Breaking Cute

by GoldenState3

Nothing Changes

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had spent the early part of the morning crusading for their Cutie Marks. First, Scootaloo had tried to pull off a really cool stunt on her scooter, only to be stopped at the last minute by Rarity. Sweetie Belle had only called her sister over so there would be more ponies around to compliment her friend when the trick inevitable granted her the mark. However, her older sister had taken one look at the rickety pile of crates that Scootaloo had been about to climb, and ended the trick.

It wasn't fair. Just because Rarity had already got her Cutie Mark didn't mean that she got to stop Scootaloo from trying. Scootaloo was fearless, and she knew how to do dangerous things. What if Scootaloo's Cutie Mark was a scooter tricks Cutie Mark? She'd never get it if all the ponies in her life stopped her from doing cool tricks.

After spending her allowance on a lunch of cupcakes at sugar cube corner, Sweetie and her friends headed back towards their clubhouse. With Babs gone, things were back to normal, and the Crusaders had their clubhouse back.

Not that made it worth it. They'd done evil, but somehow managed to get away with it. Sweetie Belle didn't like it one bit. Sure, it was good that she'd managed to avoid punishment for her, but she couldn't help wondering if they hadn't been the first ponies to murder another pony and get away with it.

There wasn't any sense in worrying about it now. Sure, she probably going to be dealing with the guilt for the rest of her life, but even if she up and confessed, and got turned into a statue that wasn't going to do anything for Babs.

The clubhouse was ahead of them. Apple Bloom reached the ladder first, only for Diamond Tiara to appear at the top. She pointed at a hastily pointed sign that had been nailed to the railing.

"No Blank Flanks Club." It proclaimed.

They'd killed Babs, only to have their old bullies decide to target them again. Fountains of tears poured out of Sweetie Belle's eyes. Life just wasn't fair.

Princess Luna opened her eyes, only to instantly regret it. She should have known better, but she one problem with drinking to forget was that you never remembered just how drunk you were till you opened your eyes the next morning. Her stomach swam, and she vomited. Luna opened one eye, hoping that would be better then both. It wasn't, but she needed to know where she was, and what was on her arm.

Luna was in a room that was mostly dark, except for a lantern that was shining directly into her eyes. She picked the lantern up with her magic and moved it so that not all of the light would flow into her eyes.

Once her eyes adjusted to the blessed lack of light, she was able to make Twilight Sparkle.

"Princess! Your awake!" Twilight said. "Hold still! I'm running some tests to see what kind of magic took hold of you last night!"

That explained the wires that were connected to her, but it didn't explain the metal shackles that were holding her hooves to the chair.

"You will release us! We are not under the influence of any foul magics!" Luna said.

Big mistake! Her headache mercilessly increased its grip on her consciousnesses, and she dropped her head, the pounding building as the voice echoed around the small basement. Twilight ignored her, as she had half been expecting. Twilight didn't take no for an answer, and even if she told her the truth, Twilight would never believe that the princess was doing anything wrong. Better to let her convince herself that she'd found something, allow Twilight to fix it, and be on her way.

On the other side of the room, Twilight was mumbling to herself about all of the spells that could possibly gotten their claws into Luna's head. Luna knew that there wasn't any reasoning with Twilight once she got into this state. She was in her own world, and Twilight's world was one that even at the best of times required a translation guide. With an army of parasprites hosting a party to rival anything that Pinkie Pie could come up with in her head, Luna knew that she wasn't going to be able to break through to Twilight.

"Spike!" Twilight shouted.

Her shout almost reduced Luna to tears. The basement door opened, sending a shaft of sunlight directly into Luna's eyes. She screamed out in existential agony.

"What's wrong?" Spike said.

Luna could tell that the dragon was exhausted. He had bags under his eyes, and he looked like he was going to fall asleep on his feet any second now. He made it to the bottom of the stairs safely. Twilight caught the dragon in her levitation spell, where he joined a book in orbiting around Twilight's head.

