The sweet warm scent of pancakes filled the room; a dull warmth did as well. so much better than the nippy outside world.
“Fluttershy! You awake!?” Applejack said waving her hoof in front of her trying to get her attention. Fluttershy blinked before looking back at her, she was staring down at the cup of coffee for a while now.
“What?” she asked confused, making Applejack sigh. She clearly zoned out of the beginning of the conversation.
“Ah said if you wanted something on your pancakes?” she asked pointing at the stack of pancakes in front of Fluttershy. She blushed slightly, she completely forgot about the food Applejack had made for her. If it wasn't for the coffee she would probably be in more of a haze than she was right now. She thanked her friend as she sipped at her coffee thankful of the caffeine.
“Boy, Fluttershy. You really are worried about Discord, aren't you?” Applejack asked walking back to the table with a bottle of syrup.
“I’m sorry Applejack, it’s just…I worry about him.” She said taking a sip of her coffee again, enjoying the warmth.
“I mean, sure he seems playful on the outside, but on the inside I know he’s scared. He’s lived with me for 4 months now and he’s still not used to being free.” Fluttershy said sighing sadly. Applejack nodded as she placed a cup of orange juice next to her.
“Well shoot Fluttershy, only thing ah can say is just talk to the others, but you said that was out of the question.” She said slightly annoyed as she sat down next to her friend sipping her own coffee.
“Yes sorry Applejack, but---
“Say no more Fluttershy, ah won’t say a word.” Applejack said with a smile as she sipped at her coffee, making the shy mare smile back. Applejack looked back at Fluttershy and smiled at her.
“So how about you finish your breakfast and we talk about how we can help your friend?” she asked smiling as she sipped some more coffee.
“Oh Applejack I would just love that, you really are a great friend.” Fluttershy said as she started to cut her pancakes with her fork. Soon the two started to chat about what they can do to help their chaotic friend, but soon the conversation started moving from subject to subject much to each of the mares delight they sat there happily chatting away with each other. Neither of them noticed the small audience listening from the top stairs.
“Did ya hear that?” Applebloom asked as she put down the piece of cardboard tube. She sat there staring at the entrance to the kitchen from her spot on top of the stairs, her little hoofs holding onto the railing. She glanced over the edge of the stairwell one more before she looked over to her other two friends. They stared at her confused as they sat there, eating the French toast they got. She sighed as they rubbed her head.
“Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle! You two were supposed to spy with me!” Applebloom said, pouting as she watched her friends eat away at their breakfast.
“Oh come on, you know the rules! No crusading before breakfast! You remember what happened last time!” Sweetie Belle said, remembering the time they went on a crusade to get their cutie marks from dawn to dusk, only to realize that at the end of the day they went through it without eating a single thing. Applebloom scrunched her nose as she stared at them with a straight face.
“…did you at least save me some toast?” she asked a bit hopeful, still scrunching her nose. Scootaloo gave her toast a big munch as she passed a plate over to her. Applebloom squed a bit before grabbing her toast and munching on it happily. The three fillies sat and ate on the stairwell silently. The only sounds being “nom”, and the devouring of toast. Applebloom wondered why they didn't bring anything to drink but she just shrugged it off as she ate another piece of toast.
“So what’s up? Why is your sister mad?” Scootaloo asked, making Applebloom glare at her.
“Because of you!” Applebloom said angrily as she glared at her Pegasus friend. Scootaloo choked on a piece of toast at her friend’s sudden outburst, she quickly dislodged it and glared back at her.
“Me? What did I---
“If you don’t like the food give it to your dog, it won’t back fire!” Applebloom said with a wave of her hoof in a mocking tone, making Scootaloo glare at her as Sweetie giggled as she watched the two.
“How was I supposed to know you’d do it!?” she said defensively as Sweetie munched on another piece of French toast. The two pouted for a moment before they continued to eat their food. Sweetie Belle started to hum a little tune as she ate her food happily. The three fillies sat at the top of the staircase in relative silence until they finished their food. Scootaloo giving a small burp as she dusted off the crumbs off her chest.
