Breaking Cute

by GoldenState3

Cutie Mark Crusaders, Clandestine Chemists!

Sweetie Belle ran after her friends trying to keep up. They were starting to get ahead of her, and she was afraid that Babs Seed was going to catch her. They'd spent the last few days running from her, but Babs, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were relentless. They'd taken to consistently ruining the Crusaders lives. Apple Bloom even mentioned that Babs had taken over her bed, leaving Apple Bloom to sleep on the floor.

Sweetie's hoof knocked into something buried in the road. The impact sent the something flying, and she realized that it was some kind of flat object. Sweetie had never seen anything like it, so she paused to grab it, regardless of the potentially perusing ponies.

A few seconds later, they'd made it to their destination, Sweetie's house. Scootaloo opened the door, and the three fillies ran upstairs to Sweetie's room. Finally able to relax, the girls collapsed in a heap on Sweetie's bed. Babs had stolen their clubhouse, so they'd been exiled to Sweetie's room.

It took a few seconds for the three friends to catch their breath, and a few more seconds for the other two to notice the seriously out of place object that Sweetie had in her mouth.

"What's that?" Scootaloo asked.

"I don't know. I found it lying on the ground. I think it's some kind of mirror." Sweetie Belle replied.

The girls were all staring at the object now, and Apple Bloom picked it up. Sweetie Belle watched as Apple Bloom tried to fix her bow in it. There was a flash of light from the device, as an image appeared on the shiny mirror bit.

"It's magic!" Apple Bloom shouted as she recoiled back from the object.

Sweetie Belle studied the object slowly. She'd never seen anything like it, but she was the first pony to admit that she wasn't the shiniest apple in orchard. There was a glowing arrow, over a picture of what looked to be a large number of cameras. Sweetie tried to stop Scootaloo as she ran her hoof over the image, in the direction of the arrow. The image changed to a grey background with a number of big pictures on it. Scootaloo's hoof bumped a green image with the words "Breaking Bad" on it.

Once again, the image on the front changed. This time, it became a moving picture of several weird monkey creatures in a boring beige color. Sweetie stood transfixed as she watched the monkey creatures move across the screen, and talk. She'd seen movies before, they'd been at one before Babs had shown up, but this was different. This was some kind of magic. Something told the filly that this magic might even be beyond Twilight Sparkle.

No pony said a word for the forty minutes that the ape creatures spent on the device's screen. Sweetie Belle's initial terror at the device had turned to amazement, and then to shock. The monkeys were doing very bad things on the screen, and Sweetie knew that her parents would remove the device if they saw it.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the episode ended. The very lack of respect that the monkeys had shown for each other and life itself scared her immensely. Sweetie Belle knew about death, and how old ponies died, but she'd never heard the word kill before. Sweetie Belle wondered if it would even be possible to kill a pony. In Equestria, ponies only died peacefully at the end of long happy lives. They didn't brutally attack each other for no reason, and then leave the bodies in carts.

The monkeys were evil, no doubt about it. She wondered what it would take for such a creature to come into existence. Because of Rarity's status as one of the Elements of Harmony, Sweetie Belle had come into contact with all kinds of dread monsters. None of these creatures would kill. Not even Discord would dream of killing on purpose. Sweetie shivered at the mere idea of what kind of mindset it would take to intentionally end another pony's life.

She looked at her friends. Apple Bloom was lost in thought, and Scootaloo was nervously rocking back and forth. If Sweetie Belle didn't know better, she'd have sworn the fearless Pegasus filly was scared. Sweetie Belle put the idea out of her mind. Scootaloo was the most fearless pony in Ponyville, well after Rainbow Dash. She wasn't going to let some silly story about monkeys scare her.

"What if we used that Ricin stuff on Babs?" Apple Bloom asked.

Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom with a look of pure horror. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Scootaloo also giving Apple Bloom the evil eye. Sweetie Belle relaxed a little. Apple Bloom was always getting wild ideas like this, it was just a matter of talking her out of them, and then things would be back to normal.

"I was thinking that we could build another parade float, and then rig it to break, and throw Babs right in the pig wallow at the edge 'a town. But, that's way too dangerous." Apple Bloom said. "What if the float crashed into the crowd? Somepony could get themselves hurt real bad. With this Ricin stuff, if we use just a teeny bit, we'd be able to get Babs sick, and not hurt anypony else."

Now that Sweetie Belle thought about it, Apple Bloom had a point. As far as plans went, the Ricin sounded way better then the stupid idea that Apple Bloom had as a backup plan. They'd be certain to kill another pony with the float scheme. While Sweetie Belle knew it was wrong to hurt anypony, even Babs, they needed a solution to the Babs problem. They couldn't go on living like this, not even for a few weeks.

"What if Ricin isn't real. What's the odds that something in a story about magic beige monkeys with silly names like Walter is real?" Scootaloo asked.

"We grow castor beans down on the farm." Apple Bloom said. "Big sis uses the oil from them on all 'a our carts."

Sweetie Belle followed Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo to Sweet Apple Acres. They steered well clear of their former club house, as they definitely didn't desire a distracting diatribe from Babs. Apple Bloom paused in front of a row of colorful plants, and started to pick some of the beans, being careful to avoid taking all of the beans from one plant.

Sweetie Belle realized that it was starting to get dark, and that she had to get back home. After making plans to meet in Apple family barn after bed time, the three fillies headed to their homes for the evening. Maybe tonight would be the night that they got their Cutie Marks, Sweetie Belle thought to herself. She wondered what a Ricin cutie mark would look like. Maybe it would look like a monkey. A monkey Cutie Mark would definitely be cool.

Sweetie Belle awoke to a rock hitting her window. She looked down, and saw Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle gathered her things, and joined the Pegasus downstairs. Sweetie Belle wordlessly led the way to Sweet Apple Acres, being very careful to avoid any ponies that might still be out and about at the late hour.

When they reached the barn, Sweetie Belle noticed that Apple Bloom had a lantern, and a small fire in a metal pail. She also had a book propped up on the table. Sweetie Belle looked at the title, but just the title "Super Naturals" was enough to almost put her back to sleep.

Sweetie Belle watched as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed the book's instructions on extracting the Ricin from the castor beans. The terrified Unicorn couldn't believe how easy it was. Here they were making some horrible substance, that could kill a pony, and yet it was no more difficult to make then cupcakes. No, Sweetie Belle reminded herself, it was easier then cupcakes. As Apple Bloom was placing the powder that represented their nights work into a bag.

"So how do we get Babs to take it?" Sweetie Belle asked. "The monkeys seemed to be making a big deal about how they had to have the man snort it. Didn't the other monkey that... uhm you know... have it injected into him?"

Apple Bloom rummaged around in her saddle bags, and came out with a pink party horn. She fit the Ricin bag so that it blocked the inside bit of the mouthpiece of the horn.

"We'll just go an' tell Pinkie Pie that Babs is a new pony in town. Pinkie ain't gone and thrown Babs her welcome to town party yet, and Pinkie 'll be in a festive mood because of the parade, so I'm bettin' that we'll get a chance to blow this right in Bab's smug face." Apple Bloom explained.

Sweetie Belle had to admit that this was as good of an idea as any, and that it just might work. Sweetie Belle headed for home. It wasn't quite dawn yet, so Sweetie would get a few hours of shut eye before the big day tomorrow.

Author's Note:

Yes, I know that this isn't quite a cross over, but it's about as close as it gets tag wise.

Comments

[Jack Kellar]

Holy crap, son...