//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Cutie Mark Mix-up // by AlicornPriest //------------------------------// There was only one thing Scootaloo wanted in the whole wide world: to be amazing. More than anything, she wanted to be looked up to, to be admired, to be adored. She idolized a pony whose every action radiated coolness, the pegasus racer Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash had gotten her cutie mark in a way nopony before or since could ever match: she'd broken the sound barrier and performed the incredible Sonic Rainboom! Scootaloo thus reasoned that, if she ever wanted to match the awesomeness and derring-do of Rainbow Dash, she'd have to get her own cutie mark in an equally record-smashing way. “All right, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, just remember to keep up a steady speed, or I'll fall out of the sky and probably break all of my legs.” “Are ya sure you've gotta get your cutie mark in hang-gliding?” Apple Bloom asked. “Positive!” Scootaloo replied. “I've never heard of a filly getting her cutie mark in hang-gliding before, so that must mean I'm the pony to do it!” “I don't think that makes any sense,” Sweetie Belle said. “Don't worry about all that. Just gallop really fast, and we'll figure it all out in the air!” “Hold on, Ah don't think we're rea--” “Go go go go go!” Obediently, the other two Crusaders galloped their little hearts out. To their credit, Scootaloo did start to rise. A little bit. A little higher than she could hover, at least. Unfortunately, they'd planned for her to be cresting Fluttershy's cottage after 100 yards, which she most certainly was not doing. WHUMP! “Oh my goodness, are you all right out there?” Fluttershy came racing out of the house and immediately fell on Scootaloo, checking everywhere to make sure she wasn't hurt. “I'm fine, Fluttershy.” She'd had far worse collisions on her scooter, though she was sure if she mentioned that, she'd never hear the end of it from Fluttershy. “Just a little Crusader accident.” “Looks like another dud, too,” said Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo twirled about to get a glimpse of her flank, but Sweetie Belle was right. Nothing. “Darn!” “Language, young lady!” said Fluttershy. “I won't have you maligning the fine art of knitting with your foul mouth!” “Sorry, Fluttershy.” Scootaloo said. “It's okay,” Fluttershy replied. “But you do still need to fix my wall.” She gestured to the spot in question, which had crumbled at Scootaloo's impact. “I accept bits, checks, and helping with my animals. Which is it gonna be?” “Girls?” Scootaloo looked back. Apple Bloom revealed an empty wallet, and Sweetie Belle upended her saddlebags and shook her head. Scootaloo turned back to Fluttershy. “Looks like it's gonna be the animals thing then.” “Great!” Fluttershy smiled. “Then let's get started!” *** Working on Fluttershy's homestead was very peaceful and quiet. The animals were agreeable, the smell of flowers filled the air, and Fluttershy hummed softly in harmony with the trill of birdsong. It was a beautifully pastoral scene. It was torture. “Ugh!” Scootaloo threw another bushel of bugs to the mole family and wiped the sweat off of her brow. “Are we almost done?” “Has it been two hours yet?” Fluttershy asked back. “Uhh...” Scootaloo checked the clock. “One fifty-five?” she replied, hopeful. Fluttershy laughed. “All right, you can go. And no more doing crazy stunts near my house, okay?” She nodded one more time, then returned to her work again, humming all the while. “All right, Fluttershy! Come on, Crusaders, let's go try something else!” She wrangled up Sweetie Belle and prepped her scooter for takeoff. “Get over here, Apple Bloom! We've got Crusading to do!” “Hold yer horses, Scoots!” Apple Bloom called back. “Ah just need to ask Fluttershy somethin'.” She waved to catch Fluttershy's attention. “Fluttershy, what song are you humming? It sounds real familiar.” “Oh!” Fluttershy blushed and hid underneath her wings (a tricky task, considering she was currently hovering off the ground with them). “It's a song we're practicing for the Pony Tones. 