“Anyway, as ah was saying, did ya hear about Mr. Discord?” Applebloom asked, cleaning the crumbs from her snout. The other two just stared at her before shrugging a bit, making her face hoof.
“Oh come on! Was ah the only one paying attention!?” she asked angrily, making the other two give another shrug.
“Yes.” They said in unison, making her sigh as she rubbed her head a bit.
“OK fine, from what ah can tell, Discord is acting mighty strange.” Applebloom said in a serious tone, the other two fillies just stared at her as if she just said the sky was blue.
“What, like he always does?” Scootaloo asked, tilting her head slightly in confusion. Applebloom shook her head.
“No, like bad strange.” She said rubbing her chin in thought. Sweetie Belle gasped standing up suddenly.
“Oh no! Does that mean he’s going bad?!” Sweetie Belle said, looking worried as her voice cracked a bit.
“Ah don’t know Sweetie Belle, but ah do know that Fluttershy is scared.” Applebloom said with sadness in her eyes. The others looked sad, each thinking about what to do about their friend and honorary troop mother.
“Girls, we need to help Fluttershy.” Applebloom said standing up looking over at the others, they looked at her nodding in response.
“Yeah! Rainbow Dash always said you couldn't trust that jerk!” Scootaloo said scrunching her nose as she stood up.
“Yeah! Rarity said he was uncouth!” Sweetie Belle said, her voice cracking as she did, stomping her little hoof on the floor as her horn sparked. They stayed silent before Applebloom gasped standing up.
“Girls we need to find out what’s happening, and stop him if we need too!” Applebloom said looking determined as she started to walk to the edge of the stairs.
“But what can we do?” Scootaloo asked walking up next to her, Sweetie Belle joining her two friends.
“Yeah, Discord is big and scary and we are small and…not scary. I don’t know if we can do anything to help.” Sweetie Belle said sounding scared and unsure making the others roll their eyes a little.
“Come on Sweetie Belle! Why would we back down now!?” Scootaloo said stomping her hoof on the ground.
“Yeah! After all we've been through!” Applebloom said nodding her head a bit, making Sweetie Belle back off slightly.
“Yeah, we faced a Cockatrice that one time!” Scootaloo said proudly.
“But Fluttershy was—
“We started a gossip column and out witted Diamond Tiara!” Applebloom said joining with Scootaloo.
“But we made the whole town hate---
The two fillies continued to ignore her as they went down the list -the very long list- of things they had done in the past to get their cutie marks, tried at least.
“OK! I get it!” Sweetie Belle said silencing the two other fillies, having heard enough of their adventures, some of them more painful than the others. She took a deep breath before sighing.
“OK I get that we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but what do we do?” she asked finally silencing her two friends, they stood there thinking a moment.
“We need to regroup at the club house.” Applebloom said tapping her chin slightly.
“Yeah, from there we can think of ways to kick Discord’s butt!” Scootaloo said fearlessly as she imagined what Rainbow Dash would say to her if she managed to beat the Lord of Chaos. The three grinned as they shook hooves taking in a deep breath.
“CUTIE MARK CRUS—
“Applebloom! Stop yelling, ya know its Big Mac’s day off! And he likes sleeping!” Applejack’s voice was heard yelling at her from the kitchen. A red door nearby slowly started to open, revealing Big Mac standing there, the shadows hiding everything but one blood shot eye staring at them with bags under said eye. They stare at each other for a moment before the fillies slowly started moving down the stairs as the big red stallion continued to stare at them for a moment before slowly closing the door. The fillies quickly made their way down the stairs being as quite as they could as Applejack watched on, giving them sort of a glare as they walked out of the door. When the door closed she sighed as she turned back to Fluttershy.
“Ah swear those fillies would drive Discord insane—ermmm…sane, ah guess” she said walking back to the kitchen.
...........................................
