//------------------------------// // ...Trustworthy??? // Story: Screwball: Chaos Strikes Back // by Discorded SheepcityUSA //------------------------------// SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH! One by one, the Crusaders had dived from the cliff into the water below. Having made their successful jumps, they all popped their little heads out of the water, taking a deep breath of air. Unfortunately, they had not thought the entire act of diving through, specifically their time of doing so. Winter Wrap-up had just concluded not too long ago. The lake had only just gotten warm enough to thaw out, although the water was still not quite at “Spring-level warm” just yet. So what does that leave our heroines diving into? About twelve degrees. Coldcoldcoldcoldcoldcoldcoldcoldcold!” Sweetie Belle whined as she held onto her torso with her forelegs, slightly shivering at the temperature of the water. Scootaloo had noticeably not taken much liking to the cold water either, as her teeth were chattering and her wings appeared to have been frozen in place. “Y-Yeah. P-Probably not one of my better ideas. Probably should have c-checked the water first. B-But at least we didn’t get hurt this time!” Scootaloo said through her chattering. “I-I wouldn’t exactly c-consider t-this a better substitute Scoots…D-Did we at least get our Cutie-Marks?” Applebloom asked. In response, all three fillies brought their flanks out of the water to check on their progress. Unfortunately, the results were the same as the last few hundred attempts at getting their Cutie-Marks. They were all still blank flanks. “…Nope.” Scootaloo sighed. “Still nothing.” Sweetie Belle responded. “Same here” Applebloom said. All three fillies sighed in defeat. They try harder than most fillies and colts have the attention span for in getting their Cutie-Marks, and yet while nearly everypony in their class had their mark already, these three were becoming quite despondent in the fact that they were still remained markless. Eager to get out of the freezing water, Sweetie Belle was the first to dog-paddle her way to shore and climb her way out. “Well there goes attempt number…uhhh, where are we at on crusades for today Applebloom?” she asked the yellow filly, who followed suit in getting out of the water, Scootaloo coming right after her. “17… Ah’ll tell ya’ll what, this is gettin’ pretty ridiculous. We’ve tried nearly everything under the sun to get our Cutie-Marks, an’ we still come up short. Ah’ don’ get what we’re doin’ wrong.” Applebloom whined as she dried herself off by shaking her entire body in a similar manner of a dog. “Yeah neither do I. You’d think with all the stuff we’ve done, we would’ve gotten them by now.” Scootaloo griped. Sweetie Belle was about to involve her inevitable complaint about how she too still had no Cutie-Mark, when without any warning, a bright flash of light appeared in the air above the fillies, it’s brightness intensifying with each passing second. “Agggh! What is THAT?!” Sweetie Belle yelled, holding a hoof to her forehead, trying to shield her eyes from the intense light. The light started to let up after a few seconds, and in its place were the following words… (To the CMC) Watch out, somepony's about to drop in on you! She's nice, though! Applebloom was the first to question this…whatever it was’ motives into appearing and asking this of them. “…What? Ah don’ see anypony else here but u-“ “They mean me, junior.” Applebloom had been interrupted by the sound of another pony’s voice. The fillies all turned their heads to under a nearby tree, where they saw a pony that none of them recognized sprawled out on a lawn chair wearing sunglasses, blocking out any view of her eyes. The unusual, purple filly was also holding a glass of chocolate milk in her hooves, and was sipping it through a crazy straw. “Whoawhoawhoa! How long have you been there?!” Scootaloo asked. She had been pretty sure she didn’t see anypony else around only a few moments ago, and now all of a sudden, here was this filly sitting here as if she’d been doing so for hours. “Oh, long enough to see your rather hilarious misfortune. The looks on your faces when you hit that freezing water. That stuff was GOLD!” Screwball snickered. The Crusaders had taken enough verbal abuse from a certain pink filly and her minion at school to know when they were being laughed at, and they didn’t like it in the slightest; from Diamond Tiara, or anypony else. “That wasn’t funny! We could’ve gotton hypo…hypo…uhhh” Applebloom stumbled over her words. “Hypothermia.” Sweetie Belle said. “Oh, thanks Sweetie. An’ what kinda’ pony laughs at other ponies’ getting’ hurt?!” Applebloom asked with a raised voice. Screwball stood up and raised her hooves defensively in the air. “Alright, normally around this time I’d make some sort of snarky retort like, ‘Somepony with a good sense of humor’, but starting trouble’s not what I’m here for...Name's Screwball, thank you oh so very much for asking.” Screwball said sarcastically The Crusaders slightly lowered their guard, but not completely. The filly said she wasn’t meaning to bring them any harm, but she sure wasn’t acting like it. That smile she had on her face stretched nearly a half-mile long, and it looked like it was for all the wrong reasons. “Well, what DO you want then?” Scootaloo asked. Screwball got out of her seat and instead of trotting like a normal pony would do, she appeared to SLITHER in the Crusader’s direction, and popped up in-between Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, taking