"I need to sleep. Please let me go to bed." Spike begged.

"Nonsense Spike! The Princess needs us! Only we can save her." Twilight said.

"Maybe she ate one of Pinkie Pie's experimental desserts. Derpy tried one of her Quadruple Chocolate Double Fudge Mocha Madness muffins, and they had had to talk her down off of the roof of town hall." Spike suggested. "According to Rainbow Dash, Derpy still isn't back to normal, and that was a week ago."

"This is magic Spike. I know magic when I see it." Twilight said.

"No, my little pony! We consumed one of the pink one's desserts. That is our explanation for what has happened, and we will be sticking to it." Luna said.

Luna doubled over in pain again. She had to stop using the voice, or she wasn't going to make it.

"Why did you call me your little pony?" Twilight asked. "It makes no sense."

Luna wasn't sure. Now that she'd heard Twilight say it, it seemed silly. It had just seemed natural, like something she just had to say. But it wasn't natural at all. It sounded mechanical, and all wrong. But, she'd still said it, and that was all that mattered.

Twilight was moving around the room again, and she was back to mumbling. Spike gave her a pitying glance, before he tried to sneak back upstairs. Twilight grabbed him in her levitation spell before he made it two stairs.

"Where are you going Spike!" Twilight said. "The Princess needs saving."

"Uhm, I thought I heard Miss Rarity." Spike stammered.

"I didn't hear anything." Twilight said.

All the same, Twilight climbed the stairs. Luna tried to time things correctly, so she could close her eyes before Twilight opened the door, but by the time the thought filtered through the clouds that were surrounding her head, the door was open, and the light was streaming into her eyes.

"Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Luna shouted.

Twilight turned around, and studied her. With a sense of foreboding, Luna realized that Twilight was getting an idea. Luna knew that it wasn't going to be one that she liked.

Five minutes later, Luna was doing everything that she could to stay on her hooves on the main floor of the library. Twilight had surrounded herself with piles of arcane books, which she was reading through and discarding as fast as she could. The light had gone from being torturous to just agonizing. Luna wondered how much longer it would take for Twilight to go through all of the books, and what Twilight would do then.

"Let's see, sensitive to light, unsettled of stomach, and Sensitive to Loud noises!" Twilight Shouted.

She checked the mark off as Luna involuntarily cringed.

"Spike! I've found it! Don't worry Princess, we'll get those cobwebs out of your brain in seconds!" Twilight shouted.

Luna cringed. A few seconds wasn't going to be fast enough, not if Twilight didn't stop shouting.

Meanwhile, across town, the Crusaders were having an emergency meeting in Sweetie Belle's bedroom.

"This has gone on long enough. We have to tell Applejack what happened." Sweetie Belle said.

Apple Bloom knew that the time for involving adults was long gone. They'd ended Bab's life, and they would suffer the consequences if anypony ever found out. Sweetie Belle had been yammering on about how she was certain that they'd get turned into statues, and now she wanted them to tell an adult, all because some ponies had moved into their clubhouse?

"We could always find another clubhouse." Scootaloo suggested. "We still have the crates from the ramp from earlier, I bet Apple Bloom could make us an even cooler tree house."

"That's a great idea!" Sweetie Belle said.

Apple Bloom knew that Sweetie Belle didn't really like the idea. It was a stupid idea. Almost as stupid as letting Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon steal from them, which actually they still would be doing.

"We have to teach them a lesson. No one messes with the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom announced.

Despite the terror in Sweetie Belle's eyes, and the disgust in Scootaloo's, Apple Bloom knew that it was the only way. It was only a matter of how, and when.

Author's Note:

Will Twilight's spell cure Luna's hangover? Will Sweetie Belle be able to stop Apple Bloom? Most importantly, Will Pinkie Pie perfect her muffin recipe? Tune in next week!

Comments

[fangdrive]

They are the ones who knock.

[ferret]

"Princess! Your awake!"