“No no no! That wouldn't work!” Applebloom said pouting as she crossed her hooves as she stared at Scootaloo’s drawing of her on her scooter dragging a large net behind it with a few mismatched limbs poking out of it. The three fillies had already started to plan, having drawings of said plans and having their capes on the floor close to them.
“How do you know it wouldn't?!” Scootaloo said back, scrunching her nose at her friend who was defying her genius plan. Applebloom just gave her a deadpan stare as she pointed at the drawing
“One: how do we get a net that size?” she asked pointing to the net in the drawing.
“Two: how do you know he eats bananas?” Applebloom said looking over at Sweetie, who had a poorly drawn and colored banana made out of cardboard strapped to her body.
“Why am I the bait?” she asked pouting slightly giving a little stomp of her hoof.
“And three: how can you drag him all the way to Canterlot? You can barely drag us around in the scooter without needing a break every few blocks, and that’s when we’re going around town!” Applebloom said waving her hooves around.
“Yeah, he probably weighs a zillion pounds!” Sweetie Belle said finally taking off the banana cut out. Scootaloo grumbled as she crossed her hooves pouting.
“Well, what about you!? So far I’m the only one that thought up a plan!” Scootaloo said scrunching her nose again.
“I have an idea!” Sweetie Belle said happily as she help up her plan with her magic. Applebloom and Scootaloo looked over to Sweetie, who just blushed a bit at their stares but held onto her drawing.
“…is that our cape?” Scootaloo asked looking at the picture, it showed all three of them riding on Discord like he was a giant wagon as their capes flapped in the wind. They noticed how Discord also had a large cape for himself.
“Yeah…I mean, he doesn't have a cutie mark so….I was…thinking…we…could…invite him…over?” Sweetie Belle said getting quieter as she talked; the looks they gave her made her feel like she made a mistake. The two fillies looked at her before looking at each other.
“Nah.” Was their answer, making Sweetie Belle put down the drawing with a huff. The attention was quickly drawn to Applebloom. She sat there in the middle of the club house floor, rubbing her chin in thought.
“We could go ask Zecora for help.” She said after a few moments of thinking, looking over at her friends who just sighed.
“What? It’s better than what you girls came up with!” she said defensively, making the other two grumble slightly. Applebloom stood up suddenly, making the other two back off slightly.
“Come on girls! We don’t have time to argue, so if my idea doesn't work we can try other ones!” she said grabbing her cape and putting it on. The other two stood silent for a moment before nodding putting on their capes as well. As if they were knights suiting up for battle.
“Hey we might actually get our cutie marks for this!” Sweetie Belle said happily as the other two nodded.
“Yeah we can be the cutie mark crusaders draquinminz busters!” Scootaloo said, her voice full of eagerness.
“Wait, I thought he was a draqumierz?” Sweetie Belle said staring at Scootaloo for a moment before tapping her chin in thought.
“Whatever girls, we got a mission to complete!” Applebloom said eagerly as she quickly made her way to the door.
“Yeah, to help Fluttershy!” Sweetie Belle said happily as she followed behind Applebloom.
“And to kick Discord’s butt all over Ponyville!” Scootaloo said proudly having a big grin on her face as she got into a fighting stance, the three fillies grinned as they exited the club house.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DRAQUUIMES BUSTERS!” they yelled loudly as some birds quickly flew away in fear.
.................................
Peaceful. That was how this day was going. Zecora, the only resident of Ponyville who dares to make her home in the Everfree Forest. She sat on her rug sipping at her tea, the large cauldron in the middle of the room giving off a nice warmth.
“Truly, this is a day of rest.” She said sighing happily as she took another sip, her ear giving a slight flick as she enjoyed her tea.
“ZECORA!”
The door burst open as three little fillies ran in, screaming her name. She yelled in surprise dropping her cup of tea, but with her lightning-fast reflexes caught her cup and the tea in it. She took a moment to take a deep breath before looking over at the three fillies; she could practically hear her peaceful day slowly dying in the corner. That was made very clear as the little fillies started running around her calling her name. She sighed as she rubbed her head a bit before taking a sip of her drink, letting it sooth her nerves before speaking.