'For the Longest Time.' It's... usually for stallions, but if I drink a Poison Joke potion, I can sing with them.” “Ah think Pa used to sing that, way back when. I think I still know the words. Is that the one that goes, 'But we won't be free 'til there's Harmony?'” “No, that's 'Pansy's in the Ice.' 'For the Longest Time' starts, 'If you said goodbye to me tonight.'” “Yeah, yeah, I do know that one! The next line is... no, wait...” Apple Bloom hopped up and down, pulling on one of Fluttershy's back legs as she did so. “You've gotta teach me all the words, Fluttershy! It'd mean a lot to me!” “Oh, well, if it'd mean so much to you, then I guess I can...” Apple Bloom looked back to her friends. “Go 'head, you two. Ah might be here a while.” “If you say so...” Sweetie Belle replied. The two of them shot off towards Ponyville, riding towards the afternoon sun. After a few moments of relative silence, Sweetie Belle brought up what was on both of their minds. “Have you ever seen Apple Bloom so excited about something before?” “Not really,” Scootaloo said. “But it was just that one song, right?” “Maybe. But I've never heard of 'Pansy's in the Ice' or that other one, and I know a lot of songs. Have you?” “Nuh-uh.” A thought jumped to Scootaloo's mind, but she rejected it as an impossibility. “Anyways, maybe we can drop by after dinner and see if she still wants to do something before it gets dark.” *** By the time Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had finished dinner and met up again to find Apple Bloom, the sun had already started its exit to make room for night. To their surprise, Apple Bloom wasn't back on the farm; she'd never made it home for dinner. Concerned, they decided to return to Fluttershy's cottage and retrace Apple Bloom's steps. Surely she'd been abducted on her way home, and they'd have to find the ponynapper red-hooved! Or at least, that's what they thought at first. But as soon as they reached Fluttershy's cottage, the only pony that was keeping Apple Bloom hostage was Fluttershy herself. And considering how much Apple Bloom was laughing and singing in there, she probably wasn't under duress or anything. It seemed the private investigator cutie marks would have to wait for another time. Scootaloo skidded her scooter to a stop in front of Fluttershy's chicken coop. Together with Sweetie Belle, she raced up to the door and knocked really fast. “Apple Bloom!” they called to her. “What's going on in there?” The door opened, and Apple Bloom appeared in the doorway. “What are you two nincompoops doin'?” she asked. “Ain't ya got somewhere ta be?” “Have you been here all afternoon?” Sweetie asked. “Well, yeah!” Apple Bloom said. “I had no idea Fluttershy knew so many old folk songs! 'Just like a Flower,' 'Old Crystal Campfire,' 'Orchard Blues!' How in Equestria'd you fit all them songs in your noggin, Fluttershy?” “I used to hear them all the time at the filly's shelter where I lived here in Ponyville before I bought the cottage,” Fluttershy said. “I may not be very good at singing with others, but I do like to listen to it.” “Ah'm so glad you taught 'em all to me,” Apple Bloom continued. “Ah've been meanin' to ask Applejack about them for a while now, but I've never had the courage.” Scootaloo cut in. “Why? Why was it so important to ask Applejack about a bunch of dumb songs?” she asked. Apple Bloom gasped and reeled in shock. “Scootaloo! How could you say that? Those songs go back centuries in my family! It's in my blood to be singin' them old songs. It's practically my destiny!” The moment she said that, there was a sound like a star sparkling in the night and a light that flashed so bright as to turn the ponies' eyes away. When they looked back, Apple Bloom was sporting a cutie mark: an eighth note riding on a flowing music staff. “That's... that's...” Sweetie Belle struggled to find the best word for what she'd just seen. “Awesome!” Scootaloo jumped forward and hugged Apple Bloom tight. “You got your cutie mark! Now you'll just have to help us get ours, too!” Apple Bloom pushed Scootaloo off of herself and turned away. Before Scootaloo could ask what was the matter, she heard Apple Bloom start to sniffle and cry. Without another word, she galloped out the door and away down the path and into the night.