweetie Belle opened her saddle bag with her magic, extracting a map. "Good call on bring this Apple Bloom, anyway I have no idea how to read this thing but the picture makes it look far away." She folded it up and stuffed it back in her bag. "How are we going to cross the border? We don't have passports?" Scootaloo asked. "On the train it was easy, since we snuck on it." "It can't be all that hard, we will find a way across. We might have to wait until dark and sneak around the checkpoint." "I don't think it's going to be that easy y'all." Apple Bloom looked out over the deserted road, in the distance she could see a mirage from the heat. "Let's walk, we have an hour to figure it out." They started their slow trek down the wide well-traveled dirt road the sun beating down on their backs as El Potro shrunk in the distance behind them. "This is about where we were last night, where we dug that hole." Scootaloo said breaking the silence after a little while. An hour passed and the border wasn’t sight, another hour passed and another, the sun was beginning to lower on the horizon. Yet they kept walking, wondering if they had somehow gone the wrong way, even though that wasn't possible, they've been on the same road the entire time. "We've been walking forever, where is the border?" Scootaloo panted. "Ah don't know." "Was that one hour walk or one hour canter? Because it's been like all day and nothing is in sight but this endless desert." Sweetie Belle said scornfully. "You have the map..." Scootaloo shot back. "I don't – you read it!" Sweetie Belle pulled the map from her bag and threw it to Scootaloo. The map landed in front of Scootaloo. She pushed it open with her hooves and stared at it. "Hmm, El Potro is here and Cactus Junction is way up here... where's the key?" "Key?" "Yeah all maps have one, it tells you the scale this is drawn to. Ah here it is... hmm it looks like from El Potro to the border is one hour gallop." "Gallop? How long for us walking?" Scootaloo shrugged at Sweetie Belle's question. "Obviously all day and then some." Scootaloo folded up the map and put it in her bag. "Ah reckon we camp around here. We've been walking all day in the hot sun." "Okay, that's a good idea." Scootaloo said. "I'm getting tired and thirsty and hungry and... yeah let's just get a little ways off the road." Scootaloo made her way off the road, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom in tow. She trampled over the dry brush looking for an ideal spot to camp. "There!" Scootaloo pointed with a hoof at a relatively clear spot, clear of sagebrush and rocks anyway. "Wait here, I want to try something." Sweetie Belle said before walking past Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. She stood in the center of the clearing staring at her friends. Then her horn lit up, there was a sudden burst of green light then she was gone. All that could be seen was the open desert. "Did she just teleport?" Scootaloo asked, her eyes still wide with shock. "Ah didn't know she could do that... now what?" Before Scootaloo could answer Sweetie Belle reappeared beaming. "It worked!" She squealed then she took a step back and disappeared again. "What... what just. How? What did she do?" "Come on, Ah think Ah know what she did." Apple Bloom strode over to the clearing, right before she got to it she vanished leaving a puzzled Scootaloo staring at the spot where she vanished. "Buck it." Scootaloo approached the spot where Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom disappeared. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. There a flickering of green light, then she saw Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom standing at the center of the clearing smiling at her. "It's a concealing charm." Sweetie Belle said gleefully before Scootaloo could ask. "Any pony outside the bubble can't see us. They could stare at us all day but until they cross over that line, they won't see us, hear us or smell us. But we can see and hear whoever." "Wow, this is so cool Sweetie. Where did you learn this?" Scootaloo asked in awe. "It was in one of Twilight's old spell books about old forgotten magic. It's kind of tricky to cast but I'm glad it worked." Sweetie Belle said quite pleased with herself. "Cool, we are like invisible." Scootaloo jumped up and down excitedly. "Okay, let's eat then hit the hay y'all, we got lots of traveling to do, including sneakin' across the border." They ate a can of oats each, then rolled out the sleeping bags. Sweetie Belle tried to start a campfire but was stopped by a worried Apple Bloom after shooting several sparks out her horn. Sweetie Belle was good at many kinds of magic, fire just want one of them. "Ah think we can do without the campfire, these sleeping bags are comfy and warm." "What about a fire so we can see? Sweetie Belle asked. "Who needs a fire?" Scootaloo retorted picking up on Apple Bloom's concerns. "It's not like it's really, really dark out and-and s-scary or anything." Scootaloo said nervously. "Right?" She added a little nervous laugh. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged glances. "Scoots, it's fine. You can sleep next to me... if ya want." Apple Bloom said doing her best not to sound too hopeful. Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom a stern look then shook her head. She flopped down on her side looking at the other two. "Well, I guess we should sleep so we can cross the border in the morning." Apple Bloom moved her sleeping bag next to Scootaloo's then laid atop of hers. She leaned over and hugged Scootaloo tightly, whispering in her ear. "Goodnight Scoots." She released Scootaloo returning to her sleeping bag. She debated with herself as she settled in if she should move closer and cuddle with Scootaloo. But after a few seconds she decided against it. Might make it awkward for Sweetie. Apple Bloom laid her head on the hard ground, staring up at the sky. The stars were so abundant, she had never seen so many before. Not ever on Sweet Apple Acres. She wondered how they could be so bright yet the sky was so dark and lonely. Or was she the one who was lonely? She missed her family so much, even though she swore she wouldn't. All the fighting that seemed so meaningless suddenly made sense. They wanted the same thing but neither wanted to accept reality; both too stubborn, too proud to reach out for help. All the fighting wasn't because they hated each other, it's because they cared. Applejack and Mac cared very deeply for what they were losing. It was bigger than just acreage, or making apple butter, it was bigger than money or even having a place to live. It was their livelihood, something that gave life meaning, the very essence of what it meant to be an Apple. She only hoped there was an inkling of hope out there. She hoped that maybe, just maybe, Scootaloo's plan, turned the tables in their favor before it was too late. Apple Bloom sat up abruptly, her ears up and alert. While she was mulling her situation she became aware of very quiet sounds. At first she thought it was the wind, except there wasn't any. Then she figured it was some small nocturnal animal but the sound was more distinct, like hooves on soft sand. It became apparent to her... somepony was out there. "Scoots." Apple Bloom whispered while pushing Scootaloo's shoulder with a hoof. "Scoots!" She hissed loudly giving a particularly hard shove. The pegasus startled, gasping loudly. She took a second to calm herself before rolling over face to face with a frightened Apple Bloom. "Wha –" "Shhhh!" Apple Bloom held a hoof up, to signal to listen carefully. Scootaloo strained her ears listening... For almost a minute there was complete silence, she could only hear Sweetie Belle sleeping softly beside her. Figuring Apple Bloom heard some animal, Scootaloo was about to tell her to calm down when she heard it. The soft thump of hooves and the unmistakable sound of brush as it catches on somepony's tail. Her eyes met with Apple Bloom's both wide with fear. "W-wh-who's o-out there?" Apple Bloom stammered. She moved in closer to Scootaloo. "M-ma-maybe it's just so-some pony that got lost." Scootaloo said trying to keep her head level although on the inside she was at full blown panic attack. She had to stay calm... for Apple Bloom's sake. They heard the sound again, this time more steps, more brush. They could heard each individual hoof, they could hear the tiny pebbles that connected with the metal horseshoes. Who ever was out there, was getting closer. At the sound of a particularly loud clunk of a horseshoe hitting a big stone, Apple Bloom leaped into the air and with a yelp then wrapped herself around Scootaloo. Scootaloo held Apple Bloom tight, running her foreleg down her back. She could feel the filly trembling with fright. "Sweetie!" Scootaloo hissed poking her. "Sweetie, wake up." Sweetie Belle rolled over and opened her eyes to the Scootaloo and Apple Bloom locked in a tight embrace. She rolled her eyes, I don't want to watch them make out. But she realized quickly they both had faces of terror. "What's wrong?" "Sweetie, shhh. Somepony is out there." "It's okay, they can't hear us." She said at normal volume. "They can't see us either." "Oh, yeah." Apple Bloom felt slightly relieved. They couldn't be seen or heard but it didn't stop a pony from just walking in to their camp and finding them. However that fear was short lived when the area around them was illuminated by a sudden bright light. It was what appeared to be a ball of bright blue tinted light hovering a couple hundred feet away. "Wh-what's that?" "Oh no." Sweetie Belle's confidant face faded to horror stricken. "That's n-not what I think it is..." "What?" Scootaloo asked with panic. "That light is a spell unicorns use when they want to find things that are hidden. It's very complicated magic." "But we are invisible right?" Scootaloo asked, tightening her grasp on Apple Bloom. "It took a lot of magic to conceal us. Magic like that tends to leave traces. Even a good concealing spell like this one." "Let's not sit around and find out who is out there, let's get out of here!" "No, Scoots. If we run we will be discovered." Apple Bloom hugged Scootaloo tightly, she had never felt so much fear in her life, not even when she got arrested. The fact that some unknown pony was sneaking around the desert trying to find concealment spells in almost the exact spot they happen to be was very unnerving. The light source seemed to be moving away from them, of to another section of the desert. Maybe the unknown unicorn wasn't looking for three fillies after all. Maybe it was looking for something that was coincidentally hidden in the same area. But none of the three fillies really believed that. Still they watched with hope as the the light moved farther away at a slow steady pace. Suddenly the light stopped, remaining still for a few seconds before it began to move again, except it swayed from side to side then it started lower itself; projecting light on the ground. It raised up and up until it stopped in the exact spot the the three fillies sat clinging to each other in fright. The light dimmed until it was barely visible. A dark outline of a pony could be seen but the features could be made out. The head moved a little revealing two glowing yellow eyes.