“Yes Applebloom and friends, what may I help you with?” the older Zebra said with a kind smile. The three fillies stopped as Applebloom looked up at her.
“Zecora we need help! It’s really important!” Applebloom said eagerly bouncing in place; this made the older mare sigh again. She turned to the table and placed her cup on the table, taking a few moments before turning to face them.
“Applebloom, I hope this is not another ill attempt at your mark, for it may spell your doom, dear Applebloom.” She said shaking her hoof at her, who only blushed slightly.
“Oh come on Zecora, I learned my lesson after the cutie pox.” Applebloom said pouting cutely at the Zebra, who only giggled as she walked to her table, being mindful of the cauldron in the middle of the room. She hummed a little tune as she looked for herbs; something told her she would need more tea after this chat.
“Yeah, this time we want to stop an evil monster!” Scootaloo said proudly, making Zecora drop the herbs she had found making them scatter all over the floor. It took Zecora a few moments for her brain to process what she had said.
“What?!” she yelled spinning around to face them; this would surely sour her mood.
“Yeah, we need to stop Discord!” Scootaloo said angrily, making the others nod.
“Yeah, he’s doing bad things, my sister said so!” Applebloom said glaring at the thought of him doing something to hurt somepony.
“And he’s uncouth!” Sweetie yelled making her voice crack as her horn gave a little spurt of magic, the others turned to stare at her. Zecora turned and started to rummage through the cupboards above the table.
“Discord…he is that Spirit of Chaos, yes?” Zecora asked before pulling out a strange looking item. The three fillies looked at her and nodded trying to see what the item was.
“Well, what has he done? He must have done something, correct?” she asked, humming something as she wrapped the item in a small pouch.
“Yeah! Applejack said he did something bad!” Applebloom said with determination on her face. Zecora stared at her silently for a moment.
“And what did he do?” she asked as nice as she could, but with a firm voice. The fillies opened their mouths to talk but none of them said anything, this made the zebra sigh.
“If I recall correctly, your sister accused me of wrong doing in the past as well, my dear fillies.” She said looking at each of them with a firm look.
“But Zecora—
“No buts Applebloom, I will help you with this, but be warned.” Zecora said handing over the sack to Applebloom, who looked at it giving it a sniff, she seemed to like the smell.
“Just because somepony or something looks like a monster does not mean it is, do not let your fear cloud your judgment Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. For if you do you may be consumed by it, and end up alone.” She said as she turned to her cup of tea, slowly running her hoof across the top, making a soft steam come off of it. The fillies stayed silent before nodding.
“Ah promise Zecora, ah won’t let ya down, but Ah’m pretty sure of this.” Applebloom said firmly, making the Zebra smile at her.
“Ultimately the decision is yours, I will not stand in the way of it, and I can only advise you.” She said warmly as the fillies nodded.
“Thanks Zecora!” they said in unison as they left her house waving at her, she smiled and waved back. She closed the door and sighed.
“Such naive young fillies, I hope they will learn well from what I say.” She said as she made her way to the cupboard. Her smile quickly faded as she looked though the cupboards.
“Oh no.” she said scrunching her nose in annoyance.
“I have given them the last of the Dragons Blood; that incense is hard to come by in these parts.” Zecora said sighing as she walked up to the cauldron to make more tea; she hoped she could salvage what was left of her peaceful day.
.........................................
“This thing smells really nice.” Applebloom said sniffing the small sack; the other fillies just looked at the sack confused.
“Yeah, it smells like how Rarity does after her spa dates with Fluttershy.” Sweetie Belle said rubbing her chin a bit. The three fillies continued to walk and talk about what the strange assortment of plants in the sack could be.
“I say its anti-magic plants!” Scootaloo said taking the sack from Applebloom, making her pout.