off her sunglasses, which revealed her swirling, purple eyes. Just the sight of those orbs made them flinch back in surprise and fright. ‘Oh mah gosh, what’s wrong with her eyes?!?!' Applebloom thought to herself. “Well, I just happened to overhear your conversation regarding your Cutie-Marks…or lack thereof…” Screwball said pointing too Sweetie Belle’s markless flank, making her face turn red from embarrassment. “It got me thinking, ‘Here’s a determined group of fillies. Ponies that go to any lengths to get what they want…no matter how nuts and irrational the plan may be. Jacks of all trades, but masters of none.’” “Okay, can you just get to the point already?” Scootaloo asked. A displeasured frown crossed Screwball’s features. “Sheesh. Try to get a point across in an overly-complicated manner today and everyone just wants you to shut up. I feel like I’m getting the politician treatment.” Hello from the voices in your head again, Allies are always a good thing, Screwball; and these three fillies seem perfect. They appear to be willing to do almost anything to get their cutie marks. Perhaps you can use this to your advantage...? Well, if you're going to get the CMC the question is, how? Are you going for the "I'm also a filly without a cutie mark and I think that this chaotic thing is a good idea" or the "I have the perfect way to get your cutie-mark". I personally think you should go the first option because you would have a thing you wouldn't have with the second. Their trust. If you go with my suggested option, than you should probably take a lot of time to build up their trust. I have seen too many similar plans ruined to know that that the infiltrator usually starts the plan too early, and gets found out because the didn't trust him/her enough. “Seeing as how you girls seem so intent on getting your Cutie-Marks, I was hoping that I could be of some assistance. Cause…well...just look.” Before any of the Crusaders could question what that meant, Screwball turned around and blatantly waved her flank in their faces. “Uhhh, do you min….wait, you don’t have your Cutie-Mark either?” Sweetie Belle asked. The other two had also taken notice of Sweetie’s observation. Screwball’s flank was indeed, completely blank, sans the baseball/screw mark that was usually emblazoned there. “Unfortunately, that’s the case. I’ve suffered many an insult because of my lack of a butt-picture. It’s my only shame.” Screwball said, lowering her head. She hoped this was act was convincing enough. She was normally used to feigning despair in a sarcastic manner and not having to act legit sad. That came across to her as more difficult than hiding her Cutie-Mark with her magic. That wasn’t a problem. The three fillies exchanged a few nervous looks. They did start to feel sorry for Screwball. Heck, they felt for ANYONE that had to go through the same pain and frustration that came with being a blank flank. But something about Screwball seemed…off. “…Girls. Huddle.” Applebloom said to her friends, who all then proceeded to get into huddle formation, whispering to each other. “Alright, I’m gonna say what we’re all thinking…that filly kinda creeps me out.” Scootaloo said. “But you heard her! The poor pony is in the same boat as us! She’s been made fun of for not having a Cutie-Mark just like we were. Besides, we can’t just tell her to go away when she came to us for help, can we?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Sweetie Belle’s got a point Scoots. It just wouldn’t be right for us ta just turn er’ away.” Applebloom said. “And think of it this way. From the looks of it, she’s a little…eccentric. So maybe she can think of all sorts of ways to get our Cutie-Marks that we’d probably never think of. Everypony wins!” Sweetie Belle pointed out. “Well…if you guys think she can be trusted, then I guess I can too.” Scootaloo said. All three fillies nodded in mutual agreement and turned back to face the still forlorn-looking Screwball, who had at this point was just dragging herself across the ground with her face pressed against it. “Ummm, Screwball was it?” Applebloom asked. Screwball immediately stopped moving and her ears sprung back up. “Yeeeeeessss?~” Screwball drew out the word as long as possible with an ever-present smile growing onto her face. ‘Oh jeez, that smile again. I can’t get over how creepy it is.’ Scootaloo thought. “Well…we were talking… and we’re inviting you to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Sweetie Belle said. Screwball’s Cheshire Cat smile grew from ear to ear. She bound up to her hind legs and grabbed hold of the entire group in a death grip that would rival Pinkie Pie’s. “Oh goodie! I just know we’re gonna have soooo much fun together!” Screwball laughed. “S-Screwball…we need…air.” Applebloom gagged. Seeing as how the fillies were starting to turn blue, and that Screwball didn’t want to kill off her new allies before any her plan was fully set in motion, she released them from her forelegs and dropped them back to the ground, gasping for air. “I feel that you didn’t enjoy that hug as much as I did, Applebloom.” Still recovering from Screwball’s “Hug of Suffering”, Applebloom looked at Screwball, confused. “Ah…don’t remember… tellin’ ya mah name.” Applebloom said. Screwball put a hoof on her chin and looked innocently away. “Oh dear. I’m NOT supposed to eavesdrop then? Well that’s no fun.” Screwball said. The Crusaders facehoofed at what they thought their new friend should have found obvious. “Wooooooow.” Scootaloo groaned