“Are we sure Zecora didn't just give us some random plants?” Sweetie Belle asked curiously as the other two just rolled their eyes at her. The three continue to walk, earning stares from passing ponies as they talked about what to do about the God of Chaos. Most ponies these days knew that when the Crusaders were crusading, it’s best to not be in the way of said crusade. They continued to walk through the town, talking about possible plans of attack, persuasion and possible friendship, but they ignored Sweetie Belle’s suggestions, knowing full well that would never happen.
“Oh come on!” Sweetie yelled, stomping her hoof on the ground as she gave them a pout.
“What?! Like Discord would want to go crusading with us!” Scootaloo said returning the pout as Applebloom rolled her eyes a bit as she played with the little sack around her neck.
“Yeah, ah agree! From what Applejack and Big Mac have been saying, Discord has been doing a lot of bad things since he moved in with Fluttershy.” Applebloom said tapping her chin in thought.
“You don’t think they’re a couple?” Sweetie Belle asked making the other Crusaders stare at her with a deadpan stare.
“Just…be quiet Sweetie Belle.” Applebloom said turning around and starting to walk away, as Scootaloo just gave a gag face making Sweetie scrunch her nose angrily at her.
“I can’t believe you Rainbow Dash! Why would you do something so…so…barbaric!” a voice yelled in an upper class tone making the three Crusaders look over, a few feet away stood a white mare waving her hooves at a cyan Pegasus quite angrily.
“Oh come on Rarity, it was only going to be a small zap! And he deserves it!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily, making the white mare huff at her.
“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle yelled loudly, making several ponies cringe at the high pitch yell and crack. Rarity looked over, winching slightly as Sweetie Belle ran over to her, she sighed as she leaned down and wrapped her hoof around the small filly.
“Sweetie Belle, what have I told you about screaming like that?” Rarity said with a sigh but smiled at her.
“What do you mean!?” Sweetie Belle said rather loudly right into her big sister’s ear, making the fashionista cringe more. Rainbow Dash started laughing slightly at her friend before she felt a hard tug on her wing, making her look down.
“Hi Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said happily as she hopped up and down eagerly. Rainbow Dash smiled as she ruffled up Scootaloo’s mane.
“Hey, what’s up squirt?” she asked grinning as Scootaloo giggled as her idol continued to ruffle her mane.
“Ah’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but that’s official Crusader business.” Applebloom said with a hint of pride in her voice as the two mares sighed.
“Ok, we won’t keep you darlings, but as for you Rainbow Dash, we still need to talk about your conduct!” Rarity said snapping her attention back to the rainbow mare, making said mare scrunch her nose at her.
“Oh come on! Discord so deserved that!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily, making the fashionista scrunch her nose at the already scrunching Pegasus. The three fillies gasped as they each looked at each other, giving knowing nods.
“Discord? Do you know where he is?” Applebloom asked, making Rainbow Dash wave her hoof at her.
“Yeah yeah, he’s over there somewhere. Pink cloud and ugly mule sitting on top, can’t miss it.” She said pointing in a general direction.
“Ok thanks!” Applebloom said, signaling at the other two to follow her as they took off in the direction that Rainbow Dash had pointed to.
“…Did you just send my little sister off to do Celestia knows what with that ruffian Discord?” Rarity asked glaring at Rainbow Dash, making the Pegasus just wave her off.
“Oh please, what can Discord do to them? Like you said he’s a wuss.” Rainbow Dash said as she started to walk away.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to walk away while we are in the middle of a conversation?!” Rarity said as she quickly trotted up to Rainbow Dash, quickly using her magic to grab her rainbow colored tail.
“We will speak further about this darling, but right now we are late for our appointment.” Rarity said as she started dragging Rainbow Dash by her tail.
“Hey! How can we be late?! We’re meeting the girls at Sugercube Corner for brunch!” she said as she glared at the fashionista, who only huffed at her again as she continued to be dragged. The Pegasus groaned slightly as her mind wondered back to the three fillies.
“What the buck do they want with someone like Discord?” she thought as she felt another tug on her tail. Rainbow Dash puffed out her cheeks a bit before grinning as she flapped her wings and took off into the sky, dragging a flailing Rarity behind her. The two mares quickly made their way to their destination, one laughing madly as the other flailed her legs about, no doubt going to get even when they touched the ground again.
.........................................................
“Where is he? Rainbow Dash said he would be here!” Scootaloo said sighing as the group of fillies searched for the miss-matched god.
“Maybe Rainbow Dash sent us in the wrong direction.” Applebloom said, making Scootaloo puff up her chest.
“Nu-uh! Rainbow Dash is never wrong!” She said, making Applebloom sigh as she continued to play with the little sack on her neck, neither of them noticed Sweetie Belle looking up.
“Oh come on Scoots, everypony is wrong sometimes! Rainbow Dash is just wrong most of the time!” Applebloom said with a grin, knowing she hit a nerve as Scootaloo puffed up her cheeks in anger.
“No she’s not!” Scootaloo yelled back, and like that the two fillies stated bickering as the third sat down looking up at something that got her attention.
“Hey guys, I think I found something.” She said making the other two look at her.
“It’s not another one of your strange ideas, is it?” Scootaloo said annoyed as Sweetie just gave her a dead pan look as she pointed up.
“Uhhh…Scoots, I think we should listen to her.” Applebloom said looking upward in confusion. Scootaloo looked up, her eyes bugged out at what she saw. A rather large pink cloud was floating in the sky, with a white fluffy tail hanging over the edge, gently swaying back and forth. They heard the unmistakable sound of snoring; the God of Chaos was sleeping on a fluffy pink cloud.
“Hey it’s him! Hey wake up!” Scootaloo yelled making the tail flick slightly as the other fillies just shushed her.
“What are you doing!? Don’t wake him up!” Sweetie Belle said in a hushed yet angry tone.
“Yeah! Ah mean he could get really mad, like Big Mac when you bother him when he’s napping!” Applebloom said scrunching her nose a bit. She gasped as Scootaloo suddenly yanked the sack off her neck.
“No time! Rainbow Dash wouldn't wait!” Scootaloo yelled as she puffed out her chest bravely as she pulled her hoof back as far as it could go before swinging it forward as hard as she could.
“Ha, take that!” she yelled triumphantly expecting to hear his screams of defeat any second now...any second.
“You’re a ditz.” Sweetie Belle said facehoofing, making Scootaloo glare at her.
“What? I defeated---
“Look down.” Sweetie Belle said pointing to the ground on front of her. She turned just in time to see Applebloom picking up the sack, said sack not being more than 3 feet away from her.
“…shut up.” she said, making Sweetie Belle beam happily as Applebloom playfully nudged the Pegasus, making her pout. A loud snort makes them freeze as the tail jerks around a bit before settling back into its swaying motion.
“Maybe we shouldn't wake him.” Sweetie Belle said quietly as Scootaloo just scoffed at her.
“Oh please, Rainbow Dash said he’s a jerk and a bully, so we have to teach him a thing or two!” she said standing up on her hind legs and giving the air a few kicks with her front hooves.
“But couldn't we at least wait till he wakes up? It’s rude to wake ponies up.” Sweetie Belle said scrunching her nose as Scootaloo just rolled her eyes. As the two started debating over waking the sleeping god or not, Applebloom looked around wondering what to do, that’s when she saw a carriage nearby with a ladder poking out of the back of it.
“Girls! Look!” Applebloom said pointing to the carriage, the others looked and blinked before Scootaloo grinned.
“And that’s why you’re second in command!” Scootaloo said as she dashed to the ladder, making Applebloom mutter ‘Second?’ but she made a mental note to talk to her about that comment later. The three fillies ran up to it as Sweetie complained about taking things without asking first, they quickly ignored her as they pulled it out and started dragging it over to the cloud, knowing that what they would do next would make them heroes…or get them grounded…for a very long time.